[Book 2] That time I got reincarnated as a slime,no, a DRAGON?

CH-61

The next day...
Shinsha's POV

As we were making our way to the Eastern district, we meet about thirty kids, who were all younger than 10 but older than 5, led by Max. I had already told Alicia about them, so she knew what had happened yesterday. As Alicia would be managing the internal affairs of the city, I thought it was best for her to get accustomed to the few people who actually would be staying here.

"It's nice to see you Max. Also it's nice to see that you are all not hiding from me like yesterday." I speak up to them.

"We are extremely sorry for not revealing ourselves yesterday. I hope you will forgive us." The girl who was talking to Max yesterday says as she bowed. The other children looked around confused but decided to follow her.

"No need. I can understand that you are wary of us. So I don't blame you. But, there are a few things that I would like to talk with you and Max About." I tell her. Hearing this, she just smiled. From the way they were talking, it seemed that were educated, atleast a little. I have some doubts, but these two are most probably nobles, or atleast were nobles.

After some small talk, we take all the thirty two kids, along with Max and the girl, who later introduced herself as Sofia. Once we had reached the Western part of the city, I took the children to a large abandoned mansion.

"You all will stay here, alright? Clean this place up and decorate however you want. You will stay here for some time before we go back to our continent." I tell the children. They just nodded whole looking around the large mansion with twinkling eyes. There were still large accessories like statues and painting that couldn't be taken away by the people who lived here, so it was left behind.

"As for food, does anyone know how to cook?" I ask, but I doubt anyone did, and as expected, they all nodded in denial.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We will provide you food three times a day. Be sure to be in the house on time or else you will miss the food. Think of this as an orphanage. I will assign someone to take care of you all. So, till then, take a look around. I still have other things to do. Max, Sofia, follow me." I tell them.

Max and Sofia instruct the other children on what to do, and swiftly followed after me. Once we were seated in another room, I asked them what had been bugging me."

"Alright. This may bring back some bad memories, but I want you to answer truthfully, okay? What is your background? You don't seem to be simple orphans." I ask them. Hearing my question, Max's expression changes drastically into one of anger, sadness and remorse.

"Let me answer that." Sofia spoke up on behalf of Max.

"I, Sofia, was the daughter of the previous lord of this city. When I was six, that is nearly five years from now, my family was falsely accused of preparing for a rebellion and was promptly executed. Luckily, I was able to run away and survive. The mansion we lived in was burnt down and everyone believes I died in it as well.

Da-, Max was my fiance. Our marriage was decided before we were born. Max was the only son of the largest trading company on the continent. That company as well was roped into the conspiracy and wiped out. A lot of families that were close to us were killed, replaced by new nobles. It was as if our entire faction was wiped out.

After that, both me and Max ran away and lived as orphans in the Eastern district. We found other orphans and took them under our wings. That's how we have been living for the past few years."

"... I am surprised you managed to survive." I blurt out the truth.

"Yeah... I know... Maybe it was fate that we survived and met you."

"So? Do you know the real reason behind your family being killed?"

"I am not sure, but my father said that it was the doing of Duke Floyen. He is hailed as a hero and the strongest person in the Empire. People call him brutal and cold, but I think differently. He is kind hearted and doesn't open up to many people and adores his daughter a lot, especially after his wife died.

I don't understand why he is fighting for the Church, but I am sure he is being forced to do it."

"... You seem to trust him a lot."
"Yes.... He helped us out a lot. Not only us, but anyone who was in trouble. He was loved and adored by the common people as well. At first he was against the Church and their way of doing things. But suddenly, his wife fell ill, and died a few days later. He suddenly changed and started supporting the Church."

I see. Though her information is outdated, it is still plenty useful. A hero? It is best to assume that he will be as strong as aunt Chloe. If that is the case, then there is no way I can defeat him right now. I will have to think of a plan.

"Alright. Thanks for all this. As for what you guys have to do,-"

"Princess! We have an emergency. The Empire is moving faster than expected. They would most probably reach this city by nightfall." Liscia said as she barged into the room.

"What?! Which city did they come from?" I ask. No matter where they were deployed from, they shouldn't be able to reach the city this quickly."

"About that. It seems like they were waiting in ambush in the nearby forest."
"Tch. How many of them?"

"Approximately 6000. That's nearly six times our number. Defending such a large city with only a thousand soldiers would be difficult. As for reinforcements, craftsman, weaponsmiths and soldiers should arrive in a week."

In reality, father can send reinforcements whenever he wants. But the fact that he is still sending them after a week must mean that he wants me to take care of this problem with only the thousand soldiers at my disposal.

"Alright. Let's make a strategy. Call Hikari as well. You two, follow me. You should know atleast something about the geography here, right? That should help." I say as I bring the two into the main camp that we had set up.

"Shinsha, why are there kids?" Hikari asked me in a stern tone.

"They are surely going to be helpful. They know more about the terrain than we do. We don't have to get some recon done. So we'll just have to trust them." I say as I bring out a virtual map of the city. The City itself was highly detailed, yet the area outside wasn't of much help as very little to no information was present about it.

"If we have to stop them outside the city, we will need to know the topography. Where we can set traps and all that."

"Etto?" Max raised his hands shyly.

"Yes?"

"Why do we have to stop them outside the city? Why not fight inside the city where we would have an advantage? Also, since they will enter from the district, we can set up lots of traps. You can count on me for that." Max said shyly.

What he said isn't wrong. Why not fight inside the city? It's not like there are any civilians here. And neither will this be a base for a long time.

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That's it for this chap. I hope you guys liked it.