It had been too reckless.
I hadn’t properly calculated the extent to which the monsters would be empowered by the demons and the Dusk Fortress.

‘I should have considered the distance from the fortress.’

The strength of enhanced creatures weakens the farther they move from their source.
But right now, the Dusk Fortress and the Western Gate of Alphares were so close it was as if you could reach out and touch it, so the enhancements hadn't weakened.

‘And the demon responsible for the enhancements must be quite powerful.’

There’s no way it’s not the demon from the original story.
After all, the [Dusk Fortress] is the unique magic of one particular demon.

It’s probably best to assume there’s a difference in depiction between the original and this reality.

“Sigh…”

Because of this, I had no choice but to pant heavily after hastily creating the spell formation.

On top of casting buffs on my party members, I had been expending both my focus and mana on developing the spell, which was making me dizzy.

“Haah.”

“Louis!”

Fortunately, Lapirie caught me from behind before I collapsed to the ground.

“What did you just do?!”

"I just cast some magic on everyone’s equipment here."

"What...!? But everyone has different body types and uses different gear... You’re telling me you did that?"

That was precisely why it had taken two hours.
If I had simply enchanted everything indiscriminately, there’d have been no need to create a custom spell. But since I had to reflect individual data and adapt it, gathering and calculating all that information took a lot of time.

“You’re insane... absolutely insane…”

“Louis!”

Soon, the three who had been fighting at the front approached me.

“Was that your doing just now?”

Still leaning against Lapirie, I nodded.
The three of them looked at me with eyes full of disbelief.

“Aswell, thanks to Louis, the burden on us has been greatly reduced.”

“That’s true. I was worrying about running out of arrows myself.”

“Thank you, Louis.”

“No problem.”

The three heroines thanked me, speaking on my behalf.

“Thanks, Louis. Because of you, everyone’s fighting much better now.”

Looking around, I saw the people fighting with expressions of disbelief.
People who had been struggling just a moment ago were now easily dispatching the monsters in front of them.

“Aswell, I think we should reorganize our entire formation now that we have some breathing room.”

Serelin spoke, and the Hero agreed. Soon, the two of them bid us farewell and gathered the captains of the three battle units.

“The church should be arriving soon. I’ll go inform them of the situation.”

Aria also left, leaving just Lapirie and me once again.

“Louis.”

“Yes?”

“It’s great that you’re casting magic for us, but let me know next time beforehand.”

When had my hair gotten so dirty?
She stroked my head, looking at me with worried eyes.

Seeing her expression, there was no way I could say, ‘I’d rather not.’

“I’ll be sure to tell you next timeeeeee.”

“Make sure you do. Honestly, I was worried you were about to collapse.”

“I got it, stop patting meee.”

Finally freed from Lapirie’s grasp, I tucked the master key away and took out my pen.
I had overexerted myself, so for the next hour or two, I’d only be able to use my pen.

“Lapirie, over there.”

“Got it.”

I handed Lapirie a golden spell and shared the next target.
The battle continued on into the night, when suddenly, there was a shift.

“No more monsters are coming out!”

The monstrous roars from the Dusk Fortress had ceased.

“Everyone’s taking a break now.”

“After fighting as soon as they arrived from the other gate, they must be exhausted. They’ll need as much time to rest as possible.”

The Hero’s party was also taking a short rest in the central tent set up by the guards.

“Serelin, use this. Don’t hurt your hands.”

“Huh? Oh, thanks.”

As she was about to wipe her blood-soaked sword, I handed her a cloth I had prepared earlier.
It only had one enchantment, but it would be good for cleaning swords.

‘It’s microfiber.’

The Hero... well, his holy sword had a feature that prevented it from getting stained, so he didn’t need it.

“......”

But the Hero, who had been staring at Serelin’s sword, suddenly looked at me.
Tilting my head slightly, I asked:

“...What is it, Hero?”

“Nothing.”

“Alright.”

I had no idea what was going on in his head.
Fortunately, someone entered the tent, changing the atmosphere.

“Count of Alphares.”

“Please stay seated. You’ve worked hard until just now.”

As we tried to stand and greet him, the Count of Alphares gestured for us to remain seated.
In fact, he even had his maid and butler attend to us.

“Louis.”

“Oh, hello, Maid.”

“There’s no need for formalities. Oh, your shoulder muscles are very tense. Let me relieve that for you.”

“Oh, you really don’t have tooooo.”

But there was no escaping the maid’s expert massage, and soon my shoulders melted under her touch.

“Thanks to the Hero’s party, the city didn’t suffer major casualties. As the city’s leader, I sincerely thank you.”

“If it weren’t for the support of the Alphares guards, adventurers, and mercenaries, it would have been difficult.”

“We’ll reward them separately. I came to thank you all personally.”

‘Oh.’

He had the look of someone greedy who might embezzle funds, but his words were full of sincerity.
Well, in the original story, he was well-liked by the citizens of the city, so I guess he really is a good person.

Then suddenly, the Hero stood up and approached me.

“We all worked hard, but... the one who made the biggest contribution was Louis.”

“Wha—”

“I heard from the guards that some kind of black substance was thrown at the walls from the fortress. But because Louis had strengthened the walls in advance, there was no damage.”

‘What. There was no need to bring that up.’

But the Count’s eyes had already widened in astonishment.

“Is that true?”

He was truly surprised, as if he hadn’t believed it.

“It’s true. And he also reinforced the weapons and equipment...”

“There’s really no need to...”

It was strange.
The Hero and Lapirie began praising me to the Count and others as if competing with each other.
And instead of stopping them, Serelin and Aria were joining in.

“Louis, I see your mouth twitching.”

“Be quiet.”

Fortunately, the praise session, which felt like it had lasted an eternity, finally ended.
I collapsed in relief, as if I had just weathered a storm. The maid’s incredible shoulder massage had played its part too.

“Well then. In light of this, I’ll make sure Louis is rewarded separately.”

There’s no need for that.
But I had no choice but to nod when the Count mentioned gathering quality materials for me.

“I’ll take my leave now. It’s best to leave matters of battle to the Hero.”

With a polite gesture, the Count of Alphares left the tent, stroking his mustache.
He had come purely to commend us for stopping the Dusk Fortress, not to interfere with any battle plans.

Once the Count and his entourage had left, we began discussing our strategy for the Dusk Fortress.

“Everyone, I have a suggestion.”

The Hero’s gaze met ours—mine and the three heroines’.

“I think... now is the perfect time to enter the fortress, while no monsters are coming out.”

The Hero’s suggestion was to infiltrate the Dusk Fortress.

“I agree with Aswell. I don’t think the monsters will stay away for long, so it’s best to finish it quickly.”

“As long as it’s not a trap... it should be fine.”

“If that’s the Hero’s and everyone’s opinion, I’ll follow it.”

The three heroines also agreed with the Hero’s plan.
At that moment, a scene from the original story flashed through my mind.

[Despite their exhaustion from the previous battle, the Hero’s party formulated a plan. They would enter the fortress and end everything.]

[They could no longer afford to let the damage increase. That was what drove the Hero’s party to act, despite their battered bodies.]

In the original, they entered the fortress before they were fully prepared, constantly facing attacks from monsters and demons.
Separated, they sustained many injuries, though none of them died.
Eventually, they reunited and managed to kill the master of the fortress, but in the end, many civilians and soldiers were killed as the fortress’s master lashed out.

It was an episode where they gained nothing and lost much.

But this time is different.

There are no casualties, and the Hero’s party is mostly recovered.
Instead of being overwhelmed and forced into the fortress, they’re fully prepared and entering with foresight.

“Louis, what do you think?”

The Hero asked me, and all the eyes that had been on him were now on me.
That’s right. I’m also a member of the Hero’s party.

They were asking for my opinion.

I stood up slowly and opened my mouth.

“I agree.”

Could we achieve a future where no one gets hurt?
It’s possible.

“Everyone’s in agreement.”

Finally, the Hero looked at each of us and nodded with a determined expression.

“Then let’s prepare.”

The Dusk Fortress.
One hour before entry.

Many people were gathered outside the numerous tents.

The guards, adventurers, mercenaries.
But they weren’t the only ones.

There were also members of the church, cooks, porters, and even ordinary citizens.

All of them were looking in one direction.

At us—the Hero’s party.

“Come back safely!”

“Good luck!!”

“Hero, you can do it!!”

The cheers of the crowd echoed, and the Hero stood with his eyes closed, facing the sounds.
The other heroines looked tense, but there was no fear or hesitation in their eyes.

“Are we ready?”

“We’re all set. It’s time to go in.”

There was a massive gate leading into the Dusk Fortress.
And now, that gate was wide open, as if inviting us in.

All we had to do was enter.

“Hero, and everyone.”

But before that, I called out to them.

“What is it, Louis?”

“Please take these.”

What I handed them were bracelets embedded with mana stones.
Using a technique I learned from Diaurcil, I had carefully crafted the mana stones and placed a spell on them.

“These bracelets allow us to track each other's locations and statuses. Serelin, Aria, and Lapirie’s bracelets are linked to the Hero’s location.”

“Oh...”

I had also engraved a separate tracking spell on the master key for the Hero.

“And what about me?”

“For you, Hero, I’ve made it so you can track the locations of the three heroines.”

I had put a lot of effort into layering several spells for this.

“What about you?”

“Me? I don’t have one.”

“Why?”

“Well, if you’re asking why…”

Because I’ll find you all on my own. But before I could say that, the Hero spoke first.

“I’d like to be able to track your location too.”

“Hmm, alright.”

I gently took the Hero’s hand and infused the bracelet with my mana.

“Anyway, with these, no matter what happens inside, we’ll be able to regroup quickly.”

I had also added several other spells, so in simple terms, the bracelets would prevent us from becoming helpless after entering.

“Haa... I feel a lot more reassured with this. Thanks, Louis.”

“No problem.”

With Serelin’s thanks, the bracelet ceremony was complete.
Now, it was truly time to set off.

“...Alright, let’s go.”

Amidst the cheers of many people, we approached the fortress and soon entered through the gate.

Rumble...

And with a deafening sound, as if the earth itself had split, my vision was engulfed by darkness.
When I came to, I was alone in a black corridor.

“It’s begun.”

At last, we had entered the Dusk Fortress.