After the first few attacks, Machine City immediately sent armed forces to sweep the monsters along the roads, with Takeda Masumi leading the team.
But it turned out these monsters weren't attacking spontaneously. They were highly organized.
Whenever Takeda Masumi led a team to hunt them down, the monsters went into hiding. As soon as she left, they came back out to attack passing convoys and travelers.
The distance between Machine City and the strait was about 120 kilometers, and both sides of the road were lined with vast forests and mountains.
Once the monsters ducked into the woods, they vanished without a trace, like a stone sinking into the sea.
Unless Machine City committed all its armed forces to escort travelers along the way, there was no way to guarantee their safety.
But that was impossible. They might as well abandon their own home.
Takeda Masumi had practically been living on the road lately, constantly rushing back and forth to hunt down monsters. Even so, plenty still slipped through the net.
Now Kanzaki Rin had to come up with a solution. Otherwise, if this went on, there'd be no point holding the Trade Association's event, and the people from Honshu Island who came to do business would all leave.
After Kanzaki Rin finished reading the report, Asaka Akie asked, "What are you planning to do?"
Kanzaki Rin pondered for a moment. "Have Sato and Saya join in to support Masumi's work. At the same time, ask Tsukikage Hatsuka to step in and get the monsters to help with the sweep. They have a duty to contribute too."
Her solution had two parts: bring in more top-tier fighters, and have the monsters from the Iron-Cast Palace join the sweep to make up for the lack of manpower.
The Trade Association