Not knowing how long the temporary peace would last, all of Redwood Town was quickly sent into a flurry of activity once again.
The appearance of the Great Oriyan, despite the ultimately positive outcome, was enough to frighten even the most ardent holdouts and stragglers, making the rest of the evacuation proceed much more smoothly.
Within an hour after the giant Spirit Beast's arrival, every citizen in Redwood Town had been moved to a designated safe-zone such as the Manor or Town Square.
With all the common townsfolk having been cleared out, more of the Town Guard and volunteer defenders were freed up to reinforce the various barricades. Additionally, Sasha arranged for small patrols around the various safe-zones, just in-case any beasts managed to sneak past the checkpoints.
As for food supplies, through a colossal collective effort, the entire western granary had been completely emptied, while more than half the grain from the northern and southern storehouses had also been taken away.
After handing off the matter of the Great Oriyan to Farah, Lucas resumed tallying and taking in foodstuffs from the townsfolk at the Town Lord's Manor. The young boy also sent a team lead by Laura to the Central Square to set up a second collection point.
Redwood Town had always had an abundance of food, so even though the fall harvest wasn't complete yet, it wasn't long before the warehouses, granaries, and freezers at the Manor and Town Square were filled up.
Once this happened, Lucas began organizing carts and wagons to transfer things like unprocessed grain to the eastern granary, which had also been set up as a safe-zone.
Doing some rough calculations based on the inventory he had already taken, Lucas figured there was now enough food in storage to feed the entire population of Redwood Town for 6 months, 8 if it was rationed carefully.
On top of grain, fruit, and vegetables, there was also a significant amount of livestock which the farmers had herded into town.
These domesticated beasts could provide a steady supply of milk and eggs, and in the worst-case scenario, meat; but, Lucas didn't anticipate being short of protein anytime soon seeing how there was a literal stampede of Wild Beasts bearing down on them.
In simple terms, even if aid from the outside didn't arrive until next spring, Lucas estimated there shouldn't be any issues at least keeping everyone fed.
For a moment, it seemed that all the outstanding issues had been dealt with, with time to spare.
That is, until refugees from the surrounding villages began showing up.
Just as night was falling, caravans of wagons, carts, and people on foot began showing up at the northern, southern, and eastern entrances to Redwood Town.
At first, there were just a few people, most of them either young and fit, or middle-aged and wealthy, carrying with them whatever possessions they could, be they weapons, food, coins, or other valuables.
Fortunately, Sasha and Carl had long expected this, so contingents of the Town Guard and volunteer defenders were already in place.
When the lookouts first spotted these new arrivals, they immediately moved to meet them, and after asking a few questions, these refugees were either told to head to one of the safe-zones; or, if they were capable of fighting, they were 'persuaded' to join the militia.
As the minutes ticked by, more and more refugees began showing up.
The distance from each village to Redwood Town was different, and the quality of the paths connecting them varied greatly, so it naturally took differing amounts of time for different villagers to arrive.
As soon as she noticed a significant uptick in arrivals, Sasha quickly had the patrols around the Town Lord's Manor re-deploy to the 3 entrances to bolster security. Torches and large brasiers were also lit to guide the approaching refugees through the darkening night.
The first groups of villagers to arrive were mostly unscathed, seemingly having made it from their homes to Redwood Town without incident; however, it wasn't long before people with injuries began showing up.
When asked about their wounds, the villagers reported everything from simply tripping in the dark to encountering frantic beasts along the road. Few had actually been attacked outright, especially those coming from the east, but that didn't mean accidents didn't occur.
Fortunately, a radius of about 5 km around where Redwood Town's new friend was sleeping had turned into a kind of no-entry-zone for weaker Wild Beasts. This meant that as long as the fleeing villagers could get close to Redwood Town, they would be relatively safe.
Unfortunately, this also meant that for the villages that were further out, and for those who couldn't move as fast, they were actually facing more Wild Beasts as the First and Second Order creatures circled around to avoid the dangerous Sixth Order aura they felt coming from the Great Oriyan.
Given the relative stability of Redwood Town itself, Sasha thought about organizing a mobile force on horseback that could ride out and escort the incoming villagers, but while there were enough horses to make such a plan work, courtesy of Madison Roth, there were simply too few among the townsfolk who were capable of mounted combat.
Fighting on horseback was a skill that required years of dedicated training, not something one could obtain in a frontier town.
Sasha almost gave up on helping the fleeing villagers when confronted with this unfortunate reality, but when she saw all the wagons and carts carrying grain back and forth, an idea struck her.
Soon after, a dozen open wagons hitched with pairs of horses rolled out of town. On each of these wagons was a team of Town Guardsmen and volunteer defenders carrying weapons and torches; their mission, to rescue any villagers they came across.
There was no way they could save everyone, Sasha wasn't that naïve, but simply throwing up her hands and letting people die was unacceptable to her. She and Charles were the nobles charged with protecting the Newton Barony and its people, so Sasha felt it was her responsibility to help in any way she could.
Numerous skirmishes immediately broke out around Redwood Town, with the wagon teams doing their best to ward off beasts and protect the fleeing refugees.
These efforts yielded some results, but there was ultimately too much ground to cover. If the villagers were lucky, a team from Redwood Town would be nearby when an attack happened; but, oftentimes, they would be on their own.
The escaping villagers weren't fools, so most of them were travelling in large groups with at least some of them being capable of fighting, but ordinary Body Tempering Realm humans were simply no match for wolves, bears, and boars in the dead of night.
It wasn't long before there were confirmed fatalities, with predators slashing people with their claws or biting off limbs with their fangs. There were also instances of larger Wild Beasts simply tramping people that got in their way.
The biggest problem, however, wasn't the beast attacks, but the panic that the presence of Wild Beasts caused.
Currently, just like the villagers themselves, the beasts flooding out of the Great Western Forest were simply trying to escape and most had no interest in getting into fights.
As such, if one just remained calm and moved out of the way, more often than not, beasts would simply run past without stopping.
Unfortunately, very few people were in any state of mind to react with such serenity.
A single rabbit rustling the tall grass alongside a dirt road was often enough to cause some nearby villagers to scream, abandon what they were carrying, and run for their lives.
This kind of panic led to people crashing into others, tripping over uneven ground, and spreading chaos all around.
20 adults all fleeing from a Low-Rank First Order rabbit seemed like a ridiculous notion, but in the all-consuming darkness, with everyone already terrified and completely on edge, it was actually far more common than one might imagine possible.
When such stories got back to Sasha at the Town Lord's Manor, a deep sense of helplessness overcame her. She mourned this tragic loss of life, but there was simply nothing she could do about it.
Every resource she had at her disposal had already been deployed.
For a moment, Sasha contemplated going out herself; after all, in her youth, she had trained with a horse and spear, after which she spent a decade as an active adventurer. She was also a Sixth Step Vein Opening Practitioner, so she could certainly handle a few panicked Wild Beasts even in the dark of night.
However, if Sasha left now, there would be no one to manage the overall situation in Redwood Town.
There were a few others who might be able to handle things from a purely administrative perspective. Lucas, for example, had proven himself more than capable of organizing people on a large scale; but he, along with all other options, lacked enough prestige or authority to assume command of the entire town.
In a crisis, there was no time for debate or second guessing, someone whose words would be obeyed without hesitation needed to be in charge, and with Charles occupied with the town's defence, Sasha was the only one left who could fill that role.
Clenching her fists tightly, Sasha turned to the messenger who had brought her the bad news and said in a commanding tone, "Return to your post and do what you can with what you have available."
The Town Guardsman, who had just witnessed a family with children younger than his own son being trampled to death by a massive Horned Boar, instinctually opened his mouth to protest, but upon noticing the blood dripping from the Town Lady's lip as she bit through it, he closed his eyes, grit his teeth, and nodded, turning around and rushing off without another word.