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Micha was the daughter of Eleora’s sister, which made her Ryuunie’s distant cousin.
She looked around the room with a smile, then put her hands on her hips and said, “I’ve come here personally to protect our allied country of Meraldia, and the city built by my esteemed cousins. It’s time to see just how capable the loyal retainers of the Doneiks family are.”
“O-Okay...” Ryuunie said, surprised by Micha’s overbearing demeanor.
“The crown princess of Rolmund herself is here?!” one of Ryuunie’s men said, recovering from his shock.
“Oh my god!”
“Make sure not to do anything that would reflect poorly on the young—I mean, our lord!”
“Yeah, it’s time to show how reliable his retainers are!” Ryuunie’s men quickly got to work, more fired up than ever.
Micha nodded in approval, then turned to Ryuunie.
“I’ve brought you Rolmund’s latest weaponry, Ryuunie. I have no idea how to use most of it, but feel free to take advantage of it to strengthen the city’s defenses.”
“Thank you, Micha.”
Micha glanced around, as if looking for something.
“Umm...where’s Friede?” she asked.
“She’s in the middle of a mission right now. She should be back soon though. In the meantime, we should finish our preparations. I’ll take you to where the cannons are being set up.”
Ryuunie ordered one of his servants to prepare a carriage.
The dragon-slaying platoon had set up camp a short distance outside the city, in an open plain with good visibility. Wa’s troops and the demon army were working together to build whatever fortifications they could.
“Here! This dip is where we’re going to trap the dragon and shoot it down! Make sure all the cannons are trained on this spot!” Fumino shouted from the bottom of a small depression in the ground. She was one of the best prediction magic users Wa had, but even she could only see a few minutes into the future at best, so she didn’t have an exact idea of where the dragon would show up from yet.
The werewolves started moving the cannons in accordance with her instructions. The Garney brothers and their sons were the ones doing most of the work.
“Point these big heaps of metal at the spot where Fumino’s standing!”
“Got it! Heave-ho!”
As they started pushing, some of Wa’s cannoneers hurriedly ran over to stop them.
“Wait, wait! Don’t just move the gun barrel, you’ll break the cannon!”
“You need to move the base along with it!”
Garbert and Nibert exchanged glances.
“Why?”
“It’s not like the base does anything, right?”
At that, their sons piped up.
“Just do as you’re told, dad!”
“Yeah! Remember what Professor Veight said? They’re the ones with all the special knowledge, so we have to follow their instructions!”
“It’s because you don’t listen that mom always gets mad at you!”
Garbert and Nibert scratched their heads awkwardly as their teenage sons scolded them.
“Gods, you brats really need to learn to respect your elders.”
“Besides, even if the bases break, we can just carry the cannons where they need to go.”
Their sons pressed on, undaunted.
“Are you stupid, dad? The recoil will send you flying!”
“Yeah! You’ll throw out your back again if you do that!”
“You’re not young anymore—either of you!”
Garbert and Nibert exchanged glances again.
“Gods, what a pain...”
“Hey, at least they’re smarter than their parents, bro.”
“True that. Wahahahaha!”
They laughed together. Meanwhile, another group of transformed werewolves was piling up earth for an embankment.
Micha looked at them and asked, “Hey, Ryuunie, is an embankment going to be able to stop the dragon?”
“Not at all. But if we can hide behind it, the dragon will target people it can see first. Most of the actual cannoneers are humans, and they don’t have the reflexes to get out of the way in time if it goes after them.”
In a stern voice, Micha asked, “But you’re still going to deploy human teams even though they’re at the greatest risk?”
Ryuunie’s expression turned grim, and he responded, “Werewolves don’t know how to use cannons, and we need prediction magic to properly aim them. No matter the danger, we need some humans or this plan won’t work.”
“I see...” Micha nodded in understanding. “In that case, I’ll command Rolmund’s soldiers here, from the front lines.”
“That’s far too dangerous! At least take command from the safety of the arena!” Ryuunie couldn’t allow a foreign princess to put herself in danger on Meraldian soil.
But Micha gave Ryuunie a pointed glare and said, “I’m staying here.”
“Why?!”
“Because I want to be there the moment the dragon falls.”
The two of them continued arguing for a while, until finally, their respective aides stepped in to mediate.