The first step in the infiltration of the Ark was to split into two groups: the group that would take down the army attacking Lassei and the group that would infiltrate the Ark directly.
“Those infiltrating the Ark will need the sacred treasure, and that means we can’t take down whatever wicked devout is leading that army heading for Lassei. In which case, our objective will be to simply repel them,” Leen murmured as she watched the lights steadily moving toward Lassei on the world map.
If we were able to deal with the wicked devout in the Ark fast enough, we would be able to head straight to Lassei afterward, but it seemed unlikely that things would go so smoothly... We had to face the guy with the diver helmet, the guy with the plague mask, the woman with the iron mask, and their gold crown. Removing even one of them, we’d at minimum have to fight two members of the wicked devout and a crown. Plus, we couldn’t even be sure if there were other wicked devout we hadn’t met yet.
The team that would be infiltrating the Ark would inevitably have to include the children as our main force, and that was the issue... We would definitely be bringing Yakumo as the key player in our plan, but I’d rather bring the kids who were good at fighting to help support her, like Frei and Kuon.
Linne...I was a little more uncertain about, so I decided she would be good for the Lassei team. Linze’s Helmwige was good at aerial combat, so it would be good to deploy. Assuming we were to send Grimgerde and Rossweise, Leen’s and Sakura’s Frame Gears, to lead the defensive front, it would be good to have Lu’s Waltraute there to support them.
Sue’s Ortlinde Overlord boasted high defense, so I could place it there as well. Honestly, I’d feel much safer with Steph being there, anyway. Using [Prison] to encase Yakumo and Indigo was something I could do myself.
Before I could go any further with that train of thought, though, Leen stepped in.
“No, even if you assign Sue to the Lassei team, I still think you should bring Steph...or more specifically, Gold to the Ark with you. If there really is another gold crown with the wicked devout, Gold may be able to find some kind of counter to it, and we might be able to solve the riddle of why there are two of them.”
“Mother! I’d really like to join the Ark team!”
“Absolutely not.”
Quun fell to her knees in despair when her mother refused her request to swap positions with a merciless smile on her face.
This girl never loses sight of what interests her, does she?
In the end, the Ark infiltration team became me, Yae, Yakumo, Hilde, Frei, Kuon, Steph—well, Gold. Excluding Steph, it was a team of combat experts.
Yumina and Sue kicked up a bit of a fuss at being separated from their kids, but I somehow managed to persuade them. Yumina’s Brunhilde and Sue’s Ortlinde were both suited to defensive battles, so there was no way we wouldn’t deploy them.
This time we would also be deploying the Nereids, units suited to marine battle. They would try to slow the army before they reached land to limit the possible damage to Lassei. We’d yet to install a Nereid program into the Frame Units, so the only ones who could pilot them were Brunhild’s knights. Lassei’s knight order would focus on defending the coast.
Lassei’s armies were known to dive headfirst into battle, so I was a little worried. We would be at an advantage against the Fishmen if we waited for them to step onto land first, but I could already imagine the Lassei knights charging right into the ocean... Their combat Gollems weren’t even suited to battling in water or even on sand. I prayed they wouldn’t act so recklessly that there would be needless sacrifice.
“Yumina, I’ll leave command of the defensive front to you. I’m counting on you.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll make sure that not a single one gets in!”
“Godspeed, mother.”
“Kuon! You better not do anything reckless, okay? Mom’s so worried about you! Touya, please, please make sure he stays safe!” Yumina exclaimed, exerting a strong pressure on me with her gaze, as she was clinging tight onto Kuon.
Could she not worry about me a little more as well?
With me feeling that little bit lonelier, we set off on our mission.