“Captain,” called a voice in Berenice’s head.
“Peddy. Are you done?” she replied, still working in her office.
“The seadragon got the usual. It’s completely sapped, so I’m leaving it to you.”
“Working hard, I see.”
“This is easier than traveling around the South Sea right now.” And with that, the comms magic cut out.
The person on the other end of the call had been the one who stopped the seadragon in place. With the Superiors away, Granvaloa’s defense heavily depended on her.
She was The Ocean—Peddy Attrition the “Ever-Downward Spiral.”
As she was in charge of defense, Berenice had given her—Granvaloa’s strongest pre-Superior—a special order, forming a defensive structure with Peddy at its core.
Peddy had created a defensive web that used ultra-high-output sea magic to layer several different wards upon even the largest aquatic monsters that came close to Granvaloa.
The military fleet would then use artillery to finish them off—and needless to say, this arrangement was extremely effective.
Being a Master, Peddy’s circumstances brought her back to reality now and then, but Berenice had asked for her schedule and created defensive shifts accordingly.
“...Phew.” Though the defense was working smoothly, Berenice still had many things to be concerned about.
They were in a state of emergency, and this defensive structure was unusual. If the events in the South Sea continued for too long, they would eventually be pushed to their limits. The problem needed a more fundamental solution.
Once they located Abyss Shellder or the ruins it had come from, Granvaloa would likely muster all their forces to attack it, possibly leaving only the bare minimum for defending the city. And as the one in charge of defense, it was Berenice’s job to gauge just how much that “minimum” would be.
“Anyway...” Switching focus, Berenice reached toward something on the desk—a comms device.
In its middle, there was a three-digit combination lock that she quickly set to “023.”
She then brought the device close to her mouth...
“0.5 degree to the right. Fire.”
...and a moment later, Granright’s 23rd turret spewed flame.
Thus, the shell fired from the ship sped directly toward the skull of the bound seadragon, easily slicing through it.
She hadn’t seen the creature. She hadn’t even seen which turret had activated to fire at the seadragon.
However, she’d known exactly which turret was targeting it, had used the comms to fix the slight error in its aim, and ordered an artillery strike with the precision of a sniper.
Artillery orders that were superhumanly precise—this was the reason Berenice was in charge of defense.
She was the leader-gunner grouping hybrid Superior Job—Artillery Princess, Berenice Granright.
She was to be the next commander of the military fleet, and its representative in the upcoming Four Seas Journey which would decide the next navarch.
Berenice served as the fleet’s “spear” for the next generation.
The siren stopped, confirming her kill, and she resumed her work.
In silence, she fulfilled her duties as a member of the military.
While her compatriots in the South Sea were fighting to free Granvaloa from its terrible predicament, she was also fighting a battle of her own.