"You've been listening to the talks quite a lot. Have you learned anything interesting?" Alissa tries to distract us by making conversation with Allura. It's actually quite effective because I'm very fond of this tomboyish red fox.

"Of course, you kit!" Allura exclaims cheerfully, then stiffens up and lowers her tone without Léonne even having to say anything. "I mean, I'll never be a strategist, but I need to understand what their job is about if I want to be able to gauge my strategists' skill levels."

And Alissa nod sagely. "It also gives you a better perspective of combat when you know where all the pieces are supposed to go."

Now that they're talking about statesmanship, Yunia feels compelled to join in, "Yes. While a ruler shouldn't get involved in the minute details of governing their domain, it's important that they understand how every part of it works."

Which calls for Léonne to also chime in, "It's especially important for us, whose subjects are a lot more unruly than the passive elves."

And the two Queens start subtly bantering as their elf-werefox rivalry picks up.

I notice that Tommen seems interested in listening to Alissa and Allura, but he appears to be too shy to actually join the conversation of the two pretty werefox girls. He might be about their age since he doesn't have the signs of an old dwarf, so I understand his hesitance in talking to them, and I'm totally not very much glad that a cute young man is too shy to talk to the virgin promised to me.

But then the tomboy changes the topic, "I've heard a lot of explosions coming from behind the… uh, this big tree. What are you guys doing back there?"

"You can just call the tree 'a building,' Allura," Alissa kindly corrects and smiles cheekily, but then answers earnestly, "It's our 'secret weapon' that we're working on. Want to take a look?"

And now Tommen really does seem like he regrets not joining the conversation because what kind of dwarf doesn't like to see high-level smithing and enchanting?

"Wo~w…" Allura hums in awe at the size of the unit. She likes big cannons, and she cannot lie. "But why does everything that Wolfy creates look like dicks?"

"That doesn't look like his dick," Alissa flatly replies, though the muzzle brake we added to it kinda makes it a bit phallic.

And Allura shrugs. "He can make purple tentacles, so I'm sure he can make a cock that looks like darksteel."

Something inside Lina resonates with the idea of a darksteel dildo, but she's too embarrassed to explore the idea further.

The older fox sister sighs and decides to ignore the younger one's silly ideas. "It's a cannon, Allura. It shoots bullets faster than bows or crossbows," she tries to explain in a way that Allura can understand.

But the younger sister doesn't have the necessary background for her to understand it with just that. "Cannon?"

Alissa draws upon my memories to improve her explanation. "Think of a [Fireball] with an 'explosion' concept added to it. The spell blows things apart and violently throws debris many metris away, but what if you surrounded that explosion with a thick metal casing and left only one hole open? The explosion would be forced to go through the hole, and if you put something on top of the hole, it'll be pushed away by the explosion. If we craft things just right, the strength of the push will be many times greater than that of a bow."

"We're ready for a demonstration," Ted suddenly states, and Allura's red eyes glimmer with excitement.

Alissa nods, and a deafening explosion follows, making both of the fox girls flatten their furry ears in pain. Jarn promptly hands them [Regeneration] magic tools, which they apply to their ears, and Allura excitedly walks forward towards the target of the cannon.

"Diamond dragon scales! How could anyone survive this!?" she exclaims as she stares at the block of solid steel that has been almost completely blown to pieces. It looks like someone just tried to rip it apart as if it was a piece of meat.

"They don't," Alissa soberly replies.

Allura touches the steaming remains and immediately pulls her hand back as she receives a light burn, but she doesn't even wince in pain. "What are you going to use this on?"

"A Gifted."

The younger sister turns back, eyebrows up high in disbelief. "Isn't this a bit too much? Could Wolfy even survive something like this?"

And the older sister answers with a rather somber tone, "Maybe, and that's why we need something like this. We don't know how many 'Wolfys' Katasko is going to bring."

"Holy shit…" the young woman hums, suddenly understanding the worrying situation that we're in.

There are still some enchantments we have to add to the cannon and some adjustments to make, but the golems can do most of it on their own, so we rest our minds for a moment, and I decide to observe the knights as they train.

Almaria is using [Weaverism] to connect their feelings and improve their coordination, but they need to get used to the strange sensation before they can benefit from it, so they're just doing light drills for now.

I approach Sandoro as he and the other strategists observe the drills, and they give me a quick bow as they notice me.

Then Sandoro gives me his report as I stop beside him. "Your Highness, the men will be as ready as they can be by the end of the day, and the information we have on Katasko tells us that we have thirty percent more men than them, or perhaps even more considering they're still bleeding allies."

"All that's uncertain is whether or not they also have a Gifted," I stoically reply.

"Precisely."

And the importance of espionage makes itself so painfully clear to me right now that I regret not trying to make Nero into a double agent or something.

But wait, if Vanea, with as little resources as she has, managed to get a spy inside Katasko, what could we have achieved if we had tried?

"Our family isn't skilled in espionage, Wolfy," Yunia shoots me down through [Bind].

But Vanea is… and talking about her, she and Roxanne are with the mages, having a meeting about the tactics for this battle. There won't be an army of lower court mages helping us, so each mage has to be very careful with their MP and also keep an eye out for powerful spells that need to be countered so that they don't wipe out our forces.

The instructor stops talking as one of Sa'Haa's court mages begins to cast [Vacuum], quickly followed by [Pressure] as a demonstration. This is a terrifying combo as it can be used from far beyond interruption range, and it's relatively stealthy if one's not paying attention to the storm of mana that tends to form in these battles.

It's going to take him a minute to actually cast it, so Alissa nudges Roxanne and tells her to discreetly approach Vanea, who's on her own as she silently waits.

"Greetings, Dame Vanea," the tense succubus begins.

"Greets, Lord Roxanne," the not-princess politely replies.

"I didn't hear which magic schools you specialize in, so I'm curious about your skills."

Then Vanea does her thing where she says terrifying things while smiling like an innocent princess, "[Dark Magic] and [Cursing Magic], with a bit of [Spirit Magic], too, but only my [Mana Burn] is useful as I never get in melee to use [Soul Blade]."

Yunia is impressed that she learned [Mana Burn], but Roxanne is too stunned to answer immediately. [Dark Magic] is fucking evil, as exemplified by the dark elemental being a fucking nightmare, and my sadism isn't anywhere near hardcore enough to give me a bonus towards learning [Dark Magic], so to specialize in it tells us that she has a very "interesting" personality.

Sa'Haa apparently has very good hearing, for she turns around and sneers. "Ugh, don't you dare use [Torment] on another Lord. It'd be quite the offense."

"I'll keep it in mind," Vanea dryly replies, and the two flash a glare at each other.

Then Alissa and Yunia almost take control over Roxanne's body because they see an opportunity here, but that hurts the succubus' pride, so she does it herself. "Over there, we can get a better view…" she whispers gently and motions with her head, trying to get Vanea away from the bitchy owl.

"Sure…"

Once they're out of (believed) earshot, Roxanne assumes a worried frown and asks, "Forgive me if it's insensitive to ask this, but why does Princess Sa'Haa dislike you so much? We're not very 'fond' of her ourselves, but the animosity between you two is excessive."

That actually makes Vanea happy, and she unabashedly smiles sadistically, then glances at the owl, who's now, thankfully, ignoring her rival. "I did 'steal' the innocence of her precious Prince Tommen," she whispers smugly, then chuckles at Roxanne's rapidly rising eyebrows. "I didn't have sex with him, at least not yet, but I opened his eyes to the reality of nobility, so I'm a… 'terrible influence' on him…"

"Wait, that's it…?" Roxanne questions, almost letting her voice rise in disbelief.

Vanea does her thing again and smiles innocently as she messes with Roxanne, "Well, there's also the fact that I make money in Mac Gantus through smuggling and other 'unsavory' activities, so her mother, the Mayor of the capital, may have a few reasons to dislike me."

Of course, she's a fucking criminal mastermind… and only Yunia isn't horrified by that statement.

Then the villainous not-princess gleefully adds, "You'd do well to take control of the smugglers in your territory. Keep them from being too extreme while taking a share of their profits."

"Help, help, help, help, help…" Roxanne begs through [Bind], wanting a way out of this awkward situation.

While Alissa and Yunia do their best to salvage the conversation, I focus back on the cannons and help Lina cram more enchantments into them, but I don't need to be physically there, so I just help them through [Bind] and let them use my brainpower while I lightly spar with the men.

But that proves to be a mistake because Urmeie finally approaches me while I'm resting, two huge bodyguards following after her, and she doesn't seem to be happy.

Bear mommy stops right in front of my seat, blocking my view of the sparring, and her body is so large that she looks almost three times my (current) height. "Is this how you train, Lord Ryder?" she questions sternly, and the Companions behind me all tense up, trying their best not to glare at the Princess.

"What is it that's bothering you, Princess Urmeie?" I dryly reply, tired of her shit.

She answers with a perfectly neutral tone, yet her words offend me greatly, "I've heard a lot about Reinhold's fondness for battle and his training regimen, so, to me, it seems like his dedication to the art of war is definitely far beyond yours. Are you really taking this as seriously as you can?"

What?! You didn't even believe in the strength of the Gifted before we made you piss your pants with our power!

"A couple of days of training wouldn't have made a difference in our power levels," I begrudgingly explain, holding back my flippancy at the behest of the girls.

And she narrows her beady, ursine eyes at me in skepticism. "But have you actually trained seriously before? Everything that I hear about you tells me that you're not the kind that likes to get sweaty if it doesn't involve fucking."

I have to smother the dragon's desire to just bark profanities at the bitch, and the human is too irritated to give a proper answer, so all I can do is question her knowledge of us, "Do you even know what our Gift actually is?"

She shrugs, and her tone gains a dangerous edge as she explains, "I don't, and that's why I'm asking you this. I don't want to waste my and my sister's resources in a hopeless battle if there's a good chance that you're going to lose to another Gifted."

I want to beat up this fucking furry and curvy bitch so fucking hard. Gods, give me the strength to suffer through her presence. Fucking. Hell. Even the bodyguards and the Companions start to seem worried about the rising tension between us.

LOAD THE APFSDS!

"Come with me," I growl and start walking away, but I order the Companions to stay here.

Urmeie gives me a confused look, then frowns angrily but still obediently follows.

We silently walk to the testing grounds, then I summon a steel earth-Lina as I stop behind a thick wall of enchanted glass that the golems have just put down a couple of meters away from the new cube of solid steel.

"You might want to put on your armor," I state and [Equip] mine. Then the earth-Lina moves away from us and stands before the cube, right between it and the cannon.

Urmeie turns around to the two bodyguards following her and gives an order to one, who runs away in search of her personal Space mage.

Then her eyes fall on the long, glossy, dark brown cannon about twenty metri away from us. "What the fuck is that thing? Is this where the explosions have been coming from all day?"

"Yes," I dryly answer, and we both shut up.

Her personal Space mage comes running up to her less than a minute later and pulls out her shiny, ornate, jeweled armor directly onto her body, and she's immediately surrounded by the subtle signs of multiple Blessings as the protective enchantments activate. The sight isn't missed by the bodyguards, who brace for impact, making the mage pale and hide behind one of them.

"FIRE!" I shout, and Lina activates the cannon.

We see the cube and the earth-Lina get surrounded by a painfully bright rainbow of colors, then the shrapnel hits the enchanted glass, cracking it, and the shockwave of overpressure hits us. The explosion is so powerful that our eardrums rupture, causing a head-splitting headache, and our entire bodies scream in pain as our bones are rattled wildly.

I even get dizzy and stumble forward before I cast [Heal] on myself and return to normal. Then I also [Heal] Urmeie and her three men behind her, who all gawk in surprise at the complete lack of cube, cube stand, and earth-Lina, which have been replaced with a flaming, steaming crater.

"What the fuck was that?" the bear Princess asks out loud, her voice trembling, making her sound rather rattled.

And I harshly reply as I scowl at her, "This is what we've been fucking doing instead of training. If you think you can survive this, then I welcome you to stand in front of the cannon while we test its firepower on you."

But the big bear suddenly guffaws and slaps her gauntlet against her chestplate, making a loud metallic sound. "HAHAHAHAHA…! Now that's convincing!" Then she turns around and leaves while still laughing.

My rage is replaced with extreme vexation as she didn't even allow me to savor her surprise before changing gears and acting cheerful again.

Well… I guess she'll behave for now…?

Soon after, we successfully finish converting the eight darksteel javelin launchers into Ryder Special 120mm M1 Field Guns. Each one is now a fucking monster of a weapon as their shells don't just explode. They launch all kinds of spells upon impact, like Urmeie just witnessed, causing massive, widespread damage that would make Geneva cry.

We also make a number of shells that don't have the enchantments haphazardly crammed into them, and the difference in firepower is very noticeable. The "darts" of the APFSDS are filled with explosives, but they're too thin to put that much inside them, so their main purpose is to penetrate hard targets and wreak havoc from within.

For a wide area of effect, we have normal HE shells, but I think a knight with enchanted armor would be able to survive one of those unless he took a direct hit.

All we need now is a massive metal beast on tracks to put the cannons on, and we'll have a fantasy-themed tank! Though, I'm not sure about the survivability of slow and big vehicles in this world when people can just fly and zip about, then cast [Meteor]s on your head from range, which would only become even worse if portable AT guns become a thing. Each tank would need a Chimeric [Wind Shield] enchantment all around it if it wanted to survive sniping, and that would make tanks unbelievably expensive.

But then my musings are interrupted by a message from Caterina: Faustus Fluminis has abandoned Katasko and fled to Mistcross, where his home is located.

This is the man who first ordered Katasko to coerce us into joining them. When we rebuffed them, he ordered Nero to "teach us a lesson," and the spy hired thugs who tried to knock out and then strip the girls naked. After we responded with a show of power and destroyed their HQ, Faustus attempted a sloppy plot to have the Enforcers arrest us on false charges (though we were actually guilty of the crime they accused us of, it's just that the evidence was fake), and he lost a lot of support among Katasko after that. He's a rotten noble through and through, and he's also the one who pulled us into this mess.

So he deserves to die.

"Didn't your friend say that she was moving to Mistcross?" I curiously ask Ciel.

"Yes… she did…" our loving priestess wife answers hesitantly.

And I smile evilly. "The Emperor asked us to be 'discreet,' so let's send your friend Fleur a gift while also asking for a small favor."

The sun sets as we wait for the courier to deliver the gift. It shouldn't take long as they're going to use the Imperial [Eternal Gate] Network.

Our men are ready, the field guns are all done, the research is finished, and the preparations are over. Now, we just need to rest until tomorrow, so we simply relax in a private room, but the air is tense.

"I'm surprised that you're so cooperative with this operation," Yunia calmly remarks to Ciel.

"I'm an honorary Templar. If I had stuck to that path, I would've eventually had to purge corrupt nobles like Faustus anyway," she calmly replies.

Yunia hums amusedly. "Still. Your kind personality makes it jarring to see you kill anything."

"I agree," I agree.

And Ciel snorts, but she doesn't feel like arguing against this "compliment," so she changes the topic, "I'd be more worried about Lina. She always hides her negative feelings from us." Then she gives our little wife a worried look.

But Lina becomes awkward. "I'm not against this operation either," she quietly admits, surprising Ciel a bit.

And now the succubus pounces on the opportunity for some banter, "Why do you think Lina is so good at [Cursing Magic]? She has a sadistic side to her that she's embarrassed to show."

The "little sister" glares at the "older sister," but she can't deny it, especially since we can read her thoughts.

"Right…" Ciel hums, sounding conflicted.

"We all love each other, despite each of us having 'nasty' personality traits," Alissa diplomatically states.

And that cheers up Ciel again. "Right! Yes! It doesn't matter what any one of us likes as long as we keep it under control!"

"Roleplaying and reality are to be kept separate," I state sagely, but then I begin to wonder if we should get Lina to try out [Dark Magic]. I search my memories for the spells of that magic school, but I quickly realize that they don't seem to be useful enough to be worth the effort, so I push that thought away.

Suddenly, the small transparent gem at the center of the table glows with a faint green color. Fleur must've activated the other gem of the Bound Pair, the signal that she has agreed to our request.

I open a [Gate] to the small plank that we had delivered along with the gift, and I send a small summoned bird first. Once I deem that there's no ambush, we start crossing through.

For a split second, we feel like our bodies are in free-fall, and we suddenly find ourselves in a very werefox/Japanese room, with waxed dark gray floorboards, thin sliding walls, and cushions around a simple, low table.

"Fleur!" Ciel shouts and rushes to embrace her small ginger friend, then the chocolate angel extends an arm and pulls Calum, Fleur's handsome blonde husband, into the hug.

The noisy trio shrieks in happiness as they're reunited once again, but it doesn't last long since everyone else is here too, waiting for them.

Then Ciel kindly explains, "Thank you for doing this for us. We need to be discreet, so we had to do it this way."

"It's not a problem. You can use our humble home as much as you need; we just might not have room for everyone," Fleur politely replies, then smiles wryly.

As long as Aoi stays human-sized, we'll be fine here for a little while.

But we don't abuse their hospitality for long as we already know where Faustus lives.