"Meow, what's that in the distance?"
Hikari put her ladle in her mouth and chewed. She turned her head towards the massive floating zeppelin in the distance.
Covered in an outer steel carapace. At the helm, a golden embroidery of the symbol of the Herdial royal house.
She could see no fewer than ten vacuum compartments. Six arranged in a pentagon around the bottom of the airship. Four in a square at the top.
She could sense an immense mana coming from inside the core.
On each side, she counted around thirty cannon ports, and at least a hundred smaller gun ports.
"It's big."
"I know. Meow! Nom* Nom* It's several times the size of my house. Hey! Zark what do ya think?"
"Uhh... crunch*"
"What ya eating meow. Oh it's the glowing blue berries from the spire city. Rurrrr…. they taste bad… Hey, Hikari! How do ya think those berries taste?"
"Bad"
"I know. Meow. My papa says that food is getting short and we may have to start eating the glowing blue berries soon. Rurrrr….." Camilia shivered in her fur.
"Uhhh... mana...."
Hikari put her ladle in her mouth and swallowed, staring blankly at the floating fortress lumbering slowly towards her.
The sound of horses can be heard. The scout master dismounted and approached Hikari.
"Good morning, Ladies and gentleman. Splendid job so far. I'm back from the war council. I'm sure you see that floating thing there. Starting tomorrow, we'll advance into the swamps. Hikari will lead one of the columns."
"Nom* Nom* They are really bringing the big guns now meow."
"You mean the flying Fortress? I'm not sure about that."
"Meow?"
"You see, a flying Fortress is at a disadvantage against a normal ground fort. It's more lightly armed and armoured for the simple reason that it has to be light enough to fly. Its cannons aren't of particularly high caliber to pierce the walls of a ground fortress since it expects to face other zeppelins. Otherwise, the sky fortress would be a completely overpowered weapon."
"Nom* Nom*"
"It's strange. The Flying Fortress would have been much more potent in supporting the open ground battle, but it was not deployed until now. We still have to haul additional cannons through the swamp since the Flying Fortress can't siege a city like Carla alone. I can only surmise that the Herdial crown wants some propaganda without risking their precious crown jewel."
"Nom* Nom*"
"But what bothers me even more is that the cultists had chosen to fight in the open outside of the swamps surrounding Carla, which had made it much easier for us to bring our numbers to bear. Even as we were pushing in, they were still prioritising transporting the captured villages towards Carla. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Nom* Nom* oh hey a cricket." Camilia pounced.
"Meow. It got away… oh hey so what happens if the Flying Fortress gets shot down?"
"Well, I do think a lot of heads will roll at the Herdial palace. As for us, if something showed up that could shoot down the sky fortress, we should probablely just run for our lives. Anyways, down to business."
The scout master took out a marked map. Hikari reached out her hand, allowing him to place it on her palm.
"Lady Camilia, you will be the tracker for Hikari. I've discussed this with your father. You will sniff out the swamp creatures but leave the clearing to Hikari."
"Yes. Yes. Meow. I'll leave the fighting to Hikari. I promise."
"Hikari?"
"Yes, scout master"
"I'm sure I can count on you. And one more thing, the shipment of handcannon ammunition has arrived."
Hikari grabbed her belt and stood up.
"It's in those crates over there."
Hikari strides over, flipping open the lid with her finger, pinches one bullet and dropped it down the barrel of her hand cannon.
She aimed it towards the straw dummy.
A pause, followed by the sound of wood abruptly being smashed into pieces.
Not a trace of smoke.
Hikari kept the handcannon back into her holster.
"Telekinetic enchantment on one side, the RazenHeir rune enchanted by madam Razenheir herself on the other. Use them wisely."
Hikari assembled her armour.
"I'm ready this time. Meow. You won't get away that easily."
"After you, Lady Camilia."
The scout master nods and tosses a vial of mucus to Camilia.
The swarms were quiet. The ground thick with mud, puddles, potholes and potentially carnivorous man eating plants littered the grounds.
Camilia slowly crawls along the thick mangrove branch. Her fur turning grey to blend in with the mark. Her nose was twitching.
Below her, lies what a line man would have mistaken it for a boulder. But she could smell them, hear their breathing and their faint heartbeat muffled by the mud.
She held up her paw, waving a glowing mana crystal.
Then she waited.
A massive claymore came crashing down on the troll. The hissing of steam rising from the searing heat of the claymore.
With a step, Hikari dragged her claymore through the troll, slicing it in half.
"Meow! That's the seventh one today. Not even papa can one slice a troll like that."
Hikari kept her claymore.
"Next."
"There's no more next. Meow. We have cleared the route period. Hey, I saw a spot where we get a good view. wanna come with?"
"Sure."
Hikari followed Camilia to a mangrove tree large enough to be a landmark. Its branches were thick enough to support even Hikari's weight.
From the top, they could vaguely see the columns of troops moving along the roads.
A group of geomancers harden the ground at the head of the column, heavily guarded by warriors in steel armour and shields.
Once they are done, the lumberjacks fell the mangrove around them, building bridges and filling pits so that the cannons and their powder carts can be hauled.
In the distance, they could see the zeppelin port city of Carla in the distance. Its massive stone walls and towers housing hundreds of cannon ports.
Ria had told her about how the city just a month ago housed over a hundred merchant zeppelins to the lands afar. But now it appears to be completely still.
"It's deserted."
"Meow. Are you sure? Did they just fly away in the floating boats? Meow! That would be nice, we get to go home soon. But wouldn't the hooded man be back again some time. Oh wait, we have floating boats ourselves that can shoot their floating boats."
Hikari stared at the fortress.
She stared and stared.
Until it was night time.
"Meow….yawn!" Camilia uncurled herself on her lap.
"Can we go back now? Meow… ya need some rest too."
Hikari kept quiet and continued staring.
"Meow?"
Hikari stared.
"Let's go back."
"Meow! Okie. Let's sleep. Tomorrow, the bounty man says that the big floating ship will start booming the fortress. We can watch from our tree top. Then we go back and tell Ria what she missed meow!"
It was an uneventful trek back to camp which was now right on the edge of the swamp.
"Where's the scout master?" Hikari asked the sentry.
"He's in his tent meeting with some Herdial officers, ma'am. Maybe you should have dinner first."
"Meow! Let's eat! Meow is starving!"
Hikari quietly prepared her cauldron, stuffing the usual ingredients inside and lighting the flames.
Camilia prepared hers as well.
"Hey, where's Zark? Meow! There ya are! Come join us for dinner."
"Uuuhh….. bodies... no bodies...."
"Ya. Ya. Meow. We know. There hasn't been fighting for the last few days. So ya won't have any dead bodies to carve up."
Camilia crawled up to Hikari and turned over, revealing her belly to her.
"Purrrr… I know frontlines are stressful. Maybe you can rub my belly a bit?"
Hikari kept quiet, seemingly contemplating something.
"You called for a word, Hikari?"
"Yes scout master."
"I guess the stillness of the frontlines is getting on your nerves too. We have faced nothing but the swamp for the past few days. The remaining cultist holdouts behind our lines had been captured. If you have something for me, feel free to speak."
"What happened to the Eldarsoar house?"
"Oh? That's quite the sudden question. On the day the cultists launched their all out assault on our territory, the Eldarsoar house bore the brunt of their attack and were, as all the reports suggest, wiped out. I'm curious as to why you are mentioning that now."
"I sense it. Their mana."
"It can't be meow…. Metharia and us grew up together. She couldn't have been a cultist."
"Hmm… that's quite the important bit of intel. I'll discuss this with the knights. Whether the Eldarsoar house is in cahoots with the cultists or the latter had somehow weaponized their runes and their summons, we best be ready for what's to come."