Chapter 1371 — The Meeting After the War

For the soldiers of the Highland Kingdom garrisoned at Fort Greta, today's events would likely become the most unbelievable and bizarre memory of their entire lives—the "rain of meteor fire" that had plummeted from the sky, the heavy artillery barrage that had shattered the tide of aberrants in an instant, the torrential storm that had blanketed the entire plain, and the alien warriors who had descended upon the land amidst that storm...

Of course, those alien warriors also included the ones who, midway through the fighting, had suddenly dropped out of the sky and gotten themselves hung up on the walls and towers...

"Hey, high-altitude drops, you know—accidents happen. Who can predict the weather? All we can do is create an environment suitable for an airborne insertion; we can't control every high-altitude air current with a hundred percent certainty," said a Siren with sea-blue hair, clapping a nearby soldier on the shoulder and explaining with complete casualness why she had landed outside the battlefield. "I was aiming carefully when I jumped—in theory I should have landed right next to a little cluster of aberrants that had the luck to survive the bombardment. But who'd have thought I'd hit a gust halfway down? It was howling, and I'd already finished my form-shift by then—too late to adjust my trajectory—and then, well, splat, down I came right at your feet..."

The one whose shoulder was being clapped was a young soldier who looked seventeen or eighteen at most, his face tight with nerves. Clutching his weapon, he couldn't help letting his gaze drift to this "alien ally"—despite the strange, snake-like tail, her upper body was still that of a beautiful woman, which made the young man seem rather nervous and shy. "So... so you're not hurt? When I saw you fall, you hit pretty hard—half your body was embedded in the ground... you're really all right?"

"I'm fine! I'd already done a form-shift on the way down; it takes more than that to kill me," the blue-haired Siren said, patting her chest cheerfully. "And anyway, this is nothing. Back when I went surfing near the sea cliffs with a few sisters, a huge wave smashed me against the cliff face and shattered me to bits on the spot. Of course, the others got shattered too..."

The young soldier looked utterly at a loss. This topic was far beyond anything in his experience of conversing with people—he could only force out a smile and try not to let his expression look too strange. "...That does sound pretty impressive..."

"It's all right, I guess. We hold a Sudden Death Creativity Contest every year back home, and my record doesn't even rank. General Vanessa often says that while I'm creative, I lack visual appeal—especially that 'explosive power within tranquility' thing... Anyway, I don't really get it; art isn't my strong suit," the blue-haired Siren said with a wave of her hand, then her expression turned a little regretful. "Ah, the worst part this time is landing outside the perimeter. I'll definitely get laughed at for this—a whole battle and I didn't cut down a single enemy..."

The young soldier: "..."

This time he was completely unable to keep up the conversation. Clearly, the life habits of the Sirens were still a bit much for a human with a normal set of values...

Fortunately, the awkwardness didn't last long. The free-spirited blue-haired Siren seemed to sense something all at once, raised her head to look beyond Fort Greta, and then turned around. "Ah, I think my superior is coming—should be here soon. I'm off, then! We'll talk again when there's a chance—you're actually pretty fun to talk to..."

Having said that, the blue-haired Siren, without caring whether the young soldier responded, swished her tail left and right and swiftly departed, leaving the young man standing there dumbfounded, staring blankly at her retreating figure. How long passed, he couldn't say, before another soldier—one who looked a little older—came over from nearby and jabbed him with an elbow. "Hey, she's gone and you're still staring? Spellbound?"

Only then did the young soldier snap out of it, but he merely opened his mouth with a strange expression, seeming entirely unsure how to begin. Seeing this, his comrade couldn't resist teasing him. "Look at that silly face... All right, all right, no helping it—different race and all, but that lady really is quite beautiful. What's the matter? First time in your life talking this much with a pretty girl? Any thoughts?"

"...My parents would never believe what their son talked about the first time he spoke with a beautiful lady like that in his whole life..." the young soldier said in a peculiar tone. "I should have asked her name just now..."

These brief and unexpected exchanges were merely interludes within Fort Greta. Audris had no spare energy at present to dwell on or consider what long-term impact the contact between such a deep-sea race and a land kingdom might have upon the world. For the king who had held this defense line through an entire winter, the two reinforcements from the Cecil Empire to the north and the deep-sea Siren Kingdom were what mattered most to him at this stage.

On one of the upper platforms of Fort Greta, Audris and Crown Prince Lorin stood at the platform's edge with several trusted commanders. They had wiped the blood and grime from their armor, but the smell of slaughter soaked into them on the battlefield still seemed to seep out from the seams of their garments. When a humming sound rose from the sky, they all looked up as one, and there before them appeared the massive silhouettes of a silver-gray dragoon flier and three red dragons—the latter clearly the flier's escort squadron.

Lorin couldn't help muttering softly. "...Two years ago, dragons were still creatures of legend..."

"Two years ago, we also thought that magnificent wall would stand for several more centuries," Audris said with a slight shake of his head, watching the flier and the three dragons slowly descend as he spoke in a low voice. "This world is changing too fast."

As he spoke, the flier had already landed smoothly at the center of the platform, while the three dragons on escort duty were enveloped midair in a blaze of magical radiance, then transformed into human form and dropped to land beside the dragoon flier from a height that would have half-killed any ordinary human. Among them, the lady with fiery red hair stepped forward, as if to help support the white-haired general who was emerging from the flier, but the latter merely waved a hand and leapt nimbly down to the ground, looking as spry as a young man.

Then another figure emerged from the dragoon's passenger cabin—a tall, beautiful lady with sky-blue hair. But her exit from the cabin was clearly not as "dashing" as Byron's; she carefully steadied herself on the handrail and walked down an inclined ramp, then adjusted her stance, as though still not quite accustomed to walking on two legs on land.

Audris led Lorin and the others forward to meet them. The sturdy, one-eyed king recognized Byron first—though the two had never met, he had seen that face in various propaganda materials. "General Byron, thank you for your assistance. The entire southern front can breathe easier now. And beside you is...?"

His gaze fell upon the red-haired dragon lady and the blue-haired lady. Though he had some conjectures, he did not rashly guess at their identities.

"Asharena, commander of the Third Expeditionary Force of the Holy Dragon Duchy and concurrently liaison officer to the Alliance," the red-haired dragon lady said with a nod. "The dragonkin troops I lead have been operating alongside General Byron's expeditionary fleet, and for some time to come we will also assist the southern front in securing air superiority."