Magister Canus sharply inhaled but otherwise kept his expression neutral.

“Details, Tiberius.”

Magister Tiberius took another swig from his flask.

“Those imbeciles have accused Her Majesty NSLICE-00P…”

“Correction: This unit’s designation has been updated. Please refer to her as Seero.”

Magister Tiberius tilted his head then shrugged.

“Works for me, much easier to pronounce. Anyways, the imbeciles have accused Her Majesty Seero of being a demon lord, of all things, which we know can’t possibly be true.”

“Objection: It is true.”

All eyes swung towards Seero. Since the Herald of the New Dawn was an Aesdes, with access to the Aesdes’ Divination sight, it is only natural that he had accessed classified data about Seero and her dungeon core. In light of that situation, withholding the same information from allied forces who had pledged their support even against the Empire was no longer calculated as efficient, as all it would achieve would be to interfere with coordination. And if her allies would turn on her as a result, it was preferable for them to do so now than at a later date, when combat operations with other hostile forces were in progress.

Contextual clues from the allies indicated they did not fully understand the statement, so Seero moved to elaborate.

“Helpful Explanation: This unit possesses a dungeon core integrated into her cybernetic components, as well as command over additional subordinate cores, a position designated by the Aesdes’ system as ‘dungeon master.’ Cultural and historical texts of the Empire consistently use ‘demon lord’ as a synonym for this role in both colloquial and academic contexts. As a result, it is accurate to designate this unit as a demon lord.”

Everyone went completely silent. Magister Tiberius chuckled nervously.

“T-That’s a good one, Your Majesty. We all know you’re a hero, and demon lords can’t be heroes! That just wouldn’t make any sense!”

“Statement: This unit is classified as both.”

Uscfrea nodded his head.

“I can confirm personally that she is telling the truth.”

Vopicus and Dux Augustalis nodded their heads. Magister Tiberius turned to Ateia, Taog, and Agedia. Ateia smiled wryly and nodded. Taog shrugged and nodded. Agedia just looked amused.

Magister Tiberius looked at his flask, then threw his head back and tanked the whole thing at once. Magister Canus heaved a sigh.

“...you could have shared, you know?”

A bit of commotion and explanations later, and the Turannian leaders hung their heads and sighed. Governor Aemilia held her head in her hands.

“My fate…rests with a demon lord. That is…”

She sighed again. Magister Canus shrugged.

“Whatever she may be, she has not acted as we would fear from a demon lord. And some extra capabilities won’t hurt. Now, Magister Tiberius, did Magister Appius say anything else?”

Magister Tiberius nodded.

“Ah, that’s right. The High-King of Mirima came in person, and brought the Sky Legion and an entire fleet of airships with him.”

He glanced over at Governor Aemilia.

“He, um, also declared Governor Aemilia a traitor for collaborating with a demon lord and is planning to apprehend us all as well.”

Governor Aemilia sighed.

“Typical. Not unexpected, though.”

Magister Canus shook his head.

“What of the other Courts?”

Magister Tiberius nodded.

“The Eastern Court does not share the Southern Court’s opinion and has openly stated that, but has also made no open moves to stop it yet. Magister Appius is under the impression that they may be occupied at present. As for the Northern Court…Emperor Lucius is opposed, but has no influence at this stage. Consul Hiberius left Corvanus a while ago, and Magister Verrucosis is cooperating with the High-King.”

Magister Canus rubbed his chin, and then sighed.

“Unfortunate. The Sky Legion is already beyond our forces save for Her Majesty.”

As for Seero…this situation was actually beneficial. The Southern Court had declared hostility…and revealed classified intel that only the Herald of the New Dawn should have been aware of. There was, therefore, a significant probability that the Southern Court had intel related to the Heralds of the New Dawn.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

So, rather than randomly search through the Empire for undetermined clues, she could set a mission she was much better optimized for.

Terminating hostiles, and apprehending priority targets.

“Query: Do the friendlies have any intel regarding the hostile forces?”

Magister Canus nodded.

“Yes, I’ve worked with the Sky Legion before. The Southern Court doesn’t maintain as many legions as the East or even the North, and a lot of the allied and client states maintain their own forces. What they’ve done instead is invest into a massive fleet of airships, a knight order of wyvern-riders, and countless artifacts that enable flight. As a result, their forces can travel anywhere within the Southern Realms within hours and bombard a foe into submission from above while their legionnaires and knights drop right on top of the survivors, allowing a handful of legions to cover the entire area. They back this up with some of the finest mages in the Empire, who can cast powerful spells from the safety of the airships.”

He rubbed his chin.

“And even under the current circumstances, they’ll likely remain effective. We’ve already confirmed that all artifacts still function, so their airships would remain fully operational, though their crews might be less effective in using them. Likewise, the wyvern knights and the top mages at the very least should have some personal mastery apart from the Aesdes’ support, and can likely still fight.”

He heaved a sigh.

“They’ll do better than my own troops on average. And I don’t have time to change that. If they’re already in Corvanus, they could arrive here in a few hours, though if they want to bring some of the Northern Legions they may require time to load them onto the ships.”

“Analysis: Given the hostile’s armament and tactics, it appears an air superiority battle will be necessary. Do the friendlies possess air units or air defenses?”

Magister Canus sighed and shook his head.

“A couple of ballistae covering Castra Turannia, but they’re only intended to ward off a wyvern or two. The Northern Court specifically stripped any defenses in the provinces capable of defeating an airship to prevent arming a rebellion, and Turannia never had any to begin with.”

Magister Tiberius smirked.

“Heh, well considering the circumstances, perhaps that was a good move.”

Magister Canus smiled slightly and then turned to Uscfrea and Miallói.

“How about your peoples?”

Miallói shook her head.

“You know what an airship did to my people.”

Magister Canus turned to Uscfrea…who was smiling smugly. He chuckled.

“Let’s just say there are benefits to being the subject of My Queen.”

Indeed, Uscfrea transferred data over to Seero on the Dobhar’s latest efforts. It appears that after Princess Caecila arrived in an airship, Uscfrea had given a great deal of thought to countering such a weapon.

Likewise, Shialnor had started to fill out some of the Cyborg affinity’s item creation options. And as Uscfrea hadn’t been as disappointed as Seero had in the initial options, he had invested some dungeon points in upgrading his item creation abilities…unlocking some options from a bit further along in Earth’s history.

Seero’s robotic eye flickered.

“Surprised Statement: This unit was not aware that Steward Uscfrea had access to twentieth-century air defense technology. Reassessing combat potential of Dobhar military forces.”

Dux Augustalis couldn’t help but grin.

“I…have to admit, you have some neat toys, Your Majesty.”

Vopicus nudged her side.

“Your Majesty Seero, you are truly powerful. I did not think to see the day when our serious Dux here would actually crack a smile…oh, and it’s gone again.”

Dux Augustalis responded to that with violence. Uscfrea, meanwhile, turned to Seero.

“Your orders, My Queen?”

“Statement: This unit has recommendations on the organization and positioning of air defense units for maximum effectiveness. Query: Under the assumption of military cooperation, this unit would like to expand the network to allied territory in order to achieve thorough coverage of the island. Does this unit have permission from allied forces to deploy military units on their territory?”

Governor Aemilia nodded immediately.

“Yes. Rather, I should be asking you.”

Miallói nodded as well.

Seero immediately turned to leave.

“Acknowledged. Command: Steward Uscfrea should prepare air defense forces to deploy. This unit will scout and identify ideal deployment locations, and prepare a logistics network for deployment.”

Magister Tiberius and Magister Canus stepped off to the side for a moment as everyone began preparing. Magister Canus raised an eyebrow.

“Be quick, Tiberius. We both have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it.”

Magister Tiberius nodded.

“Right, just, should we ask about you-know-who again?”

Magister Canus shook his head.

“It’s not time yet.”

Magister Tiberius tilted his head.

“Really? With the South moving against us and Emperor Lucius having lost even the illusion of authority?”

Magister Canus nodded.

“Right now, neither Emperor Lucius nor the Eastern Court have acknowledged the Southern Court’s declaration. So…to a great deal of the Empire, we technically aren’t rebelling, just acting in self-defense. But should we proclaim a new emperor…”

Magister Tiberius’s eyes widened in understanding.

“Ah, yeah guess we keep it under wraps for now.”

Magister Canus smiled.

“Besides…it is not our place to decide.”

Magister Tiberius nodded at that, and then the two got back to work.

Meanwhile, Seero and Ateia were currently in the core room of a dungeon on the coast of Turannia.

A Flame Elemental floated in the air before her. It thrust its arm forward, unleashing a mighty torrent of fire.

“Acknowledgement: Hostile intent confirmed. Engaging termination protocols.”

Seero popped open a panel on her arm and took out a pre-prepared anti-mana bomb, now complete with its own explosive charge and detonator. She tossed it straight at the elemental.

The elemental dungeon master screamed as a wave of anti-mana erased the mana that made up its being.

Seero walked over to the dungeon core and placed her hand on the core. She could sense corrupted mana seeping into it, and flooded the core with Holy mana, clearing the corruption and isolating the core from the seepage. Ateia walked over and did likewise. Ateia closed her eyes to concentrate as Seero transmitted data to her.

Soon, a message passed in their UI’s.

“Core integration protocol completed successfully.”

They had determined how to link a core to Seero’s in a replication of the dungeon core subordination function. And while they couldn’t replicate all the functions of the Dungeon system for the core in question, they had already replicated Seero’s World Features capabilities.

As such…Seero was now able to create an entrance between this dungeon and the Primary Home Base.

She placed it closer to the dungeon’s entrance. Since the dungeon’s functions weren’t fully available, she prioritized logistical efficiency over defense in this case. She deployed a sensor drone that would report if the dungeon came under attack, so that she could deploy reinforcements before a hostile reached the entrance to the primary home base.

At that point, Dobar, humans, dwarves, Wulver, and other races from Uscfrea’s forces began to march out of the entrance. They carried their equipment out of the dungeon to set up another air defense point. Seero and Ateia then left the dungeon, and boosted off to the next site.

And so Turannia prepared itself for war.