Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight Volume 13

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3124-2
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight

Having been selected to join Meraldia's delegation, Friede, Yuhette, and Shirin make their way to the frigid Rolmund Empire to meet with Empress Eleora. Once there, she encounters Eleora's niece, Micha, and the two become fast friends. One day, while they're exploring the capital, a group of people plotting Eleora's demise abduct Micha. Friede tracks them to their hideout, and soon realizes that she won't be able to count on backup. Alone, she infiltrates the enemy base in order to save her friend.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hyougetsu

Weitere Mitwirkende

Teshima, Nari

Ningen

Leseproben

Chapter 13

The Meraldian Commonwealth and the Rolmund Empire agreed to a technological exchange, opening the door to formal negotiations between the two nations. Friede was chosen to go with the diplomatic delegation to Rolmund, and was eagerly awaiting the day of their departure.

“You’re really gonna go to Rommand?” Ryucco, the demon army’s chief technician, asked her as he idly munched on a carrot.

“Yep. I’m going to .” Friede casually corrected Ryucco’s mispronunciation, but the lagomorph didn’t seem to notice.

He skillfully disassembled a small Blast Rifle, made a few adjustments, and reassembled it just as quickly.

“Here, it’s got the firepower you asked for. Give it a test shot.”

“Thanks, Ryucco.”

Friede took aim at a small target that had been set up on an empty lot near Doneiks’s arena. Her Blast Rifle was small enough that it was more like a Blast Pistol.

“Take that!” She pulled the trigger, and a blinding bullet of light shot out of the muzzle. “Whoa! What the?!”

Friede shut her eyes in surprise, and heard a soft as the bullet hit the target.

After a few seconds, she slowly opened her eyes and saw that the target had been blown to pieces. The smell of burning wood reached her moments after.

“Damn, that blasted straight through that tower shield. It was even reinforced with iron plates. Hey, how many plates did that shot pierce?” Ryucco asked in amazement, and a group of canine techs went over to the target to check.

“Four plates, sir!”

“It didn’t pierce the fifth plate, but it snapped in half!”

“There’re cracks in the sixth one too!”

“The first two plates were shattered in so many pieces there’s nothing left of them!”

One canine ran over to Ryucco, took off his goggles, and pointed to a few figures on his clipboard. “We got some really good measurements here! Look at this, Ryucco, it’s amazing!”

Ryucco whistled appreciatively as he stared at the numbers. “That one shot had 7.4 kites worth of magic in it? You’d need a cadre of destruction mages to get that kinda output normally. No wonder you obliterated that shield.”

“Umm, isn’t this weapon a little overkill?” Friede asked hesitantly, and Ryucco shrugged his shoulders.

“You might need this kind of firepower when you’re up against a bunched army, but you definitely don’t need it for a regular shoot-out. Lemme see that.” Ryucco took the Blast Rifle from Friede and started tinkering with it. “I’ll just set a limit on its maximum firepower and... Wait, what should I do with the excess mana output? Eh, screw it. I’ll divert it here and increase its capacity.”

He substituted out a few parts, then handed the pistol back to Friede.

“Here, this should do it. Keep the output setting on minimum unless you need heavy firepower. It’ll shoot 0.2 kite bullets, which is the demon army Blast Rifle standard.”

“Of course, that’s still enough to kill a normal human, so be careful,” one of the canines added, his tail wagging excitedly.

“As long as you’re shooting within its effective range, that’s still powerful enough to blow off someone’s head or arm, even if they’re wearing armor,” another said.

“Yikes,” Friede said with a shiver as she stared at the weapon in her hands.

Ryucco started cleaning up his tools and took out another vegetable stick to munch on.

“You don’t have as much mana as Veight, but you’ve still got a heck of a lot,” he said. “Honestly, this pistol’s meant to be more of a tool to help you get rid of your excess mana than a proper weapon.”

“If I store up too much mana, I’ll turn into a Valkaan, right? Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

Friede looked over the pistol one last time, then holstered it. “All right, one last test shot?” she asked.

“Yep, go for it.”

“’Kay.”

The canines brought out a new target, and Friede got into a quick-draw stance. She sucked in a deep breath and touched the pistol’s grip.

“Here I go!”

After she was done testing her new gun, Friede ate lunch with the canines. They’d made roast duck sandwiches for everyone. When he saw what was for lunch, Ryucco started angrily stomping on the ground.

“Why do you guys have to stick meat in everything?!”

“’Cause meat’s tasty?”

“How many times do I have to tell you I prefer vegetables?!”

Friede fished out a sandwich that looked different from the rest and handed it to Ryucco. “Here, they have vegetable sandwiches too.”

“Oh, good. You guys did remember. It’s not like I can’t eat meat, but vegetables are just so much better.”

Ryucco sat down next to Friede and took a big bite out of his sandwich. Before long, the topic of conversation naturally turned towards Friede’s upcoming trip to Rolmund.

“Watch out for Empress Eleora. She’s one hell of a schemer. She’s got a few soft spots though.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, and she knows her stuff when it comes to magic and research. Though, she ain’t as good as me.”

“Doesn’t...that mean she’s not that amazing?” Friede asked with a smile, and Ryucco sniffed dismissively.

“Oh, she’s amazing all right, just not as much as Veight.”

“Okay...”

Some time later, Friede and her companions set out for Krauhen, where the members of the delegation would be meeting up before going to Rolmund. There was supposed to be a large number of researchers, mages, and students in the delegation, so they wouldn’t feel out of place. Veight and a few other members of the werewolf squad would serve as Friede’s bodyguards during the trip.

Inside the carriage, Friede smiled and said, “You’re such a worrywart, dad.”

“I’m not worried, I’m just going with you to see you off as mom’s—as the Demon Lord’s representative,” Veight said, folding his arms and looking out the window. He had a habit of doing that whenever he was making excuses. “The council’s expecting a lot from this delegation. Meraldia and Rolmund have different political structures and different cultures, but that’s precisely why we need to deepen our ties and avoid conflict.”

“I don’t get the complicated political stuff, but basically we just have to become friends, right?”

“Well...basically, yeah. Make sure you mind your manners though,” Veight said with a small smile, then leaned closer to Friede. “Oh yeah, it’s cold up there, so remember to pile on the blankets when you sleep.”

“Hm? But I always sleep under a lot of blankets.”

“Yeah, and by the time you wake up you’ve kicked them all off. The last thing you want is to catch a cold in a foreign country. Oh, and they have different foods than us, but don’t overeat just because everything looks novel. They’ll be serving a lot of deer and beef, but leave some for the rest of your friends, okay?”

“Wait, beef?! Wow, we almost never get beef in Ryunheit!”

“That’s exactly the kind of thing you shouldn’t say when you’re over there. People might make assumptions on Meraldia’s financial situation based on our eating habits.” Veight let out a small sigh. “Cows need more food to raise than other livestock, which is why beef is more expensive than other kinds of—”

“Hey, dad, how do they cook their beef in Rolmund?”

“Hm? Well, it’s been a while, so I don’t remember too well. I think they had a lot of stews and wine-glazed steaks, and stuff?”

“How could you forget something so important?!” she protested.

Veight gave Friede a placating smile and said, “There was a lot going on when I was there. I didn’t exactly have time to savor my meals... Oh, but that does remind me.” Talking about food had jogged Veight’s memory. “You know how in northern Meraldia they put melted cheese on a lot of dishes? Well, that style of cuisine comes from Rolmund, so you’ll see it there too.”

“Sweet! I love cheese!”

“Just remember, don’t overeat.”

“Okay!”

It was clear from her tone that she was ready to eat an entire cow each meal.

Friede and Veight ended up talking about Rolmund cuisine for the rest of the journey to Krauhen. As this would be the first official exchange between Rolmund and Meraldia, Kurtz, the head engineer of the demon army and Veight’s longtime friend, was chosen to be the delegation’s leader.

“Our mission is to set the foundations for an alliance with Rolmund,” Kurtz said to the gathered members of the delegation in his customary calm, measured tone. “However, we are not diplomats. We do not possess the education and training that formal diplomats would. Rolmund is not expecting diplomacy from us either. We simply need to comport ourselves in a manner befitting researchers and engineers. In other words...” He cleared his throat. “All...