A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

Pride's actions and thoughts were all based on the federal government's perspective.

He would not object as long as it would ultimately benefit the Federation.

“As long as you force the other side to negotiate peace, then you naturally have a thousand ways to get benefits for the Federation, don’t you?” Goodeid said.

“You don’t need to teach me that, Vice President.”

"You really have a temper, Mr. President."

"If you're not valuable, you'll be kicked off the vice presidency immediately. Be prepared," Pride warned Gureed.

If Goodrid disregards the interests of the Federation, Pride will make him pay the price.

Even if he had helped me.

"Don't worry, I don't want to lose something I've worked so hard to get."

“Take a good look at this armed airship yourself. Isn’t it impressive?” Gurid asked, fiddling with the dagger in his hand.

Pride looked up at the towering aircraft and pondered for a long time.

---

Unbeknownst to anyone in the Empire, the Federation had quietly built several armed airships capable of tearing apart the Empire's defenses.

Everyone lives their own simple life.

Even the military seems to have let their guard down.

Because several months had passed since the day Eric had warned about.

Indeed, for several months, there was no further activity from the Federation within the Empire.

Not to mention others, even Eric himself began to doubt whether the Federation intended to give up.

At this time, the cold wind was howling, and the capital city welcomed winter.

"..." Levy stood on the roof, gazing at the sky.

The snow on the roof was dented into small holes of varying depths by Levy's little boots.

She stared blankly at the sky, then let out a long howl.

Because of Levy's cries, the surrounding cats and dogs all began to flee in panic.

Some dog walkers can't even control their own dogs.

"Levy, stop yelling," Bray said, lifting the window and looking at Levy on the roof.

"Ugh..." After hearing Bray's words, Levy suppressed the urge to continue screaming.

If it were about roaring under the moonlight, that would probably be plausible.

But why does Levy howl in winter? Is it because of her snow elf bloodline?

"Levy stopped barking." Having successfully held back, Levy wagged her tail and said to Bray as if to ask for credit.

“Come down, Lux is here too,” Bray said.

"Oh!" She slid down from the roof with lightning speed and then climbed through the window into the house.

Once inside the warm room, she shook her body wildly, just like a puppy.

"Levy, I brought you new clothes." Lux coughed a few times, her eyes constantly drifting towards Levy.

Bray and Levy have been living in the capital for a while now, and Lux ​​comes over often too.

Lux naturally became familiar with Levy as well.

At first, Lux thought Levy was a strange child, but after spending more time with her, she discovered that Levy was simply an angel.

Why are there such pure children in this world?

No, saying "pure" isn't quite right. It should be described as "pure," clean and without any impurities.

Who can stand this.

"New clothes?" Levy tilted her head.

Given that Levy lives with Bray, a straight-laced guy, her clothes are just "good enough".

She has never pursued any particularly beautiful clothes, after all, if you ask her what looks good, she doesn't know either, because she is just a little police lion.

“Yes, new clothes.” Lux wiped her drool and pushed Levy into the small room.

Bray sat to the side, calmly sipping his tea.

Come to think of it, most of Levy's cuter clothes were bought by Lux.

Could it be that there's something wrong with my own aesthetic sense?

How could that be? Bray would never admit to that.

After a while, Lacey was pushed out by Lux.

“Brother, Levy is so cute,” Lux said sincerely.

At this moment, Lavy was dressed in a maid outfit and had cat ears put on her by Lux.

Levy would be even cuter if her tail weren't so terrifying.

“You’re talking nonsense,” Bray said expressionlessly. Everyone knows how cute Levy is.

Lux was momentarily at a loss for words to answer Bray's question.

Because Levy had already run back to Bray's side.

No matter how good others are to Levy, she will eventually run to Brena.

"Lux said I'm cute." Dressed in a maid outfit, Levy gave a 0v0 look and looked at Bray expectantly.

"Yes, she is indeed very cute."

"Hehe~" After being praised, Levy curled up into a ball and couldn't get up again.

"Knock, knock, knock." Just then, there was a knock on the Bray family's door.

Bray got up and flung the door open, eager to see who was looking for him.

He had no friends in the capital who would visit him.

“It’s you, soldier.” Bray said with emotion as he looked at Eric and Alice standing behind the door.

Are you here as a guest?

“Do you think I would do something so stupid?” Eric said.

“I also think you won’t,” Bray said with a shrug.

"You adventurers will take any job, right?"

“Yes.” Bray nodded; Eric was right.

“With this kind of dialogue, I hope you will participate in this military commission,” Eric said in a deep voice.

"We need to intercept the armed airships coming from the Federation."

“Isn’t this something you should be doing yourselves?” Bray frowned.

Normally, the military wouldn't allow adventurers to get involved in something like this.

"Because we don't have enough manpower, those guys from the Federation swept through too quickly."

Just a few days ago, various pieces of bad news began to come from the outskirts of the empire.

One city after another fell to the enemy after being bombed by armed airships.

The Empire isn't without aerial weapons, but the Federation's are simply too far beyond their capabilities.

It's unimaginable how much the Federation paid to create them.

“Emmmmmm” Bray knew that Eric still had something to say.

That means if these airships continue to rush over, the capital will also suffer.

Eric probably knew that Bray wouldn't want to see this, which is why he came.

In fact, Eric was right; Bray didn't really want his newly purchased house to be inexplicably destroyed by the federal government.

"The military has recruited many adventurers, but I think you are more reliable."

“Praise won’t help.” Bray shook his head. Actually, this matter was quite troublesome; it was clearly not a simple request.

“Everyone who participates will receive a reward of 200,000 G,” Eric said, dropping his trump card.

"What? How much?"

"Two hundred thousand gigabytes."

"Weren't there supposed to be a lot of adventurers? That many of them?"

"Yes."

"I..." Bray hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.

“If you perform exceptionally well, the payout can double, I said.” Eric raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, I’ll participate.” Bray thought it was too much trouble, but the offer was just too much. It was on the outskirts of a city on the border of the Empire.

The ground was covered with snow, and the trees were all dressed in white.

Unfortunately, the steel monster in the sky spoils the view here.

Bray stood on the small hill, gazing at the heavy airship that was slowly approaching. He had heard that this was the main ship.

Beside him were other adventurers who had also been rushed over; they were all just laborers.

However, being an employee of the Empire must be prestigious, even though this commission is really difficult.

In addition, these adventurers also had to follow orders.

Of course, Bray understood that this was a reasonable arrangement.

Therefore, he was very law-abiding and did not act recklessly.

Levy is so attached to him that it's impossible for her to stay at home.

Levy stands out from the group of adventurers who are all on high alert.

Look at that tail wagging so fast, Levy would probably catch a frisbee if Bray threw it at her.

No, something's not right here. There's something wrong.

Although Levy is out of place, it doesn't matter.

"Bray, Bray, what are we going to do?" she asked curiously, sitting down next to Bray.

She had absolutely no idea why she was there. Bray gave her an adventurer's badge out of the blue, and she took it and followed him.

As for what adventurers were or what she was going to do, Levy knew nothing.

"Shoot... airship." Bray hesitated, then finally organized his thoughts.

After saying that, Bray pinched the communication array on the side of his collar.

Their connection with military commanders relied entirely on this.

"How boring," Bray said in a voice as salty as a salted fish.

He and the other adventurers had been staking out this hill for a long time, waiting for the commander's order for a surprise attack.

So, what's the point of bringing in adventurers who can't even fly?

It seems to be used to protect the back row.

But he doesn't have the ability to protect the back row. Why did Eric call him over? Is he here to be a joke?

"Buzz buzz buzz buzz—" Suddenly, static came from all the adventurers' communication arrays.

The same applies to the collar of Levy's dress.

Levy, with her keen hearing, was momentarily stunned after accidentally hearing the jarring sound >A<.

She couldn't help but cover her long ears, and she didn't even want to wag her tail anymore.

"What's going on? The communication array isn't working!" An adventurer realized what the static meant and exclaimed in surprise.

Upon hearing this, the other adventurers also began to check their own magic circles and found that they were indeed unusable.