CHAPTER 126: MOTIVATED FLIERS

The sacks of pastries came up a moment later, and Dominic grabbed one of each before casting [Quality Kibble], the amusingly named purification spell.

"Oh, I think you have an admirer in the kitchens, Lord Techno Wizard. They sent you a whole batch of pistachio and chocolate croissants." Dominic noted.

The old man stole the remainder of the pastry from Dominic’s hand with a scowl.

"You only need one bite to test for poison, give me that. They’re my favourite."

Dominic sampled the others, tearing off one bite and then handing the rest to the dockworkers standing nearby.

One bite of each of six different types of pastry wasn’t much, but it was a nice little break in the middle of their shift.

"Sir, the cargo is loaded, we’re just waiting on the last crewman." The dock master informed them.

"Good luck up there. You’ve all been doing wonderful work, and it’s saving our backsides." Dominic called as the Techno Wizard ran back to his ship.

"I brought more pastries. There are all twelve ships coming down, right?" The runner asked.

Dominic nodded. "Yeah, over the next two hours or so. Assuming that they don’t see any enemy airships. They’ll stretch it out another day or two if they need to. We called them down well before they were out of supplies."

Dominic watched carefully to see if there were any strange reactions to the news, but he didn’t see any. The earlier attacks had made him paranoid about traitors inside the city, or that they had missed one of the Dagos invaders, and they had blended into the general population.

One by one, the airships came down, and the Dagos Artillery tried to shoot them out of the sky. Unfortunately, they weren’t even getting close, as the airship dock was right in the middle of the city.

The best they could do was lob the occasional shot over the walls.

And earn a punitive volley from the airships on their way out.

Firing from above and aiming down into the trenches, the cannons could cause some real devastation when they hit their targets.

Each Techno Mage handed him a few more of the orbs, and Dominic began to formulate a plan for how they could be used best.

The mages were limited, but they were doing a wonderful job of keeping the cannons firing with the existing self-loading cannon orbs.

But if they pretended to be running low on magical assistance and started carting out powder kegs and cannonballs, they might be able to trick the enemy into an early charge, as they would think that the defenders hadn’t noticed the spoiled powder yet.

As Dominic turned to head back into the Keep after the last airship had finished its strafing run and returned to the clouds, he noticed that two more were coming down.

They were the first pair that had come down for supplies, so Dominic waited as they landed at the docks and the crews got busy, wondering what was wrong.

"Relax, gentlemen. We just got the idea that Dagos soldiers can probably count as well as our own, so wouldn’t they know how many airships we landed? It’s better if they report more than we actually have.

Either they’ll stop sending paratroopers, or they’ll have to send a much stronger response, thinking that we have an extra two ships hidden somewhere." The Captain explained.

So, the ground crews made themselves look busy, moving empty crates in and out of the ship, following the same process as a regular restocking mission, except they carried the same crate both ways.

Once they had put on the show long enough, the ships left again, and Dominic prepared to return to the Princess.

He was just entering the Keep when the Royal Guards found him.

"Ah, Dominic, come with us. We’re going to the wall. It’s good for morale for the city’s soldiers to see their leaders on the wall with the archers and riflemen. We will be counting on you to protect the Princess." Colonel Wilkes informed him in a dry tone.

The Royal Guard was likely better at it than Dominic was. But it would look weak for her to cower behind them if the wall was attacked.

"Give me a second to put on my armour. I’ve got to make an impression if we’re going to visit the wall." Dominic agreed.

The Guards laughed, and made a grabbing gesture, indicating that they would help him into his armour.

Dominic stripped off his robes and threw on the chain layers with their thick linen underlay, then put the robes back on to equip the chest and shoulder plates, plus the gauntlets.

"Alright, now we’re ready." Dominic decided.

Colonel Wilkes lifted Dominic’s hood and pulled it down, so that his whole face was shadowed, unlikely to be recognized from a distance.

For the full mysterious magical advisor vibe.

They joined the group with the Princess and Marquis Burton, and Dominic fell in a step behind them, so the guards could form a V around them as they walked down the elevated roadways.

They didn’t take the cars to the wall, that would hide their presence.

Walking in the open so that everyone could see them reminded the people of Burton that someone was in charge and thinking of their safety. Dominic wasn’t sure how true that was, but that was what the book said the purpose of these excursions was.

The Natural Sons stood a bit straighter at attention as they passed, smiling and waving, as Dominic watched the area for threats.

The Princess was in freshly polished armour, glinting in the sun, so there would be no mistake that someone important was on the wall, in clear sight of the enemy.

Movement in the distance caught Dominic’s attention, and he watched as a Dagos soldier hidden under the ruins of a destroyed vehicle moved a rifle to his shoulder and carefully opened the steam chamber on his pack. A hidden enemy sniper.

But Dominic’s eyesight was better than average, and he had spent years looking for game in the underbrush.

The man twitched a little as he prepared to fire, and Dominic raised his hand, bringing up an [Area Barrier] at the same instant that the sound of the rifle firing reached them.

A split second later, the bullet flattened on the transparent magical barrier, wide of the Princess, but only by a few centimetres.

Everyone stopped, and Dominic hurled an [Arcane Blast] at the spot where the sniper was hiding.

It was likely out of range of his spell, but the direction of the retaliation was enough to let all the riflemen know where to look. So, a barrage of bullets passed the spell before it hit the husk of the transport truck, revealing the already deceased sniper and his punctured steam pack.