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When it came to the Northern Front, I decided to keep my distance as much as possible.
Some vice-commands seem to think I’m some sort of master negotiator, but really, I’m just a run-of-the-mill werewolf who used to be human.
No way I’m letting myself get dragged into that mess.

After politely turning down Vice Commander Baltze’s request to “Please try to stop Lady Schula…”, I used my master’s magic to return to Lüenheit.

“Good grief… I don’t want to show my face in Grünstadt for a while.”
“Your diplomatic skills are known throughout the Demon Lord’s army, after all. They call you the Scheming Magician, you know?”
“Please don’t. That’s just embarrassing.”

While my master teased me, I returned to my office and started planning ahead.

What I was really worried about was the Miraldia Alliance Army.
The Northern Front hadn’t collapsed yet, but when the division commander has to take the field personally, you know it’s on the brink.
The priority right now is to gather our remaining forces in Bachen, but eventually we’ll need to pull back…
And if that happens, Miraldia could shift its troops southward.

Out of Miraldia’s 17 cities, we’ve already occupied three in the south. That leaves 14 cities still hostile.
We’ve also taken one in the north, but its residents fled and are now being sheltered in other cities—so for all intents and purposes, we’re still up against the full population of 14 cities.
Just a rough estimate, but if each city fields about 500 city guards and 1,000 militia, that’s around 20,000 enemy combatants.
The militia are poorly trained, so they’re not that scary, but I still don’t want to fight a force that big.

On top of that, the Miraldia Alliance maintains a standing army for emergencies, about 10,000 to 20,000 strong across the country.
The 5,000 troops stationed in the northern city Schwelm were part of that standing force. Rumor has it most of them are still alive.
Normally, they live as soldier-farmers scattered across the land, but they’re state-funded professionals—not the type to underestimate.
They’ve probably built up serious strength through farming too. I really don’t want to fight them either.

There are a few smaller combat groups out there too, but those will be the main threat for now.
I doubt all 40,000 will come charging at us, but a force of 10,000 could show up any day.
So yeah—no time to be lounging around.

“You look like you’re thinking hard about something.”
“Master, you’re still here?!”
“It’s cozy here.”

She sat in a chair, smiling with a childlike expression—but she looked a little tired.
Maybe she still hadn’t fully recovered from the battle at Tübahn.

“Want some tea?”
“Yes, that would be nice.”

While leisurely boiling water over the fireplace, we discussed what to do next.

“We don’t have enough troops to defend Lüenheit, do we?”
“No, we don’t. If I were in better shape, I’d start mass-producing skeleton soldiers right away… but to get tens of thousands of them ready, I’d need to drop all official duties for over three months.”

That’s a problem. She looks like she has plenty of free time, but in reality, she’s busy supporting her disciples, who serve as vice division commanders.

“And I need to send skeleton soldiers to Merlene and Firniel too. We have to hold off any northern invasions.”

She’s right. Those two cities are the northern shield.

“So I guess skeleton troops are off the table. Isn’t there anyone else we can use?”
“My disciples are trying to persuade some of the races that haven’t risen up yet. But each has their reasons, so we can’t push them.”

That means my best option is calling in people I have connections with.
The werewolves are basically all here already. I can’t pull in too many dragonkin.
That leaves the dogfolk… but they’re weak.
No, wait.

“Thought of something?”
“Yeah. I’ve got an idea. Let me try something.”

“Loading ready!”
“Loading ready!”
“Elevation angle set!”
“Elevation angle set!”
“Fire!”

A sharp TWANG of a heavy string echoed, and the massive bolt soared into the distance.

I had selected personnel from the dogfolk unit and was training them to operate Tübahn’s custom heavy crossbows, which are fixed in place.
These things are so massive they’re nearly impossible to move—but if mounted on a wall, anyone can use them.
The loading system is crank-driven, so even dogfolk can wind them up with effort.
Tübahn operated them with just a shooter and a crank-loader, but I assigned two loaders to each. Long battles would be too exhausting otherwise.
Then there’s a shooter, and a squad leader for aiming and coordination—a total of four people per unit. I based the setup loosely on the artillery and tank crews from my previous life.
Once we can mass-produce telescopes, I’ll assign a dedicated spotter too.

I crouched down beside a dogfolk crew spinning the crank and asked:

“Having fun?”
“Yes, it’s really fun!”
“Shooting is fun too!”
“Picking up the bolts is fun!”

They’re way too cheerful about everything…

But the real question is—can they shoot at actual people in battle?

“When the enemy comes, you’ll have to use this to kill them. Are you prepared for that?”
“Yes! I think it’ll be fun!”
“We’ll kill lots of them!”

Their pure, innocent smiles gave me a pang of guilt. It felt like I was training children to be killers—even though they’re adults.
I’ll do my best so they won’t have to fight.
But if this works out, I could really use more dogfolk.

I ordered several veteran dogfolk soldiers to return to their forest homelands and recruit volunteers. There are lots of dogfolk, and even if we limit it to young males, we should easily have over a thousand available.

“Snacks will be paid in jerky rations. Also, there’s civil engineering and farming work, so they can dig all the holes they want. Be sure to tell them that.”
“Yes, sir! We’ll do our best!”

With a crisp salute, they headed west.
I think leaving it to them will be okay, but I still don’t fully understand what motivates the dogfolk…