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While all that was going on, the personnel and equipment I had arranged began arriving one after another.

“Yaaay~!”

The first to arrive was the Demon Lord’s Army’s pride and joy: the elite centaur corps.

Yeah, I feel like I just saw something I really shouldn’t have seen, but that must be my imagination.

“Senior Veit! Here I’ve come!”
“Don’t come! You’re the governor of Tübahn, aren’t you!?”

As I shouted, Firniel came galloping over, cloppity-clop. Along with her were two hundred handpicked elite guards.
Firniel swung her spear around cheerfully.

“I left Tübahn to Seisches, so it’s probably fine!”

So she dumped all the work on him, huh.
I was planning to make Seisches the commander of the centaur corps anyway… well, whatever.

Grinning happily, Firniel showed me her hooves.

“Look! Just like you asked, senior, Master made them for me!”
“Oh, these.”

I had asked Master to enchant horseshoes for the centaurs with a water-walking spell. They’re simple, consumable items, but still proper magical equipment.
Back during my training days, I realized while using water-walking myself that the surface of the water is basically a vast plain. If cavalry charged across it, they’d be incredibly effective.
The problem is that if you get thrown, the rider would drown—but centaur soldiers are infantry, so they don’t get thrown.

If centaur soldiers can rampage freely on the water, they’ll be a major fighting force. They have high mobility and can use spears, bows, and swords. On top of that, they’re fearless.

“So? Think you can handle it like running on land?”
“Yep, no problem. Sometimes if we fall over, we float upside down, though.”

Right, because only the horseshoe part is enchanted… If we enchanted the whole body, we wouldn’t be able to make enough of them.

“Then we’ll need training for recovery and rescue when someone falls. I’m counting on you.”
“Yes, senior!”

Firniel and the others had also brought large weapons from Tübahn. All of them were custom-made.

“This one’s a fixed crossbow. But is this really going to be useful?”
“Probably.”

Its range is a bit short, but it has plenty of power. Even if the enemy isn’t an island octopus, this should be able to kill it.

“And we had them make catapults too, but can you really beat it by throwing rocks?”
“Don’t worry. We’re not throwing rocks.”

I’ve got two different ways to use them in mind, but if I explain one of them now, everyone will definitely object, so I’ll keep quiet.
I mean, I’m sure they can soar through the sky.
By they I mean werewolves.

By that afternoon, a dogman crossbow unit and an engineering corps arrived from Lüenheit.

“Lord Veit, long time no see!”
“It smells like the sea!”
“I want fish!”
“So much water! Can we swim!?”

You’re not on a field trip.
But still, these guys won’t panic even against a monster.
I’m counting on you.

Meanwhile, preparations for the ships were steadily progressing.

“All right, engineering corps! Start refitting the warships!”
“Okaaay!”

In this world, warships are basically assault transports for carrying soldiers. In fleet battles, they ram enemy ships with the prow to immobilize them, then soldiers board.
But trying to fight a sea monster that way would be hopeless.
So we’ll use the warships as carriers for the centaur corps.
There are five ships total, old and new, so we can load forty centaur soldiers on each.

The ones handling ranged combat will be the merchant transport ships.
Merchant ships used for trade are less durable than warships, but they have much greater cargo capacity. Since they’re not meant to ram other ships, they don’t need to be built especially thick or tough.
The custom large crossbows fire bolts like whaling harpoons. Because of that, they’re extremely heavy.
Since we don’t know the enemy’s size or durability, we plan to load a large number of bolts. We’ll also carry spare crossbows in case of malfunctions or damage.
On top of that, we’ll load catapults as well.
At this point, merchant ships start to feel more convenient to warships, which is kind of funny.
Oh, right—weren’t galleys phased out once people started mounting cannons?
Huh? Or was it something else… If only I had the internet.
Lacking it is frustrating sometimes.

As I stood there tilting my head, Garsche came storming down to the pier, shouting.

“Hey! Your dogmen are wrecking our warships! Make them stop!”
“No, they’re not wrecking them. They’re just doing some refitting. It’s a bit cramped for centaurs.”
“If you strip everything out like that, you won’t be able to put it back!”

So you don’t like dramatic wooden renovations by master craftsmen.

“I did consider modifying human infantry for water combat and loading them instead, but the sea is too wide for them to be useful. Their stability during water-walking is bad too. Give it up.”
“Do you have any idea how much material and money it took to build those…”

Garsche clutched his head, but he’s the type to move on quickly, so he seemed to recover on his own.

“Well, whatever. Just make sure you kill that Demonic Sea, all right?”
“No guarantees, but it’ll probably be fine. Leave it to me.”
“Nothing fazes you, huh…”

If it were some unknown monster, maybe. But I’m relatively familiar with octopus ecology. That appearance doesn’t scare me much.
After all, I was Japanese in my previous life.
I take pride in being a natural enemy of octopus.

A little while later, the dragonfolk arrived as well: the dragonfire engineering corps and their escorts, the Azure Scale Knights.
Engineer Kurtze saluted me and spoke with a serious face.

“Lord Veit, this time you will follow our instructions.”
“I understand.”

Kurtze stepped closer, still stone-faced.

“You will absolutely follow our instructions.”

That’s obvious, but I’m clearly not trusted at all.
To be honest, I don’t trust myself either.
I know that, but once I turn into a werewolf, it’s hard to control myself…

For now, I asked whether the thing I’d requested was ready.

“The item we discussed—was it prepared?”
“It’s made from dragon-orb materials, so we managed to prepare it, but…”

Kurtze stared at me intently.

“The method for making that is a secret among secrets. It’s produced with technology far more advanced than ‘Dragon’s Breath.’”

Probably electrolysis.
The late Demon Lord seemed fairly knowledgeable about chemistry, and I’ve seen Master use lightning magic, so I figured they’d be able to make it.
But I’ll keep quiet.
Kurtze seemed to sense my thoughts and let out a small sigh.

“So you see through everything… As expected of Lady Gomoviroa’s top disciple.”

It’s more thanks to chemistry class, really.
Squinting into the sea breeze, Kurtze murmured,

“At first, I was sure you’d tell us to pack ‘Dragon’s Breath’ into barrels again…”
“The late Demon Lord forbade me from playing with fire.”
“Those were the days. But let me warn you—this is just as dangerous, if not more so.”
“I know. I’ll leave handling it entirely to you.”

I don’t really understand the dragonfolk’s waterproofing techniques, so I considered the possibility that gunpowder might get damp and be unusable.
You could dry it completely with a drying spell right before use, but unfortunately I can’t use something as convenient as that.

At that moment, I suddenly remembered my student days in my previous life.
I should thank that friend from the chemistry club who taught me all sorts of interesting things.
I doubt he ever imagined I’d be reincarnated as a werewolf and end up fighting a giant octopus.
If he ever gets reincarnated here, I’ll treat him to some sashimi as thanks.
No wasabi, though.