Eventful meeting

“Well aren’t you two just a couple of cuties! You really should put on some clothes if you sleep outside, though.”

You open your eyes and see Uzume grinning down at you. You’re still curled up with Clarissa, and both of you are still naked. Clarissa grumbles against your chest. “If I pretend I’m still asleep, will she go away?”

You chuckle. “I doubt it. We need to get up anyway, before someone more embarrassing finds us.”

Uzume laughs. “Besides, Josh has a meeting to go to. Ochiba said that the scouts have important info. Even Sadie is up already.”

Clarissa sighs. “Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be in bed longer than her.”

You smile as she disentangles herself from you, standing and stretching as you do the same. Uzume laughs again. “I should wake you two up more often, I get a whole show out of it! If we had more time I’d be taking advantage of the situation.”

You grin as you pull on your clothes. “And normally I’d welcome it. But we do have work to do.”

Clarissa nods, fully dressed already. “It wouldn’t set a good example if the emperor made everyone wait while he had a threesome.”

You laugh as you finish getting dressed. “Well, it’s not the example I want to set right now, anyway.”

The three of you make your way towards the command tent, meeting Kali, Samara, and Sadie outside. You head in and find everyone waiting for you. Ochiba gives you a nod, and a slight smile. “Had a restful evening, your highness?”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “General, are you sassing me?”

His smile grows a notch. “I wouldn’t dream of it, sire! Just noting that you look a bit bedraggled this morning, is all.”

You chuckle. “Yes, I had a wonderful evening. And I’m late, I know. Let’s get to it.”

Ochiba nods, still smiling. “Well, we’ve received several reports from the scouts. First, and most importantly, the demon lord is on the move. He means to intercept us well before we reach his castle.”

Unir nods, speaking up. “His troops are terrible at defense. Using demons to defend a castle would be pointless.”

Ochiba sighs. “It’s good news because it means we don’t need to besiege a castle. But in the field, his army outclasses ours. We’re going to need to use everything we have.”

Unir interrupts again. “Fortunately, our siege workshop has a few new toys to try out.”

He gestures towards two new faces, a tall, fairly muscular man who looks to be in his early thirties, and the blonde dwarven woman you saw commanding the artillery before. Despite the situation, you can’t help but notice the familiar way his hand rests on her shoulder. They are clearly more than just coworkers.

Though she looks nervous to be in front of so many leaders, the dwarven woman takes a steadying breath and speaks. “Yes, I am Helja, and this is Greg. We’ve developed a couple of new engines that wouldn’t work in a siege, but will break formations quickly.”

The man, Greg, nods. “The rest of our team are ready to assemble those machines whenever they are needed, but they’re fragile, and they’ve never been used in battle before.”

Unir smiles. “I can station a unit to protect them.”

Helja nods. “Thank you, Forgefather.”

Ruka speaks up. “I also have something to add to our forces, beyond my people. Or rather, someone.”

She gestures towards the entrance, and the tent flap opens, allowing a large man to walk in, grinning at you. You laugh. “It’s nice of you to show up, Daigo!”

The transformed dragon chuckles. “Well, I did promise to help. I brought some friends as well, but they prefer to stay out of sight for now.”

Ochiba smiles. “I’m suddenly feeling much better about our chances. The biggest step, however, is going to be up to you, your majesty.”

You nod. “The demon lord himself. I will need to break through the lines to get to him. I can use Uzume as a battering ram, but assistance would be appreciated.”

Uzume scoffs. “Says you!”

Greg speaks up. “We can soften them up a bit, but I would hesitate to fire anywhere near you. Siege engines aren’t terribly accurate.”

You nod. “We wouldn’t need much, just a small opening. We’ll talk about it once we know what we’re facing.”

Greg nods. Ochiba takes control of the meeting again. “We have several days before we’ll meet them, so there’s time to prepare. I have one other piece of news, regarding the purple glow from before. It seems that there is a dome of energy to the northwest, and it seems to cover the entirety of what was once Poilevil. Our scouts say it’s impervious to everything they saw, and anything that touches it simply dies.”

You nod. “But nothing is happening with it otherwise?”

Ochiba shakes his head. “Not as far as we can tell, no.”

You sigh. “Add it to the pile of future problems, then. The demon lord is a bit more pressing.”

Everyone agrees. The meeting turns to simple strategy from there, and continues until the army is ready to move.