"Oh, partisans! Have they come to capture me, the Duke of Orange?

The former Duke Lefort de Orange was looking down from a small window on the top floor of the fortress.

He has not been officially dismissed from his post, so it is brazen that he still calls himself a duke.

"However, we don't know everything about the fort yet. Let's see what happens first.

The Oranje side was thinking the same thing as the partisans.

Soon after, two golems came out from the partisan side, holding big hammers in their hands.

"Hmmm, they are going to destroy the door with that hammer. Can they do it?"

Over the past few days, Oranje had become very familiar with the fortress.

"I heard that the outer wall has been reinforced to prepare for the invasion of the demons. It's a sight to see."

Oranje mutters to himself to no one.

Below us, two golems are hammering away.

The door seems to be unaffected by the roar of the hammers hitting it.

"They are very strong, aren't they?"

Eventually, the hammer wielded by the golem was broken, and the two bodies backed away.

The partisans also retreated.

"Well, they are not fools.

It is a fool's errand to attack in the dark without knowing the strength of your opponent. In this respect, the man in command of one of the partisan units seemed to have good sense, Oranje commented.

"But it's going to be night soon. We must be careful.

Oranje decided not to attack by force, but to take advantage of the shadows of the night to sneak in.

He decided to do what he could now, namely, to move the defense mechanism of <>.

"Oh, Mr. Oranje, what is it?"

When Oranje went underground to move the defense mechanism, he met Bocker Ove, who was working on the project.

"Bocker, just in time. < going?"

is an automaton found in the back of the fort. She seems to have served as a staff member or aide-de-camp, and is familiar with the fort.

However, it had been damaged by 300 years of age, and had been repaired by a group of engineers led by Bokker.

Oranje's knowledge, which was not in keeping with the times, was due to this refa.

"Yes. The movement is still a bit awkward, but it has been repaired to the point where it is safe to talk to each other.

Oranje nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Yes, that's good enough.

He then stepped into the room with Refa: ......<>.

>

Refa is also a blue-haired female automata. She is the same type as Anne, Tia, and Dajour's Rolle. However, in order to fulfill her role as an assistant, she seems to have been customized considerably and does not have any s*xual functions, but is instead capable of using some offensive magic.

However, since the operation has not been repaired yet, all I can do for now is to give advice.

"Well, there might be an intruder tonight. I'm trying to figure out what to do about it. Is there any suitable defense mechanism?"

The answer came back to me as if I had hit the nail on the head.

"Warding?"

<

It is, in other words, a protective fence with a high-voltage current flowing through it.

"I didn't know such a thing existed. Okay, let's activate it right away. How do we do that?"

"I see. I haven't rebooted the yet ......, are you sure?"

Again, Leffa assured me.

, so don't worry>.

"Okay."

Thus Oranje followed Refa's instructions and performed a few maneuvers.

.

"Okay. This fortress is quite impressive, isn't it?"

"And I am the master of this place.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

That night, when the moon was just above us and the sun was about to set.

（Go on, take care of yourself.)

（Yes, sir.)

Two scouts left the partisan camp.

Wearing black cloth all over their bodies, they were almost unrecognizable as they crept forward.

Soon the two of them were attached to the wall.

(Okay, there seems to be no guards.)

(I'm sure Oranje's guy doesn't have that many men.)

After a brief exchange, we threw a rope with a key-like claw at the end upward to climb over the outer wall.

After the third time, the rope caught well and did not seem to come off even when weight was applied, so the first person started to climb up.

The second person looked around.

He continued to climb steadily, and at the moment he stood on top of the outer wall.

"Aaah!

A flash of purple light flashed, and the man fell down, falling from the top of the outer wall. He fell inside the fortress.

"Hey!

the other one shouted out. But...

(d*mn ...... trap...we'll have to turn around...)

(We'll have to turn back here.) Even if we tried to help him out, the same fate would probably await us if we attempted to cross the outer wall.

The remaining scout bites his lip in frustration and turns back to the partisan position.

"I see. ......"

The head of the branch heard the report from the returning scout and looked at him with a difficult face,

"I didn't know there was a trap. I guess we can't approach them easily. I was right in deciding that it was out of the control of one branch. We can't touch them until reinforcements arrive. We'll just keep an eye on them.

I understand.

Thus, the partisans went into standby.

The partisans were now on standby.

Oranje was sleeping well when the warding of the outer wall was activated.

It was Refa who checked the result instead.

<

Then, he launched a golem that he could control. It is a low grade (by the fort's standards) golem that can be operated remotely.

When I bring it in, it still seems to be breathing. It is lucky that he did not break his neck when he fell from the outer wall.

<

Since Lefa herself cannot use healing magic, I have her brought to the healing facility in the fort.

<<

<>.

There was no one who could use such magic in this fortress.

In the time of the Great Magic War, healing mages were more needed at the front than at the fort. And also the healing golems and automata to assist them.

Compared to combat golems, healing golems are more precious, and this is the reason why there are none left in this fort.

The battle for the defense of Fort Crow has only just begun.