"Lord Somnus, I am Lord Marshall Justus von Stonhardt. The King has sent me to discuss war strategy with you. But first, I would like to deliver His Majesty's gift to you," the man spoke. He was middle-aged and he wore armor that was ceremonial in entirety. It was gold-colored but structural a.n.a.lysis revealed that it was an unknown material. Spectroscopy revealed nothing useful but noise all through the wavelength.

"May I?" the Lord Marshall asked.

"Proceed," Somnus rumbled.

Justus turned around and gestured to one of the men stationed behind him. This man held a small box in both hands, and when he received the signal he quickly hurried forward. Justus opened the box and retrieved a star-shaped medal with a blue ribbon.

"The King was so pleased that you accepted the treaty that he wished to give you the Order of Astoria," Justus said. As Justus looked at the machine, holding the Order in his hands, fear clouded his features further.

"P-perhaps the Princess can hold on to it for you?" Justus asked, but without waiting for an answer he placed the medal back into the box. "Where is the Princess, by the way?"

A drone pa.s.sed in front of Justus and hummed angrily. Activity in the FOB didn't cease just because humans came to visit. The drones continued their work, after adjusting swarm-traffic algorithms, hauling resources and high quality parts for a new type of drone.

The group that came with the Lord Marshall numbered 30 in total, and they were positioned several dozen steps behind him. They all appeared to be knights.

"Callsign Princess is performing maintenance." Mechanical whirs and whines filled the area.

"I... I see. Uhm," he looked to the soldier who was still holding the box and shook his head, brows upturned in confusion. "Well, perhaps we should continue with the meeting?"

"Proceed," Somnus rumbled.

The man nodded, and said, "First, we would like to know what type of Golem you are, and what level you are. It is... important for our... strategy."

"Designation "Somnus" is type: Autonomous Machine a.r.s.enal. Variable "Level" undefined."

"Never heard of a Golem with that type," Justus said and ran a hand through his beard, "You don't seem to be controlled by an Artificer either. Interesting. Are you in a guild? What is your highest job?"

"Variable "Guild" undefined. Variable "Job" undefined." Somnus' words caused the men in the back to uneasily look around themselves.

"I don't really understand what you are saying, Lord Somnus," the Lord Marshall admitted. "Would you mind if next time we bring a Priestess to perform a Greater Divination?"

"Acceptable. Proceed with purpose of contact."

Justus nodded and then waved to some of his men in the back. They retrieved a rolled up paper from one of the satchels and proceeded forward. The two soldiers took a position next to Justus and unrolled the paper. It was a map. They held it up, clearly showing it to Somnus.

[Navigation: Update map symbols.]

[Politics: Redraw map borders.]

"As you can see, the Kingdom of Astoria is land-locked and surrounded by potential enemies. In particular, the Kingdom of Arsalan is taking our territory. Their mages are devastating to our ranks and we believe that the Imperial Mages are helping them summon superweapons. In a month, we are planning to counterattack at Solus Hill, here." The Lord Marshall tapped a spot on the map.

[OPCOM: Designation "Imperial Mage" has potential Threat Level: 3.]

"Define: Superweapon," Somnus rumbled.

"Well, it appears they may have summoned Atmohim, the King of Dragons. Dragons have been attacking our forces, but we do not have reliable reports yet."

"Define current location of enemy forces," Somnus blasted at a slightly higher volume than before.

"We believe they are here." The Lord Marshall tapped a point on the map. "Fort Mial."

[Comms: Somnus, Prophet. Acknowledged. Prophet taking off.]

With a loud crack, one of the linear drivers propelled the body of the Type 07 Firefly drone and it took off into the sky. Many of soldiers on the ground ducked or covered their ears. Luckily, this time, they tied their horses at the treeline far in the distance, so that they wouldn't have to walk back on foot like the previous group that came here.

No one dared ask what that was. They just thanked their lucky stars that they were still alive.

"Will you a.s.sist us in the upcoming battle?" the Lord Marshall asked after a lengthy pause.

"Affirmative," Somnus rumbled.

"Excellent. We shall take our leave then and cease disturbing you. Please give my regards to the Princess." The Lord Marshall bowed and then made his way to the rest of the group in a hurry. They departed without another word.

As Somnus watched them disappear into the treeline, a rumble came from the railgun barrel. Somnus turned its body, so that the barrel hovered just a few meters above a recently constructed landing pad. A pair of legs popped out of the barrel and flailed. The rest of the Princess followed shortly after and she landed on the deck. Her hair was messy, the braid undone, and her dress was stained by black residue.

"I am not your slave! I've had enough of this! This is not what I thought you wanted me to do!" she yelled angrily, throwing a dirty cloth onto the deck. "I am a Princess! This is humiliating!"

"Designation "Emily" is the only ent.i.ty that fits search criteria. No other ent.i.ty can compare to your specifications."

The Princess' anger faded. "W-what are you saying?" she looked away, tangling a finger into her messy hair.

"Designation "Emily" has excellent dimensions."

The Princess covered her chest and took a step back. "Y-you are not human. T-t-this isn't right."

A lengthy pause preceded Somnus' next words. "Only designation "Emily" fits into the barrel."

A glimmer of hatred sparkled in Emily's eyes as she stomped the deck, "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

210mm Railgun

Barrel diameter 600mm

Caliber 210mm-480mm

Standard Muzzle Velocity 12,000 m/s

Standard Muzzle Energy 3.249 GJ

Threat a.n.a.lysis 9

Ammo Types Available

210mm Depleted Uranium Penetrator

210mm Tungsten Penetrator

210mm Radar-Guided Theta Superalloy Penetrator (Standard)

360mm HEAP

480mm HE