A few casual words with a friend helped Wickliffe, who had just returned to the surface from the medical ship, recover some of his old feelings. He exhaled softly into the chill wind at winter's end and spring's beginning, gazing toward the military camps that had only recently sprung up outside Crimson Jade City and the various vehicles shuttling between them. With a sigh, he said, "Many people say Cecilians are practically gods and demons when it comes to infrastructure, but it wasn't until I saw with my own eyes how these camps and roads covered the outskirts of Crimson Jade City in just a few days that I finally understood what that meant—but never mind the rest. How did they build so many barracks all the way from the foot of the city walls to the edge of the forest in a few days?"
"They dropped them straight from the sky," Camilla said with a shrug. "While you were waiting for the doctors to screw your new arm on, they sent two more Aerial Fortresses from the rear. They called them 'Frontline Engineering Ships.' They were piled high with these square 'Container Housing' units, like stacks of crates, and then they airdropped them right onto the plains..."
Wickliffe stood dumbfounded. After staring blankly for quite a while, he finally touched the bridge of his nose with his alloy hand, feeling the contrast between metal and skin as he muttered, "I was narrow-minded..."
Camilla's gaze remained fixed on the Human King's mechanical arm. She carefully examined the armor plates, joints, and connecting tubes, all possessing a certain mechanical beauty. If not for the constraints of her status as Great Chieftain, she probably would have already blurted out, "Take it off and let me play with it." Naturally, that undisguised stare