After saying that, she stepped back half a pace and handed the scroll back to the young Night Watcher.
"The remaining details are all in the scroll."
Klaus nodded.
"Understood."
Hilde added nothing further. She walked to the north side of the square, near the church's Temporary Church, and stopped there.
Hilde stepped aside. Klaus turned toward Glock and Margaret.
Margaret stepped out from the back of the formation, holding a list in her hands. Two logistics soldiers followed behind her, carrying several sealed iron cases in their arms.
"The supplies have been prepared for three Night Watchers," Margaret said crisply. "Ammunition, Purification Potions, Sanity Potions, Copper-Shell Incendiary Bombs. The church nuns' Holy Water is counted separately."
Klaus looked over the list.
"Fine. That should be enough."
He handed the list back.
"Have everyone carry a few extra Copper-Shell Incendiary Bombs. According to the previous intelligence, in a place like that below, fire is more useful than blades."
Margaret nodded and turned to give instructions to the logistics soldiers.
Lu Yuan stood where he was.
He had brought all the things Klaus had previously ordered him to make more of. No one asked how many there were, and he did not say.
He adjusted his coat and made sure the oilcloth pouch at his waist was secure.
The square fell silent. The night wind swept in from the inner city, carrying the metallic chill unique to the Copper Wall.
The church's Holy Light blockade lit up around them. Pale golden halos spread along the streets leading to the entrance, pushing the darkness farther back. The Born formation had already lined up at the edge of the Collapse Point.
Leike stood in the shadows to the north and had not spoken a word from beginning to end.
Klaus swept his gaze