That same afternoon, Cornflower and Nina met in the fortifications district south of Luen Nore.
The front line of the war between the Kingdom Army and the Interrealm Army lay directly south of Luen Nore, while heading north after passing through Luen Nore would bring one ever closer to the royal capital. Thus, even before the City Defense Army was reorganized, the city's southern side had already been equipped with extensive defensive fortifications. These included large-scale composite defensive Spell Formulas, fully staffed annihilation-type Spell Formula launch platforms, heavily reinforced small and medium-sized bunkers, and vast swathes of trigger-detonated minefields.
What Cornflower and Nina needed to inspect and record was the condition of the minefields, as well as the flow of mana within them.
These "landmines" were primarily meant to stop Aberrant Beasts that knew only how to charge headlong and possessed no intelligence whatsoever, so they were immensely destructive. A single mine could destroy the Pupa Shell of a Pupa-stage Aberrant Beast. If a whole field went off at once, even a Half-Molt would struggle to escape unscathed.
Although flying through the air made it nearly impossible to trigger the mines below, considering their potential power, the two inspectors still flew cautiously through midair while dampening the activity of the mana within their bodies, just in case.
"Hey, Ink Lotus."
After they had completed a third of the inspection and Cornflower had gradually adjusted to the rhythm, she took the initiative to break the silence. "Lately, have you been avoiding me? Did I do something that bothered you?"
"Huh? Uh, no... I, I haven't..."
Caught off guard by the sudden use of her codename, Nina looked at her blankly before hurriedly defending herself. "I, I didn't mean it that way. How could I possibly have any issue with the captain?"