Chapter 36: 34 – Final Preparations

With the final boss door closing behind us, we gather ourselves.

"Well then. Head back home and prepare for this?" I asked.

"Yup!" Navi shouts while pumping her fist. "Now that we know we were right, let's get ready to kill a dragon!"

"Lia, Navi, I have a request," Ailine timidly said.

I cock my head slightly. "What's up, Ailine?"

"The big-bags were made at the end of the old vampires' time. Even the belt pouches were newer for them. We saw how Navi could use the big-bags with boulders. Could we maybe do the same with a ballista for me? Against that monster, I feel like I'll be completely useless. Maybe, if I could bring out an enchanted ballista with bolts already loaded and Navi's explosive enchantments, I might be able to help."

I just stared at her for a moment. That was a fucking awesome idea! "That's great! You get to stay back and can fire bolts at the thing."

Sara spoke up next. "Dalia, if possible I think that may be where I'm better served as well. My spear would do little against that. Even with the vacuum placed on my armor, I question if I could survive a direct blast. Indirect, probably, but direct? Since my armor is also thinner and the enchantments lessened, I question if I could survive a hit or a bite. Even when the wyvern bit me, I activated everything and I could feel it just barely hold," She lowered her head while talking, likely feeling slightly ashamed.

"Good point." I pat her on the shoulder. "It may be best if you're helping Ailine operate multiple ballistae. I question if we could place more than two or three in the area I saw. Dropping more than that gets you into the actual potential battle area.

"What're your thoughts?" I turn towards our tiny enchanter. "You think you can make something that can hurt a dragon, Navi?"

"Hmm…" She pauses in the air and hovers with her hand on her chin. "With Earth knowledge and the way to cheat with magic for torsion springs, I can probably put an enchantment like her bow for draw weight...A gear transmission, it could still be cranked back as well… Yeah, I think I can make something. It's going to be very impractical for any other use besides dragon hunting. This thing is going to weigh a frick ton since a wood frame probably won't hold up. To adjust it we'll have to use a gear transmission for XY axis movement, as well as one to draw it back."

"So...Yes?" 

Her normal sass comes back. "Of course I can, you Benetnasch wannabe! Just give me some time and I'll make something that could even hurt that thing! Since they need someone almost exclusively manning them to aim, one for both the girls is probably the max they can actually use. Additionally, Big Boi in there can't be moving much, so you'll have to keep it occupied and away from them. It comes for them, it's over."

"That's fine. I think I could buy some time. After your shots though, you may have to be ready to retreat if I can't bring it back to me." I look back to the others. "For now, we have a plan, so let's go see everyone at home and enjoy the rest of the...Day it looks like. Navi, let's start tomorrow night and just rest for today."

"Sounds good to me! I'll be able to give my babies lots of hugs!" Navi starts wiggling while hugging herself.

I reached out to the fairies, Steph, and Anastasia. (Hey everyone, we're heading back. See you all soon.)

We all simultaneously got messages from our loved ones.

Going through the rigmarole to get back to the entrance, we exited the cave to all of the people we love at the entrance. Immediately we all went to our person. 

"Mommy Lia! Mommy Ailine!"

With us both bending down, our little girl with her hood and cloak on runs up and gives our armored forms as large a hug as she could.

"Hey, Anastasia. We missed you," I said, patting her head.

Ailine smiles while in the three-way hug. "We're home, Anastasia."

"I missed you both so much! Let's go! I want to show you the drawings I made! Come on!"

Breaking out of the hug, she grabs our hands and pulls us along as we shout brief, 'see you laters,' to the others, knowing they'll get taken the same way as us. As the little ball of energy drags us off, Ailine and I just smile at each other. Even with helmets on, we can still tell. 

We finally reach the castle and I have to stop the bundle for a second. "Hey, hey, Anastasia. Can you let us change out of our armor? You can come with us then I can carry you to wherever you want."

"Okay, Mommy Lia!"

Making it to the room and taking my armor off for the first time in days, I can't help but feel light on my feet when back in normal clothes. I guess that would make sense. That armor with both plates and the scales comes out to be almost three hundred pounds. The fact that my enhanced stats let me even move with that on, yet alone fight, makes me realize how crazy this world can be. Taking it off makes me feel like I just left King Kai's planet.

"Alright, little one. You said you had some pictures to show us?" Now into casual clothes, I reach down and take her hand while Ailine takes the other.

"Yes! Come see!"

Getting dragged along again, we end up at 'the art room,' as it's called by her. It was the same room I used when painting our family portrait above the stairs. When we go in, we see a table full of paper with drawings and paintings. 

Letting her use oil based paints sounded like a terrible idea, so I mixed some potato starch with the powdered rocks and minerals to come up with an easy watercolor paint for her. These are in little glass cups I made for her and full of water and the mixture. She just has to stir them if they settle, and she can paint to her heart's content. She also has her 'painting clothes,' which was one of those painting smocks that tie in the back. 

Looking at all the drawings, they're all, of course, in the standard adorable child style.

"Wow! You made all these?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah! I had lots of fun! Here! Let me show you!"

We then spent the next ten minutes being told about all the pictures she made. They were mostly things she thought about, or things she did that day. There were some she said were her and Steph walking around the town in the evening when she woke up early. Some of the castle and walls behind it. There were also plenty of the three of us together.

Ailine bent down and hugged her. "These are all so good, Anastasia."

"Thank you, Mommy Ailine!" she said with a bright smile lighting up her entire face.

"They are." I reach down and gently rub her head. "You're doing a great job. Now that we're back and we still have a lot of the night together, is there anything you want to do?"

We were tired, yes, but we slept before that fucking misnomer wyvern. Besides. If it meant spending more time with her, well, it's much less tiring than the drakes on floor forty-eight.

"Um…" Anastasia bit her bottom lip and fidgeted with her hands while shuffling her feet. "I was maybe wanting to see what type of weapon I might be good with? If that's alright? It's been a long time since I leveled up, and you said to not worry about my other stat points until I knew what I liked. I asked Steph about different weapons, but she said she didn't know how to use them that well and said to ask you before I tried."

I reached out telepathically. (Ailine, how old do kids in this world learn about using weapons?)

(six or seven for many,) she said back. (They'll use practice bows or wooden swords because they don't have the strength for actual ones. She wouldn't be considered too young, and has the strength of a trained adult. I think it could be a good idea for her to begin learning about them. At the very least, she should learn how to swing a sword safely or shoot a bow.)

That makes sense. This is a much more dangerous world than Earth. "Alright, Anastasia. Although, we won't be going to the dungeon yet. First, we'll go to the training area James built behind the castle and show you different types of weapons and how to hold, swing, stab, or shoot each. But you have to listen to what we say. Deal?"

"Yes!" she shouts and jumps around. "Thank you! I'll be good and listen to everything you say!"

"Good girl. Now, have you had breakfast yet?" I asked.

"Yup! I have a bag in my pouch."

"Then what would you like to do until the sun goes down?"

"Let's play hide-and-seek!"

Two hours of playing later, the three of us were in the training yard built behind the castle. It had targets of metal, wood, and hay for target practice with arrows and magic. There was also a weapons rack in a small building off to the side to keep them out of the rain. 

I squat down and give her a kiss on the cheek while she giggles. "Alright, Anastasia. First  Mommy Ailine will show you how to use a bow while I alter some weapons to fit you."

"Okay!"

As those two went over the basics of archery, I grabbed some weapons from a big-bag that we'd filled with weapons and armor from the dungeon. The dragonids drop a good mix of weapon types of decent quality. They're using one of the shortbows we got from there to practice. The weapons are all built for adult hands, though. As someone who will be eternally her size, she has no need to get used to something of an incorrect size.

I went through one at a time  and using Earth magic, redid the hilt size to make it fit her. We have daggers, a short sword with buckler shield, and a spear. I also brought out one of Tavelstein's canes and a wand. The cane will actually be closer to a staff for her.

After practicing with the bow for a while, we moved on to the other weapons. One after the other, we went over basics for each one and she would 'spar' against me with what she was being taught. When we got to magic, she would attack the targets and work on her control and image for the magic. She's still by far best with dark and earth, but because of all the high level cores we gave her from the dragonids and practicing, she's better than many people at all types now. Well, fucking light is unknown.

We eventually got to space-time. "Alright, Anastasia. How's your storage space now that you have better proficiencies?"

"I still really love my pouch, but Aunt Navi taught me how to keep pushing the space bigger and bigger!" she excitedly said.

"Right? It's very convenient."

"Um hmm! It's really fun to see how much I can stretch it. Aunt Navi also showed me how I can try to make things with dark magic throughout the day to get better at it too!"

What a happy and cheerful little girl. It makes me want to kill those bandits all over again. We also went through what to imagine for some other types. She put all the weapons in her pouch or storage, and after spending most of the night trying them out, we sat down for a second to relax.

Sitting on the ground, she plays with the grass while humming until I say, "What did you think? Any specific weapons you liked or disliked?"

"Hmm… The sword and shield was hard. The spear was alright. The bow was fun but didn't seem like something I would like doing for a long time. The cane and wand just made the magic a bit easier. I think if there was a weapon I really liked it would probably be using two daggers."

A girl after my own heart. I feel you, Anastasia. Rogues are awesome!

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"Then maybe you could try going outside the wall in a couple nights with Mommy Ailine. She can help you get stealth related skills. How we both learned them was by finding and following a goblin for a while without being caught. It's almost like a game to follow them and sneak around."

"Can I!" She turns towards Ailine. "We'll go outside the wall together!"

Ailine has an endearing smile. "Yes, I can take you outside tomorrow, but you'll have to listen while out there."

"And before that," I interjected. "I need to alter some armor for you. Before we go inside, lay on the ground with your arms spread out and I'll cover you in dirt to make a mold."

"Okay!"

Laying like she was making a snow angel, I quickly made a mold of her and released it so she could get out.

"Alright." I store away the mold. "With this, I'll work to make you a set of armor for you to be safe with when you go outside with Mommy Ailine."

"Yay! Can I look like an evil villainess like your armor?" she said with a completely innocent smile.

That would have been a punch to the gut, but it really has that vibe. Plus, it looks cool as hell. Who cares if it looks like I would practice an evil laugh or monologue my plan. It looks cool and is probably the best armor in the world, if I had to guess. Fuck the haters. My little girl likes it, and that's all that matters. 

"Not quite. We'll start with leather armor and make sure you get used to wearing that first. I promise I'll make it look as cool as I can, and it'll be an armor just for you. How's that?"

"Thank you, Mommy Lia!" She comes and gives me a hug and kiss on the cheek while I'm sitting. 

"Thank you, Mommy Ailine!" She goes and gives Ailine a big hug and cheek kiss, too. Then she looks a bit hesitant. "Using the bow was fun. Could we try it again sometime, even if it isn't my most favorite weapon?" 

"Of course, Sweetheart." Ailine squeezes her again. "We can use it anytime you want to. And it doesn't matter what weapon you like or don't like. Even if you didn't like any of them, that doesn't change a thing and we would never be disappointed because of that."

"I love you, Mommy Ailine and Mommy Lia."

"And we both love you so very much," Ailine said.

Done with everything we wanted to do outside, we went in to take a bath before bedtime. Anastasia even got to practice her arcane magic by cleaning herself before getting in. Ailine and I did the same.

Going to sleep that night with a content and smiling daughter between me and my lovely wife, I'm so glad that Chaos and Order gave me the chance to come here.

The next evening I see Ailine and Anastasia off and head to the lab. I'll work on editing a set of leather armor to fit her first, then help Navi on the ballistae.

"Evening, Navi," I say walking in the lab.

"Oh? You here to help now, Vamps? Great! You can make me some gears."

"Hold up, Navi. I'm altering some armor for Anastasia first. Then I can come help. Also, you sure about the ballista route over us making a big ass cannon?"

"Rugrat going to finally kill some things? You realize that she could kick your bottom when you first arrived, right? She's higher level than veteran knights! I'd say you're overprotective, but I do the same with my sweet babies. 

"And yeah! If we were on Earth? No way, cannon hands down. Here with my enchantments? Still enchanted cannon. But! The only thing that an enchanted ballista could win against an enchanted cannon would be piercing. And~ that's what we need right now! These things will have so many enchantments packed into them that Sara will have to supplement with cores just to run it!"

Watching the one foot tall person do the manufacturing of anti-dragon siege equipment, I feel a bit bad for the old vampires. If they had the big-bags to be able to move these, and a precision enchanter like Navi, they may have beaten this level. Same with my armor. If they had some sets of that, then they could've potentially won. They by far were the stronger vampires, having centuries to train and perfect their skills. 

We're supplementing only a decade of training with knowledge from Earth and help from the gods. Feels a bit cheater-ish. Like, Olympic athletes in most sports setting world records now with scientific training plans and precisely manufactured equipment vs athletes from a few decades ago. Only more exaggerated. Who was truly better? Or does it actually matter in the end? Nothing I can do about any of this now, besides not taking advantage of our privilege. Clearing my weird thoughts, I get to work on altering armor. 

I used Anastasia's mold to make a little statue like I always have. After getting absorbed in making this armor fit the tiny statue in front of me as best I can, I finally finished. Looking at the time, it's the middle of the afternoon. Damn. Guess I was more absorbed than I thought. Oh well. She'll be able to stalk some goblins come nightfall.

"See you later, Navi. I'm taking a nap and I'll be back down to help you," I say with a yawn.

"Gotcha! Not everyone can be as cool as a fairy and never need sleep!"

Heading back to my room, I utilize all the stealth skills I have not to wake up the sleeping Ailine. Undressing and cleaning myself with magic, I sneak into bed next to her and she unconsciously snuggles close. There's no better way to fall asleep.

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POV - Anastasia

Mommy Lia made armor for me about a week ago. It's so cool too! It doesn't look exactly like Mommy Lia's or Mommy Ailine's, but it's comfortable and is the same black color as theirs. It also has a belt that she made for my daggers and pouch!

Mommy Ailine has been taking me outside the walls and we train by sneaking behind goblins. I don't like them very much. They smell and are gross and have the dangling thing between their legs. Mommy Ailine said it's called a penis and is dirty but all boys have them. No wonder Aunt Navi always cuts them off on any of the goblins she tests things on.

I was able to get all of the skills that Mommy Ailine wanted me to. These should really help in hide-and-seek. I wonder if that's how my mommies are such good finders? I should keep practicing them, then!

Today, Mommy Lia and Aunt Navi are with us! They said that today I can kill my first goblin and all wanted to be there. Mommy Lia looks worried about something, but Mommy Ailine seems fine. Aunt Navi gives me a thumbs up with a big smile. I wonder what Mommy Lia is worried about?

She talks in my head and says, (Alright Anastasia. Go ahead and follow that goblin for a minute. Then just like we showed you, sneak behind it and stab it with your dagger. Do you think you'll be alright?)

(Yes, Mommy Lia!)

I sneak behind the goblin. It doesn't even know I'm here! I have my daggers in my hand and I bring it down and stab into the back of the goblin's neck.

"Gii!"

It shouts for a second and then falls down on the ground. Looking at it as it bleeds, I'm a little sad. So much blood is being wasted.

"Good job, Anastasia. How are you feeling?" Mommy Lia comes up behind me and bends down.

Maybe she can show me how to save some of the food!

"I'm a little sad, Mommy Lia.—" 

She reaches out and hugs me tight before I can ask her about it.

"It's alright, sweetheart. I love you so much and you did such a good job. It's going to be alright."

She tells me this while stroking my hair in the hug. I need to ask her soon! More blood is just being wasted!

I pull away a little. "Mommy Lia. I'm sad because so much blood is being wasted on the ground. Can you show me how to get it in the bags for us?"

Mommy Lia freezes up for a second.

Aunt Navi flies over holding her tummy while laughing. "Hahahaha! That's right, Girlie! Killing the monsters is easy, but it's your food that matters! While Vamps is coming to terms with Erald's worldview, let me show you how to drain a goblin into your bags! Hahahaha! Take your time understanding how strong your daughter is, you big worry wart!"

As I go with Aunt Navi, I hope Mommy Lia is alright. I see Mommy Ailine pat her on the back as she's still frozen in place and smiles at her, so I'm sure she'll be fine. Now time to eat the first meal I got for myself!

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POV - Dalia

"What was I even worried for, Ailine?" I manage to eke out as she pats my back.

"You just care for her, Lia. Don't worry about it." She continues to speak gently to me. "From the sounds of it, your world is a lot different. Here, and with me being a former human, it's like watching a bowl of soup being tipped over. Monsters are just our food, and Anastasia understands that, even if she's young."

I release a heavy sigh. "Well, I guess I should be happy, then. I would have freaked out if I killed something humanoid looking as a little kid."

"That's just your old world's view. Now, come on. We still have to let her eat her first meal straight from the source."

"You're right. I love you."

"I love you too, you overprotective mom." Ailine smirks at me and walks off. 

I guess I really was worrying for nothing. From then on, Ailine and Steph took Anastasia to the dungeon every so often. 

Over the next two months, Navi and I worked on the ballistae until we were finally able to finish them. Time to test these out.

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