The three days that Clan had asked the military for was used for various preparations. Those preparations included an emergency repair of the Blue Knight, securing a shelter on the ground, moving the civilians Theia had with her to the Hazy Moon and more.
After repeated gathering of information and discussion, Kiriha decided on everyone's deployment as followed.
First, Theia, Ruth and Koutarou would be placed aboard the Blue Knight. This was to keep Elfaria and Theia from being in the same place and to keep both of them from being attacked at the same time. In the worst case scenario, Theia and Ruth would have to leave Earth. Koutarou had been placed on the Blue Knight for him to be able to respond to trouble in both space and on the ground. If the girls ran into trouble on the ground, he would descend and support them. And if the enemy attacked from space, then he would stay onboard and control the ship. Since doing the opposite would be difficult, he was stationed in the ship.
Clan took the Hazy Moon and the civilians and moved away from the expected battlefield. Since she would use stealth, there was no fear of her getting forcibly involved. Clan's role was to standby, protect the civilians and assist Koutarou and the others in the case of an emergency.
The remaining six girls would protect Elfaria on the ground. Kiriha's subordinates would assist with this. But since Kiriha and her subordinates were from the conservative faction, there weren't that many of them that were skilled at fighting. She also needed to leave people behind to restrain the radical faction. Because of that, Kiriha had only been able to gather a little more than ten subordinates in the short time she had. Adding her subordinates, there were a total of 20. Kiriha expected their enemy to have up to 50 men on their side. Though the girls were exceptionally strong, it was hard to tell if they would be able to protect Elfaria.
The battlefield Kiriha had chosen was a small mountain on the outskirts of Kitsushouharukaze city. This was to keep the battle from affecting the city and to prepare traps beforehand. For that reason, Kiriha wanted to stay out of the city, but if she strayed too far, she would face more troops than she had expected. She had spent most of her time thinking of where the battle should take place in order to keep it close to the city, but far away enough to keep it from suffering any damage.
Ruth's tense voice filled the bridge of the Blue Knight, which was now filled with vacant spots.
“Your highness, Satomi-sama, I've received reports that the deployment on the ground has proceeded as planned.”
“So we somehow made it in time...”
After glancing at Ruth who was sitting in the operator's seat, Theia leaned back on her own seat and let out a small sigh of relief. She didn't know if all the preparations would finish in time. But fortunately, all preparations were now complete, and now all that was left was to wait for the enemy.
“We're fortunate our opponent was Elexis.”
Looking at the monitor displaying the status on the ground, Koutarou made sure the last preparations were completed before sitting down on a nearby seat and turning to look at Theia.
“What do you mean?”
“He's considering what happens after this battle, so he wouldn't attack until quite some time after Clan has left. If the opponents were just knights and soldiers, they might have rushed to attack already.”
Koutarou saw Elexis as a calm and calculating man. That's what his experiences back in the past Forthorthe had taught him. And since Elexis looked very similar to Dextro, a man who had given him a lot of trouble, he naturally became more cautious around him.
“That's our kind of opponent. Theia, don't get too obsessed with the victory in front of you. Against him, it's possible that we might not be able to fight anymore even if we win.”
“...”
Theia's eyes opened wide in surprise upon hearing Koutarou's words. But it wasn't because she didn't understand what he was saying. In fact, it was quite the opposite; it was because his words were so fitting for a knight, for a commander.
“What's wrong, Theia?”
“N-No... it's just... you're so calm... I...”
As far as Theia knew, Koutarou might have some experience fighting, but he shouldn't have any experience with war. This should be his first time experience something like this. Yet, Koutarou was calm, as if he was a veteran who had taken part in many wars before.