Upon hearing the future exciting smells and sticky liquids, the duke’s expression stiffened.

“A… a very peculiar offer… Allow me to politely refuse the latter.

Even if the wine dislikes haste, I find it acceptable to hurry with everything…

You there! Set up!” (V)

“A f*ing moment!” I threw the shopping list on a table and stepped out to show the servants where to set up the moody guest, somewhere away from the bustle.

Luckily for me, the moody guest was not interfering in any way, and only was degustating wines.

The degustation was over by the time the Mi-10 flying crane showed up, completely clearing the worksite off the troublemakers. Even the most problematic one of them, Valencio, was driven away to avoid him interfering.

When the helicopter entered the visual range, I saw that it was already loaded. Under the fuselage of the helicopter was hanging a steel beam construction. After a short pondering I came to conclusion that it was designed to support the weight of the tank’s turret.

“Beril-Main, this is Perun. Do you read me, over?” The helicopter hovered above the trees, away from the tank.

“Reading you loud and clear. Prepare to receive the instructions.”

“We are ready to begin, but first, can you tell us where to unload the turret support?” (P)

“Copy, Perun. Approach the area.

Left, 17 meters!

Left!

Steady! Keep her steady!

Front, 11 meters!

Take higher! Don’t hit the bushes!”

We continued like this until the construction was placed in the designated clearing. Then the helicopter landed and the pilots jumped out without even taking off their masks.

Only when the helicopter landed I noticed that there was something else on it. The expected gun, fully assembled, was strapped to the skycrane’s landing legs. When it was untied, one of the pilots gestured me that they are taking off again.

“CLEAR OFF THE TANK!!!”

Only two people remained there as I guided Perun to the tank. The only two people who knew how to fix the turret to be lifted.

“ALL SECURED!!!” Jester swung his arms, as they jumped off the turret.

“Perun, lift it!”

“Copy.” The helicopter engines increased the power, completely deafening everything. Even to hear the pilots’ chatter I had to put the radio right to my ear.

Slowly, the turret started lifting from the hull. When it was far enough, I started guiding the helicopter to put the dozen tons of steel composite on the support platform.

If having the helicopter take position to lift the turret took us around 5 minutes, then putting that thing down took us almost 30… But that was worth it.

“We are ready! Jester, it’s all yours! Old man, get everything done faster!”

The entire day of work was dedicated to dismantling everything, and at the end of the day I could announce it with pride: “Good work, people! We are running ahead of schedule! Soon we will be back on the wheels, and that means the city is soon going to be taken back!

I don’t hear cheers and cries of happiness! Do you think the ale there is going to drink itself?!”

A few weak cheers later, I continued.

“Tomorrow you will only need to screw in those containers.” I pointed at the ERA blocks.

“And to help with replacing the gun. If you finish fast, you will be let go. Or, let laze around until it is evening.”

‘Cries of happiness’

“I won’t be feeding you. The faster you finish, the better it will be for you. And yes, if you think you can make half-a*ed efforts, then no. Flogging is not out of question. It’s bedtime, ladies! Dismissed!

And where the f* are you going?”

‘S*…’ Before my crew slipped away, I led them inside the flying workshop.

“You see this?” I patted a construction covered with cloth.

“If I got it right, it’s a crane. And this [points at piles of instruments and spare parts] is junk that gets in its way.

While I’m cooking, go ahead with saving this damsel in distress. Di-s-mis-sed~.”

Most of their work was about putting the instruments back, and making sure that the crane will roll out without issues. It had a lot of space underneath it, between the wheels, making it easy to drag it over the spare parts on the floor.