Honestly, from my personal perspective, the reputation of the ducal house is something I couldn’t care less about and would dismiss outright.

  However, the Edelgard family is a rare bastion of common sense among the nobility, and their decline could shake the very foundations of our lives in the long run—something I’d rather avoid.

  So, let’s put our heads together and figure this out.

  What Lotus brought were reports and maps.

  "These are maps of the currently conquered dungeon floors and the reports leading up to them. Detailed monster distributions are also recorded.""This helps a lot."

  The contents detail the ongoing conquest of the Durahan Dungeon—stuff you’d expect to find on a strategy wiki.

  Only nobles could gather such exhaustive intel.

  Even the analysis team would be satisfied with this level of completeness.

  "Fifteen floors... but the boss room hasn’t been reached yet.""Yeah, there are more dragon zombies than expected.""What about using curse-breaking potions?""We didn’t have much stock to begin with, and the recent stampede drained a lot. The alchemists are producing more, but materials are scarce.""So mass production isn’t feasible.""Not looking good."

  Do we really have to go this far just to make the information public?

  "Well, what do you think, Liberta?""...Reaching the boss room in the Durahan Dungeon seems manageable, but the real bottleneck is the wyvern dungeon beyond it."

  Judging by the detailed records—down to combat strength—there’s no doubt they have the manpower to conquer the Durahan Dungeon.

  Even without EXBP, the participating members are sufficiently leveled.

  The most notable factors are the guild master’s involvement and elite knights being deployed.

  A well-banced team: the overwhelmingly powerful guild master supported by the high-level knights.

  If they proceed carefully, they’ll clear it without issue.

  "As expected.""If they don’t get greedy, it’ll end peacefully. But that’s not what we need, right?""...Right. If we can achieve more here, we can keep the other ducal houses in check.""Then—"

  At best, this only guarantees a resolution for the recent stampede and its reted incidents.Meaning other problems are cropping up elsewhere.

  The quests involving other ducal houses through FBO are all insidious, troublesome affairs.They didn’t maintain their power and roots on this continent for nothing.

  Uprooting them will take considerable patience and effort.

  And to prevent future damages from escating, we’ll need the strength of the Edelgard family—portrayed as vilins in the game.

  If we bolster the duke’s power now, dealing with the other three ducal houses ter will be easier—or at least we can maintain a bance like in the original story.

  "The quickest way is to go full meta.""Meta? What do you mean?""Thoroughly countering the enemy’s species and attributes. In this case, since we’re dealing with wyverns and wind dragons, we’d prepare gear with wind-attribute and anti-dragon effects."

  What we need are wind-dragon-sying weapons.FBO often employed such tactics.

  In fact, without specialized gear for te-game bosses, even maxed stats would guarantee a struggle.

  "Don’t make it sound so simple. Dragon-sying weapons aren’t easy to come by. The royal vault only has a few. My daughter mentioned that adventurer coveted your bamboo spear as a dragon-sying weapon precisely because of its rarity—and because it was auctioned by the royal family.""Is that so? They’re actually pretty easy to make. Well, the performance is mediocre, far from perfected.""Liberta, your common sense is our insanity. Please don’t say such things so casually. The duke might develop an ulcer."

  Against wind dragons, following the elemental cycle (earth, water, fire, wind), we’d craft fire-attribute anti-dragon weapons and wind-resistant armor. Add breath and flight countermeasures, and we’re set.

  The real nuisance with wind dragons is their vast boss arena, where they and their wyverns fly freely, disrupting formations with high-speed movements.

  Worse, they restrict footing, leaving no room to evade.

  "Well, even without dragon-sying weapons, cursed poison is an option—though it’s more tedious to make. A single hit from a poisoned arrow turns it into a war of attrition, guaranteeing victory.""Wait, you can kill a dragon with just one arrow?""It’ll take time, but yes. Though brewing poison that potent takes forever. With proper facilities and self-sourced materials, cost is zero, but even for experts, it takes a month. For average skill, over a year. Not cost-effective for wind dragons, so I don’t recommend it.""That’s too slow to be useful.""Hence, making a full set of dragon-sying gear for six people is the better option."

  Considering everything, meta gear is the most reasonable and cost-effective.

  "You make it sound so effortless.""Need a healing potion?""No. So, Liberta, what do I need to prepare?""What’s the skill level of the duke’s bcksmiths? And the facilities? The required materials depend on that."

  At this point, my existence is already fgged as "dangerous," so I might as well unleash my knowledge freely. The duke and Cudia grow increasingly pale.

  If they’re already this shaken, they’ll faint at what’s coming next.I’ll endure their sighs and press on.

  "Lotus.""Yes. Based on quick verification, the master smith in the capital is Css 4, Level 23. As for facilities, while details are unclear, they should have the test equipment in the capital.""Will that suffice?""...Barely. But we can’t cut corners on materials—we’ll need pure ones."

  Well, I’ll keep the specifics to myself for now.First, wind dragon countermeasures.

  "The bare minimum: two tanks. Weapons optional, but they’ll need two rge shields each—preferably with spares. These shields must have wind resistance and hate-generation skills. Full-body armor with wind resistance will stack with the shields for double defense. With two managing damage, they won’t fall easily."

  First, the absolute must-have: the defense line.If levels were equal, brute-force DPS could work, but underleveled? Damage control is non-negotiable.

  The so-called tank role.

  "At the very least, steel armor—ideally mithril or better. The rge shields must be mithril or higher. Oh, and no mythril—its magic defense is high, but physical defense is cking. Max out wind resistance enchantments, and the tanks will hold.""We have spare armor. As for rge shields... Lotus, I believe we have Damascus steel ones?""Yes. Liberta, would Damascus steel suffice?""Plenty. Enchantments adhere better than mithril, so go all out.""Understood. I’ll arrange wind resistance immediately."

  The wealth of a ducal house is enviable—having such inventory ready.

  "Do we have wind spirit stones in stock?""Yes. Not overflowing, but enough for a full party.""Good. Liberta, what’s next?""Healers—two. They’ll keep the tanks and DPS alive but will be primary targets.""True. A wind dragon’s intellect far surpasses ordinary monsters."

  I continue listing gear while marveling at their financial might.

  "Healers make or break a party’s endurance. Relying on items isn’t ideal, so... let’s have the tanks carry steel coffins on their backs.""...What did you just say?""Steel coffins. Put the healers inside. They can heal by touching the coffin, no problem.""I didn’t mishear. You’re serious?""Realistically, can underleveled healers survive wind dragon or wyvern attacks? Even with gear, their defense is paper-thin.""Hence, coffins.""Yes. Boost the coffin’s wind resistance, and it’ll outcss standard armor. Plus, the tanks will shield them from hits. Ideally, a giant tank with a dwarf healer.""But isn’t that dangerous? Tanks are frontline targets.""The wind dragon’s arena is an open cliffside pza—no escape. Either bring an evasion-specialist healer who can dodge everything or a stamina-monster who can tank hits. Stat-wise, neither’s realistic. Otherwise, it’s just death by dragon."

  Meta-strats demand specialized party compositions.Cudia’s concerns are valid, but in boss arenas, the safest spot is the tank’s coverage zone.

  "Have custom coffins made.""Oh, add mana potion racks inside. Mana depletion must be avoided.""Prepare detailed instructions ter. We’ll base it on that.""Understood. I’ll also include coffin combat tactics.""Good."

  This tactic was actually handy in NPC escort quests.

  Sturdy frontline NPCs were fine, but magic-based ones—healers or DPS—were gss cannons.

  And of course, the quests where their death meant failure. Hence, the coffin strategy.

  Technically, it’s more of a locker than a coffin.

  "Next, DPS—bows, no question. Greatbows, preferably. Lower fire rate, but higher power and range. Two DPS.""Bows? Against wind dragons, that’s expected.""Partly, but greatbows can be enchanted with anti-flight effects. Add fire attribute and anti-dragon, and you get triple multipliers: anti-air, fire, anti-dragon—devastating against wind dragons and wyverns."

  I’ve experienced this in raids. Tanks, with healers strapped to their backs, become unsinkable fortresses, drawing hate naturally.

  And the DPS’s role—eliminating the wind dragon.For airborne foes, bows are the only choice.

  Melee weapons like spears or swords can work, but underleveled, ranged is far more efficient.No need to knock the target out of the sky first.

  "Hoh? That powerful?""At the very least, it’s more effective than using greatswords after grounding them. The material costs are steep, though. At minimum, ancient elderwood, fire spirit stones, and mythril for the greatbow. That’ll make a fire-attribute one. Lotus, can we manage?""Materials are in stock, so no issue.""But wouldn’t that just make a fire-attribute bow? What about the dragon-sying and anti-air effects?""Dragon-sying enchantments are simple. Synthesize the finished weapon with a ghost’s memory stone, then sy nothing but dragons."

  Distance is the ultimate physical defense.If attacks don’t reach, damage doesn’t register.

  Hence, greatbows.Magic is an option, but it requires skill training.Bows? The ducal house surely has skilled archers. Swapping weapons saves time.

  As for dragon-sying—it’s not complicated.

  Undead, particurly ghosts, drop memory stones.These grant anti-[monster] effects.

  The stones have tiers, with memory stones being the lowest—but still a 50% damage boost.

  "So, we just need to keep sying dragons with the bow?""That’s where the anti-air effect comes in. Combine sky fragments and meteorites to make skyfall shards. Enchant with those for anti-air. That’ll cover firepower. With the right party and execution, wyverns are manageable. Luckily, the dungeon is swarming with them."

  Skyfall shards are entry-level but still grant a 30% damage boost against flying foes.

  A fire-attribute greatbow with anti-air will deal sufficient damage to wyverns.While tanks and healers buy time, the DPS clears the wyverns.

  "Liberta, how many wyverns must we sy to enchant the bow?""Roughly... a hundred?"

  The real bottleneck? To prep for the wind dragon, we’ll need to hunt two hundred wyverns in total.