Back at the Bastard Bandit cave, Blazelle was rudely awakened by a bandit with frantic news.
"What is it?" she asked, with her fire almost setting ablaze the bed she was sleeping in.
"Miss Blazelle…our scouts have yet to return! They were supposed to return yesterday, but it has already been two days and there has been no peep of them yet! I'm afraid that they've already been captured by Reborn…"
Blazelle got up from bed and faced the bandit, who shivered in fear as soon as she got close to him.
"How could that even be possible?! Are you sure they're not late?"
The bandit gulped. Of course he was sure, but not sure enough to risk the ire of Blazelle.
Just then, Wano walked inside the room and grabbed the bandit's shoulder.
"It's more than likely that they have already set up a defense system around their Golden Road."
Blazelle stared at the one-armed man. "How is that possible? They couldn't have been much faster than us. They come all the way from Angora City while we used your underground tunnels."
Wano pursed his lips. All this time, Blazelle had been underestimating the strength of the Reborn company, not knowing that they were a force to be reckoned with.
Just from the rumors, the bits and pieces he heard about them, Wano wouldn't have started a war against them in the first place. Unfortunately, he didn't control the Bastard Bandits anymore; she did.
"They've been one step ahead of us this entire time. They must have anticipated your attacks once they progressed the Golden Road into the forest. And it's more than likely that they will target us next."
A look of panic and worry washed over Blazelle's face. But that didn't last long. She soon realized that she had nothing to worry about.
"It's fine. They will find it hard to progress their Golden Road. The Fairies will pester them to no end, am I right?" she asked, chuckling to herself.
However, Wano didn't answer. He wasn't willing to bet on Reborn's failure at this point.
"In the meantime, send more troops!" Blazelle commanded.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, Michael and his team named: The Boyz, sat together in their own room inside the HeadQuarters.
"What are we doing here? Let's punch some bandits!" Zion said, tapping his biceps.
"My junior Zion…don't be so crass. We still need them to be recruited into our nation as prisoners! I want some more loyal Iron Maid memb—-oops, I said nothing."
Fudge whistled innocently, retracting the mouth from his slime face.
He was very lucky that Michael was preoccupied with something or else he would have been cooked.
"Narito, Sasuki!" he called out to the Chieftains. Within a fraction of a second, the two Orcs appeared simultaneously, each one bidding to be faster than the other.
"Do we have any news on which Bandit group is coming?"
Narito kneeled. "BU TO TO! Thanks to the intel provided by Sleazy, we have discovered that the Dogfolk Bandits have been dispatched to attack us."
Sasuki followed along. "RAH TA TA! They are stationed in this part of the forest, so it is likely that they will come from this direction and attack the Western point of our fort. Their numbers—"
Just as the Orcs were about to finish their report, the door to their room suddenly burst wide open as five angry women stared down at Michael.
"You're cheating!" Yuna accused, pointing at Michael, squinting. "The contract we signed clearly states that no team should ask help from other people."
As a diplomat, Yuna had everybody sign a contract to legalize their game. That way, there were no 'backsies' on the agreement.
Of course, Yuna made sure the contract was full-proof.
"What? I'm not cheating," he argued. "I'm just asking for help from my friends here.
"It is cheating!" Yuna stomped over and pushed the two Orcs away from Michael. "You guys can't help him!" she said.
"Michael…I'm still proud of you, but I'm disappointed," Lylia said, sulking in the corner and shaking her head.
"It's not cheating!" Michael asserted.
"Lord Michael, you cannot use your authority as the boss to get a tactical advantage against us," Sheina said, turning her head away from him.
"Yup…I agree," Umisu nodded along.
Michael couldn't believe that even they agreed that he was cheating.
Lylia then prodded Vivi to come inside the room. "Come on, dear. Shout at Michael for cheating!"
Vivi looked around, confused. But the other girls in the room nodded at her, giving her assurance.
"You're a sore loser…?" Vivi said, doubting her own words.
The other girls gave her a thumbs up. A smile grew on Vivi's face as she gave herself a thumbs up.
"We'll be confiscating the Orcs. Since you got help from them this time, this means we can use them too!" Yuna said, assertively pointing at the door and walking out.
The two Orc Chieftains were unsure of what to do, but with just one look from Lylia, their survival instincts kicked in and they followed them out of the room.
Michael sighed. Technically, he was cheating, but he didn't think they would notice.
Thankfully though, he got the information he needed from the Orcs. They were about to face DogFolk Bandits.
"What happened to our traps? Is it all set up?" Michael asked Grieve as they both looked at the topographical map of the forest.
Grieve nodded, with his ribs clicking as he did so. "Yes, Michael. All is well. We just need to add the constructs to the layout and it will be done."
Michael had instructed Grieve to prepare the landscape for their experiment.
Aside from wanting to win this competition against the girls, Michael also wanted to use this time to test out the roller coaster features he was going to build in the future.
Speaking of which, he wanted to see if the prototype was already constructed by Kong and the Engineers. So, he briefly transported himself back to Angora City, specifically, the warehouse just by the side of their department store.
This was where Kong and the other Senior-level Engineers were working on the roller coaster prototype.
Michael looked around and saw the makings of a roller coaster trailway, which was halfway constructed from the bottom as it climbed up to the apex of the ride.
He saw a group of Rebornian Engineers gathered in a circle as they looked at blueprints and small metal prototypes in their hands.
Kong noticed his arrival and immediately greeted him.
"Boss! We just finished the cart prototype. As of now, it has been fitted to carry DogFolk, Catfolk, Lizardfolk, and other such demi-humans with human body types."
In the middle of their table, he saw a large cart modified to seat two people in the front, and another two at the back.
It looked like a crude version of the roller coaster carts he saw in his previous life. But this one looked bulkier and thicker than the original one.
"It's made from Damascus Steel," Michael observed.
"Yes, boss. This is the only metal that is lightweight but still strong enough to withstand great accelerations."
Michael knocked on the metal and nodded in satisfaction. "This will do, he said. Now, how about the features? Have you finished it yet?"
"Yes, boss! For Dogfolk and other demi-humans with the canine bloodline, we have borrowed from your great wisdom and created this masterpiece!"