After the Flying Airship landed, Perfikot couldn’t wait to lead all the knights off the airship and head towards the warehouse.
The snow on the ground made it difficult for everyone to move forward, even though the knights possessed great strength, they still struggled.
After all, the snow was a meter deep, and as soon as someone stepped in, their entire lower body would sink, making each step a massive challenge, requiring several times more effort than usual.
Perfikot was supported by a few great knights, and the heavy winter clothing on her body had become a burden, severely hindering her movement.
Almost every step required assistance, making it unbearable for Perfikot. Unable to stand it any longer, she finally took out her staff and cast a large-scale alchemy spell.
The previously soft snow was almost instantly "frozen" solid, as if compacted, allowing it to support people walking on it without sinking.
"This is much easier, now move forward at full speed." Stepping on the snow she had slightly melted and refrozen under her feet, feeling the solid sensation from beneath her, Perfikot was satisfied and quickly walked towards the warehouse.
Following some habits of an alchemist too much, she even ignored the fact that she was practically a BUG.
What was impossible for ordinary alchemists was merely a simple operation for her.
This large-scale modification of the snow’s state was a refined operation, after all, it required the snow to be "frozen" solid without turning directly into ice, which demanded a certain level of finesse in operation.
Although any alchemist with the "United" title could perform this level of micromanagement, there was a subtle difference between being able to do it and actually doing it.
As for the large-scale alchemy itself? So far, Perfikot was the only one in the world who, with the blessing of the Philosopher’s Stone, could treat alchemy like a map editor.
Because it was just micromanagement, Perfikot’s spiritual power consumption wasn’t high, so when she reached the doorstep of the warehouse storing the Steam Knight armor components, she directly used alchemy to clear a slope leading straight to the warehouse door, without needing the knights to dig their way in laboriously.
Of course, she didn’t forget that she completely sealed the warehouse door with alchemy, and only alchemy could reopen it.
As a few knights pushed open the warehouse door and saw the neatly stacked crates inside, Perfikot nodded in satisfaction, then instructed the knights beside her: "Have someone open the crates and assemble forty sets of armor first. I assume I don’t need to guide you on how to equip it, right?"
Just as knights of the old era needed to learn how to manage their warhorses and maintain their weapons and armor, Steam Knights also need to know how to maintain their armor.
Although this involved a lot of specialized engineering and alchemy knowledge, if it was just basic maintenance, memorizing the technical manual wasn’t too difficult.
The knights of the White Bear Knight Order had been learning for a while now, and while they couldn’t be called experts, they could at least handle simple maintenance and assembly.
"Rest assured, we can already proficiently assemble and disassemble the armor." The knight beside her responded confidently.
He wasn’t boasting; the ten sets of Steam Knight armor of the White Bear Knight Order had been studied by them many times, with many knights personally disassembling, maintaining, and reassembling them to gain a deeper understanding of the armor and weapons they would need to use in the future.
For a knight, if he wasn’t familiar with his armor and weapons, he was undoubtedly not a qualified knight.
Perfikot nodded and said nothing more, leaving only the words "I’ll leave it to you" before turning away from the warehouse and heading towards the one set up for isolating patients.
She could see that white vapor was still rising from that warehouse, indicating there were still people inside.
Of course, it was impossible that there were no people, as communication wasn’t cut off between the Fjord Camp and the Eagle’s Beak Cliff Base, even though the traffic was blocked. Official source is ɴovelfire.net
After all, they weren’t far apart, and setting up a telegraph line or even radio wasn’t a big issue. As a precaution, Perfikot had prepared both to ensure communication remained uninterrupted in extremely bad weather.
Fortunately, even though the blizzard was severe, because Perfikot had ordered the telegraph line to be buried along the railroad, it hadn’t experienced any issues.
Before arriving, Perfikot had contacted the area to confirm that there were no major issues at the Fjord Camp.
Again using alchemy to clear the way, Perfikot directly opened the door to the warehouse.
"Count!" Seeing Perfikot appear at the warehouse door, Lieutenant Mikhail showed an expression of surprise and excitement, putting down what he was holding and rushing to salute her.
Meanwhile, her head maid, Beifa, also stopped her work and came to Perfikot’s side.
It was somewhat unexpected, yet seemed reasonable. Over half of the maid dolls in the warehouse were placed aside, stopped, with only Beifa and a few other maid dolls still operating to care for the patients.
"No need for formalities." Perfikot waved her hand and then asked concernedly, "What’s the situation here? What support does the camp need?"
"The main issue now is we’re running out of fuel. We’re even rationing fuel just to heat food. The military camp is reportedly near a supply cutoff, and Steward Foster previously sent a team to log, but it’s really difficult to obtain enough firewood in this season." Mikhail quickly reported to Perfikot, showing a worried expression.
However, hearing his report, Perfikot asked puzzledly, "Why did you say ’reportedly’? Could it be..."
Perfikot glanced at the snow that had almost piled up to the height of the warehouse door outside and helplessly shook her head, saying, "Alright, I understand. The snow has trapped you here?"
"The snow is simply too deep. We tried sending people to the camp before, but it’s really too difficult to get there." Mikhail, looking a bit awkward, explained, "I tried making a sled with stretchers and wooden boards to transport some supplies to the camp, but it got buried in snow midway, making it impossible to reach."
Although there was a sense of things being rather dire in Mikhail’s words, he didn’t seem particularly worried.
It wasn’t that he was carefree, but rather because the camp had a radio for communication with the Eagle’s Beak Cliff Base. If something truly major happened, Steward Foster would surely seek aid from Perfikot rather than sitting idly by.