The general inspected the preparations and found them to be proceeding in good order. The palisade was up, the tents would soon join it, and the dragons were hauling in the engines required for the siege.
"General, I'm puzzled. Why do we have dragons do manual labor? Couldn't they take down the walls themselves?"
These brats from the elite families always asked dumb questions like that. So far the general had managed to preserve his patience in every such instance, which was the reason he had been able to become a general. "Yes. Then they claim the city for themselves. As it is, they don't even know what we're going to do with that mangonel, for instance." He pointed at a dragon who deposited that engine, accepted a copper bracelet as payment, and flew off.
"I get it now. That's why we have them digging the latrine, right?"
At least the brat was impressed with his own powers of extrapolation. The general was not. "Yes. They're excellent at it. Far better than my men."
"OK. I guess they're excellent doctors, too." The twerp looked at a dragon wearing a white coat who was struggling to set a bone without killing its owner.
"They're terrible at it, but you can't just look at that. A human would be much better, but that same human will be even more useful in the siege compared to a dragon. Something can be at a disadvantage in itself but still result in an advantage when you compare the optimum use for whatever is superior to it." Did the elites not teach their children economics? The general worried about the future of the country even if the siege were successful.
Finis
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