Chapter 170 - 156: The Big Sweep
Chapter 170: Chapter 156: The Big Sweep
Robson and Valentino, along with a group of nobles, hurried to Sirich City.
Robson’s plan was to send the main army ahead. He would follow with the mules and horses carrying the military equipment and supplies.
It was a shame the Frankish Nobles weren’t accustomed to traveling in comfort; otherwise, Robson could have dismantled a few more of their carriages to haul supplies.
The nobles remaining in Sirich City couldn’t possibly give Robson everything. After all, they still had their own army of over twenty thousand, an important war asset in its own right. They couldn’t play favorites.
"I’m going to organize the family’s Knight Order," Valentino said, looking at Robson doubtfully. "Can you dismantle all those Magic Crystal Cannons by yourself?"
There were as many as fourteen Magic Crystal Cannons in all of Sirich City. It was certainly no easy task.
"Don’t worry," Robson said with a smile. "I figured out the mechanics of the castle’s ballistae when I was five."
’Could I dismantle them? Of course I could!’
Lord Robson had been coveting the Magic Crystal Cannons on these walls for a long, long time. If he could get them into the field, Robson could hardly imagine the glorious sight.
’Perhaps the history of warfare will be rewritten in just a few days. The role of the Magic Crystal Cannon is about to be elevated immensely.’
Valentino gave Robson a playful smirk, then donned her helmet and left to command her troops.
"Ais, take the Fifth Regiment and organize the conscripts provided by the other nobles. Have them pull out all the remaining armor, swords, and ballistae from Sirich City’s stockpiles.
Oh, and round up all the unused carriages and bring them here.
Trieron, go find Viscount Di Man. He will hand over several hundred horses to you, plus several hundred mules and donkeys.
Mage Norria, please gather the Mages in Sirich City who can use the Shaping Technique. They need to prepare suitable carriages for these Magic Crystal Cannons.
If there’s time, make extra. Don’t spare the Magic Potions. We’re racing against time, and these carriages are essential," Robson ordered.
A look of surprise flashed in Mage Norria’s eyes.
"I really don’t understand your thinking," Mage Norria said, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Shouldn’t the power of a Mage be used to slay enemies on the battlefield?"
"It depends on the circumstances. Right now, the most important thing is reaching Thermopylae. Speed is everything," Robson explained.
’He didn’t want to correct the mindsets of the older generation, nor did he think he could. Magic was such a convenient tool; its applications shouldn’t be so narrow-minded.’
Mage Norria shook his head, but ultimately, he went and did as ordered.
.....
By the time Robson and a crowd of noble lords had heaved the final Magic Crystal Cannon onto a carriage created by Mage Norria’s Shaping Technique, night had already fallen.
It couldn’t be helped. The Magic Crystal Cannons were genuinely a hassle, requiring the coordinated effort of many people.
The main issue was transportation. It wasn’t that Robson, as a Gold, lacked the strength to lift one. Rather, he was pressed for time and needed to dismantle the other Magic Crystal Cannons, so he couldn’t afford to waste his own time on manual labor.
It was worth noting that after hearing Robson’s suggestions, Mage Norria had taken the initiative. He had carved acceleration Magic Patterns onto the carriages designed for the Magic Crystal Cannons, along with a peculiar Magic Array. According to Norria, it could be used to deploy a complete Magic Crystal Cannon emplacement at a moment’s notice.
’Mobile combat, deploy on the spot, and enter the fray at a moment’s notice... If this isn’t a self-propelled cannon, what is?’
Robson could almost see a branching tree of possibilities, a discipline called ’artillery doctrine.’
Unfortunately, the Magic Array could only be deployed once before it was rendered useless.
What’s more, creating a functional Magic Array on plain wood was obviously beyond the capabilities of an average Mage.
Even a Magic Master like Norria, with the help of dozens of other Mages, had used a full ten crates’ worth of materials to barely finish the job.
Ten large crates of high-purity Magic Crystals would fetch several thousand Gold Coins on the market. Trading thousands of Gold Coins for a single fancy carriage... one could only say that if these weren’t special circumstances, Robson would never have approved such an extravagant expenditure.
Trieron and Ais had also been highly efficient. Although the Fifth Regiment had the lowest ratio of Tier-3 soldiers, they were still incredibly quick when it came to performing these odd jobs.
The wealth scrounged from all of Sirich City left Robson practically salivating.
Now, Robson could arm at least 500 Heavy Armored Infantry and another 200 Heavy Cavalry. On top of that, Valentino had somehow procured several hundred Magic Crossbows.
Robson had personally witnessed the power of those contraptions before, so naturally, he gladly accepted them all.
Unfortunately, these items had been purchased for him by Prince Noah, so they nominally belonged to the Kingdom Government. It would likely be impossible to claim them for himself after the war.
Of course, Lord Robson had no intention of holding back on Prince Noah’s account. He had everything loaded onto the carriages—all kinds of armor, ballistae, and Magic Crossbows.
Although there were only a few hundred complete sets of armor, the Frank Kingdom’s armor was clearly modular. As a result, there were plenty of individual pieces lying around. There were also a large number of hide-covered shields—all of it good stuff.
Especially the Magic Crystals, Magic Bows and arrows, and Divine Water. Robson had even managed to scrounge up two or three hundred Magic Scrolls!
Theoretically, even a Mage Apprentice could create a Magic Scroll. Of course, you could forget about things like power and stability.
A Magic Scroll was a classic example of a Magic Item whose quality depended entirely on the maker’s experience.
Unfortunately, those experienced Mages basically spent all day holed up in their Magic Laboratories conducting experiments.
Magic Scrolls also weren’t quite what Robson had imagined—you couldn’t just toss one out and have it instantly turn into a spell. Their activation was a process, and the time it took depended on the scroll’s materials and the Magic Patterns the Mage had used.
For example, if you used a low-grade transmission medium like Ying Sand, along with the sloppy Magic Patterns of a Mage Apprentice, the activation could take years. Then one day, long after you’d forgotten about it, it might suddenly go off with a vicious bang.
Of course, if a Great Mage used high-purity Magic Crystal Sand to create it, a delay of only a few seconds might be possible.
But by the time you’re a Great Mage, who can’t cast spells instantly, aside from a few unique Forbidden Spells?
As for these things—situational at best and useless at worst—people generally didn’t go out of their way to procure them.
At first, Robson was puzzled why the kingdom’s military would procure something with so little practical value in combat. Then, on the Magic Scrolls’ packaging, he saw the royal seal of the Dragon and Bear.
’As expected,’ he thought. ’The whole kingdom is cut from the same cloth.’