Water Magician

Apologies for the late release!

Editor: Tseirp

Aberdeen, the capital of the Inbury Duchy, is a city which stands on a flat plain.

It is located at the center of the Avant Plain, the largest plain in the Duchy, and the Donicles River, which has one of the largest basins in the central countries, flows immediately to the east.

Originally a merchant city in terms of location, it does not have a particularly impressive fortress-like capacity to intercept large armies.

Aberdeen was now surrounded on all sides by the Union forces.

The main Union forces led by the Commander-in-Chief Lord Aubrey were encamped on the north side, and the other three sides were so heavily fortified that not even a mouse could escape.

“Your Excellency, it’s been twenty-four hours since the call for their surrender. It’s already past the deadline they were given, yet there’s been no response whatsoever.”

Lucien, the central military commander of the Union forces, gave the report.

He was requesting for permission to attack.

“Well, I suppose not. Fine. I give you permission to attack.”

Unless something unexpected happened, that was as far as Lord Aubrey would go with his instructions.

From then on, Lucien and the other frontline commanders would make decisions on the spot.

(Sometimes I wish I could go too…)

The nostalgic feel of the battlefield…originally a soldier, Lord Aubrey was sometimes struck by a feeling akin to nostalgia when he stood on the battlefield.

In a way, he may be a ‘battle junkie’.

The Union forces attack began.

Considering what would happen after the fall of the capital, they were not to attack the city walls, but to break through the gates, which were easy to repair.

In the case of a ‘capital’, both the city walls and gates are usually protected by some kind of defensive magic.

In most cases, alchemical tools are used so that magic users of any attribute can activate the defensive mechanism as long as they channel their magic power into it.

Of course, it is also a given to have ‘magic stones’ that store magic so that it won’t be a problem even if there is no Magician on standby to perform the operation.

Naturally, Aberdeen, the ‘Ducal Capital’, is also equipped with such a magic defense mechanism.

The type is the very common ‘Wind-Attribute Defense Magic’.

But…

“Captain, the northern wall defense mechanism is not activated! ”

Nigel, the captain of the garrison, received a distressing report.

The alchemy tools and stones in the central command center were working fine.

However, the ‘Wind Magic Defense Mechanism’ had not been deployed in some parts of the northern wall.

And by some parts,

“The castle gate…”

It’s impossible for a failure to occur only at that particular point.

“Those Union dogs must have destroyed it.”

The city had been sabotaged before they knew it.

Perhaps during the twenty-four hours that they had been given to surrender.

At this point, Nigel, the captain of the garrison of the Duchy, had a decision to make.

The castle defense, of course, consisted of soldiers stationed on the ramparts, as well as Magicians.

With their efforts, the castle might last some time.

At the same time, it might not.

The adversary was the ‘Great Commander’ Aubrey.

He may even break through the castle gates in a single blow, now that the magic defense mechanism was down.

If that happens, it’s all over.

“Goddamn it. It’s a little early, but activate the Green Storm. Hurry up! ”

“Your Excellency, it’s just as you planned, the gate’s defense mechanism appears to be down.”

“They must have neglected to perform a last-minute check. Well, I don’t suppose they would have been able to fix it in time even if they did, and the main cause is probably because they are short on manpower to begin with.”

“It’s the ducal capital, and yet they are short on manpower?”

Lamber asked Lord Aubrey.

“That’s right, it’s the ducal capital, even then.”

Lord Aubrey replied, raising one corner of his mouth slightly.

“Now then…I guess they should be preparing their ace in the hole right about now.”

Lord Aubrey’s mutter was so quiet that even Lamber, who was standing next to him, couldn’t hear it.

“Captain, Green Storm has been activated. Enemy cavalry should be within range in ten seconds.”

“Good. The first shot should be an attack covering a wide area, reduce their numbers as much as possible! ”

“They’ll be within range in…three, two, one.”

“Fire! ”

At that moment, a green light emanated from the tallest spire standing in the center of the capital, Aberdeen, and in a flash, it cleaved the approaching Union cavalry beyond the northern ramparts.

The cavalry was instantly mowed to pieces and splattered on the ground.

“First shot, successful.”

“Whoa! ”

Cheers echoed through the central command center.

Nigel, the captain of the garrison, who was trying to maintain his composure, also made a fist pump gesture.

Although they had conducted test firing several times, that was the first time they initiated a full-scale bombardment.

The weapon, which had yet to fully pass its integrity checks, had done its job magnificently.

“Come on now, you vile invaders. I’ll turn you barbarians into mincemeats as many times as it takes.”

The captain’s soliloquy was louder than he had expected and was heard by Meredith, the second-in-command, who was standing next to him. And those around him.

“What the…”

The green beam was visible to the main Union forces.

And how it decimated the vanguard cavalry in a single flash.

Even Lord Aubrey couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Y-Your Excellency, what in the world was that…”

Lord Aubrey’s excellent assistant, Lamber, was also confused.

To think that the Inbury Duchy was hiding something so catastrophic.

“A magic weapon, I suppose.”

Lord Aubrey, as if mustering everything he had, said.

Magic weapons…are high-powered weapons created through a combination of magic and alchemy and designed for use on the battlefield, hence they’re called magic weapons.

However, in this era, there were not so many weapons that were catastrophic enough to be called magic weapons.

To produce magical phenomena on a scale large enough to be used on the battlefield required a rather advanced level of alchemy, metallurgical technology, and a deep understanding of magic.

It would be extremely difficult for even the three major powers to attain all of those requirements.

The bottlenecks lie within ‘advanced alchemy’ and ‘deep understanding of magic’.

Advanced alchemy aside.

The alchemist had to be on par with Kenneth or Frank.

On top of that, a ‘deep understanding of magic’…in the central nations, it is understood that ‘if you recite a fixed chant, the corresponding magic will be invoked’.

Nothing more, nothing less.

That was their understanding of magic, as they knew it.

In such a society, in such a world, it was very difficult to obtain a ‘deep understanding of magic’.

That was, unless you were some kind of weirdo like Ilarion, who was obsessed with magic itself….

For these and other reasons that were difficult to overcome, there were not many weapons in reality that could be called ‘magic weapons’.

However, as a fairy tale, there were stories that the floating continent of the ‘Great Empire Babylon’ was home to numerous magic weapons, and that the ‘Holy Sword Astarte’, the weapon of the Hero, was in fact a magic weapon.

Such a thing, which could be called a magic weapon, now appeared before his eyes and reaped one of the calvaries in his army.

Except for Lord Aubrey and Lamber, not a single person had uttered a word.

(A magic weapon uh…now, this is a surprise. I knew that the level of alchemy of the Inbury Duchy was progressing, but I wasn’t expecting this…. Hmm? Alchemy? Now I see, come to think of it, an artificial golem can also be called a ‘magic weapon’ I suppose?)

Lord Aubrey thought about it and gave instructions to Lamber, who was standing beside him.

“Lamber, I want you to go quickly to the rear and fetch Dr. Frank.”

“R-Roger that, sir.”

With that, Lamber hurried off.

Dr. Frank …… is the genius alchemist, Frank de Verde himself, who has succeeded in manufacturing an artificial golem.

“Kuh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Waahahahahaha. Unbeliveable! ”

Frank de Verde laughed hysterically the moment the green beam sliced through the vanguard cavalry.

Those around them did not condemn him, but simply looked ahead at the flash of light and were speechless.

In the midst of all this, Frank de Verde continued his monologue.

“Wow, I mean, this is simply unbelievable! That has to be ‘Vaedra’, right? It can’t be, can it? I can’t imagine the Vaedra just now being…a finished product. Then what is it? Is Kenneth there? Did Kenneth also give up on the Kingdom and defect to the Duchy? Nah, that’s highly unlikely. He cherishes his parents way too much. No way he’d set for another country leaving his parents behind…but then, how did the Duchy come to possess a Vaedra imitation? The most likely explanation would be that…the research results were stolen. That’s very possible. Kenneth himself wouldn’t do anything that dumb, but it’s quite possible if the research results somehow got leaked from the place where he submitted them. Bloody hell…what a scummy thing to do, stealing people’s accomplishments. Well, either way…”

Then he grinned and continued.

“It’ll be a good test run against Vaedra.”

With that, Frank de Verde chuckled.

Then Lamber arrived, having carried out Lord Aubrey’s orders.

“Your Excellency, I have brought him as requested.”

Frank de Verde spoke out quickly even before Lamber could complete his words.

“I need to deploy the golems.”

“Doctor Frank, of course, that’s why I called for you. Just that, I would like to know what that green light was.”

Lord Aubrey assured Frank that he would grant his wish and tried to elicit information about the green light.

“Fine, that thing is called ‘Vaedra’. An imitation of Vaedra to be precise…anyway, it’s Vaedra.”

“Okay, so what is Vaedra?”

“It’s the Kingdom’s ‘Secret Weapon’.”

Dr. Frank grinned with one side of his cheek as he said this.

Lord Aubrey was extremely surprised when he heard that.

The Kingdom’s secret weapon was somehow in the Duchy.

(No, that’s not important right now. The fact that the doctor seems to know quite a bit about this Vaedra of a thing is proof that we are still much in luck. As for the Kingdom’s magic weapon, it’s either the Doctor developed it back when he was in the Kingdom, or the other genius, Baron Kenneth Hayward did. Either way, it seems likely that the artificial golems can handle it.)

Just as Lord Aubrey was thinking deeply about this, Dr. Frank came up with additional information.

“That thing utilizes wind-attribute magic to create explosive wind shockwaves. And each shockwave cuts so finely that, it appears as if it was chopped up several times, but…I’d like to try a few things. As for the golems, one of them might break, but seeing as it is a battlefield, sacrifices are inevitable, right?”

“Sure, I’ll leave that part up to you. If you were asking me to sacrifice the lives of my soldiers for a test, then I will definitely have some reservations, but a golem, please, by all means.”

Lord Aubrey immediately responded to Dr. Frank’s request, assuring him that it was all good.

“Perfect. Deploy the first golem! ”

Dr. Frank shouted to a small alchemical stone in his left hand.

It was an alchemical stone for communicating with his subordinates in the Golem corps.

It was the same device as the one Dr. Frank had created when he was still in the Kingdom, only equipped with a mana stone for storing magic power inside, separate from an external mana stone, so that even those who could not use magic could operate it.

Of course, Dr. Frank himself, being an alchemist, could also use magic…and in fact possesses dual attributes, fire and wind.

So the idea of placing a mana stone inside another mana stone, wasn’t for his own convenience.

Nor was it for anyone else.

It seemed doable, so he simply tried it out.

And when he tried it, it worked out fine.

That’s all.

Dr. Frank was not a mad scientist.

He would hesitate to do something that might cause trouble for someone else…he might eventually do it, but he would not go so far as to destroy someone else’s life in the pursuit of his interest.

But so long as it’s nothing too serious…if he had the inkling to experiment something, he simply does it.

Dr. Frank, Frank de Verde, was that kind of guy.

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