Episode 1245. Do you really want to fire at the stagecoach?
The southern kingdom bordering the Imperial Principality of Topla is the Shade Kingdom.
The Shade Kingdom was located on the road to the Great Forest and was not adjacent to the Great Forest.
But the problem is that it borders the empire.
When the Adriatic Masdar Bostania Kingdom bordering the Great Forest began to control the Abyss, the Imperial Army asked to open the way to the Shade Kingdom.
Since the southern kingdom was always in a state of alliance, such a request could not work.
When the imperial army gathered on the border of the Shade Kingdom with the intention of breaking through, Adria Masdar and the Kingdom of Bostania sent an army to the Shade Kingdom.
And finally, the armies of both sides clashed on the border between the Principality of Toplar and the Shade Kingdom.
The war went differently from people’s predictions from the beginning.
For example, in the Empire, it was believed that the Empire, a military power, would crush the Confederate Army of the Southern Kingdoms.
On the other hand, the southern kingdoms were confident of their victory with the strategic weapon called the Steel Golem.
However, when the war started, the result was neither one nor the other.
If the Imperial Army struggled against the steel golems of the Southern Kingdoms Alliance, the Southern Kingdoms Alliance was in a bad fight because the command was not unified.
As a result, the Imperial Army and the Confederate Army of the Southern Kingdoms were repeating one step at a time across the border.
The field artillery of the Shade Kingdom Army.
Early moning.
Count Roman Barnett, the commander of the Field Artillery Corps, personally found the front line where the magic cannon was radiated.
After inspecting the nine magic cannons, he called three gunnery commanders.
“You must know the way from Torrens (the southernmost city of the Principality of Toplar) to the Shade Kingdom border checkpoint, right?”
“yes! This is Azesa Road.”
“We are not firing magic cannons towards Azesa Road.”
“Even the imperial bastards don’t touch Azesa Road.”
The three gunners threw one word at a time.
Count Roman Barnet, who had been listening silently, said after washing his face dry with both hands.
“Today, there is an intelligence report that a great aristocrat of the empire is planning to infiltrate using a stagecoach. Do you know what that means?”
One of the gunnery rangers asked cautiously.
“Are you shelling Azesa Road?”
Then a satisfied smile appeared on Count Roman Barnet’s face.
“Yes. Information about the Iron Golem must not be given to the Imperials. If you see a wagon on Azesa Road, don’t hesitate to defeat it. Got it?”
The field artillery commander’s question was not immediately answered by the gunnery commanders.
Because shelling the wagons was like an order to kill civilians.
Count Roman Barnett approached the hesitant gunners and kicked them in the shin.
“hey! this! Dogs! why no answer! So, are we going to give the Empire all the best secrets of our southern kingdoms? uh? Still, are you guys southern aristocrats!”
The gunnery chiefs stumbled with short screams.
They, all barons, did not dare to object to the count’s words, and responded hastily.
“Sorry!”
“I’ll do it!”
When the gunners said they would do it, the field artillery commander’s hardened face finally opened up.
After a while, a light sigh flowed from the mouth of Count Roman Barnet, who sent the gunners back.
‘Whew!’
The nobles of the Kingdom and the Three Magic Towers of the Empire are not enemies, but companions.
If the magic gun of the three great magic towers of the empire was popular in the kingdom, the great nobles of the kingdom were also important customers for the three great magic towers of the empire.
Even when the war broke out, that basic position did not change.
Such a relationship was possible because the mages prioritized the Mage Tower over the Empire.
The Empire’s Three Great Magic Towers and the southern kingdoms maintained their trade through smuggling, avoiding the eyes of the Imperial Intelligence Agency.
Yesterday, however, the trading manager of the Taboola Magic Tower made a strange request.
―There will be a stagecoach coming into the Shade Kingdom this morning. Destroy the stagecoach with the Count’s field artillery. If you do, I will double your annual magic gun sales.
‘Attack the stagecoach with magic cannons… Anyway, they’re people I can’t understand.’
Count Roman Barnett, who needed a magic gun, accepted his offer.
For the magic gun, he could have done more than that.
Anything can happen in wartime, so what’s the deal with destroying a few stagecoaches?
He slowly moved to a point where he could see Azesa Road.
His staff quietly followed behind him.
***
Du-du-du-du-!
Five stagecoaches with Stagecoach Association flags were lined up on Azesa Road.
Crea looked out the window and murmured.
“When I was at the inn, I kept hearing the sound of magic cannons… but suddenly it’s quiet?”
Then Baron Howard Solon hid himself.
“It’s because I can’t keep firing the magic cannon. Sometimes you need to cool down the gun barrel. I’ve heard they pee when they don’t even have time to cool off the gun barrel.”
“really? Can I?”
“Because I have to cool down the hot gun barrel somehow so that I can continue to fire the magic cannon. If you want to shoot magic cannons, you have to do that. It might smell a bit, but.”
“Oh, I hate that. So you’re saying it’s time for a break?”
“yes.”
“ha! It’s safe. I was startled every time I heard the sound of the magic cannon.”
“why? Are you afraid the shells will fly here?”
“Mr. Hyde said that earlier. Blind shells might come flying.”
“Did you forget what I said before? That the Empire and Southern Kingdoms do not hostile adventurers and mercenaries. If people are needed for the development of the Abyss, there will be no reason to fly here.”
“Besides, now is the time to cool down the magic cannon, so it must be completely safe. Yes?”
“If you say it twice, it’s nagging.”
“Baron Solon, you don’t know anything. I guess you served in the army?”
“The army did not go. It’s just a story I heard from a professor who taught war history at Jedo’s academy.”
“Did you go to the academy in the Mother Islands? They say it’s a place where only the real geniuses go.”
“Is that so? None of the classmates were bad-headed.”
As Baron Howard Solon sighed, Fabian spoke loudly so that the farthest seat (third class) could hear.
“There is another reason why the magic cannon is suddenly quiet, but I guess you haven’t heard of that?”
Baron Howard Solon, not knowing what it was, looked out the window without replying.
When Baron Solon did not answer, Crea raised her voice slightly so that the first class could hear.
“Is there another reason not to fire the magic cannon?”
“Even when significantly modifying the firing point, the magic cannon does not fire. You should be aligning the gun barrels for a new firing point right now.”
“ah! okay.”
Crea looked at the back of Baron Cloud’s head with new eyes.
It was said that there was a war with demons in the north, and it smelled like an expert.
Baron Howard Solon coughed disapprovingly.
“Hum hum.”
The downside of Fabian is that, once started, it rarely stops.
“I wonder what the Southern Kingdom’s new target will be. Surely it’s not a stagecoach? I hope not.”
Elio said a word to Fabian’s cubic tablet.
“Did I tell you to watch your mouth? Because words become seeds. In particular, what you say fits strangely well, so don’t throw out random words.”
“Ah yes sorry. I’m sorry I tried to laugh. Do you really want to fire at the stagecoach?”
As soon as he finished his words, there was the sound of magic cannon firing, followed by the sound of an explosion nearby.
Quaang!
For a moment there was silence in the carriage.
Fabian asked Count Elio Lagoa with a puzzled face.
“Didn’t this fall over here?”
“that’s right. It landed on the side about fifty meters from the road.”
“Didn’t you say that the southern kingdoms don’t hostile to adventurers and mercenaries?”
“It did.”
“Then why are you shooting magic cannons this way? You must have made a mistake?”
However, despite his wishes, shells began to fall around him.
bang! bang! bang! Quaang-!
Fabian, who was watching out the window, shouted.
“There are shells falling on the road! Those madmen are shooting magic cannons at the stagecoach!”
“Don’t make a fuss. The stagecoach isn’t standing still. If you run like this, it’s hard to hit even with a magic gun. But do you think you’ll get hit by a magic cannon that fires without looking?”
“But if you’re unlucky…”
“I think you’ll just have to be cubic.”
As Elio glared at him, Fabian covered his mouth with one hand.
The five stagecoaches galloped madly through the barrage.
Hitting a fast-moving wagon with artillery fire was not unusually difficult.
However, the road the wagons were running on was fixed, and the field artillery’s magic cannon fire was quite precise.
In the end, one of the wagons was hit by a cannonball and smashed to pieces.
But the carriage’s passengers did not know that the wagon had been hit and destroyed by shells.
Boom! Boom! Kwak-!
The road was dented by the shells and smashed stones splattered in all directions.
The shell also landed near Elio’s carriage.
‘Boom!’ Stone fragments hit the wagon with the sound of an explosion.
Follow me! Pew-!
All of a sudden, the window where Elio was sitting was smashed by a piece of stone.
In Elio’s self-defence, shards of glass were thrown out of the wagon.
Suddenly, a gasp escaped Elio’s lips.
“Yah! The artillery units must have practiced shelling a lot. Very accurate?”
“Now is not the time to be admiring. hey! Crazy guys! Why are you bombarding ordinary people! Who is the artillery commander? Do you really want to try it!”
Excited Fabian yelled out the window.
Elio spoke as Fabian gasped for breath after making a loud noise.
“Did you talk? Your sound was louder than the sound of falling shells. Are you going to kill us with your sound?”
“sorry. Stop because I’m crying.”
“Shut up and be quiet. Because the bombardment seems to have stopped.”
“yes.”
Fabian kept his mouth shut.
Doo doo doo doo!
There was no real explosion, except for the clatter of the hooves of the four horses.
Crea, who was concentrating on the sound with a nervous face, shouted.
“The bombardment really stopped! It’s over now, right? You’re not going to shoot again, are you?”
Baron Howard Solon shrugged as if he didn’t know.
They do this because they do not know what shame they will face in front of the experienced northern nobles.
The answer came from the mouth of the transport manager who quickly rode his horse to the side of the wagon.
“Looks like the shelling is over! There is a border checkpoint 1 kilometer ahead! There is also the Shade Kingdom army there, so you won’t be able to fire anymore!”
After speaking, the transport manager moved to the wagon behind the mercenaries.
Only then did Crea sweep her chest.
“ha! It’s over. Magic cannons are really amazing. Oh my, look at this stone dust. Scary, scary.”
She made a fuss and brushed off the thick dust on her lap.
Baron Howard Solon was about to say, ‘It’s just dirt coming in through a broken window’.
After all, that dust was also created by shells.
After a while, four wagons arrived at the border checkpoint.
Even during wartime, border checkpoints between the two countries were operating as before the war.
It was thanks to both the Londinium Empire and the Shade Kingdom – out of their own needs – that hostilities were banned at the checkpoint.