Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 106 Reversing the Process
On the night of the day Rost Layton executed prisoners with stakes, Winters attended a secret meeting at the camp.

The secret meeting took place inside the Legion Treasury, which, like the command post, was located in the center of the field camp and was one of the most important buildings in the camp. Its semi-underground structure offered the best soundproofing, which is why the meeting was chosen there.

There were no recorders, no orderly, and even the guards were placed five meters away.

Apart from the two legion commanders, all the attendees held two roles: Antonio and Layton's most trusted officers, as well as senior spellcasters.

Winters shouldn't be qualified to attend such a high-level meeting—the others in the vault are at least majors, so why should a mere warrant officer like him be allowed to attend?

But he still had to come. Because... he was the most crucial party involved, witness, and eyewitness.

The atmosphere at the meeting was quite heavy. Antonio, with a stern face, warned, "I don't need to repeat the principle of secrecy. Being called here means that you are the people that Rost and I trust the most. What I'm about to discuss is of great importance, so keep this matter strictly confidential, even if you're talking in your sleep."

The officers and spellcasters present at the meeting waited silently for the general to continue.

Antonio and Layton exchanged a glance: "Then let's begin... Warrant Officer Montagne!"

“Here!” Winters stood up reflexively.

“Recount the battle between you and the ‘suspected magic user’ on the night the Saint Mark’s Legion attacked Red Sulfur Harbor.”

Antonio's words were veiled and not explicitly stated. But the officers sitting there were all elites of Veneta's army, and it was impossible for them not to understand the major general's subtext.

Suspected magic user? And has even fought against us?
There are big problems here.

There may be mages in other distant lands, but unless they've lost their minds, they'd be incredibly foolish to travel thousands of miles to this island to fight for the Tani.

Therefore, the only magic users who could appear on this island besides the Alliance spellcasters present are the Emperor's court mages.

Regardless of which one is helping the island's Tani, the deeper meaning behind it goes far beyond the mere fact that "the garrison has gained a few more magicians."

So when Winters heard the words "suspected magic user" and "combat," he saw the several school officers and spellcasters in the meeting immediately become uneasy: turning their collars, touching their noses, shifting their weight to their other leg... their subconscious little actions revealed their inner turmoil.

Winters noticed that the officers were quite agitated, so he organized his thoughts and succinctly recounted the encounter with the masked mystery during the second raid on Chilifu Bay fortress.

This time, instead of telling Antonia directly, "I think I killed a court mage," he objectively described the situation where the other party seemed to use magical abilities, as well as the ancient phrase that seemed to be a spell incantation, "gathering flames into fire."

After Antoine's improvements, Alliance spellcasters all used hand gestures to silently cast spells. Because there was no need for "chanting," Winters had no idea what spell chanting actually looked like.

But before killing the old shaman Herstius, the enemy's chant of "gathering flames into fire" left an indelible impression on Winters.

It wasn't a roar, nor a scream. It was a rhythmic, emotionless chant, and it was in ancient language.

Winters had read in a book that during the War of Sovereignty, soldiers who survived the massacre by the court sorcerers reported that the devil sang hymns to the Lord of Hell while killing people on the battlefield.

The officers called this act of "singing hymns" "magical chanting" because they knew it was not the devil, but rather the most vicious henchman of the madman Richard—the court sorcerer.

Whenever a court mage went into battle, similar reports would follow. Therefore, the Allied military officers considered "spell incantation" a necessary prerequisite for court mages to use magic.

Based on this understanding, the coalition forces in the Sovereignty War tried various tactics to interrupt the enemy's chanting, such as using noise to drown out the enemy's voices, or having devout believers sing hymns in unison, but of course, all of them failed in the end.

However, after personally fighting the masked man who resembled a court sorcerer, Winters discovered that the enemy was not so much "chanting" as "reciting incantations."

Imagine this: for the Allied soldiers thirty years ago, who couldn't understand the ancient language, this rhythmic chanting of incantations sounded to them like "singing hymns in the devil's language."

Therefore, Winters reasonably speculated that the enemy's phrase "gather flames into fire [ancient language]" was the so-called spell incantation, or the so-called "spell".

Although he never explicitly stated it, the only one chanting and casting spells was... the court sorcerer of the emperor in the north.

After Winters finished speaking briefly, some people immediately became restless.

Lieutenant Colonel Mag cleared his throat twice, frowning as he looked at Winters: "Warrant Lieutenant Montagne, you mean... you killed a court mage?"

After these recent events, Winters began to think, "Maybe I'm really not suited to be a career officer." He even sometimes couldn't help but wonder, "Was becoming a career officer really my own choice?"

Therefore, he did not covet the credit, but he also did not want others to think that he was greedy for credit.

Winters replied cautiously, "No, I'm not sure if the other party is a court mage."

“Let me put it another way.” Lieutenant Colonel Mag touched his nose: “You killed a suspected magic user who was chanting a spell?”

“No, this man was killed by the combined efforts of the shaman Herstace, the other soldiers present, and myself.” Winters didn’t want to exaggerate his role. He knew that if Herstace hadn’t intervened in time, he would have been dead.

"Then let me ask another question." Having failed to get to the point several times, Lieutenant Colonel Mag said somewhat displeased, "How did that suspected magic user die?"

Winters had no way to avoid it, so he answered squarely, "I pierced his head with my flying arrow."

Lieutenant Colonel Mag gave a cold snort and stopped asking questions. He leaned back in his chair.

“Warrant Lieutenant Montagne, do you know that the Sovereignty War has been going on for over a decade, and we haven’t been able to kill or capture a single court mage?” Colonel Bryce, another participant, couldn’t help but remind him.

“I know,” Winters replied succinctly and firmly.

"But you killed one?" Colonel Bryce continued.

"I cannot be sure whether that person is a court mage."

Were there any other witnesses present?

“Warrant Lieutenant Bard fought alongside me at the time.”

"Warrant Officer Bard...Warrant Officer? Is he your classmate?"

"Yes."

"Then you two must have a very close relationship, right?"

"Yes." Winters' tone remained unchanged, but a hint of anger had risen within him.

Colonel Bryce wanted to press further, but Antonio remained silent. Layton, however, couldn't contain his temper and slammed his fist on the table, yelling, "You're soldiers! Say what you want! Stop with the sarcasm! Why are you bullying a kid? Are you jealous of someone's achievements? Did you call me here to talk about this? [spitting profanities]!" Layton added profanities to the end of every sentence, spitting from one side of the table to the other. Everyone else was silent; only Layton's furious shouts echoed in the vault.

Colonel Bryce was thoroughly berated and swallowed back the questions he wanted to ask Winters. Lieutenant Colonel Mag jumped up from his chair as if he'd been hit by a nail. The other officers also shuddered from the scolding.

All the spellcaster officers sat upright and obediently as if they were freshmen entering military academy, enduring the scolding, which made Winters feel very relieved. However, he dared not show any expression on his face, and like the other officers, he sat solemnly with his eyes downcast and his mouth closed.

After unleashing a torrent of abuse, Layton braced himself on his knees, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath. After all, he was over forty; hurling insults without repeating himself was physically demanding.

Antonio tapped the table and said calmly, "Warrant Officer Bard has corroborated Warrant Officer Montagne's account. I accept their testimonies. However, due to the lack of direct evidence, Major General Layton and I have decided that this battle will not be recorded as the killing of a court mage. Warrant Officer Montagne, do you have any objections?"

“No!” Winters answered hastily, more than he could have been waiting for.

“But Major General Layton and I called you here for a meeting not to discuss the assessment of Warrant Officer Montagne’s achievements.” António changed the subject: “Last night’s attack on the artillery positions confirmed a long-standing concern of mine.”

He uttered a sentence that shocked everyone: "The Tanirians have a second magic user... or even a third or fourth."

……

……

"The entire artillery position just a few dozen meters away was wiped out in a bloody battle, but why didn't I hear a sound?"

After regaining consciousness, Winters had been pondering this question, but he couldn't find a solution.

After obtaining the prisoner's confession, he suddenly had a bold idea: if magic can amplify sound, can magic make sound disappear?
All spells in the Alliance spellcaster system are based on the principle of "inputting energy," including speed, fire, and amplification.

But Winters, having come into contact with Antoine Laurent's revolutionary theories, had transcended the understanding of ordinary spellcasters. Antoine Laurent's new theory posits that the essence of magic is the alteration of the energy state of matter.

If inputting energy changes the energy state... then what about extracting energy?
Isn't extracting energy also a change in the energy state?

If energy can be extracted, then theoretically, magic could achieve a "silencing" effect.

Since sound is essentially vibration, the propagation of sound can be interrupted simply by smoothing out the vibrations in the air.

This is why the prisoners claimed they "couldn't hear other people's voices, but could hear their own, though it sounded a bit strange." This is because, in addition to air conduction, people also hear their own voices through bone conduction.

Winters hadn't realized he'd opened a new door; he was simply curious: "If shock spells can be reversed, can fire spells? If you reverse the direction of a fire spell, then... wouldn't that be the ice spell the Alliance has been unable to achieve until now?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but start trying it himself. However, after struggling for a long time, Winters experienced Axel's feelings for the first time.

What is color to a person who is born blind?
What is the fourth dimension for someone living in a three-dimensional space?
How can a spellcaster who has never used "ice magic" find the feeling of using "ice magic"?
Because the essence of using magic is feeling.

The first thing a novice spellcaster needs to do is find the feeling of using magic, and then become proficient through repeated use, until they can easily find that feeling.

Winters realized that he had no idea what it should feel like to use "ice magic" or how to enter that state; it was like walking on a road without a "road".

He stared at the water for ten minutes, but still couldn't turn the drop of water into solid ice.

“This approach definitely won’t work… I need to start with the easiest part…” Winters thought to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow.

But he has more important things to do now and doesn't have time to figure out how to "reverse the spell".

He had to inform Antonia that there might be another spellcaster in the city, or even more than one.

That evening, Antony and Layton convened a secret meeting with all the trusted senior officers and experienced spellcasters within the legion.

……

……

"Are there other magicians in the city? Is there any evidence?" Lieutenant Colonel Field, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.

Lieutenant Colonel Field and Major Moritz were both in the Legion's vault at the moment.

The Saint Mark's Legion didn't have many spellcasters, so Layton simply called them all. Layton's explanation was: "Although Field has a foul mouth, he's a good soldier and can be trusted... Call his little lackey too."

Is there evidence of other magicians existing?

The evidence was always right in front of everyone, but no one thought of it that way at the time.

The best evidence is the giant wave that crashed against the Venetians from the docks on the day the Great Venetta Legion attacked Red Sulphur Harbor.

The massive wave, several meters high, capsized all of Veneta's small boats, and even a large galley that was turning capsized.

What kind of giant waves crash from the shore into the sea? They are definitely not naturally formed waves.

Only magic can explain what cannot be explained.

So, if the essence of sound is vibration, then is the essence of ocean waves also vibration? If you tap the wall of a glass, doesn't the water inside create tiny ripples?

Perhaps another term, ocean waves, could be a kind of undulation?
If ocean waves are a kind of wave, they can be amplified through magic.

“This is...this is absurd!” Field’s face flushed red, and he even forgot that he was speaking to a general. “Do you know how much magical power it takes to create a wave that can capsize a warship?! Don’t even mention me, you can’t find a spellcaster with such power anywhere in the Republics! The power of magic has its limits! Because the spellcaster has its limits! No magician can compare to the power of nature! If it can’t be done, it can’t be done! What you’re saying is absurd!”

"Field!" Layton grabbed a cup and smashed it against Field. "You bastard! How dare you!"

Antonio, however, was not angry. He calmly asked in return, "Then what kind of powerful spellcaster do you think could make an artillery position of several hundred square meters completely silent?"
I finally understand why the input method's dictionary would be reset. Today, my cat forced the computer to shut down again by pressing the power button, and the dictionary was reset again when I turned it on. Never have a computer case with the power button facing up if you have a cat! A lesson learned the hard way.

I try my best to make every plot point reasonable, so if some plot points are unreasonable, it means that they will be filled in later... for example, the giant wave that almost drowned Comrade Winters.

Thank you to all the readers who voted for this book before, especially Writersblock, Douqi Storm, Ami, Yuan Hongjian, and Black Computer Accessories. Thank you everyone.

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(End of this chapter)