Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 395 Departure
As soon as the sky was slightly bright, a shrill assembly whistle was heard from the temporary garrison camp in Grizzly Castle.

Benny jumped up from his cot, put on his uniform and slung his rifle over his shoulder, then trotted out of the barracks to assemble.

Their battalion headquarters had completed the assembly and mobilization meeting for the expedition yesterday. Now they only had to follow the orders of their superiors, follow the large group of people to the dock, and then board the ironclad ships anchored there to set off south.

The weather was still very cold, and the dock of Grizzly Castle was already filled with soldiers standing in silent formations. All of them were carrying marching backpacks and rifles, like a field of javelins standing in the cold wind.

Not only the Northern Army is setting out on this expedition, but there are also a large number of logistics personnel busy back and forth at the dock, directing the alchemy beasts to lift a large amount of logistical supplies and weapons and ammunition onto the ship. Despite the large number of people, the order is well maintained and there is no sign of chaos.

The soldiers lined up one by one to board the ship. When it was Benny's team's turn, he couldn't help but swallow nervously. The scene before him made the new recruit who had never been to the battlefield officially feel a little nervous... and shocked.

These silent veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles are the lord's invincible warriors.

They... used to be ordinary, lowly civilians just like me. Some of them were even slaves brutally driven by evil orcs in the wasteland. It was incredible to think about it.

"Hi! Is...is that Benny?" As soon as he got on the boat, Benny heard someone calling his name loudly at the stern.

He quickly turned his head to look at the cab, but unexpectedly saw a familiar face - Jim, a young fisherman from the town who had fled with him from his hometown in Bass Town.

"Is it... is it Jim? Good heavens! How come you are in the fleet?"

Jim emerged from the wheelhouse with a grin on his face, leading Benny's group of soldiers down to the cabin below deck. "Stay below deck, or else when the ship starts moving, you'll be frozen into popsicles standing like javelins on the bow in no time."

After skillfully placing the soldiers, Jim turned back to Benny and explained, "I don't have the skills to join the army. I just applied for a job as a sailor on a ship, responsible for traveling between Grizzly Fort and Sancha Town, transporting refugees from the south."

Benny nodded, and then he realized that the ship Jim was on had been temporarily requisitioned by the military.

"You learned to sail so quickly? This ironclad ship without even a sail is said to be a magical creation of the lord!"

Jim glanced cautiously and saw that the captain had already gone up to the wheelhouse on deck. Then, boldly, he led Benny to the energy compartment directly below the wheelhouse. Pointing to the metal cylinder in the center of the compartment, which was covered with strange patterns on its surface, he explained in a low voice, "Don't underestimate me. My job is to infuse the ironclad ship's energy core with magical energy and also to keep it cool and dissipated at all times..."

Benny said "oh" politely, but actually didn't understand a word.

"How is the sailor's salary? Is it generous?" He knew that Jim's originally happy family was shattered because of the plague. The only survivor was a young sister, but her legs were accidentally run over by a carriage on the way to flee north. If they had not come to the frontier territory, the brother and sister would have no chance of survival.

Jim swiftly wiped the energy core's outer shell with a cotton cloth, curling his lips as he said, "Of course, it's not as high as you soldiers, but the benefits are pretty good. The captain told me that if I work hard, I can be promoted to first mate in less than three years. Maybe I'll even have the chance to be promoted to captain and have my own ironclad ship!"

The so-called welfare benefits are actually the free education and medical reimbursement policies currently implemented throughout the territory. Anyone who obtains official resident status in the Pioneer Territory is eligible for free literacy education for themselves and their families, and a portion of their medical expenses and medications are reimbursed—the specific amount depends on the resident's employer and the level of "medical insurance" purchased for them. Although a portion of this "medical insurance" is deducted from their salary, the Pioneer Territory's medical clinics are exceptionally high-quality, even curing ailments considered incurable, such as schistosomiasis and cold plague. For most illnesses and accidents, as long as the patient doesn't die instantly, there's a glimmer of hope, earning them widespread praise and support.

Benny chatted with his fellow countryman for a few more words when the captain's loud voice suddenly came from the copper pipes on the cabin wall, "Sailor Jim! Preheat the power core! Prepare to start!"

Jim immediately leaned over to the brass and shouted back, "Sailor Jim!"

After saying that, he immediately dropped the cotton cloth in his hand, took out a thick metal can from the crate beside him, and accurately embedded it into the groove at the bottom of the energy core. Then he pulled the lever and watched the surface patterns of this magical creation emit a white light amidst the low humming sound.

After waiting for about ten minutes, the temperature in the cabin had already made both of them feel a little hot. Jim rushed to the copper pipe again, "Captain! The energy core is preheated and ready to start!"

He was answered by a dull blast of a ship's whistle from the deck above.

Even through the cabin, Benny could clearly hear the whistles of all the other ironclad ships around him almost at the same time, instantly breaking the early morning tranquility of Grizzlie Castle Pier.

……

The recruits who were riding on an ironclad ship for the first time could not contain their curiosity. They rushed out of the cabin in the cold wind, lay down beside the cold deck railing, and watched the ironclad fleet slowly leave the dock.

"Energy core activated! Speed one, forward!" The captain in the cockpit spoke in a loud voice, and Benny could hear it from a long distance away.

Almost the next moment, the boat shook violently, and then sailed downstream of the Ralph River amid the cheers and waves of the people at the dock.

The sharp bow of the ironclad ship kept hitting the thin ice surface. The crackling sound accompanied by the slight vibration of the hull made Benny and other recruits nervously hold on to the railing, for fear that they would be shaken away and fall into the icy river in the next second.

"Wow! It's worthy of being an ironclad ship. It keeps hitting the ice on the river. If it were an ordinary wooden sailboat, it would have fallen apart on the spot!" The new recruits in the team who have sailing experience couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

The middle-aged captain with graying hair leaned out of the wheelhouse and shouted with a smile, "Boys, get in the cabin quickly! We're going to speed up!"

The closer they got to the center of the river, the thinner the floating ice that had originally frozen the river surface became. Freed from the shackles of the ice, the ironclad ship immediately became like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins, and its speed immediately increased.

Before Benny could come to his senses, the ship began to shake again, and then the speed increased. A biting cold wind like a knife blew in their faces, and the recruits who were still on the deck were so cold that they rolled and crawled back into the cabin.

"Oh my god! This ironclad ship is breaking through the ice at a speed... it's almost as fast as a horse-drawn carriage!"

(End of this chapter)