Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 577: The Temptation of Aliens

"Oh? So, when did you stumble upon... the wirelessly rechargeable magic amplifiers scattered throughout the royal capital?"

Harvey sat upright in the covered alchemical cart, escorted by a large group of guards, as he drove towards the alchemical laboratory. The young "second-generation military officer" Larry sat trembling in the seat next to him.

"Your Majesty, I initially just heard my father casually mention that there were large energy-gathering arrays built underground in the military barracks and the machine repair center. So I quietly took the damaged soul core to those two locations and discovered that they indeed had a slight reaction within the magic radiation area..."

He then immediately realized that there was no need to directly connect the core to the energy gathering array in order to make it absorb sufficient magic power out of thin air. After many attempts, he finally determined that there were invisible magic fluctuations near the industrial park near the military factory, the territory people's medical hospital, the magic science academy and the alchemy laboratory.

Of course, the castle area with the strongest wireless magic amplification effect, which is also the emperor's private residence, is too heavily guarded, so young people dare not approach it easily.

Seeing that the boy was honest and had thoroughly confessed his illegal behavior, Harvey nodded in satisfaction and asked in confusion, "Since you are a qualified graduate of the intermediate vocational education of a public college, why didn't you choose to continue your studies in the advanced teaching department, or choose to join the government department after graduation?"

Larry looked bitter and hesitant, "Your Majesty, my father wants me to enlist, but I've tried hard. Even for the Defense Force, which has more relaxed recruitment requirements, my physical fitness test wasn't good enough... My stepmother is from the Southern Territory, and rather than joining the army, she hopes I'll inherit my grandfather's freight company when I reach adulthood. After all, my family owns the rights to two armored freighters."

Wow! They were one of the few elite families in Starfire City... Harvey immediately understood. This child looked like a pure-blooded half-orc, but his father had remarried a pure-blooded human. The couple had an inter-ethnic marriage.

The fact that the family business was able to obtain the contracting rights for armored freighters that were publicly tendered by the government at least showed that his grandfather was at least a minor nobleman with an honorary title. The fact that he allowed his children to marry soldiers of a foreign race in itself demonstrated his open and progressive thinking and far-sighted choice.

He is indeed a young man with a clean background...

Harvey nodded secretly, raised his hand and nodded to Chris who was sitting in the front row, and whispered: "You will teach this child yourself from now on. I believe he will have a bright future."

Larry shuddered and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, what about my father and I's guilt?"

"It depends on your respective performances to see if they are enough to atone for your sins."

As the Emperor of the North and the United Kingdom of Saint Valen, he does possess the highest immunity from all crimes. He can directly pardon serious crimes committed by his subjects without going through the trial of the General Government Office and the Ministry of Justice... However, this level of forgiveness is not completely without cost, otherwise the emperor's own authority and credibility will be damaged to a certain extent.

Atoning for one's crimes with meritorious service, supplemented by a moderate amount of bail and demotion or fine, is a very appropriate option.

……

Just when the three people in the car were enthusiastically discussing the future development and study plan of Larry, the "second generation of military", a shrill alarm suddenly sounded in the distance to the north!
Woo-woo-hum!

The alchemical trumpets hanging in various street corners and alleys emitted sharp and violent blasts. Many people who happened to be staying below covered their ears and scattered away... but there was no panic expression on their faces.

The emperor's motorcade also suddenly stopped. The guard in charge of driving the carriage gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands and turned to look at Harvey blankly.

Captain Tommy, the captain of the imperial guard, was the first to react. He leaped onto the emperor's limousine in two steps, grabbed Harvey's arm, and said urgently, "Your Majesty, please order the convoy to return immediately. According to the Royal Capital Defense Ordinance, you must enter the castle for safety!" Before Harvey could say anything, Chris had already pushed the stunned driver aside, slid into the driver's seat, and shouted, "The return route is too far. The alchemy lab also has a basement. Your Majesty, please follow me to the lab immediately!"

After saying that, he immediately stepped on the accelerator, not caring about the several guards blocking the wheelbarrow, and prepared to drive directly into the laboratory compound.

What a fuss!

Harvey rolled his eyes helplessly and raised his hand slightly... Hundreds of thousands of energy-absorbing beetles suddenly gushed out of the sewers of the entire street, surrounding the vehicle in an instant like a lightning torrent. With their huge numbers, the wheeled vehicle running at full speed was suddenly stopped.

"Why are you panicking? It's just an air raid alarm! We're still half an hour's drive from the city walls. Could the Lizardmen possibly be able to bypass the beam anti-aircraft weapons the defense forces have just deployed and rush directly into the core area of the inner city of the royal capital?"

If the enemy really has such powerful ability, why bother resisting? Humans should just give up resistance.

He pushed aside Tommy's arm that was across his face, stepped off the wheelbarrow and looked towards the north. The defense forces responsible for the defense of the royal capital had a large number of reconnaissance airships hovering in the outer city, and there were alchemical telescopes on the city walls that were used for observation at all times. The possibility of falsely reporting the enemy situation was very low. The one who could allow them to sound the air defense alarm without going through layers of reporting... was most likely a winged creature of the Demon Lizardman.

Judging from the maneuverability of these flying aliens, they probably came from the Big Bear Lake area. It's just not clear which route they chose to successfully bypass the carpet-like cordon of the valley outpost fortress and successfully advance to the outside of Spark City.

But what is foreseeable is that the fact that they were able to secretly avoid the warning area and penetrate deep into here shows that the other party is not conducting a large-scale air march, but at most a exploratory operation that will not return.

Harvey really wanted to climb the north city wall himself to see the situation, but doing so would invisibly put a huge amount of pressure on the defense forces, and the Royal Guards would certainly try their best to stop him... On such issues, the Royal Guards would often treat themselves as fragile mortals with no ability to resist, completely forgetting that their bloodline lord actually had another identity as a spellcaster.

Harvey waved his hand to disperse the swarm of beetles that had enveloped the wheelbarrow. He sighed helplessly and said, "Go to the lab and contact the military immediately. Have the highest commander of the defense forces report directly to me."

"Yes!" Tommy leaned forward and replied seriously.

……

As soon as they entered the laboratory hall, the deputy captain of the guard, Tietou, hurried over to Harvey, holding a heavy alchemical communicator. "Your Majesty, Colonel Vaughan and Colonel Nelson have sent you a message!"

Harvey took the communicator receiver and immediately heard two familiar voices.

"Your Majesty, five miles due north of the capital, a reconnaissance airship has spotted a large group of Winged Demon Lizards, flying at low altitude and approaching the city walls in a cross-cover formation!"

"The north gate has been closed. The Second Regiment of the Defense Force assembled two minutes ago and is currently on standby at the city wall area!"

"We are urgently evacuating the people in the outer city. We expect the air defense system to launch an attack in ten minutes!"

(End of this chapter)