Gunpowder Plate Armor and the Magic Revolution

Upon hearing this question, Lucas was able to offer his opinion.

"In Orentia, as long as both parties sign a death pact before a duel and have witnesses, no one will be held accountable even if someone is killed in the end. Not to mention dockworkers and sailors, even gentry and nobles often agree to a duel to the death over a mere argument. This kind of thing is too common."

"We Orentia people have never been afraid of public feuds, not just private ones."

Lucas said with a proud look, "During the human rights revolution, Orentia used everything—muskets, explosives, pitchforks…—and drove the Imperials back. At least five or six Imperial nobles died at the hands of the Orentia…"

Andrew nodded thoughtfully and continued to observe the situation around Monsoon City.

Noze looked toward the deep-water berth to his left, where the magnificent ship of the Republic of Edric, which he had noticed on the ship, was moored.

At this moment, the gilded gangway was slowly lowered. First, two teams of guards dressed in black uniforms with gold trim quickly stepped off the ship and stood on both sides of the gangway, each with broad shoulders and a straight back, their hands on the swords at their waists.

They didn't look like Edric's official army, but their aura suggested they were seasoned veterans.

Following closely behind was an elderly man dressed in a dark gray suit.

The old man looked to be in his fifties or sixties, with neatly combed white hair, a pair of glasses of unknown material on his face, and an ebony cane inlaid with sapphires in his hand.

Even surrounded by a noisy crowd, he showed no panic; his every move exuded the composure of someone accustomed to a high position.

Behind him followed a woman wearing an ebony veil, carrying a rectangular object wrapped in black cloth on her back. It looked like a box and was quite heavy.

Her veil hung down to her shoulders, appearing quite thick and obscuring her face. She was tall and slender, with light steps and well-proportioned muscles, clearly not the typical delicate woman raised in seclusion.

"Isn't this a bit too big to be considered a gift box?"

Noze looked puzzled, gesturing with his hands to show the actual size of the box. "And why is something like this wrapped in black cloth?"

"Could it be some kind of superior sword?"

Lucas tried to offer a plausible explanation, but he wasn't entirely sure himself, "but the size is neither like a two-handed longsword nor a short spear... it is indeed a bit strange."

"Hmm... I think it's more likely some kind of new type of firearm."

Andrew explained logically, "Edric had been attracting investment from the federal states to their Karatov Design Bureau, whose director, Dr. William Karatov, was a firearms and mechanical expert."

"To attract investment, you need to give investors something in return so they can continue to raise funds."

"...We're both in military school, how do you know so much?"

Nozer clearly didn't understand.

"Then I can only suggest that you read more books and newspapers. It's not like there aren't free federal weekly newspapers in military academies, it's just that you guys don't read them."

While the three were chatting, the police in Orentia were also busy. They waved their batons and roughly pushed aside the approaching crowd, shouting and cursing, "Back off! Back off!"

They painstakingly cleared a path through the crowded streets to the carriage dock outside the port.

"This is too much of a spectacle."

Lucas, clinging to the cargo box beside him, lowered his voice and asked Nozer and the other man, "Just who are these two?"

Andrew's brow furrowed slightly.

His gaze didn't fall on the group of people, but instead swept over the dense, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of onlookers, and a sense of unease rose in his heart.

"Noze, do you remember the second Duke of Birming of the Valencia Empire who came to serve in Orentia? Wasn't he killed right after disembarking from the Monsoon Port? He was blown up on the dock by Orentia's liberals with a homemade bomb, leaving no trace of his body."

Upon hearing this, Lucas's excitement froze instantly. He instinctively reached for the knife at his waist, his gaze warily sweeping over the throng of heads around him. "No way... Andrew? Don't jinx it! This is such an old almanac!"

Norze frowned as well. The chaos in the crowd did indeed pose a safety hazard, but he still tried to reassure them.

"That was during the human rights revolution. It's not that dangerous here anymore... Besides, this is under the flag of the Republic of Edric, unlike the imperial nobles of Valencia. No one here would attack people from the federal constituent countries for no reason."

"Given the tight security here, wouldn't it be better for an assassin to ambush someone on the only route out of the port if they really wanted to?"

"I think... the Duke of Birming probably thought the same thing back then. I hope I'm overthinking it."

As soon as Andrew finished speaking, a curse suddenly erupted from the crowded throng. Immediately afterward, a dark, metal lump, crackling with sparks, flew out from between the heads of the crowd, tracing an arc as it fell straight towards the center where the old man and the woman were.

Then another one, and another one.

The hissing sound of the burning fuse was particularly jarring in the noisy dock. The dockworkers who were nearby were stunned for a moment before letting out a terrified scream, and the crowd that had been crowding around to watch the spectacle scattered in all directions like madmen.

"Bomb! There's a bomb!!"

The fuse of the bomb was cut extremely short, and before the guards could react, the iron bomb exploded with a deafening roar.

"boom--!!"

The deafening explosion instantly engulfed the entire dock, and the scorching blast wave from the gunpowder explosion swept outwards, carrying fragments of iron.

The three guards at the front were blown to pieces on the spot, dying before they could even scream. The Orentia police officers around them were also stunned by the explosion.

"boom--!!"

Another bomb exploded, and the guards who were a little further away were also violently thrown away by the blast wave, crashing heavily onto the stone slab and unable to get up.

The once impenetrable protective barrier was blasted open by the explosions, leaving a gaping hole more than ten feet wide. Right in the center of the gap were the elderly man and the woman, who were still reeling from the shock of the explosions.

The entire dock was thrown into complete chaos.

The onlookers fled frantically out of the port, and the workers who were unloading goods threw down their sacks and ran away in all directions.

Just as the smoke from the explosion had not yet dissipated and the remaining guards were still struggling to regroup in the chaos, three dark figures suddenly darted out from the fleeing crowd!

All three were wearing large black cloaks with the hoods pulled down low, covering most of their faces except for their eyes.

Wielding swift swords, they used the chaos and smoke of the explosion as cover, cutting straight through the breach and charging towards the unprotected old man and woman.

"Quickly, protect Dr. William and Miss Sophie and get them back!"