Gunpowder Plate Armor and the Magic Revolution

The man was of medium height, with dark brown hair lying flat against his scalp. His slightly faded training uniform pockets were neatly filled with rulers, charcoal pencils, and notebooks for calculations. Perhaps because he was too focused, he almost bumped into Lucas.

"Raymond? Can't you watch where you're going?!"

Lucas reached out and helped him up, laughing as he cursed.

The visitor was none other than their good friend, Raymond Weir from the artillery section.

Raymond was born into a church family, which was very different from the wealthy and privileged students at the military academy.

Although his family was not well-off, perhaps influenced by Alistair, his personality was not self-deprecating or violent. On the contrary, he was very gentle, good at taking care of others, and spoke humbly, wisely, and patiently.

Moreover, he is very diligent, as evidenced by his faded training clothes.

Noze asked himself honestly if he could not do laundry every day, nor could he be patient and gentle with everyone.

Therefore, he respected Raymond, or rather, he respected people like him, which is why they could still be friends despite the large class difference between them.

Raymond snapped out of his daze, looked up and saw that it was the two of them. His eyes lit up and he said, "Don't even mention it. The instructor insisted on doing this multi-shot simultaneous calculation, saying that if I could calculate it correctly, I would be exempt from the test. It's driving me crazy."

As he spoke, Raymond's gaze fell on Nozer's face, and his eyes widened instantly. "Wait, Nozer, what happened to your dark circles? They're even darker than mine after staying up all night! I heard you were exempted from magic classes, how come you're like this too?"

"I went to Father Cisse to learn healing magic... How did you find out about the exemption from the course?"

Noze scratched his head sheepishly. "Did the news spread that fast?"

"Even I, who can't use magic, have heard about it. What do you think?"

As the three chatted, the whistle for morning exercises blew for the second time. It seemed that Norze wouldn't have time to get any food, so he had to snatch the remaining half of bread from Raymond's mouth.

This gives us the opportunity to finally discuss in detail the complicated family background of Raymond Weil, the mathematical genius who stumbled into military school.

Raymond's hometown is in the province of Centre, which, as the name suggests, has been a strategic location fought over by military strategists since ancient times.

Logically speaking, in such a war-torn land, people's lives are generally not very good, unless you can climb the social ladder to become a nobleman.

Clearly, Raymond Weil's ancestors were quite shrewd. Back when the province of Cent was still called the central earldom of the empire, they had already begun serving the then-ruling Earl of Roland, tending horses, plowing land, and calculating land taxes for him.

People in the center all say that Earl Roland is a good man, not because he is particularly virtuous, but because he is lazy and indolent, living a life of leisure and indifference.

But sometimes laziness and negligence in governance are better than chaotic and disorderly governance. In any case, for the people of the Central Earldom, Earl Roland truly deserves to be called a "good man".

After all, how much does it cost to keep a mascot?

Later, when the flames of rebellion broke out in the southern border of the empire, surrounding territories fell one after another, and the flames of war almost reached the border of the central earldom.

The reigning Earl of Roland was in a panic, unable to sleep at night, yet he took no action whatsoever. He neither fortified the city's defenses, nor organized a militia, nor contacted any other forces. He simply stayed in the castle, hoping the storm would subside on its own.

Meanwhile, the Wel family continued to serve Earl Roland, raising horses, plowing fields, and calculating land taxes.

The rebellion escalated, and the rebel forces occupying the territory split into four major factions, each establishing its own republic: the Republic of Sjolgar, the Republic of Veria, the Republic of Eldric, and the Republic of Orentia. They were wary of each other and coveted each other's territory.

Count Roland's panic intensified, and despite adding double guards to the castle, he still did nothing.

Although the Wel family was alarmed, they still honestly continued to raise horses, farm, and calculate land taxes.

Until the Empire dispatched Duke Alexander, the "Imperial Longsword," to lead the elite Royal Legion from the center to the south to quell the rebellion.

The invincible Imperial Army routed the republic's rebel forces, who were fighting independently, and recovered lost territory along the way. This finally put the anxious Count Roland at ease, and he resumed his life of tending flowers, feeding birds, and enjoying operas.

The Wel family continued to fulfill their duties of raising horses, farming, and calculating land taxes in an orderly manner.

No one expected that the republics, on the verge of collapse, would put aside all their differences and unite.

The unified Federal Republic of Itniti was established, and its military forces were fully integrated, followed by the "Great Victory of the Union" that rewrote the continental landscape.

The once invincible Duke Alexander suffered a complete defeat, and the imperial forces were driven back to the north of the old capital. Overnight, the Central County was transformed from the rear of the empire into the front line of the confrontation between the Federation and the Empire.

At this point, Count Roland did not comment on the matter, as he was already dead.

His son, in his early twenties, inherited the title. This new earl, who had been raised in a greenhouse since childhood, was terrified when he opened his eyes to find that his territory had become a target for two armies.

Without offering any resistance or making any arrangements, he packed up the gold, silver, and valuables in the castle overnight, and fled north with his family and confidants to seek refuge with the imperial family, abandoning all the servants in the entire central earldom castle and the Wel family, who had served the Roland family for generations.

The lord had fled, but they had nowhere to go and no idea where to go. They could only guard the empty count's mansion, guard the land deeds that had long since lost their owners, and continue to cultivate the lord's land.

But chaotic times never leave room for those who have nowhere to turn to breathe. The imperial family was furious because of the failure to quell the rebellion. Emperor Surnan V of the empire defied public opinion and replaced the Duke of Orléans with the commander-in-chief of the front line.

This general, known to the Commonwealth as "Falcon" and "Wolverine," differed from the upright Duke Alexander in his approach to governance; he believed in the most ruthless scorched-earth tactics.

In his eyes, rebels were enemies, all the people in the rebel-held areas were enemies, nobles who refused to fight or die for the empire were enemies, and the servants of the enemies were even more unforgivable.

His army burned, killed, looted, and scorched the land wherever it went, turning countless villages and towns into scorched earth and rivers of blood.

The Duke of Orléans' cavalry charged into the unsuspecting central earldom, accusing the Wel family of being "traitors and servants" and "rebel spies." They set fire to the earldom and the Wel family manor, destroying generations of accumulated wealth, and many family members died tragically under the cavalry's blades.

That year, Raymond's parents hid in the cellar of the woodshed and narrowly escaped this catastrophic disaster.