Witch Troupe and the Undead

So the first thing that came to the Grand Duke's mind was a heavy chariot covered in heavy armor, shaped like an electric iron, crammed with a hundred or so soldiers pushing levers, and operated by sorcerers or alchemists, using leverage to pressurize the booster device, igniting and spraying out the burning agent.

"Brilliant!" The Grand Duke slapped his palm, realizing he hadn't thought of this brilliant idea before!

“Hmm, Princess Freya… indeed…” The Grand Duke gazed into the distance for a moment. He didn’t know how much political or military ability this next empress of the empire possessed, and at least for now, her economic policies were relatively limited, but it was hard to say in the long run. However, one thing was certain: her ingenious ideas were something that girls from ordinary traditional noble families could not possess.

Imperial Capital

"Freya, what are your thoughts on this 'Assault Flamethrower Tank'? How much production capacity do you have?" The old emperor put down the battle report and looked at his daughter, who seemed to be lost in thought (not really).

He didn't believe that the girl designed the tank, but he was convinced that only his own daughter could come up with such a tactical and war machine that even made his blood pressure so high.

"What kind of tank?"

“Alright, maybe it’s not called that where you are,” the emperor thought for a moment. After all, the frontline commander had said that he didn’t know the name of this secret weapon either, and had only named it based on its characteristics. He also indicated that it was probably modified from a traditional train engine.

As for why the frontline commander and the opposing commander had the same idea, that's the wisdom of political reporting. If a spy planted a bomb or tampered with something, resulting in the loss of hundreds of elite troops and the loss of a crucial initiative, and the commander reported it, his term as commander was over.

However, if you replace the enemy with the Empire's powerful secret weapon and inflict massive damage, but the Imperial army fails to seize the opportunity in time due to a lack of technology and experience, then the matter could be a big or small one.

If, in turn, a secret weapon inflicts heavy losses on the enemy and demonstrates exceptional potential, and despite some casualties due to the weapon's inherent flaws, it still manages to drive the Grand Duke's army out of the outer fortress and destroy half of the enemy camp and a considerable amount of supplies, then this becomes a cause for celebration.

"Assault flamethrower tank... hiss~" Freya slapped her palm. "Why didn't I think of adding a flamethrower function!?"

"So, it really was you who did it?" The emperor's eyes lit up. Although she said she hadn't expected to add a fire-breathing function, she didn't need to design it herself. Perhaps the designers below thought it was good and added it.

"Um... I actually wanted to..."

"Is it that arena of yours again?"

"It is Parliament"

"A council that discusses matters using lance chariots and hammers?"

"...Um, that was just entertainment during the discussion," Freya tried to argue. Besides, the council's discussions were serious. Only when they couldn't reach a conclusion would they resort to the Octagonal Cage ruling—after all, physical elimination is the ultimate and most effective means of resolving political differences, isn't it?

Because both commoner and noble councilors now realize that the princess wants to see bloodshed, they can now reach an agreement that everyone can barely tolerate, as long as it doesn't involve matters of principle or huge interests.

This led to a sharp decline in the number of matches in the arena. In order to salvage the arena's ticket revenue (70% of which goes to the royal family and 30% to the princess), Freya was indeed considering reviving the ancient empire's competitive traditions and adding some variety to traditional gladiatorial events, such as tank wrestling.

The two-horse chariots of the ancient empire are rarely driven nowadays, and everyone is tired of seeing them. So, she was indeed considering upgrading them to four-wheeled chariots and installing armor. The collision of steel would be quite exciting. However, she only wanted to mount small heavy crossbows on them and hadn't thought about the idea of ​​flamethrowers or self-destruction.

"In short, have your people come up with a mass production and improvement plan as soon as possible. The empire desperately needs this weapon!" The emperor stated that this weapon was specifically designed to eliminate the fortresses and castles of those nobles.

It crashes into the city gate at supersonic speed, shattering the city wall and gate with a magical explosion. Then it spins, jumps, and spews fire inside the enemy city, and can even take down hundreds of strong and powerful men to control the city wall position. It's simply perfect!

Chapter 222 The Imperial Capital

"A powerful flamethrower tank?" Burke looked at the documents brought by the princess's attendant, completely unable to fathom what kind of bizarre idea this was. His alchemists and engineers were also getting used to the princess's unpredictable thinking.

"Besides, when have we ever made something like this?" He looked at the chariot ordered by the princess on the assembly table in the workshop. It was still horse-powered, but the two wheels had been changed to four wheels, and metal armor and a lot of ferocious spikes were installed on all four sides.

To put it bluntly, it's basically a giant bumper car pulled by horses, which goes around a track and attacks each other with arrows, spears, and spikes. It can only carry two or three people. Obviously, it's completely irrelevant to the princess's new requirements.

"It needs heavy armor, the ability to charge, and the ability to spin and breathe fire. Ideally, it should also be able to jump over fences and obstacles, and carry a large number of soldiers in the carriage. Oh, and it should also have an explosive function... Hmm..." Burke took out the Swifthawk and quickly wrote a letter. As soon as he saw the word "explosive," he knew who to contact. At least this part of the requirements could be met, right?

On the way to the capital, a swift eagle spread its wings and glided across the clear sky. It soon noticed a carriage on the road, folded its wings and plummeted downwards, landing on the eagle perch on the side of the carriage.

"Master, there's a letter for you." Rhine, acting as the driver, took the letter from Swifthawk's leg and tossed it into the carriage. "My letter?" Roach tore open the letter, glanced at the contents, and after removing the pleasantries and pointless chatter, the core message was the same: asking him about some difficulties with explosive alchemical products. At the end, it mentioned that the old emperor had ordered the workshops in the capital to invent and mass-produce a large armored vehicle.

To be honest, Roach's first reaction upon seeing this requirement was to picture a giant water tank with over-the-top tracks crushing barbed wire and trenches, except that the German soldiers in German uniforms and pointed helmets were replaced by medieval-style infantry, their spears shattering against steel armor, and traditional barricades being torn to shreds by machine gun fire.

A whirlwind of epochal change swept across the world, blinding him. What was going on? Had they skipped the era of queuing for executions and jumped straight into the era of World War I?

No, did they skip over trench warfare from World War I and start playing armored mass assaults? As I continued reading, when I saw the requirement to be able to carry soldiers and also breathe fire, combining the images of these two things, the image of the Chimera armored vehicle from Warhammer 40K popped into my head. That design seemed to fit the enemy's needs perfectly—armored, assault, and able to carry dozens of Astragalus soldiers, requiring only one flamethrower turret.

Yes, Burke and the alchemists' first thought was that the vehicle would rotate, because the battle report the Emperor received stated that the vehicle was rotating and spewing fire. So, they really couldn't think of how to make the vehicle rotate and spew fire. When Roach saw the requirements that had been relayed, he thought that the turret would rotate and spew fire.

"It also needs to be able to jump... Hmm~" The chimera's appearance quickly faded and disappeared, replaced by Nova's siege tank equipped with a jetpack, which jumped into the enemy's city, then lowered its support, releasing a large number of soldiers while spewing fire.

"This..." Although Roach had the image and concept in his mind, he had no idea how to do it. Based on the basic principles, there should at least be a mechanical device that could provide a servo for the turret rotation. Considering that the Empire already had a clock industry, such a precision gear meshing mechanical device should not be a problem. Anyway, Roach did not think that they had an electric motor servo; a purely mechanical method was the only way.

Next, the power reactor needs to be shrunk down to fit inside the carriage and be able to power several tons of steel. As for fire-breathing, that's simple; there are plenty of fire-breathing items in alchemical magic. As an arcane sorcerer, he can also create a simple runic construct, inserting a "Dance of Flames" paradigm crystal to achieve the function of a fire-breathing turret.

Basically, once the power, transmission, and control issues are resolved, the problems of armor and personnel are easily solved. However, the power problem is unsolvable. That magical annihilation reactor is already the smallest power module Roach has ever seen in this world; he even needs to simplify it to fit it into the engine of a train. Hoping to shrink it down to fit into a war chariot… that's very difficult!

However, Roach still drew a simple concept diagram for Burke and marked these difficulties. As for how Burke and his team planned to solve them, that was not his problem. Or perhaps he could use this concept diagram to ask for funding.

As for the explosion issue that Burke was most concerned about, it's very simple. Just stuff a few more explosive packs into the tank's ammunition rack and detonate them during the evacuation. After all, detonating alchemical bombs remotely using the rune pairing principle is a basic skill for alchemists—it's reasonable for one alchemist loader or communications soldier per vehicle, right?

"Master Roach, is this your new invention?" Rhine looked at the concept drawing but couldn't make heads or tails of it. It looked like a small metal house on wheels, somewhat like a battering ram. Was it some kind of train-like vehicle?

"I don't think so. I can't invent this thing either. This is just a rough idea. As for how to solve the problems involved, I have no idea."

After all, Roach's studies did not include mechanical design. The previous train modification was successful because the train was essentially magically driven and had no physical transmission structure. However, he had studied the principles of magical transmission.

However, that solution cannot be used on the tank because of its size; such a huge magical device simply cannot be fitted inside. As for miniaturizing the magical device, well… they will study that slowly.

As the Greystone River slowed and widened, the walls of the capital city came into view. It was a city built between a river and hills, with the river flowing through it and dividing it into two districts, one large and one small, connected by several stone bridges.

The palace is located in the eastern part of the city, on a hilltop. The entire hill serves as the base of the palace castle, with the twin towers, one high and one low, resembling a pair of horns pointing towards the sky.

Below the hills lies the noble and wealthy district, protected by three layers of progressively higher city walls. In the western part of the city, near the river, lies the castle and headquarters of the Imperial Guard, which, along with important facilities such as the Imperial Prison, the Imperial Royal Academy, and the Grand Theater, are all arranged in a straight line along the river.

Three bridges divide the river into three sections, seemingly separated by only a street, yet worlds apart. The Imperial Prison is in the north of the capital, near the slums; the Grand Theater and the Academy are in the south, near the commercial district; and the Royal Guard Castle separates the two areas.

Basically, most of the capital's residents lived in the western district, while wealthy merchants and the respectable class lived in the eastern district, and nobles lived in the hills surrounding the imperial palace in the northeast. The outer city wall of the capital completely enclosed the river and hills, and even included a small forest in the west. For this era, it was indeed an exceptionally large city.

The first city wall is over 20 meters high, and the second city wall is like the Wall of Sighs, at least 40 meters high. However, the second city wall is only in the western district, separating the noble district from the ordinary district. When necessary, it can also be a city within a city.

As for the third city wall, which is the outer wall of the palace, well, it's better than nothing. After all, once the enemy has reached this point, even the highest wall can only delay them for a short time.

The water gate of the capital city is never closed. Rather than a gate, it is more like an arched bridge spanning the river from the city wall. There are no gates or hanging fences. Transport ships simply pass through the arch and dock at the two wharves in the north and south of the city to unload their cargo.

Goods from the south mainly consisted of various high-value wines, cheeses, meat products, and materials such as silver and gold, while goods from the north mainly consisted of ores, timber, and various bulky commodities.

This resulted in drastically different lifestyles and architectural styles around the two wharves in the capital. The southern wharf was mainly inhabited by the middle class, with various shops lining the streets, making it bustling and prosperous. In contrast, the northern wharf, being a hub for bulk commodities, was mostly inhabited by slums and laborers.

The northern dock connects the industrial area and the freight station area, while the southern dock connects the commercial area and the passenger station area. The railway tracks extend northward and split outside the western district of the capital. One part continues northward to connect with the mining city in the north, while the other part goes eastward into the city and connects with the two large stations in the western district.

If Roach and his group had taken the train, they would have entered the city from the west entrance along the tracks. But now they could only follow the river and enter through the south gate.

"The capital's water gate is underwater, powered by magic. If anyone attacks from the river, the gate will rise from the water," Rhine said, pointing to the seemingly defenseless, arched gate. "Those are twelve diamond pillars inscribed with runes."

The "diamond" here does not refer to diamonds, but to an extremely heavy and solid stone that has been treated with a hardening magic. Apart from having poor magic resistance, it is the ceiling of physical defense among stones.

The water gate of the capital city is made up of twelve such stone pillars submerged underwater. Once raised, it becomes a fence. Each stone pillar has a ring made of anti-magic metal and engraved runes, which can withstand powerful magical bombardment.

The river, where attackers would be blocked, is so wide that only the smallest boats can pass through. It is also said that the pillars are connected by chains, which can further hinder the progress of ships.

Destroying the water gate was also very difficult; they would have to do it under attack from the guards on the tall archway.

On either side of the archway stood four towering defensive towers, their surfaces riddled with firing ports, and their tops topped with large crystals. Rhine didn't explain what they were, but Roach could roughly guess that they were some kind of magical defensive structure or a large-scale city defense firepower system. Although he didn't know much about military matters, he knew that this seemingly undefended water gate was the city's most treacherous trap.

The intersecting bastions formed by the towers protruding to the left and right, and were bidirectional, in addition to the vertical firepower on the arched bridge, chains and stone pillars in the river.

Furthermore, Roach believed that there were likely more than twelve main stone pillars, and possibly even more smaller stone pillars like dragon teeth underwater, which could trap enemy warships directly on them, completely blocking the river and leaving them unable to advance or retreat, forced to endure crossfire.

Because the city walls of the capital were too high, the entrances and exits, apart from the water gates and the railway gates, seemed too narrow. A large number of caravans and travelers were blocked by the slow passage through the city gates, thus forming a small town and an additional informal station along the railway and city walls in the western part of the capital. After all, many travelers were not planning to enter the city, but rather to get off at the capital station and go on a pilgrimage to the holy city to the west of the capital.

For both religious and economic reasons, there is no train service to the holy city. The fastest way to travel there is to get off in the capital and hire a horse-drawn carriage to travel along the ancient roads to the holy city.

Therefore, this small town beneath the city was not much less bustling than the capital city. The crowds were immense, and the various carriage and oxcart businesses were extremely busy. A long line of horse-drawn carriages and oxcarts accompanied the walking travelers westward, stretching to the horizon.

"Ah, I wouldn't have remembered that Midwinter Festival is almost here if I hadn't seen this." Just like Christmas on Earth, this festival is a time for everyone to celebrate the passing of the year, and the Holy City's cathedral will hold a three-day grand ceremony, staying up all night. Whether they are just tourists or pilgrims for faith, they will all go to the Holy City.

In addition, the pilgrims who had been sent out to various places for pilgrimages also needed to rush back to the cathedral in the holy city before the festival to report on their duties and participate in the upcoming large-scale sacrificial activities.

"It seems we'll have to wait outside for a while," Rhine said helplessly, looking at the completely blocked city gate.

"Don't you have any special privileges? For example, would you be blocked out like this if there was urgent military intelligence?" Roach was curious about what would happen if there was urgent intelligence. It was so blocked that it was impossible to enter the city.

“Go that way,” Rhine said, pointing to the southern gate of the East District. “That way is not open to the general public, and the Empire’s military institutions and the Imperial Palace are all there, so naturally we should go that way, but we can’t go that way.”

If it weren't for the Grand Duke's affair, it would be possible to go that way, but now it's clearly not possible, because no one knows how many nobles in the noble district are on the Grand Duke's side, and going that way requires proof.

If the person who cursed the emperor is still lurking there, they will definitely not let this opportunity pass. Therefore, the best solution is to hide one's identity and enter the Imperial Guard's fortress, then cross the bridge to enter the palace area under the protection of the Imperial Guard.

"Speaking of which, that should be the upscale district, right?" Leslie looked in the direction of the East District. "Why is there black smoke?"

“Could it be…” Alessina gripped her weapon. Could it be that something happened in the city? Rhine squinted in that direction, then suddenly realized, “Ah, you mean that? That’s the direction of the Royal Mint.”

"Place the mint next to the palace?" Alessina looked bewildered. Was such a thing even possible? Roach, on the other hand, was much calmer. "Sometimes it's even inside the palace. It's best not to delegate minting to others."

“That’s right, that’s exactly the point,” Rhine agreed. “If the mint were located in the West District, at least several million silver coins would disappear every year.” Even if it were located in the East District, at least tens of thousands of silver coins would disappear every year.

"Not only is the mint over there, but the alchemical furnaces for smelting gold and silver are also there. However, it's almost Midwinter Festival, so the furnaces should be shut down for maintenance." As the one in charge of money for the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau, Rhine was naturally very concerned about where the money came from. Moreover, being a dwarf, he would instinctively pay more attention to things like forging and smelting.

After waiting for more than two hours, it was finally their turn to enter the city. Near the city gate was an open space with no shops or residences, only rows of stakes erected for no apparent reason.

"Don't look, that's an execution stake. When prisoners were executed, their bodies were hung here," Leslie stopped the little witch's curious gaze.

“But it’s not used anymore,” Rhine shrugged. “That’s how it was done before, but as more and more people came, we stopped hanging it here.” But as an execution ground, no one dared to open a shop or live here. In fact, a low wall was specially built to separate it from the residential area. To be precise, the walls of each household facing the direction of the execution ground were connected in a row, without windows or any gaps, creating a semi-circular space between it and the city wall.

After passing through the execution ground, they entered the capital's commercial district. Along the river were luxurious commercial areas running longitudinally, while streets perpendicular to the river were ordinary commercial areas, thus separating the various commercial blocks. There were markets near the city walls specializing in agricultural products and food, and restaurant streets near the theater district. Roach and his group's target was the Imperial Royal Academy, located north of the theater district, near the Imperial Guard fortress.

It occupies nearly one-third of the southeastern part of the capital and has its own walls. Rather than an academy, it looks more like a military fortress, at least that's what the outer walls appear to be.

"This is to prevent students from skipping school, and also to prevent any dangerous things from escaping." Rhine showed a helpless expression. "After all, besides ordinary scholars, the one thing this place has no shortage of is alchemists and spellcasters, and the church academy is also inside, you know how it is."

"Hmm?" Livia tilted her head, looking at the others who seemed to understand. She had no idea why they needed to build such a large wall around it; perhaps it was because her magic wouldn't explode most of the time.

Chapter 223 Academy

The Imperial Royal Academy is a comprehensive university, which is very rare in this world and era. It basically only exists in the relatively stable international situation of the Southern Continent. It does not exist in the Northern Continent, where small countries and city-states are in chaos. They are still in the state of small-scale school organizations with master-disciple inheritance.

Of course, some cities were ruled by spellcasters and formed academic city-states, but they were more like a group of spellcasters banding together than academies. This was quite different from systematic mass teaching.

The academy's main gate is located on the north and south sides of the school city. The south side is the back gate, while the north side is the main gate. The back gate connects to the canteen and warehouse area, and more than a dozen freight wagons and oxcarts are blocking the street.

College staff, dressed in red and blue uniforms, unloaded basket after basket of goods, mainly meat, eggs, dairy products, vegetables, and fruits. The college has its own greenhouses and cellars, so it does not need to purchase from outside sources every day.

In contrast, the North Gate was much quieter. There were no guards at the gate, only a barrier shining with blue light to prevent unauthorized people from peeping. Several Royal Guard infantrymen with spears stood guard at the gate, seemingly on official business. Soon, Roach and his companions saw a naked man being dragged out of a suspicious building next to the academy by a Royal Guard infantryman.

"Sigh~" Rhine covered his face. It was those guys who were sent in to get a prestigious degree. All they did all day was cause trouble. If it weren't for the fact that their families covered a significant portion of the academy's funding, he thought it would be better to expel them all.

"However, Princess Livia and Master Roch need not worry about these good-for-nothings. If they offend you, as long as no one is killed or crippled, you can deal with them as you see fit."

"So much freedom?" Roach said in surprise. "Won't their parents complain?"

"Heh~" Rhine sneered, "Not killing anyone or crippling anyone is already the greatest favor. You know, in the mage schools of the Northern Continent, which class of apprentices hasn't had a few thrown into the beast cage as fodder for disobeying their instructors?"

In this world, magical knowledge and skills are highly valued for inheritance. In the eyes of sorcerers and alchemists, knowledge is truly power. The fact that one can learn something without paying a price is already a testament to the empire's generous compensation.

In this situation, if you dare to go against your tutor without being punished, then the Imperial Academy will not be able to recruit any spellcasters of a certain level to teach. Of course, it doesn't matter if you sleep in class and are full of energy after class, and don't study seriously—after all, whether you study or not, the professors will not lose a single copper coin in materials and annuities from the Imperial Academy.

Rather, the more ignorant and incompetent you are, the happier these mages are, because they can get money and materials for free without having to teach you any real skills.

“Spellcasters are special beings after all. As a spellcaster apprentice, being beaten and scolded is already too lenient.” Rhine shrugged. “Even their parents wouldn’t say anything. They would probably even say you did a good job hitting them.”

Roach roughly understood. Although it was an academy, students were still treated as "apprentices" in the traditional sense. That is to say, as long as they didn't die or get crippled, they could do whatever they wanted. This was also an essential path to learning magical knowledge. However, Roach didn't suffer such torment because his alchemy was taught by the little witch. Although she would tap his head with her staff, the force was more like flirting.

As Roach and the others approached the barrier at the entrance, his and the little witch's badges flashed with a bright blue light. The barrier automatically split open in the middle, allowing him and the little witch to pass through. The rest of the people could only use the passage next to the door and register visitors through the drowsy clerk inside.

Even Rhine was no exception to this. He had no choice but to register obediently. For the academy, anyone who was not a student or a spellcaster had to use the side passage and was not allowed to use the main gate. The only exception was the emperor himself. Even the school board members who paid money had to line up obediently.

"Hmm~ The magic is very strong..." Livia squinted her eyes, her small hands outstretched upwards, and colorful magic points quickly gathered in her palms. This action caused the entire academy's barrier to turn blood red instantly.

"What happened!? Why did the barrier switch to tactical defense mode!?" Several arcane mages ran out from the low tower next to the gate. They were responsible for maintaining the barrier. The barrier ritual had just detected a large-scale phenomenon of magic extraction and interference, so it automatically activated the tactical defense mode to defend against external interference and magic extraction.

For arcane mages, environmental magic is their "ammunition depot." Therefore, the opening move in a battle between arcane mages is to restrict the opponent's control and extraction of magic as much as possible.

Livia tightened her grip slightly, a flash of magical light appeared, and the barrier returned to its original azure state. She released her control over the magic and erased its imprints one by one, sending them back into the magical veins beneath the academy.

Ignoring the few low-level arcane mages running around like headless flies, Livia pulled out a notebook and began writing rapidly. The emerald green characters quickly outlined the structure of the entire barrier. She had roughly figured out the principle and structure of the barrier in just a moment, and also found a few loopholes and optimization solutions.

"Hmm, so-so~" The little witch gave a sharp review of the Imperial Capital Academy's defensive barrier: it was not as good as the Elf Kingdom's great barrier. It was a decent imitation, not bad, but it could only be described as "so-so".

"I'm sorry, Master Roach, something seems to have happened." Rhine arrived quite a while later. They, the visitors, had been detained for a moment. Only after the barrier returned to normal and Rhine presented his credentials, along with the badge of a Gold-level witch like Livia, were they released.

“It’s alright, Livia just tested the strength of the barrier,” Roach said carefully, “and she thought it was fine.”

"I see..." Rhine didn't care about this matter. Anyway, for a mystic like Livia, let alone testing the barrier, if she dismantled it, those old guys in the academy would all loudly say, "Good riddance."

The academy's forecourt is an open-air garden, long and narrow in shape. At the front is the second gate, leading to the teaching floors and the interior of the academy. On both sides are larger walls with low towers on them. These towers serve as nodes for managing the boundary and also as offices for some external business operations.

For example, there's the Tower of Wealth, which issues various commissions to the public; the Tower of Trials, which accepts new student registrations and tests; the Tower of Radiance, which controls the barrier at the front gate; and the Tower of Defense, which is stationed there for guards, and so on.

There were no gatekeepers at the main gate of the academy, but there were quite a few guards inside. Most of these guards were soldiers from the Thunderbird Knights. They were responsible for patrolling the campus and doing the work of security guards and school workers. After all, a large group of lawless students were here, and they were all spellcasters. Ordinary school workers might not be able to catch them.

At the same time, beneath this tower is a dungeon used to imprison and punish students who violate school rules.

Finally, there is the Tower of Fruits, which sells the various research and manufacturing achievements of the academy to the outside world.

This tower is worth mentioning separately because it is the only one that connects the inside and outside. The passageway inside the academy is its back door, while its front is on the main street facing the river outside, connecting to a row of shops converted from the hidden military tunnels in the academy's city wall.