Magicraft Meister Part 1

The place is the Kingdom of Cerroa.

Time goes back a little to June 21, 3457.

On that day, the Shoro Kingdom held a technology exposition, and Jin presented his airship.

"Hm, an airship?"

"Yes. It is not spherical, but an elongated bag shaped like an egg, so to speak, with some light air in it to make it float.

In addition to Stearina and the other participants from the Kingdom of Celuloa, there were several others who had gone into hiding to gather information and had sent information about Jin's airship to their home country.

"Hmmm. ...... cheekily developed a technology that we don't have."

Richard Valois de Cerlois, King of Cerlois, was not happy.

"...... Lambreaux!　We must develop the same ...... or even something better!"

"As you wish, sir."

The First Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Ramburo, received the order and immediately set to work.

The First Secretary of the Ministry of Technology, Latente, accepted the order, and the Ministry of Technology was now in full force.

"Mmmm, what the heck is light air?

As a country that owns a hot air balloon, they know that it is possible to float in the sky by collecting light air. However, such air (gas) was unknown.

The Ministry of Technology had to start with the search for light air.

Then one day.

"Mr. Secretary, this man wants to talk to you."

A young alchemist, who had joined the Ministry of Technology last year, came forward.

"Well, if you soak iron in the liquid that has accumulated at the bottom of the Nubari mine, a light gas will come out.

"What?　Is that true?

"Yes. Yes. I tried it several times. I have tried several times. ......"

But what is it?

The gas burns .......

"Hmm. But we just need to keep the fire away from it. Let's try an experiment right away.

So, over the next few days, we retrieve a liquid that has accumulated deep in the mine shafts of the Nuvali Mine.

It is true that the liquid melts iron, and we need a container made of gold or silver to bring it to us.

"Hmmm, it certainly melts iron.

When the scrap iron was dipped into the liquid that had accumulated in the silver container, the iron melted with fine bubbles.

"These bubbles are light air, aren't they?"

So, the material used for hot air balloons ...... in the Kingdom of Celuloa was a cloth made of hemp soaked in soft magic resin ......, with a diameter of about 50 centimeters. They made a hemisphere of about 50 centimeters in diameter out of hemp cloth soaked in soft magic resin, and collected the gas that was generated in it.

"Oh, it sure floats.

Then, the hemisphere slowly drifted to the ceiling when he let go of his hand.

"Well, now the gas problem is solved.

As a side note, the liquid was probably sulfuric acid itself, or an acidic liquid containing sulfuric acid. Dilute sulfuric acid does not dissolve gold, silver, or even copper, depending on conditions, but it does dissolve iron and zinc, and it produces hydrogen.

Since zinc was less abundant than iron, they chose to use scrap iron to generate hydrogen.

The air sacs were made of hemp soaked in a soft magic resin, which was no different from a hot air balloon.

The first prototype, a 15-meter-long, two-seater, was completed on the 29th of September.

"Wow, this is interesting," said King Richard of Cerroa when he saw the prototype.

King Richard of Celuloa was in a good mood when he saw the prototype.

"How do you proceed?"

"Ha! "By using wind magic on itself."

"Well, that's an interesting way of thinking.

Unexpectedly, they came up with the same idea as that of the large ship propulsion by Eckart Tekres.

"With this, we can double the speed of a hot air balloon," he said.

"Hmm, that depends on the shape of the flying ball part, doesn't it?"

Yes, sir.

"Good. We can now consider this prototype to be a success. Next, make a larger prototype and move on to mass production.

Yes.

Thus, with the permission of King Richard of Celuloa, the Ministry of Technology decided to build a 60-meter-long airship.

Generally speaking, the larger the airship, the more efficiently it can float.

Specifically, the buoyancy is almost proportional to the cube of the size of the airship, while the weight increase is slower than the buoyancy. This is because the inside of the air sac is hollow.

The airship was completed on November 2, thanks to the combined efforts of the Ministry of Technology of the Kingdom of Cerroa.

"Wow, this is amazing!

King Richard was unusually impressed by the completed airship. The 60-meter dirigible was such a magnificent achievement.

"This is our secret weapon.

King Richard ordered the mass production of the same type of aircraft.

* * * * * * * * * * *

January 7, 3458.

"Oh, no!　You have no idea the trouble I went through to build this ship!"

"Shut up!　It is an order from His Majesty the King!

The soldiers broke into the house of Eckart Tekles, a wealthy merchant in Kupu, a town in the southern part of the Kingdom of Celuloa, and robbed him of all his household goods and a large ship that he had poured his heart and soul into building.

"Oh, so this is the ship.

The was brought up the Naudalian River and brought near the capital city of Esia.

When King Richard saw it, he was in a good mood for the rest of the day.

"I must say our technology is outstanding."

"Yes, Your Majesty. We're building two more of the same ship.

I look forward to seeing them.

I'm looking forward to it.

And then, on the fateful day of January 10th...

What?　Yesterday, 500 magi crystals and golems were discovered in the territory of Leonard's kingdom?

That's the report from the secret agent we sent to the Kingdom of Egelea.

It's a shame to give them to ....... You can order ...... the 2nd Frontier Corps to secure the Magi Crystals and the Golem near the border.

"Yes, sir."

The entourage turns and goes to deliver the order. But King Richard stops him.

"Wait! It is not enough! We must send a survey team to his country as well.

"Yes!"

This time, his entourage rushed out.

The 2nd Frontier Corps was sent to the Soldrake site where 500 golems had been discovered.

The 1st Frontier Corps was also dispatched to investigate the former Leonard Kingdom.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What?

On January 26th, a call came in that infuriated King Richard.

"The 2nd Frontier Corps has been wiped out......?　And all because of demons that sprang up from the depths of the earth?　Don't be ridiculous!

"No, Your Majesty. This is an official notice from the Kingdom of Egelea.

Seeing the king in a clearly bad mood, the First Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior is sweating a little.

"They say that they will send the soldiers' belongings to you sooner or later..."

"Nuh-uh ....... It can't be because of the demons!　The people of the Kingdom of Egelea must have attacked them!

"But we have no proof."

The pale Secretary of the First Ministry of the Interior tried to persuade him, but Richard's fury did not abate.

"You Egelea are a joke! ......"

Then, a messenger rushed in.

"Your Majesty!　A message by pigeon from the 1st Frontier Corps!　<

"Oh, I see!"

Richard's mood improved a little with this report. Then a decision is made.

"Very well. On February 22nd, I will invite the heads of state and government to our national celebration. There we will show them the might of our nation!"

But no one could realize that this was a turning point for the Kingdom of Cerroa.