Water Magician

“The Ducal castle is deserted.”

“The magic weapon on the spire was destroyed.”

“The total number of remaining residents is about 500.”

Reports were sent one after another to Lord Aubrey.

However, the reports were not good.

(As expected … The Duke’s family slipped away. The magic weapon was also destroyed. Well, it can’t be helped.)

Lord Aubrey sighed lightly and walked to the square in front of the central command post.

His escort chased after him in a hurry.

Even though they had occupied the ducal capital, it cannot be said that there were no hidden archers or magicians.

If anything happened to Lord Aubrey …

Lamber, who was watching by the side, could understand the hardships faced by the escorts.

Lamber suffered from the same hardships.

However, no matter how many times he said it, Lord Aubrey’s behavior did not change.

He would say, ‘Oh, all right’, but in actual fact, he doesn’t do anything about it.

If he was a genuine politician, he might be more concerned about his life, but Lord Aubrey was originally a man of the battlefield.

He had no experience as an adventurer, but he had traveled to countless battlefields.

As a result, he may have come to take a lighter outlook on life.

No matter how careful you are, when you die, you die.

It was a blunt way of saying but … Lord Aubrey came to have such thoughts.

The surrendered garrison sat in the square.

At the front was the garrison captain Nigel.

Lord Aubrey stood in front of Nigel.

“I am Aubrey Hubble Coleman. I’m the Union Commander-in-Chief. Can I hear your name?”

Clearly, garrison captain Nigel was surprised.

That was because Aubrey took the trouble to name himself.

And with his full name.

Even though it was the ducal capital, in an occupied city, identifying yourself in front of just the garrison and asking the other party’s name was an act that rarely happened.

The Aubrey that Nigel heard of was a haughty and arrogant man, although he was called an outstanding Great General.

That kind of image was imprinted on him before he knew it … or was the man in front of him just playing another persona?

In any case, he could not disregard the top figure of a country after they named themselves.

“I … I’m Nigel Madden, the captain of the ducal capital garrison. They are my subordinates … I don’t care about my life, so could you please stop harming them and the people of the city?”

Nigel greeted him and bowed.

“Captain …”

Sobbing and soft mutterings were heard from the garrison members.

“Hmm. Lamber, are we harming the people?”

“No, in the name of Your Excellency, all harm to the people and looting is prohibited. So far, no reports have been made. In our army, detection of any such acts will lead to decapitation regardless of position.”

“There you go. I guarantee the security of the people in my name.”

“I-is that really true …?”

“Hey!”

When Nigel asked, it was Lamber who was furious.

Lord Aubrey replied calmly.

“It’s fine, Lamber. It’s natural to be worried. But Nigel, think about it. We’re trying to rule the city. Is there any good for us to earn grudges from the people? What’s more, for example, if you all are slaughtered here … if that reputation spreads to the surrounding cities, wouldn’t the resistance of the other cities become more stubborn? Not only from a merciful standpoint but also for governance, there will be no harm to the people or looting. Rest assured.”

After such a reasonable explanation, Nigel was relieved.

“I only want to ask one thing. I hope you can answer …”

“I am unable to answer certain matters due to my position.”

Nigel answered Lord Aubrey’s question, scrunching his face.

He was grateful for the guaranteed safety of the people, but there were some matters he could not answer. Rather, most of them could not be answered.

“Why are there 500 people left?”

“……Ha?”

Lord Aubrey’s question was too unexpected.

Nigel was wondering if he would ask questions about the whereabouts of the Duke of Inbury and the Green Storm, but his question was about the remaining people.

He said that he only has one question, and the question was regarding the people remaining … it was an unimaginable question.

“I knew your garrison would remain. Buying time is the most important strategy for the Duchy now. But then the people don’t have to remain. In fact, most people escape first. But for some reason, there are still 500 people left. Some may have trouble moving, but even so, 500 people are too many to be accounted with that?”

Lord Aubrey’s question was purely inquisitive.

In the first place, there was no need to ask questions about military matters.

Most things that were happening were within expectations. Nothing happened that deviated significantly from his guesses.

As for politics, there was no way a garrison captain would know.

Even less likely the whereabouts of the Duke and his family.

He didn’t have to ask those things.

That’s why he asked what he was genuinely wondering about.

“The remaining citizens … are those who would rather die here if they have to leave the city. Of course, some can’t move, but many of them have nowhere else to go if they were to abandon their homes here.”

“I see.”

Lord Aubrey understood that feeling.

He had thought before he asked that there would be such people, but at most dozens of them.

He was wondering who the rest were, but most of the 500 people were in that category.

“This is a good city.”

Lord Aubrey muttered and turned around.

“I guarantee the safety of the people and all of you. The food has probably been torched? My army will provide it. I pray all of you will peacefully be taken as prisoners of war for the time being.”

Lord Aubrey announced and left the square.

The remaining garrison members were stunned.

And garrison captain Nigel hung his head.

In a sense, he was overwhelmed by Lord Aubrey’s caliber.

“The whole Duchy may be swallowed by him …”

Fortunately, Nigel’s mutter was inaudible to anyone else.

Lord Aubrey headed for the spire that rose in the center of the ducal capital.

The spire that emitted green light.

The wreckage of the magic weapon that Dr. Frank called ‘Vaedra-like’ must be there.

He heard reports that it was destroyed, but he wanted to take a look at it.

He went through some sentries to the top of the spire.

However, there was already someone there.

“Doctor, I knew you would be here.”

“Lord Aubrey? Are you also interested? But didn’t you say you don’t understand alchemy at all?”

There, Dr. Frank was looking for something with his subordinates.

“Yes, I am truly clueless about alchemy. Still, I’m curious about that green light. I heard it’s been destroyed, but I wanted to take a look.”

“Fuha. As expected, a ‘Great General’ is different. Would you like to listen to what I think?”

Dr. Frank said as he sneered.

He wanted someone to talk to, but it is pointless to talk to a stupid person.

The best would be a like-minded person who understands alchemy, but there wasn’t any present … his subordinates were not capable yet.

Then, it would also be fun to talk to a man who has a great mind, even if they don’t understand alchemy.

“I would love to hear that! However, I would be grateful if you could first tell me about Vaedra itself.”

“Hmm. First of all, it’s a secret weapon of the Kingdom, a magic weapon that uses wind-attribute magic. It was designed by Kenneth. A fine weapon as expected of a genius, but … when I was around, it wasn’t completed yet. It wasn’t a matter of his ability, but mainly a budget issue. And a magic stone issue.”

“Magic stone?”

Lord Aubrey tilted his neck inquisitively.

As he climbed up and glanced at it for a moment, there was no magic stone embedded in the weapon and there was no magic stone in the room. Including any evidence of smashed magic stones.

“To activate this weapon, you need a fairly massive wind-attribute magic stone, and two of them. Kenneth tried to manage with a smaller magic stone or a connection of magic stones … he might have accomplished that by now … but this weapon can’t function with that. It’s still an old design. I think they got their hands on that old design document.”

“But that magic stone is …”

“Yes, not here. Someone took it away …”

Dr. Frank replied, shaking his head a little.

“I suspect a garrison soldier was instructed to do so. The reason to go the extra mile to do that …”

“Means that there is another weapon somewhere else.”

Dr. Frank sneered with one cheek as he replied to Lord Aubrey’s words.

“There are few special parts. The two massive wind magic stones would be very difficult to obtain … The only other special part is the magic formula. Kenneth’s magic formula is abnormal, also very characteristic, and the magical formula used for this is …”

“It’s Baron Kenneth Hayward’s ‘style’.”

“Yup. I believe his research results were stolen. It’s a pity.”

Dr. Frank had a sad and lonely expression.

For those involved in R & D, having their research results stolen is an irreplaceable pain.

Dr. Frank knew that too.

“Dr. Frank, I have two more things to know about this.”

“Hmm? You can ask anything. I’m free-loading off you in the first place.”

Dr. Frank laughed boisterously.

He didn’t act as though he owed him as his host.

Of course, Lord Aubrey didn’t care about that either.

“Firstly, the range of this weapon.”

“Oh … that’s difficult. To be exact, it depends on the magic stone that is attached. However, by estimation, it’s about a kilometer …”

“I see.”

If there was another one, it was information that he had to know.

In any case, the other one was bound to be at the place where the Duke of Inbury withdrew to …

“The other question is about the golem’s technique that intercepted this Vaedra-like weapon.”

“Ho ~”

Dr. Frank squinted and sneered on one cheek.

“The Magicians claimed that it was wind magic …”

“Lord Aubrey thinks differently?”

“No, it’s wind, but I feel there is something different from normal wind magic … it feels somewhat like a wind attribute that’s closer to fire … I don’t know if that exists. Well, in any case, something felt out of place …”

In response, Dr. Frank’s eyes were wide open.

It could be said to be a very rare sight.

“I heard Lord Aubrey can’t use magic at all.”

“Yeah. It seems that I do not have the aptitude for it.”

“But you could feel the difference … I’m really surprised.”

Dr. Frank said and bowed to him ceremoniously.

It was a heartfelt and respectful bow, unlike in the past.

“Is it something to be complimented for?”

Lord Aubrey was more confused by that.

“Well, it’s very rare. You reached the answer to your sense of discomfort through wisdom and knowledge, without any magic perception.”

Dr. Frank has even changed his choice of wording.

That was how shocking it was. To the doctor.

“Wind attribute magic is a half correct and half greatly incorrect answer. Saying it is closer to fire is half correct too. To explain the Golem’s defense, I must first explain defense using wind attribute magic … It will be a little longer, but is that okay?”

“Yes, it doesn’t matter.”

Lord Aubrey nodded.

“First of all, that’s right … think of that alchemy tool that creates the wind defenses for the supply team. For convenience, it was named ‘carriage membrane’.”

“Oh … I know, but the name didn’t seem to stick …”

“It can’t be helped, because it was named that way.”

“It was named … No way, was it named by…”

“Yes, by Lamber.”

One arm of Lord Aubrey, a very talented aide, Lamber.

However, his naming sense is …

“Well … then it can’t be helped. There’s nothing wrong with it … it’s just …”

“Yeah …”

Both Lord Aubrey and Dr. Frank turned away with bitter faces.

The two knew that the people in the field arbitrarily named it ‘Windjammer’ because of the awkward name.

That was definitely better …

The first to recover was Dr. Frank.

“So, that ‘carriage membrane’ generates magic from the alchemy tool placed in the center of the loading platform. As an image, it is similar to the image of a fountain.”

The water of the fountain shoots up from the center and spreads as a thin film around it after it reaches a certain height.

“I see, that’s an easy-to-understand analogy. The water in the fountain is wind magic, so it does not affect those inside the membrane.”

“That’s right. The national treasure item in Whitnash has the same basic development. So, although the ‘carriage membrane’ is a ‘degraded version of the wind defense film’, the mechanism is actually completely different from a real Wyvern’s ‘wind defensive film’.”

“Hoho.”

Lord Aubrey was never been an adventurer but had participated in Wyvern subjugations.

That was when he led the Knights Order and the Magic Corps and received a subjugation order from a superior.

He remembered having a terrible time.

“The Wyvern’s wind defensive film blows wind from the entire body. You can’t tell the difference by appearance, but when you think of it as a protective mechanism, it’s completely different. Once you break through the ‘carriage membrane’, there’s no resistance. Whereas for the Wyvern’s wind defensive film, whether it’s an arrow or attack magic, they will always face wind magic as long as they keep moving towards the skin. It feels like you’re pushing against a headwind. It makes sense that they would eventually lose their penetrative power.”

“Ooo … I see. So, when subjugating Wyverns, we have to endure and reduce their physical strength. Until they can’t maintain their wind defense film any further …”

Lord Aubrey replied by comparing his past experiences with the current story.

“Then, we talk about the Golem’s ‘that’. As I said, wind magic defense is largely divided into two main types. No, there were two types.”

Lord Aubrey tilted his head a little at Dr. Frank’s words.

“But the Golem’s ‘that’ is neither type. It’s a mixture of wind and fire attributes. Yeah, it’s like … it’s like a miniature lightning …”

“Lightning?”

“Yes, lightning. The lightning that flashes brightly in the sky. It’s something that makes you feel like you would get a shock if you touch it … and, if it strikes a tree, the tree will burn? I utilized that lightning.”

Dr. Frank spoke with a slight frown. It seemed difficult to explain.

“Protection using lightning … I can’t imagine it, but it’s an interesting technique. That can be used not only for defense but also for other things …”

“Lord Aubrey is truly wise. You see, didn’t you feel the castle gate was destroyed too smoothly even though the magic defense mechanism was taken down?”

“Oh, I thought of that. I see, did you use the lightning to cut through the castle gate …”

Lord Aubrey replied, remembering the torn asunder gates he saw when he entered the castle.

“That’s your answer. Well, a little ore is needed, but … it’s relatively common in the eastern part of the central nations, including the Union, so I guess there’s no issue. I wonder if that explanation is sufficient? If you want a more in-depth explanation … it will be difficult here. Also, since they were in operation for a long time this time, it will take some time to replace and readjust the parts of the 20 golems. The first unit that was shot down can be returned to the front line relatively easily simply by replacing the parts.”

With that, Dr. Frank concluded his explanation.