Gabella, the capital city.
Night had fallen, and the Hall of Echoes at the Arcane Society headquarters was so quiet that the soft rustling of parchment scrolls could be heard. Ten high black stone seats formed a circle, the air thick with the scents of herbs, old books, and a faint, almost imperceptible smell of sulfur.
The ten monks took their seats one after another.
At the head of the table sat Doughty Matte — the de facto head of the Arcane Society and the most powerful man under Emperor Antonio. He was not wearing a magnificent robe, but only a dark gray casual suit, with a calm expression and sharp eyes.
The first one on the left is Enoch Christopher. The old man is hunched over, his bald head appears bluish in the dim light, and his eye sockets are as deep as two black holes. The hem of his robe is stained with dried blood and unidentified drug residue, and his fingers twitch occasionally. No one wants to sit next to him—a necromancer, who deals with corpses and poisons all day long, even his breath carries an eerie aura.
On the right is Mariana, draped in a deep purple cloak, her figure graceful, her face mostly obscured by a veil, as still as a statue. She is recognized as a top expert in fire magic, but lately she has become increasingly quiet, occasionally letting her gaze drift into the distance, as if lost in thought.
Three seats on each side were occupied by six veteran spellcasters: Veran Thorne, Helga Blackwood, Marcus Raven, Grim Gavin, Sebastian Cole, and Duke Mason —all of whom had been spellcasters for decades at the Arcane Society.
The last two seats are held by the newly added Carol Darcy and Edwin Worth. The former has soft blond hair and a gentle face. She was once Prince Antonio's personal bodyguard and now commands the court's wizarding guard. The latter comes from an ancient wizarding family and is now in charge of internal discipline. Anyone who betrays the Arcane Society will have their name added to Edwin's list of targets.
Once everyone was seated, Dorti spoke, his voice low, yet it instantly silenced the entire hall:
"Urgent report from the front," he said. " Generals Marshal McDonald and Siegfried have defeated Aldor." The main force of the Sentinel Legion has driven them all the way to the western edge of the Redstone Desert. Our army is continuing its westward advance.
After a brief silence, discussions broke out as everyone chattered excitedly about the situation at the front.
Everyone believes that Fire Dragon Legion has once again proven its worth—equipped with magical weapons, they remain the most reliable trump card on the battlefield.
Mariana didn't speak, but she frowned slightly. She felt a tightness in her chest: if Gabella continued westward, the two armies would collide sooner or later. At that time, her son would not be facing the barbarians of the steppe, but the empire's own army.
At this moment, Dorti coughed a few times, and the hall immediately fell silent.
"Victory is certainly something to celebrate," he said, "but there were also some worrying developments during this battle."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd: " MacDonald stated bluntly in his report—from the very beginning of the battle, our forces were suppressed by the Ausser Army, which was far outnumbered by us."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in surprise.
"How is that possible? We have the numerical advantage!" someone blurted out.
"Was it because Fire Dragon Legion wasn't deployed to the battlefield in time?" another person asked.
Someone immediately sneered: "That's the problem! Mortal armies rely too much on the Fire Dragon Legion. Before the battle has even begun, they're already waiting for mages to come to the rescue. Gabella's martial tradition has been ruined."
"That's right," another person chimed in. "His Majesty should order a strengthening of the training of the mortal army. We can't always rely on magic as a last resort. The Fire Dragon Legion is our trump card, but we can't just throw it into the battlefield anytime. In most cases, we still have to rely on ordinary soldiers."
Dorti paused, his expression slightly unnatural, and lowered his voice: "...Actually, Fire Dragon Legion has been on the battlefield from the very beginning."
Upon hearing this, the group of people who had been filled with righteous indignation were immediately stunned.
"What do you mean?" Helga frowned. " Fire Dragon Legion was present, yet it was suppressed?"
Dorti nodded, then added somewhat awkwardly, "Yes, in the first half of the battle, even with the Fire Dragon Legion in the wings, our army was still pushed back by the Ausser Army. The reason we were able to turn the tide in the end... was because we bribed the 'Free Men ' mercenaries within the Ausser Army. They defected at a crucial moment, which reversed the course of the battle."
The hall fell silent. Those who had just been mocking the incompetence of the mortal army were now all speechless.
Someone opened their mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.
Dorti took a deep breath and continued, " MacDonald wrote it very clearly in his report— the key to why the Ausser Army is so difficult to fight lies in two things: weapons and discipline."
He held up two fingers: "First, their weapons are no worse than ours. They use what are called firearms or cannons, and their range, power, and rate of fire are similar to our Fire Crossbows and Thunder Hammers, and they are even more stable in terms of sustained firepower. Moreover, their entire army is uniformly equipped, unlike us, where magical equipment is only given to the elite Fire Dragon Legions, while the mortal troops are still using traditional swords and spears."
"The second is probability." He emphasized, " The Ausser Army was able to maintain its formation, obey orders, and rotate firing even when it suffered more than half its casualties. MacDonald said that he had fought a whole life and had never seen an army like that, and even he… was deeply impressed."
The group looked at each other, and no one was in a hurry to speak.
Fire Dragon Legion was present and still got beaten so badly that he had to bribe the enemy to win? That's hardly a victory to brag about.
Mariana was somewhat surprised as she listened to the crowd discussing Sentinel Legion's fighting prowess.
The fact that they could directly suppress Gabella's main force and force the Fire Dragon Legion into a passive position shows that this Ausser Army is indeed formidable. She nodded to herself: No wonder the orcs were driven out of Aldor; it seems the Sentinel Legion truly lives up to its reputation.
This reassured her somewhat; Paul's army should... at least not be much weaker than Sentinel's Legion's, and he had a certain ability to defend himself.
But what really struck her were the words " Fire Crossbow " and " Thunder Hammer ".
She suddenly remembered that when she first secretly returned to Northwest Bay from Gabella, she had heard the locals mention these two new weapons. The common people had never seen anything like them, so they named them according to their characteristics: the long tube with a high rate of fire and flashing light was called " Fire Crossbow," and the iron tube with a thunderous roar that could collapse city walls was called " Thunder Hammer."
Their official names are actually quite simple— firearm and cannon.
Later, she returned to Gabella and began overseeing the development of magical weapons. When the team created the first generation of magic-powered ranged weapons capable of firing fire arrows and explosive projectiles in rapid succession, she almost instinctively borrowed those two names—" Fire Crossbow " and " Thunder Hammer."
It's both apt and carries a subtle, hidden connection.