There was a long silence in the council chamber before someone finally whispered, "Then... let's just stop making copies. Let's pretend this never happened."
"Yes," Helga immediately agreed, "seal up the captured firearms and suppress the battle reports. Anyway, Aldor is far from Gabella, let them fight it out themselves."
The others nodded in agreement. Since this weapon would threaten Spellcaster's position, they might as well keep it out of sight and out of mind.
But Dorti shook his head and said calmly, "No, this path won't work."
He looked at the crowd and explained, "Don't forget, Gabella's Senate, military, treasury, and even most of the high-ranking officials in the palace are mortals. They don't care whether magic is sacred or not; they only care about winning the war. If the Arcane Society openly obstructs a new weapon that can significantly enhance military strength..."
He paused, lowering his voice even further: "What will they think? Will they think we're protecting the empire, or protecting our own privileges?"
No one spoke. Everyone knew that the Arcane Society, which had just stepped into the limelight, was not in a stable position. Once it was labeled with some unpleasant accusations, the results they had painstakingly built over decades could collapse overnight.
Just then, Sebastian Cole, who hadn't said much until now, slowly raised his head.
"I have an idea." Sebastian's voice was calm, but it carried a shrewd calculation. "Instead of opposing imitation, we should actively support it, and we should get ahead of everyone else and take this matter into the hands of the Arcane Society."
He looked around and continued, "We can write to His Majesty the Emperor, saying that ' Aldor's firearms are ordinary, but their principles are in harmony with magical alchemy, and only the Arcane Society can truly grasp their essence.' In this way, the imitation project will naturally fall under our leadership."
He smiled slightly. "At the same time, we can rightfully ask the Empire to allocate more funds, minerals, and craftsmen... After all, researching dangerous firearms requires a lot of resources."
"As for the progress..." He smiled meaningfully, "that depends on the difficulty of the technology. It's normal that we can't produce a prototype in three years or a reliable product in five years. Who can say that we're not putting in the effort? Even if we have to produce a finished product in the end, we can optimize it, for example, make the range shorter, the damage rate higher, and the loading more complicated... In short, make sure it never surpasses our Fire Crossbow and Thunder Hammer."
"Great!" Grim Gavin slapped his thigh. "We've managed to avoid offending anyone while maintaining our position."
"We can also take this opportunity to expand our workshops and recruit apprentices," Duke Mason's eyes lit up. "It's a win-win situation."
Everyone nodded, their faces regaining their radiance. The anxiety they had felt earlier vanished, and the familiar composure of the Arcane Society masters returned to their faces.
Doyle nodded slightly; Sebastian's suggestion was indeed a sound solution.
Sebastian Cole didn't pause; instead, he took a step forward and raised his voice, saying, "Since we're talking about firearms and workshops... I'd like to bring up a long-planned initiative—we should popularize magic throughout society."
These words immediately caused an uproar in the council chamber.
"What?" Helga jumped to his feet, his face ashen. "Are you crazy?"
Sebastian remained calm and continued, "What I mean is, magic shouldn't belong only to those of us who can cast spells. It should be integrated into every aspect of society—workshops, mines, farms, transportation… For example, using levitation to assist in hoisting heavy objects, using thermostatic charms to stabilize metal smelting, and using elemental manipulation to accelerate waterwheels. Even if ordinary people never learn a single spell in their entire lives, as long as they use tools optimized by magic, the output of the entire society will double."
His tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable firmness: "Those who awaken their talents are indeed very few, but the benefits of magic can reach everyone—from nobles to serfs, no one will be left out. At that time, people will not tolerate us out of fear or dependence, but because of tangible benefits. Spellcaster will no longer be a necessary evil, but an engine for the progress of civilization."
"Absurd!" Enoch slammed his hand on the stone table, his eyes blazing with fury. "Magic is a sacred and elegant tradition! It's the culmination of millennia of wisdom! How can it be mixed up with those greasy blacksmiths and muddy farmers? Letting them touch a magic circle is a desecration of arcane magic!"
Others also voiced their criticism, but Sebastian remained unmoved by their accusations. He stood still, his expression calm, even somewhat compassionate.
He said softly, "You think I'm blaspheming magic? But I want to ask you this: if magic can't even survive, what's the point of talking about its sacredness?"
He slowly walked to the center of the round table and gently tapped the captured firearm with his finger.
"Look at this. It has no runes, no spells, not a trace of magic! But it can kill, it can pierce armor, it can turn the tide of battle! The mortals of Aldor used it to prove one thing: power no longer belongs exclusively to us."
He glanced around at the crowd, his tone growing increasingly serious: " Dorti was right. Once mortals discover they can win wars, build city-states, mine and construct bridges without mages, will they still need us? No. They will be grateful for our past help, and then politely ask us to leave, like packing up relics from an old era."
"Therefore, we must make magic irreplaceable. What we need to do is not to make mortals fear us, but to make them unable to live without us."
"Imagine every blacksmith shop in Gabella uses temperature-controlled arrays to smelt iron, every trade route is navigated by levitation beacons, and every dam is regulated by water-shaping magic—even if the person operating it is just an ordinary worker, he is dealing with magic every day. Over time, the entire society will function on magic. At that time, who would dare to say 'we can do without mages'?"
He paused for a moment, his gaze sharp as a knife as he looked at the crowd: "The world is constantly changing and will never stop waiting for us. Either we take the initiative to go into workshops, farms, and docks and make magic as ubiquitous as air, or we wait to be squeezed out of the stage of history little by little by things like this firearm."
The hall was completely silent.
Those who had just been angrily denouncing him for defiling magic were now silent. Enoch frowned and didn't speak again. Helga sat back down, his eyes filled with complex emotions. Even the usually radical Grimm lowered his head and rubbed his knuckles, lost in thought.
Everyone realized that Sebastian did not intend to diminish the status of magic, but rather to make it the foundation of the entire civilization.
Doughty Matte finally nodded slowly and said in a low voice, "...This is indeed a true long-term strategy."