In their grand scheme to uplift the Holy Milishial Empire’s capability to fight against the enemy of all races, the Ancient Sorcerous Empire, the six Roguerider siblings not only utilized their Roguerider Foundation but also actively sought support from influential entities such as the governmental Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures and the clandestine Order of the Ancients. Thankfully their individual talents succeeded in attracting the attention of both, with the former eagerly welcoming a massive boost in their initiatives, while the latter saw the potential of wielding—or guiding—the siblings’ talents for the greater good. Unbeknownst to both, however, they inadvertently danced into the Rogueriders’ scheme. It was all according to plan all along.

Uplifting mankind to fight against this world’s equivalent of devils is one thing, but bringing happiness to the world is another. Meteos Roguerider skillfully concealed his inner turmoil in the presence of others, but having been forced to reflect on himself and being asked questions that shook his resolve, this reincarnated soul from an ‘undesirable’ future found himself troubled.

Coupled with this opening narration turning irksome to his ears, Meteos couldn’t help but try to resist an increasing urge to grunt.

“Hrmh…”

Aw, he fails.

❖⟐❖⟐❖

September 24, 1615 Central Calendar, 12:30

Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures

“Do you never—hrmmh…”

Letting loose the pent-up discomfort inside his being, Meteos abruptly snapped to Legiel, who was lounging on the corner of the couch opposite him. However, he quickly and rapidly shook his head, stammering forcing himself to stop as he schooled his youthful and undeniably handsome countenance—

“Can you… please, not narrate whenever I try to do something?”

“………”

Meteos, realizing who he was dealing with, issued a low growl with an emphasis on his ‘politeness.’ His innocent blue eyes, the hue of the deep Minerva Ocean, pleaded to his serene but constantly scheming older brother. Shaking the thought of Legiel away, Meteos turned his attention back to the object sitting on the table. He tried to fathom why this brother of his would annoy him so. The words were unwelcome and unneeded, but he tried to accept it. He tempered his rage.

“What—”

Smiling at Meteos’ twitching eyebrows, Legiel penned down a couple of lines on the notebook he’s been writing.

“But you know the rules, Little Brother. One fight for one wish.”

And now that he had named his wish, he needed to fight Legiel if he desired his wish to be granted.

‘Of all the things…’

Meteos stifled a groan again. He needed not to be reminded of the fact that it is impossible all the time, thank you very much!

He discreetly eyed Legiel with a stink eye as soon as Legiel continued his rhythmic scratching of the pen on paper, but thankfully, the voices commenting on his moves did not come this time. Turning away from the source of trouble, Meteos pivoted his head to Cyrus, their older brother who was quietly sipping a hot chocolate on another seat. Perched opposite in the plush embrace of an armchair, Cyrus’ chin-length silver-haired bangs framed a set of kind blue eyes that resembled their mother Meteora’s in feeling more than Meteos’ own nor Legiel’s condescendingly kind gaze.

“Hm,” Cyrus prompted, looking up from his hot chocolate with an expectant gaze.

“Can’t you tell Brother Legiel here to stop doing that?”

Pursing his lips, Cyrus set down his cup and answered succinctly. “…Even I cannot guarantee he’ll stop doing that.”

“Not doing it to my face would be enough.”

“………”

In response, Cyrus’ head slowly swiveled to stare silently at Legiel, his expression an emotionless one. The scratching soon ceased with Legiel’s placating shrug, and the room with only the three of them in it fell into a momentary quiet. Meteos, letting out a relieved exhale, shot a grateful look at Cyrus. It appeared that he had discovered a loophole to this predicament: the older sibling card. How effective? That remains to be seen.

“Peaceful. Thank you, Brother Cyrus.”

“Hm.” Cyrus simply nodded in response, a faint smile playing on his lips that faded as soon as the young man picked up his mug again.

As Legiel maintained his silence and shifted his posture to get a better view of the table in the middle, Meteos decided to make the most of it and focused on the holographic projection on the table and began to lose himself in utilizing his inherited memories. Now that the appropriate magic technology is available and more widespread in this timeline, Meteos could now showcase his thought process, imaginary technology tree and all, to any audience by operating a panel on the tableside.

Unlike most tables, this particular piece of furniture, a product of the Roguerider Foundation, is what will happen if one were to combine a G3 Manadriver technology with a simple table. The result is a magic circuit-laden futuristic table capable of projecting images to fit in a small-scale meeting setting. Meeting demands from various government institutions and the populace for high-end home appliances through their subsidiary Danu Appliance, the conglomerate turned a profit by supplying this innovative item and other products at an appropriate price. In the Foundation’s cooperation with the MOASEC, it was through this subsidiary that they served as one of the suppliers for the magic circuits extensively used in their endeavors. In this context, the Danu Appliance’s R&D member Legiel, one of the two siblings who are not a MOASEC member, frequently visits their headquarters in San Redentore. In his words, this affair is like “killing two birds with one stone,” considering he gets to hang around with his other siblings during breaks like this.

As for the four siblings who are recruited as members of the Ministry, they in practice decided to focus their work, one sibling on each branch. Cyrus chose the Naval crew, Ashera to the Ground crew, and Ace goes to the Aerial crew. Although Meteos was in fact assigned to the Magic Technology System Development Facility, he demonstrated versatility in his work. Joining already the most adaptable branch, he frequently gets around the San Redentore headquarters with his friends (Second Timeline lineup of Walman, Robin, Arthur, and Daguva), answering calls for assistance whenever they are needed… or showing up to inform them something they cooked up.

The best thing is that Meteos and Walman’s half-day work schedule remained in the Third Timeline, so while Walman went to his shift and Ace will not be free until later, Meteos decided to come to the Naval System Development Facility and met Cyrus in the lounge first before doing whatever suited him that afternoon. Unfortunately, that day was also the day when Legiel was visiting, which explained his presence.

Not long after Cyrus’ intervention eased the building tension, the door to the lounge creaked open. A ray of golden sunlight sliced through the dimness, revealing a head of brown hair belonging to Robin who entered with a bounce in her step, bringing a canvas tote bag with her. Ever since her son Tristan enrolled in an elementary school downtown, this timeline’s version of Robin has this routine of taking turns with Arthur to pick him up and drive the child home before returning to San Redentore.

“Oh, hey guys! Did I late for something?” Robin announced as soon as the three Rogueriders entered her field of vision.

“Nothing in particular, Teacher. Come in.”

“Alright…!”

Closing the door with a gentle click, Robin hefted the bag to Legiel who gracefully accepted it with a flourish, revealing the snacks the bespectacled woman had picked up on her way here. Meanwhile, Robin slid into the empty space next to Meteos, and her attention was immediately captured by the projection on the table. Meteos, not relying on any data storage connected to the interface, skillfully operated the projection just by materializing his thoughts, pushing the Manadriver’s limits by showcasing even intricate details that never failed to impress his audience. If anything, the magic technology development in this field is moving in a certain direction in order to have devices capable of replicating the example of what the human mind can do.

“Whoa there,” she whistled. “What ‘tech tree’ you’re playing around this time, Kid?”

“Err… not really, I just reviewed the ships to be constructed in the latest Naval Programme’s second phase,” Meteos replied, craning his head to look at Robin slightly.

“Ooh… got things that can be improved?”

“The ships are decent and can fulfill their mission, alright. But to your question? Many.”

“Well, isn’t that obvious,” she remarked.

Robin couldn’t help but chuckle with amusement. As she leaned back on the couch, her hand instantly extended to playfully pat Meteos’ other shoulder. Being a mother, this timeline’s version of her was more… tactile, more expressive of her fondness for her apprentices that she already had in the Second Timeline, but had that motherly instinct battling with the hesitation and professional distance she believed necessary. Here, she opened her heart wider and is more openly endearing to the team of four under her tutelage. Maybe that’s really who Robin really is.

“What about you, Mrs. Robin? Do you have any news to tell us today?” Legiel wondered, tilting his head curiously.

Robin’s gaze darted around the room and lingered a moment on the door before settling back on the three siblings.

Noticing her subtle cue, Legiel reached for his X Deviser lying next to him and made a gesture to operate it. Through a series of taps, he activated a function stored in its memory, creating a faintly shimmering dome around the lounge that quickly faded away. Said to be a barrier magic, this effectively blocked sound from leaking and set up a detection field that can alarm the people inside whenever someone else is about to enter the room. To others, Legiel said that it was ‘Vernda,’ a custom magic spell for protection and intrusion detection. However, Pestilence lied. In reality, it was actually something more powerful, an illusion magic like the one he used back then so that no one would get suspicious.

Even though the rule regarding asking the Horsemen to grant one’s wish still applies and will be upheld, Legiel in his role as an older brother viewed himself as doing a service to his Little Brother and his information network by facilitating moments where they could talk about confidential matters without needing an isolated and/or cramped space all the time. This is something he’d done on a whim whenever necessary, Meteos might’ve been happier that way and then he could focus on his job without worrying about… say, plot holes. It was a deliberate redundancy, more like a performance than anything, since Meteos’ Temple of Heaven had drawn more people to their side ever since they returned from Leiden.

Completing the activation, Legiel nodded to Robin and reclined nonchalantly back in his seat.

“I do have something to share, alright,” Robin started. “Word comes out from the Order members over there that the first of the new Pattern II U-boat was launched earlier this morning.”

A ripple of pleased exhales passed through the lounge. “Right on schedule, good,” Meteos murmured, taking the information with a thoughtful expression.

“Shame that we can’t have a fanfare, again,” Robin continued, sighing longingly.

“That’s for the best.”

“Yeah.”

Being a naval vessel capable of diving underwater and attacking enemy vessels with unmatched stealth and lethality in the known world that had not known such a concept, the U-boats were treated as secret weapons. Their existence was known only to a select few, and their construction had been normally shrouded in the utmost secrecy. The Holy Empire’s secret sentinels had been instrumental in making it a reality, providing crucial technical assistance by harnessing the Rogueriders’ talents and blocking foreign intelligence-gathering activities. As such, the 14 currently operational Pattern I U-boats are all sheltered in secluded areas, with U-boat bases being constructed by the Imperial Navy on the mainland and the outlying islands to maintain its growing fleet of undersea raiders. Recognizing the inevitable challenge of keeping the existence of its U-boat fleet under wraps, the Holy Empire acknowledges that secrecy may not last forever. However, the Holy Empire hoped that by that time, the U-boat fleet would have reached a level of strength and capability that could withstand any potential repercussions, even if the details were to be somehow leaked to other countries, Mu especially.

The U-boat in question, called U-15, is the first of the 50 planned new generation boats intended to be short-range patrol submarines before the Holy Empire’s accumulated experience moved to a ‘Pattern III’ intended to be large ocean-going U-boats for sustained operations far from the home support facilities, a proposed ‘Pattern IV’ long-range minelayers, and subsequently more advanced designs.

While Robin and her associates were impressed with this new weapon, her enthusiasm was abruptly tempered by revelations from Meteos’ visions. These conveyed that their new equipment nor their vaunted surface fleet would still not be enough to face the only other country in the known world that possesses submarines: the Annonrial Empire. Now, with the table-projector showing a projection of sophisticated vessels, but not ones they recognize as belonging to the Holy Empire, the four of them were reviewing the naval equipment of the Annonrial Empire from this time period.

“…and then this is the projected Holy Empire’s naval fleet as per Year 1622,” Meteos gestured to another set of warships below the Annonrial ships, arranged in a way that compared each other based on their types.

The latest set of the Holy Milishial Imperial Navy’s ships were ordered as part of the two-decade-long 1600-1620 Naval Programme based on the Rogueriders’ Next-Generation Warship Design Studies, ostensibly as a replacement for the current fleet which will approach 40 to 50 years old since their commissioning back in mid to late 1500s. There are no aircraft carriers and U-boats in this shipbuilding plan since the former was primarily handled by the MOASEC’s Project OWL (a collaboration with the Navy) with the Ministry’s own budget and the latter was as explained above. The Holy Empire is rather sluggish, unlike Mu in terms of the pace of building new classes of ships partly as a consequence of their constantly overpowered equipment and relic reverse engineering-oriented development. It was thanks to Emperor Milishial VIII being interested enough in what the young generation could bring to the table through the MOASEC and the Order of the Ancients’ reports, that the Holy Empire could work at a pace preferable to the Rogueriders.

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At a glance, there’s not that much of a difference in terms of outward appearance and observable weaponry between the new ships and their purported Annonrial counterparts. For instance, the magic battleships. While the Milishian Silver-class (Alastor-pattern) from Phase 1 with its nine 356 mm (14 in) main guns did exhibit a weaker attack power than even the older Annonrial battleship class still in service, its upcoming Phase 2 successors namely the Gold-class (Callandor-pattern) and Mithril-class (Sparda-pattern) appear to be comparable in main gun caliber (406 mm (16 in)) to the most recent Annonrial battleships. Heck, the Mithril-class’ twelve main guns would be state-of-the-art models capable of firing the new superheavy shell, resulting in the most powerful broadside of any battleship ever in history against Annonrial’s nine. Seemingly able to outgun its adversary in a fight but still deemed as weak must mean that the difference in power lies in something else.

Scratching her head and curling her lips in discomfort, Robin asked, “Ouch, that program costs a lot of zollarks too… If the new ships we’ve built still won’t be a one-to-one match with these Annonrials, it will be a while until we can be evenly matched, isn’t it?”

“More or less that’s the gist of it, but let me explain,” Meteos calmly crossed his arms. “For starters, the Annonrial warships are at least one level above ours in terms of defenses. Their naval guns have a higher muzzle velocity than our Spirit magic gun counterparts. They also have better systems and sensors than us at this point. While both sides’ latest battleships will use mithril alloy for armor, our side will still be inferior. Even their small ships and U-boats can do it too.”

“Hmm… I see, that really complicates things,” Robin sighed, glancing at the projection again. So the Annonrials bested them in terms of technology: better FCS, better detectors, and better magical armor strengthening capability. There are data for the latter and it seems quite a staggering number.

The labels appearing on the Annonrial battleships denote their magical armor strengthening capability to reach 25% in five seconds. Even in this world, there is a rule that battleships must be able to withstand hits from the same guns that they equipped, which is a major design criterion for all Milishian battleships, but that is only for their base armor. Thanks to the incorporation of advanced magic technology, warships can harness mana to strengthen their armor and enhance their defensive capabilities against incoming attacks. The Milishian technology can achieve a maximum enhancement rate of 10%, and the latest battleships boast a 409 mm mithril belt that can be reinforced to an equivalent of 450 mm within 5 seconds. But the Annonrial warship, not only does it already carry a thicker base number of 420 mm, but a magical strengthening grade of 25% will bring it to an equivalent of 525 mm armor without an impractical increase in the ship’s displacement.

Robin wondered how large a gun, how powerful a bomb, or how deadly a torpedo should be to be able to penetrate an armor that thick. Besides, since they also fielded large, single-hulled, aircraft carriers brimming with warplanes more advanced than even the Milishian Heavenly Vessels, it’s unlikely that the Annonrial Empire would be nice enough to let Milishian planes get a drop of their surface fleets from above in the event of a war between them. No, the opposite would have happened, even.

The Milishian catamaran-hulled Silver I-class magic aviation motherships (Ascendant Justice-pattern) were overhauled sometime ago to allow the operation of catapults called the Manadrive Aircraft Launch System (MALS), turning them into bona fide CATOBAR carriers to accommodate the second-generation Heavenly Vessels. However, one of the greatest faults of these ships is that they’re not designed with a flight deck armor strong enough to withstand bombs of the Holy Empire’s own level.

The three Silver II-class (Orphan Wolf Legend-pattern) of the Project OWL were meant to fix everything wrong with the Ascendant Justice-pattern’s design, such as constructing a single-hulled carrier with an angled and decently armored flight deck as well as the installation of MALS from the get-go. This is promising, since the resulting carrier happens to be quite on par with Annonrial’s own, but then there’s the problem of a qualitatively inferior air wing and the fact that these will not immediately enter a combat role after their commissioning since the initial intention was to allow the Navy to experiment, train, and gain familiarity with their future magic aviation mothership operations.

“Hm. I can only imagine the stir it will cause in the Annonrial Empire once they catch wind of these developments,” Legiel idly commented. Making Meteos sigh.

“…Yeah, they might take precautions, making my future visions useless unless I can somehow receive updated versions of those visions…”

Robin chimed in longingly, “Well, that’s quite depressing, but there’s only so much cheats can bring us, I guess. Strategically, it might be wise to adopt a more flexible approach. If we can somehow gain contacts within the Annonrial Empire itself to gather information in real-time… but even with everything you say about them back then, that’s quite a wishful thinking, isn’t it…?”

“Hmm…”

Meteos contemplated using a Desire Driver-enhanced Temple of Heaven spell on unsuspecting Annonrials and using them to broaden the Rogueriders’ information network. The upcoming Eleven Countries Leadership Conference would provide an opportune moment, as their representatives would be arriving in the Holy Empire on their own accord. Noticing the side glances from Cyrus and Legiel, Meteos surmised that these two Horsemen likely anticipated him to consider such a strategy.

Meteos raised an eyebrow to Cyrus as if asking ‘Will you with me?’

The quiet brother gave him a subtle nod. He didn’t need to ask Legiel.

After their silent interaction, Cyrus took the turn to speak, “Besides keeping our pace in upgrading our capabilities and hoping for the best… what else is there?”

“That’s right. Is there something that our side has an immediate advantage of, even if it’s just a slim one?” Robin prompted expectantly.

“Well, we’re richer,” Meteos blurted in an attempt to uplift the mood.

“Ooohh… that’s nice! But really, that’s it?”

“Meteos’ future visions and the talents that we tried so hard to cultivate using his foresight, too, I guess…”

“Well, your brother’s not wrong, Kid!”

“Haaaah…”

Facepalming at Legiel’s teasing, Meteos waited until the laughter that erupted from both Robin and Legiel died down. Meteos could be a good sport and laugh together, but it’s Legiel. He’s a troll.

After pondering for some more time, Meteos continued. “No, seriously, it’s money. But there’s also the anti-gravity magic, I guess. I really wanted to say rockets and early guided magic bullets, but at best our sides are competing… it’s a close race to see who can put them into practical use first, honestly.”

“Darn it, I was expecting too much…”

“But since Annonrial’s budget is more limited compared to ours, they must choose what to focus on, which is why their anti-gravity magic research doesn’t get much priority in this era. As a tradeoff, their current mass-produced equipment is generally top-notch, with priority on researching guided magic bullets next.”

“Oh? Are they not aiming to use the Pal Chimera or other ancient superweapons they have?” Legiel asked.

“It’s better to mass produce reliable equipment that will give them a clearer overwhelming advantage over their enemies compared to focusing the majority of their resources on a handful of flashy superweapons. Among the entire world that they see as enemies, they see us as the greatest threat against them over there, you know, they need numbers and time, and they can’t do both at the same time. They also have a tendency to focus on their navy, so if there’s a possibility of Annonrials fielding an ancient superweapon, it will be that ‘maritime fortress.’”

“A practical reasoning,” Cyrus commented.

As the saying goes, money truly makes the world go round. The Holy Empire finds itself in a comfortable position, boasting a robust economy, ample treasury, and the taste of generous donations from the Foundation. This financial stability enables the Holy Empire to allocate funds to multiple costly projects simultaneously, all managed by competent individuals to prevent them from becoming frivolous endeavors. The same cannot be said to the limited, or even financially strained condition of other countries in the known world. If there’s something that the Holy Milishial Empire really has an advantage of over the Annonrial Empire, it will be money.

And because of that money, the MOASEC dared to execute three projects at once in this timeline. One of them, Project Fifteen, aimed to develop a “float system vehicle,” the very first native-made vehicle that utilizes the anti-gravity-type magic engine designed by Meteos of this timeline and Ace, and then put it to practical use. To put it bluntly, it is equivalent to the rotorcraft that the Annonrial Empire will eventually develop if they let their anti-gravity magic mastery be beaten by the Milishians at this rate. Then, from the knowledge gained of its operation, they planned to use it on the Pal Chimera. The prototype, called Samekh-1, is scheduled to have its maiden flight next month.

Even outside the HME versus Annonrial context, the anti-gravity magic has its own set of advantages when fully mastered. Its potential to revolutionize transportation and logistics has been discussed and debated for a long time. That much Robin understood, and it was a welcome surprise to have something that they had an upper hand on. Had Robin been aware of the true extent of Meteos’ inherited memories, intentionally understated by the boy himself, her confidence would have been even higher. Nonetheless, even in the current situation, she bounced back to being upbeat and tried to grasp the silver linings of this dark cloud.

Soon after, the bell chime signaling the end of break time resonated through the lounge, drawing them back to reality. Bidding farewell to their siblings and Robin, Meteos thus rode his skateboard on the way home. While Adonis was going abroad securing the world’s defensive line in other countries, the least Meteos could do was guide this land to a movement to strengthen itself.

November 14, 1615 Central Calendar, 13:50

Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures

On this day, the so far unmentioned third project of the MOASEC was announced to be moving into full production. And on this same day, Meteos and Walman visited one of the proving grounds at the Ground System Development Facility, where they were invited to observe a testing of a certain new vehicle. Despite the inconvenience of sacrificing their Saturday, the one being tested this time was so interesting so they decided to come nonetheless. Recognizing their passion as fellow engineers, the Ground crew rewarded the boys the opportunity to take a ride on the new vehicle around the proving ground before the testing began.

Joined by Ashera Roguerider, Meteos’ older sister who’s also a member of the testing crew, Meteos and Walman finished their thrilling ride on top of the new vehicle, mud-splattered but exhilarated. The proving ground, with its muddy tracks and scattered obstacles, looked almost fantastical under the clearing sky. The rain, which had pounded the area since morning, had just stopped, leaving behind a damp coolness that felt refreshing.

Still buzzing from the rush, Walman exclaimed. “That was amazing. I can’t believe they actually let us ride!”

“That was definitely worth sacrificing our Saturday for,” Meteos quipped. “Thanks, Sis, for convincing the crew. It was quite an experience.”

“Hah!” Ashera snorted good-naturedly and patted the two boys’ shoulders, her expression indicated that she felt rather at home in this wilderness. “Anything for my Lil’ Bro and his mate! Now let’s have a butchers at the lunch menu, shall we?”

After clambering off the vehicle, they turned to thank the Ground crew, who were already prepping the vehicle for the official testing. On the way to a tent where food was being cooked, the trio passed by Emre Senturya and a tiger beastman, the same one as the man who tested Meteos’ automatic rifle back in the Second Timeline. As they greeted each other, Emre clapped Meteos on the back.

“Heh. Good stuff, rookie. You got the spirit in you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’ve got work to do.”

“Good luck!”

With a wave, the Ground crew began to surround the vehicle and began preparations for the official test which will begin after lunch. Among them were four men of the Imperial Army selected to participate in the operation. Each of them looked ecstatic, a natural expression to have. Even though the automatic rifle and other weapons similar to the GP designs were already in operation with the Army for a while, their overall state can still be called ‘subpar.’

Letting Walman fill his plate first, Ashera beckoned Meteos to come to her side and turned to gaze at the vehicle in the distance.

The so-called ‘iron mastodon,’ an object that Meteos once felt to be going to be a difficult and lengthy affair in the Second Timeline, was realized just in time as he woke up in this Third Timeline, having undergone a development period of five years. Sharing a design concept as the Japanese sensha or Gra Valkan stridsvogn, the product of this third project is a 50-ton heavily armored land vehicle equipped with a cannon mounted on a rotating turret as its main armament. While its 105 mm Spirit magic cannon is still inferior in caliber and performance to the 120 mm Salvation gun possessed by the same kind of Annonrial vehicle, the Holy Milishial Imperial Army had finally gotten its hands on a real ‘main battle tank.’

Ashera was part of the project that gave birth to this vehicle. Designated officially as Pattern 15 Heavy Armored Fighting Vehicle and nicknamed Bizorm, Meteos once gave this design a codename of “Imperializer.” But with the Holy Empire deciding to call this type of vehicle after its project, from now on, the Milishians will refer to tanks as “einherjar.”

Meaning “army of one,” it certainly invoked the feeling of one if you were to see it barreling toward an army and shrugging everything thrown at it, but Meteos thought of it as a rather ironic name. Tanks, or in this case, einherjars, can’t win a battle fighting alone without infantry.

Whether it’s intentional or not, it fell within the Ground crew’s fondness for ironic naming, alright.

As part of today’s testing, the einherjar will be driven across muddy terrain and various replications of terrains to assess the capability of its caterpillar tracks and undercarriage. However, as a precaution in the event of the vehicle getting stuck in a particularly nasty mud field (such as the enemy’s magical trap), all four crew that the Imperial Army selected are Combat Mages. In a military with a famous jargon of ‘Every Soldier A Mage’ because their guns are technically offensive magic tools, making them technically mages, these Combat Mages receive additional training in using their mana to become the Imperial Army’s force multiplier. Using the Manadrivers issued to them after completing their training course, these Combat Mages can use them to quickly correct the terrain and free the stuck einherjar if necessary.

The downside is that they need to get out of the vehicle to do that, prompting the Ground crew to think of countermeasures for the sake of the soldiers’ lives. On the other hand, with the advent of Manadrivers that trivialize chanting, the thirsty-for-advancement Imperial Army saw an opportunity.

Understanding that weapons are designed to break, naturally the engineers who built it still wanted their prized einherjar to not be taken down by dirt of all things even with such a surprise attack, which will also be a part of the testing.

“More or less what you wanted, huh?” the elder sister pointed at the vehicle with her chin. “Si vis pacem, para bellum.”

The adage, meaning “If you want peace, prepare for war,” seemed to echo in the damp air. Coming from Ashera, it hit Meteos with a sense of foreboding.

“Yeah,” Meteos agreed softly.

However, her expression soon turned brighter. “Well, aren’t ya a tricky one. That spark in your eyes, it burns bright, but I hope it ain’t fueled by the wrong sorta fire.”

“Yes, I realized. Doing things for wrong reasons, no matter how minuscule it is in my heart, will only lead to ruin. If I can thank your younger brother for forcing me to realize this before it’s too late, I would.”

“So, are ya gonna thank that cheeky blighter for bringin’ this whole mess about?” Ashera’s drawl, normally playful, held a threat of genuine curiosity. Meteos raised a quizzical eyebrow.

“He must stop being a troll first, only then I’ll consider it.”

“Nah, might as well try juggling piss in a hurricane!”

“Sis, what the hell…”

War is chaotic, alright.

But nevertheless, projects are seeing completion one after another, and without realizing the time passing by, that year’s blizzard gave way to the year 1616.

The Available Information from Beyond

PATTERN 15 BIZORM

The first Milishian einherjar (tank), started development in 1610 as part of the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures’ Project Einherjar in collaboration with the Imperial Army, with manufacture beginning in late 1615.

It is intended by its designers as primarily an offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. With heavy firepower mounted in a rotating turret, strong armor, and good mobility provided by caterpillar tracks and a powerful engine, the einherjar’s main purpose is to provide firepower, protection, and mobility on the battlefield, allowing them to engage enemy forces and overcome various obstacles.

Specifications

- Mass : 51 tons

- Length : 7,557 m hull only, 9,83 m gun forward

- Width : 3,28 m, 3,38 m with side plates

- Height : 2,94 m

- Crew : 4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)

- Armour : 51-152 mm

- Armament : 1 × single 52 caliber 105 mm (4,13 in) Spirit Magic Cannon (main), 1 × coaxial M115 Halberd heavy machine gun (secondary)

- Engine : land-based Manadrive engine

- Power/weight : 13 hp/t (9.2 kW/t)

- Transmission : 5-speed gearbox

- Suspension : Slow Motion

- Ground clearance : 0,51 m

- Fuel capacity : 546 L

- Range : 52,3 km cross country, 100,6 km on road

- Maximum speed : 34,6 km/h