Chapter 70: Chapter 70: The Changes of Qimo Fortress

Staring at the freshly painted and repaired Magic Crystal Cannon before him, Robson, who had been tinkering with it for half a day, finally let out a sigh of relief.

Magic Crystal Cannons were a complex subject. In this era, anyone who knew how to manufacture and repair them was undoubtedly a highly skilled craftsman.

Although Robson had no one under his command who could repair a Magic Crystal Cannon, it didn’t matter. If need be, he could do it himself. After all, repairing Magic Crystal Cannons was, in a sense, a skill.

Robson had to pull many strings and run in circles just to get his hands on a decent book about Magic Crystal Cannons.

In this era, knowledge was highly guarded. Everyone kept to their own circles, and certain information was a treasured secret, never to be shared. The very idea of exchanging knowledge was unheard of.

Even the Magic Book on cannons and the other tomes on Magic that Robson had called in a favor to get from Valentino were incomplete or damaged copies.

It wasn’t that Valentino had intentionally deceived Robson. The main reason was that the Fengman Clan, located in the northeast of the kingdom, had no experience building Magic Crystal Cannons themselves.

Fortunately, the panel was powerful enough that with a bit of tinkering, Robson managed to grasp the manufacturing and repair process for Magic Crystal Cannons.

To put it simply, the principle was similar to the cannons from Robson’s past life. It just required the use of some of this world’s Magic Energy Transformation Arrays to draw out the Magic Energy from the Magic Crystals.

Of course, Robson didn’t go to all this trouble because he was bored. The main reason was that the walls of Qimo Fortress offered him very little sense of security.

Besides, as far as Robson was concerned, Magic Crystal Cannons were the fastest way to gain experience during a war. A single shot could wipe out a huge area of enemies, something no other weapon could compare to.

In the past, Robson hadn’t felt a great need for this. After all, although he was at the Silver Sixth Tier, he was still a long way from becoming a Golden Knight.

After all, among the Extraordinary, the gap between the Gold and Silver tiers was as vast as the heavens and the earth. At the Gold tier, a Transcendent’s internal aura became as boundless as the sea, allowing them to perform incredible feats, much like Mages.

Of course, for Robson, the benefits of reaching the Gold tier were far greater than just that.

Viscount Luke was remarkably efficient. It had only been a few days since the two of them had finalized their plans, yet supplies and men were already being transported to Qimo Fortress.

With the addition of the two thousand Soldiers Valentino had delivered on her promise, Robson’s troop capacity was now completely full. So as not to affect his enterprise, Robson had no choice but to find a way to quickly reach the Gold tier.

.....

"My lord, we’ve completed the project you requested. Please come and inspect our work." Delhi, covered in dust, ran over to report to Robson.

Now that Robson’s appointments as Baron and Commander-in-Chief had been formally announced, it was natural for his subordinates to change how they addressed him.

"Oh? Let’s go take a look," Robson said.

Qimo Fortress was not very large, so it wasn’t long before Robson arrived at Delhi’s destination—the city wall.

That’s right. Robson had devised some rather unconventional uses for the Mage Corps that Valentino had sent.

Conventionally, Mages were only responsible for maintaining the fortress’s City Defense Array and launching counterattacks during an enemy invasion.

But in Robson’s view, this was an absolute waste of resources.

A few days after arriving at Qimo Fortress, Robson had publicly revealed that he was training in both magic and martial arts.

At first, old Kosen was delighted. He often personally tutored Robson in the ways of Magic, causing Robson’s proficiency to soar.

Unfortunately, Kosen’s joy was short-lived. He had assumed Robson would become a magical prodigy like Earl Leo, but he never imagined Robson would immediately use the magic he’d taught him to repair the city walls. Kosen complained quite a bit about this, feeling it was a disgrace to the dignity of Mages.

Robson, of course, paid him no mind. ’How many enemies can a single Fireball Technique kill? Ten goblins?’

’But for the same amount of Spiritual Power, you could use an Earth Wall Technique to raise an entire Arrow Tower on the battlefield. And that’s not even mentioning other spells like Fortification and so on...’

’Mages are born civil engineers! To think people make these esteemed Mages go out and fight. What happens if one of them gets killed?’

Robson hadn’t expected to persuade them in the first place. The dozen or so Mages from Valentino were there to help him defend the fortress, and he was now the Commander-in-Chief of Qimo Fortress. He could simply give them a direct order. In the barracks, military law ruled.

He never expected that after Delhi learned of his ideas, he would hail Robson as a kindred spirit!

To Delhi, how could a dangerous place like a battlefield possibly showcase the true value of a noble Mage? They should be using their power to provide protection for their allies.

Of course, this wasn’t because Delhi was a coward. As a distinguished Mage and one of the Frankish Nobles, Delhi had always put bravery first. It was simply that the Baron’s request was too earnest and too logical for him to refuse.

With Delhi setting an example, the other members of the Mage Corps sent by Valentino began to have fewer reservations.

After all, Delhi was a genuine magical prodigy who had made a name for himself long ago. While he might not be on par with Earl Leo, he was at least famous within his province. Besides, this construction work came with Robson’s promised protection, so why wouldn’t they be happy to oblige?

And so, amidst Kosen’s constant grumbling, Robson’s first-generation Civil Engineering Corps was born.

Of course, the Mages could only form the rough outlines of the fortifications; the detailed work still required manual labor.

This was where the original nobles of Qimo Fortress came into play. ’Their Peasants are just sitting around idle anyway. Even on a battlefield, they can’t beat a slightly stronger goblin. What are they supposed to fight with?’

Therefore, Robson designated them all as auxiliary troops.

The nobles of Qimo Fortress were certainly resentful of this. After all, the Frank Kingdom was a martial nation, and this decision was a direct slight to the results of their troops’ training.

But there was nothing they could do about it. They still had not repaid the favor they owed him.

Moreover, ever since Robson’s arrival at Qimo Fortress, everyone’s standard of living had improved dramatically. The steady stream of Soldiers and supplies that followed made Robson seem much more formidable in their eyes.

’Someone who can buy their own supplies is just rich. But someone who can continuously requisition supplies from the logistics department definitely has powerful connections.’

Under this twofold pressure, they all came to accept the fact that their troops had been relegated to auxiliaries.

Of course, Robson didn’t let these nobles sit idle. During their downtime, he would gather them to exchange insights on the Eight Knightly Arts and their training methods. They were, after all, several dozen Extraordinary Knights who might prove crucial at a critical moment.

While Robson was lost in thought, Delhi led him up onto the city wall.

The wall had been completely renovated, inside and out, according to Robson’s specifications.

First, there was the wall itself. Not only had its thickness been doubled, but sections had also been extended to form a structure resembling a star fort.

The main purpose of this design was to give the Archers better positioning, allowing for crossfire and reducing the wall’s blind spots.

Thanks to the Mage Corps’ reinforcement spells, the quality of Qimo Fortress’s walls had improved dramatically.

Although it still couldn’t compare to the walls of Sunset Fortress, which could withstand a direct hit from a Magic Crystal Cannon, the idea that an ordinary catapult could bring down these walls was pure fantasy.

’As expected,’ Robson thought. ’Magic truly is the ultimate engine of productivity!’