Chapter 642: Big Fish
Hearing Tristian took the lead in expressing his stance, some other nobles who were watching and waiting also took the opportunity to voice their agreement; for a moment, the entire exhibition hall was filled with guests singing the praises of the new emperor.
Listening to the unceasing praises, Amalia turned her head to glance at Tristian, recalling the intelligence recently obtained regarding the Velmont family; that Grand Duke had, on one hand, increased investment in industries related to magic energy devices, and on the other hand, was actively expanding his business footprint in traditional commerce.
Such hedging of bets was extremely similar to the Velmont family’s historical characteristic of being skilled at sitting on the fence; in the end, whether magic energy devices shone brilliantly in the Empire or were suppressed by old factions as an emerging force, unable to form a scale, they could profit from it.
If the conservative nobles resisted strongly, it would inevitably cause slack in other interest directions, and as for the Valeria Empire royal family, if the Emperor’s political opinion suffered a setback, the rights Velmont could fight for would only increase.
They had long coveted the influence of the Empire Weekly throughout the Empire, but unfortunately, the late Emperor also saw this point during his reign and promulgated a bill early on, defining its nature as a royal official publication, which other nobles were forbidden to imitate or widely disseminated.
Her blue pupils reflecting scattered points of light, Amalia’s expression remains unchanged; her white-stockinged legs stood straight, and her silky pure white ceremonial dress, along with the dazzling crown atop her head, accentuated her dignified and noble temperament.
However... compared to those old stubborn forces, the Velmont family was already considered easy to deal with...
At least they saw the potential benefits of the Empire Weekly and were willing to bet and invest on it; in a certain sense, they were walking the same path as themselves, making it easier to form a community of interests.
As long as the upward momentum has been maintained, these people will be a solid help, not a hindrance.
Just like Tristian, who was willing to express his stance publicly at this moment.
"Imperial Capital is merely the first experimental city; after the sanitary pipeline laying is completed and its practical utility is confirmed to be good, I will appropriately promote it nationally."
The dignified female voice ended the waves of praise, and everyone’s gaze returned to the Empire Emperor holding the scepter on the stage; Seeing the guests pricking up their ears to listen, Amalia continued to speak.
"Besides this, some city constructions will also be implemented concurrently, such as several cities within the territory of Grand Duke Charles; it is expected that starting next month, craftsmen and architects will build docking airports for large magic energy airships."
This money was not entirely paid by the royal family; for instance, the Lord of Losterling City had once proactively suggested building an airport to Amalia, and once the relevant bill was promulgated, he would gather manpower himself to reform the city under his rule.
"The border war with the Kingdom of Velys has already proven the importance of magic energy airships; it can not only provide long-distance cross-terrain transportation but also shine brilliantly in the future when occupying air supremacy."
Next, Amalia presented her next step of planning and layout, including connecting several major cities with aviation routes, the magic energy airships about to be put into production, and the initial city pipeline construction.
These measures indeed did not cause much damage to the general interests of most nobles, and would even improve their living conditions and shorten travel time, like this trip to Imperial Capital, many nobles in remote geographical locations spent half a month on the road, but if there were magic energy airships, this time could be cut by at least half.
For this reason, even the noble conservatives hidden among the guests could not raise too many objections facing Amalia’s future plans, at most asking a few sentences about the reserve quantity of crystal stones, vaguely expressing a trace of resistance.
"Regent Astrid and Marquis Charlotte have already made certain progress on the energy issue, and I believe that in the near future, the usage efficiency of element crystal stones will be greatly improved."
Amalia narrowed her eyes slightly, signaling with words that it was about time for everyone to move on.
"Marquis Charlotte had already improved a portion of magic energy weapons as early as the Battle of White Maple Town, greatly reducing their energy consumption."
"If you want to know more, you are welcome to go to the Valeria Royal Collection Hall."
Unlike the Elizabeth Academy of Magic Exhibition Hall, the magic energy devices in the Royal Collection Hall were not daily necessities, but heavy weapons of the state used for actual warfare.
......
Magic energy muskets, miniaturized magic energy cannons, plasma bombs, disposable illumination lights, dense lightning shields; numerous weapons of war were quietly displayed in glass counters, silent, only the cold light flickering on the metal surface constantly reminded everyone that they were sharp weapons capable of harming ordinary soldiers and even powerful mages.
For safety reasons, this part of the weapon was set by Charlotte to the minimum output efficiency, used for demonstrations when necessary.
Relying solely on the staff’s explanations might not be intuitive enough; only by witnessing their power for real would these nobles who had not experienced war know that the praises for the outstanding contributions of magic energy weapons in those reports about border battles actually contained not a single word of exaggeration.
Without them, relying solely on the Valeria Empire’s pitiful individual soldier quality, and the short-sighted ideas of most noble domestics who sought pleasure and deprived foresight, thinking only of their current interests, the Kingdom of Velys would have long ago, like in the original novel, dealing a dimension-striking blow to the entire Empire, even forcing Anthony, a peak high-tier legendary mage, to take action personally.
"Limited by the venue, and to ensure the personal safety of the audience, only a portion of the magic energy weapons here can be displayed normally."
Although those who could enter the first batch to browse the magic energy devices were all high-ranking officials and nobles, generally possessing decent strength, there were also some family members attending who might not have enough mental power to resist the damage of magic energy weapons.
Moreover, whether real damage was caused was not the point; the key was whether the magic energy weapons showed any instability in front of everyone.
Even if it did not conform to the original plan, unintentionally splashing an unexpected small spark, some nobles with malicious intent could take advantage of the situation to make trouble, either questioning the professionalism of the craftsmen or the design ideas of the mage team.
Of course, there was also the most critical propaganda, meaning that magic energy devices themselves were a dangerous double-edged sword, and by demanding Amalia strengthen control in this area, it would then affect the research of magic energy devices.
Among the guests, a middle-aged man wearing splendid brocade clothes remained expressionless, mixing into the crowd, listening to the staff explaining the functions of the magic energy devices in front of him, his gaze shifting from time to time to look at another transparent counter in the distance.
An antique magic energy musket rested quietly inside it, and beside it was a shooting platform for experiments; several Royal Guards stood on both sides, responsible for the security of the venue and guiding nobles in experimenting with magic energy weapons.
As long as that magic energy musket, which had been tampered with in advance, was used on the shooting platform, it would meet the reality of shattering in front of everyone when the second shot was fired.
In this way, although it could not cause harm to the shooter, it could also change the direction of public opinion carefully constructed by Amalia and Astrid through the Empire Weekly.
The people coming today were all great nobles, and everyone’s eyes were sharp; what happened could not be covered up by a few pieces of paper or a newspaper.
Taking a sip of wine handed over by a maid, because he was in the Royal Collection Hall, he could not immediately contact the specific personnel arranged for the sabotage, but according to the plan of the person behind him, they could not fail.
Amalia might never have dreamed in her wildest imagination that they could understand the layout and guard time of the Collection Hall so meticulously, and could even mobilize some staff members.
The male voice of the explanation echoed in the exhibition hall, and quite a few nobles stopped in front of the weapon counters, listening to the instructor explain the principles inside, sipping red wine from time to time, examining quietly.
The exhibition continued, and after the first batch of guests finished listening to the explanation, it immediately arrived at the practical performance segment.
The man turned his head to search and saw a silver-haired girl wearing a black dress standing alone holding a wine glass; her cool side profile was illuminated by the light, highlighting her slender, perky lashes like fine brushes.
And to Astrid’s side, the Empire Empress, slightly shorter than her, was also watching the shooting platform, talking to the Regent while lowering her head to lightly sip red wine.
It seemed the plan was going even more smoothly than imagined.
Just as the man was thinking this, Amalia seemed to have sensed the gaze and gently turned her face.
In an instant, those blue pupils locked onto him; her aura of authority without anger was not weakened in the slightest by the new Empress body, but instead was revealed even more obviously because she held a scepter, wore silver high heels, and had an expression as calm as an ancient well.
In a trance, it seemed as if the owner of those emerald eyes was not Amalia, but Hibbort Valeria, who had been dead for several months.
His heart felt vaguely chilly, and even his back secreted beads of sweat; the man feigned obedience to imperial power, lowered his eyes not to look at Amalia, and the bright red liquid in the wine glass shook up and down, like a bloody wave.
After a moment, Amalia withdrew her gaze, and her eagle-like sharp gaze fell back on the shooting platform.
To ensure the integrity and safety of the experiment, Anthony had set up several barriers on this specially built shooting platform, thereby avoiding overflowing magic elements harming the experimenter.
The miniaturized magic energy cannon that appeared first, after imprinting the soul mark under the guidance of the staff, the noble holding the magic energy cannon felt the barrel, whose direction was controlled and could only face forward, and gently pressed the piston according to the procedure.
The protection array passed, the soul mark was correct, and a trace of weak mental power served as the spark to ignite the cannon fire.
The next second, an azure beam spurted from the cannon mouth and hit the detection array at the end of the shooting range, this detection array had the function of marking the quantity and speed of elemental particles, and although these data could not completely represent the lethality of a single magic, it could also reflect the release intensity of this casting from the side.
Quite a few knowledgeable people looked at the detection array inside the isolation barrier and made keen judgments.
"It is the magic intensity of a-tier Sorcerer level."
Weapons possessing this kind of power, if armed in batches, would be sufficient to repel an army composed of Grand Knights knights.
Listening to the unceasing discussions, Amalia did not speak, but just standing with her legs straight, drinking red wine sip by sip.
Next was the test of the Dense Lightning Shield; This type of magic energy weapon was not used in the Leyata Fortress defense battle and the Battle of White Maple Town, being a weapon developed by researchers later on.
Its center position had a lightning element crystal function, and its surface was carved with dense magic patterns; unlike the relatively active miniaturized magic energy cannon, this shield possesses a passive defense ability.
After activation by mental power, any strike by blunt or sharp weapons will suffer the lightning backlash of the shield body, and shooting with enchanted bows from a distance might not have an obvious effect, but once entering close combat, the current that can paralyze or even hurt knights along metal weapons will immediately become a terrifying threat in hand-to-hand combat.
The experiment continued, and the test intensity of the Dense Lightning Shield also reached the-tier spellcaster level; Ordinary arrows and sword blades could not break the defense at all.
Time passed second by second, and the brown-haired man wearing splendid clothes waited patiently; finally, it arrived at the relevant experiment for the magic energy musket.
A female noble with only a middle-tier Sorcerer level walked onto the stage to test; she gripped the mussel, controlled the direction, and like the previous experimenters, pulled the specialized piston located at her index finger.
A wave of fierce fire spurted, forming a slender fire snake; the scorching heat was blocked by Anthony’s barrier, and finally only the power judgment was obtained on the detection array.
Just one shot was not enough to serve as a basis for judgment; the female noble on the shooting platform looked at the distant detection array, and her fingers, under the gaze of everyone, placed themselves on the outside of the piston again.
In this instant, the brown-haired man seemed to see the scene after the explosion; the sturdy, slender musket barrel suddenly burst due to the high temperature of the flame, fragments scattered in all directions, and then were blocked by the protective magic barrier, only forming a visual effect without hurting anyone.
In this way, the theory of the absolute safety of magic energy devices painstakingly built by the current Empress would vanish with this explosion, and the magic energy device exhibition would also have a high probability of being suspended, after all, such a big mess happened in the first experiment, wouldn’t the subsequent exhibition become a joke.
At the same time, Amalia caught the other party’s eager gaze, feeling somewhat amused in her heart, her fingers gently stroking the stem of the glass.
They really were naive to the point of being a bit stupid.
However, thinking of these people’s motives, as well as the actual arrangements and the extent achieved, a trace of coldness flowed in Amalia’s pupils, only to disappear a moment later.
The next second, the noble on the stage pressed the piston again, and surging flames spurted along the specialized metal tube; the high temperature even burned the air into deformation, forming subtle visual changes, as if space were being torn apart.
The man’s heart pounded, but until the flame finished, the magic energy musket still had no change, and as the output ended, it gradually cooled down.
???
What happened? Why didn’t it explode?
On the other side, Theresa, having witnessed the power of the magic energy musket, walked up to Astrid and spoke in a low voice.
"Astrid, can I go up and try?"
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