Chapter 643: True Technology
"I am sorry, Theresa, today probably won’t work."
Moving her gaze from the female noble experimenting with the magical musket at the shooting range, Astrid looked aside at Theresa.
"Experimenting with magical devices requires going through fixed procedures; if Theresa is interested, I can arrange it, and it should be ready by the day after tomorrow."
Actually, as the host, Astrid only needed to give an order to waive all procedures, but firstly, considering that the play Amalia was acting out wasn’t convenient for more people to participate in, especially a non-human intelligent being, and secondly, Theresa seemed to know nothing about politics; if she tried to help but did something wrong, accidentally damaging the magical musket, which is at most a small toy for a dragon, it would only create unnecessary trouble.
Hearing this, Theresa nodded, showing understanding of Astrid’s words.
"Okay, thank you, Astrid."
Being in the human empire, one should naturally follow local customs and handle things according to their rules and regulations, so the simple-minded Theresa had no objections.
Seeing this, Astrid slightly raised her lips and beckoned a maid to refill Theresa’s juice.
"Having tasted the empire’s fine wines, you can try this freshly squeezed grape juice; herbs have been added to enhance the flavor and sweetness, and it tastes quite good too."
Having already tasted the palace delicacies before, Theresa already had a favorable impression of human food; hearing Astrid’s words, she lowered her lips to take a sip, feeling the sweet, slightly cool juice slide down her throat, and her pupils suddenly lit up.
This taste... it’s not worse than melted glacial water at all...
It seems that on this trip, the things she can exchange are not limited to spatial magic and magical devices, but also cooking methods and seasoning techniques that can significantly improve the quality of life.
At the shooting range, the female noble designated by Amalia beforehand completed the magical musket shooting experiment without any accidents, and even more so, no explosion occurred as the man below the stage had hoped; that slender metal cylinder radiating a cold gleam was placed back into the glass counter by the staff and sealed with an isolation barrier.
Subsequent experiments with several magical weapons, including the plasma bombs they had also tampered with as a backup, showed no abnormalities; the destructive lightning element particles erupted within the pre-designed shielded space to form a scorching torrent, but would not harm any observers, and the safe throwing distance further ensured the user would not be injured.
Amalia sipped her wine in small mouthfuls, her expression showing no fluctuation, as if she knew everything that was going to happen today like the back of her hand.
"..."
No matter how slow his thinking was, a certain mouse who wanted to play tricks understood that the operation had failed; the only key point at the moment was whether this was a simple failure or if the matter had been completely exposed.
From entering the Elizabeth Academy of Magic exhibition hall to being in the Valeria Collection Hall at this moment, every position was strictly guarded by Amalia’s personal soldiers; in addition, both venues were equipped with special anti-peeping barriers, making it impossible to transmit information.
At this moment, he was somewhat nervous, but he also knew that now was absolutely not the time to show it; the young man wearing a luxurious robe tried his best to control his facial expression, and like the other guests around him, fixed his gaze on the shooting range.
However, even though his movement was minute, Astrid, who was constantly watching the nobles below the stage, still captured this detail; her crimson pupils rippled slightly, then submerged again.
Amalia had guessed long ago that the conservative nobles would not easily let the magical device exhibition conclude successfully, it was clear to everyone that the purpose of this empire empress holding this event was inevitably to use this exhibition to lay a solid foundation for promoting the reform of magical devices.
Magical weapons had shone brilliantly in the war, coupled with the vigorous promotion by the Empire Weekly; if they didn’t do something, these old stubborns might be completely swept into human history, becoming a handful of insignificant dust and gravel.
Therefore, after discussing the fishing plan in detail with Astrid, Amalia deliberately left a tiny loophole in the magical device exhibition; that is, Trin and Anthony only conducted performance tests on them one by one when placing the magical devices last night, and after the barrier was completely sealed, they did not make any extra moves.
In this way, the opposing elements would have enough time to tamper with things, for example, arranging it from the start, or temporarily bribing backstage staff with the ability to open the barrier, to replace or damage the magical devices inside.
If it only went this far, then everything was still within Amalia’s control, but unfortunately, the facts were more troublesome than she imagined; when Trin and Anthony were at the Elizabeth Academy of Magic exhibition hall, someone in the Imperial Guard array protecting the royal family actually tampered with the magical weapons inside the palace.
This undoubtedly released a rather dangerous piece of information to Amalia; besides herself, the empire empress, the only one who could mobilize the entire Imperial Guard was Astrid, the Regent, while those who could mobilize part of the outer Imperial Guard included several of Hibbort’s brothers, such as those previous-generation princes who had failed in the battle for the throne.
If she did not have the Valeria bloodline and the support of her sister’s forces, under the script where the First Prince and Second Prince died one after another, the empress’s throne would most likely have fallen into the hands of these uncles.
It is just unclear for now what their motive for doing these things is, whether they simply feel that the development of magical devices has touched their cake and affected the interests of certain individuals, or if they simply want to use the name of conservatives to privately commit treason and seize the throne.
Thinking of this, Amalia took a sip of red wine, slightly bent her knees, her smooth and delicate white silk-clad snow feet driving the silver metal toe tips to grind against the ground, thinking about what to do next.
First try to rectify the Imperial Guard; historically, most rulers of the Valeria Empire would distribute the mobilization power of the outer Imperial Guard to several princes, while retaining the largest and strongest inner Imperial Guard for themselves, aiming to ensure that when the imperial power falls, these princes would have a certain strength to come to the rescue.
Although in Amalia’s view, this system is simply to make the imperial throne belong to the Valeria surname as permanently as possible, and cannot effectively guarantee the personal safety of the successor, and is often the source of chaos, in certain specific periods, especially when the monarch is weak and the imperial power is declining, it can indeed help the dynasty last long.
In the original novel, Amalia Valeria was initially a puppet empress placed on the throne by the four grand dukes, but fortunately, her political talent was indeed superb; she not only befriended the various princes but also united the Valeria royal family, and while the empire was in internal and external trouble, she step by step regained control of the great power.
If we disregard the various atrocities committed later, just looking at the tyrant at this stage, she is indeed a natural ruler, and her understanding of the essence of power far exceeds that of Lucas and Alistair.
However, speaking of rectifying and reclaiming power... those royals would absolutely never let go so easily...
This matter still needs to be planned from a long-term perspective; if the steps taken are too big, and warning the mountain to scare the tiger becomes setting fire to oneself, the political situation of the Valeria Empire will only become more tense.
Savoring the bright red wine blooming on the tip of her tongue, Amalia felt the wine becoming more and more bitter, and turned her head to look sideways at the empire’s number one beauty standing alone.
Astrid also thought of the things Amalia had just pondered; the difficulty of the reform lay not only in the external nobles but also in the many complaints within the royal family itself; they feared that Amalia would concede too much profit to achieve her goals, damaging their interests, and worried that the means of production would flow down to the ordinary citizen class, changing the ancestral laws of founding the country.
Her gaze collided with Amalia’s in mid-air; Astrid proactively took her hand, pulled it to her lips to kiss, and spoke in a low voice.
"Let’s talk about it later."
Wait until night falls, then they would discuss it slowly.
Amalia naturally understood this principle too; feeling the fleeting smoothness on the back of her hand, she let out a majestic "hmm" in front of everyone.
....................
On the first day of the magical device exhibition, since the guests were all VIPs, their opinions would greatly influence the details of the subsequent magical device reform, so Amalia and Astrid also visited all the exhibits together with these pillars of the empire.
"Very novel magical weapons; originally I thought that magic swords inlaid with element crystal stones were already the limit of craftsmen, but I didn’t expect those magic crystal stones could do these things."
"Plasma bombs, one-time destructive throwing magic; compared to magic scrolls that require spending a lot of mental power to barely produce, such weapons are indeed more convenient to use."
"Are there even higher-tier magical muskets being tested?"
"...If possible, once this batch of weapons is fully perfected, I will equip my mercenaries with them as soon as possible."
The rising and falling conversation sounds were endless; the thin high heels worn by Astrid clicked on the floor tiles, and she occasionally stopped to speak softly with nobles who rarely visited the imperial capital in daily life, discussing the next arrangements.
Regarding magical weapons, these nobles generally held a supportive attitude; at least after Amalia made the promise that they would not circulate easily, most guests recognized these special weapons that had established merit in the border wars.
Although crystal stones of various attributes are expensive, compared to the teaching costs invested in training a private soldier from scratch and the monthly salary to support them, this consumption is actually not worth worrying about when amortized.
Understanding the general attitude of the major nobles towards magical devices, Astrid’s fingers gently tapped her arm, and her scattered silver hair floated slightly as her legs crossed, intertwining and colliding with the pure black skirt hem.
Just as she was thinking about how to operate next, using this batch of magical weapons with core magic technology controlled by them to help Amalia alleviate the adverse effects of the treasury deficit, a familiar sound of footsteps entered Astrid’s ears.
Charlotte, wearing a pale silver fitted dress, approached with light steps; her slender, fair, flesh-toned beautiful legs were revealed from the slit dress, looking hazy yet allowing one to see the texture of the transparent silk layer clearly, swaying back and forth under the light, emitting a delicate luster.
"Lady Charlotte, you’ve finally come." Astrid spoke softly.
She and Amalia were responsible for guiding the guests on the tour, while Charlotte was a bit slower, conducting routine inspections of every exhibit.
"How is the exhibition going?"
The dark-haired beauty stopped in front of Astrid; her snow-white tender feet outlined by thin straps stepped in silver hollow-out high heels, with her smooth instep and round heels exposed outside the metal shoe body, appearing noble and elegant.
Hearing this, Astrid opened her pink lips lightly: "They’ve seen almost everything, we can proceed with today’s highlight."
Having been busy for more than half a month, wasn’t Charlotte just waiting for this moment.
To show everyone the epoch-making feat that magical devices can achieve.
Receiving Astrid’s response, Charlotte nodded lightly, brushed her long hair with her hand slightly, revealing her white, tender, and slender swan neck.
"Okay, then I will unveil the curtain now."
After saying that, the woman turned around elegantly and walked in front of the guests, said a few words to the staff, and opened the independent room that had been closed before, not allowing anyone to enter or peek.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there is one more magical device today that can enter everyone’s eyes."
As a famous leader of the reformists and the inheritor of magical devices, hearing Charlotte speak, everyone’s gaze gathered over.
Seeing this, Charlotte turned sideways, leaving the space behind her for everyone to peek at.
"A great existence full of imagination and creativity, jointly developed by Astrid and me; I regard it as the most exquisite invention of the entire exhibition."
"It can satisfy what humanity has craved most for thousands of years."
Hearing such words, even Theresa narrowed her eyes, waiting eagerly.
"No matter how far apart, from Imperial City to Liya Tower Fortress, to the ports on the southern coast, and then to the barren mountains in the northeast region, whether it is exceptionally urgent military intelligence, concern after a long separation, or just a sentence stating cargo demand, it can transmit it truthfully."
"It is the prototype of a magical device for long-distance high-speed transmission of intelligence, and I name it the Information Transmitter."
As her voice fell, Charlotte channeled mental power to turn on the overhead lights; in an instant, the dark room was illuminated by the dome light, and everything inside had nowhere to hide.
In the guests’ view, a square metal instrument half a person’s height, with width and length both the distance of two outstretched arms, was placed in the front center of the exhibition room; at the very top were two rows of pistons, connected by two metal tubes from the back, and the other end was a square metal block that looked exactly the same as it.
Charlotte walked slowly into the room, and the rest of the nobles followed closely behind, entering in single file.
"As everyone can see, these two square metal control consoles and the intelligence transmission pipelines behind them together form the Information Transmitter."
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