Fundamens (Month 1) 13, 1614 Central Calendar
It's been five months since Meteos and Walman moved to the Runepolis Magic Academy. Meteos is impressed with the RMA's engineers, who managed to reproduce the conductive magnetic radar with even more advanced radar displays to the level of PPI display used in the normal mana detector, thanks to the know-how provided to them.
The PPI, or plan position indicator, is a type of radar display that represents the radar antenna in the center of the display, with the distance from it and height above ground drawn as concentric circles. While the radar antenna is rotating 360 degrees, it sends pulses around the radar site at a fixed elevation angle, and a radial trace on the PPI sweeps in unison with it about the center point. Return echoes from targets are then received by the antenna and processed by the receiver. This is the most common type of radar display.
True to her word, Robin started gathering people to help in Meteos' project, and their first tasks are to further develop the radar to produce smaller, better-performing radars with reduced costs, then put it to practical use. While the Empire has a stunted technological development, Milishial is a modern nation with an excellent education system where both commoners and nobles receive the same quality in education, and Meteos is determined to fix the wasted potential of the Milishian people. It's not much at present, but his workload is greatly lessened.
The next thing on his agenda is the naval weapons. The RMA where he studied at specializes in engineering, particularly in naval weapons, and they have a shipbuilding department and a dockyard large enough to build a battleship and a catamaran aircraft carrier such as the Rodeus-class. The Navy is also the easiest to upgrade, as their analysis and reverse-engineering of Ravernal weapons are in much better shape than their Army and Air Force counterparts.
However, neither battleships nor aircraft carriers are part of Meteos' technological reforms this time. It's something else.
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19:00
When Robin entered Meteos and Walman's apartment room, she found both of them were doing their usual activities. She wanted to ask them to have dinner together, but only Walman greeted her while the other boy is apparently too busy to hear her entering the room.
"Hey, Meteos. I heard there's a nice restaurant just opened in the downtown, do you want to go?" She called out.
No response.
"Yoo-hoo!" She called again with a louder voice.
"He's been like that since we returned from school, Miss Robin," Walman said.
The only thing heard from Meteos are noises of pencil scratching on paper and his weird mutterings. Curious, Robin came over behind him to see what he was doing without disturbing the boy. Her eyes widened at what she saw.
What was drawn on paper was some sort of long cigar-shaped object with a blunt forward edge and narrower rear edge. From her place behind Meteos, Robin can see a part that looks like a propulsion system, and the front part of the object is labeled as 'warhead'. It's a weapon.
This is the first time Robin has ever seen Meteos drawing the blueprints of a weapon. As a member of the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures, Robin is involved with the analysis of ancient weapons left by the Ancient Sorcerous Empire, but she never encountered a weapon like this before. Unable to hold back her curiosity, she decided to ask.
"Is this some sort of bomb?"
"...yes, it's designed to be launched from a platform and then attack enemy ships—"
Meteos turned to the source of the sound and found Robin's grinning face mere inches from his. He screamed and fell off the chair he was sitting. When he glanced upwards, he scowled and sighed deeply before answering.
"...It's an underwater ranged weapon. When fired, it will self-propel towards an enemy ship and strike them below the waterline."
"Ooh, sounds like a very nasty weapon."
"It is."
Meteos stood up and smoothed his clothing before turning to Walman. When Robin turned in his direction, she can see another drawing, this time a spherical object with protrusions near the top of the object.
"And what is this?" she asked.
"If Meteos' is a moving bomb, this is supposed to be placed in water and you wait until a ship came over and trigger this thing to explode."
Robin nodded. Another unfamiliar weapon.
"Interesting... very interesting. So, what are these weapons called?"
"This is called a torpedo."
"Tor—what?"
"Torpedo."
"Tor... pe... do?"
"Torpedo." Meteos insisted.
"......"
Robin went silent for a moment before asking again.
"Why are you naming your weapon after a fish?"
"......Because it sounds neat."
"......"
"Look, I just think it fits, especially because, you know, it's supposed to swim."
Decided not to pursue the topic any longer, Robin turned to Walman, who began to talk.
"At least his weapon's name makes sense, Meteos called this one a 'naval mine', although I don't see how it is related to mining."
Robin raised an eyebrow to Meteos, who just replied, "Refer to my previous statement."
"To be honest, I was expecting you to call it 'sea urchins' or something..." She muttered. "Whatever... Ah, that's right! Dinner! I was about to ask you if you want to come with me to this new restaurant in downtown. What do you think?"
"Sounds good to me, right, Meteos?"
"I could use some good food."
After changing clothes, both of them were ready to go outside.
"Sucks that Nadia couldn't come, though," Robin said.
Nadia Smirnova. A second-grader from a different class whom Robin had once saved from being mugged. After that incident, they remained in touch and Robin introduced her to Meteos and Walman. Apparently, she has a talent in chemistry and she said that she wanted to enter the Alchemy Department once graduating from high school. Meteos assumed that Robin probably wanted that girl to be one of her apprentices once she advanced in rank from a Mage to Advanced Mage, just like him and Walman. Not that Meteos mind, he always welcomed talented people. There's one thing that worried him, though.
"Miss Robin. Does Nadia have any health problems?"
"No, why do you ask that?"
"It's just... her face is always red whenever she's around. Are you sure she isn't sick?"
Hearing that, Robin just smirked mischievously as she walked behind the boys. Meanwhile, Walman just snorted at Meteos' words.
"Who knows? Quite a mystery, isn't it? Why don't you ask her yourself next time?" She said.
"Okay...?"
For some reason, Meteos didn't like her tone when she said that.
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Solmens (Month 5) 2, 1614 Central Calendar, 09:30
Runepolis Magic Academy Shipbuilding Department, Dockyard
A car followed by a jeep drove through the entrance of the dockyard before stopping in the parking lot. Several figures descended from the cars, all of them wearing Holy Milishial Imperial Navy uniforms.
The other day, the RMA Shipbuilding Department had informed the Navy that a team led by a pair of promising inventors have completed new weapons that they have never seen before. So, the navy leaders, feeling both high expectations and anxiety at the same time, decided to send several officers to RMA's dockyard, which is located on the bank of the great river that ran through Runepolis.
Lieutenant Commander Lettal Kauran, the leader of the delegation, was greeted by a grinning woman with messy brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing square glasses, an olive drab long coat and a red scarf loosely draped around her shoulders. While underneath her cloak she wears a beige dress shirt, brown pants, and a pair of boots.
"Well met, gentlemen from the Navy! Welcome to RMA's Shipbuilding Department, I am Robin Calvello, professor and a member of the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures."
"Hm, I am Lettal Kauran, leader of this delegation."
"I am Leon Tagus." A slightly younger man greeted.
"Gormes, technical officer."
The members of the delegation took turns introducing themselves. When they are done, Robin began to talk while walking towards the dockyard.
"Thank you for your time coming all the way here, I'm sure that the Navy has received the notice?"
Lettal nodded, "Yes, we were informed that RMA has completed designing new weapons and the Navy sent us for inspection and approval. Miss Robin, does the Ancient Ministry has finished analyzing an ancient ruin?"
To his surprise, Robin shook her head. Since a member of the MOASEC is here, he thought that the new weapons would be reverse-engineered pieces of ancient weapons left by the Ancient Sorcerous Empire. If that is not the case, then what? The other officers also shared his confusion. Seeing this, Robin explained.
"Oh, no, no, I am here only as a supervisor. These weapons are brand new weapons no one has ever seen before, created by a team led by a pair of students here. While they are young, they are very promising inventors."
Lettal was intrigued by how Robin spoke highly of them, and the mention of weapons that not even the MOASEC know filled him with anticipation. After a short walk, they arrived at the dockyard. In the facility before their eyes, there was an old Iron Bamboo-class small ship sitting in the drydock. But upon closer look, something is different with the ship. The middle anti-aircraft gun is missing, replaced by a pair of hollow tubes.
"What is the purpose of that tube?" An officer wondered.
As they looked around with their own thoughts, they noticed the Shipbuilding Department's personnel walking around the drydock and onboard the ship, but what caught their eyes is that they seem to be listening to the instructions from a young silver-haired teenager standing near the weird tubes, holding a notepad.
"A kid?" Lettal wondered. "Why would he be in this place?"
"Actually, sir, he is one of the two young inventors that I mentioned. Hey, Meteos! Come here!" Robin yelled.
The boy turned to look in their direction and proceeded to descend from the ramp. As Lettal made eye contact with the silver-haired boy, his eyes widened for a moment before returning to a neutral expression.
'Have we met before?' He thought.
"Greetings. I am Meteos Roguerider, Student Mage of Runepolis Magic Academy's Junior High School Department. I was doing inspections on the small ship's torpedo launcher, so I am unaware of your arrival. I apologize for not noticing." He bowed.
"No, no, please. No need to apologize. We have just arrived." Lettal held out his hands to stop him.
Seeing that everyone has calmed down, Robin decided to mediate.
"As I said before, he is one of the two inventors who will show you the new weapons they created. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask."
Tagus raised his hand, "I have a question for you, Young Meteos."
"Of course, sir."
"Earlier you mentioned an unfamiliar word, 'torpedo', is that one of the new weapons?"
"That's right. The tubes you see on that Iron Bamboo-class ship are actually the launcher for this new weapon. But it's better to explain it in the workshop. Please follow me."
The entourage followed Meteos and Robin to a workshop, where they encountered more teenagers; a brown-haired boy talking with a blonde girl around his age who introduced themselves as Walman Falkenhausen, and Nadia Smirnova, the former is the maker of another weapon. As Meteos came to them and began talking animatedly, Lettal and his subordinates tuned them out and glanced around the workshop, where tools littered around, and then stopped at one corner of the building. There sat several long objects with sizes from five to nine meters in length, one of them was in a disassembled state. They also saw a strange sea urchin-shaped black object.
"So these are the new weapons..." Gormes muttered.
They are all looked strange and unfamiliar.
"Gentlemen of the navy, I'd like to introduce you to the first new weapon. This is a torpedo. Think of it as a bomb that can swim underwater and attack enemy ships below the draft line." Meteos explained, he then pointed to a disassembled torpedo.
"The warhead part contains several hundreds of kilograms of explosives, this is an air tank to keep the torpedo floating, and at the end is the propulsion system. When the magic circuit here is filled with mana, it will activate the Tears of Wind God that will propel the torpedo forward using compressed air from here to push the water behind the torpedo, so it's a water jet. Since this is only a prototype, it has quite a low performance, but the final version will be fast, has a long range, and high power, enough to sink large ships."
Initially, Meteos contemplated just attaching the Tears of the Wind God in the torpedo's tail, but that configuration didn't achieve the desired speed, so he designed a compressor with the adjustable speed at the torpedo's tail.
The officers were impressed as his explanation continued. A weapon like a torpedo will dramatically change the way a naval battle was fought. The mainstream opinion in the Navy is that only battleships can sink other battleships in a surface engagement. But with the advent of torpedoes, small and fast ships can move into position to strike the enemy with a powerful blow under the water, allowing them to sink even a battleship. And since the shorter torpedo is called a 'prototype aerial torpedo' by Meteos, it means that the boy had also considered the possibility of planes as a platform for launching torpedoes.
'...And what if... what if we can make a ship that can somehow move underwater and launch torpedoes at the enemy undetected?'
The engineer Gormes' mind began to whirl as more possibilities came to mind.
When Meteos finished his explanation, he turned to his friend, Walman, to take his place. Walking in front of the officers nervously, the brunette boy began his explanation.
"Y-yes, this spherical object here is the weapon designed by me called a naval mine. Naval mines are explosives that can be placed in water until an approaching ship triggered them to explode by coming in contact or moving near them."
'I see... if the torpedo is an offensive weapon, then this naval mine is a defensive one. You can place them to defend a harbor... or maybe it can be used offensively as well, placing them to lock enemy vessels into a harbor...' Lettal thought.
Their explanation continued and after a series of questions and answers, the session was over.
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Solmens 7, 1614 Central Calendar, 15:00
Gulf of Caelus
The demonstration of the newly developed torpedo was also attended by more naval leaders and the commander of Holy Milishial Imperial Navy's Western Naval Command, Admiral Ernest Kling. The modified Iron Bamboo small ship sailed into position to launch its torpedoes at one of two old magic cruisers that were scheduled to be decommissioned.
"Commence testing."
From his place, Meteos spoke to the manacom.
"Magic circuit ignition complete, target port side bearing 90 degrees! Ready... FIRE!"
Upon touching the water, the torpedo shot towards the target at high speed. A short while later, a huge column of water rose on the port side of the target cruiser, the torpedo penetrated the unprotected armor and detonated inside the rear turret magazine, sinking the cruiser in a single blow.
For the second test, a Beta-1 bomber equipped with the prototype aerial torpedo flew low above the sea surface.
"Magic circuit ignition complete... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, drop!"
This time, the torpedo penetrated the target's belt armor before exploding, creating a large hole that causes the ship to list heavily to port before being dragged to the bottom of the bay. A team of Naval Aerial Mages nearby approached the sinking ship, taking pictures with their magic cameras furiously as they hovered above.
"Woooooooooooah!!"
The gathered naval officers exclaimed in surprise before erupting in loud applause. Meteos nodded and wrote in his notepad.
"Both prototypes worked perfectly, and the observers reported no visible wakes. Good, very good... although... we had it easy this time..." He muttered.
His muttering was heard by Lettal Kauran sitting beside him.
"What is it, Young Meteos?"
"To be honest, Lieutenant Commander, I think we had it easy this time."
"Why is that?"
The boy abruptly stood up from his seat and began to scribble on his notepad furiously before showing the result to him. Further beside Lettal, Admiral Kling and Robin also turned to look.
"Please take a look at this, sir. This is an approximate diagram of what a torpedo would look like if a mechanical civilization were to develop it. In order to achieve the performance of that torpedo, they will need an engine that burns fuel and uses pure compressed oxygen as an oxidizer. That will take years of research and development, but we achieved it in less than a year."
Lettal was taken aback, surprised at how the boy even comes up with a version of the weapon without using magic, while Kling nodded, convinced of the superiority of magic technology. Robin, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.
"I see, that's very convenient. Our Empire's magic technology is indeed powerful. It is the source of our pride." Kling said.
"That may be true, sir. But do you know what comes after pride?"
Now it was Kling who was taken aback, not expecting such a question. Meteos continued.
"Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Our country's research of the Ancient Sorcerous Empire has placed Milishial on the top of the civilizations as the strongest superpower. However, when someone reaches the top, either he stays in place, or..."
"...decline." Robin finished. "And staying doesn't mean staying on the top, either. Instead, it implies stagnation. Isn't that right, kid?"
"Yes. We had it easy all this time because we have magic and ancient relics. But relying on it too much will cause a problem in the long run. If a country is likened to a vehicle, then these things are the accelerator for the engine that is the country's technological development, not the engine itself. Besides, I don't believe that Milishial has reached the top yet. In fact, our golden age has just barely started. There's still much to do, plenty of room for us to grow, and it can be achieved beyond looking to the past. I present to you, a weapon that no one ever seen before, because I wanted to show you that there is a new direction for growth besides scavenging for things left over by some winged creature."
When Meteos finished his little speech, he glanced around. Apparently, the other attendees also listened to his words. Some of them dismissed it as ramblings of a kid, while some others are deep in thought. Meanwhile, his friends seem to be in agreement with him. To be honest, Meteos found it ironic that he of all people tried to warn others about the danger of pride.
"Hahahaha, what an interesting kid! You sure different from other kids your age." Kling chuckled. "Robin, you better take good care of him. His friends, too."
"Why, of course, Admiral."
Kling then stood up from his seat and shook Meteos' hand.
"Thank you for showing us all this. I am looking forward to seeing more of your surprises. I heard that you are gathering people for your projects, right? Let's see if I can convince the upper management to give you some support. Maybe it's not much, but this will do."
"T-thank you very much, sir! I don't know what to say!"
"Oho..." Robin hummed from her seat.
The demonstration ended with resounding success, and Meteos gained new connections and funding for his future projects.
❖⟐❖⟐❖
17:00
Inside the car heading back to the Naval General Headquarters, Kling and Lettal are discussing the demonstration this afternoon.
"So, Lettal. What do you think?" Kling asked.
"Yes, Admiral, both the torpedo and naval mine are very brilliant innovations. It will surely change naval warfare greatly. I think we should review our equipment's design and tactics now that these weapons exist."
"Absolutely. And what do you think about the boy?"
"Young Roguerider, sir? ...I think he is brilliant, able to come up with those new inventions. I also heard that he and his friend created a conductive magnetic radar from scratch, where other researchers are stumped at analyzing it. I didn't expect him to be quite a philosopher as well. In fact, that was quite bold of him to say something like that, in our country where both magic and Ancient Sorcerous Empire's ruins are the things that we prided the most." He chuckled.
"If there are more people like him, what do you think will happen?"
"...Maybe not only this country, but the world will change..."
Both admirals are looking forward to the future.
The demonstration left a deep impact on the Navy's leaders, which led to a major review of the current state of the Navy. It was decided that the next generation of ships will incorporate the knowledge gained from the introduction of torpedoes and naval mines, including the research of more advanced and powerful torpedoes, as well as countermeasures and defense against torpedoes. The prototype torpedoes were improved and introduced as the 610 mm Surface Magic Torpedo (Lancelot Mk. I), 450 mm Aerial Magic Torpedo (Gareth Mk. I), and later 533 mm Submarine Magic Torpedo (Gawain Mk. I).
The development of the conductive magnetic radar has progressed nicely, and it was starting to be mass-produced. The next generation of weapons will have the advantage of not only being able to detect magical objects but also objects that did not emit magic, increasing their effectiveness. In addition, the development of more advanced computers led to the replacement of the current Automatic Spell Chanting System, which while able to speed up the process of spell invocation, still take time to charge the magic circuits, with the new Grimoire System, which is able to instantly charge the weapons with magical energy thanks to its wide library of pre-installed spells.
Gormes' study of the possibility of a submersible vehicle led to the creation of the Holy Milishial Empire's first submarine. And the Navy invested a large budget and personnel for the development of more advanced submarines and their countermeasures, including depth charge and anti-submarine mortars. Most of the time, they turned to RMA's Shipbuilding Department for ideas, specifically a certain young silver-haired inventor.
On the other hand, Mu, the second most powerful nation in the world, caught wind of this development from their intelligence agents and started the development of their own version of the torpedo, known as the Whitehead.
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23:00
Runepolis, Apartment
Lying on top of her bed with her hands crossed underneath her head, Robin pondered the series of events that happened since the start of the year until now. In particular, Meteos Roguerider's knowledge. When she first time saw he designing a weapon she never heard of before, she came across a strange sentence in his notes.
"...the usage of Tears of the Wind God-based propulsion system in order to achieve the same effect and performance as an oxygen torpedo."
In addition, there are more unfamiliar words such as 'methanol-burning wet-heater engine'. And on top of all that, a drawing of a mechanical version of the magic torpedo. Not a rough sketch like what he showed to the Navy leaders this afternoon and he claimed to be an approximate guess, but a complex and detailed blueprint of this 'oxygen torpedo'. The way he worded the sentences in his notes also implied that Meteos based his invention on that thing as if the oxygen torpedo already exists in this world.
"Fufufu... Meteos Roguerider... let's see if you can satisfy my curiosity with your surprises..."
Robin smirked and went to sleep. She will play along for now, maybe sticking close to the boy may led her to some great discovery, and perhaps an answer to a certain possibility.
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Currently Publicly Available Information
IRON BAMBOO-CLASS SMALL SHIP
A small ship in service with the Holy Milishial Imperial Navy, mainly used to patrol the territorial waters against pirates. Like its name suggests, the armor for the ship is derived from a substance extracted from a species of bamboo grown in areas with high magic density known as iron bamboo. Its four cannons is more than enough to destroy sail ships. By 1614, the class is already obsolete and a new class of small ship is scheduled to take their place. One of the ships was modified to mount a twin torpedo launcher for testing.
Specifications
- Displacement: 1.900 tons
- Length: 115 m
- Beam: 10,5 m
- Draught: 3,2 m
- Propulsion: 2 × Magic Engine
- Speed: 34 knots (63 km/h)
- Armament:
As built;
4 × single 101,6 mm spirit magic cannons
1 × single 40 mm anti-air magic light gun
1614 Torpedo Testing
4 × single 101,6 mm spirit magic cannons
1 × twin for 450 mm Surface Magic Torpedo tubes