Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 803: Six Months Development Frenzy II

CH0803 Six Months Development Frenzy II

***

Many of the domain’s Combat Warriors had taken up auxiliary roles as construction workers.

Massive excavation projects that would normally have taken months, if not years, were completed using the superhuman strength of the Combat Warriors—and, indeed, the other professional Classes within the domain.

Even the Mage members of Fortuna, including Alex, were not exempt from these duties.

Alex alone used spells to excavate more than one hundred kilometres of land for the construction of additional highways linking the domain’s major settlements as part of the Silk Road initiative.

Even Eleanore and Zora didn’t escape the workload.

Zora joined the cement construction corps, applying the moisture and water mana control techniques she had learned during her stele trial to aid the curing of concrete.

It turned out that, even more so than ordinary cement, concrete made from Magic Cement required exceptionally strict curing conditions to achieve its optimum properties.

Given the pace of construction throughout the domain, it was easy to fall short of those conditions. As such, Zora stepped forward, using her water affinity and mana to create the ideal moisture levels required for curing the concrete used in many of the domain’s major construction projects, including factories and highways.

Eleanore was by far the most heavily involved in both the domain’s construction and manufacturing efforts.

This wasn’t simply because she was the minister in charge of these sectors. Her Solar Mana affinity and extensive alchemical expertise made her exceptionally well suited to contribute.

From heating the cement kilns and supercharging the steel furnaces to uniformly firing Magic Cement bricks for critical projects and even assisting with glass production, Eleanore enthusiastically travelled from one worksite to another whenever her demanding schedule allowed.

With the Domain Lord and his wives taking such active roles in the domain’s development, more and more citizens stepped forward to contribute.

Before long, under the propaganda campaign spearheaded by Udara, it would not have been an exaggeration to say that the entire domain had joined hands in the construction and manufacturing effort, transforming the Frontier March into one enormous worksite.

With the active support of the vast majority of the population, the Frontier March underwent a remarkable transformation over the course of these six months.

Factories for most of the basic and intermediate industries had already been built and were now fully operational, producing goods by the tonne, which in turn fuelled further development throughout the territory.

The planned highway extensions, major roads, and much of the minor road network across the domain had already been completed.

With the factories and roads in place, the domain shifted its construction efforts towards building and upgrading military and defensive installations.

As much as Alex wanted to prioritise the development of public infrastructure, the looming threat of a Beast Tide left him with little choice. He also had to remain wary of the malicious intentions brewing to the south.

As such, safety and security took precedence.

A properly fortified defensive position had begun to take shape at the domain’s valley entrance. At the same time, smaller defensive structures, such as walls, watchtowers, and similar fortifications, were being constructed along the most likely routes the Berserk Beasts would take during a Beast Tide.

The purpose of these smaller installations was not to stop the beasts outright, but rather to divide and disperse the tide before it could reach the major settlements.

As for the villages scattered around the outskirts of the towns, Alex had reluctantly abandoned the idea of defending them individually and instead relocated their residents to the nearest major settlements.

The Domain Council had expected considerable resistance to the decision. However, because much of the population was already participating in the domain’s massive development programme, most working adults from these villages had already moved into the towns.

As a result, it proved far easier to persuade them to bring their families and other dependants with them.

In addition to concentrating the civilian population in areas that were easier for the domain army to defend, another key component of the defensive preparations for the coming Beast Tide was the ballista.

Drawing upon his experience refining the domain’s crossbows, Sugud finally designed a ballista that he believed would surpass all others.

In simple terms, the ballista was an enlarged version of the domain’s crossbow, incorporating many of the features that had made the crossbow so popular within the domain army—rapid firing capability and ease of reloading.

The ballista was not only more powerful than other ballistae of comparable size, but it also employed a magazine-fed mechanism that allowed it to fire multiple shots per minute—up to one every five seconds.

Furthermore, depending on the skill of the crew, the ballista’s magazine could be replaced in just a few minutes, allowing another twenty-round volley to be fired.

Its limbs and much of its frame were constructed from the newly developed Mana Steel, meaning its inscribed runes functioned more efficiently while the weapon itself enjoyed a significantly longer service life.

This seemingly simple improvement gave the ballista a major advantage, as one of the greatest drawbacks of traditional ballistae was how quickly their components wore out and required replacement. Thanks to Mana Steel, this design suffered far less from that problem, reducing maintenance costs and allowing the domain to manufacture more of them for its defence.

In addition, the ballista was highly modular, enabling it to be transported in separate components and assembled wherever needed. This also greatly simplified mass production, as different workshops could be commissioned to manufacture different parts, allowing the domain to keep a large number of ballistae in reserve.

Thanks to this, the domain became a land of spikes, ready to impale any hostile force.

Alongside the ballista, and because both weapons relied on similar manufacturing methods, the domain was also able to equip all of its soldiers with standard-issue crossbows.

This brought the domain one step closer to the modern armed force Alex envisioned. With these crossbows, even ordinary people could assist the soldiers in defending the territory.

Of course, cultivation still played a vital role within the army, and Alex had no intention of accepting non-professionals into its ranks. There were still many things only professionals could accomplish, and a single weapon could never fully compensate for this difference.

Even so, it was reassuring to know that almost every military-aged citizen in the domain could pick up a weapon and fight at a moment’s notice.

The idea of a domain where every citizen could contribute to its defence appealed greatly to Alex, making him even more determined to find a method that would allow non-professionals to display strength approaching that of professionals.

In the meantime, however, he settled for ensuring that every citizen with the talent to cultivate actually made use of it.

After a long period of preparation, the domain’s standard cultivation manual was finally released.

***