Chapter 111 : The Passionate Youths of Seris
Chapter 111: The Passionate Youths of Seris
That evening, Coy compiled his day’s experiences into a report and submitted it to Mitia for review.
After reading it, Mitia found herself rather satisfied with her troublesome little brother’s work—except for the last part.
However, she didn’t scold him, only offered a few words of reminder.
Coy’s mindset could be said to represent the general mentality of Seris’s entire new generation.
The Seris Federation could be described as a nation founded on warfare; large and small wars had never truly ceased.
Many children had come from humble families, yet they just happened to grow up in these decades of rapid development.
What they constantly heard were reports of victories; what they constantly saw was ceaseless change.
They had gone from not having enough to eat or wear, to living comfortably, being well-educated, and having bright futures.
Toward their nation, they held a fervent—almost blind—confidence.
After the Giant Incident at Sera Central Station, their general attitude toward the Holy Continent turned sour—especially toward the Diocese of the Goddess of Light.
They were filled with a restless eagerness, itching for a chance to “arm wrestle” across the sea.
“Magicians? Damn it, blow them up!”
“Mechs? Damn it, blow them up!”
How to put it—it was both a blessing and a curse.
The good part was that this generation possessed extraordinary ambition and an intense sense of national honor; they were excellent soldiers and the future pillars of the nation.
The bad part was that if the Seris Federation didn’t truly end up “arm wrestling” with their rivals militarily, they would eventually suffer heavily when public opinion turned against them.
Fortunately, Mitia had already acquired the complete set of mech technical data, effectively avoiding the worst risks.
At present, the production of ordinary low-grade magitech power packs was still at the handmade stage.
The disassembly and analysis were complete, but some techniques for mass production had yet to be conquered.
In the laboratories, they had begun experimenting with heavy armored tracked vehicles—intending to mount a 152mm rapid-fire naval cannon into the hull…
But the power output of the engines was insufficient, and problems such as heat dissipation had yet to be solved.
They then tried fitting the 75mm field gun instead.
After all, the 75mm gun was mainly used for direct fire, which happened to suit the new armored vehicle’s intended role quite well.
But then—if you could just tow a 75mm wheeled field gun and drive it around, why stuff it inside a metal box? Wasn’t that just like “taking off your pants to fart”?
Then someone suggested installing three 75mm guns.
Sure, the firepower went up—but so did the weight, right back to the original problem.
Thus, Seris had to remain somewhat subtle in its external posture.
As for mech research—it was even more complex.
The operational logic of the inscribed magic circuits, the coordination of limb transmission systems, and other aspects involving spiritual control had all reached a dead end.
Since mechs required specialized inscription magicians, and ordinary people couldn’t project spiritual power outward, how could they possibly comprehend the principles through mere observation?
At this stage, they could only build by following the blueprints, without understanding any of the principles.
Once something broke, they couldn’t even identify which part had failed—rendering a large number of prototypes scrapped.
However, the scrapped units weren’t wasted.
Mitia proposed a new idea: since they couldn’t yet fully reverse-engineer the enemy’s technology, why not use those defective mechs as target dummies—and develop artillery specifically designed to counter mechs?
Mechs possessed extremely high mobility and armor comparable to heavy tanks, along with a potent magic shield capable of deflection.
This meant that opportunities to strike them were few—and the enemy wasn’t stupid enough to let one attack continuously until their shield broke.
Therefore, they needed a cannon powerful enough to deliver a single, decisive blow.
The army’s existing howitzers, which fired in high-arcing trajectories, were utterly inadequate.
What they needed was a high-velocity, flat-trajectory cannon capable of keeping its projectile stable in flight.
The projectile’s power could also be enhanced—by adopting a conical, bullet-like design to improve velocity and flight stability.
They could also inscribe rifling inside the barrel, increase its caliber ratio to lengthen the barrel, and mount it on a hydraulically supported base for stabilized firing.
The finalized design was a 75mm, 59-caliber rifled cannon weighing 3.14 tons.
It fired 75mm shells at an initial velocity of 950 meters per second—one shot could pierce clean through a standard military mech target.
By contrast, the army’s existing 75mm field gun fired at 590 meters per second.
The higher the chamber pressure, the farther and faster it shot—but the more demanding the barrel casting process became.
As of now, production took time, and mass deployment would require patience.
However, barely two days after the cannon left the production line for testing, it was “borrowed” by the Army Armored Division—who said they wanted to try mounting it on an armored chassis.
The 75mm field gun wasn’t strong enough, but this one—oh, this one packed a punch!
With that, the role of the new armored vehicle became clear: to face the enemy’s mech units head-on, using its own magic shield-equipped armor!
The outer armor could be made thinner to reduce weight—so long as it could withstand machine gun fire.
Against mechs, armor thickness meant little; once they got close, there was no resisting anyway.
The finalized design featured:
one 75mm 59-caliber rifled cannon,
two Maxim machine guns,
a combat weight of 16 tons,
an X-type double-layered eight-cylinder engine,
and a maximum speed of 40 km/h.
It had a maximum armor thickness of 50mm, a periscope optical sight, hydraulically powered turret rotation, a tank radio, a vertical gun stabilizer, a fixed-axis mechanical transmission, differential steering, and balanced suspension.
The X-type engine had many advantages—compact size and high power output.
As long as heat dissipation could be solved, the number of cylinders could be increased infinitely.
Because the magitech power pack occupied considerable space, the engine had to be made smaller to fit everything in.
The Seris engineers’ cooling solution was to add a refrigeration magic circuit to the shield’s magitech power pack assembly.
When the shield wasn’t activated, the system would channel liquid coolant through a circulation system to continuously cool the front engine compartment.
After reviewing the project, Mitia officially named it the “Tank”, model code S-1.
The next day at noon, Bratt was invited into a car and taken to the Seris Imperial Palace for an audience with Empress Mitia.
The closer the car drove toward the center of Sera City, the more astonished Bratt became.
The roads were incredibly wide, divided by rows of greenery into several separate lanes with no interference between them.
The roads were smooth and spotless, filled with many small cars driving in perfect order.
What astonished him even more were the buildings on both sides—most were six stories tall or higher.
The hustle and bustle was no less than that of the most prosperous cities in his own kingdom.
As the vehicle entered narrower double-lane streets, the crowd grew denser, forcing the car to slow down.
This allowed Bratt to observe more closely.
The residents looked healthy and energetic, dressed neatly and simply.
The buildings lining the streets were even taller than before, though from the outside, one could no longer tell how many floors they had.
Through the glass doors, he could vaguely see shelves filled with dazzling goods—apparently shops.
Restaurants and stores of every kind lined the road, illuminated by colorful lights and covered in posters of various designs.
Through the window of one bakery, Bratt couldn’t help but gape—he had never seen such a variety of bread shapes, not even in the capital of the United Kingdom of Suria!
He had already made up his mind: after meeting Her Majesty the Empress, he would come back and stroll down this street again.