Water Magician-Chapter 644: New Rigging
Editor: Tseirp
“That was an incredible fight from start to finish.”
“Yeah. A fleet battle that taught us a lot.”
Neither Ryo nor Abel had much experience in fleet battles.
Because of that, both recognized there was a lot to learn.
“It was that— those perfectly ordered magic barrages. Twenty fire-orbs striking the same spot at the exact same moment.”
“That’s true. That’s probably why they managed to pierce the other ship’s .”
“They hit right at the draft… at the sea surface. If you blow a big hole there, of course the ship will sink.”
“That bombardment was impressive, but the ship also shook quite a bit.”
“Exactly! Recoil is expected, but don’t they have mechanisms to absorb recoil for each gun?”
Ryo tilted his head.
From what Ryo knew of sailing warships in the West, each cannon sat on a wheeled carriage and, when fired, the carriage rolled backward to absorb recoil.
But the firing on this ship felt as if the guns were fixed to the hull like turrets—and the ship moved from the recoil itself…
“In our case, the magic bombardment guns are fixed.”
Captain La Wu approached, smiling as he spoke.
Apparently, he’d overheard their conversation.
“When they’re fixed, the ship rocks from the impact, right?”
“Yes, it does.”
Captain La Wu nodded in agreement at Ryo’s concern.
“So that’s why they fired all at once?”
“Yes—that’s part of it.”
La Wu nodded again at Abel’s reply.
If the ship is going to rock anyway, make the timing of the rocking the same…
No— it’s not something that can be done so easily!
“That’s thanks to the training work of the firing crews under Commander Lin Shin’s command.”
La Wu said proudly, smiling.
He continued with further explanation.
“Our bombardiers are indeed amazing, but… even if some other ship, say a high-speed bombardment vessel, tried to volley from its broadside, the captain wouldn’t permit it. Even if they trained and could coordinate simultaneous fire.”
“You mean it’s a ship issue?”
“Yes, as Abel just said. Because this ship is what it is, a twenty-gun simultaneous broadside is permitted.”
La Wu declared it plainly.
“Is that… a matter of the ship’s righting ability?”
Ryo asked, offering a thought as he tilted his head.
When the West had tinkered with the later Skidbladnir, issues had arisen around righting ability.
So he knew about it.
The importance and difficulty of righting ability.
In short, righting ability is the power to return from a heeled state to an upright one.
Put another way, it’s the ship’s resistance to capsizing.
“Yes, precisely.”
La Wu nodded, pleased.
“Our state vessels, including this Tenth Ship… the first-class state ships of Darwei, have extraordinary righting ability. That’s why they don’t capsize even when the entire broadside fires at once.”
“So Darwei is a superpower not only in magic and alchemy but also in shipbuilding technology.”
Ryo nodded repeatedly at La Wu’s explanation.
There still seemed to be much to learn from Darwei.
Captain La Wu left them to give further orders.
“In the Central Countries… no, even in the archipelago region and the southern continent, fleet fights have focused on close-quarters boarding actions.”
“Right. But in Darwei it’s different.”
“Yes. To think it would be a bombardment battle.”
Ryo shook his head slightly.
The kind of ‘bombardment battle’ Ryo knew referred to cannon exchanges on Earth.
But the battle they’d just witnessed was unquestionably a bombardment battle, albeit with alchemy instead of gunpowder.
Magic as the propellant, alchemy tools as the cannons.
“Somehow, I feel that eventually the Central Countries will see fleet battles like this too.”
“They will.”
Abel said decisively.
“If something is already practical somewhere, it will eventually be adopted elsewhere, right?”
“I don’t deny that.”
“The reason Eastern and Central Countries haven’t mixed much was that corridor thing. But now…”
“Yeah—the Phantom King plans to use the Emperor to open it, right?”
“Before long, naval warfare in the Central Countries will shift toward bombardment battles.”
Abel stated this as if it were certain.
Abel was a king.
Because of that, he had to look decades ahead for his realm’s future.
A country’s century-long plan is something everyone involved in governance must bear in mind…
“In that case, should we be the first to install this on our kingdom’s warships?”
“Huh?”
Ryo murmured, and Abel asked what he meant.
But Ryo was talking to himself more than speaking to Abel.
“Captain Lu Yao’s gauntlets are superior to these… but those don’t use magic stones—probably these receive mana from magic stones. If we put bombardment guns on our ships, would we need a magic stone at each turret…? Oh, but first, we’d need permission to use the magic formulas from Captain Lu Yao. Like a patent… I gave Friendship Token No. 2-kun as a gift, so if I promised to use it only in the Central Countries, she might permit it…”
“Ryo is impossible to read—is he scrupulous or just making it up as he goes?”
Abel gave a small shake of the head.
“Even so, they always said Central Countries’ magic was inferior… but now even our alchemy is falling behind.”
“Excuse me?”
Ryo snapped back to attention at Abel’s murmur.
“I’d heard people say Central Countries’ magic is inferior to the Western and Eastern Countries.”
“Oh, I’ve heard that.”
“But watching Ryo, I never fully believed it… yet it seems there’s quite a gap in alchemy, which is closely tied to magic.”
“No! The Central Countries’ alchemy, no—our kingdom’s alchemy, is wonderful because it’s used in the lives of the people rather than on battlefields! That’s what makes it look that way!”
For some reason, Ryo retorted hotly.
“Is that so?”
“Of course! The kingdom’s alchemy is no loser! Sure, in terms of magic bombardment it’s that… but the kingdom has that!”
“That?”
“The aerial battleship Golden Hind!”
“Ah… right…”
“And it’s fitted with the overwhelmingly powerful main gun, Vaidra!”
“Y-yeah…”
“He who controls the skies controls the fight! We’re by no means beaten by the Eastern countries’ fleets!”
“T-true…”
Ryo spoke passionately.
But Abel’s reaction was muted.
“What’s with you, Abel? That reaction.”
“Uh… Ryo wasn’t there, so you don’t know, but… actually, the Golden Hind sank.”
“……What?”
“It was sunk by the Djinn Garwin…”
“What do you mean?”
Abel spoke with an apologetic tone; Ryo couldn’t understand.
“The Golden Hind was moored in the royal capital or Rune, right? Did the Djinn attack even there?”
“No. It sank in that final battlefield where you were…”
“You sent the Golden Hind against the Djinn? Why?”
“It was our trump card against Garwin. The Vaidra would bombard Garwin from long range to weaken him and then seal him…”
“I see.”
Ryo nodded at Abel’s explanation.
With that much said, he could more or less understand.
Not just the ‘Panacea Breath: Long-Distance Dispersal—Mercy of the Goddess’, but even Kenneth’s deployed Bullet Rain had been used… it really was an all-out war.
Using the Golden Hind was, in a sense, inevitable.
“If it were sunk, there’s nothing to be done. We’ll repair it when we return to the kingdom!”
Ryo declared loudly.
“Not only equip the main gun Vaidra with magic bombardment on the secondary guns as well… ah, yes, and accompany it with a Momonga Golem flight squadron.”
“…Huh?”
“A vessel with powerful bombardment capability that also functions as the mothership for a golem flight squadron… yes, an aerial warship! A guardian deity that protects the kingdom’s skies! With that, the empire wouldn’t dare attack the kingdom.”
In Ryo’s imagination, the refitted Golden Hind swept the heavens with countless flying golems in tow.
He looked delighted.
“Yeah, well, keep it moderate.”
That was all the king could manage to say…
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