Chapter 109: Natural Sons’ Training

The Natural Son’s Regiment demonstrated their skills for Dominic, shooting at targets at the end of the training field.

While that wasn’t a long distance, it did give them a chance to show that they could accurately pick targets with minimal hesitation, and that they weren’t doing anything that might damage the magitech rifles.

They practiced for an hour before the Garrison Commander came out to inspect, along with a hundred of his archers.

“Lord Sorcerer, the Garrison has training scheduled, might we have the field?” He requested.

Dominic saw Dax frown, and a number of the riflemen looked like they were about to speak up, but Dominic motioned for them to wait.

“Of course, Garrison Commander. I have seen what I need out of the Regiment. Their accuracy and reload rate is not inferior to a trained archer, and the rifles have the advantage in armour penetration by a wide margin.” Dominic agreed.

The Natural Sons nodded in satisfaction. The new Magitech rifles certainly were superior to any bow that they had ever held.

The Natural Sons moved to the edge of the training area, and the archers took their positions, ready to show up the riflemen. But Dominic didn’t get a chance to enjoy the show, as the moment that he moved away from the training ground, a member of the Royal Guard came to call for him.

“Advisor, your expertise is needed for the airships.” He explained.

What Dominic was expected to be able to do with an airship was a mystery. That wasn’t even close to his area of expertise, and he didn’t have a spell that would refill them, should the envelope have sprung a leak.

Nevertheless, Dominic left the units to their rivalry and followed the Royal Guard to the platform the spy had fallen from earlier.

They were greeted by a group of Techno Wizards and a small team of airship crew, who were in the middle of a heated debate that was paused when Dominic arrived.

“Wonderful. Royal Advisor, we require your input. We are retrofitting these airships for combat use, and we have come to an impasse.” One of the Techno Wizards explained.

“Alright, what seems to be the issue?”

The man flipped all three layers of his goggles up away from his eyes and straightened his collar before speaking.

“We have determined that sixteen cannons per side, thirty-two in total, are the necessary firepower allotment for a vessel this size. However, the staff says that it is simply infeasible. We have already created the lightweight cannons, and I simply cannot get through to him.” The Techno Wizard explained.

Dominic turned to the crewmen and motioned for them to speak their part.

“Sixteen cannons is thirty-two hundred kilos. Thirty-two crewmen with kit and supplies is another thirty-two hundred kilos. Plus the Pilot and Navigator. The ship’s max cargo load is seven thousand kilos. What in the ever-loving hell are we supposed to load them with? That’s two volleys, and we’re out of munitions.

And that’s with only half the cannons and manpower they insist upon.”

Dominic looked at the airships and wondered where they were planning to put sixteen cannons per side in the first place, they would be nearly shoulder to shoulder trying to operate them.

Or were they going to set them up like a Man o’ War battleship and cut a cannon deck out of the lower level as well?

Dominic looked at the two ships and then at the designs on the table.

Indeed, they had planned two decks worth of cannons, with every square metre of the airship dedicated to firepower.

“You have them designed as a heavy battleship, correct? I believe that the more effective use might actually be as a frigate. If you halve the number of cannons, put them on the lower deck, and then arm all the crewmen with rifles, they will be prepared for not only naval battles but boarding actions.

Also, we have so many Techno Wizards here, surely we have someone who can build munitions creation orbs?” Dominic suggested.

“Cannons that create their own munitions? Or a central charm on the cannon deck?” One of the crewmen asked.

“Now that you mention it, self-loading Cannons would halve the number of crewmen who are needed to man them. Do we have the design team to make that happen?” Dominic suggested.

The Techno Wizards all turned to each other and shrugged.

“We all know the [Create Munitions] spell, and in theory we could add it to an object to create fully formed cannonballs. It’s a larger charge than they’re designed for, but that’s not a major change to the orb.

But where are they supposed to get the mana from? I’m not sure if you are aware, Advisor, but the average crewman doesn’t have a large energy reserve.”

Dominic smiled. “That’s alright. You’re here to help them. The ships would be fine with a Techno Wizard on board to refill the stock of black powder and cannonballs.”

The spokesperson of the airship crews made a note on a pad in his hand, then nodded.

“That would give us more than enough weight to work with. Seventeen crew for the cannons, including the Techno Wizard. We would have plenty of weight available for fuel and supplies for an extended mission.” He agreed.

The Techno Wizards did not look impressed with that plan.

“Surely, you don’t suggest that Royal Techno Wizards should go to combat in an airship, Advisor?” One of the men asked.

“I don’t see why a Techno Wizard shouldn’t go to war in a Royal Navy Airship. You arrived here by one during wartime, did you not? Who better to keep their cannons and engines working at peak efficiency?” Dominic asked.

The Techno Wizards shared terrified glances, and Dominic relented. It might be best if they did, but if they were too afraid to do their jobs, it wouldn’t help anyone.

“Or, we can stand here until we find a way to make the cannons reload themselves using a Magitech Orb in a more efficient way. Then, you could remain here on the ground, and the crewmen could take turns building up the mana to reload them.”

Making a handful of pistol bullets was easy. Making a full three kilogram cannonball, with an explosive core and a powder charge, was much more difficult.

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