Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 559 - 558: Civilian Applications

Amidst the cheers and astonishment of tens of thousands of citizens on both banks, the newly-built cutting-edge magic-guided warship blared its horn, slowly traversing the river surface and accelerating to full power once it passed through the northern bank gate.

Reports from controllers echoed in the bridge: "Magic Web Base Layer is normal!" "Power spine functioning normally!" "Machinery cabin operational!" "Preparing to deploy magic energy wingboards—engine output increasing!" "Attitude stable, power group—advance three!"

On both sides of the magic-guided warship, wing-like structures formed by numerous elongated metal plates and mechanical devices slowly unfolded, with a glowing magic shield arising first, covering all potential weak points of the ship. The dense magic symbols and connections on the surface of the three pairs of "wings" shimmered alongside the shield. This wing-like structure is one of the most crucial components of the magic-guided warship—and potentially all future large-scale magic-guided vehicles—as it provides additional magic power to the power spine and releases substantial waste energy timely to the outside of the magical institution. Only by expanding these wingboards can the magic-guided warship operate at full power.

With the roaring of three sets of magic-powered engines, the ship’s speed gradually increased, heading in the direction of Tanzan Town.

On the riverbank, someone began to shout, and gradually the shouts became a chorus:

"Safe travels!!" "Safe travels!!" "Long live the Cecil!!"

Godwin Orlando stood on the heights of the southern bank, personally pressing the capture button of the magic terminal, then lowered his head to jot down his feelings at the moment in his notebook:

"...The steel-built water fortress energizes everyone’s spirits, people stand on the riverbanks regardless of their background or status, excitedly cheering and blessing this voyage—the leader once said to build a sense of pride for the Cecil Citizen, and now this pride is beginning to form—a powerful industrial creation, and one we’ve made ourselves, is enough to make every citizen proud..."

The slightly chilly spring breeze blew from the river, causing the old scholar from the royal capital to tighten the clothes on his body. He then lifted his head, gazing at the misty northern banks, as if his vision transcended the river, the plains, the southern borders’ mountains, reaching the northern part of the Plains of the Holy Spirits, where his hometown, St. Soniel, was...

When will such a ship sail on the vast waterways of the Plains of the Holy Spirits?

A student noticed the old scholar’s distraction and couldn’t help but ask, "Teacher? What’s wrong?"

"Nothing, as you age... it’s easier to get lost in thoughts."

...

The Pioneer will continue its journey, with its engine group and control mechanisms undergoing practical testing over the next few hours of voyage until it reaches Tanzan Town—or it should now be called Tanzan Newtown—where it will temporarily dock.

By then, technicians will begin checking the engine’s functioning and the state of the power spine, while Gawain and others will disembark at Tanzan Port, then board a magic-guided vehicle back to Cecil Castle. Some sailors on standby in Tanzan Newtown will take turns boarding, and thereafter, the Pioneer will set sail again to complete its nearly two-week-long tour.

—At the speed of this ship, the tour certainly wouldn’t take that long, but to showcase its capabilities, this ship will not proceed at full speed, and it will require many stops along the way for essential mechanical inspections and adjustments.

Gawain left the front platform of the bridge and summoned Sir Byron in the rest area at the rear of the bridge.

"What do you think of this ship?" he asked with a smile.

"It’s thrilling, absolutely thrilling," Byron grinned brightly, "I’ve never encountered anything so formidable in my life—the previous Aurora and Morningstar pale in comparison."

"Honestly, I was initially worried, worried that sending a land-based knight like you to be a navy commander might displease you," Gawain was quite adapted to the down-to-earth way of speaking of this mercenary-born rogue knight, and he spoke to him quite directly, "I suppose most traditional aristocrats would consider it a demotion and suppression—after all, no one has ever valued battles on the water."

Byron shrugged, "Let them say that to the six ship cannons; I dare anyone to see this over a hundred meters long, all-steel, six heavy cannons, two-layer shield water fortress and still stubbornly claim it’s useless—if anyone did, I’d personally serve them drinks and dishes, bathe and dress them, offering sincere respect, then load them into a rail cannon and fire them off."

Obviously, Byron, with his mercenary background, rarely considered whether sitting on a ship and fighting was honorable; what he valued was the fact that this ship could fight, and fight excellently—that was enough.

But having said that, while Byron could think so simply and directly, Gawain couldn’t consider just the "warship’s combat ability."

He lifted his head, looking at several control platforms not far away, and the "mechanical sergeants" busy between the platforms, listening to the faint mechanical roars drifting from the lower cabins, pondering how much derivative value this ship could bring.

The Pioneer is just a beginning, a conglomerate of technology piled up to the fullest extent after combining the current cutting-edge Cecil magic-guided technology with the sea demon technology. The value of this conglomerate is not merely in having created a powerful warship but lies in every technological outcome obtained during its construction process.

For the current Cecil Principality, the Pioneer can be said to have "overflowing parameters."

As a river warship, its parameters far exceed the category of a river warship and the current Cecil military needs. From firepower to armor to power, the Pioneer, in ensuring river navigation capability, spares no cost, piling all advanced technologies together. If made as a model-produced warship, such technical piling could be considered a waste.

But this is precisely the significance of constructing an "experimental ship," with the process of building the Pioneer equivalent to testing all feasible technologies, and these technologies can be downgraded or modified to be applicable in other fields, especially in civilian areas.

According to the plan, once this ship goes offline, the related technological accumulation will immediately enter the application and expansion stage.

First, the mature propulsion technology will be applied to Aurora and Morningstar—the two semi-finished magic warships will not be dismantled due to the launch of cutting-edge warships. Based on the principle of making the best use of everything, Gawain decides to complete their modification and reconstruction. After equipping them with engine groups and new outer armor, they will be incorporated into the Cecil fleet.

Next, all civil ships under the current Cecil shipyard and ship management department will enter the modification stage. Old cargo ships will be modified if possible, or gradually scrapped and rebuilt if not. The propulsion and control technology accumulated on the magic warships can be downgraded and used to build high-capacity, high-speed civil cargo ships, significantly enhancing the material transportation capacity within the southern borders and alleviating the transportation pressure encountered during the grand construction period across the Principality.

Meanwhile, the advanced integrated power spine, magic energy wingboard, and onboard shield technology of the Pioneer can also be applied to ground bunkers, large vehicles, engineering facilities, and other models of warships.

He called Aunt Heidi over, talking about his plans, and hearing that transportation difficulties might be alleviated, Aunt Heidi, who had worried about it for a long time, immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "This is great... If we apply the propulsion technology from the Pioneer to civil ships, at least in regions covered by rivers, the transportation problem can be solved halfway."

But she quickly frowned: "However, this will result in the mechanical ships soon monopolizing river transport. The traditional shipowners should quickly go bankrupt... Most of them can’t afford to buy a magic machinery ship..."

Gawain looked slightly surprised at Aunt Heidi.

"What’s the matter?" Aunt Heidi was puzzled, she touched her face, "Is there something on my face?"

Cecil’s Great Steward felt perplexed. She distinctly remembered not applying smoky makeup today... Could it be the makeup she put on yesterday to fake a half-day off and forgot to remove?

Gawain, however, didn’t know what his granddaughter was pondering. He just suddenly thought of Aunt Heidi’s bewilderment when she first heard about the "labor reward" system and "personnel management" concept.

At that time, Aunt Heidi hadn’t understood the life of common people at all; despite having some fair and compassionate ideas, she was essentially an aristocratic lady who had never left the castle and manor, relying only on imagination to conceive the hardships of the masses. Back then, she didn’t even know why commoners could only eat two meals a day, or why they had to pick up food waste thrown out from the castle...

Today, she can now immediately think about what should be done if shipowners go bankrupt – although a significant part of the reason is the nature of work at the Administrative Office, it still sufficiently demonstrates the transformation in her thinking pattern.

"We won’t stand by while the shipowners go bankrupt en masse. If we are to promote the technology from the warships to the civil domain, we must fully bring it to the people, letting it serve people rather than causing them to bankrupt," Gawain chuckled, "I have three preliminary plans..."

Upon reaching here, he thought for a moment, and then said one by one: "Firstly, open the channels for the sale and lease of mechanical ships. When the time is right, we can even assist capable civilian capital in establishing small shipyards, quickly reducing the cost of magic machinery ships to an acceptable level for the people, allowing some major shipowners or wealthy merchants the ability to buy and lease ships, just like the commercial use of magic vehicles;

"Secondly, for some shipowners, the Administrative Office will fund subsidies for them to retrofit old cargo ships, or let them use old cargo ships as price reductions to purchase new ones. If they truly lack economic strength, we can offer interest-free loans for them to purchase new ships – don’t worry about this part of the cost; as long as the new cargo ships are running on the river, their economic benefits will far exceed the subsidies.

"Lastly, smaller-scale shipowners can band together to form transport companies, pool resources to buy ships, or shift roles to join the dock freight system; there are subsidies for each. New cities are being built everywhere, so there’s always a job gap; as long as we properly handle placements, there are always paths available.

"As for the control of the implementation process of these plans... that’s up to you."

Looking at Aunt Heidi’s earnest look while taking notes, Gawain slightly exhaled.

The plans are good, but once implemented, there will inevitably be numerous issues; industrialization is a good thing, yet the shock during the shift from agriculture to industry is always unavoidable – just like the alchemical potions once bankrupted a large number of Alchemists, last year’s magic vehicle also stirred panic among the carriage business, and now the mechanical ship... it will surely impact the shipowners relying on traditional inland cargo ships for livelihood.

At a time when over ninety percent of the land south was controlled by other leaders, Gawain didn’t care about the bankruptcy of countless Alchemists and Pharmacists, and might even have welcomed it, because it weakened and disrupted other territories; but now, as the whole southern borders fall under the Cecil Clan’s governance, with everyone being Cecil Citizens, he has more issues to consider.

He can only rely on his knowledge and experience to make these impacts as smooth as possible.

While Gawain and Aunt Heidi were pondering over the civilian use of new technology, another person on the bridge was also lost in deep thought.

Beside the master control seat, Rebecca was somewhat dazedly watching the glowing symbols and silver rods on those platforms, while Tiel next to her was carefully coiling herself on the floor. The sea demon lady seriously stuffed the tip of her tail into a "snake ball," while couldn’t help but glance up at Rebecca: "Hey, what are you thinking about?"

Rebecca awoke from her contemplation, looked at Tiel who was playing with her tail, with a dejected look: "Your magic-guided ship is already built, but my magic train still explodes twice a day..."

—ever since using Origin Laboratory, no longer fearing costs and explosion hazards, this girl’s experimental explosion frequency has seen a very notable rise.

Tiel tilted her head slightly and offhandedly said: "What’s there to be upset about—over here, I had hundreds of people researching this ship since last year, it’s normal my results would be earlier than yours, isn’t it?"

"Though that’s the logic..." Rebecca seemed still dejected, "But if the train problem isn’t solved soon, the ores from White Sand Dunes won’t be able to be transported back..."

Tiel thought for a moment, slowly curled back into the ball woven out of her tail: "In that case I can’t help at all—I’m a sea demon, not adept at building transportation tools for land, and the engine group plan of the magic warship surely can’t be used in your train."

Rebecca helplessly glanced at Tiel who had completely turned into a snake ball. This Marchioness of the Cecil Clan, for the first time ever, became genuinely dejected...