Chapter 345 — A Wise Move
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
As the knights wondered, a soldier bearing a small flag suddenly ran to the foot of the viewing platform and shouted at the top of his voice: "Reporting! Railguns ready, awaiting orders!"
Gaoyi gave a slight nod. "Rapid fire. Open up."
The soldier turned and waved the flag in his hand with a strange rhythm.
Before the knights understood what was happening, they saw all the soldiers standing behind the "railguns" move at once: they pressed something on the bases, and waves of humming magical charging issued from those strange great devices; bright magical runes began to surface upon their exteriors; then the soldiers standing at the rear flanks of the bases pulled down certain red levers.
A series of sharp reports followed, and from the front of each "railgun" a bright halo suddenly burst forth: the flash of aerodynamic runes activating. Then clouds of blurry somethings hurtled into the sky and flew off into the distance.
Even with the knights' transcendent vision, they could scarcely catch the trajectory of those things in flight.
Moments later, a thunderous roar abruptly burst forth, and on the distant hillside great flashes of explosion rose one after another; earth and rock were flung into the air and, caught in the shockwave, bloomed into small mushroom clouds.
The knights were startled by the thunderous roar; many thought a powerful mage had suddenly intruded to raid the territory, and some even instinctively activated their protective aura. But they saw no sign of any mage—only the soldiers below, calm and unhurried amid the din, continuing their work in orderly fashion. New metal objects were loaded into the steel, and then came another round of sharp reports, another thunderous roar...
At last they understood what this terrifying bombardment—like dozens of high-tier spells detonating at once—was all about.
After several consecutive rounds of fire, the deafening roar finally fell quiet. The knights looked at one another, while Gaoyang smiled and walked past them toward the exit of the viewing platform: "Gentlemen, on to the next place. No need to keep staring—after today, you'll all have dealings with these things sooner or later."
Now they understood what "have dealings with these things" meant.
Wald Perrich walked in the middle of the group, and he heard a young knight beside him muttering to himself: "The new laws... don't seem so unacceptable after all..."
Wald tilted his head slightly and recognized him as the very knight who had earlier declared he would "show some attitude."
Afterward, Gaoyang took these men to a shell assembly plant.
He did not let the Kant knights examine the rune structures inside the shells—though he doubted these knights could read runes anyway, since not everyone, like him, had mastered both magic and martial arts. He simply let them see how many of these immensely powerful shells could be produced here in a single day.
After returning to the lord's residence, Gaoyang observed the reactions of these old knights with satisfaction, but he judged his deterrent sufficient; now it was time to offer these people a little comfort.
"Gentlemen, I know you bear a grudge over being stripped of your land-governance rights—there's no need to argue or conceal it; I have that much discernment. But what I want to say is this: it is precisely the foundation upon which Cecil Territory has grown strong, and the foundation upon which you may obtain a finer future hereafter.
"I expect you cannot yet understand—cannot grasp the concepts of liberating the productive forces, releasing the population, concentrating authority. But I can promise you this: once you set aside your old privileges, what you gain under the new order will be far greater—not merely wealth, but personal glory and achievement.