Moving on from the few other basic frontliners and vanguards, the group were now introduced to the backline. In other words, the mages, archers, healers, supporters, etc.
"Just like before, there are differences to our backline composition compared to what you may be taught in school," Shiina said, leading them down an opposite path from where they were when visiting the Aravel dragonkin tankers. "For starters, we don't have archers. That role is left up to the mages."
"Wait. Without archers, how are you able to launch a quick, large-scale long-ranged attack?" Noel asked, feeling a little puzzled by this. "I can understand simply using mages, but the time delay between casting spells and launching arrows is huge. Not to mention that not everyone can last long with limited mana."
"Ah, that is exactly why we will show you what we have in place of archers," Bourek grinned, knowing that it was going to be mind-blowing for the group.
"Yuuji, are you taking any notes? This would undoubtedly be most helpful to Czech," Lunaria asked her friend, apparently not concerned that their friends would expose the nation's military tactics and composition.
"I would, but wouldn't this be exposing the secrets of your nation? Having the composition of your army revealed is equivalent to death…" Yuuji sweatdropped.
"Oh, were you expecting some sort of none-disclosure agreement or a memory wipe spell?" Reginsleif joked with the group and laughed. "Don't worry. The reason we are revealing our military might, other than to allow you humans to see for yourselves the difference between our nations, but also because we know for sure it would be beneficial for both our nations. Czech has always been a long-time partner to Aravel since your nation keeps purchasing weapons from us."
"It is no surprise that Aravel certainly produces better weapon quality than the normal human blacksmiths could, hence why it had always been kept as a secret, under-the-table sort of thing when it came to mass-producing weapons," Albert agreed with this fact. "However, I have never heard anything more detailed than Czech importing weapons from foreign nations."
"Well, you wouldn't, otherwise it would be considered a jeopardy of national security. It takes great trust to allow a foreign nation to supply one's own nation with weapons, considering that would mean allowing enemies to tamper with them or even analyse the composition of the army itself based on the number of weapons produced," Bourek explained to the group. "So the logical thing to do would be to not do it, with the exception of the Czech-Aravel Agreement."
"In exchange for having no humans enter the borders of Aravel, one of the agreements set out was that Aravel would supply a certain number of weapons per year, depending on the orders made and varied," Luniel smiled. "What's up with your expressions? Were you not taught about this?"
"Ah… well… Luniel," Laevia immediately held her daughter back. "You know, due to the contents of the Agreement itself and the sensitive nature of how it came to be, it was most likely censored from their education… I think."
"…. Oh, so it was like that?" Luniel crossed her arms and sighed. "Mou, humans sure are petty."
To this, the group could only silently walk along. Not much was known about the Czech-Aravel Agreement, even for the few closely affiliated people among the group, mainly being that it was the reason that Czech still had ties with Aravel despite not being allowed to enter the nation under normal means. For it to be a law passed as a result of the ban, it was news to Kaze's group of friends.
At the same time, it also made Kaze feel conscious about standing next to Lunaria. He knew, based on what he was told and hinted, that Lunaria was a victim of what happened even if no one else in the group knew. As such, any mention or reminder of what caused the Agreement or even the current state of Aravel all fell on Lunaria's shoulder as a deadly reminder of the past. Even after so many decades, the aftermath and trauma were everlasting for her.
"Well, that is not the topic of importance," Luniel shrugged it off. "What is important is the direction we have taken to replace the traditional mindset of using archers within the dragonkin unit."
When the group arrived at another opening, what that appeared at first was the sight of dragonkin mages. Dressed in their training attire, they were chanting spells that involved strengthening and buffing their allies repeatedly as a way of training their casting speed. It was standard for mages to learn to repeat a spell over and over again to get the timing and speed right, just like any other soldier training.
What that stood out among all this was the sight of another group of dragonkins firing magic at a training range. Instead of using bow and arrow or staffs, the dragonkins held long silver metallic weapons that looked unfamiliar and foreign. None of them had ever seen an item like that being used as a weapon before.
"Err, what is that?" Irene was first to ask, pointing at the training range. "How is magic being emitted from it?"
As Irene had said, the group of dragonkins were using those metallic weapons to release magic. Instead of the usual chanting, all they had to do was aim and magic was released in a condensed, concise form that packed just as much power.
"Oh, those are our ranged unit," Bourek stated. "If you are asking about the weapon, don't be surprised. We have just started implementing them a few years back so it is unlikely you would have seen or heard of one before."
"We call them AR-MD," Sakuya held one in her arms to show off the shape. "Also known as 'Aravelean Ranged Magic Device'. This is invented by none other than Lunaea-sama and Luniel-sama."
"I told them to just call it a magic device, but they went ahead and gave it a codename," Luniel sighed in frustration. "But it is true, Lunaea and I did invent them."
"As you can tell from the name itself, it discharges magic for the user in the form of certain magic types determined by the user," Lunaea continued for her younger sister. "Well, what it means is that the user does not have to cast magic, but merely determine the type of magic being released."
"Ehh???? That's absurd!" Irene shouted in surprise.
"How can you use magic without casting magic??!" Yuuji seemed equally as taken aback.
The others reacted in a similar fashion, finding it very unbelievable.
"Haa, maybe we should have used a similar comparison to ease your understanding," Luniel had expected this sort of reaction and sighed. "What is the purpose of a staff?"
"To control the amount of magic, of course, among other factors like determining the range, the strength, the complexity of casting," Mitsui answered this at once.
"Correct. Does using a staff lighten the load of casting? And why?"
"It does…? Depending on the type of enchantment being made and material used, it would help with the flow of mana and reducing the time needed for the spell to take form?"
When faced with such a question, Mitsui had a hard time finding a proper explanation for it. Not even the others were capable of answering something like this since this wasn't the type of thing they would study as a general knowledge. If anything, only Lunaea and Luniel were capable of producing an acceptable answer to that question.
"Hehe, that's a pretty good attempt at explaining," Luniel grinned at this and nodded. "Well, the surface level answer you are looking for would be what you just said. If you want to know precisely, it is a method of 'control'. It makes casting easier not because it reduces the casting time or influences the production of the spell, a staff acts as a catalyst for the production of a spell from our body. Why each staff defers from price, material, size, type, does not really matter. What that does matter is the practicality."
"It is true that certain material helps with conductivity, but overall the price of a staff is not judged on how fancy one is designed," Lunaea smiled at this revelation. "If the staff itself is made of expensive items, then it would be pricy; if a staff is simple yet high cost, then it would mean the core foundations that make up a staff is already very good, assuming you don't get scammed."
"So for our case, we have made a shortcut to that process," Luniel pointed back to the AR in her hand. "Think of this as a modified staff. I know it looks quite fancy and complex, but you really only have to know 3 things when operating it."
"Wait, we get to operate it?" Noel asked with her eyes wide opened.
"Um, yeah? That's the whole point of the tour, isn't it? To get everyone here a chance to experience the military life in Aravel," Luniel nodded. "As I was saying, the 3 most important things would be how to operate it, how to use it, and the benefits and drawbacks."
"Operating would be on the technical side, while using would be on the practical side," Lunaea quickly added, noting that the difference in meaning of their term would often draw confusing looks. "Y-You know, with how the device is going to be used… I mean, operated and used…"
Moving on quickly, the group got their hands on the ARs and was taught the basics by Lunaea and Luniel, the inventors of the weapon. Since it was something they were already experts at, their demonstration was nothing short of simple and conclusive. It made such a complex weapon feel so natural in the hands of novices like Kaze, who quickly grasped the correct holding stance and the concept behind powering the weapon.
"Now, pull on this," Lunaea gestured to the side of the weapon close to where the trigger was. "It will discharge the cannister inside and allow you to put one back in."
"What's inside?" Yuuji murmured, examining the small glass cannister that was filled with a type of liquid. "Is this acting as a battery of sort to power the AR?"
"Nope, that's liquid mana," Luniel said, opening one cannister and pouring it out for the others to see. "This is why using the AR makes it so efficient. You don't have to collect mana from the surroundings to power it since it already has a power source, all you need to do is enchant it and dispel."
"Huh, never thought that it would work that way," Chris mumbled, feeling quite loss from the theory behind inventing such a weapon. "Uhh, lock it and…"
"No, that way," Irene tugged the side lock for Chris' gun, immediately making a clicking noise in response to the cannister getting secured. "There."
"Sera, Rena, have you all used this before? You don't seem very surprised," Kaze glanced to the two elves, who simply sat aside and watched the group learn.
"Yep. It is something that is fairly new, but nothing we haven't seen before," Sera nodded with a relaxed smile. "Shoko's seen it before too."
"Want to compete?" Shoko asked, already slinging the AR to her side and ready to fire. "Person who loses has to do a challenge."
"Oh, you're on," Luniel's eyes lit up at this and immediately left to 'play' with Shoko.
Thankfully, even with the absence of one of the sisters, the group were able to progress properly and fire a few rounds together. Since there were also other soldiers present, much guidance and interaction occurred together. In all, it was a fulfilling session that ended up surprisingly fun.
As Shoko had requested, a firing competition happened between them. With the exclusion of the royal family, everyone else competed among each other for the thrill of it. What that really determined their skill was pure technique rather than how good one was at using magic, which was an additional bonus since they were all new to it.
- - - - -
"And that concludes our tour," Luniel declared.
The group had officially finished looking around the facilities that the military had along with a general understanding of what Aravel had to offer. After experiencing many new things for themselves, everyone had a satisfied reaction and applauded to Luniel's conclusion.
"Man, that was seriously amazing," Yuuji admitted humbly. "Lunaea, Luniel, I'm super impressed. Thank you for the tour."
"Haha, it's nothing. There's no way we would allow Lunaria-nee's guests to feel bored," Luniel accepted the praise with a wave.
"Thank you for the explanation and guidance too, Shiina, Sakuya," Kaze thanked the sisters with a light bow. "You made the course easy to follow."
"Indeed, great job from you two," Laevia agreed with what Kaze said and shook their hands. "You two have shown us once again that we did not make a mistake in appointing you to the post."
"I-It was nothing, Laevia-sama," Shiina and Sakuya immediately got on one knee and kneeled. "It was our duty, and we executed it to the best of our abilities."
"Now that the tour has finished, why don't we take a short break before heading out for lunch?" Reginsleif suggested, seeing that he was in charge. "Afterwards, we shall return to the palace and get ready for the dinner tonight."
Upon hearing what the Emperor said, the group got excited once again since they were reminded that a dinner with several Aravel officials would commence tonight. This, undoubtedly, was their first and more important social events since coming to Aravel and would become a steppingstone of sort to get acquainted. Even back in Tristania, an event like this was rare so they had to treasure this chance.
While they had their break, a sort of commemoration ceremony was held. Representatives of the Aravelean military gave a gift of sort to each of the humans of the group. Needless to say, everyone was ecstatic to find out that each gift was different. For instance, Irene was the lucky one in receiving a working model of the AR-MD with refillable cartridges. In other words, it could be treated as a lucky draw where each of them received an SSR-equivalent gift of different kinds.
"Now, Kaze," Shiina turned to face him. "Please step forward."
Looking at his friends, who all held something in their hand from being presented a gift, Kaze smiled in anticipation at what would be given to him. So far, everyone's gift looked really amazing.
As his representative, Lunaria stepped in front of him, which surprised everyone other than the dragonkins since they already planned this beforehand. With a smile, Lunaria handed out a sword in a sheath for him.
"This is your gift," Lunaria told Kaze, who had his jaw gaping. "Please accept it."
"T-This… No, Lunaria, I can't."
"Hm? Why not? It might have been mine, but now it is being gifted to you."
"But it belongs to you."
What that Lunaria had presented as a gift was nothing related to the tour today. Instead, it was the sword that Kaze had seen her carrying around this whole time. Lucentia looked a little shocked at what her elder sister was doing but didn't say anything, knowing that she had already told Kaze about how Lunaria had two swords. One being the one she had, Evo, and the other being the one Lunaria was giving Kaze now, Felta.
Felta, the sword in Lunaria's hands, was a beautiful mix between a dark blue and white. With the monochromatic feel that the sword gave off, Kaze felt nervous to even look at it from the intimidating aura it was giving off. Certainly, in the hands of Lunaria, the sword had been well-used and preserved.
"Go on," Lunaria urged Kaze. "Just take it. I have already made up my mind a long time ago that you are deserving of it. Didn't your last few swords kept breaking? I guarantee you this one won't let you down."
When faced with such words, Kaze could no longer deny her good will. Taking the sword for himself, the first thing he did was unsheathe it to get a good look at it now that it had become his. Upon being released from its sheath, it made a soft hum from the metal sliding out. The glow casted on its body from the sunlight shone down the edge as Kaze tilted it, as if it was blood that trickled down Felta's body.
Kaze turned to one side and swung the sword several times. The weight distribution was just perfect for his use, especially considering factors like the length and the type of sword it was. While it was not something he had use before, with it being crafted in an Aravel-influenced manner, it certainly resonated with him.
"… Thank you," Kaze thanked Lunaria with a deep bow. "I will never forget this."
"I would say it is only appropriate that you receive such a reward, after everything that has happened," Lunaria sighed, shaking her head. "Thank you for accepting it Kaze. I'm sure you will make good use of Felta better than I could."