While Alex was currently exploring in another dimension. In an unknown location within Draconia, the best minds were currently working on a project that could change transportation from carriages to new vehicles. This experiment will be tested and the report will be sent to Draconia.
"All right, everybody, we will begin testing that his lordship named the train and testing will begin in 30 minutes." A 6ft man with chocolate brown skin and golden hair with red eyes spoke as he guided the other engineers and scientists, and they had a long schedule ahead of them.
Soon they did a final check on the train track that has some obstacles and weight, and for the train tracks, they did one final check until the driver of the train was given the signal to start. When the burning coal made the engine roar, they checked its speed. It can reach 126 miles per hour, but for now it can reach 50 miles per hour will go through. Soon they pulled some levers to test how it can climb a step hill, and when the first test was achieved, Soon they added carts with weights, and after finishing placing the weights, they started it again. Now the train began to slow a bit, but yet it still continued, and after 10 laps they nodded and approved it. For the next hour, they finished stress testing and decided to send the report to the office and head to the other vehicle.
"All right, next vehicle testing is called Shellaforn 4x4 trucks."
Soon a truck roared and moved up and down a hill, rocky roads, and traps. When it drove to the section, soldiers fired arrows and crossbow bolts, but thanks to the thick glass it was able to deflect the arrows and the tarp covering the rear of the truck was able to deflect. Then they begin placing heavy weight and suspension of the truck was able to endure, and soon they begin firing magic spells at the truck. Although there were some damages, the plated anti-armor was able to mitigate the damage. When they checked the engine, they nodded and wrote up a report and sent it to the office, waiting to be approved.
Soon a truck roared and moved up and down a hill, rocky roads, and traps. When it drove to the section, soldiers fired arrows and crossbow bolts, but thanks to the thick glass it was able to deflect the arrows and the tarp covering the rear of the truck was able to deflect. Then they begin placing heavy weight and suspension of the truck was able to endure, and soon they begin firing magic spells at the truck. Although there were some damages, the plated anti-armor was able to mitigate the damage. When they checked the engine, they nodded and wrote up a report and sent it to the office, waiting to be approved.
"Professor Michael, the weapons are ready to be tested." A soldier appeared, stood upright, and spoke to the head researcher.
He nodded and headed to the shooting range, where different soldiers began setting up new weapons. One was a solo-man crew MG42, where they shortened the barrel, and the other was a new sniper. It can fire high-caliber bullets and pierce high-level barriers of the magicals. That's what people with unknown powers of the elements called.
Soon they placed the machine gun that will be with the infantry as a support weapon and placed the highest armor from another country, and in the whole world of Drasia. It was called the Juggernaut 2nd ranking power, and its armor was stolen and placed in front, and the armor was imperial guard armor, which for a kingdom is already personal armor for them.
"Ready," the officer said, making the soldier hold the machine gun hard.
"Fire!"
BRRRRRRRTTTTTT
The MG42 was strong, and the armor was torn up like paper. Even though the armor was made out of the most expensive metal, it could even deflect a crossbow bolt, but it was nothing in front of the MG42. After firing it, they pulled out another armor set similar, but this time it was accompanied by a horse similar.
"Well, sad to say, to the Tiamat Empire, their most expensive armor was shredded to pieces."
They pulled out a new infantry rifle, and it can fire burst control. It was similar to the M1 Thompson, and the mag is over 30 to 35 bullets. They checked the ammunition, and it was made out of antimatter bullets.
The soldier placed the mag and cocked back the rifle, and with the iron sights, he aimed at the armor and fired a controlled burst at the enemy armor. The bullets accurately damaged the chest plate and a few more shots badly damaged the horse armor and chest plate, and lastly, a newer version of a grenade that explodes shrapnel, tearing the armor to pieces.
"All right, prepare the final weapon."
Soon they went outside to the field, where the artillery was placed, with soldiers wearing gas masks. When the professor arrived, he gave the nod. Soon they loaded the shells and locked them in place using the breathing cannons.
"All right, the shells we were firing can kill high-level magicals and even injure a demigod, and also, a high-level barrier can still be penetrated, and lastly, we can modify to kill a target, let's say an armed soldier, and soon the gas will react since we placed an enchantment to detect a person who is carrying a weapon.
And when the lordship heard of this, he wanted to do live testing on the Gemini Archipelago, fire these shells on the pirates, and send a report to him after he returned. So a few weeks after this testing, a task force of two destroyers headed to the archipelago, accompanied by specialized marines, will fire and check if there's any damage."
After finishing speaking, he gave a nod to the artillery commander who followed the instructions in the book, and soon 10 people who were chained were brought to the killzone, and they were no ordinary prisoners; they were Athenian knights that were kidnapped by Assasin X and brought to Draconia for interrogation and torture to uncover the mastermind of the attack on Draconia during the chronos seige. They were able to kidnap a few knights, and they were no ordinary; they were tortured and brought to Draconia and were silver-ranked knights, and right now there are test subjects.
"Calculations perfect, all personnel near the killzone, please clear in 10 seconds." Soon the artillery officer checked his watch, and after 10 seconds, he shouted "Fire."
Soon two artillery pieces fired two different shells, and after hitting the ground and causing a small explosion, a green smoke came out, and when it instantly touched the skin, the test subjects began screaming and scratching their skin painfully, causing their skin to bleed. It was a very painful experience, and blood came out of their eyes and ears.
On the other shell, black smoke came out, and when the subject tried to breathe in, he coughed out black blood and died instantly. Seeing this, they began to write and nodded to the head researcher, and seeing their reports, he finished making his own to be submitted to the Lord's Office.
"All right, seeing the result of the second shell, we will use it in the next test on a real population in a few weeks."
Everyone nodded and left the area while the others wore a gas mask and headed towards the body and did a few checks. Checking the damage to the magical core, they nodded and ordered the bodies to be cremated.
Border of the Siegfried Empire and Draconia
Castle Nova Linda workers in the underground castle were digging away, and the head engineer looked at the 30 feet tall tunnel entrance. They did some final measurements and saw some moving the pile of rock using horse-drawn carriages. They were already 20 km away from the border, and once that's done, they're going to connect with the workers on the other side.
"Come on, boys, the more work, the extra bonus this coming national holiday," one of the heads who was carrying mining equipment shouted to those moving carts of rock, and hearing it, they began moving fast, trying to speed up the work.
Their deadline is a few days after the national holiday, and soon they will begin transporting men and material underground. To make sure there is oxygen in the long tunnel, they will install some runes and checkpoints to rest and recharge since it is a 2-day walk, but when the railway is installed, it will travel for a few hours.
Borders of the Siegfried Empire and the Southern Siegfried Empire
A star fort was currently being completed and the soldiers stationed use bolt action rifles since the city state or Draconia decided to let them use this stockpiled weapons and right now the fortress guns aimed at the border. Soldiers using spyglasses to detect any enemy forces and this star fortress is a citadel of section 7 and beyond this star fortress lies more star fortress but not large in scale and their underground tunnels connected to the citadel and it was small enough to fit to carriage's to resupply and reinforce those fortress and right now in section 7 over 8 fortress including the citadel are now place and those section cover 30km and Alex ordered the creation of a conscript system were the average citizen of the Siegfried empire.
Are prepared for war and ready to be conscripted and right now over 260,500 soldiers are active. Since Alex has no full control over the empire, he didn't include their military force since he will demobilize them, and over 50,000 guards the border. Rats only the south, the north, over 30,000 soldiers guards, and the east are over 70,000 soldiers guards since the east always tried to expand their influence in the south of the continent. The rest of the armed forces are preparing for the operation ahead of them.
Draconia Military Shipyard
Workers move large steel plates and some move cranes as they work on the second dreadnought class, and the deadline is in 3 months.
Soldiers guard the perimeter and machine gun placements, and theres a large wall preventing people from looking at what their building is. Multiple agents from other nations, even Olympus, tried to sneak in but were always captured when they took a step on the shipyard and were taken away by the assassin X to be interrogated.
But in one particular shipyard, a new type of ship was being built, and it was similar to the Lexington class carrier. They added a catapult system and new types of anti-air guns, and the planes were well there. In the experimental phase, Alex planned them to deploy when he was crowned emperor and unified nearly the entire south of Pangea.
Hedian archipelago
The new lord was currently working on the paper as he checked the economic situation and saw it not rising but slowly declining. It made his heart ache as he saw the work of his ancestors destroyed in the civil war that caused 25,000 deaths, and that's a fraction of the damage. The ships that were used to ship their wares and protect merchant vessels were destroyed. The fortress that was used to protect the city was also destroyed. In ruins, multiple merchant guilds and companies filed complaints about the rampant piracy and requested compensation for their loss.
'The only way to pay this debt is through Draconia and if we get the money we ask them to compensate, we can pay, and the remaining can help us rebuild the fleet and get our economy on track' he finished the thought as he looked outside and saw the city being rebuilt after it was flattened to the ground because of Draconia warships. Now Draconia has completely cut off their trade with the Hedian trade union, their luxury items are in high demand, and when they tried to smuggle. They were immediately intercepted by Draconia authorities.
Before he could put the paper down, he heard rushing footsteps, and when the door flung open. A guard that was covered in sweat spoke with a dry voice.
"My Lord Draconia Vessel was spotted entering, and right now they requested a diplomatic meeting in the harbor, and they came in a larger iron vessel than we have ever seen, and right now their dock and the diplomat are waiting for you! "
"What!! Draconia with a larger vessel! "He was in shock. He thought Draconia would respond peacefully. Instead, they sent another ship, but this time a larger ship.
"Were did they dock? "
"By the east side port, and right now there, waiting."
Soon they rushed out of the office, through the hallways you can see the hallways have holes and some pile stones and the ammunition shrapnel on the floor. Going the flight of stairs he saw through the window a size of the warships and it made his heart sank as he saw the caliber of the weapons that can flatten the city three times over.
2 hours later
He arrived at the port and saw the diplomat with a table, seated with another seat for him, and behind that diplomat were armed guards, or, to be exact, marines. When he got closer, he could see the size of the warship, and looking at it, he felt like an ant.
He sat down, and the diplomat began speaking.
"Hello there, Lord of the Hedian Trade Union. The name is Fedrise, the acting diplomat." He reaches out his hand for a handshake.
But the Lord didn't mind; he gazed at him with fear, anger, and frustration.
"Get straight to the point on why you have come here and why you have brought a larger ship. "
The diplomat smiled cruelly and spoke.
"Well, simply, my lordship will not pay for the compensation. He stated he did a favor to lower the civil war period in a matter of hours, and plus, your brother started it by snapping something inside of him, which was not an option."
The Lord of the Hedian Trade Union was controlling his anger to the best he could, and when he was about to respond, the diplomat spoke.
"But we are willing to buy land, and we will pay, and that island is called Krakow, located on the very south of Pangea, and I heard it was used as a supply post during the trade age. Right now, it's a desolate island, but its land mass is almost the size of a small continent, and we wish to purchase it for 300,000 Dracs, which in your currency is over 40 million hedias, so are you willing to accept this offer? "
When the lordship heard this, he was in deep thought about how he could pay off the debt and also have more remaining to bring his nation back on track. Seeing that Ireland was of no use since he could not send a naval force to protect it.
"All right, I agree with this proposal, so what more do you want? "
"The lord of Draconia formally orders you to not trade with the High Kingdom of Hades and Athens and will use the ancient favor held by this your father and my lord, and if you deny, you will suffer his wrath."
By hearing those last words, he inwardly gulped and gazed at the ships still anchored in the sea and their barrels aimed at his city or, worse, his castle. Looking at the dreadnought dock, he felt he would be erased, so he reluctantly nodded even though he planned to expand business to those two Olympus states since right now their economies are going down after feeling an economic boom.
"I will accept."
The diplomat nodded and spoke.
"Great, we have a deal, so with this, I will leave, and in a few days there will be a letter sent to you and for you to sign, and if we don't have it by the end of the month, we will take it as a sign of your refusal."
He felt a slight down his spine. Hearing it made him want to sign it and send the fastest boat.
Soon they began departing, and seeing the ships in the distance that were slowly disappearing, he muttered under his breath.
"There are formidable things that would happen if they turned into an empire."
He thought about and felt the balance of power shift if that were to happen. So he just shrugged and planned to stay a neutral and peaceful life, slowly repairing his city state.
Lievindus Valley
A group of soldiers on watch tower gaze at the mega project in front of them, stationed for the time being since this megaproject will shorten the logistics burden to the east and the bridge can carry a weight of 100,000 soldiers. Its width and length trials and tests allowed it to be stable for over 300 years, made out of steel, reinforced, stones, explosives implanted in strategic locations, and also made sure it could be quickly repaired.
The valley is located on the east side of the Siegfried Empire, and the valley is so wide that it takes months for supplies to arrive and reinforcements. Draconia planned to expand the bridge to accommodate a certain technology that they will apply in the future, and right now there are Draconia workers and Siegfried laborers.
"It seems like this thing will be completed and functional next year," one of the soldiers said as he leaned over the wooden walls.
"Indeed, and we will set up checkpoints so we can make sure anyone who has an ill intention cannot pass."
After saying that they went down as their shift has ended and they will begin again in the next hour.
Alex POV
As of right now, Alex got up, ate breakfast, and brought his somewhat devilish friend to the Dukes Castle, where his friend was shaking so badly because of the anxiety.
"Relax, we were here on official business. After talking with the duke, we were going to continue our journey. I wanna visit the capital of this kingdom."
Well, his friend didn't hear anything until he snapped back to reality when Alex spoke.
"Were already here?" when Alex suddenly gazed at the massive black door, and when the guards saw Alex, they immediately opened the door and bowed respectfully.
"Huh? "His was, of course, confused. He gazed at the dukes guard, who were now bowing at Alex with respect.
Soon they head towards the castle and walk towards the office, where the guards escorted them, and when the door opened, that's when business began. Alex planned to turn this duchy into one of his industrial sectors, and it would take a few months since Alex planned to bring a few Demnos to his world, where they would guide and construct the factories needed, and he would deploy specialized units to keep the duchy safe. After finishing discussing, the duke thought about the money and what would happen, but he rendered the duke to centralize his duchy, and that's the time he would begin the industrialization.
To be continued