Chapter 97: The Saxon Magical Predicament

“Enemy attack! It’s Magic Crystal Cannons!”

“How can the Saxons use Magic Crystal Cannons?!”

“Disperse! Disperse now!”

The surviving Britannian soldiers were completely disorganized. They scattered in terror, no longer maintaining any offensive formation.

Commander Colonel Lionel watched in astonishment from the rear. His warhorse, startled, reared up, tossing him to the ground.

“This… this is impossible!” he shrieked. “Saxon Mages have never appeared on the front line! This can’t be!”

However, reality informed the Colonel that just because it hadn’t happened before didn’t mean it wasn’t happening now.

From the castle tower, Morin calmly issued firing commands via telephone.

“Group Two, guidance complete. Fire immediately after loading!”

“Group Three…”

The six Magic Crystal Cannons, divided into groups of two, were precisely targeting the two battalions of the Worcestershire Regiment.

Four more Arcane Shrapnel Shells subsequently rained down, blasting two more blank spaces in the Britannian formation.

The situation was as devastating for the two Britannian infantry battalions as it had been for the 1st Battalion on the high ground outside Seville.

Blood soaked the ground on the hillside, forming large, contiguous patches of dark red, painting a picture of hell on earth.

In just one volley, the two Britannian battalions were completely shattered.

Colonel Lionel stared blankly at the hellish scene before him, his mind reeling.

He couldn’t fathom how the Saxons were able to use the Empire’s Magic Crystal Cannons so expertly.

And the accuracy of the shelling was as high as their own!

Did they also have Mages guiding the fire?

While he was still stunned, another sound, like a death knell, rang out from the town’s defensive position.

“Da-da-da-da…”

This was the sound of the two MG08 heavy machine guns reinforced to the 1st Company, along with two Vickers heavy machine guns captured in the town.

Directed by Company Sergeant Major Klaus, they were quickly brought to the crest of the slope and began suppressing the remaining enemy on the hillside.

Bullets swept toward the retreating Britannians like rain.

The soldiers who had survived the artillery fire now ran straight into the machine gun fire, falling in large numbers again.

They gave up any thought of attack, only regretting that they weren’t born with more legs, scrambling desperately back in the direction they came from.

Simultaneously, the 2nd and 3rd Companies, which had traversed the town but remained ready, launched a counter-charge, led by their respective Company Commanders.

The Saxon soldiers, with bayonets fixed on their rifles, surged out from the edge of the town and charged down the slope.

This counterattack was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

The already demoralized Britannians could not organize any effective resistance against the Saxon bayonet charge.

Their only thought was escape.

A planned counterattack turned into a brutal chase.

Ultimately, the two battalions of the Worcestershire Regiment managed to disengage and retreat back to their starting position, but only after leaving behind over half of their number as corpses.

After this engagement, they would be unable to organize any effective attack for some time.

And San Lorenzo de la Parrilla, which had been a precarious forward outpost, was now transformed into an impregnable strongpoint for the Saxons on this front line.

The 32nd Regimental Headquarters and the other infantry battalions, receiving the news, began to converge on the town, preparing to use it as a base to continue their advance toward the northwest.

After the battle concluded, Morin descended from the castle.

His mind was buzzing with thoughts about the Magic Crystal Cannons.

“The power is certainly great, and the guidance is ridiculously easy, but this clumsy, oversized brute’s mobility is terrible.”

“Only a maniac would bring a 42-ton object into field combat…”

He pulled out the small notebook he carried and began sketching and writing.

“From the guidance just now, it’s clear the Britannians have prepared a system where any spellcaster can perform guidance…”

“What if multiple spellcasters guide simultaneously? How would the system differentiate?”

Morin wrote this down, then crossed it out, knowing it wasn’t a normal scenario.

“If I could miniaturize it, perhaps sacrificing some range and power, turning it into a large-caliber mortar that infantry could carry…”

“Or, combining its arcane activation technology with traditional gunpowder technology, using it as a range-extending mechanism…”

One wild idea after another popped into his head.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the Magic Crystal Cannon technology should not be used in such a cumbersome weapon.

Only the Britannians would apply this technology to such a heavy mortar.

Just as Morin was absorbed in his world, furiously writing, the roar of a car engine approached from the distance.

A military convertible sedan, painted in field gray, drove straight into the town’s central square, escorted by a contingent of cavalry.

This abstract and era-appropriate sight caught Morin’s attention.

The car door opened, and a Major wearing the sleeve insignia of a Crown Prince’s Aide-de-Camp stepped out.

He walked directly toward Morin, who was absorbed in recording his thoughts, and crisply saluted him.

“First Lieutenant Friedrich Morin!”

“That’s me.” Morin closed his notebook, looking at the officer with some confusion.

“His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince wishes to see you in person,” the officer said respectfully. “Please return to the Forward Command with me immediately.”

The Crown Prince wants to see me?

Hearing the officer’s words, Morin immediately realized whom the Teutonic Knight detachment and the ‘Royal Guard’ unit in the rear were protecting.

It seemed the Crown Prince had indeed come to the front line, and he hadn’t expected to be summoned immediately after the battle ended.

He turned to Klaus, who was directing the troops, and shouted: “Klaus! Have the company consolidate quickly. Those who need to eat should eat! I’ll be back shortly!”

“Yes, Company Commander!” Klaus called back from a distance.

Morin did not delay, climbing into the open-top car.

The car started, slowly driving out of the town, where the smoke had not yet cleared.

On the way to the rear, Morin saw an even grander sight.

The 9th Infantry Division, acting as the reserve force, was marching in a massive column along the road.

Rows of Saxon soldiers in gray uniforms advanced with synchronized steps toward the front line.

On their flanks were draft horses pulling artillery, wagons transporting supplies, and the occasional staff car carrying an officer…

Based on the memories in Morin’s mind and the information in the system’s

【Information】

tab regarding the Saxon Army organization.

A standard Army Corps unit in the Saxon Army of this period typically consisted of two divisions.

However, for this expedition to the Kingdom of Aragon, each Corps had been reinforced with a third division.

The 7th, 8th, and 9th Infantry Divisions he was now among collectively formed the 2nd Corps of the Saxon Imperial Expeditionary Force, an ad-hoc combat formation.

General Mackensen currently commanded four such corps, totaling twelve divisions.

Plus some attached cavalry and artillery units.

Judging purely by the troop strength, the scale of the Saxon Empire’s intervention in the Aragonese Civil War was not extremely large.

In Morin’s view, this implicitly confirmed one thing.

The Saxon Empire’s high command—especially the Emperor himself—seemed to retain a last shred of rationality and had no intention of escalating the war indefinitely.

Their ultimate goal was likely to gain an advantage on the battlefield to force the Britannians back to the negotiating table and resolve the issue on terms more favorable to Saxony.

And the Britannians were probably not far from the same thinking…

This was a common affliction among the ‘time-tested imperialist warriors’ of this era.

They always sought to gain an advantage on the battlefield to exploit it at the negotiation table, but they often underestimated the risk of the war spiraling out of control.

The small car sped along… though, not too quickly.

After driving a few kilometers toward the rear, it brought Morin to the Command Post set up in the rear.

The location was originally a farm, now temporarily requisitioned as the Expeditionary Force’s Forward Command Post.

It was bustling with busy staff officers and messengers coming and going. A tense yet efficient atmosphere permeated the Command Post.

Led by the accompanying officer, Morin entered a spacious room.

There were only two people in the room.

The Crown Prince and General Mackensen.

“First Lieutenant Morin, we meet again.”

Crown Prince Georg smiled and spoke first, his voice very gentle.

“Your Highness, General.” Morin quickly brought his heels together and saluted.

“No need for formalities, please sit.” Georg gestured toward a chair nearby.

Morin sat down cautiously, wondering why he had been summoned.

“General Mackensen and I both witnessed your performance today from the observation balloon.”

The Crown Prince’s face showed undisguised approval.

“A very splendid execution… especially the speed of your breakthrough of the enemy line was beyond our imagination.”

Georg smiled, then his tone suddenly shifted, and his expression became serious.

“However, I invited you here today primarily to ask one very important question.”

He paused, looking into Morin’s eyes, and asked slowly, word by word:

“Can the tactics you used today be replicated and scaled up for deployment across the entire Army?”

Morin carefully considered his answer, responding cautiously:

“Your Highness, infantry tactical skills, such as earthwork, squad coordination, and assault team infiltration—these can all be mastered through rigorous training.”

“Given sufficient time and qualified instructors, theoretically, any infantry unit can learn them.”

“First Lieutenant Morin, but based on our observation, the spells you used played a critical role in your breakthrough of the enemy’s line.”

General Mackensen, who had been silent, now spoke.

“Without your spells for cover and support, your assault team could not have torn open the enemy’s line so easily, much less infiltrate so deeply with such minimal casualties… Your unit’s losses would have been much greater than they are now.”

General Mackensen’s words sharply pinpointed the core of the issue.

Morin could not refute him.

Whether it was the smoke wall created by

[Misty Step]

or the protection offered by

[Mage Armor]

and

[Shield]

, these were the fundamental reasons he could achieve brilliant results at minimal cost.

“General, is it truly impossible to select a batch of low-level Mages from the homeland and assign them to the Army for front-line combat?” Morin couldn’t help but ask.

Hearing Morin’s question, Crown Prince Georg and Mackensen exchanged a look, complex expressions on their faces.

“Issuing a mandatory order is certainly possible.”

Georg sighed:

“But that would be equivalent to forcing a group of top scholars to abandon their research projects and take up rifles to fight on the front line.”

Morin wasn’t surprised by the Crown Prince’s words, as this was the ‘magical predicament’ currently faced by the Saxon Empire.

The

【Information】

tab had actually updated the information regarding Saxon Empire spellcasters earlier.

【Current Spellcaster Count in the Saxon Empire: 392 people】

【Mages of 3rd Circle and below account for 92%, Mages of 4th to 6th Circle account for 7%, Mages of 7th Circle and above account for 1%】

【School specialization choice for some spellcasters is unavailable, school percentages cannot be calculated temporarily…】

If the low quantity and scarcity of high-level spellcasters were only superficial problems.

The deeper reason lay in the Saxon Empire’s positioning of its spellcasters.

The current Mages of the Saxon Empire, from the day they awakened as spellcasters, have almost exclusively been involved in research integrating arcane technology and brilliant crystal technology at various rear research institutes and higher education institutions.

Because their intelligence and learning ability are vastly enhanced after becoming spellcasters, they are, in a sense, naturally born researchers.

It is this group of less than four hundred people who, with their extraordinary intellect, have driven the rapid development of the entire Saxon Empire in the field of arcane technology.

Hybrid Armored Knights, Armored Airships, replicated arcane equipment…

These technologies were painstakingly advanced by these ‘academic’ Mages.

This was a fundamentally different development path for spellcasters, but it was indeed the right strategy for the Saxon Empire.

After all, you couldn’t expect these low-circle Mages to engage in a magical duel with the Britannian High-Level Mages on the battlefield.

In this context, the Saxon Empire successfully integrated arcane and brilliant crystal industrial technology, forging a technological path fundamentally different from the Britannians.

One could say these individuals were equivalent to the top experts and national treasure scientists in various scientific fields in the world Morin had come from.

Their social status within the Saxon Empire was extremely high, and they were widely respected.

In such a scenario, asking them to abandon their comfortable research environment and rush to the front line to fight life-and-death street battles…

Yes, that would indeed involve a small problem.

“I understand.”

Morin nodded, his expression becoming extremely solemn.

He suddenly stood up and, with a look of unwavering determination, addressed the two men:

“Your Highness! General! I, Friedrich Morin, am willing to dedicate everything I have to the Empire! I request permission to immediately return to the homeland and contribute to the research and development of arcane technology for the Saxon Empire!”

Georg: “…”

Mackensen: “…”

(End of this Chapter)