Prototype

“Nice! Load the next shell. We’ll run another test, keeping the angle at forty five degrees.”

“Shiro. Azura is riding here as we speak.”

Shiro's eyes followed the direction Geraltavin was pointing.

In the distance, Azura was riding toward them on horseback, the castle walls of Vermelionne and the jagged peaks of the Crimson Mountains rising behind her as she raced across the Red Plateau.

“Hmmm… Yeah, I guess it is already morning.”

Geraltavin and Johnaquil were supposed to bring me back when Gris had to leave because of some emergency...

Guess we burned through the whole night.

“Well, she's going to be mad regardless. Load the next shell!”

Shiro called out to the guards manning the rail cannon prototype.

Two parallel aluminum rails extended along a length roughly twice Shiro's height, forming the weapon's main barrel. They ran side by side with a narrow, consistent gap between them. A lattice of additional aluminum braces reinforced the rails along their length, while replaceable ceramic plates sat between the rails and the framework, providing electrical insulation.

At the base of the barrel was another series of replaceable aluminum cylinders suspended slightly above the rails. Electric runes had been carved into their surfaces, designed to channel and accumulate magical electricity. Simple capacitors, able to function as both generators and reservoirs for the charge required to fire the weapon.

The prototype still had plenty of problems. But it works…

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE!?!”

Shiro's thoughts were interrupted by Azura yelling down at him from her horse, her spear pointing towards him.

“Good Morning. We're doing artillery testing.”

“DON'T ACT SO CALM WITH ME! YOU SHOULDN'T BE OUTSIDE THE CITY! WHO TOOK YOU OUT HERE THIS MORNING?!”

Azura's eyes immediately locked onto Geraltavin, who was standing beside Shiro.

“Don't look at me. I now hate this kid. Gotta me working through the night out here. Take him back with you.”

“Thanks for the support, buddy.”

Then she looked at Johnaquil. Who was surprisingly asleep, lying on the ground with a blanket wrapped around his head.

“All of you have been out here since last night?"

“Night? Try morning! I built everything in the 3 days like I promised. Gris brought him out here early and we started testing. Then the bastard scurried off before sunset.”

"Gris brought him outside the city walls?"

"Aye. He was against it but we can't test this inside the city."

Azura jumped down from her horse as one of the guards led it away. Her spear was now resting on her shoulder instead of aimed at Shiro.

"Alright, but why not bring him back when Gris left?"

"Shiro wouldn't let us..."

"Hey! Don't put this all on me. You're not the prisoner here. Besides, you are just as invested in this as me!"

"It's been firing since midnight! Why are we still here! I wanna sleep!"

"It's called refinement! The weapon was still only a prototype. The aluminum rails heated rapidly after each shot and are starting to curve. The ceramic insulation cracks under repeated discharges, and the magical capacitors require considerable time to recharge. Not to mention how they crumble because of some magic runes reason."

Azura looked around at the encampment. Piles of broken ceramics and aluminum dust. A pair of rails that had been curved into quarter circles, and an entirely destroyed rail cannon framework.

"All this mess and waste... what's the range then?"

"Pretty bad, better than what Vermelionne's military currently has, but it needs a lot of work."

"I hate to admit it, especially after all the work I put into this, but it's got a good range. Without breaking itself, it has three times the range of a heavy warbow. You should also look at what it shoots..."

Geraltavin reached into one of the bags on the ground and pulled out a sharpened metal rod. It was as thick as his dwarven finger and 3 times the length.

"No where as long as yer standard heavy bow arrows. More expensive too, but no armor is surviving a hit from it. Not like it would hit anything with its current accuracy. But you can put stronger spells on metal of this size then you could on an arrow tip or wooded shaft."

"Seems overly expensive just to inaccurately shoot even more expensive magic arrows. All to have 3 times the range of a heavy warbow."

I mean she is not wrong...

Geraltavin looked towards the destroyed rail cannon off to the side.

"Aye, but it can be much better. Even if we keep it as it is, putting 7 or 8 runes on a shot that far away would be devastating."

Azura's eyes followed Geraltavin's eyes to the wreckage, she then glared towards Shiro.

"But you're not going to leave them like this. You know why, and how to fix these?"

"I still don't know why runes deteriorate the aluminium, er, feather steel. They are turning to metal sand after a lot of use. I need to spend more time learning about magic as a whole. But truthfully, it's already performing better than expected."

Its range beats out an assault rifle but loses hard to a sniper. Far from what you want from "artillery" of this size...

"Hey Geraltavin, since the Master General is here, it would make sense to show the power of the current design as well as our progress."

"I hope it breaks the framework so we can pack up and go home."

Perfect this is a chance to see some actual magic. As well as a good excuse to test the zircon-tipped bolt.

Shiro looked at Azura with a mischievous grin.

"Want to see it shoot?"