“Huh? Chief Inspector Debra Bennett….”
“Uh?”
Lumina and Bella, who followed behind, also seemed flustered by the unexpected guest. She grabbed my luggage skillfully and carried it inside the room herself.
“Tired from your long journey? But there’s something that needs to be seen by a lieutenant right away.”
“I’m no longer a lieutenant.”
“Uh?”
Debra’s gaze shifted to my shoulders. She looked back and forth between the two diamonds embedded there and my face.
“What!?!?”
She jumped as if she had seen a ghost, her pupils trembling visibly.
“Enok Revendale, Lieutenant! Lieu… Lieutenant!? Promoted to lieutenant in just one month!?”
“Didn’t you hear it directly from the Personnel Director? I doubt he would have kept it a secret given his personality.”
“I didn’t leave the lab for five days straight…”
“You must have worked hard.”
I offered her a word of comfort.
“So, how should I address you? Mutual respect? Should I use informal speech with you even though you’re a lieutenant now…?”
“Why do you suddenly ask? You rank higher than me by several grades. Just treat me as usual.”
Although I hadn’t known it before, it was only a few days ago that this former lieutenant, who was like a greenhorn, appeared at the same rank as her. It was natural for her to feel that way.
“Oh, right! Yes, yes!”
“But what did you say about something I need to see? If it’s about the magic barrier we discussed last time, then it can wait until tomorrow morning…”
“Hey! That’s not very nice to say. Don’t think of it just as a magic barrier. Once you see it in action, you won’t say such things.”
Debra Bennett grabbed my arm and forcibly tried to take me out of the tent.
“Chief Inspector, you can’t do this here.”
“What’s wrong? It’s fine!”
Before Lumina and Bella could do anything, Debra Bennett quickly passed by.
“Sorry for the late hour~ I’ll borrow Captain for a moment and return him~! You’ve worked hard today~!”
Already exhausted from sitting in the carriage for a long time, I lacked the strength to resist.
Please just let me go…
*
“Ta-da~!”
Debra Bennett took me to a solitary confinement cell in the basement of the Facilities Management Department. The building itself was an expansion of an ancient fortress built long ago, so there were quite a few underground facilities.
Until our platoon moved to the new barracks where I was staying, we hadn’t lived above ground.
“What is this place?”
“It used to be a torture chamber.”
“…”
Debra casually spat out such a deadly statement. She nonchalantly tapped on a magic stone embedded in the wall and added:
“But now, it’s my personal research lab.”
Tap, tap, tap.
As the lights came on one by one, the darkness in the room dissipated. A dim red light emanated from the magic stone.
“My main magic isn’t offensive but defensive. To ascend further, you need to find places where demand is high despite limited supply.”
“Ahh… So that’s why.”
It’s a mistake to always think of war as purely offensive. Take Ukhraine as an example; they barely managed to defend themselves, leading to the collapse of the front line and their downfall.
It’s a result of prioritizing offense over defense as a small country.
From this perspective, Lieutenant Debra Bennett’s choice was quite wise and forward-looking.
If there were even a dozen more officers like this in Ukhraine, their defensive tactics wouldn’t fall short of those in the Walter Tri-Countries.
“Anyway, I tried reverse-engineering the idea Captain gave me.”
“Yes.”
“The method of deploying a barrier at a 45-degree angle and intentionally concentrating mana density at the top is highly efficient, but it has a critical flaw.”
“What is it?”
“The top part is too thin. If it’s hit obliquely or if the penetration power of the attack magic increases slightly, it will break through.”
I nodded at her explanation. This concept is similar to modern tank sloped armor, so it’s not surprising that it isn’t perfect.
If it were that efficient, wouldn’t tanks with all four sides covered in sloped armor have been developed?
Of course, such a bizarre thing doesn’t exist in reality.
Because it’s incredibly inefficient.
“Even if we increase the mana density at the top, it actually decreases efficiency compared to a flat deployment.”
“Right.”
That’s obvious.
The advantage of sloped armor is that it offers superior protection with a thinner thickness compared to flat armor.
So, increasing the mana density to thicken the barrier ultimately means increasing the density of the magic barrier itself.
In essence, it’s the same.
Moreover, carefully adjusting the mana at a 45-degree angle would consume more concentration and mana.
It would be better to deploy a flat magic barrier and stack two layers.
In this world, the theory of ‘sloped armor’ for magic barriers essentially amounts to a disposable shield that maximizes efficiency with minimal mana.
However, this alone is already a usable level, and with a little more improvement, it could greatly help in developing composite magic barriers later on.
I thought while looking at Debra Bennett’s third-grade magic barrier.
“Still, wouldn’t this be enough for the platoon evaluation?”
Even if the most ruthless evaluator came, simply deploying a barrier with a unique structure different from conventional magic barriers would earn significant incentives.
But Debra Bennett firmly drew the line.
“No, this isn’t enough.”
“This is already quite fresh.”
“The opponent is Colonel Viktor Zelensky. He’s not someone to be taken lightly.”
How harshly must he have pushed her to react this strongly?
“Do you know how terrible it was last month during the battalion evaluation? It involved dealing with cavalry, and we blocked them both physically and numerically.”
Debra Bennett shivered as if recalling the situation back then.
“Even I thought it was perfect. For officers who don’t care much about defensive doctrines, it was quite impressive. But then Colonel Viktor suddenly asked, ‘What if the enemy is not just cavalry but magic cavalry?'”
Magic cavalry…?
So, it refers to mages riding on horses?
Seeing my puzzled expression, she explained:
“Mages who approach quickly like cavalry. Such things exist in this world? Unless they ride carriages, that is.”
…
What?
Unlike Debra Bennett, who shrugged her shoulders as if it were funny, I couldn’t laugh rashly.
Five years later, magic tanks will actually appear.
Not something like modern tanks with steel plating, but something akin to chariots from ancient times.
A mounted unit that becomes available when the stability of wheels improves and mechanical research progresses, allowing for production.
Though it will become obsolete once real tanks appear, before that, it will be used effectively to counter enemy magic infantry by maximizing its breakthrough power and protecting foot soldiers.
‘Was she reading the future? Or was it just a lucky guess from an old-fashioned senior?’
I felt a bit intrigued about Colonel Viktor Zelensky, whom Debra Bennett mentioned.
“…If you can’t answer, I’ll deduct 3 points mercilessly—!”
“I understand the general feeling of the evaluator. So, what more development is needed here?”
Interrupting the lieutenant’s ongoing chatter, she cleared her throat and returned to the main point.
“Cough, no need for further development. I already made a prototype.”
“Huh?”
“Watch closely.”
Debra Bennett snapped her fingers. Instantly, a baseball-sized flame appeared on her palm.
A basic red magic spell, Fireball.
A spell so familiar it’s almost tedious.
“Third-grade barrier, right?”
“It shouldn’t be difficult to block this.”
“That’s right. But what if you get hit by five Fireballs in a row?”
“The mana density will scatter and destroy.”
“That’s right. The solution turned out to be surprisingly simple. If you can’t withstand it, just avoid being hit.”
“???”
What kind of paradox is this?
“I tried a change of perspective. What if I used an anti-elemental spell just before the magic collides to reduce the power of the attacking spell?”
“Wait, Chief Inspector Debra Bennett… Are you saying…!!!”
“Let’s see it.”
She threw a Fireball towards the barrier.
The fireball, slicing through the air, reached the surface of the barrier in the blink of an eye. Just as the flames were about to explode,
a magic circle slightly protruding from the top deployed and launched a Magic Missile.
Boom!!!
The sound of mana colliding shook my eardrums.
But I froze in place.
This is a defense-dispel magic that would typically appear around the time flying ships are developed. In other words, it’s technology equivalent to an active defense system in this world.
From sloped armor to an active defense system.
Did she achieve several years’ worth of technological advancement in just five days?
“Oh, this spell isn’t fully established yet, so it’s a bit late to activate!”
“Facilities Management Chief Debra Bennett…”
“Hmm?”
“What exactly are you?”
