Power Demonstration

Thirty minutes after the meeting in Patricia's residence ended, the partic.i.p.ants were out in Ville Zentra's open sea.

「So this is the s.h.i.+p developed in the New World.」

Bios's knights' commander regarded the vessel with great interest. Steered by none other than Grucel, they were on one of Dream Maker's wars.h.i.+ps that could hold a thousand people. Even with the VIPs' security detail accompanying them, the s.h.i.+p had more than enough capacity.

「Can you see that s.h.i.+p over there?」Patricia pointed at an empty cargo s.h.i.+p out in the distance.「It's about half the size of this one. It's too run-down now and was scheduled to be dismantled, so we're using it for this demonstration instead.」

「How far away is it?」Forestia's Army Minister asked.

「About 500 meters.」Doriachi answered.

「Don't tell me you're going to use those cannons.」

「It's fine.」

「I find that hard to believe.」

The Minister wasn't convinced, but Doriachi remained calm. Even with the cargo s.h.i.+p's size, it was still too far away that it only appeared as a dot from where they were. Each country in this continent possessed magic or purely fire-powered cannons, but none had a range that far.

「Hitting it is impossible from this distance.」the Minister said.「If you can, it'll change the tides of war.」

「Indeed. Even if the cannons could reach it, they would most likely miss.」Bios's commander added.

「We won't know until we see it. Just show us already.」Gelhart cut in bluntly, his eyes filled with excitement.

「Very well. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, I suppose.」Doriachi said.「Grucel.」

「Sir.」Grucel answered.「Please cover your ears, everyone.」『Prepare to load!』

Dream Maker's soldiers opened the guns' chambers and raised the warheads. Ten cannons were lined up on deck.

『Sir. Wind speed and direction within acceptable range.』a spotter reported.

Grucel gave a slight nod.『Load!』

Heavy, watermelon-like warheads were loaded into the guns.

『Activate magic item!』

A high-pitched shrill could be heard even with ears covered. At a glance, there didn't seem to be any change, but those with Mana Detection could see the barrel casting light.

『Prepare to fire! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!』

The moment the countdown reached zero, the cannons' roars in rapid succession, producing shock waves that rippled the observers' clothes. The warheads, leaving behind a trail of smoke, followed an arched trajectory.

「Oh…」

No one knew who gasped in awe. Many did. Three warheads plunged into the sea, raising columns of water, while the rest hit the cargo s.h.i.+p. They could see fragments flying into the air as the vessel was destroyed and started slowly sinking into the depths of the sea.

「There you have it.」Patricia said in a somewhat louder voice.

Even with their ears plugged, they still found it difficult to hear right away. Still many of them watched the sinking vessel blankly, forgetting to even remove the hands covering their ears. Such a powerful weapon did not exist in this continent.

「King Doriachi. How effective are these weapons against the monsters in Grand Dream?」Patricia asked.

「They can kill common monsters in one shot, but there are those that rise back up no matter how many shots they take. One example is the Yamamaneki, a monster as tall as the length of this s.h.i.+p. Our blast cannons couldn't kill them.」

「And there's many of those?」Bios's commander seemed fl.u.s.tered.

「Yes. About ten of them attacked when Dream Maker was destroyed. Tall walls can't hold them back.」

The man gulped. He finally realized just how powerful the monsters in Grand Dream were.

「However, Silver Face told us that by destroying the Yamamaneki's core, we can kill them. As far as I know, there are no monsters that can't be killed.」

「I-I see…」

Bios's commander looked somewhat relieved. He shot a glare at Hikaru, as though saying “You again?” Hikaru simply ignored him.

「Hey, Master Swordsman. Can you slice that sh.e.l.l?」Gerhardt said out of the blue.

「Easily, if it's only that fast.」

「Thought so. I can probably do it as well. I'm sure Gotthold can do it too with a little practice.」

What? Hikaru thought. Slice what? Those warheads? Gotthold seemed to share the same thoughts as Hikaru.

「I cannot do it.」he said.

「Nah, you can. Anyway, what I'm saying is, some of us are as powerful as these weapons right here.」

「It's not possible, Your Majesty.」

「It is.」The king just didn't seem to listen.「Yamamaneki, eh? Interesting. I'll crush them all. Gotthold, from today on, we're going to train so you could cut an incoming sh.e.l.l from that weapon.」

「Sir!」

Gotthold stood in attention, though his eyes and tail seemed droopy. Poor guy, Hikaru thought. Yet he didn't refuse, showing just how loyal he was to Gerhardt and how much he respected the king.

Patricia chuckled.「Beastman King, I'm glad you're optimistic. Very rea.s.suring. Am I right, King Doriachi?」

「I-Indeed. I didn't think he would react like you expected.」

Patricia already saw this happening. She deemed that demonstrating the true strength of the enemy would not have a negative effect, but rather, it would make them thrilled even. Perhaps she wanted to strengthen the allied forces by doing this.

「It might be a good idea to recruit skilled adventurers as well.」Lawrence said.

「I agree with the Master Swordsman. Let's go wild!」Gerhardt roared.

「And who would pay them?」Patricia asked in an exasperated tone.「Then again, the more competent people, the better, I suppose. We'll have to rely on individual skill in places where the cannons can't reach.」

Patricia agreed to talk to adventurers. She expected that much fortune from the dragon stones. As a matter of fact, the Supreme Leader had already requested a lot of Vireocean's magic item researchers and experts to submit their research plans. Her goal was to improve her country's sorcery technology by performing studies that couldn't be done without huge dragon stones.

The first allied forces' meeting ended with various thoughts running in people's minds.

A notice was sent to Adventurer Guild branches throughout different countries by the end of the day—recruiting adventurers ranked B and above to fight monsters in the New World. Once again, skilled and powerful people gathered in Ville Zentra.