Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Rost Layton executed the prisoners with wooden stakes that nightfall, Winters attended a secret meeting in the camp.

The secret meeting took place inside the legion's treasury, which, like the headquarters, was located in the center of the field camp and was one of the most important buildings. It had a semi-underground structure with the best sound insulation, which was why it was chosen for the meeting.

There were no clerks, no orderlies, not even guards— they were arranged to stand more than five meters away.

Aside from the two legion commanders, the attendees all held dual roles: they were both the most trusted officers of Antonio and Layton, as well as senior spellcasters.

Technically, Winters didn't qualify to participate in such a high-level meeting — at least the others were majors, and he was just a junior warrant officer.

But he had to be there. Because... he was the key party involved, the eyewitness, and the witness. Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

The atmosphere of the meeting was quite solemn, and Antonio warned with a stern face, "I need not say more about the principle of confidentiality. Being called here means that you are the most trusted by me and Rost. The matter we're about to discuss is of great importance, so even when you're dreaming, make sure to keep confidentiality tightly wound."

The several staff officer spellcasters silently waited for the general to continue.

Antonio and Layton exchanged a glance, "Then let's begin... Warrant Officer Montaigne!"

"Present!" Winters stood up reflexively.

"Repeat the encounter you had with a 'suspected magic user' on the night the Saint Marco Legion attacked Red Sulfur Harbor."

Antonio's choice of words was ambiguous, not explicit. But the officers sitting here were the elite of Vineta's military, and it was impossible they failed to get the subtext of the Major General.

A suspected magic user? And a battle with our side?

The implications behind this were enormous.

In other remote regions, there might exist mages, but unless they lost their minds, they would have to be stuffed to the brim to travel such long distances to this small island to help the Tani people fight their battles.

Therefore, the magic users appearing on this island, besides the Alliance spellcasters present... could only be the Emperor's court mages.

And whether it was one of these two aiding the Tani locals, the deeper meaning behind it far transcended the issue of "a few more mages in the defending army."

So, after hearing "suspected magic user" and "battle," Winters saw the tense staff officer spellcasters begin to grow restless: shifting their collars, touching their noses, shifting their weight to the other leg... subconscious movements that betrayed the turmoil within them.

Realizing the officers were agitated, Winters organized his thoughts and concisely recounted his encounter with the masked mysterious person during the second raid on Red Sulfur Bay's battery.

This time, unlike when he told Antonio, he didn't outright say, "I think I killed a court mage," but simply described objectively the opponent's presumed use of spellcasting capabilities, as well as that suspected ancient language spell incantation, "Gather flame into fire."

After Antoine's improvements, the Alliance spellcasters all used gestures and silent casting. Since there was no need for "incantation," Winters did not know what spell incantation really was.

But before killing the old Shaman Hestas, the incantation "Gather flame into fire" by the enemy left an indelible impression on Winters.

It was neither a roar nor a scream. It was a chant, void of emotion, rhythmic, and in ancient language.

Winters had read in books: during the Sovereign Wars, the soldiers who survived the massacres of the court mages reported that the devils on the battlefield sang hymns to the Lord of Hell while slaughtering.

The officers called this act of "singing hymns" "spell incantation," because they knew those were not devils, but the most vicious lackeys of the madman Richard— the court mages.

Every time the court mages launched an attack, there were similar reports afterward. Thus, "spell incantation" was considered by the Alliance officers as a necessary precursor to the court mages' use of magic.

Based on this understanding, during the Sovereign Wars, the Alliance forces tried various tactics aimed at interrupting the enemy's incantation, such as drowning out the enemy's voice with noise, devoted believers chanting hymns together, and so on, of course, all failed in the end.

However, after personally fighting the masked man suspected of being a court mage, Winters realized that it was more appropriate to say the enemy was "casting a spell" rather than "chanting."

Imagine this: to the soldiers of the Alliance thirty years ago, who did not understand ancient language, this rhythmic recitation of spells would sound like "singing hymns in the language of demons."

Therefore, Winters reasonably speculated that the enemy's phrase "Gather flame into fire [in ancient language]" was the so-called spell incantation, or what they called a "spell."

Though he did not state it outright by the end, only... the court mages of the Emperor up north used incantation to cast spells.

After Winters concluded his brief account, someone immediately grew restless.

Major Mag coughed softly twice, frowning as he looked at Winters, "Warrant Officer Montaigne, do you mean... you've killed a court mage?"

Having been through recent events, Winters began to feel "maybe I'm really not cut out to be a career officer," he even sometimes involuntarily wondered, "Is being a career officer truly my own intention?"

So he was not eager to take this credit, but he didn't want others to think he was hogging glory.