Mage? Magic Engineer!

The Sun Fortress was the Lowland Duchy’s key to maintaining its independence.

As the Valois Republic grew more intent on pulling the small coastal duchy into its sphere of influence and even tried to incite the populace to overthrow the Duke of Riednan’s rule, the Duke chose to seek an audience with the Empire’s new emperor.

As a result, the Lowland Duchy received substantial military aid from the Empire, and the Sun Fortress underwent retrofitting.

Thus, while the fortification still belonged to the Duchy, it had effectively become the westernmost point of the Empire’s line of defense.

Paul and his army, along with the entire strength of the National Guard’s Western Line, were concentrated for a key objective: to knock out the fortress and pass through the Lowland Duchy to attack the enemy... No, soon it would be the Lowland Federation or Republic...

The battle began at dawn. The thin coastal mist had yet to dissipate, shrouding the fortress in the distance. The fortress guarded the Duchy’s coastline and controlled the mouth of the Tams River.

The alarm warning of an enemy attack blared throughout the Sun Fortress. Soldiers and artillery fire from Valois followed in quick succession.

For a time, artillery fire from both the attackers and the fortress roared in unison. After one volley, the Valois Casters confirmed that the Sun Fortress had no Forbidden Magic Domain.

"Deploy six Giant Machineries to the battlefield. Have seven more on standby," Paul commanded. In contrast to his old commander Druao, whose unit only had a single prototype, General Paul had direct command of all thirteen Giant Machineries on the Western Line. And now, it seemed he was ready to go all-in.

His second-in-command, Pascal, said worriedly, "There’s no way the fortress doesn’t have Forbidden Magic Devices. The fact that they aren’t active now is probably a trap to lure our Giant Machineries in."

"...I know," Paul said firmly, his eyes fixed on the battlefield.

"You know? So you’re..."

"We’re going to turn their trap against them. Those Lowland merchants think they’re clever, but war isn’t business..." With that, Paul actually left his command post, entrusting the command of all his soldiers to Pascal.

The National Guard soldiers charged the fortress and, even in late autumn, soon felt the "scorching heat of the Sun." Their field artillery was outmatched; the fortress’s firepower was abundant, and its defenses were solid, even superior to Moncado Fortress.

Inside the Sun Fortress, every defender facing the enemy saw towering giants rise to their feet. They were the "Giant Machinery Assaulters" of Valois.

"They’re here! Quick, activate it!"

The first things activated were the old "pulse-style" devices. Phased out by the Empire, they had been transferred here to serve one last purpose. However, the effect was not as stunning as when five such devices were activated at once.

When the first wave of Giant Machineries was still about two thousand meters from the fortress, a tsunami-like Forbidden Magic pulse brought them to a halt. One by one, they dropped to a knee as violent bursts of steam erupted from the seams in their frames.

The fortress defenders quickly concentrated their cannon fire, attempting to bombard the Giant Machineries. With the cannons’ targets shifted, the pressure on the ground troops eased considerably. Following Paul’s orders, Pascal commanded a full-scale advance.

’He’s crazy... using such expensive Giant Machineries as bait...’ Pascal thought, watching as two of them took direct hits. Fortunately, their Power Furnaces were spared, meaning they could still be repaired.

But to the astonishment of the fortress defenders, another seven Giant Machineries appeared from the east. Once the "tsunami" had passed, they began closing in on the fortress at high speed.

’Good thing the Empire also helped build a sustained-effect version of the device...’ The Duchy’s defenders broke out in a cold sweat. They waited until the Giant Machineries had charged to within eight hundred meters of the fortress’s core before activating the device. Its area of effect wasn’t as wide as the pulse-style one, so they had to risk letting the machines get dangerously close.

Just like the first batch, the remaining seven machines all entered standby mode.

Wait... The eyes of defenders and National Guard attackers alike widened—the machine in the very center of the seven, a Giant Machinery named the "Dawn Player," was moving!

At first, it still relied on power from its internal Steam Engine, but soon the volume of vented steam decreased, and its "red eye" turned into a "blue eye."

The Magic Weaving Device installed in its Power Furnace had activated. Inside the "Black Coffin" cockpit, Paul was piloting the machine himself. He wasn’t familiar with the "Magic String" method of Casting, but the Magic Weaving Device came pre-set with a new operating mode for the Giant Machinery. Technical support had been provided by a certain new member of the Elder Council who wished to remain anonymous and had some... under-the-table deals with other council members.

He and his mech moved slowly and clumsily at first. Only after he adapted did it regain its normal speed, and its Shield also returned to full function.

This sudden development terrified the Lowland Duchy’s defenders just as much as it invigorated the members of the National Guard. A colossal vanguard, representing the dawn of victory—the roar from its mechanical core was a call to charge.

Paul’s "Dawn Player" charged forward, shrugging off cannon shells, and the entire fortress seemed to tremble. It clambered onto the fortress’s edge and, facing the firing ports of the various concrete bunkers, effortlessly unleashed flames or simply stomped them flat and smashed them to rubble.

Just as it was climbing toward the Giant Cannon at the fortress’s highest point, a loud ship’s horn suddenly blared across the sky over the battlefield.

From the sea?

There on the sea, an ironclad warship had appeared.

It was the Istani Kingdom’s newest weapon! The caliber of its main guns surpassed even that of the fortress’s Giant Cannon, the very target the "Dawn Player" was trying to destroy. The flag of the Istani Royal Family fluttered from the warship’s mast as it patrolled majestically just off the coast.

The cannons aboard the ship swiveled, taking aim at the fortress—and at the Giant Machinery that was practically crawling all over it.

’Is it going to attack both sides? Whose side is it on?’ Inside the Black Coffin, Paul’s synesthetic link with the Giant Machinery showed him the approaching danger. The mech was already low on energy, and he wasn’t sure if raising the Shield again would be enough to block a heavyweight contender that had just joined the fight.

The ironclad’s first volley was scattered; shells landed on the beach, inside the fortress, and... In the heat of the moment, Paul suddenly found that his Magic Weaving Device had connected to something called a "Spell Cloud." Without a second thought, he condensed a Slowdown Skill in the Giant Machinery’s palm. It actually worked.

Not only had he successfully performed the Casting, but he had also managed to catch a cannonball in mid-flight.

The impact fuse, of course, didn’t trigger. He then turned and hurled the shell right at the top of the fortress.

The mysterious warship suddenly powered up and began to maneuver. Soon, more vessels appeared on the horizon, but these were all wooden Sailing Ships. They flew the flag of Istani, but this time, the flags bore no royal insignia.

Although these Sailing Ships were no match for the ironclad, they maneuvered at an unnatural speed, managing to close in on the warship even at its full throttle. Demolition speedboats fitted with explosive rams were on the verge of slamming into the ironclad’s hull.

These bizarre ships, also from Istani, managed to force the ironclad away from the battlefield. More boats landed under a hail of gunfire, disembarking humans and what looked to be Gray Elves.

The exiled Istani Royal Family and the Istani Republic had both joined the battle. The latter had come to help the Valois Republic shatter the Empire’s barrier on the Western Line.

With war raging on the continent, the upheaval on the island nation had gone unnoticed. It seemed the political landscape of the Istani mainland had been completely overturned, while its former overseas colonies remained united around the Royal Family, forming a federation to oppose the new government on the mainland.

On the Eastern Line, at the other end of the front, three of the Empire’s reorganized army groups, totaling over one hundred thousand soldiers, passed through Bayern and broke into northeastern Valois. Thanks to the Bayern Kingdom’s previously near-neutral stance, and with the National Guard’s eastern forces concentrated near the "Helmut" defensive line, the Empire Army’s surprise attack caught the Republic completely off guard.

On almost the same day, the various nations south of Valois united under the call of the Order Church and marched on the Republic’s southern grain-producing regions. They joined the war, vowing to "reclaim the lands belonging to God," not hesitating even to cooperate with the Empire to do so.