Rupegia

 

Today is the 16th, Ekt, day of Electricity. Not really advantageous for anything we're going to do today. It's still the best day to start a journey, though, so a few relief platoons of Lordsguard and one platoon of Companions have taken an elven transport ship in Goldcross (the edge of cheap [Eternal Gate] for us) and are beginning their journey towards the Sky Lands.

As for me, I wake up to a little girl gently sucking the tip since her jaw hurts too much to deepthroat me, but she looks so cute with the pink, engorged head of my Cock inside her mouth that it makes up for it. And she even gives me a cute little smile as she continues to suck me, so I give her another load to swallow.

 

No skill ups, not even Aoi, as her [Machining] skill is of the dense kind to save on "soul potential"/"skill points," so she won't be leveling it up very frequently.

I suddenly get a craving for a turmeric "latte," so I decide to make it myself. A nice cup of hot milk, a generous spoonful of sugar, a little piece of Buried Goat Horn (ginger), a healthy pinch of Unguente (cinnamon), and a big dose of Gold-meric (yeah…). Then you whisk it all until a bit of froth builds up, and you have your turmeric cappuccino. Vanilla and cloves are also great to add to it, but I wanted something a bit more "basic" this time.

Maybe I should make an espresso machine…

"I prefer coffee," Lina immediately announces after taking a sip, and Ciel, Aoi, and Alissa nod in agreement.

"I prefer this," Yunia pompously replies, then takes a sip, and Hana, Roxanne, and Caterina nod in agreement.

We turn to Kaatohe, Urmeie, and Belind, but they seem hesitant to opine.

"I like both," my naked cat diplomatically declares, but I do believe she has a truly patrician taste.

"I don't care for either," Urmeie predictably evades. She's no fun.

And so, the pressure mounts for Belind, who's too kind to give a hasty answer to this divisive subject within our family.

Not-Tinkerbell's bubbly expression stiffens as the gears inside her head turn, and she even glances at Ciel, but the angel has been corrupted, and even she won't give in on this matter, so the pixie clears her throat and tactfully begins her defensive speech, "I… feel like coffee has more potential" -the coffee girls cheer victoriously- "but I currently want to drink the gold-meric drink." And now the turmeric girls cheer, but it's a bit more restrained since they understand that coffee still has more appeal, and it goes better with chocolate than their drink.

But the issue has been settled, and civil war has been averted… for today.

 

I decide to skip our mana circulation training so that I can start building my baby with my own hands, as it's a lot quicker than even using the golems, especially when you have zero safety features. Like I said, I just want a proof of concept that I can give to the engineers for them to perfect.

Now it's time to assemble my boy.

A thick and long body that can fit as many shells as possible; a big [Telekinesis] crystal that turns a crank for propulsion; seats for the driver, loader, gunner, and commander; storage grates that push the shells forward with use like a magazine; levers to control the engine and gear shifting; and a small periscope for the driver.

Then I work on the big turret. Its shape is nice and round like a delicious tit; a long cannon for deep penetration power; an adjustable scope for the gunner; levers with their own engine for fast traversal and elevation; and a periscope for the commander.

And finally, the tracks are their own little puzzle. I assemble the gears, connect them to the engine, and add the suspension. Then I link the tracks and fix all the little additive errors caused by my amateurish planning skills. It takes such a long time that I skip lunch, but the time still flies by in the blink of an eye.

 

"Oh, God, what is it now?" Lily quietly asks as she enters the viewing room, low enough that our men don't hear her, but the Princesses are still nearby.

"Why aren't you excited?" Belind innocently questions as she floats low enough that Samkelo can't get a view of her panties. Gods bless her because she actually thinks that a weapon reveal from me should be exciting for most people.

"Because Wolfy is a nerd," the brash loli answers as she takes her seat.

And not-Tinkerbell frowns confusedly. "A what…?"

"A person who is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a particular scholarly subject, even to their detriment," Ted robotically answers while floating in front of the curtains.

But the Princess' frown deepens. "That sounds like a pejorative." And she seems like she's gearing up to verbally put down Lily for her lack of reverence.

"Earthlings enjoy being abrasive to each other too much," Ciel makes a low-effort attempt at bridging the two cultures because she doesn't have that much sympathy for Lily.

"They call it 'banter,'" Lina follows up, just a little bit sour at how often she's been the target of my teasing, though she does enjoy the attention.

"It feels like crushing a man's balls," Yunia pompously remarks as if she's talking about fine Eia extract.

"Do you know how that actually feels?" Samkelo predictably questions.

And she predictably answers with a smug little smile, "No. Do you want to volunteer?"

"I'll pass…" he hums and looks away with a smirk, but I bet that if she were more seductive, he would've agreed.

This disarms Belind's anger, but it's traded for concern. "Is verbal abuse common among Earthlings? It sounds worrying, really."

"Just give them a warning bite, and they'll stop because they're cowardly," Urmeie grunts dismissively and snorts.

But now not-Tinkerbell sighs. "That also seems unnecessarily brutish and abrasive."

And now it's the bear princess that looks like she's gearing up for a verbal battle.

So Alissa subtly rolls her eyes as she's forced to interject before the two can start biting each other, "Everyone's being playful, but sometimes they can go a bit overboard, yes." And she shoots a pointed stare at the abrasive loli that's not so subtly in question.

"I'm sorry about my tone; I'm still learning things," Lily apologizes in a way that's barely passable, but at least it's better than nothing.

The rest of the audience is the High Officers and our soldiers, who are doing their best not to eavesdrop on the personal conversation, but Brett gives worried glances at the Earthlings, likely concerned because "going overboard" when it comes to nobility usually leads to some very bad consequences.

But I'm ready now, so I walk into the room, and everyone falls silent, an effect that I love very much. The dragon is telling me to cultivate a more "kingly" presence, and I'm starting to like the idea.

Anyway, I stop in front of everyone's seats, with the curtains behind me, then calmly begin my short speech, "Sirs and Dames, I won't waste any of our time explaining things when I can just let it speak for itself. Let me present to you the first combat tank, the Horned Guardian M1."

And the curtains open up, revealing a dirt "playground" with the big-ass tank right in front of us. It's similar to the IS-3 Soviet tank as it's very round, but the turret has that modern square extension at the back for increased storage capacity. Its skin is all made of dark-gray Crystallwood, but the tracks (which are partially covered by a skirt), as well as any delicate instruments, are made of machined steel.

Its armor is at least ten times as thick as the usual breastplate, so it's a heavy beast, but the gem is so powerful that you can drift as if it's a modern car. In fact, you can even overload the gem with mana and give it a "nitro" boost, but that just ruins all of the mechanics, so it's not advised.

There's a rifle mounted on the body and the turret, but they're just placeholders for when we get actual machine guns. Maybe the one on the hull will be unnecessary, but there was free space, so why not?

"I fucking knew it was a tank," Lily whispers with a chuckle.

"That looks… like an IS-3," Thant remarks, looking quite interested.

And I cheerfully exclaim, "Exactly! It was my inspiration, with how round it was."

Roxanne dramatically glances at Ciel's and Hana's tits for effect, then mischievously questions, "Are you sure it wasn't something else? That 'tank' looks like a very juicy… breast."

I roll my eyes but play along a bit, "The roundness comes from the need to deflect projectiles… but the actual shape might've been inspired by 'certain things' that I have easy access to."

Ciel doesn't even react as she's used to cow tit jokes, but Hana's feeling cheeky, so she also makes her joke, "Where are the veins on the dick?"

"I thought about adding vines and camouflage, but I didn't have the time," I answer truthfully.

And she nods as she hums soberly, "It needs veins."

"That's a horn, not a dick," Aoi dryly points out. She's not that addicted to phallic shapes unless they resemble mine.

"Then it needs ribbing," Hana retorts with a smirk.

"For her pleasure," Samkelo can't help but meme.

This time, Lily doesn't get mad at the lewd joke because she almost said it herself.

But we stop here, as the rest of the audience seems to have more serious questions.

"Is this Earthling technology? Those tracks look like something gnomic," Belind asks the moment my eyes turn in her direction.

And I calmly answer, "It's both. Caterpillar tracks are just the best way to get heavy vehicles through difficult terrain."

But she seems confused. "'Caterpillar'?"

"We call them chain plate tracks, but they're the same thing," Looklwind answers in my stead since I actually forgot to ask him the Rupegian name for it.

There don't seem to be any other questions, so I promptly move on, "Now, enough banter and chatter; let me show you what it can do."

Then Jarn gives the signal to the hobgoblin crew inside the tank, and they begin the demonstration. The crew of a tank needs to communicate verbally, so it had to be monsters because the elementals are mute, and hobgoblins have more human-like proportions than orcs or any other monster.

The engine doesn't need to be "turned on," as the driver just presses the accelerator pedal, which pushes the storage gem close enough to the [Telekinesis] gem that it automatically starts absorbing mana and activates, so the tank is very silent as it moves. Its acceleration is also insane, but I'm afraid it could break something if it goes too hard, so the driver summon has been instructed to be careful.

It still accelerates faster than you'd expect of something so massive. And then they start going through the obstacle course. Trenches, hills, mud, tight turns, it can do them all, and due to its insane horsepower and excellent gnomic transmission system, it can even race.

Then it stops and fires its massive 120mm cannon, and the horse-sized target disappears behind a cloud of smoke. When the dust settles, there's only a crater left where it was.

"Holy shit," Samkelo whispers and chuckles. It's the first time they've seen a HE round, so it's understandable that they'd be surprised.

"I survived getting shot with that," Brett suddenly remarks, sounding a bit timid but still proud, and I hold back a visible wince as I feel bad for doing that to him.

"That round actually has less power than the one you endured," Hana explains, not feeling a shred of the shame that I am.

"We're not shooting you with one, Lily," Yunia immediately states, surprising the loli, but she doesn't even complain.

"That cannon doesn't look like it's made of darksteel. Is it ready to be mass-produced?" Sandoro questions soberly, completely unfazed by the previous banter.

And it's a very good question that I properly answer, "I didn't have the time to stress test it, so I added a [Reinforce] enchantment to it. Also, I only used the 120mm round because we have a load of them left. We can totally use smaller cannons if all we're going to fight are swarms of Titan infantry."

"Did you say one hundred and twenty millimeters…?" Thant repeats, his white ears cutely perking up as he attentively waits for my answer.

But I correct, "Millimetri, a Rupegian unit. I have no idea how it compares to Earth's millimeters."

And his ears cutely go flat. "Right, I keep forgetting that…"

"From this talk, I assume that this cannon uses an enlarged bullet, correct?" Lookwlind curiously questions.

And I snort softly. "More like an enlarged bomb, though we do have one that's just an enlarged bullet. We've built and tested a few different types of rounds for specific situations, but they're all over-engineered, so the next step is to focus on improving their cost-benefit ratio."

Then the dull-looking Prince suddenly smiles like a child on Christmas. "Everything related to you ends in numbers. It's rare to find someone who values mathematics so much," he confesses with a dreamy tone, and he sounds so genuine that not even the girls feel like making gay jokes about us.

He reminds me a bit of Lyle, and as a budding older bro, I feel a sort of protectiveness for him, so, of course, I have to say something pretentiously corny to make him happy, "Only math can reveal the truth of the world."

"A teaching from Saint Wolfy," Roxanne jokes… and Lily would roast me so hard right now if she could. But what's concerning is that Caterina and the rest of our men seem to nod in agreement.

Then the Guardian continues along the course, and it even drifts once, which confuses me because I didn't order the driver to do that. I can't read the thoughts of the summons, so I'll need to question the hob about it.

"What is the advantage of using a land vehicle instead of just an armored airship?" Hihiriwa suddenly questions, and Oritiki also seems very interested in the answer.

Neither of them are at risk of losing their jobs since they serve their own purposes, so I give them a reassuring comparison, "Mana efficiency is higher. For long distances, it's better to use an airship for transport, but the tank will use far less mana in combat than an airship. In the end, both will have their purposes, like how cavalry doesn't replace infantry."

And then Lily opens her mouth and asks something that's not that smart, "Just one thing: we're in the f-… we're in the sky, so where are you going to use a tank?"

So I hold back the sass and answer semi-straight, "Even the Japanese have tanks, Lily. The Titans need land for their population, and when it's time to invade their cities, the tanks will shine."

"It seems like you can just throw a few of these at their infantry and crush them, so it can replace shock cavalry like the imperial Ronti, something the Sky Landers lack," Yunia amusedly remarks, eager to see a tank charge.

"That's very much true," I agree and flash a smile.

 

And so, the demonstration ends. Lookwlind is too busy with the full-auto research, so I work on the tank by myself. But where do I even start…?

I'm too dumb to make a firing mechanism, so I guess I can just focus on testing different bullet sizes since I have an army of test subjects that I can summon at will. I want to have calibers ready for a heavy machine gun, an autocannon, a light tank, and a less ridiculously overengineered field gun.

The round for the field gun comes first since the men have already used one in battle, but I'm predicting that I'll have to reduce the caliber, or else the gun will break without enchantments since the round is overkill. I'll still make another steel-only 120mm Field Gun so we have some data on how Lina's and Aoi's treated steel handles it. We had previously filled the bullet with enchantments to increase the blast, but I'll remove all of them and convert it into a simple frag round.

We still don't have enough golems in our factory line, and we'll likely never have enough, so I make more machinists while working on my plans as I need to wait for the field gun to be finished. Now I need to think about what caliber will be best.

The overengineered 120mm shell actually has so much power and goes so straight that we didn't have to bother with ballistics, so I believe I should focus on visual identification range as my limiting factor for the caliber. Our optics technology isn't that great, and I don't want to require the gunner and the commander to have [Eagle Eye] to use the gun as that defeats the point of it, so it makes sense to make a round that flies as far as we can accurately shoot it.

But first, I need a graded firing range so that I can measure the travel distance of the rounds because I'm too dumb to be able to calculate all of that. Second, I need to establish a routine that I can teach the golems to automate some of this process so that it can continue while we sleep. Third, I need to start documenting the damage and kill zones for the rounds.

"I can help with that!" Roxanne, our resident mad scientist, cheerfully volunteers in my soul space, then immediately hunches her back in shame of being so happy about a rather grim topic.

Aoi doesn't even say anything since she doesn't mind, but it's the "torturing monsters is also a Sin" that really makes my crazy succubus feel conflicted.

"It's really fine, Roxanne," I reassure her,

"You should be asking me if it's fine," Yunia, her research partner on that body-freezing nail magic, sternly states.

So Roxanne forces a guilty smile as she slowly asks, "Is it fine…?"

And Yunia frowns as she dryly hums, "Yes…"

 

Ciel has a bit of free time, so her eagerness finally overpowers her prudent restraint, and she does something mildly selfish: she checks on the enchanter working on her angel wings. I'm also curious, but I have to hide my growing concern from her to avoid ruining her moment.

If the Titans aren't attacking, there's a chance that they're coming up with their own way to get through the spirits' resistance to the body-freezing nails. I think we need to attack the moment the men are comfortable with their rifles, or we'll regret it.