Chapter 531: The Accident

Even in the end, Gawain still couldn’t fully grasp Veronica’s true intentions.

But at least one thing was clear—this saintly princess, revered by all for her devout faith, might not be as pious as she appeared. Or rather, the object of her devotion wasn’t the holy light faith crafted by the Northern Church.

The visitors to the royal capital had departed, and a vast source of wealth had been unlocked. The port leading to the Holy Spirit Plains would bring an enormous influx of gold and goods to the newly established Duchy of Cecil. The guests from the Eastern Territories had left earlier; before the arrival of the Bitter Cold Moon, the trade routes that Kord had established in the East would be fully operational.

In the lord’s study, Gawain handed a document to the Minister of Commerce, Patrick. “You’re in charge of setting up the White Sand Mining Company. You have full authority to deploy the latest mining machinery and blasting supplies. I have only one requirement: extract as much ore as possible in the shortest time, and get it all transported back.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Patrick left, Gawain bent his head again, quickly signing a second document. He placed it on a metal plate beneath the arcane network terminal. A faint hum sounded as the file was transmitted and duplicated.

A half-body projection of Sir Walder Perich appeared above the terminal. Gawain nodded to the veteran knight. “Prepare a dedicated pier in the port district of Rockhold City for merchant ships from the Holy Spirit Plains. Your orders are to bring back only the materials and all the gold listed in the attached document. The rest of the goods should be sent directly to the Rockhold Armory to be processed into swords, armor, and other weapons for transport back.”

The knight gave a crisp salute. “Understood!”

The projection vanished. Gawain rubbed his temples and exhaled softly. Amber’s voice came from behind him. “You really don’t hold back when it comes to squeezing people—it’s practically outright robbery.”

Without turning, Gawain replied, “I’m not having Walde work in front of them. And what do you mean ‘robbery’? Technical costs aren’t costs?”

“Then your technical costs must be sky-high.”

“I can’t let the Holy Spirit Plains use trade as a cover to infiltrate too many spies into the Southern Realm. They’ve already seen enough,” Gawain waved off the topic and changed the subject. “More importantly, focus on building the intelligence network in the East. Kord has opened the trade routes there. It’s time for the Intelligence Bureau to shine.”

Amber grinned smugly, waving her hand. “Don’t worry, the first batch of operatives left with Kord’s caravan long ago.”

Gawain nodded and stood, stretching his stiff joints. Just as he was about to sit back down, a distant explosion suddenly echoed—BOOM!

Amber vanished almost instantly, and Gawain’s gaze snapped toward the source—the Arcane Technology Research Institute.

Something’s wrong.

“Come with me.” “What?!”

Gawain grabbed the still-invisible Amber and left the study. Through the crystal glass window, a plume of smoke was already rising from the direction of the research institute’s buildings.

By the time Gawain arrived, a crowd had gathered around the institute. Soldiers maintained order, keeping bystanders behind the cordon. Security personnel inside the institute coordinated with the soldiers to move the injured to the plaza in front. Medics in white coats were treating burns and blast wounds, while several fully armed White Knights had also arrived to assist.

One of the buildings on the institute’s flank had been blown open, a huge hole gaping in its side, thick black smoke billowing out.

An experimental accident? Or had Rebecca finally managed to conjure a massive fireball in the lab?

Order seemed to be under control—the safety drills that had been rigorously enforced were finally paying off. Gawain pushed through the busy soldiers and medics, calling out loudly, “Who’s in charge? Report the situation!”

Amber, realizing the severity of the accident, stopped protesting and followed obediently. Her sharp eyes spotted a figure standing in a clearing. She poked Gawain’s arm. “There—Rebecca’s over there!”

Gawain looked where Amber pointed and saw Rebecca standing at the edge of the crowd, still visibly shaken.

He hurried over.

Rebecca’s face was blackened with soot, her clothes torn and ragged from the blast. Aside from some obvious scrapes, she seemed mostly unharmed. Seeing Gawain, she immediately shouted, “Sir! The lab exploded!”

“Are you okay?” Gawain quickly scanned her from head to toe. Confirming she wasn’t seriously hurt, he pressed on. “What happened? Any casualties? How did the lab explode?”

Rebecca cupped her ear, shouting louder, “Huh? The wind’s too strong—I can’t hear you!”

“She’s a bit shaken,” said Pittman, who had arrived unnoticed. The elderly man waved an oak staff near Rebecca’s head, and a faint green glow enveloped her, healing her wounds. “That should do it.”

“The wind stopped,” Rebecca blinked in surprise.

Pittman bowed slightly to Gawain. “I was testing the newly completed artificial nerve cords in a nearby lab. When I heard the explosion, I rushed over with my apprentices.”

Gawain nodded, realizing Rebecca was still dazed. He turned to Pittman. “What about casualties? How bad is the damage?”

“Three seriously injured, a dozen or so with minor wounds. The good news is no fatalities,” Pittman reported seriously. “The minor injuries are being treated by the medics. I’ve personally treated the serious cases—don’t worry, they’ll survive, though full recovery will take time. As for damage… one lab is completely destroyed, and an adjacent lab and a small warehouse were also affected. The cause of the explosion is unknown.”

Hearing no deaths, Gawain allowed himself a slight sigh of relief.

Fortunately, this was a world where supernatural powers existed, and healing magic far surpassed Earth’s medical technology. As long as no one died on the spot, they could almost always be saved.

More White Knights arrived, and order around the institute stabilized. The seriously injured were quickly moved to better-equipped facilities.

After Pittman’s treatment, Rebecca was fully recovered but stood before Gawain with her head hanging low, looking like she was ready to be scolded—though with her practiced posture, even Hetty might hesitate to lay a hand on her.

Gawain had no intention of punishing her—not until he understood the situation. Clearing his throat, he said, “Tell me exactly what happened.”

“We were testing the engine,” Rebecca said, shrinking her neck. “The arcane train’s engine… and then it exploded.”

“The arcane train’s engine?” Gawain’s eyes widened. “You’ve already built the engine for the arcane train?”

“No,” Rebecca shook her head vigorously. “If we had, it wouldn’t have exploded. We just made a giant amplifier and a high-power arcane network setup to see how much power it would take to drive such a big engine. And then it blew up.”

She shrank back again. “I know you said the train project isn’t urgent, but I wanted to do some preliminary tests… And I didn’t delay any other projects! But the lab did blow up…”

Looking at Rebecca, who resembled a frightened rabbit, Gawain couldn’t help but smile wryly. Of course, he wouldn’t punish her for running these tests, but he needed to investigate the accident thoroughly and begin damage control immediately.

An explosion at the Arcane Technology Research Institute was no small matter. Though people often joked, “No mage’s lab ever goes without an explosion,” this institute was far beyond the typical “mage’s lab” of the era. It involved many ordinary people, and its operations were closely tied to the lives of the citizens. The ripple effects of this blast could be significant.

Moreover, Rebecca’s description of the test project gave Gawain a vague but growing concern: the arcane train’s development was unlikely to be smooth.

Just testing the high-power arcane engine’s amplification and power supply modules had already caused such an accident…

Over the next several minutes, Gawain gathered detailed information from Rebecca about the moments before the explosion—the lab environment, test data, technical methods used. The more he learned, the more certain he became.

Compared to other arcane technologies developed so far in Cecil, the arcane train had many unique challenges.

Gawain knew that early trains on Earth were relatively simple structures with low technical demands. But in this world, low-tech steam engines couldn’t be built. The arcane train had to start with a rotary engine, making its technical starting point even higher than that of automobiles.

Immature large-scale arcane engines, complex amplification devices, and arcane network structures that required rigid connections due to rune scale limitations—all these factors greatly increased the difficulty of developing the arcane train. And there was an even bigger problem: the arcane train was a thoroughly “arcane industrial” product, built on entirely new foundations. Many traditional magical techniques were ineffective in this field.

Cecil had already developed many seemingly incredible “advanced” technologies—arcane network terminals combining instant communication, holographic images, and file transfer; rainbow cannons using energy beams as weapons; thermal ray guns; White Knights’ inverse holy light devices. These seemed revolutionary, even ahead of their time. But Gawain knew the truth: these were extensions and recombinations of existing magical technologies. Outsiders marveled at their rapid development, but those in the know understood the high level of this world’s technology. It was precisely because of the solid foundation laid by existing magic that Cecil’s arcane industry had progressed so smoothly.

The arcane train, however, had gone too far down the arcane industrial path. Old magical techniques could no longer provide significant breakthroughs.

No existing magic could further optimize the arcane network or arcane engine. Progress here depended on breakthroughs from Jenny’s Rune Research Institute and other materials science and engineering departments. It seemed Rebecca had run into problems in this area.

Fortunately, when the arcane train concept was first proposed, Gawain had anticipated the project’s difficulty and was mentally prepared.

“Ancestor…” Rebecca couldn’t help but scratch her head as she watched Gawain sink into deep thought. She guessed she probably wouldn’t get scolded today, so she cautiously asked, “So… should we pause the project for now?”

Gawain snapped out of his reverie. Seeing the hopeful look on Rebecca’s soot-streaked face, he had already made up his mind.

“We can continue. I’ll find a way to handle the aftermath of this incident. But given the lesson we’ve learned, all testing phases of the mana-powered train project must be moved far away from the city. Also, the experimental procedures need to be completely overhauled, and safety measures redesigned to ensure the protection of the staff—keeping people and equipment strictly separated…”

Rebecca listened carefully, ticking off each point as Gawain spoke with equal seriousness.

In the course of technological progress, accidents are inevitable. Back when the territory was first being developed, Heddy’s lab had been blown up by one of Rebecca’s crystals. Yet, those crystals were never banned; instead, they went on to shine brilliantly in military and engineering fields.

As magical technology advances, the scale of energy humans can control will only grow larger. Today’s explosion won’t be the last, nor the most powerful. But if even Rebecca is ready to keep moving forward, then Gawain certainly is too.

To keep going, all they can do is be as careful as possible, exercise extreme caution, and do everything they can to ensure safety—then try again.

(End of chapter)