Chapter 56: Terror of the Seas
With the light of the morning sun filtering through the blinds of her windows, Michelle woke up with a rare faint smile on her face.
Well it rare when compared to her overall daily routine during the entirety of her lifetime.
However, Michelle found that it became a lot more common for a smile to form on her face these days.
On top of this, her peers and subordinates alike have both commented that she has been more friendly or at least more approachable as of late.
Perhaps it was because at least in part, things were starting to become more interesting.
For once in both of Michelle's lives combined, she felt 'alive.'
No longer was she bored by inactivity nor was she bored by 'ingenuine' entertainment.
And in truth, she had to thank her past life for that.
Who knew a single wish could go so far?
With that faint smile still on her face, Michelle subconsciously muttered a single sentence to herself.
"Some intense date huh?.."
As she said this, sudden images of that fateful day flashed within Michelle's mind. However, she quickly placed these thoughts aside as she got up from her bed before she proceeded to do her morning stretches.
It was just one of the few habits that she still continued to hold even after she experience death and was well into her second life.
In her first life she would often tell herself that these morning stretches were important for her health and flexibility but if she was really being honest with herself, it was only a monotonous activity she repeated to pass the time.
Nevertheless, she still continued to stretch every morning, especially now that she was in an exceptionally good mood.
When she finished stretching, she heard a knocking on the door, presumably from one of her knights or servants.
[What perfect timing. Everything just seems to be going to right today.] With thoughts such as these running through her head, Michelle allowed the person who knocked on her door to enter into her room.
"You are free to enter."
"As you wish my lady."
In a somewhat awkward manner, a servant opened the door before proceeding to hand over a set of papers to Michelle.
After taking the letter and skimming over its contents, Michelle cast the servant a quick glance before giving him another order.
"You may leave. I will call for you when the time comes."
The servant only nodded silently before he complied with Michelle's orders, quickly leaving the room in an orderly manner.
Finally left alone, Michelle was once again free to do as she wished without worrying for her reputation. Of course she knew that she was seen as enigmatic and eccentric by her Breetish subordinates and rivals alike, but as long as she continued to hold a domineering and threatening presence, Michelle had nothing to worry about.
As she read the reports, the faint smile that was already on her face started to grow wider and wider.
It would seem that she read another interesting report today.
While she was aware of the crusader's defeat at the hands of the Drussians, she has yet to know the finer details. In what is arguably Katholicism's greatest defeat, a seemingly unstoppable crusade composing of over 250,000 men was annihilated by a mere army which consisted of a little over 45,000 men.
Although the Drussians did suffer more than 20,000 casualties, that was nothing compared to the entire 100% of the 250,000 strong crusader army being entirely wiped out.
The way the Drussian's victory was achieved was through a rather standard stratagem which would have been utilised by which respective side was smaller.
It was a combination of the 'scorched earth' and 'defeat in detail' tactics which took advantage of the Drussians highly mobilised Dragoon divisions to strike the unprepared and undefended crusaders who have yet to properly join the battle and get into their battle positions.
Although that didn't mean that there weren't any new interesting developments. As Michelle predicted, the other kingdoms started utilising primitive versions of line warfare although comments from commanding officers during the battle often mocked how it sorely required development.
The other interesting development was that the Drussians seemed to have introduced another weapon into their arsenal, this time being the 'horse artillery.' Unlike the Drussian howitzers, their horse artillery kept the same general design of the typical low-angled cannons.
The difference between the horse artillery and the typical cannons was the fact that it's metal plating was thinner and its barrel had a lower calibre in order to lighten its weight. The reason being its namesake, it was horse artillery. It was meant to be easily manoeuvrable, being literally moved around the battle field with a team of horses.
These factors, combined with the abilities of the respective army's commanders made it obvious who would be the victor once one put even the slightest bit of thought into it.
However, that didn't change the fact that it was a 'miraculous' victory from the Drussians perspective and a 'disastrous' defeat from the point of view of Katholism. As was the standard practice with the Drussian Imperial Army, they executed all of their prisoners of war in a similar manner to the Elgon Massacre during the Panish-Drussian conflict over two years ago.
All of the P.oW.s who surrendered to the Imperial Army were systematically executed the day after their surrender, typically by firing squad but hangings may be reserved for commanding officers if a town was nearby.
There was no doubt that Maxwell was the one responsible for this aspect of the Drussian war doctrine, after all, conventional nobles were always wary of spilling 'noble blood,' especially if it was the blood of a member of the royal family.
Although nobles were typically fine with the death of nobles during the course of a battle, the execution, especially the public execution of a noble with royal blood usually made the stomachs of these 'nobles' turn. It was almost comical in a way.
Even Michelle was surprised by the fact that Maxwell was able to convince the vassal nobles who served in his initial Violet Army into following this sort of doctrine but when she asked Maxwell herself, a year ago, his only response was something along the lines of.
"I'm often impressed with how logical an educated mind from this era can be when it is presented with facts. They really are willing albeit somewhat reluctantly to accept whatever their superiors say as long as they are presented with enough evidence. Especially when you mention that their enemy may do the same to them."
There was no need for Michelle to explain what Maxwell said.
However, that was not his only impressive feat.
His other feat would be the way he utilised the artisans of this world in a way that Michelle couldn't believe that she hasn't even conceived.
It was the fact that the development and research of weapons of this world was exponentially faster when compared to the speed of weapon's development and research of their original world.
And the answer was simple.
Arcane magic.
Arcane magic meant that while precise metalworking in mass numbers could not be achieved, it can still be done when it should have been otherwise impossible in their original world.
Arcane magic meant that massive components of weapon design were no longer necessary. After all there was no longer any need to take into account how to spark the gunpowder of bullet cartridge thanks to the technique of arcane magic.
That was how they developed breechloading weapons, howitzers and even gatling guns in a speed that logically speaking should have been impossible. However, that was only impossible in the context of their original world.
Arcane magic made all the difference.
It was just that Maxwell had prior knowledge of how firearms would develop and as such was able to steer and guide his weapon's development in the right direction instead of the random sporadic weapons developments of their original world.
However, that did not mean that Michelle wasn't making weapons developments of her own.
In fact, she made a development that would blow even Maxwell's gatling guns out of the water.
Literally out of the water.
Michelle felt the wide smile on her face curve upwards as she approached her window.
Soon, she opened the blinds to reveal the sight of her two personal ships waiting on stand by on the coast.
One of them was her original ship and the current capital ship of her fleet, the 'Dragonhawk,' a massive 'ship of the line' and was armed with 74 guns in total, 37 on both sides. It was Michelle's most prized possession.
Emphasis on the word 'was.'
While it was even considered an experimental ship by her peers, now, it was outclassed by its younger sister.
A massive ship which was the same size as the Dragonhawk, if not, it was even larger.
While its gun count was yet to be seen, it was estimated to have around 35, a gun count that wasn't even half of the Dragonhawk's. The difference being, that when this literal beast is done, that gun count won't even matter.
And that was because of the caliber and nature of the younger ship's guns.
And that was due to the new ship's inherent nature and design.
For the new ship was not a ship of the line nor was it any conventional ship produced in this era.
For this ship was a true steel dreadnought.
The very first of its kind.
A secret product that Michelle has been to work on ever since she has seen Maxwell's breechloading weapons.
She really had to thank Maxwell for giving her the idea in the first place.
Perhaps she could do that later.
For the dreadnought was yet to finish development.
That empty shell hanging at her coast was just the mere hull of the ship.
An unarmed hull meant to impose its almighty presence into all those who decided to visit Michelle in these recent months.
Of course, the dreadnought needed a name and for its name Michelle went with something rather simple.
It's name was 'Superbia' for 'superbia' meant 'pride in a certain language of her original world.
And once it is finished, it would be a true terror of the seas, it was still Michelle's ultimate 'pride.'
Her most prized procession that symbolised that while Maxwell ruled the lands, it was Michelle that ruled the seas.
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