The mont the King’s permission was granted, the crew sprang into action.
Each mber moved with practiced efficiency.
The kind of coordination that could only be achieved through countless hours of training.
Sergeant Reed climbed into the driver’s position.
The others quickly followed.
Several hatches slamd shut.
For a brief mont, silence settled over the testing grounds.
Then the engine roared to life.
The sound hit the audience like a physical force.
A deep chanical growl echoed across the field as the entire machine vibrated beneath the sudden surge of power.
Several horses tied near the rear of the observation platform imdiately beca restless.
A few nobles visibly flinched.
The Warhound itself remained motionless.
Yet the sheer noise coming from the armored vehicle was enough to make everyone understand that this was no ordinary machine.
Prince Cassian’s grin widened.
The Grand Marshal’s eyes narrowed.
King Alaric remained expressionless.
The Royal Guardian simply sipped his tea.
The engine continued rumbling like so enormous steel beast awakening from slumber.
Then the vehicle began moving.
Slowly at first.
The massive tracks rolled forward with surprising smoothness.
Dirt shifted beneath the treads.
The Warhound accelerated steadily across the field.
Its size made the movent seem unnatural.
Several nobles instinctively expected sothing so large to be slow.
Instead it crossed the terrain effortlessly.
The vehicle reached the first obstacle.
A trench nearly three ters wide.
Several nobles leaned forward.
Then the Warhound simply drove across.
The front section dipped slightly.
The tracks gripped the earth.
Monts later the vehicle climbed out of the trench and continued forward as if nothing had happened.
A murmur spread through the crowd.
The next obstacle was a steep incline.
Again the vehicle advanced.
Again it succeeded.
Without difficulty.
Without requiring any assistance.
By the ti the Warhound completed the obstacle course, many of the generals were no longer watching with curiosity.
They were watching with concern.
And it was always more valuable than admiration.
Concern ant they had begun imagining battlefields.
Imagining consequences.
Imagining what would happen if such machines appeared against their own forces.
The Grand Marshal was already doing exactly that.
And judging by his expression, he didn’t like the answers.
The vehicle eventually returned to the firing range.
Captain Hale stepped forward once more.
"We will now demonstrate the primary weapon system."
His voice remained calm.
As if destroying fortifications was simply another part of the day’s schedule.
Several hundred ters away stood the first target.
A reinforced timber fortification.
Thick wooden walls.
Heavy support beams.
The sort of defensive structure commonly used throughout the kingdom.
Captain Hale pointed toward it.
"This structure was constructed according to standard military specifications."
Several engineers nodded.
They had personally inspected it.
No tricks.
No deception.
The fortification was genuine.
Captain Hale raised a hand.
The gunner adjusted the turret.
The cannon slowly rotated.
The sound of tal moving against tal echoed across the field.
Then everything beca still.
For a brief mont, complete silence settled over the range.
The gun fired.
The explosion was deafening.
Several nobles physically jumped.
The shockwave rolled across the field.
A bright flash erupted from the muzzle.
Then the shell crossed the distance almost instantly.
The impact was devastating.
The reinforced wall simply exploded.
Wood shattered,Support beams snapped.
Fragnts flew through the air.
An entire section of the fortification vanished beneath a cloud of splinters and dust.
Absolute silence imdiately among everyone
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Several nobles stared at the ruined target.
Then looked at the cannon.
Then looked back at the ruined target.
As if their minds refused to accept what they had witnessed.
The shell had not damaged the fortification.
It had punched straight through it.
The Grand Marshal slowly lowered his binoculars.
"Gods."
It was the first ti anyone had heard him swear all day.
The old commander looked genuinely shocked.
Which only made the reaction more significant.
Captain Hale calmly raised another hand.
The second target stood farther away.
This one consisted of stone barriers reinforced with timber supports.
Again the cannon fired.
Again the battlefield shook.
the shell struck,Stone exploded.
Fragnts scattered in every direction.
It was almost like a rhythm
The barrier collapsed almost instantly.
Several military engineers exchanged stunned glances.
The calculations they had made from reports suddenly seed to make lot of sense.
Captain Hale waited until the dust settled.
Then spoke.
"Machine gun demonstration."
The attention of the audience shifted.
Compared to the cannon, the machine guns seed unimpressive.
Smaller,less dramatic.
Almost harmless.
That assumption lasted only a few seconds.
Hundreds of wooden silhouettes stood arranged across a distant section of the range.
Representing infantry formations.
The gunner adjusted his aim.
Then squeezed the trigger.
The MG-34 ca alive.
BRRRRRRTTTTTTT!
The iconic chanical roar shattered the air.
A continuous stream.
A wall of bullets.
The sound alone caused several nobles to flinch.
The weapon continued firing.
BRRRRRRTTTTTTT!
Wood exploded across the range.
Target after target shattered.
Splinters flew everywhere.
Entire rows of silhouettes disappeared beneath the storm of bullets.
The machine gun finally stopped.
For a brief mont, the audience simply stared.
One noble asked another"how does this compares to our guns"
Everyone visibly swallowed at this.
Then the second MG-34 opened fire.
This ti the target were armored knight silhouettes consisting of steel armor widely used by kingdom knights.
BRRRRRRTTTTTTT!
The result was even worse.
The targets were annihilated.
Dozens vanished within seconds.
The firing ceased.
Smoke drifted lazily from the barrels.
There were visible holes within the armor many were just sohow hanging there.
The nobles finally understood why Elarion’s enemies spoke of machine guns with such fear.
One noble swallowed visibly.
"How long..."
His voice sounded oddly weak.
"How long can it maintain that?"
Captain Hale answered imdiately.
"Long enough."
The response sohow made the situation worse.
The Grand Marshal folded his arms.
His expression had beco grim.
The cannon alone would have been revolutionary.
The machine guns alone would have been revolutionary.
Together?
That was sothing else entirely.
Prince Cassian was the first to break the silence.
"How many can you make?"
Every military officer present understood the question imdiately.
Not how powerful or how expensive.
How many?
Because once a weapon proved effective, numbers beca everything.
Lucien t the prince’s gaze.
Then answered"For now we produce 23 every month which can be ramped up."
And for the first ti that day, several nobles genuinely looked afraid.
Because the number was far larger than they had expected.
Far larger than they had hoped.
And Far larger than they were comfortable with.
The Royal Guardian noticed every reaction.
And silently filed them away.
Captain Hale rested his hand against the turret.
"The Warhound carries ammunition for all onboard weapon systems and enough rations for crew to maintain tank operations without coming out of tank."
One of the military engineers imdiately raised his hand.
"How much rounds can be stored for the main gun?"
The captain nodded.
"A total of sixty rounds for the fifty-seven milliter cannon."
Several officers began writing.
The captain continued.
"The ammunition types vary according to mission requirents."
"High explosive rounds."
"Armor-piercing rounds."
"Fragntation rounds."
"The exact ratio can be adjusted before deploynt depending upon what suits the battlefield."
The Grand Marshal nodded approvingly.
That was sensible choice.
A battlefield weapon needed flexibility.
The captain then gestured toward the machine gun mounts.
"The MG-34 ammunition is belt-fed heavy machine gun and it also carries iron sights for range determination."
"Each ammunition belt contains two hundred and fifty rounds."
Several nobles looked confused.
The military officers did not.
They imdiately understood what that number ant.
The captain continued.
"Additional ammunition is stored throughout the vehicle but if the situation demands we can store can spare belts on the tank outer shell."
"The standard combat load consists of approximately five thousand rounds for each gun."
A murmur spread across the audience.
Even so officers looked impressed.
One military engineer lowered his notebook.
"Five thousand for each gun?"
Captain Hale nodded.
"Yes."
The engineer stared at the machine gun.
Then at the destroyed targets.
Then back at the machine gun.
For the first ti he began appreciating just how much sustained firepower the vehicle possessed.
Another officer raised a question.
"Reload ti?"
The captain answered imdiately.
"A trained crew can replace an empty machine-gun belt in 5-7seconds."
The officer slowly nodded.
The Grand Marshal folded his arms.
"How long can it remain operational before requiring overhaul?"
Captain Hale looked toward him.
"Under normal combat conditions, a single Warhound can remain engaged for extended periods before requiring resupply and repairs."
The old commander grunted.
That was military language for:
A very long ti.
Several nobles were beginning to realize sothing uncomfortable.
The cannon was impressive.
The machine guns were terrifying.
But the truly frightening part was that the machine could continue fighting long after most soldiers would have exhausted their ammunition.
The Royal Guardian noticed the reactions.
Especially among the military officers.
Most weren’t impressed anymore.
They were calculating.
Which was exactly what he wanted.
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