Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 49: The Gradually Prominent Perfikot

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: The Gradually Prominent Perfikot

No matter how much the emergence of the Steam Knights has impacted the Imperial Military, for Perfikot, there is only one thing she needs to do next.

After the bar incident triggered by O’Connor, the matters regarding the New Continent exploration team gained the attention of the Empire’s higher-ups. Eldest Princess Annie even dispatched a team of Imperial Guard Knights to join the exploration team, responsible for the close protection of Perfikot.

Currently, Perfikot holds significant importance to the Empire, not only due to her predictions about the apocalypse and her leadership in the evacuation plan but also because she designed the Steam Knights, a weapon of war.

Perhaps compared to the previous two, Perfikot’s creation of the Steam Knights truly highlights her importance to the entire Victor Empire.

Maybe some cannot comprehend why creating a war machine is deemed more important than predicting the apocalypse and saving humanity.

But in fact, there’s no logical problem with this.

Because predicting the apocalypse and overseeing the rescue plans for it cannot be made public, and even within the high levels of the Empire, it’s considered top secret. Only a select few are privy to this information.

Otherwise, Perfikot wouldn’t need to fabricate an Arctic research plan as a cover and make substantial efforts to advance related processes.

However, Steam Knights are different, as they can be made public.

While the Steam Knights themselves are still a matter to be kept secret, their existence can be openly proclaimed throughout the entire Victor Empire and to all countries worldwide, announcing the achievements of Perfikot.

This marks the Victor Empire possessing a new weapon capable of changing the world, likely opening a new era just like the invention of the steam engine did.

After all, the steam engine only liberated productivity, whereas the Steam Knights are tangible combat power.

This is akin to when the English first built the dreadnought, inaugurating the era of dreadnoughts and becoming the ancestors of modern naval battleships.

When the English first used tanks in warfare, this new weapon became a crucial element on the battlefield, profoundly altering the form of warfare thereafter.

The Steam Knights are no different.

Twenty horsepower is not a mere number. Even in the original world Perfikot experienced before traversing, few vehicles or machinery reached that level of power.

For a single-soldier weapon, such horsepower could be considered somewhat insane.

Not to mention the concept of Power Armor, even in the original world that entered the Third Industrial Revolution, was novel and could deeply influence warfare forms.

The technology of the original world could not solve the energy issue; otherwise, concepts already appearing in sci-fi works like exoskeletons and Power Armor would have seen real-world applications.

But in this somewhat magical world, with the support of alchemy, Perfikot managed to achieve this using just steam power. It’s imaginable how significant an impact it has on the entire world.

This is an advanced concept leading by two or three hundred years; how could it not impact the world?

Especially since it marks the revival of the Age of Knights, naturally garnering support from the yet-to-disappear conservative factions.

The grandpa generals in the Military Department took out their life savings, forcing the alchemists capable of crafting Steam Knights to quickly produce a technology verification machine to attest whether Perfikot’s technology is truly feasible.

For this purpose, they not only allocated the most abundant resources but also uncovered their knight armors, which were thought to end up in their graves, handing them to the alchemists for modification, hoping to refurbish these antiques into new armors.

Given their old age, possibly missing the chance to wear new armor into battle, these grandpa generals mobilized their descendants to find suitable wearers for the new Steam Knights.

Some followed in their fathers’ footsteps and inherited the knight traditions, choosing the most outstanding among them as candidates.

Those who reached the level of Grand Knight were obviously preferred, whereas those who hadn’t but had the potential were urged by these grandpas to diligently train, aiming to break through in the shortest possible time.

And those like Perfikot’s grandfather, whose descendants weren’t quite "worthy" or didn’t inherit the family business, could only start picking suitable candidates among their old acquaintances and subordinates.

Fortunately, the Steam Age hadn’t been established for many years, and the Victor Empire had just undergone military reform, retaining numerous traditions within the army.

Though structured around knights no longer predominates military formation as in the past, the army still maintained a vast number of knights, so selecting suitable Grand Knights wasn’t an issue.

Even the Royal Family showed great interest in Steam Knights, copying Perfikot’s design and directing the Royal alchemists to replicate it, deploying a small team of Imperial Guard Knights to aid in the task.

Imperial Guard Knights start as Grand Knights; although they are ideal wearers, mobilizing them requires the personal approval of the Queen.

The entire Imperial Guard Knights consist of less than twenty teams. Each year, one team is permanently responsible for guarding the royal palace and protecting the Queen herself, while other teams are rarely mobilized.

No Royal Family member can enjoy the protection of the Imperial Guard Knights closely, not even Eldest Princess or the heir to the throne.

Now that a team has been assigned to protect Perfikot closely, it highlights the significant attention she receives.

Ultimately, the Victor Empire currently has no intention of publicly announcing to the world the impending apocalypse; they plan to advance their own strategy first. At the very least, they aim to ensure that even when faced with the apocalypse, the Victor Empire remains steadfast, continuing to survive, before considering informing other nations of this likely unhideable eventuality.

Inside the Empire, sentiments persist about keeping the matter hidden from other countries, watching them face total destruction due to insufficient preparation when the apocalypse comes.

Among them, some of the most aggressive proponents even suggest launching a war now, distracting all nations capable of resisting the disaster, preventing them from focusing on other matters and ensuring they perish in this world-ending calamity.

By then, the world will be left with only the Victor Empire; the Empire will undoubtedly rule the entire world!

Most people, however, find such a notion excessively extreme. After all, if the apocalypse indeed occurs and other countries are destroyed, the Empire won’t fare much better. In such circumstances, aspiring to govern the world seems lunatic.