Seventh Chapter 711: Bared Heart

He had envisioned many plans for the development of new artillery.

As the saying goes, there is no best weapon, only the most suitable one. Considering the combat opponents, battlefield environment, production level, and other aspects, he finally chose the mortar, which is capable of both long and short-range attacks and is inexpensive, to replace the outdated muzzle-loading field artillery.

Its range can effectively cover an area from two hundred meters to three thousand meters, filling the gap between heavy machine guns and fortress artillery, while enhancing the strike effect within a close-range.

Due to the existence of the Impassable Defense Line, the most important role of the mortar is to fill in the gaps. It can be carried by soldiers, crossing mountains and ridges, and establishing artillery positions at any location in the mountains. This portability is unmatched by other weapons. In addition, the elevation difference between the foothills is very common, and curved firepower can exert its maximum power in this terrain.

The production level of Neverwinter City was the reason Roland ultimately made this decision.

The structure of a mortar is much simpler than that of a howitzer. The shell body can be made of cast iron, and the barrel has no rifling, which requires lower production requirements and will not affect the production capacity of 152mm artillery. If another small-caliber field gun is developed, whether it is a recoil mechanism, a rifled barrel, or corresponding trigger fuse shells, it will conflict with the fortress artillery currently being independently produced.

If the new machine tools and processing technology have not been fully tested, even if the attempt fails, Anna can still be used as a means of emergency, using blackfire to make up for the key components of the fortress artillery, and the impact will not be too great. However, if a new type of field artillery is added, the production pressure will inevitably increase exponentially, and the First Army may fall into a dilemma of having no artillery available.

In addition, Roland also considered developing hand grenades for individual soldiers as a supplementary weapon, and even made several samples for testing, but the performance of the experimental products filled with black gunpowder was really unbearable to look at. It might be somewhat useful in the urban warfare of recapturing Graycastle, but against demon beasts and devils, its power would be far from enough.

Considering that Neverwinter City's chemical production capacity was not yet luxurious enough to equip every soldier with hand grenades filled with double-base gunpowder, he had to give up this plan.

...

After nightfall, Roland walked down from the second floor and gently knocked on the door of Anna's bedroom.

With a creak, Anna poked her head out from behind the door. Seeing that it was him, her expression seemed quite surprised.

However, this surprise lasted for less than a second, and soon a faint blush appeared on her fair face.

Walking into the room, Roland hugged her from behind, tiptoed to the bedside, and lay down with her on the soft bed.

"Why are you here tonight..."

Anna's blue eyes sparkled, like dazzling gems in the night sky.

Generally, she would take the initiative to find Roland two or three times a week. According to her, this frequency would not affect her daily work. Of course, if Roland asked, she would not refuse. However, since confessing his feelings for Nightingale, he always felt very guilty and had not taken the initiative to ask Anna for anything for a long time.

Moreover, this was the first time he had come to Anna's room in person—although she was the only witch living alone among all the witches, Yezi and Wendy were sleeping next door after all. Considering the soundproofing issue, the two of them always had in-depth emotional exchanges upstairs. Under such circumstances, it was no wonder Anna would feel surprised.

"I want to talk to you about the dream world," Roland whispered in her ear. "I didn't have time to go into detail this afternoon, and you want to know more too, right... about the life I experienced in the past."

"The dream you had is another world?" Anna quickly guessed a corner of the truth.

"That's right, it's like a world constructed based on my memories, but it has many special places, such as a natural force extremely similar to magic..."

The night Roland confessed to Anna, he discovered that she was not completely ignorant of the matter with Nightingale, but from beginning to end, she had been waiting for him to take the initiative to tell her. From that moment on, he understood Anna's approach. Although she would not hide her emotions or thoughts from him, there were some

things that she would still patiently wait for. The only reason was probably that she didn't want to make things difficult for him.

This made Roland feel vaguely worried. He didn't know where this boundary was. If one thing and two things continue to accumulate, would it gradually transform her in the direction of hiding her feelings and waiting in silence? Rather than becoming silent and taciturn because of fear of causing harm, he preferred the current Anna, who trusted him wholeheartedly and spoke frankly.

Therefore, Roland did not intend to hide anything from her any longer, even if she did not take the initiative to ask, he would pour out his heart.

Anna obviously saw through his thoughts, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. "I understand. Then let's start with your residence. In the dream, did you also live in a castle?"

"No, it was a tube building, similar to an apartment where many people live together. Everyone has a suite that is neither big nor small, and there is someone living in my room that you would never guess."

"Um... Could it be Zero?"

"Pfft—cough, cough, why?"

"It's very simple. You said that you had this dream after defeating Zero in the soul battlefield, so half of the dream's creation is related to you, and the other half is related to her, right? It's not surprising that two people who created the world appear in one place. But... she didn't attack you again later, did she?"

"Not at all. She lost all her memories before awakening and became a little kid in her teens—the kind who clearly doesn't have any hair on their lips but thinks they know everything."

"Teenager, and living together... Could it be that she became your family?"

"Uh, Zero was fostered at my place by her parents. She's considered a tenant."

"Is that so? Then you have to take good care of her."

"Why? That's just a dream."

"But didn't you say it's no different from reality? If that's the case, why bother distinguishing whether it's a dream or not?"

Roland once again marveled at Anna's thinking, which was different from ordinary people. The content of the chat seemed to be racing wildly in the direction of derailment, but seeing Anna's radiant eyes and interested tone, he didn't bother to worry about these details.

From the Soul Tower to memory fragments, and from the power of nature to the Martial Arts Association, Anna's voice gradually faded as they talked... She rested her head on Roland's arm, her chest rising and falling slightly, and her breathing became more and more steady... Although she had already fallen asleep, she held his waist tightly with her other hand, as if unwilling to let him leave. As a result, he had no way to return to his bedroom without disturbing her.

Oh well, he would spend the night here. Hopefully, no one would notice him walking out of the bedroom on the second floor tomorrow morning.

Roland kissed Anna's smooth forehead and fell into a dream with her in his arms.

Ermu says

I recommend two books: 《The Sage and the Maiden》—a story about a wise old man traveling with a loli apprentice. It can be considered a well-written cold weapon Western fantasy. The other book is 《Legendary Thief》, a fast-paced and refreshing novel about a thief crossing over to another world. Those interested can check it out :)