I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

‘Where are we going?’

While the off-road vehicle stopped to refuel, Bratt could not help but ask. Betty, who was replacing the new energy crystal in her Exoskeleton Armor, glanced at him:

“We’re heading to the jungle between Mitra State and Bas State. It’s more suitable for concealment there. The air cavalry units of the Kingdom of Pue Lent are troublesome. Just in case, we’ll wait for the Empress-class Airship to arrive.”

In fact, if it weren’t for the 50-meter combat airship being relatively clumsy in aerial combat, Betty could have simply sent Bratt onto the airship and considered the mission complete.

But she could not take that risk. If they really ran into the enemy’s air cavalry and got surrounded, it would be disastrous. Bratt was not like Mecha Soldiers who had multiple layers of protection—if something happened, it wasn’t as simple as her just escaping on her own.

By comparison, it was better to let Bratt evacuate together with them. With two riot-control jeeps equipped with shield generators, they would have more room for counterattack maneuvers in case of an encounter.

In short, due to safety concerns, with non-professional combat personnel present, many of the risky operations they were accustomed to had to be avoided as much as possible—unless it reached a life-threatening level.

‘Oh...’

Bratt nodded obediently, secretly glancing again and again at the Exoskeleton Armor on Betty’s body: ‘Does the Alliance sell this thing you’re wearing? It’s really cool!’

Betty let out a helpless laugh. “That’s not something you should be asking me.”

Bratt shrugged. ‘Alright, once we get out of this, I’ll definitely ask Her Majesty the Empress.’

Betty nodded. “Rest for another half hour, then we move out again. Xiao Liu, send our location and requests to headquarters. Have them airdrop a batch of supplies at the jungle entrance.”

‘Roger!’

She didn’t think Bratt couldn’t afford it—it was just that he most likely couldn’t buy it, at least not for now.

After the first-generation Exoskeleton adapted for Mecha use was developed, the second-generation version suitable for individual mobile combat was naturally put on the agenda.

No unnecessary functions were added. The structure was streamlined to enhance battlefield versatility, while the upper body was equipped with a bulletproof vest and tactical harness.

Instead of steel plates, the vest contained flexible inserts formed by embedding and interlocking 5 cm energy crystals. While providing a certain level of protection against kinetic weapons, they could also supply energy to the small shield generator and the exoskeleton’s transmission system.

The kinetic penetration of bullets could damage the energy crystals they came into contact with, but they would not react with the elemental energy within the crystals. Meanwhile, magical attacks were blocked by the magic shield—making this a relatively balanced compromise.

After all, the original purpose of the exoskeleton was to enhance the individual combat capability of ordinary people, elevating them to the level where they could contend with mages. It needed good mobility and the versatility for large-scale mass production.

Depending on different needs, various specialized external armor modules could be temporarily installed. The fully equipped version was the current active Alliance Mecha model, and even future military and civilian derivative variants.

In short, within the Alliance, the exoskeleton was positioned as the foundation of everything. Your magic might be terrifying—but my fists were not necessarily weak either.

Mitia had not expected that she could bypass many of the barriers from her previous life and begin overtaking on a different track. Perhaps this was what was truly normal.

In the low-magic environment of the Subcontinent, if survival and competition were to continue, even if industrial technology did not emerge, sooner or later a completely new system distinct from the Main Continent’s magic and alchemy disciplines would develop.

The Elves had already shown signs of this—wooden mechanical bodies, modular multi-functional magic arrays… it was honestly quite cool~

Meanwhile, in the royal capital of the Kingdom of Pue Lent, the king had not gone to sleep despite it already being late at night. Instead, he was furiously berating his subordinates.

After his younger brother, severely injured, flew back to the royal capital, he had already dispatched large numbers of troops to the incident location.

At the same time, through magical communication, he mobilized the noble forces from nearby neighboring states. He even warned those high nobles not to kill the target—he wanted them brought to the royal capital so he could personally deal with them.

And what was the result?

Nearly an entire night had passed. With the forces of three states combined, along with the border legions forming a dragnet, they had not even found a single trace. Even the Royal Guard air cavalry had no news. How could he not be furious?

Right now, he felt as though he had been slapped hard in the face for no reason—his gums were bleeding, yet he didn’t even know who had done it. It was unbearably frustrating.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the Seris Federation was behind this—but what he wanted was specifics. Which unit? Which individuals? He wanted the one who had injured his brother to pay in blood, not to engage in pointless wrangling with the Alliance.

What the King of the Kingdom of Pue Lent didn’t know was that the person he had been obsessing over had already returned to the resupplied Empress-class Airship and was fast asleep.

In her sleep, Miwei frowned slightly, scratching her itchy cheek before weakly turning over and continuing to sleep. The feeling of being completely drained was truly unpleasant.

Meanwhile, this airborne behemoth—over 400 meters in length—finished discharging its ballast water. The giant propellers behind its twin gasbags slowly began to rotate as it headed toward Bas State of the Kingdom of Pue Lent.

At the same time, 500 Aerial Knights, led by their commander Badat, began pursuing in the direction Betty and her group had departed.

The tire tracks left by the heavily loaded off-road vehicles were far too conspicuous on the barren terrain. Such unfamiliar movement traces would naturally not escape the notice of the experienced Badat.

However, since they had already spent a great deal of time flying from the royal capital to Ujekados State, their mounts needed rest. For the time being, they could not catch up.

By noon, after traveling day and night, Betty and her group followed the signal and found the supply crates airdropped by the Transport Aircraft.

After dismantling the air cushions and parachutes of the supply crates, aside from the essential food, water, ammunition, and energy crystal replenishments—

There were also four long weapons crates inside. Packed with shock-absorbing padding, they contained a sniper rifle, two general-purpose machine guns, a recoilless cannon, and twenty shells.

The remaining space held a high-power radio station, anti-personnel mines, and neatly arranged TNT explosive packs. At the very bottom were eleven sets of dark camouflage robes.

Including Bratt, Betty’s team only had eleven people. Such a supply configuration could only be described as outrageous.

After checking the supplies and assigning responsibilities, Betty tossed a pack of food to Bratt, who was standing there in a daze. “This is chocolate. Eat some to replenish your energy—we’ll be moving soon.”

‘Oh… mm… this tastes so strange!’

Betty ignored him, biting on a piece of chocolate while giving a look to her teammate serving as the demolition specialist, then glanced at the off-road vehicles.

The latter nodded, took a gulp of water, and called over two teammates. Carrying TNT explosives and mines, they walked over to the two vehicles and began setting things up.

They definitely couldn’t drive these into the jungle, nor could they take them along. It was better to make them serve their final purpose.

“Number Three and Number Four, take the lead and bring him along. The rest, stay behind with me for rear guard.”

Betty and the others needed to help Bratt erase and conceal their tracks as a means of confusing pursuing enemies.

Once inside the jungle, the dense trees and foliage would block visibility, stripping the enemy of their advantage of aerial dominance from above.