"You know I'm very strong, and I know it too. But my judgment is—if Castel and I became enemies head-on, I'd be the one who ultimately fell on the battlefield."
Lina froze. "No way? You mean those self-propelled artillery pieces? I've seen them. Not only do they require Transcendents to operate them, their firepower is rather weak too."
Naturally, "weak" to Lina meant weak by the standards of Named Ones like them. Ordinary Transcendents could barely withstand a single shot from a self-propelled artillery piece.
Little Gwen gave her a deep look.
"During my time in the Northern Territory, Theus often went around telling those strange, rambling stories of his. I went along to listen, and I could always pick up scattered bits of information from the threads, including news from the battlefield."
"Self-propelled artillery naturally isn't all that powerful. It was even just a rushed product. But do you know how long it took from development to deployment on the battlefield?"
Lina tilted her head in confusion.
"Right, you probably don't understand this stuff. If I remember correctly, you were the one who provided the Steam Tank blueprints to the Holy See?"
"That's right." Lina nodded. "They were part of the Mechanical Cathedral's lost technology. I gave them to the Candlelight Society so they could stand against Castel."
"So the Candlelight Society never truly carried out much research and development. That's understandable. Their doctrine was about preserving knowledge, not seeking it. Now that Moth Chasing Flame has split away, they're even less capable of conducting research."
Little Gwen nodded in understanding.
"No wonder you don't get it. Then I'll put it plainly: Castel only began mass-producing self-propelled artillery after Steam Tanks appeared on the battlefield."
Lina looked even more confused. She struggled to marshal what little rationality she had