Chapter 96 96 Formidable

Again there were two images but the first image was the earliest carriage and the second was that of the truck. Both the images had been broken into the components so that it became easier to draw a comparison.

"As you can see, Truck is an improved carriage with the capability of moving loads equivalent to a hundred carriages with ease."

Diana knowingly gave a pause after making this statement. She knew the kind of commotion it was going to cause amongst the audience since she herself had barely gotten around the concept once Zach revealed the details to her.

There were three different kinds of reactions amongst the audience.

"Whaaaaat~" this was the most common reaction among the audience at this revelation.

"How can th…" some were barely able to utter half a sentence before going back into the fantasy world.

"LIES!!" this was the last but the most extreme reaction amongst the haters who had been waiting for the opportunity. They couldn't believe that there were horses that powerful that were capable of dragging around the metal monstrosity of that scale.

One of these people was of course the person who had previously been virtually slapped by Diana in front of everyone.

Diana ignored their protests as they were in a minority and continued her presentation.

"All of you please look at this portion of the truck", she pointed towards the trailer as she attracted the attention of the audience once again with her experience.

"It is essentially the same as the carriage that you are already familiar with but the capacity of the carriage has been multiplied and the efficiency of transportation has been increased by a few thousand percent."

"Isn't that the same as what you scolded all the humanity for earlier? How can you call this a new invention and our military chariots are just an application of the previous carriages? Isn't the Luther family being too shameless?" This time the voice of dissent was from one of the most prominent families whose primary business was based on the military chariots and battle logistics.

"Of course not; let me explain. This here…" Diana pointed towards the horses dragging the carriage in the first diagram as she said, "…has the same function as the front portion of this truck." Her pointer reached the engine portion of the truck by the end but the applause that she had been expecting never came.

She found several audience members smiling slightly as they scratched their heads in embarrassment.

That was when she discovered that the guests in the audience were unable to understand despite the fact that she had explained it in as simple a manner as possible. She could only feel sorry for these people who had given up on their imaginations after having stagnated for so long. She could finally understand why Zach continuously mentioned this 'stagnation' again and again.

"For those of you who could not understand, this truck does not need any horses to pull it like the carriages you use. It is a self driven carriage. All it takes is someone to control its movement. And 'No', before you ask, it does not require any magic for its usage. Any normal human can drive it."

"IMPOSSIBLE" several screams rang out but even those voices were unable to hide their excitement just thinking of the future possibilities of such an invention.

"It is not impossible. I can assure you. Not only that, the speed at which it can travel on ground can exceed even an agility focused mage at their best."

"LIES" the extremist faction amongst the audience increased each time she emphasized the strong points of the Truck that Zach wanted her to announce.

Several private conversations among the prominent family members broke out at this point as they all tried to get their heads around reality and thought about the product and its true implications if what Diana had claimed turned out to be true.

But those lacking in imagination were sure that the Truck couldn't actually be as great as Diana had blown it up to be.

And finally someone took a bite of the obvious bait Diana had carefully thrown among them during her presentation.

The stupidest and the most restless person in the audience; the same person Diana previously scolded stood up to get his revenge for the previous humiliation.

"There is no way such a thing can be true unless you employed magic engineering in its genesis. And even if such a thing was possible through advanced level magic engineering, I don't believe it would be the turn of your Luther family to take the lead in front of the top families of the city."

The man smiled especially sinisterly after throwing dirt on the Luther family name.

But this time, his words stung Diana like never before. Although she was already expecting someone to call them since she herself had thrown out the bait, even she had never expected that the man would try to so directly attack her family name. She was angry for the first time since the start of the ceremony.

"I assure you that not a single trace of magic was used in the development of this product. Neither does it require the help of any mage nor magic engineering to develop it in its entirety. It can be used by common folk to the full extent of its abilities. You are quite welcome to be the first to test its capability. In fact, I insist that YOU be the one to test it since you were the first to raise voice against our credibility and the functionality of our product."

The man felt slightly uneasy at the fact that Diana had readily agreed for him to test the product. He couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with that.

Before he could say anything in response, Diana continued with the same tone that had turned slightly aggressive after countless voices arose to discredit their achievement.

"Since we have received a volunteer for the testing of our product, you all will soon be able to witness the miracle with your own eyes. I implore you to bear witness and pass on your experience regarding the wonders of the human mind to everyone around you. So that the knowledge we have managed to create will never be forgotten and will be passed on to the next generation just like the way we received it from our ancestors. Of course if any of you manage to find the slightest trace of magic from our product, we will withdraw our ownership of this Truck."

Diana's words dropped like a bomb on all the attendees. All of them knew that the possibility that all the statements could be true was quite high.

The man who had raised his doubts was now reconsidering whether he had made the right choice to antagonize the Luther family. But he could not back down now that he had. He needed to play his role until the end in order to get vengeance for the earlier disrespect.

"Just talking big won't help you in this situation. Let's see how much the Luther family has exaggerated the functions of this thing. I want to see for myself how good this thing actually is."

Diana smiled and indicated to a servant who had been standing beside the truck with an angry look on his face. This was one of the best drivers that Zach had managed to train. Therefore, this person obviously knew what kind of an invention it was. And being one of the followers of Zach, he couldn't bear any insult towards the product that Zach had developed and was generously sharing with these ungrateful people.

The servant opened the driver side door and entered the drivers' cabin with a swift motion. The audience members who had previously been wondering how the movement of the truck was going to be controlled finally got their answer.

"Rest assured that the person driving the truck is a normal human with not a single drop of magic in him. He can be considered to be similar to a carriage driver who is responsible for controlling the direction of the carriage once the horses begin to pull with all their might."

The man who had raised his objections acted completely unafraid as he stood in the path of the truck with his hands on his hips.

He looked in the direction of Diana and said something that was inaudible to her but the smug expression on his face said it all to Diana. It seemed to be telling her, "I am still waiting for it to begin".

Diana motioned for the servant driving the truck to begin the performance. Everything had already been briefed to him since this had all been planned before the event.

When the servant turned the key in the ignition, the engine rumbled with a heavy sound that was loud enough for all to hear over their constant chatter. They couldn't help but feel fear from the monstrosity that seemed to be vibrating in the distance. Unease spread through the crowd as to their shock the huge metal monstrosity began to inch forward at a snail like pace.

At first the volunteering man was startled from the threatening sound of the truck but as it started to move, the speed almost made him laugh. It was even slower than the carriages that he was familiar with. With boosted ego, he stood even straighter as he pushed out his chest with pride at having made the right choice.