The Blood Count’s challenge to the master thief had become widely known. Despite having only two days, Perfikot had prepared a stage worthy of grandeur for the thief with the full cooperation of the Governor’s mansion.
"For someone with such strong confidence and a desire to perform, a stage that can gather everyone’s attention is impossible to refuse," Perfikot walked among the already prepared venue, observing the red carpets and the vigilant guards, with a satisfied smile on his face.
This was the largest luxury hotel in New Shaker City, which Perfikot had completely booked in the name of the Governor’s mansion.
To ensure nothing unexpected happened this time, the Governor had specially dispatched a regiment of soldiers to handle security work, with an entire battalion of troops packed into the venue, truly setting guards every five steps and sentries every ten.
All soldiers were armed and ready, and despite the slow loading of their flintlock guns, as pre-arranged, every soldier now had a bullet pre-loaded in their barrels, ready to unleash fierce firepower or a barrage at any moment if needed.
A grand performance requires not only a stage but also an audience.
To better lure out the thief, Perfikot used the name of the Northern Territory Count to invite all the social elites of New Shaker City. The reason she gave, besides catching the thief, was to showcase her latest invention—the Flying Stone.
At the center of the venue, a display platform without any obstructions had been completed. Around it, four Steam Knights were positioned at the four corners of the venue, facing the platform, ensuring their view could cover most of the venue while also keeping a constant watch on the platform.
And around the platform, an additional four Steam Knights, facing away from the platform, were oriented towards the four directions, with their lines of sight overlapping with the other four Steam Knights, forming an area of surveillance without blind spots.
Of course, using people for surveillance inevitably leads to fatigue and negligence. Even though the Steam Knights are Extraordinary, their energy is limited and they can get tired.
Therefore, this time, Perfikot did not have the White Bear Knight Order manning the Steam Knights but instead had eight maid automata don the Steam Knight armor, forming autonomous Steam Knights.
The autonomous Steam Knights only required fuel. Once refueled, they could continuously monitor the areas Perfikot instructed them to, without any errors.
To ensure everything was foolproof and prevent the thief from sneaking in while the Steam Knights were being refueled, Perfikot even prepared an additional four autonomous Steam Knights and four White Bear Knights as backup.
The four backup autonomous Steam Knights would be exchanged with the four in the venue every 6 hours, replacing those whose fuel was depleted with refueled and maintained Steam Knights, beginning a new round of exchange every 6 hours.
An autonomous Steam Knight, when fully refueled, can actually stay on standby for over 16 hours. Switching every 6 hours is merely Perfikot’s way of ensuring that even in the event of an emergency, the autonomous Steam Knights can react swiftly and fight with full effort for over an hour.
Honestly, deploying such a scale of force to capture an Extraordinary thief seems like overkill, akin to using a cannon to shoot a mosquito. Updates are released by novel•fire.net
But for Perfikot, she simply wants to use this opportunity to test the actual application of the autonomous Steam Knights and announce to the world that she has invented the Flying Stone.
To achieve this, Perfikot had reactivated the Flying Stone and placed it on the central display platform of the venue.
Currently, this gem emitting a blue glow is floating in the air, encased in a transparent glass cover. Although only the size of a pigeon egg, it is enough to capture the attention of the entire venue.
"Count, isn’t it unsafe to just leave the Flying Stone ?" asked the Governor, who accompanied Perfikot to check on the venue’s security preparations, his eyes brimming with a desire to possess the Flying Stone: "Although you’ve assigned the Steam Knights to guard it, will they miss some details..."
What the Governor said about the Steam Knights missing details was actually a remark on the absurd number of sixteen Steam Knights. If they were to take action, this largest luxury hotel in New Shaker would be torn apart by them.
Therefore, the Governor hoped to persuade Perfikot not to proceed in this manner.
After all, if all sixteen Steam Knights were to move and fight with full force, within half an hour, not only this luxury hotel but also several surrounding streets would be leveled by the Steam Knights.
"Don’t worry, considering safety, I didn’t let the Steam Knights carry any hand-held recoilless rifles," Perfikot certainly saw through the Governor’s thoughts, but she had no intention of changing her mind.
She merely turned her head towards the Flying Stone, smiled at the Governor, and said, "During tomorrow’s exhibition, the Steam Knights will ensure no one can approach within ten meters of the Flying Stone. Even if that thief had vast abilities, they wouldn’t be able to steal the Flying Stone under the eyes of everyone."