It was impossible to transport the golden statue since the crazy knight had no time to order someone to take it to the emperor and it's the middle of winter so the roads are blocked with snow
@mage_goob This is what is infuriating me so much about this manga. They have an engineer/inventor and inventors by nature are inquisitive and intrigued by new things. And he doesn't even investigate applications of magic. THey are supposed to be geniuses and they don't even research on how magic works in this world, when it looks like magic can be quite effective.
But after the firewall scene it becomes obvious the author just wants to show how mordern technology and science is better and samurai techniques are above all.