The New Weapon
"The Development Department, you mean?"
"That's right. So — is there anyone particularly brilliant around?"
Isaac's face twisted with difficulty. When he spoke, his voice lacked any real confidence.
"If we mean the teachers at the school... they are intelligent enough, aren't they?"
"No. Someone smarter than that. Sages, I mean."
"I'll look into it."
Isaac contacted the Hunters and gathered the relevant information.
"The sages currently known on the continent are..."
Names of sage-level figures spilled from Isaac's mouth. Most were high-circle mages, or else high-ranking administrators holding major posts in the Empire.
"...and next, from the Empire's Ministry of Finance—"
"Stop. Is there any sage I can actually hire?"
High-circle mages? Senior imperial bureaucrats? How was he supposed to drag people like that to Frontier?
"Ah... give me a moment..."
Isaac flipped rapidly through the documents.
"There is one. A wandering eccentric sage... that's how he's listed."
"Eccentric? A wanderer?"
"He's apparently well known among the nomads. They call him a sage because he solves even the hardest problems without breaking a sweat. However..."
The reason he was called eccentric was the strange things he said. That his grandfather's grandfather had crossed the western sea. That when people asked what kind of magic circle the shapes he drew were, he insisted they weren't magic circles at all.
In short, he seemed to have a screw loose.
"He crossed the western sea?"
"That's why they call him eccentric, I suppose."
The main continent held the Holy Royal Empire and the Roman Empire. Across the northern sea lay Monster Island. Across the southern sea lived a people who worshipped the God of Destruction. To the east there was land, but no human could approach it. And to the west — only ocean. Nothing but ocean.
Claiming to have come from a place like that was bound to earn a man the label of eccentric.
The problem was that there was no other option. The Hunters, the most well-informed of his subordinates, had recommended him. For now, he had no choice but to trust them.
"Bring him here. Tell him I'll grant him whatever he wants."
"...Understood. I'll pass the word to the Island Trading Company."
Wooing and guiding the nomads was the Island Trading Company's job. They crossed Vampires Bridge and visited the continent often enough.
"Good. Handle that, and gather the sharpest minds from the autonomous territory. Form a Development Department with them."
"Understood."
He spent one night in Plain, then headed west again — to purge the magi from the new villages.
The new villages already had their foundational construction finished. With the satellite city projects winding down, some of the laborers had apparently been reassigned here.
Kneeling in the farmland, he activated his skill.
"Let's start by raising it just one level."
By the time he had purged the magi from the new villages and finished clearing the next village as well, two pieces of news arrived.
One was that the prototype firearm had been completed. The other was that the eccentric sage had arrived in Frontier.
"First... let's meet the sage."
Russell arrived with the eccentric sage in tow. The man's appearance was every inch the perfect image of a sage. A long white beard, long white hair streaming in the wind, an ancient staff gripped in one hand.
"Greetings. I am Elwin Frontier, the young lord of Frontier."
"Hoho. I am Maya, a wanderer."
Even his name was peculiar — fitting for an eccentric.
Elwin guided him to a dining hall prepared in advance. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they got to the point.
"You said you would grant every request of mine?"
"I will help as much as my ability allows."
"Hohoho."
Maya stroked his beard gently, then launched into the story that had earned him his reputation as an eccentric.
"My grandfather's grandfather crossed the western sea to come to this land."
"Ah... I see."
"My wish is to cross the western sea once more and return to my homeland."
"That might be a bit..."
"You do not believe me, Lord Elwin?"
Belief had nothing to do with it. There was no land to the west. And even if there were, the sea was full of marine monsters — no one could cross it.
"That seems beyond my power."
Maya drew something on a sheet of paper — a rough map of the continent. Nothing like a clean modern chart; it was lumpy and odd, more like a map from the Joseon era. He marked a point on the Island and another on the Roman Empire.
"Light comes from the sun. That light casts shadows."
He launched into a strange explanation without warning.
"If you measure the shadows at two places at the same hour on the same day, what happens? They would all be the sa—"
"They'd be different."
Maya's head snapped up.
"No... would they not be the same?"
"They'd be different."
Maya's eyes wavered for a long moment before settling back into place.
"Correct. They are different. And the reason is that the earth is round."
He came all this way just to explain that? He could have simply said it was round.
"And so?"
"I am saying the earth is round."
"Isn't it obvious that the earth is round? Why are you explaining this?"
Maya looked startled all over again.
"In other words..."
He seemed flustered, as if his explanation had tangled itself up.
"I meant that even if land exists to the west, it cannot be seen because the earth is round."
After all that circling, it came back to the same thing: he wanted to go west.
"As I said again—"
"I am not demanding that you send me there. Simply keep your word that you will support me as much as you can."
"That much I can do. But once you become my man, you may not leave this place without permission."
"...Understood. There is nowhere else left that would grant my request anyway."
Elwin extended his hand and shook Maya's — a sign that the contract was sealed.
"Prepare to depart tomorrow."
"Immediately?"
"There is somewhere we need to go together."
Maya agreed and returned to his lodgings. Only Elwin and Russell remained in the dining hall.
"My lord, you are appointing him right away?"
"For now, I have to."
There was no real alternative at the moment.
"Russell, if you have the time, come along. It should be worth seeing."
"Understood, my lord."
Together with Russell and Maya, he visited Iron.
Iron Village. A vacant lot nearby. The firing range.
A craftsman stood at the center holding a musket. He activated a shield spell with an artifact and prepared to fire. He turned the gun upside down, loaded powder and a bullet, and rammed them home with a long rod. Then he lit the fuse and aimed at the target.
The few seconds as the fuse burned down felt endless.
Bang!
The shot rang out and smoke billowed thickly. The result: the bullet punched through the edge of the target.
"Next, simultaneous fire with a crossbow!"
A soldier with a crossbow took position at one side of the range.
"Three minutes of fire! Begin!"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The gunshots were so loud that the crossbow made no sound at all. When the three minutes were up, the result was a crushing victory for the crossbow.
In three minutes the crossbowman had fired ten bolts. Most struck the center of the target; only a few hit the outer edges. The musket, by contrast, had fired a total of four shots. Two punched through various parts of the target. The other two vanished somewhere and could not be found.
Those who had been startled by the gunfire looked at the results and tried to console him.
"Master, it is only a prototype — a bit lacking, that is all."
"My lord, the difference in skill between the two shooters was considerable."
Both were right. The craftsman was not used to reloading. With practice, the time could be shortened. And if the build quality improved, accuracy would rise a little as well.
But what I'm really paying attention to is...
One: penetrating power. The crossbow bolts stuck in the target. The musket balls went straight through it.
Two: velocity. The bullets flew faster than the arrows.
Those two points alone are reason enough to build muskets.
He turned his head and looked at Maya, seated beside him. Even after the firing test ended, Maya could not take his eyes off the musket.
"I would like you to improve that musket, Master Maya."
"That thing? I have never seen one before."
"I will give you the direction. All I need from you is to build the detailed path that gets us there."
After the firing test, Russell left Iron. Even as he departed, he left Elwin with words of consolation.
The next day, Elwin visited the firearms workshop. Dve and the craftsmen who had built the musket wore sour expressions. Even for a prototype, the performance had been worse than expected — and their morale had sunk further after the comparison shoot against the crossbow.
"You all did well."
"We are sorry, Young Lord."
"We are sorry."
"No. You finished faster than I expected, and better than I expected. I have established a Development Department in Iron. Work with them and build even finer firearms."
Perhaps it was the continued praise. The craftsmen's faces brightened considerably. After encouraging them thoroughly, he left the firearms workshop.
His next stop was the Development Department.
The Development Department had been set up in Iron. There was a great deal of collaboration with the workshops, and it was easy to control movement in and out.
When he stepped inside, Maya and the staff were waiting. The staff had been selected by Isaac — people with sharp minds and high loyalty.
"As you have all been told, contact with outsiders and free movement will be strictly controlled. In return, you will be compensated generously."
"Understood!"
"Understood!"
"You understand as well, Master Maya?"
"I do. For me, this place is my last hope."
Gathering Maya and the Development Department staff, he explained firearms — what gunpowder was, how it was used to launch a bullet, how far development had progressed so far, and so on. The explanation alone took more than a full day, simply because the questions never stopped coming.
"Young Lord, if we put in more powder, wouldn't it fly harder?"
"That's correct. But only up to the level the firearm can withstand. Put in more than that and the gun itself can explode."
"Young Lord, what about this—"
"Young Lord, and this—"
The questions continued for some time, and he answered as much as he knew. When things finally settled, he was able to speak his own piece.
"This is the direction the Development Department must pursue."
He showed them a new form of gun — the existing design, but with a trigger attached.
"Develop a gun that can be fired by pulling a trigger."
"Young Lord, how do we develop that gun?"
"Young Lord, what does a trigger have to do with firing?"
If I knew that, would I have created a Development Department? Of course you have to develop it.
He pointed a finger at the staff.
"I don't know. So find out."