Secret Weapon
「Rustle」
It seemed nothing much had happened in the meantime — it all fit on a single page.
"Looks like there are iron mines all over the place here?"
"Yes, the gunpowder the mainland sends us is plentiful. We were told not to leave it sitting around too long, so we've been setting off the old stock here and there."
So they don't just blow things up recklessly — they actually consult the local natives first? These kids are pretty sharp. If it had been the other lot, they'd have torn the whole place apart shouting that explosions are an art form.
"How are you handling administration here?"
"We've been managing it among ourselves for now, but we've reached our limit."
"Mm. Do it exactly like the Original Continent. Set up an administrative office and follow the same model for everything, from education to taxes."
"Yes, Your Holiness."
Maybe they don't need to follow it too exactly, though.
"Feel free to adapt it to fit this place as you see fit. Think it over carefully."
"Understood."
"Hm? The Apache tribe?"
"Yes. Do you know of them?"
Well, I've heard of them, sure? Weren't they supposed to be some cruel, terrifying people?
"Do they blend in well?"
"Yes, they're the best match we have."
"They're good fighters, right? Those folks too?"
"Oh! Absolutely. A great many of them serve as soldiers."
Ah, so that's why they get along so well. They'll probably end up best friends with the Aztecs too, won't they?
"This place has far too few people for how much land it has. Focus on growing the population before expanding territory."
"How much should they have?"
"If possible... have them pop out twenty, thirty kids each..."
"Er... um... isn't that going a bit far?"
"No, no, it's just an expression."
"Understood, Your Holiness."
Twenty or thirty would make them literal beasts. Back in the day, even with triplets and quadruplets, it only got up to the low twenties.
Speaking of which, these clothes are uncomfortable. I should really swing by Sinsi at some point.
"You're in the middle of a big expansion here, so nothing too difficult, right? Once you finish the walls, things should calm down."
"Yes! Please don't worry about us."
"Get the administrative office up and running and handle things yourselves. I need to drop by Sinsi for a bit."
I should show my face over there too, after all.
"Gasp! You'll come again, won't you?"
Where have I heard that line before?
"Of course I'll be coming and going."
"Hahaha!"
"You will though, right? While you're still alive?"
"Gasp!"
Yes, I'll come. Whether it's here or there, it's only a few months between visits anyway.
"How long does the trip take these days?"
"Five or six days, if nothing goes wrong."
Huh? Even with trains running all the way to somewhere as close as Bering, isn't that suspiciously fast?
"The trains must have gotten a lot faster, huh?"
"They've gotten a little faster, but mostly they just don't break down anymore!"
Ah, they've really been through a lot. Making them reliable is harder than making them fast. Very impressive, honestly.
"Then I can come and go whenever I'm bored, huh."
"Please do stop by again!"
They're not going to split east and west someday and fight over which half gets to keep me... are they? If some Solomon shows up threatening to cut me in two, that's going to be a real headache.
The train isn't quite a plane, but rail travel turned out to be faster than I expected. The steady rhythm of the rails made me drowsy, and thanks to the taller smokestacks, there was far less soot than before.
Sinsi had changed a great deal since my last visit. The most striking change was in how the women dressed.
A revolutionary new technique: a jeogori that covers only the chest. The long skirts below remained the same. What kind of fashion is this?
No, wait — that's it exactly. An off-shoulder jeogori with the tie ribbons still in place, and the straps of the undergarment still hanging over the shoulders.
Who did you have in mind when you designed that?
The birthrate is going to climb even higher at this rate.
Wandering absently up into my quarters at the temple, I was met with—
"Who goes there?"
"Hm?"
That sounded like the Grand Priest? Since when does anyone demand introductions in my temple?
"Me? I'm Haneul."
"Hmm..."
「Grab」
As expected, with the Grand Priest, the only reliable verification is brute force. He tucked a hand under my arm and set me down next to my own golden statue, eye to eye.
Then he narrowed his eyes and compared us.
Oh! I was definitely taller. Half a handspan? And my chest and hips were considerably fuller, apparently.
"The face is similar, but hmm..."
Excuse me, but why do your eyes keep drifting to my height, my chest, and my hips?
Is there nothing else I can use to prove my identity? Maybe I should just show the ID.
"Would this work? My ID card?"
The very pretty ID card I rarely take out, on account of the embarrassment.
"Gasp!"
"It's me, right? I think I grew a bit while I was asleep."
"HANEUL-NIIIIIM!!"
Oof. Do these people train their vocal cords too? Why is everyone's voice so absurdly loud?
"Aigoo, speak softly. My ears are going to fall off."
"Gah! Are you... are you pregnant?!"
What? Does he genuinely think I'm carrying a child?
"No! It was a figure of speech!"
"Oh..."
Why does he sound disappointed?
"The Holy Water must have arrived before I did. Did you receive it?"
"Yes, we did. We never doubted you would return."
"And when have I ever abandoned you lot?"
"Ahahaha! Thank you, Your Holiness!"
The moisture at the corners of his eyes was from joy, surely?
"Let's see each other often from now on. I hear you went through quite an ordeal."
"It was nothing. All in the past now."
Apparently a lot of them died — but it seems they'd worked through it.
"Mm. I'll make sure nobody sleeps again. Something happened that I never saw coming either."
This one was a genuine shock even to me, ugh...
"It's quite all right. We will wait in faith, so please don't trouble yourself."
"Mm. Thank you."
"And thank you for coming back to us."
"Well then, I'm heading in~"
"Please rest, Your Holiness."
"Oh! Call the Chancellor too."
"Yes!"
「Click」
I stepped inside for the first time in ages, and the room was exactly as I'd left it — as if I'd only walked out yesterday.
Not much has changed. It stands steady in its place, as if it will remain so no matter how much time passes. Comforting, really.
「Click」
"Greetings, Your Holiness! It is an honor to meet you for the first time!"
"Ah~ come in."
"Oh? You are quite different from what I'd heard — and from what I'm seeing?"
I assume what he'd heard came from the records, and what he's seeing is the current model?
"Mm, I grew taller while I slept."
"Ooh~ It seems much more than your height has grown. Magnificent."
Oh? A sly one, of all people?
"It doesn't mention anything about the ones who got smacked and sent to the re-education rooms?"
"Ahem."
"Just give me the reports."
「Flip, flip」
Hm, nothing much here. Apparently the mercenary state named itself "Fraise." With everyone fussing over that region, the Mongol steppe has been left empty, has it?
Ah, so that's why Tibet is being used as mercenaries too.
"Don't Tibetans live on the high plateau?"
"Yes. Originally they roamed about raiding here and there, but since they had nothing beyond our fortress walls to plunder and were suffering for it, we put them to work as mercenaries. They're free to roam from the desert all the way to the northern steppe, on the condition that they fight off anyone who tries to enter, and report to us if they run into trouble."
It's not exactly prime living territory over there either. They might as well all migrate to the Mongol side.
"You've made absolutely sure it's marked as our territory, right?"
"When Islam once pushed in and they begged us for help, we went over and blew the whole place to pieces. They won't be getting any other ideas."
Hm. Fair enough? The blasts are loud, and when everything around you is vaporized, the terror is something else entirely.
"The Joseon lot are still scrounging about, I take it?"
"Yes. They keep trying to cross north, but whether they end up as tiger food or not, no villages or cities ever take root."
We left the region completely untouched, so the plains have reverted to forest by now — the wildlife must be going absolutely wild in there.
It's a hard place for humans to settle. They do suffer for it.
"If they keep this up, we'll have to evict them, I suppose."
"Yes. If it gets worse, I'll send the boys over."
The boys patrol the area regularly, so slipping past them undetected is quite a feat in itself.
"Mm. And we're supporting Tibet the same way as Fraise, right?"
"Not the rifles yet. Shall we include them as well?"
"Those are spare weapons as far as we're concerned — start handing them over little by little."
"Understood."
If some territory gets overrun and we have to hire new mercenaries or defend the place ourselves, that's just more hassle for everyone.
Meanwhile, the history of chemistry here has been one disaster after another. Even working from books imported from the West — explosions, melts, suffocation. Ugh.
"Oh ho? The chemists can make nitric acid now?"
"Yes. It's the most active area of research these days."
"Research" meaning they're just throwing things together and seeing what happens, surely. I wonder what their purity is like.
"And there's mercury too?"
"Yes, we import it from the Han dynasty, over there."
"Mercury is dangerous — it poisons you. Tell them to handle it with care."
"Gasp. Understood!"
So they didn't know. In China, I believe they were making it as an elixir of immortality?
Ah, this is dangerous, but there's something I've been wanting to make, you see...
"You're issuing proper safety suits to the chemists, right?"
"Yes, gloves included, all in one piece."
"Not too many injuries, then, with those on?"
"No. Unless someone inhales the wrong fumes and collapses — and even then, if you get Holy Water into them quickly, they pull through."
Hm. Hardier than I expected?
"Then I'd like to ask them to make something."
"What would that be?"
"I'm making a toy, but it's a bit dangerous."
"If they work in small batches, it should be fine?"
"Right. It only takes a little at a time. Have them make small amounts?"
"How is it made?"
It'll be fine, right?
"First, keep boiling nitric acid down until it's very concentrated, then dissolve mercury into it."
This part isn't dangerous, is it? Just have to be careful of the fumes, probably?
"Then pour alcohol into it, and keep it sitting in warm water. Not boiling water."
What came next, again?
"Ah, you know that white powder the glassmakers use? Heat it over a hot flame, then mix it into water. Mix that with the nitric acid, then boil the water off completely."
"Er... isn't something here dangerous?"
"It's fine, it's fine. Just take it slow, I said?"
Once they've made it once and see what I use it for, everyone and their grandmother will want to make it. I'm not sure that's such a good idea.
"Then mix those two together with the glassmaker's powder, and it's done."
"This needs to be handled very carefully, doesn't it?"
"Mm. Give it a shock and it explodes."
"Oh..."
Ah, right — as long as you're careful, everything is safe. As long as you're careful.
"And make a copper cylinder about this big, coat it thinly with beeswax, fill it — just a little, really just a little — then seal it over with more wax."
"How much will you need?"
"You'll be needing it yourselves soon enough, won't you?"
"Pardon?"
Am I making percussion caps a bit too early?
"For now, just bring me a small amount. Then I'll show you."
「Slide」
And with that, I slid a blueprint across the desk.
"What is this?"
"The thing that'll be using what I just asked you to make."
"You've drawn it up quite professionally, haven't you?"
"I flexed my skills a little. It needs to be made precisely."
Revolvers somehow look ugly to me, so I drew them a pistol-style revolver instead.
"Have them build it well."
"Yes. I'll put it in the hands of a master craftsman."
"The day that thing comes out, you're going to be in for quite a surprise yourself."
Who knows — their standard-issue weapon might change on the spot. Then again, it's not a long-range weapon, so I can't quite call it that.
"We look forward to it."
"And what I asked you to make is genuinely dangerous, so tell them to make only a little at a time. A very little at a time."
"Yes!"
A month or so must have passed. The goods had finally arrived.
I'd set up targets in the courtyard for testing. Muahaha!
"The chemists say it's the most frightening substance they've ever handled."
"Anyone get hurt?"
"They swelled up badly at first, but after getting chewed out once, they started working in small batches, and nobody's been hurt since."
That's what small batches means — listen for once, will you!
"And here."
「Clunk」
Whoa. They'd engraved delicate patterns into the pistol's surface and inlaid them with gold and silver — flowers and trees. I almost feel guilty manhandling such a thing. They've sent me a work of art.
"Wow, this is seriously cool. Tell them thank you!"
"What is it used for?"
"Watch and see."
I'd prepared perfectly sized powder flasks and a compression mold, of course.
Fill the cylinder with powder, seat the ball and the sealing wad, then cap each chamber, one by one!
Nothing good comes of leaving these sitting in open air — into the Subspace they all go.
「Click, clack, ziiiip」
Huh? What's this? I loaded a chamber and gave the cylinder a spin — this smooth? Whoever built it clearly understood romance.
"Oh? That's something, isn't it?"
"Let me show you something even better."
Sized to fit my hand exactly. Perfect.
「Click — BANG!」
「DONG」
Oh! Louder than I expected, but the feel of it is excellent!
「Click — BANG!」
「DONG」
「Click — BANG!」
「DONG」
「Click — tick!」
Ah. A misfire. Yield still isn't great, then.
「Click — BANG!」
「DONG」
「Click — BANG!」
「DONG」
"What do you think?"
"..."
His mouth is hanging open so wide it won't close? The mercury's a health concern, sure, but a sip of Holy Water will fix that.
"What is this?"
"My personal sidearm. For you lot to use it, there's still plenty of research to be done."
"Good heavens..."
「Dash dash dash」
This guy? Running off at full sprint without even a proper goodbye?
Heh heh. Well, I'd better load the cylinders. There's a reason I designed them to be interchangeable, you know.
The Subspace advantage: no humidity, no degradation! Prepare ten in advance and that's a full sixty rounds! Twenty, and you've got one hundred and twenty!
Ah — of course, I'll have to clean the gun after every shooting session! Maybe I should have had them make more than one revolver after all?