The Meaning Of Ing And Rad (7)

I distributed the 400 cartridges, produced by grinding the souls of Hare-san and Richard, to the beastkin for a 400 vs. 2,000 mock battle and explained the training details.

“First, those who received firearms will defend. And the 2,000 beastkin who did not receive them should show your usual combat power, approach the 400 with firearms, and touch their bodies; at that time, those with firearms whose bodies were touched by another’s hand must lie down on the ground and put their firearms down. And conversely, those hit by an ice bullet must also lie down on the spot immediately. Do you understand?”

I stopped speaking for a moment and gave the beastkin time to understand. Then I brought up the next topic.

“The winning team will be given special rewards. First, I will give each of you a box of chocolates. From my position, I would like the team with firearms to win, but since the result is still unknown, my heart is pounding…”

To the laughing beastkin, I even said this.

“Additionally, star-shaped badges will be given to the winning team. The more of these a person has, the more they will be organized into the ‘elite’ units, and various benefits will be given according to the number of stars. However, please remember that stars can be reclaimed through additional planned mock battles. I hope you give your all. That is all.”

Then, leaving Demina behind to explain the details, I stepped back a certain distance and used construction to create a high tower. And the view I saw after taking a seat on top was quite impressive.

“Phew, the view is great.”

At my words, Hare-san and Richard, who were by my side, were looking at me with expressions that seemed like they were dying, and I felt a bit of guilt toward the two of them.

“Depending on this result, I will give you two a vacation, so just hold on a little longer.”

The two nodded with difficulty, and soon, as Demina scattered white powder signifying the start signal into the air, the battle began in earnest.

First, in the case of the defensive team with firearms, it could be seen that they split their personnel into small units and were distributed throughout the area. No one had instructed them, but it seemed a system had begun to take hold to some extent through training in the meantime.

In the case of the offensive team responding to this, the personnel were divided with a similar feeling, but unlike the other team, they were seen drawing attention with the front group while diverting personnel to the rear.

Since I did not specify a particular combat range, the boundaries were ambiguous, but since an attack utilizing the forest also made use of the terrain, I had no intention of interfering. I only had to check how the attack was proceeding, and in the charge that started soon after, bullets began to rain down.

An interesting point was that in the midst of this, some people reacted and dodged the incoming bullets upon seeing them.

“Isn’t that cheating?”

At my words, Hare-san shook her head and spoke.

“Among human knights, wouldn’t there be quite many who show that kind of movement?”

“Ha, there are too many people who aren’t like humans.”

“Everyone’s movements are good. I also see those who advance calmly without fear, checking each incoming bullet with their eyes. Moreover, over there, it seems a clash is unfolding in the forest as well?”

At Hare-san’s words, I checked the forest side, and certainly, beastkin running around in various places were seen. It seemed they were continuing the offense and defense by utilizing trees and such.

‘One can fight in that manner too…’

It was a fascinating feeling, and at that time, the defensive team instead rushed out to the front in a swarm and began to target the offensive team openly.

The offensive team collapsed helplessly at this, but even in the midst of this, beastkin who advanced steadily and threw their bodies began to appear, and what should I say?

A development that was quite separate from the picture I was thinking of continued, but was it from then on?

Thinking that this was also quite a sight to see, I thought about how I would like to be able to transmit such battle videos to homes through a recording device later.

I thought of visual media like a TV. It would probably be difficult right now, but I was in a moment of thinking that if a time comes when there is leisure and the standard of living needs to be raised, showing such things would be helpful to the domain in many ways.

Meanwhile, while the clash continued fiercely, the forces of both teams rapidly decreased, but certainly, those with firearms were at an advantage. In a situation where they had to follow while the others fired while retreating, the process of narrowing the distance was difficult.

To put it bluntly, if physical abilities were similar, the one who could perform long-range attacks was bound to be at an advantage. That did not change even if they were beastkin, but it was at that time.

“Waaaaaaah!!”

Dozens of beastkin began to rush out from the forest, and thanks to them intentionally shouting and drawing attention, the defensive team, whose vision turned for a moment, was seen eventually allowing the distance and collapsing rapidly.

In the end, the ones who remained last were the offensive team, and the fact that their number was not even 10 was quite shocking, but with this, the outline for personnel deployment was roughly established.

“I should draw up an operation outline to deploy a thousand people to each fortress as planned and have them work in shifts by creating simple outposts in units of 50. You two worked hard. If you make just 600 more cartridges from now on, I will give you a vacation.”

The two were horrified at those words, but I ignored them and immediately went down the tower. And looking at the beastkin who stood before me in perfect order at the command to gather, I spoke.

“To my great regret!! The offensive team ended up winning. Since we need to urgently prepare 2,000 chocolate boxes and 2,000 star badges… Congratulations to the offensive team on their victory. Thank you for working hard!”

The beastkin showed bright smiles, but I also had something to say to the defensive team.

“You all worked hard as well. Although I cannot give you badges, I will give you chocolate boxes. Though it is only for this one time.”

Only then, looking at the cheering beastkin, could I turn my steps back. Afterward, in the case of those with stars, I began to pack the training schedule densely by also paralleling mock battles where they fight against opponents with firearms in a 500 vs. 500 format.

Usually, the win rate of the defensive team came out about 10% higher, but one could also see results where the win rate was extremely divided depending on who drew up the plan, so it became an occasion to gain greatly in many ways, even to the effect of being able to pick out middle-ranking commanders.

Meanwhile, apart from such training, while repeating many studies to pull up the performance of the ships, I worried about the need for offensive weapons, and eventually, looking at the ‘Mana Cannon’ produced with the thought that going the Earth way would be correct, I had to seriously worry about whether it was truly okay to mount this on a ship.

That was because of the dilemma that came after taking over a ship from a merchant that was too old to go out to the open sea anymore and performing a firepower experiment.

“The power is too strong…”

A top-grade mana stone went into the Mana Cannon, and it was a weapon capable of firing up to 20 shots per day.

Furthermore, because the size of the Mana Cannon was quite large?

High-level magic was engraved all over it. First, the second advantage was that one could inject pressure strongly through Air Blaster, a higher magic of Air Boom, and Lock magic, and one could hit the enemy by selecting one among ‘Ballistic’, ‘Direct’, and ‘Tracking’ fire.

In the case of Tracking, a new shell was needed, but the problem was that the range seemed to be almost 1 kilometer. The firing speed was also incredibly fast, and the aiming and accuracy were also excellent.

Moreover, the part that became the biggest problem was, as expected, in the ‘shells’, as it meant one could send flying shells containing various types of magic by adding stability.

First, in the case of the ‘Cooling Shell’ that could freeze the sea, the power was great enough to freeze the ship if it hit the ship, or the sea if it fell into the sea, and in the case of the ‘Fire Shell’, it spewed firepower that could burn down an entire ship.

Since ships are inevitably vulnerable to fire, most would think of fire shells, but in my thought, I wondered if cooling shells might be more dangerous than fire shells.

“Just how much did it freeze?”

At my words, Hare-san laughed awkwardly. It was because the one who took charge of the engraving of magic was Hare-san.

“Since I attached a mid-grade mana stone…”

The sight of the sea frozen for nearly 100 meters was seen. I thought that with current shipbuilding technology, one would inevitably face difficulties in order to advance through that.

I judged it to be more dangerous because, unless there was a mage on the opponent’s side, the act of charging into the frozen sea would be a suicidal act. One could also induce the enemy by freezing the surrounding sea using this, or to put it bluntly, a ship could sink because of that glacier.

However, the price was as expected. In the case of a mid-grade mana stone, approximately 20 large gold coins go in. But since special metal is also needed to engrave magic, it meant about 50 are consumed one way or another…

When judging whether it would be worth that value, I was one who thought it was not that bad in terms of cost-effectiveness.

‘Since money… is rotting in the warehouse…’

Large gold coins earned by Volve, large gold coins the domain was previously earning—taking various things into account, I was spending it lavishly, but money was continuing to pile up with a feeling of an inexhaustible spring.

Even though I was using more than tens of thousands of large gold coins a day to manufacture firearms and cannons, the money did not decrease.

Thanks to that, my personal time was diligently decreasing, but I planned to take care of leisure time using other methods once this too reaches a certain orbit.

‘If I buy up mana potions in large quantities for mutual prosperity…’

In the case of mid-grade mana potions released on the market, the price was relatively cheap. Because if I put a certain amount in when mixing medicinal herbs and such, it would not be to the degree where I pour in mana as before, but the efficacy could follow along a certain amount in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Furthermore, for the sake of the secret, I only had to buy them from other continents and bring them in.

To put it bluntly, it was because it was not a matter of me being able to hang onto medicine manufacturing forever. Since there is also medicine for which I am absolutely necessary, it was correct that I am slowly seeking out methods to replace general things except for such.

“Let’s deploy only a few magic shells for emergency use and make basic shells the mainstay. Since their power is also not weak…”

It was Hare-san who said she understood at my words. After that, I experimented with the Mana Cannon a few more times and spoke.

“I will also deploy a few units to the fortress.”

At those words, it was Hare-san who glared at me with a coy expression.

Afterward, while looking around the domain and checking this and that, I was able to welcome an unexpected visitor.

“My Lord, Count Ishtain is requesting a visit.”

It seemed it had been a while since she returned, and I thought she came quite late. And on the other hand, it was a matter where I had no choice but to worry about whether to trust Count Ishtain or not.

It was because she too was a noble of the Empire and was one of the ‘Masters’ called the guardians who protect the border.

Furthermore, the Imperial Family already knew the fact that I was detaining Agnes and Marquis Giltian. While worrying about the fact that she was visiting while carrying various circumstances, I glanced at Demina and ended up chuckling.

‘What are you worried about… when such a reliable person is protecting me…’

“Let’s go. To hear what kind of news Count Brinne de Ishtain has brought…”