“To improve the magic gun, there must be two things better than a ballista with enhanced circuits. I believe the first is weight, and the second is the number of rounds and firing rate.”
“In fact, my magic gun Kaspar can’t penetrate armor at the level of imperial knight armor. This is a top-tier magic gun even in the Ivory Tower. When the magic gun first came out, armor hadn’t developed to this point.”
“Of course, it can destroy the body of an average infiltrator, but there are clear limitations against well-equipped elite troops or large entities. Rather than worrying about the power of each shot, I think it should be able to fire more bullets.”
Rudi smiled brightly, spouting words that were hardly compatible with such a cheerful demeanor.
“T-Thank you. I will work on improving it as Your Excellency Rudi mentioned.”
The assistant was taken aback.
She couldn’t believe that her lord Marcus was interested in the rumored sharpshooter maid.
‘I expected her to be much tougher or more aggressive.’
Rudi neatly tied her abundant brown hair and wore a white headband, equipped with ‘night vision glasses’ that made her large green eyes appear even larger.
She wore a dress made of black, stiff fabric over a luxurious blouse adorned with white lace, and her shoes made a clicking sound as she walked.
From just her kind and vibrant smile, the rumors of her being a duel-loving maid or an assassin maid seemed to be mere baseless gossip spread by those who enjoy talking.
“Please come this way and try firing. It’s designed with magic armor in mind, so it might be a bit large and heavy…”
“No, it’s fine.”
The assistant led Rudi to the shooting range set up in the training area.
As Rudi walked, clicking her shoes, the order circuits on the walls and floor began to glow, and a loud sound started ringing.
Eh eh eh!
“Why, why is this happening?”
Rudi stepped back in surprise, while the assistant hastily had her apprentices turn off the detectors.
“This is a magical weapon detector. Do you happen to have a magic gun with you?”
“Not a magic gun… Ah. Yes, I do. I’ll leave it here.”
Two magic daggers suddenly popped out of her stiff black dress.
“W-What is that? No. Where did those daggers come from?”
The assistant’s eyes widened like a full moon, and Rudi shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
“It’s a secret.”
Marcus’s magic gun sharpshooter squad also wore magic armor inscribed with strength-enhancing spells.
Therefore, even though Marcus’s magic gun was a pistol type, it was heavy enough to require two hands.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
After firing it a few times, Rudi’s eyes, which had been filled with kind smiles, furrowed.
“Ah…”
With a fleeting chill in her emerald-green eyes, the assistant secretly shivered.
“Could you call Princess Sererassie and Your Excellency Marcus?”
“Y-Yes.”
The wizard in a conical hat and the arm-equipped magic engineer arrived, and the maid sharpshooter sharply criticized the Ironblood Party leader’s invention.
“This doesn’t need to be a pistol. It’s too inefficient. It should be made in a long gun form. It greatly increases power, accuracy, and range.”
Marcus frowned.
“Then wouldn’t the loading speed be too slow? The concealment will also decrease.”
However, the maid sharpshooter spoke proudly of her specialization.
“Regardless, loading a magic gun is slow. Your Excellency’s magic gun squad is a squad. You can fire in sequence, create a staggered pattern, or use a revolver design. There’s also buckshot. The important thing is to secure firepower and distance.”
“……”
Marcus briefly frowned, then clapped his hands and looked lightly at Sererassie.
“That’s the case, how much technology can you share?”
“……”
Sererassie wished that the magic gun wouldn’t spread too much.
She was well aware of the story of the wizard who was corrupted while drawing unknown order circuits and the story of the assassin who was shot in the back, dying pathetically like a wizard.
“It would be best to use a revolver structure. We should definitely increase the size and intricately inscribe the ceremony. Then, we can use just metal scraps or lead for the bullets.”
Fortunately, she was in a position to contribute or interfere with the development of this weapon, and at least she could eliminate concealment.
Thus, the production of the large magic gun that would be used by the elite magic gun sharpshooter squad under Valenciaunos began.
Valenciaunos stayed in the workshop all day, and Tenitia had started doing the same.
It wouldn’t do for the honorable knight Tenitia to mix with the dying wizards while drawing circuits, so she naturally sought out the knights wearing mechanical armor.
“……”
“……!”
The meeting between the two was not very pleasant.
The day Marcus arrived in the capital was marked by the moment when Albetos and Tenitia clashed with the momentum to cut each other.
“Huh! Huh! Huh! Huh!”
“Put in more strength! More!”
“Do you intend to lose to the enemy knight?”
But in the end, they were both knights and lived by cutting bread and meat with their swords, pursuing a sense of honor that mercenaries and adventurers had long abandoned.
Contradictory scenes unfolded frequently in Valenciaunos’s comprehensive workshop.
In the workshop and tower, the greatest minds drew complicated ceremonies every day, while in the knight training ground and dining area, the best knights clashed brute strength by arm wrestling daily.
“Ah… I lost again.”
“This time, it’s my turn. The loser should step aside!”
“Uahahaha! To challenge me, Tenitia, you should be able to do back-to-back training in armor fifty times. I respect the old, but do you think you can challenge me with strength?”
“Our mechanical knights’ armor is six times heavier than the platinum knights’ armor. I am still training to climb in that armor, young one.”
A red-haired knight and a middle-aged man whose hair was beginning to mix with white clasped hands across the table.
‘Strong.’
‘Strong.’
Both felt the calluses on each other’s palms like shields and put all their strength into it at the signal.
Veins appeared on Tenitia’s face, and veins popped on the neck of the middle-aged man.
Crack!
The table screamed, about to break at any moment, and Tenitia began to smile slightly.
“Ha!”
Boom!
Finally, Tenitia’s hand pressed down the middle-aged man’s hand.
“A punishment requires a glass of beer!”
The middle-aged man sighed in resignation as he looked at the cup the dining area owner brought.
“It seems the kids could bathe in this cup.”
The beer and milk glasses emptied, and huge pieces of roasted meat, boiled meat, and smoked meat disappeared into their bellies, while steam endlessly billowed up from the training ground.
Tenitia swung her sword with Marcus’s knights, training vigorously and competing with them.
Shiiing!
As a knight clad in mechanical armor charged at her, steam gushing from its shoulders, even Tenitia had no choice but to dodge.
“Such terrifying strength!”
But in unarmored training, Tenitia could roll the mechanical knights around.
“Can’t you do even this?”
“W-We focused on mana training through meditation.”
“Muscle strength is amplified by the armor, so that’s more efficient.”
“Please acknowledge that we possess both intellect and strength.”
Tenitia smirked, incongruent with her noble face.
“I would gladly understand.”
“!”
The eyes of the mechanical knights turned, and Tenitia taught them the imperial swordsmanship mana training method.
‘I wonder what will happen if the power of mechanical armor and the explosiveness and sustainability of imperial swordsmanship are combined.’
It was a blessing for Tenitia to be able to learn that together.
One day, Valenciaunos called her.
“Milady, come and try this on.”
“Oh my.”
Tenitia sighed as she looked up at the mechanical armor adorned with majestic red patterns against a white background.
On a structure resembling human anatomy, complex gears and chains were placed, and enormous iron plates were firmly affixed.
All defensive and auxiliary magical circuits, including heat resistance, shock resistance, poison resistance, dust resistance, vision enhancement, and underwater freezing, were engraved, but offensive spells were not.
Valenciaunos smiled as he pointed at the armor.
His white eyebrows and yellow eyes drew an elegant arc.
“It is for you.”
Princess Sererassie and Marcus walked out confidently and introduced their masterpiece.
“It’s designed to withstand up to level 6 magic and Aura Blade to a certain extent. I have no idea how many mana amplification magic circles were embedded inside.”
“You will become several times stronger. Try experiencing what it feels like to become a giant.”
Tenitia felt spellbound as she donned the mechanical armor.
Shiiing!
The gears meshed, the metallic belt tightened around her body, and the chains whirled.
It felt like standing between wearing and taking off, and her field of vision seemed to have risen at least 30cm.
‘Mana operation has also become much easier.’
The circuits engraved on the magic tools influenced the operation of mana, so there were quite a few knights who did not use offensive magic tools.
Among the fencers obsessed with swords, there were even those who did not wear armor at all.
Yet this massive armor naturally accepted and returned her mana as if her body had grown larger.
‘There must be hundreds of circuits engraved, right?’
It made no sense.
Sererassie smiled coyly.
“I developed a spell to amplify bioelectric currents to expand the senses, and Marcus designed the skeleton and piston structure using human muscle structure. We worked hard so that strength amplification could occur structurally rather than through circuits.”
Tenitia knelt before Valenciaunos joyfully.
“Your Excellency, I am just happy to be able to dedicate myself more.”
Receiving something for herself was always a touching experience, and the armor created by two mad geniuses was an irreplaceable treasure in itself.
‘Knights would line up to give up their left hands just to wear this armor.’
Valenciaunos nodded with a bright smile.
“I’m glad you like it. This is just the beginning. Let’s become stronger. You and I.”
He glanced out the window.
In the training ground, elite sharpshooters were shooting magic guns with Rudi, and in the sparring area, mechanical knights were finishing training to adapt to the improved order circuits.
“Much faster now.”
“The ammunition limit for the lightning net has disappeared, and both flame ejection speed and range have increased.”
“The resistance spell against corruption is also added to the helmet.”
The confrontation between Sererassie and Marcus had settled down for the time being, and their disciples and assistants had already fused under the two.
While the mechanical knights and magic gun squads still followed Marcus more than that, it was something time and money would resolve.
‘This should be enough manpower for soldiers.’
“Rudi, please submit a request for an audience with His Majesty.”
Since winter, they had focused solely on the workshop, and it was now early summer.
This was enough of a long time to lie low.
“My dear. This is the net profit that came up from your province last year.”
Jeilliris handed over a piece of paper.
It was a sufficient amount to entice the mechanical knights and maintain the Nibelungen and the comprehensive workshop.
“And this is your share of the net profit obtained from importing Gremoryus’s minerals through the imperial directly-managed trading company.”
That amount was also enough for a luxurious lifestyle.
Valenciaunos smiled contentedly as he graciously received the two papers and tucked them into his pocket.
Various jewels adorned with brilliant gems sparkled against his white uniform.
Jeilliris quirked an eyebrow playfully and asked, “What has happened that it appears you have more jewels than I? I only use this brooch.”
Valenciaunos widened his eyes and exaggeratedly shook his head.
“I merely recycled jewels that exceeded their mana capacity during the magical tool’s development. I had no intention of indulging in luxury at this time when the imperial finances are struggling.”
The emperor ushed him with a satisfied smile.
“You are allowed a little luxury.”
Then, gleaming yellow eyes that had been lazily open flashed as she got to the main topic.
“Are the soldiers… ready?”
It was an unusually hesitant tone.
Valenciaunos responded confidently.
There was not a hint of hesitation in his voice.
“Your Majesty no longer needs to commit any wrongdoing. Please, become a wise ruler.”
Jeilliris looked at him intently and let out a deep sigh.
“You truly make me weak… Did you not wish to be emperor for those five months?”
“My emperor is only you.”
Dead or alive.
Valenciaunos’s face bore an inhuman determination, and Jeilliris let out an excessively human sigh.
“Very well. If you shall dance with a sword for me, I will gladly use that loyalty.”
*
The next day, Emperor Jeilliris issued a proclamation.
It stated that all bonds and promissory notes issued by Valenciaunos in her name would be nullified.
