Kays Translations

Chapter 141: Development of Capital Defense Weapons

Zari.

As the capital gates rapidly dyed into a madder red hue, an elderly soldier approached.

“Hmm, doesn’t look much different from earlier.” 

He muttered, gazing at the gate.

“Lord Zvar, please start with single-target attacks without consecutive strikes!” 

Isamu called out from among the group waiting behind.

“Got it! Let’s see how this goes.” 

Zvar replied, patting his shoulder with the large sword he carried sideways as he walked toward the gate.

“Shall we begin?”

“Please!”

Clang.

In response, Zvar aimed his large sword squarely.

Despite being close to seventy years old, his body, honed through years of combat, was still in top condition.

“Hya!”

As if testing with a single strike, he stepped forward and swung his sword straight down.

Thud!

The thick wooden door reinforced with metal took the blow, emitting a dull sound, and about a meter around where it was struck briefly emitted a faint light.

“Hmm…”

Zvar readjusted his grip on the sword and curiously stroked the spot he had just struck with his hand.

“Not bad at all. Not a scratch even after my blow.” 

He said seriously, then took a few steps back from the gate, readying his sword again.

“Aaahhh!!!”

With another spirited shout, he thrust the sword again.

Thud, thud, thud.

Continuously striking in one spot, then across a wide area, then back to one spot. With each strike, the gate emitted light.

After about three minutes of continuous strikes, he relaxed his stance and let out a long breath.

“Well, this is more than I imagined. Even after all these strikes, no scratches…” 

Zvar wiped the sweat that had formed on his forehead, returning to Isamu and the others.

“If the gate can withstand Zvar-sama’s strikes, then sword attacks shouldn’t be a problem.” 

“That’s right. The only possibility would be Eleonora-sama, perhaps? Still seems difficult though.” 

Zvar replied to Isamu’s query.

“Oh, Eleonora-sama could do that much…?” 

Isamu shuddered at the answer. Coming from a top-notch warrior who had experienced it firsthand, Eleonora’s prowess was beyond imagination.

“Ulysses, how about the magic stones?” 

Isamu, shaking off the frightening thoughts from his head, asked Ulysses who was inside.

“Hmm, I’ve used about a third at most from the ones that are most depleted! The others are about ten or twenty percent. The light magic stones haven’t depleted much at all!” 

After a short pause, Ulysses replied with that answer.

“Thank you! The most depleted ones are probably where Zvar struck several times.” 

“If it’s depleted by a third, it means it can last three times as long. Whether that’s long or short, it’s a delicate balance.” 

Isamu and Eto began discussing upon hearing that.

“Someone like Zvar-sama won’t likely come to attack the gate at the front lines, so it should be sufficient to consider it normally.” 

“That’s true.”

“However, if something like a siege weapon is used, it may not be enough. It surpasses the level of weapons handled by individuals…”

“Indeed, just hitting it with a large log with many people would cause considerable damage.” 

“Well, if the situation gets to that point, it’s already become a war, so we might not need to worry… But let’s consider countermeasures just in case.”

With that conclusion, they returned to their experiments.

Until sunset, they repeated various experiments such as attacks with Mizeroi’s hammer, attacks by multiple people, and attacks with fire magic, gathering valuable data.

Isamu, Eto, and Willem immediately began making improvements based on the data that night.

The greatest strength of the Magic Theory Research Institute may be its agility and speed of trial and error.

However, even though it was in the city, working at the unpopular main gate at night still required guards, even if Isamu said it wasn’t necessary.

From the perspective of the guards under the cold sky, they couldn’t help but want them to show a little restraint.

However, whenever such slightly reckless requests were necessary, Orihime was always there. As a result, instead of complaints, there was an abundance of volunteers.

Truly fearsome, she was like a demonic cat…

The next morning, they resumed their experiments after breakfast.

“You were working late into the night yesterday, weren’t you?”

“Yes. Based on yesterday’s results, there’s a possibility that the magic stones may only last about three minutes if siege weapons are deployed. While it’s a good idea to replace the magic stones, the gate will become vulnerable during the replacement process.”

“Well, that’s true. But isn’t that normal? It wouldn’t be interesting otherwise. So, to ensure that the gate doesn’t become defenseless during magic stone replacement, we incorporated a backup system of separate magic circles. If it works, we should be able to replace the magic stones safely.”

What Isamu and the others newly incorporated was a separate magic circle covering the entire door.

Since there was plenty of space to draw magic circles this time, they divided it and left a lot of space.

They used this space effectively to create a magic circle that covered the entire door.

For anyone other than Isamu, who could only copy what he saw, it would be an attempt impossible to replicate.

While it may be inefficient as a whole, it would be extremely useful as a backup during magic stone replacement.

Simply turn on the separate circle when replacing the magic stones to fill the gap, replace the magic stones, and then turn off the separate circle again.

Siege weapons, while powerful, would reduce the number of areas attacked simultaneously.

With this method, even if several magic stones need to be replaced, theoretically, as long as there are magic stones, the gate should be able to be defended indefinitely.

The experiment was a success. Despite being attacked by Mizeroi’s full-force variable weight hammer, the magic stones in the gate were replaced without being damaged.

“This is unbelievable. What are you guys planning to fight against??” 

Zvar widened his eyes upon seeing the results.

“We’d like to come to the border Margrave towns and forts to apply this in the future, so please wait a bit.” 

“Is that okay? Well, I’d be very grateful to have this….”

“No problem! We’re allies. I think it’s a necessary magic item for those on the front lines, rather than us.”

“I see… Well, I’ll look forward to it then.”

(Nazario, perhaps we’ve created a scary faction…)

While Zvar expressed his gratitude, he couldn’t help but think about that, but little did he know, he would soon learn of Isamu’s true terror.

After completing the performance verification, adjusting the positions of the magic stones and activation circles, and achieving satisfactory results, the magic circle was plated to complete the “Magic Defense Gate”.

The application to the outer wall is temporarily suspended because it will be horizontally expanded based on the Magic Defense Gate.

And in the afternoon, Isamu and the others began to work on the creation of the next capital defense weapon.

“Huh? Are you still making something new??” 

Zvar exclaimed in surprise, as he had not expected them to start making something new immediately after completing such a large-scale completely new magic device.

“Yes. The Magic Defense Gate is just a shield for buying time. Even though it won’t lose immediately, it doesn’t mean it can win… So what we are going to make now is a spear, a weapon to win.” 

Isamu answered Zvar’s question as he brought out from the workshop on a cart a strange magic tool with a metal cylinder and three-legged base.

In fact, the creation of this magic tool had begun even before Isamu and the others departed for the annual festival.

“I want to be able to launch the exploding orbs farther.” 

Isamu had consulted Eto and Willem during the training sessions about three days before departure.

“Isn’t it enough to just throw them?” 

“For skirmishes or small-scale combat, that might be fine, but for base defense or large-scale battles, I want more distance.” 

“I see… Can’t we use a catapult?” 

“While a catapult is convenient and can throw farther than just throwing, I still want more distance for base defense.”

The “catapult” Eto mentioned referred to a sling. Although it was a primitive tool with a cloth or leather sling attached to both ends of a piece of wood about twenty by ten centimeters, once accustomed to it, it could throw stones up to a hundred meters.

In this world of Ethersia, there were no large-scale catapults that had played an active role as siege weapons in medieval Europe. Creating a smaller version of it might achieve the desired effect to some extent, but it was uncertain how large it needed to be, and because they only vaguely understood its structure, development would likely take time, so they ruled it out as an option.

Additionally, they were wary of non-magic weapons being imitated, so that was another reason for their caution.

“In the world I was in, there were potions that could produce effects very similar to explosion-type magic. And weapons that utilized the power of that explosion were widely used as standard equipment all over the world. This time, I’m thinking if we can reproduce something similar with magic tools.” 

“Is that possible? Explosion magic does have a strong force to blow things away…”

“The principle itself is simple, so I think we can manage something. The next best thing would be the wind magic tool we used before, the Wind Ball, but that uses medium magic stones…”

And then, he spread out the paper with the draft drawn on it.

“…Certainly, the mechanism is simple. In other words, as long as there is a sturdy tube, it should work, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Explosion magic is of the fire attribute, so we could use a magic circle for anti-magic, but that would dampen the force of the explosion…”

Isamu had in mind a Grenade Launcher. Since it would be used on the ground, it might be closer to a light mortar.

The principle was simple: just load a grenade into the tube and use the explosive (technically, its combustion gas) to launch it.

Although it belonged to the older category of firearms, it was still used today because it was small and lightweight and easy to handle.

On Earth, grenade launchers typically had the explosive attached to the grenade itself, but this time, they were thinking of attaching it to the tube. Essentially, it was a large musket, a large tube.

By attaching the firing mechanism to the tube, they could reuse the magic stone multiple times, saving time and effort. If the size was similar, it would also be possible to launch other things.

“So, I’d like you two to work with the town blacksmith while I’m in the royal capital and make a slightly larger, sturdier tube than the exploding orbs…”

“I see… We’ll prepare a few options, so when you come back, please try them out.” 

After that, they also ordered legs for fixing and adjusting the firing angle. What Isamu had brought out just now was the prototype launcher they had made.

Although they hadn’t test-fired it yet, they had temporarily assembled the exploding magic circle for launching it yesterday.

Since they couldn’t experiment in the city, they moved to an outdoor training ground outside the city. It was the same place where they had previously tested the Scatter Orb.

Setting up at the edge of the training ground, Isamu immediately began to line up the prototype launchers he had brought with him.

“We made it as you instructed. But is this really going to be a weapon?” 

Eto, the creator, couldn’t help but scratch his head as he looked at what was clearly just a tube with legs attached.

“I think it’ll be fine, probably. Well, I’ve never been a soldier over there, so I’ve never used it before…” 

Although he knew about such weapons through games and manga, he had never seen the real thing, and he didn’t know the detailed specifications at all.

Still, they didn’t need to make exactly the same thing as on Earth. As long as they understood the general concept, they could experiment and refine it.

“Well then, let’s start by seeing if it flies at all. I’ve prepared a dummy filled with sand or something to match the weight of the exploding orb casing, so let’s experiment with that!”

Just in case it explodes unexpectedly, I’ve extended the part connecting the activation circle to the functional circle by about three meters.

“Stone Wall!”

Just to be safe, I’ll create a barrier with the Stone Wall and ignite it from behind that.

The first thing to try is the most orthodox iron one. The thickness of the barrel is about thirty millimeters.

It’s about sixty centimeters long, and carrying it is quite heavy due to its decent caliber.

I load the dummy exploding orb, which will serve as the shell, into the muzzle.

The inner grooves that give rotation to the projectile to improve its straightness, called rifling, are not carved. It’s a smoothbore gun.

After connecting the detachable activation circle, I return to the shadow of the rock wall.

“Okay, here we go. 3, 2, 1… fire!”

I touch the activation magic stone.

Boom!

With a lighter explosion sound than I expected, the dummy exploding orb is ejected from the barrel and flies in a parabolic trajectory.

It lands near the edge of the training ground, bouncing lightly before rolling for a while and then stopping.

The training ground, which is made quite spacious to accommodate a mock battle involving all soldiers, is about the size of four soccer fields, so it must have flown over 150 meters.

“”””Wooooooo!””””

Cheers echoed through the momentarily silent training ground.

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