Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 129: A Friend Visits
After briefing Jita, Owen left the noisy machine workshop.
On his way back to the castle, Owen stopped by the city hall to see Clive and asked him to issue a new recruitment order in the square to hire a batch of laborers for mass-producing new bullets.
The faster a firearm can be loaded, the shorter the interval between shots, and naturally, the higher the output firepower.
Correspondingly, the consumption of bullets also soars.
Therefore, starting production and stockpiling bullets as early as possible is necessary to confidently respond to external threats.
Whether it’s the undead monsters from the north, Duke Eddie who is displeased with Owen at Dongsheng Fortress, or any other potential threat, preparation in advance is essential.
Clive’s efficiency was impeccable, and the required workforce was quickly recruited.
Owen divided the recruited laborers into two groups and organized them for production work.
One group was responsible for making nitrocellulose gauze.
The work was carried out in the backyard of a temporary laboratory, following Owen’s strict instructions. Time was controlled using hourglasses to ensure the quality of the nitrocellulose gauze met standards.
The necessary chemical solutions were obtained directly from a tightly guarded laboratory and prepared inside by Owen and a few highly trusted personal guards.
This was done for secrecy, preventing the laborers from knowing which solutions were used in the nitrocellulose process.
Inside the laboratory, the personal guards didn’t need to know exactly what Owen was doing—they only needed to remember the preparation procedures and precautions for the solutions, allowing them to handle the important task of preparing the solutions temporarily.
Of course, to prevent mistakes, Owen frequently checked the laboratory himself.
If there were any personnel with a solid background in chemistry, Owen wouldn’t need such meticulous precautions and could confidently delegate the preparation to them.
However, the school had only recently established a basic science course, and the instructors were teaching only simple scientific knowledge.
It seemed that cultivating capable personnel would still take considerable time.
Honestly, even just teaching the instructors scientific knowledge had taken Owen a lot of effort, and it was somewhat difficult for them to accept new information.
The only relief was that Theresa was exceptionally intelligent—she not only absorbed the new knowledge quickly but could also apply it flexibly.
This impressed Owen so much that he once felt the urge to appoint her as Minister of Education.
The other teachers mostly relied on rote memorization, and it was unclear whether they could effectively teach these scientific concepts to students; only time would tell.
The air-dried nitrocellulose gauze was immediately transported by other personal guards to a relatively spacious brick building.
Additionally, materials such as black powder, shells, and bullet heads were gradually brought in.
The other group of laborers was responsible for manually assembling the bullets.
Each assembled bullet was carefully inspected; qualified bullets were neatly arranged, packed into wooden boxes, and finally moved to a securely guarded warehouse for storage.
At present, the amount of acid that could be obtained daily from the Acid Slime was limited, which greatly restricted the production of bullets—on average, only about a hundred could be assembled each day.
Owen wasn’t overly anxious about this.
Firstly, the new firearms had not yet been widely issued to the musketeer units to replace the old ones.
Secondly, the Acid Slime would naturally reproduce by splitting, so as the breeding scale expanded, the supply of acid would gradually increase.
Thanks to Owen’s efforts, the mass production of the new bullets was steadily progressing.
During this period, two friends specifically came to the Bianshu Town to visit Owen.
Thinking that it had been many years since they last met, Owen gladly agreed to the meeting and had his personal guards escort them in.
Before long, Owen saw the two friends in the reception room—a man and a woman.
Both were dressed in noble attire, and both were nobles from the Dongsheng Fortress.
The man was handsome, with tousled blonde hair, named Kuros Youm, the son of Count Youm, whose family was one of the four major families of the Dongsheng Fortress.
The woman had a sweet appearance, with curly blonde hair, named Xinia Youm, and she was Kuros’s twin sister.
Owen had met the two at the Magic Academy in Dongsheng Fortress.
During their studies, the three had developed a good friendship.
“Haha, Owen, it’s been three years since we last met.”
Kuros greeted him cheerfully.
Xinia, standing beside him, nodded somewhat timidly and said.
“Greetings, Owen Eisen.”
The reason for the three-year gap was that Owen hadn’t secured an opportunity to study at the Advanced Magic Academy and had to return to Border Town.
The Youm twins, however, had obtained the qualifications to continue their studies and had lived in the capital for the past three years.
In the blink of an eye, they had both graduated from the Advanced Magic Academy and returned.
“Kuros, Xinia, long time no see. Make yourselves comfortable.”
Owen said with a smile, gesturing toward the two empty seats across from him.
As soon as they sat down, Kuros couldn’t help but speak up:
“Owen, what exactly is going on in Bianshu Town? On the road here, I ran into some lizardmen. I thought they were enemies and nearly cast an attack spell, but luckily the patrol stopped me, and that’s when I realized you allowed them into the town.”
Such a thing had actually happened?! Owen felt a flush of embarrassment.
With the end of winter, Bianshu Town was gradually opening up to more frequent interaction and trade with the outside world.
Apart from the local residents who remained, outsiders would certainly be surprised to see lizardmen.
In fact, some of the civilians who had fled last year had already returned. Upon seeing lizardmen on the streets, they initially thought Bianshu Town had been taken over by demi-humans.
Only after explanations from the local residents did they reluctantly accept the presence of the lizardmen, though they still remained cautious. Basic mutual trust had not yet been established.
Even when the Sinking Sand Tribe eventually returned to their original homeland, Bianshu Town would continue to maintain contact with them and engage in trade.
At that time, lizardmen would still be present in the town.
To prevent similar incidents from happening again, Owen felt it necessary to have Clive dispatch people to the docks to inform outsiders that the town’s lizardmen were friendly and would not harm humans.
“Those lizardmen have already pledged loyalty to me. They are now effectively my subjects,” Owen said.
“Your subjects?!”
Kuros’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Taking a demi-human race as your subjects? This is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing. You’re really daring, Owen.”
“It’s not that extreme,”
Owen shrugged.
“You’ve seen it for yourself—lizardmen and the original residents live harmoniously in the town. The facts prove that the Church’s teachings on peaceful coexistence among different races really do work.”