Kuro no Maou

After refusing the enticing invitation by the princess, I came to maneuvering grounds of school.

Although saying it as maneuvering grounds, in this Royal Spada Academy there were various types of them. Like Coliseum, hills and field area for combat training, and there was even a dungeon-type underground facility.

Among all those, the place I stood at was a place for doing the trial shoot of bows and offensive magic, there were no exaggerated equipments here.

There were only dolls standing at an adequate distance, other than that was just an excessively spacious outdoor space, it was just like a ground.

There were walls of earth and sand along with a deployed defensive barrier for just in case situations, so there would be no danger of stray bullets even if I attack the Bullet Arts Full Burst in full power.

Well then, the people waiting for me here were,

「Ah Onii-san, so you bought a new robe. No isn’t that a coat?」

「Hmm, We can feel a sort of alarming presence from that coat. Ha! Don’t tell us that has some relation with the a ominous devil that was consigned to oblivion in the ancient ages——」

Simon, and Wil, who just created some magnificent setting.

Since they were within the school, they both were wearing school uniform. Wil even had the red mantle, the proof of Elite Cadets.

「It’s the『Diabolos Embrace』. So, does it suit me?」

I appeal about this lovely black coat while puffing my chest with pride.

「Yeah!」

「Whaaaaaaaat, for it to be truly a devil-type protector!?」

Even acting like this, Wil being a person with extensive knowledge was the person who understood the greatness of this coat.

Where did I buy? How much did it cost?, every time I replied to his question, the reactions I could see were quite funny.

Well, this was a high-class item that could only be bought in a shop located in Upper Class Area, so if I told him that I bought it near the school totally free-of-cost, then of course he would be shocked.

However, it wasn’t only Wil who was shocked, even I was the same.

That was because these two were shouldering the same-looking guns on their shoulders.

「So, is that the prototype rifle?」

「Yeah, I got it just before. It’s the test-firing time now」

Exactly, this was the true business.

From that day from more than a month ago, ever since I made a plan with Simon about the gun’s mass production, he had been quietly continuing his research and finally today a prototype had been completed.

「Can I see it?」

“Of course”, replied Simon with confidence and pleasantly. I took the rifle from his hands.

「......Awesome, this already a normal rifle」

More precisely said it was a Bolt Action Type Rifle.

The scene in a war movie where the soldiers load the gun with bullet by pulling the lever, bolt (TLN: breechblock) part of the gun, is done with a Bolt Action Type Rifle.

This prototype rife seemed similar to the Arisaka Type 38 rifle that was used by the Japanese Army in the Pacific War. My friend, an gun maniac, had showed me the plastic model of this gun when I was high-school.

But because there were numerous guns that had this shape, so there might be some other gun that this one seems more similar to.

「Will it be loaded just by pulling the bolt?」

「Yes, but no one knows if it will perfectly unit the test firing」

Although he said that, Simon’s face was filled with confidence that it would be success.

Well then, let’s check out if this prodigy alchemist was successful in making a semi-automatic Bolt Action Type after jumping from one-shot Flint Lock Type Gun.

I returned the gun with expectations.

「Then look at my research results!」

Simon faced the doll that was the target and cocked the gun like a veteran.

The doll that was the target had a body of red jelly, as though slime took the shape of a human.

That jelly apparently was as hard as the body of a human, so it was fine to attack it with arrows and magic, it was fine to cut it with sword, it was fine to pierce it with a spear.

Moreover, that red colour seemed like blood and flesh, and it also helps regarding the resistance power in bloodsheds when in a real battle.

Incidentally this hadn’t been created with wild slimes as the raw materials, but it was created with the help of a Magic Item that uses Summon Magic.

Of course, it wasn’t just one of it.

「Then, here I go」

At the same time I replied, the muzzle of the prototype rifle flashed and the dry firing sound rang out.

Without any accidental discharge the bullet fired flew straight, and hit the cranium of the slime doll.

If that was truly a human, it would’ve already dropped dead on the ground with its brains and blood splattered on the ground.

The scene of slime doll’s red jelly being blown into pieces resembled the scene of me shooting the Crusaders to death.

The moment I thought that, Simon reached out to the Bolt, loaded the next bullet into the chamber from the magazine and ejected the bullet shell.

As expected, along with a *clang* sound the Bolt Action another world version operated normally,

SFX: Bang!

And the reloaded bullet was fired magnificently.

Like that, Simon repeated the same movements three times and the test-firing was over.

The five bullets fired all hit the target without going astray.

「Awesome Simon, isn’t this perfect!」

「Indeed!」

Seeing the craftsmanship of the gun resembling exactly like what I had imagined, I gave Simon a high-five while being somewhat excited.

Using my crude knowledge as the source, this alchemist showed his prodigy-ness by creating the Bolt Action in such a short time.

「What happened Wil, you don’t seem interested」

There was single friend who didn’t share the joy as me and Simon.

「No, you said it was a new type gun, but, how to say, it is, plain」

「Huh?」

Wil, you just made the gun maniacs, small gun makers and American Rifle Association[1] as your enemies.

Simon was also making a face saying「Oh boy, he understands nothing」

And, he saying the shooting as「plain」just now detonated the mine present in my heart.

「What’ya mean by plain? Didn’t the Bolt Action work properly and the gun reloaded?」

「Do you mean that clattering sounds?」

「That’s right, with the help of that mechanism, the fast reload of a gun is possible. Listen here, the time it takes to reload in the initial-type guns, in which bullets entered from the muzzle, at best takes near a minute. There by using the single action of pulling the Bolt it is possible to do fast shooting! This was the technological breakthrough in the world of guns, and you don’t understand its greatness!」

The Bolt Action was a representative method for soldiers around the world until the modern automatic rifle made their entrance.

Even in the modern world, the Bolt Action guns had simpler structure compared to Automatic, hence the accuracy, maintenance and endurance are higher. It had been used for accurate shooting, sniping, hunting and even games.

So to speak, today, the gun technology of this another world has neared, even if a little, to the modern gun technology present on Earth.

「B-But still, it’s not like it explodes, right?」

「Does it need to flash and explode, do you think not having that is not great!? The important thing is whether or not we can get the enough killing power to kill the opponent! Don’t say that reasonableness as plain!」

「Ah, that......sorry, I was wrong」

Seeing Wil apologizing I heaved a sigh of relief because it seemed like he finally understood the greatness of guns.

「It’s better that you no understand. Then, you too do the trial shooting and experience its greatness」

「T-That’s right」

Giving out a pleasant reply Wil took on an awkward posture and pointed the muzzle in the same way to the target 50 metres away.

「*exhale*, I got too heated」

「But, it is only Onii-san who understands the merit of guns」

Seeing Simon showing a smile, I also replied with a smile.

「No, people who will acknowledge the power of gun will surely increase from now on. After all, the prodigy alchemist has created something great」

I stroke Simon’s ashen-coloured hair.

He showed a somewhat embarrassed expression, but he was happy from my compliment.

「B-But you see, we will be using it in real fights from now, this time we will insert more complicated mechanisms, so I’m worried about its durability」

「Indeed, we need to use it in reality and improve the faults, if there are any」

The Bolt Action was easy to make compared to automatic rifles. However it was obvious just in a single glance that its structure was lot more complicated than sword and bows.

For the time being it could fire without any problems was proven by the bang sounds resounding from behind me, while Wil was still shooting.

But in true battles outside, in wind and rain, covered in mud and getting a shock, will this Bolt Action still be able to work normally.

With the appearance of Bolt Action, the phenomenon called bullet jamming, which never occurred in single shot guns, started, and the possibilities of unexpected problems occurring rose.

But after using it for real, there might be more points of improvement.

There was no other way to improve by trial and error method, after all, in this another world there was no other guns except the one Simon made, for me to be using them as reference.

If I could return to my original world temporarily, then I would bring a rip-off version of M4 Carbine present in American Military Base......no, I’m asking too much.

「How about the plan to keep on improving it for combat?」

「Yeah, the automatic guns are as expected hard. Moreover, even if I get it done, the parts needed as small and too many, I don’t even know if I can manufacture it correctly」

As expected the manufacture of automatic rifle seems to be quite far in future.

If I were more knowledgeable about guns, or had enlisted in the JSDF and completed the disassembling and assembling practices, then I would’ve remembered the parts precisely.

「No, if we are against Crusaders armed with just spears and bows then Bolt Action would be more than enough」

If it went greatly, we could give out the equipments on the level of equipments present in the time of Pacific War.

Of course, if there were no machine guns and others weapons, it couldn’t be called completely same.

「Now that I think about it, the bullets all seem newly made」

「Yeah, I can’t let Onii-san create them every time」

The bullet was round lead so it was in the shape of a round gimlet with an cartridge attached.

This bullet was made with two parts. One was the bullet front that even I could make, the other part was the cartridge filled with gunpowder. We didn’t have any means for mass production, so making even one would take a lot of money.

「So how much did this one cost in the end?」

「Err, nearly 1 million Klan, including the bullets」

Holy moly, I could buy a single Cursed Weapon with that much.

No, thinking that it was made from complete scratch, it was quite cheap, no, the main problem was,

「Wait, you have two of those guns means 2 million Klan. Just where did you get that much from?」

As I had promised before, I had already given a certain amount of money for development.

I had already given near half of the bounty reward I got from Joto, well, thanks to that Lily and Fiona had to pitch in money for buying the armour, leaving that aside, Simon surely got money, but it shouldn’t have reached 2 million Klan.

「Wil said he would buy the second one」

「Woah, as expected of a royalty」

「It was payment by instalments」

Apparently the heavy taxation of Spada’s civilians couldn’t be used on Prince’s equipments.

Well it was another problem if Wil, while in school, could earn near 1 million Klan, for the time being, as a friend of his, I give him a encouraging shout.

「But, in the end won’t you need 2 million in the end? Where did you contrive that from?」

「Ah, I used the money Lia-nee sent as the tuition fees of school」

Simon said seemingly indifferently. What the hell happened? This child felt no guilt even after using up all of his school tuition fees.

No, he had planned to earn the money for school tuition fees by himself in the first place, so there was no need to use the money given by his sister as she wanted. But even so, I doubt if it was good to easily use it on something else, if thinking about courtesy.

However, because he had that money, that he was able to create the prototype rifle to gift it to me. No matter how I think about it, I can’t think of this to be worthy for me, because of the low investment I had done.

「There is still somewhat money left, enough for most improvements that we will do」

「I-I see......」

Shit, I have to invest enough money as fast as possible so that he doesn’t have to lay hands of the money his sister gave him.

For the time being, I will transfer the money I had thought to buy robe today.

「Ah, that’s right, this time I had inserted ‘that’ in the gun」

Simon spoke in an extremely curious way, and took out one dagger knife while talking.

Although having a simple design, the lustre makes on think that it had superb cutting ability.

Well then, I remember seeing that somewhere......

While I was hesitating, Simon quickly equipped the dagger knife on the muzzle of prototype rifle.

「Oh, a bayonet!」

「Yeah, I was able to do this as soon as I heard the idea」

At a glance on could easily guess its work, right? Equipping a blade on the tip part of a long rifle, for close combat countermeasures and like that a Short Lance could be created.

As expected of Simon, he picked up the right things from my miscellaneous talk, and he even made them into reality.

「But using this means that enemy has reached quite near you, so I pray there shouldn’t be any opportunity to use this」

「Ahahaha, that’s right, but——」

Simon continued while looking at the shine of the dagger knife attached on the muzzle.

「If it is the dagger knife of Suusu-san, I have a hunch that it could protect me」[2]

I finally understood.

Because it had a simple design one could see anywhere, so I couldn’t understand at once, but now that he said that, I clearly remember.

This dagger knife was certainly the one weapon which had cut open the throats of several infantrymen and armour knights (TLN: Heavy Knights) on the dry river bed in Alsace.

「Yep, you’re right, it will surely protect you」

[1] Due to Copyright reasons, the name was changed. The true name is National Rifle Association.

[2] Yay to the elder sister and chairwoman, they got no chance in Simon’s heart!