Chapter 59 - Episode 58: The Spark
The Kingdom of Roadberg is a great power, one of the foremost in the southern part of the continent, boasting a history of over 200 years since its founding.
Compared to that, the Kingdom of Lancel to its west is still a young country, having been founded approximately 60 years ago.
It was about four years ago, after the succession to the third king, that the Kingdom of Lancel began to show territorial ambitions toward the Kingdom of Roadberg.
Since then, the two nations have continued a conflict in the southern part of the Bezel Great Forest—a region where small forests are dotted across the plains.
What the Roadberg side has made extensive use of in this conflict are mercenaries.
Neither the current King of Roadberg nor the nobles, such as Marquis Galdwin who holds land in the conflict zone, wish to exhaust their own armies. They want to preserve their regular forces as much as possible in preparation for the full-scale war that will inevitably come.
Due to these intentions, many mercenaries are shedding blood in the conflict zone instead of the regular army.
The mercenary group led by Gosling was one such "disposable pawn in place of the regular army."
Gosling and his subordinates were ordered to invade a certain fortress built by the Lancel army, but it was a harsh order—one where the expected losses were so great that a regular army would likely not have marched forward after considering the damage.
Still, as long as they were receiving money, they could not defy the order. As a result of carrying out the invasion, the mercenary group naturally suffered damage so severe it was nearly destroyed.
Gosling fell into a situation where he had to abandon not only the dead but even the wounded who were still alive, and he led the remnants in a chaotic retreat.
Having failed the mission and with the group's strength reduced to less than half, they lost their place in the world and fell into banditry.
Even though the mercenary group was half-destroyed, it did not change the fact that he was the leader responsible for the lives of his subordinates.
Though they had become bandits, they were still alive. If they were alive, they grew hungry and thirsty.
In order to survive tomorrow, and to keep his subordinates alive, Gosling attacked other people.
.....
With a "pshu" sound of cutting through the air, a crossbow bolt was fired, piercing straight into the center of the target set up at the shooting range as if being sucked in.
"Wait, was that the 100th shot?"
"Yes! With this, the test of 100 consecutive shots is complete! How is the condition of the crossbow?"
Yuri, who had just fired the bolt, checked the various parts of the crossbow in his hand when asked by Damian.
"There should be no problem. No broken parts or looseness. There was no change in the accuracy. As for the feel... I was fine, but how about you guys?"
"I thought there were no problems either,"
"Yep, it worked just fine,"
Pence and Radley replied as Yuri questioned them.
The crossbow prototypes, which had progressed to numbering up to No. 12, had cleared points such as power, ease of use, and accuracy, and had finally progressed to the final stage: the durability test.
The grueling test of Yuri, Pence, and Radley firing 100 consecutive shots together had just ended.
"Then, then, there's no problem with the durability either! What do you think, Noein-sama!?"
Having finished all the tests and received the "no problem" judgment from Yuri and the others, Damian turned toward Noein with eyes full of expectation.
Noein, who had been present for the test and watching the progress, made a gesture as if thinking for a moment.
"...The performance standards are perfect. Just one last thing."
"W-what is it!?"
Damian, who was usually relaxed, wore a rare expression of tension.
"This isn't a question for Damian, but for Yuri and the others who will actually use the crossbow in combat... If you were standing on the battlefield, could you trust this weapon called a crossbow? Not with logic, but with intuition—do you feel you can rely on this weapon to fight?"
As he spoke, Noein gazed steadily at Yuri, Pence, and Radley.
"...Yeah. If I were an archer, I could entrust my life to this crossbow. I think it's a weapon with that level of completion."
"I can trust it far more than a bow of average performance,"
"There ain't a soldier who'd complain after being handed a weapon this good."
All three gave the crossbow their seal of approval without hesitation. Hearing this, Noein turned back to Damian and nodded.
"Then it's fine. I recognize that the crossbow is now complete as a weapon. Well done, Damian."
"R-really... I DID ITTTTTTT!"
Damian screamed on the spot out of sheer joy.
Those present softly covered their ears; among them, Matilda, the rabbit-person with superior hearing, frowned in discomfort, Christy, who had been observing the experimental fields in the backyard, and Kimberly, the maid who had been working hard at the laundry, both turned around in surprise, and Anna poked her head out of the open window of the retainer's office to see what was happening.
That was how loud Damian's voice was.
"Damian, your voice is far too loud..."
"Ah, sorry! But I'm just so happy! To think that something I developed has finally been recognized! I feel like I'm about to ascend to heaven!"
"Ahaha, I understand the feeling. But you mustn't ascend, okay? Because I'll need you to mass-produce these crossbows from now on."
For now, Damian was the only one who knew the tricks of crossbow production. If he were called to heaven prematurely, mass production would be impossible, and all of Noein's investments up to this point would go to waste.
"Ha! That's right! The world doesn't change just because one is completed! I've got to make them in bulk and spread them far and wide!"
"Exactly. First of all... I think I'll have you make 10 crossbows and 300 bolts by winter. It would be better to have some people helping you, right?"
"Understood! Yes, I think mass production will proceed faster if there are personnel who can be entrusted with simple tasks!"
"Roger. That said, I don't have much leeway with personnel, so would it be alright if I bought new slaves and lent them to you? I'll look for slaves with experience working in a workshop."
"Of course that's fine! Please do!"
Although he had purchased a large number of slaves in the spring, with the rapid development of the Arqvist territory, the labor force Noein held was becoming insufficient once again.
Maintenance of his own farmland, reclamation work, and furthermore, the upcoming crossbow production and oil production from soybeans—there was an endless amount of work, and the more manpower the better.
I'll have to contact that slave merchant guild again... Noein thought.