Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne? Chapter 280

Development With No End
Year 7446, Month 12, Day 26

Bang!

The sound of a gunpowder explosion rings out in the central plaza of the 8th floor.

"I guess it's fine to think that it won't "misfire" anymore.."

I couldn't but talk to myself while test firing the gun.
Incidentally, if you're wondering why I'm not doing it in the central plaza of the front line on the 9th floor and it's because we can't use magic there. Since then we've gone there a number of times and defeated the Minotaurs as they respawn but the first 2 powerful ones that Angela the others and I fought against still haven't respawned so we've just been killing the other 7.

It's inconvenient being unable to use magic so I intend to kill the hell out of the minos until they run out of stock(?). Incidentally, I guess the mino on the 8th floor ran out of stock midway through last month, because it's stopped respawning. Well, thanks to that not just the net gun but I've started trying to make a gun that can fire proper bullets. I intended to do it eventually and it's just on the occasion so it's fine.

"Just now was exactly the 1,200th shot."

Bel said. I can hear her muffled voice through the earplugs.

Incidentally while were test firing the gun everyone within 50 meters is wearing ear plugs.
No one was wearing them at first but the explosion sound largely exceeded our expectations and echoed way too loud through the dungeon. Even though it's a large room with a diameter of 1 km, it's probably related to the fact that the ceiling is only about 30 meters high. Though they had roughly heard about the firing sound from us, since Zenom, Zulu, and Angela couldn't even imagine the precise volume of it they were a bit afraid after first hearing the large explosion so I made some ear plugs.

The rabbit ears on top of Bel's head are a slightly different shape from those of hyumu, elf, and dwarves so I ended up making ear plugs with a slightly different shape for her along with Zulu, Angela, and Basutoral.

Until I was able to prepare some proper ear plugs for them I had the natural-born Orth people keep watch a bit of distance away or dispatched them to the {Butchers} and {Exterminators}.

This test firing is also for the sake of investigating the durability limits of the barrel and receiver but it's one that's smooth with no life ring carved into it and even if it technically has a revolving cylinder, it doesn't automatically rotate so in truth it's nothing more than a single-shot gun and it's not like the receiver has all that complex of a structure either. Since it has nothing more than an extremely simple structure it should have considerably high durability.

First off I was trying to create the base for the net gun after all, since I thought it wouldn't need a life ring so I just didn't carve one in, and as a matter of fact I also prepared one which has a life ring carved into which I'm testing along with it. In regards to the internal structure of this one, it's not just gilded with chrome but I made it entirely using chrome. Luxurious right.

Ever since then every time we enter the dungeon I've been doing the tests but I think you could say it's reached quite the high level of completion. Though, even if I say that it's about 50 points out of a 100 perfect score. In the first place there was no way I could make a perfect 100 points so the place I'm aiming for is around 90 points. Though in reality even that is an objective so high it seems pretty impossible.

Whether it be rubber, swords, or guns, it's not like I'm trying to reproduce things from modern day Earth. I think it's plenty as long as I can make things that are of a quality that would be useful to me on this Orth. Things which are perfect I'm sure a proper craftsmen will appear eventually that makes something on their own and I'm sure that's not my role. However of course, it's all the better the higher quality things are and if the quality is fixed then even more so I have nothing more to say, so I intend to do what I need in order to try an get even just a bit closer to that.

Either way I'm sure imitations will appear.

Then in that case I should just try at least a bit more to make it harder to copy.

In my case, it's just a matter of that being related to magic and even if I didn't have any talent with magic then it would have just taken far more labor and time but I'm sure I would have come up some reasonable ideas around it. Even in regards to guns, for the time being the two types of gunpowder is impossible to make unless they have an aggregate amount of mana at least at Miduchi's level, and while it's an extreme discussion in this situation, even if one of the prototype guns were to be stolen along with the bullets I can guarantee that it would be impossible for them to fire anymore than the number of bullets they took.

And then, I'm sure it would be nearly impossible to make a copy of my prototype gun with the level of craftsman on Orth. Though I don't think it's completely impossible. Even if they push it and forcefully create a copy, the accuracy and durability would fall, no matter how they struggle it wouldn't even reach the feet of the original, I think they would only be able to create something that's absurd to even call several levels inferior.

Since that's already the case at 50 points I personally am very satisfied.

Recently, I've been firing around 100-200 rounds during each test but around the 500th shot both the bullet and gunpowder have stabilized quite a bit. Even when it comes to this smooth barrel gun, if Bel carefully adjusts the position while firing this bullet then I'm sure she can hit a 2 cm circle within 20 meters. At the same time I've reduced the misfire rate to less than 3%.

I struggled quite a bit to reach this point. Though there were some great harvests as well.

First I'll start from the troubles I guess.

In the process of making the smokeless gunpowder that I experimented with as a child there were almost no accidents that could be called an accident.

However, when I tried firing a cartridge which was packed with smokeless gunpowder it ended up misfiring and almost all of the fingers on my right ended up one stage before being completely torn off, that happened twice. Carefully using a small amount at a time and splitting it into parts ended up being a success. If I had tried to take it easy and use a lot all at once then it wouldn't have been strange if I died instantly.

Just in case, I had made a shield for work use. It was like a much larger version of the shields that welders use and the small seeing window was made using diamond(It's comparatively cheap on Orth. Though even then it's slightly more expensive than crystal). In both cases I did it in a corner of the central plaza on the 8th floor when there were no other people around so I was able to avoid secondary damage.

Also, I thought that my skill with the spell {Transmute.Rock.To.Mud} would increase even further by producing the primer parts, shell cases, and bullets but after all I guess you could say, the fact that it still takes just below 40 minutes once again let me realize how difficult this spell is to use.

Furthermore, with a reasonable amount of brass ore I can make several hundred shots of the shell cases all at once. Using a small copper ore I can make several thousand primers as well. Even if it takes a considerable amount of time to change it into mud it doesn't take much time at all to do the shaping and casting. It's especially wonderful and worth mentioning that it's possible to shape and mold it so the appearance, size, and adjustments are all exactly the same and perfectly uniform.

Incidentally, I was safely able to make the detonation powder for the primer using DDNP so there wasn't much of a problem. However, I don't know if it's my essential stinginess that caused it or because of habit and I've convinced myself it's common sense from the SDF but all of the shell cases I make are boxer-primed center fire types. If we collect the shell cases of these boxer primed types after usage and clean them then they can be used a number of times. No, I'm just stating an appropriate sounding reason but in reality it's just a matter of me not remembering anything but that.

Add a very small amount of DDNP to the primer and then push it into the small depression in the center, after that you create a simple lid using an even smaller amount of wax that's about to harden. Just like this the primer is completed. When I was inserting the primer into the base part of the shell casing, I ended up causing countless accidental discharges. It's only obvious that I first started by just assembling the various parts without any gunpowder and confirmed the process after it's hit with the hammer but I screwed up quite a bit when it came to the actual thing.

If I hadn't already assumed it would fail and made an exclusive jig for it before hand I would have ended up suffering quite a bit again here. Though even if I say jig it wasn't anything all that fancy. It's just a very thick iron pipe. The base of the jig is nothing more than a wooden board and I leave the primer facing upwards here, then place the jig that is the iron pipe down. Then I gently place the shell case down from above and with just a bit of power from my hand wedge the primer into the shell case. After that I place a board above the shell case and lightly tap it vertically with a hammer to fit it into place.

The power used to tap it is difficult to adjust. If it's too weak then it ends up taking time and if it's too strong it ends up discharging. Even if it discharges thanks to the jig there's no damage done but including the amount of time spent working the materials end up being wasted. However, when packing the firing agent into the shell case and fitting the bullet onto it it requires even more care.

Since discharging at this point means the bullet being fired after all.

Obviously I prepared an exclusive jig for that as well. In the center of a heavy iron plate I made a sinkhole that was just a bit larger than the bullet and then filled the inside lightly with raw rubber. I push the bullet into there. In the shape of the bullet being stuck into there I flip over the iron plate and carefully place the shell case with the primer set on the base over that matching them up before slowly driving it in.

And then, from here is the harvest.

After seeing those failures a number of times Toris said to leave the mixing and work to him.
At first I thought even if he has {Scale}, I still haven't properly established the process yet and turned him down because it was dangerous when you're not used to it but I quickly reconsidered it. Come to think of it, when I first met him, it's true that I originally thought he would be useful in the future in producing gunpowder and had expected this. If it's a small amount then even if he fails I'm sure he won't die instantly. And as long as he doesn't die instantly it can be healed.

"{Scale} huh...I guess so, give it a try. Be careful while you're doing it.."

And, I started teaching Toris the mixing method, process, and how to use the jig. Toris nodded while saying hmmhmm to himself listening and every time he heard it just once he ended up succeeding. After sitting down cross legged, it looks like he's just casually grabbing and tearing the materials I made with his hands while measuring by eye. Occasionally he would confirm various things like, "The amount of firing agent needed is fine the same as this right?". However, when I tried confirming the quality after he was done with the work, it seems he was able to do it with far greater accuracy than I could.

When he was inserting the primer in he would slightly adjust the position of the board and say something like, "..Here huh?" before hitting with the hammer. After confirming it was properly fit into place and it was almost as if he was making fun of my trouble. It was just the same when fitting the bullet made with iron(Copper is cheap but it's more expensive than iron and lead is considerably cheap but it requires making an order for it in Baldukk) into place. Obviously the bullets made by Toris haven't misfired even once.

Not just that but he increased the number of holes in the jig when fitting the bullets into place and managed the feat of fitting six bullets into place at once with a straight face on. Now it's to the point where I make the materials, Toris measures the amounts and then assembles them. I only make the blanks with a rubber stopper instead of a bullet for firing the net gun. If you ignore the fact that it's handling dangerous materials even an infant could do the work.

Just like this thanks to the fact that I had the skilled Toris for making the bullets, the time spent in production was largely shortened but even then it eats up a considerable amount of time. Even though it doesn't even take a total of 2 hours to test fire 100 rounds, pretty much all of the time other than that is used up in making the bullets.

However, in any case it might be fine to say that for the time being I've completed the bullets and the gun which can fire them.

All that's left is to redesign a gun-stock that makes the body of the gun itself easy to carry and make it the shape of a double-barrel shotgun(though they'll both fire simultaneously). Also, if it's possible(and if I have the leeway) design a real gun that can fire live bullets. If it's possible then a revolver or bolt action or anything else but one with a cylinder that can be loaded and shot consecutively, if it's necessary then even something that discards the shells. On this end it's, let's aim for semi-automatic rifle!

No matter how short won't it take a number of years?

Well, let alone the second world war, the single-shot bolt action gun was still used even after that, and even when I died in the accident it was still a solid operation function used in military purpose firearms. A famous sniper from Finland supposedly used a bolt action rifle with no safety to fire 16 shots in 1 minute after all.

We returned to the surface and started the winter holidays.

Either tomorrow or the day after that a caravan from my family should arrive, if it's possible then I'd like to go and visit Mila-shisho as well.

....................................

Year 7446, Month 12, Day 27

I've come to the capital while accompanying brother and the others with the caravan.

Accompanying us there's over 10 others including Miduchi.
That's other than the large portion of the two carriages taken up by brother, the coachman, and the six guards.

The color of Ralpha and Gwine's eyes changed the moment they heard shopping as usual. It's the usual for Zenom aiming for some smoked goods, then there's also Rodrick and his two slaves who he wants to let sight see in the capital now that they have some leeway in their earnings. Rokko and Kevin are worked over playing around like crazy. It seems that Kamu and Kimu have something they want to buy, while Binsu and Hisu want to order some new weapons. All of the other members intend on enjoying their break in Baldukku.

The squire leader Sean was in a good mood as he said, "If we have this many first-rate adventurers as guards it's almost like we're a transport unit delivering important supplies to the front lines." As a matter of fact he whispered in my ear, "Al-sama, it's really quite amazing, in less than 5 years Al-sama has obtained a lot of magnificent subordinates." It's a bit embarrassing to be praised but even with this I don't think it's enough yet.

Also, starting with brother, all of the squires were surprised hearing about my achievements.

"You're really quite the guy! I'm proud of you as well. Today is my treat! Let's go to a good place!"

And brother even pat my head. Really I'm already 18. It's about time you show some restraint with that sort of stuff.

"Wow, that is quite! We've obtained a good story to tell when we get back!"
"Amazing!"
"As expected~!"
"You've really grown up to be so splendid~!"

All of the squires congratulated me from the bottom of their hearts as well. It's embarrassing but I'm honestly happy.

Just the same as usual I appeared at the royal castle to make deliveries and after receiving the remaining money took the order for next time. At the same time taking half the amount. Since we're carrying this much in cash, a larger number of guards can't be helped. Up until now we've had too few with us. According to brother they've got quite a bit of leeway with money so for the sake of letting the squires learn some things they cut out a greater number to come along this time.

Though he also said that one of the greatest factors is that they've got some leeway in workers thanks to using horses and cattle for farm work. Now other than the three war horses used by my family and the four pack horses used for the carriages, they've employed a total of 16 horses and cattle for farm work.

The number of chances for the squires to directly do anything in regards to farm work has been reduced and the amount of time they can spend doing sword training has supposedly increased. And then, cultivating new land is proceeding smoothly, centering around the rubber plantation the fields have spread out by a total of over 20 hectares since I left the village. It's not as if I went around looking at every corner when I returned at the start of this year after all.

Also, it seems that Myun is currently pregnant with her second child.

..I'm glad for your good fortune, Myun.
I want to think that I was able to return the favor to her a bit.

Furthermore, it seems that there was no new matters for congratulation between my brother and his wife. If sister-in-law Shani were to have gotten pregnant just like this then they would have had friends of the same age again. When I said that brother complained, "We really have our hands full with just Zetto and Bekki..All they do is play pranks. Al(Ailado) always has the role of cleaning up after them." with a sour face.

Chapter end