Chapter 98

◆4-10 A self-weighted nuclear warhead does not make a musket

But if it’s not a gun, what is it used for?

Suddenly, I noticed that the old woman was staring at me. "I'm sorry, I must have been acting strange."

I felt incredibly embarrassed, wanting to escape into the void.

When I tried to apologize for my odd behavior, she pointed at my hands and said,

"Can you tell what that is?"

"I don't know."

"Huh!? Speak louder."

"I don't know."

I spoke louder so that she could hear me even if her hearing was poor. Then, the old woman stood up and approached me with a steady gait. She was taller than I expected.

"Again."

"Huh?"

"Try holding it again."

I did as she said and held the object that looked like a gun, which I had put down.

What is it? I must not be holding it correctly.

"Hmm... You have that posture without even knowing what it is. Impressive."

"What is this used for?"

"What do you think?"

"Does something fly out from the end?"

"You got it. It's a projectile that you hold like that... well, it's like a very powerful bow."

It was a gun.

I see. This is a magic shop, so it must be powered by magic stones, not gunpowder. Even without the technology of firearms, it should be possible to develop a weapon that closely resembles a gun using magic items.

However, if this is a gun, I don't understand why it's left in a small shop. It should be more widespread, and if it were secretly developed by Remus, it wouldn't be carelessly placed.

"I've never seen one before. If it's stronger than a bow, why isn't it more common?"

"It's useless garbage."

"Huh? But it's stronger than a bow, right?"

"It's only in terms of power. It uses one first-grade magic stone for one shot. One stone per shot. There are plenty of mages who can repeatedly cast spells with the same power. So, it's useless, like a clothesline."

Is the energy conversion efficiency that bad? Just hearing this, I became curious about the detailed mechanism. It would be impossible to test it due to the high cost of the magic stones, but I want to ask more questions.

"The bullet... what comes out of this hole?"

"Pure magic, but you probably don't understand that."

"I do. If you just shoot pure magic, won't it lose its power?"

"Huh? Can you use magic?"

"...A little, fire attribute."

I can't say dark attribute, so I'll say I can use fire magic.

However, I don't understand the meaning of shooting pure magic. It should be impossible to use properly due to the severe power loss.

"Can you release pure magic outside your body?"

"I can, but it's too inefficient. Normally, you convert it into an attribute magic and shoot a fireball or something."

"Normally, yes. But if you use pure magic, it disperses in the air. Even if you release all your magic, it can only move a piece of cotton."

"...I see."

It's true. I won't mention that there are people who have used pure magic to travel beyond the atmosphere, as it's not relevant to the topic.

"So, magic items convert magic into various attributes before use. Nuke-kun, for example, would have been great if it could shoot a fireball."

"Nuke-kun?"

A mysterious word appeared.

When I tilted my head and asked, she laughed and said,

"Nuke-kun, the nickname for this magic item. What do you think? Cool, right?"

"...Yes, I guess."

The person who named it has a weird sense of naming.

Even as an experimental weapon, giving it such a silly name?

"Right? Nuke-kun wants to shoot a fireball, but the first and fourth types interfere, right?"

"First type? What is that?"

"Oh, sorry. I got carried away and thought I was talking to my old colleagues. You can use magic, but you're a layman when it comes to magic items. How to explain... Magic items have various types of power, and to shoot a fireball, you need to use two types that don't work well together. You can't create the object that acts as the arrow and shoot it at the same time."

"I see. So, it uses only pure magic to skip the process of creating the arrow."

"Exactly."

Wait, if it skips the process of creating the arrow, wouldn't it be better to prepare the arrow in advance?

If you load a lead bullet and shoot it, you should only need one type of power. Causing a fire attribute explosion in a sealed space could replace gunpowder, and the energy efficiency shouldn't be that bad.

It seems the person who developed this tried to do everything with a magic item, but if they solved part of it physically... Maybe I shouldn't say this? If this technology leaks, it could change the world.

Even if it's a method that researchers know is impossible just by hearing it, there's a possibility that they could reproduce it.

Since I sensed a rare tech cheat, I kept quiet.

"Thank you for the valuable information. You seem to know a lot about Nuke-kun."

"Well, I made it, so I should."

I was glad I didn't say anything about the gun.

This old woman can develop magic items. I thought the shop only sold and repaired cheap magic items for general households.

At first, I thought she was aloof, but she seems to enjoy talking. She spoke cheerfully.

"Now I'm just the owner of a small shop, but I used to be a researcher at the First Factory."

"First Factory?"

A factory is like a military factory.

I'm not familiar with the term, and I assume it's not common knowledge. However, she seemed surprised that I didn't know about the First Factory.

"The First? The wasteful First."

"Um... I'm sorry, I don't know."

"The First Factory that broke almost all the windows in the noble mansions. It happened recently, right? Just after I retired... Oh, it was ten years ago."

I've never heard of it, but it seems to be famous in Remus.

I was picturing a gang of vandals breaking windows, so I asked again.

"I recently moved to the capital from the countryside. Can you tell me about the First Factory?"

"Huh, I thought you were a local. The Remus First Factory is a national magic item research institution. There are two: the First and the Second. The First is in the red, the Second in the black."

"...In the red?"

"Yes, in the red. They buy rare magic items from dungeons for research, use expensive materials, and consume large magic stones... No amount of money is enough."

"Research does cost a lot, doesn't it?"

"The Second Factory, on the other hand, supports Remus's finances by selling research results and exporting them to other countries."

The First Factory, isn't it unnecessary?

A national research institution doesn't need to make a profit. But if one is hemorrhaging money and the other is profitable, it seems the former could be eliminated.

Of course, I wouldn't say it's unnecessary in front of the old woman, who used to be a researcher at the First Factory. However, she seemed to see through my thoughts and smiled slyly.

"You must think the First is unnecessary, right? You have a blank expression, but I can tell."

"No, not at all."

"Everyone who hears about it for the first time thinks the same. Even some of Remus's nobles say the First Factory should be shut down."

That means there are people who think it's necessary.

I reflexively thought it was unnecessary, but how can there be such a difference in the same field of magic item research? The Second Factory, which is profitable, must also incur huge expenses.

"Those two research facilities aren't doing the same thing, are they?"

"Hehe, you're sharp. The First Factory aims to develop technologically advanced magic items, regardless of whether they can be sold or mass-produced. The Second uses the technology developed in the process to create in-demand items."

"Isn't the Second cheating? Aren't they stealing technology?"

"Maybe, but only those not in the First Factory would say that."

"Why?"

The First and Second had different goals. The former didn't consider financial benefits, while the latter pursued them from the start.

The Second would inevitably be evaluated externally, but she said no researcher was dissatisfied.

The old woman, who invented a gun-like device in a world without gunpowder, smiled broadly and answered.

"Because, isn't it more fun to focus only on magic items and research? The nobles who fund us say it's an investment in the future, but I don't care about that. Research is fun, just that."

She was a true researcher. Maybe only people like her can become magic item researchers in this technologically advanced country.

After that, the old woman, in a good mood, offered me tea, but I declined because it would be unnatural to take off my hat.

I wanted to hear more about magic items.

Before leaving the shop, there was one thing I was curious about. It was about the incident of breaking windows, which she mentioned when explaining the First Factory.

"What do you mean by breaking windows in mansions?"

"Oh, that. My disciple... a loud-voiced child. Because of that child, my hearing is poor. ...Ah, the disciple was testing a magic item near the noble district, which broke the windows."

"Um... why in the middle of the capital?"

"Because it was close to the research facility."

"Oh, I see. What kind of magic item was it?"

"A sound weapon, the disciple said. It was supposed to generate a sound loud enough to break glass and defeat enemy troops."

"Wouldn't it also harm allies?"

"Yes. It couldn't be directional, so it emitted loud sounds in all directions. The closer you were, the more damage you took. The disciple's eardrums were also ruptured in the experiment."

They conducted an experiment without solving a problem that anyone could immediately imagine.

I didn't think the First Factory was such a collection of reckless people. Come to think of it, the old woman, who tried to use only pure magic for long-range attacks, was also reckless. I see, it's a collection of such people.

I should be careful around magic item researchers, especially those from the First Factory. But since I won't have many opportunities to meet them, it might be an unnecessary worry.

"Is the disciple okay?"

"The disciple is only good at health and research, so they recovered quickly. Maybe their voice is even louder now?"

"That's good to hear."

"But they haven't shown their face recently. The last time we met, they said they were reproducing a magic item from hundreds of years ago... They must be in the thick of their research. No news is good news."

"Hundreds of years ago, that sounds romantic."

"Right? I almost want to return to active duty."

I ended up having a long conversation.

I put the gun-like device back where it was and decided to leave the shop.

"Thank you for today. I hope your disciple's research goes well."

"Thank you too. It was fun to chat after a long time. If you get caught in the disciple's experiment, be careful. They break windows."

"I will. Thank you."

"Come again."

Reluctantly, I said goodbye to the old woman.

It would be difficult to come back here, and I probably won't get caught in the disciple's experiment.

With the memory of this wonderful encounter etched in my heart, I left the small magic item shop.