CH 277

I saw Mother off at the Port of Cien.

“Safe travels, Mother,” I said.

“Just leave it to me,” Mother said.

We said our farewells and she left immediately. The exchange with Mother was already quite extensive yesterday. There’s no need to linger and go at length before her ship departs.

She’s not going to war, to begin with. There is a possibility that an armed conflict may occur, but for the time being, we have just signed a treaty with each other, and we are convinced of each other’s rights and claims. If you suddenly break the previous peace treaty here, you will turn all the other participating countries into enemies.

This is not a 1-on-1 treaty. It is an agreement between 4 that the Principality of Moscove itself has intervened in, and if it violates that treaty, it will be a full-on scandal with everyone else. It was a unanimous agreement, so if it were to be violated immediately after it was signed, no one would tolerate any excuses.

However, this does not mean that armed clashes will not occur on the front lines. There is a high possibility that repeated provocations and unexpected developments in the field will develop into local battles. And even if that happens, Moscove will probably make the excuse that it was not a treaty violation, but an unforeseen incident confined to that area.

They probably won’t openly invade the country, but provocations and sudden clashes on the front lines are quite possible. No matter how strong Mother is, she may get injured in unexpected ways, and in some cases, even lose her life. I don’t think it’s that dangerous, but I still don’t know when she might die. I have to send my mother to such a place for my sake.

“Hey, hey, Flora dear, don’t make that face. Well then, I’ll be boarding now,” Mother said.

“Yes… Please be safe,” I said.

All I could do was watch my mother go up the ramp. If I were to go to the scene with her, I wouldn’t be so worried. But it’s very painful for me to let my parents stand at the battle lines while I’m dozing off in my territory.

I saw off the ship at the Port of Cien until I could not see the ship at a glance…

“Miss Flora…” Katharina said.

“… Now then, I can’t stay like this forever,” I said. “Let’s get to work right away.”

I can’t let my father and mother stand on the battlefield while I’m the only one playing around. But I also have to stay in my territory because I have a job to do. I can’t even speak to her if I sit around doing nothing after sending her off to battle.

“The schedule for today’s inspection has been changed, but have the other sides already been contacted?” I asked.

“Yes. It will be no issue,” Katharina said.

Originally, I was supposed to do an inspection today in Caanburg. But I came to Cien because I had to send Mother off in a hurry, so instead of returning to Caanburg and doing my original schedule, I decided to do an inspection that I could do in Cien, which was still ahead of schedule, so I am shifting the appointments around.

Cien’s inspection was scheduled to be carried out soon, and I had contacted various places to some extent, so some changes would be manageable. In the first place, it is more meaningful to suddenly go to the site and see the actual work and business than to tell them that you are going to inspect and that they should wait for you.

Well, it would be a massive nuisance for the workplace if you did that, but if you sincerely want to inspect the true situation, it would be better to do it unannounced.

“Then let’s go, shall we?” I said. “Everyone, please wait at Cien Villa.”

The wives who have followed me so far will be waiting for me there. What’s to come involves military secrets. It’s not that I don’t trust my wives, but conversely, it’s not a place where young ladies can go. We parted ways with everyone who reluctantly agreed and headed for the inspection site alone.

The first location I came to was Cien’s naval port. The port is separate from the civilian port used by both the private sector and the military. Warships can enter civilian ports, but civilian ships are not allowed to enter military ports.

However, there is no such deadly secret here yet, it’s just an anchorage for warships. A place where warships are lined up, materials and supplies are accumulated, and sailors are stationed. They also train recruits here. Today’s inspection is for their training.

“You’ve got quite a lot of energy, Stefan,” I called out.

“It-It’s Lord Floto!” Stefan cried, straightening up his posture. “Good morning to you!”

He’s being so strictly formal right now you wouldn’t expect him to walk into a woman’s room without knocking.

“Is your training going well?” I asked.

“Aye!” Stefan said.

Let’s take a look at the recruits Stefan is commanding. They were brought in by him. Since they were originally gathered under Stefan in Koenigsvelg, at least their loyalty and trust in Stefan should be strong.

Those under Stefan who were less motivated or less loyal were given jobs at the Port of Koenigsvelg. The only people here are those who have been evaluated as above a certain level through background checks, motivation, skills, and loyalty.

Not only those who originally followed Stefan, but there were also selected among the ones who wished to join after the war in Koenigsvelg. It’s not like these recruits are Stefan’s subordinates or allies. They’re just being trained together as recruits.

Or rather, Stefan is just being trained as a recruit, to begin with. I only spoke to Stefan because I saw him, I wasn’t searching for him. There are some who will become Stefan’s subordinates, but…

I talked a little with the instructors, listened to their problems and requests, and inspected the site. Cien Naval Port doesn’t seem to have any particular problems. There is no big problem other than the surplus of ships contrasting the lack of sailors to man them. However, since many ships have left, the percentage of recruits has become quite high. Is that the only concern?

“Well then everyone, please do your best,” I said.

“”””Aye, aye!””””” everyone responded with a salute.

Since I came to Cien, I came to inspect them because I was in the area, but I’m glad I came because I learned a lot. In order to head to the next inspection, I immediately started moving in a carriage.

To avoid the public eye, I leave through Cien Naval Port, a natural fortress surrounded by rocky mountains, and proceed further west. Proceeding along the coast, I could see a large site and a splendid building, as if trying to avoid being seen themselves.

I entered the building and walked around the facility on my own. I’ve been to this place many times, so I can generally understand its layout without any special guidance.

There are some places that are blocked off and places where the layout has changed, but they don’t change that dramatically, so I was able to quickly find the person I was looking for.

“Good day to you, Eins. Is your research going well?” I asked.

“Oh~,” Eins hummed. “If it isn’t you, Lord Caan, please, come in and make yourself welcome.”

The Head Researcher of this laboratory, Eins, had a big smile on his face when he saw me. Seems the work is going well.

“It’s still in the prototype stage, but would you like to see our current progress?” Eins said.

He seems excited to show it to me right away. Dr. Eins is easy to understand. If he wasn’t interested or things weren’t going well, he wouldn’t have said that in such a good mood. This is the same as a child who wants to show his achievements as soon as possible.

“Then, might you show me them?” I asked.

“Let’s get right to it!” Dr. Eins said as he immediately started walking off.

I followed after him. We left the building and came to the shooting range. A soldier holds a cylindrical stick. I did give notice of an inspection today, so he must have been ready and waiting for a while.

“This is the prototype,” Eins said, taking it from the soldier.

“… You’re doing quite well,” I said as he brought it before me.

It’s a rifle. I’m holding an unrifled matchlock musket.

The Caan Cannon is useful for raising the level of anti-material attack power. It will be a great help in attacking enemy ships, ramparts, and fortresses. But at this point in time, soldiers will eventually have to engage in hand-to-hand combat by directly colliding with other enemy soldiers on foot. Regardless of the quality, House Caan has a small number of soldiers, and wants to avoid the loss of soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.

So I asked Dr. Eins to develop firearms and rifles that each soldier could carry. Since the Caan Cannon, an artillery gun, has already been realized, theoretically it should be possible to make a rifle as well. However, it is not that easy, and there are many problems that must be cleared.

Miniaturizing anything requires advanced technology. It’s not an easy story that if you can make a ship cannon, you can also make an infantry-size firearm. Even if you can make something big and grandiose, it is difficult to make something small, lightweight, and practical.

For example, the ignition method of the musket gun, bullet loading, durability, maintainability, productivity, etc., must be considered for practical use. Putting aside a one-of-a-kind item that disregarded every factor for the sake of existing, if it was intended to be distributed among the soldiers, it would be meaningless if it could not be mass-produced.

Since this is still a prototype, the main purpose is to test the durability and check for misfires and bullet jams. Mass production and maintainability are not considered so much.

“Let’s test-fire it first!” Eins said in high spirits.

“I agree,” I said, returning the musket to him.

He loads gunpowder and a bullet from the muzzle… he prepares the firing pan, then finally gets into a shooting stance…

Pah-nn!

A high-pitched sound rang out. But it didn’t hit the target that was ahead of it, and the stray bullet prevention wall piled up behind it made a “BISS!” as it was hit instead.

Load a bullet and gunpowder then fire again. This time, he hit the edge of the target, but it was far from where he had been aiming, and it just happened to catch the very edge of the target.

I fired a few shots myself after that, but it took too long to load. Also, the accuracy is pretty bad. I don’t know how durable it will be with just a few shots like this, but even if it’s mass-producible, it probably won’t be usable in actual combat.

“I think there is still room for improvement, isn’t there?” I said.

“Your Lordship is correct,” Eins replied. “The main purpose of this is to confirm the durability of the barrel.”

So this prototype was just to test durability and issues such as clogging and exploding of the barrel. Well, it’s impossible to suddenly create a perfect prototype and then to a finished product. In fact, it seems that there are times that the barrel has ripped or exploded in past tests. He also showed me some of the broken prototypes that were left over.

Right now, the main purpose is to test the durability of the barrel, so we’re using the matchlock style, but in the end, of course, the ignition needs to change… even if it’s impossible to go that far, I’d like to develop a flintlock system. It’s too inconvenient with a matchlock.

I’ve given some ideas to Eins, but I can’t improve the durability of the material or design something for practical use. The only way to do that would be for Eins and the others to steadily repeat research and experiments and gradually build up their basic capabilities for gunsmithing.

In addition to the rifle, I was shown some other things that are being developed in parallel. It’s not just weapons. Rather, Eins isn’t a weapon developer. Just because I’m asking him to develop various weapons, I don’t think I intend for him to be a weapons developer.

After taking a quick tour of the research institute and being shown the development status of other projects, the conversation returned to the rifle.

“Is rifling the barrel still difficult?” I asked.

“Indeed it is, Your Lordship…” Eins replied. “Your idea is very wonderful, Lord Caan, but it’s still impossible to realize it practically speaking.”

The musket’s accuracy was pretty bad in today’s test shots. So is the Caan Cannon’s accuracy. Smoothbore guns are easy to make, but have a problem with accuracy. If possible, I would like to increase the accuracy by applying rifling to the insides of the barrels.

However, as Eins said, rifling would not be easy at the current industrial level. Of course, each piece is handmade by craftsmen, but since there is no lathe or mechanical power source, it takes a lot of time and it is difficult to make it uniform.

Roughly speaking, according to my knowledge, I think that there was a way to copy the groove by scraping and digging a spiral, or by putting a mold inside and pressing it to copy the same effect. But it’s hard to remove the necessary material. Mass production wouldn’t be possible without a lathe. In that case, I can still copy the groove by pressing it against the mold… I can’t help but think that it’s not easy either.

I submit such ideas to the research institute, so I think they are working on them every day, but if it were that easy, no one would have a hard time with inventions.

“Today was a meaningful inspection,” I said. “My apologies for changing the plans so suddenly.”

“No, no,” Eins said, smiling, “for when you come, Lord Caan, you will teach us various things, so all the staff is willing to wait.”

At first, I thought he was a bigoted old man, but after getting to know him like this, he was a reliable doctor. I still don’t understand how his bride is so young and beautiful, but that’s okay. 1

“If I can come again while I’m here in the territory, I will come,” I said.

“Of course,” Eins said. “We will be waiting to receive you.”

At Father’s request, the schedule was suddenly changed and I came to Cien instead, but today’s inspection was fruitful. When I got home, I forgot about the paperwork that was waiting for me and returned to Cien Villa in a good mood.