The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 106: It’s kind of fun pretending to be an inventor

Chapter 106: It’s kind of fun pretending to be an inventor

I haven’t realized it before, but keeping the matter of the river from Natha was actually quite stressful. It weighed heavily on my conscience; I already felt like a liar due to my transmigration identity, so keeping any more secrets made me queasy.

Once that was out of my system, I felt terribly refreshed and light-hearted. I had to endure the embarrassment when the others came back and found me in Natha’s lap, but otherwise, I left the Lord Castle feeling better than ever.

And so, while my mind was still clear and refreshed, I finally decided to tackle the pseudo-modern failed products--the project I had been neglecting since I came back.

After a night of sweet rest cuddling with Natha--and Jade--which resulted in a peaceful, dreamless sleep, I took out the big ’treasure’ chest and put it in the middle of the rug in front of the suite’s fireplace after sending Natha off. I was going to do this in the library, but decided that it was best to examine these things in a place where not many people--or golems--roam around. With this arrangement, I also wouldn’t have to suffer the chilly air.

When the chest landed heavily on the rug, Jade flew closer and landed on my shoulder to take a peek into the big box curiously. The bird actually thought it was a box of snacks, recalling how I brought home a big basket of them when I got back from the castle that first time.

But looking at the obviously inedible things inside, the bird chirped disappointedly.

"It’s not like you grow from eating snacks, so why do you like them so much?" I flicked the bird’s head lightly. "You’re being influenced too much by Zia..."

Leaving this kid with the succubus for a few days seemed to make them rub on each other, how alarming. I shook my head and began to rummage through the box.

I had been wondering which one I would try to dissect first, but Heraz’s information about the elf being found gave me an obvious choice. I took out the two handguns and Jade chirped again, this time intrigued.

"They’re weird, huh?" I laughed and dragged a big book from one of the chairs, and put it open atop the rug. It was a book about the many weaponry used in the three realms; something like an encyclopedia, very useful. I opened the pages until it stopped at the section where it talked about cannons, complete with illustrations. "Here, you can look at this."

Jade jumped lightly off my shoulder and hovered down slowly to land above the big page. The bird landed right in front of the foremost illustration--a mana cannon that usually fitted in a city wall that had a magic tower inside it. Jade tilted its green head, which now had a hint of blue too, and tapped the picture with a tiny foot.

"This one doesn’t look like that," I explained while picking up the guns. "But the principle should be more or less the same, just smaller."

*chirp?*

"No, they can’t grow big into the one in the picture, unlike you," I shook my head, and Jade made a scoffing sound at the guns, feeling triumphant. I couldn’t help but laugh at this guy’s never-ending pride. "Well, it’s not working too at this moment. I want to see what could be done to make this work."

*chirp?*

"Why? Hmm...just because, I guess," I shrugged and put the guns down, rummaging through the pile of books I had prepared two days ago. "If it works, I can get money and help Natha too."

*chirp chirp?*

"Well, we can buy many snacks with money, you know..."

*chirp!* Jade perked up suddenly at the mention of snacks.

"That’s right, it’s nice to have money," I laughed at the bird’s sudden enthusiasm, but our conversation got me paused.

Hmm...now that I think about it, I truly had no money. I had some human currency left from Valmeier’s stash, but it was basically chum changes. There were a few demons coins somewhere in the drawer, if I recall correctly, the leftover pocket money from the last festival. But aside from that, I had nothing to my name.

I never thought about it before because, well...I had never been in need of money ever since I came here. All of my clothes, meals, books, everything had been prepared by Natha and the Lair’s staff. If I ever wanted something, all I needed to do was asked Natha or Angwi, and they’d take care of it.

It was nice, made me giggle for feeling like a sugar baby. But my modern Earthen’s instinct was kicking in now, telling me that I need to have an income on my own. Preparing for the worst, you know, in case something bad happened and I got banished to the edge of the world.

"Should I try asking Angwi for money?" I muttered while opening the advanced magic spell book in my lap. Would she give me some if I asked? Or would she interrogate me first on what would I use the money for?

*chirp?*

"Nothing," I shook my head and stopped flipping the page. "Alright, let’s try this."

With the help of the spellbook, I dismantled the revolver and a bullet first, taking the body apart so I could research all the runes engraved there. I put every piece and part on the tray that I had prepared, so I didn’t have to agonize over a single one missing.

The first thing I noticed was the fine finish on the silvery body of the revolver. Was it because the maker was an elf? It looked like a proper fantasy handgun, with exquisite, delicate carving all over it. Even if it couldn’t be used as a weapon, I felt like it was good enough to be used as decoration.

But of course, an inventor wouldn’t want to have their beloved invention ended up as a mere decoration, would he?

Afterward, I took note of every rune being engraved there; from the one in the handle to decrease recoil, to the one along the muzzle to activate rotating wind and propelling the bullet. I also dissected the bullet, which casing was made of mana-resistant alloy. There was a rune of an explosion at the tip of the bullet, so I headed to the balcony first and erected a double mana barrier around it before dismantling the stuff from afar.

It did explode the moment I put mana into the bullet. So dangerous. Jade was chirping loudly and biting my clothes to pull me away from the barrier.

Thankfully, it reacted only if active mana was being flowed inside the bullet, not just from some random brushes.

I could imagine what he had wanted to make; a pistol with the power of a railgun and the impact of a missile. He wanted to make the bullet propelled fast and far and exploded on contact.

This made me recall something and I took the still panicking Jade down to the library, looking over the shelf containing books about the elves. I took the one titled [Common Elven Warfare] and flipped the page until I saw the section listing what elven archers usually use in their attack.

For efficiency purposes, elf’s favorite spell was speed enhancement--they didn’t need accuracy anymore because their Goddess-blessed eyes do the job better than any other spell. Anyway, speed enhancement for the arrow was a good boost for a single enemy. But during wars, there was one particular spell they liked to use at the beginning; the exploding arrow. It coated the arrow with wind and fire elemental mana, and an exploding formation was carved on the tip. It would explode upon contact with any surface, including, of course, the enemies.

The drawback to such a large-scale attack was the consumption of mana. Triple spell activation needed a long ass incantation, so it could only be used at the beginning of a non-skirmish move, or someone else needed to guard the caster. At that point, using normal magic would have been more efficient, albeit the shorter range.

I could see what the inventor wanted to do. He wanted to create this effect while bypassing the long spell incantation and mana accumulation. The small size and lightness would cover the inconvenience of the stationary mana cannon; which, while having greater firepower, needed a long time to load mana too.

Should these handguns work, a single unit of soldiers equipping this might be able to obliterate an enemy’s batallion.

Hmm, yes, it would change the whole paradigm of warfare if this thing worked. There was only one thing I could say, though: the elf inventor was too ambitious.

Just from the way the bullet exploded right after I put mana inside, it was already a blatant failure.

In the first place, mana wasn’t something that was supposed to be contained in one place, like a bullet head. Mana was alive and constantly flowing, like blood. That was why living being had mana circuits inside. They worked like blood veins, circulating mana until the body used it. Stagnant mana, on the other hand, would lose its life force and slowly became dead. Dead mana, in time, became poisons and wreaked havoc, just like what happened with the bullet.

The only thing capable of storing mana was mana stone or mana crystal. Those things were basically a clump of condensed mana, just like mana cores inside living being, and were programmed by nature to keep the mana contained inside moving incessantly.

The exploding arrow of the elf also used carved mana stones as the arrowhead, which also one of the reasons why they couldn’t just spam it to the enemy and conquered the world. It was a damn waste of expensive fuel, to put it simply. Mana cannon, on the other hand, used mana stones as fuel to charge long-distance spells, and it worked like a massive laser gun...

You know...I wondered why the elf didn’t just make that--an arcane gun that shot pure energy like a laser. Pew pew or something like that.

Also...I wasn’t sure but...I didn’t think gun’s bullet was meant to explode on the target. I think they were meant to have greater penetration by the kinetic blast from the detonation inside the gun...or something like that? I had no idea--I wasn’t a gun expert in my previous life.

Did he want to make a gun that cosplayed as a grenade launcher or something?

Hmm...I need to see the elf first. I wondered if Heraz and his team already got hold of the elf...

*chirp!*

"Wait, I’m thinking right now," I sushed the bird and walked back to the suit in ponder.

The elf probably didn’t want to make the mini cannon because, well...it still needed recharging for every use, either from mounted mana stones or the user’s mana. Inherently; still not instant.

For instant discharge, the mana should already be kept inside, which was why a bullet was needed. But this was why I said he was too ambitious. It would work if the bullet head was made of mana stones, but whew...so expensive. Definitely not something that could be mass-produced.

Haa...I shook my head, ignoring Jade’s constant poking on my cheek. The elf should just make something more traditional, using blackpowder and making normal bullets. He could gain money from selling a normal gun first to fund his magic gun research.

Inside the suite, I held the bullet in my hand and pursed my lips in contemplation. The problem with this was the fact that the mana injected inside would become dormant and poisoned after a while, or it might activate the exploding rune before usage. If only there was a way to keep the mana alive...

"Ah!" I gasped and stood up immediately. "There’s probably a way!"

I looked at my hand and grinned, oblivious to the way Jade looked at me with narrowed eyes and a sulking, pursing beak.

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