Chapter 17 – Commencement of New Weapon Development for Dwarves

The commoners who suffered direct damages ‘profited’ by receiving high compensation.

The lords who had suffered reputational damage ‘profited’ by clearing their names.

Gaikaku ‘profited’ by solving the problem in a single day, earning merit.

Gaikaku reported this outcome—a win-win-win for all involved, established by having the bandits bear all the losses—to the Supreme Knight Commander.

Tistoria, upon receiving it, was reviewing it with her subordinate, Wesun.

“It seems the mission was a success. Wonderful. Had this been entrusted to anyone but him, it likely would have taken ten times as long.”

“…Indeed.”

Tistoria had casually said something that seemed to belittle the other Knight Orders, but even Wesun had to admit she was right.

After all, he had captured them all in two days.

Apprehending all fifteen bandits, whose whereabouts were unknown, would have been considered fast even if it took twenty days.

“However, this makes it all but certain that Count Alhena was involved in the incident. If he hadn’t known the bandits’ hiding place and informed Lord Gaikaku… it wouldn’t have been resolved so easily.”

“That, too, is part of his ability. I don’t know how he managed it, but he seems to have a high aptitude for this kind of mission. To avoid troubling the other Knight Orders, let’s continue to prioritize him for such tasks.”

Lightly,

Tistoria stroked the figures detailing the compensation paid by both Counts.

Watching her do so, Wesun understood.

(Looks like she drove the point home…)

If this had merely been concluded messily, a recurrence would be possible.

Worse, they might even stage incidents themselves, hoping for a bribe.

But they had, from none other than their own pockets, paid dearly.

It was exceedingly clear proof of their apology to the populace.

It seemed they had learned their lesson.

“So, what’s his next mission?”

“It wouldn’t be good to push him too hard. Besides, if his efficiency is due to ‘magic tricks,’ then he must need time to prepare.”

“…Indeed. He and his subordinates will need time. For a little while, perhaps we’ll have the other Knight Orders pick up the slack.”

Gaikaku had accomplished numerous missions in a short period.

While it seemed like he resolved them easily, the two of them saw it as him consuming his tricks and resources.

And they were right; if he undertook too many missions consecutively, there was a high chance he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

Last time, he’d used up all twenty Fresh Golems, and this time, he’d consumed ‘that alcohol, of which there wasn’t much.’ If they gave him the same request again, he’d probably say, ‘Huh? I’m all out.’

“We’d like him to rest and recuperate, and we anticipate even greater strides from him in the future.”

“Yes, precisely as you say.”

※

Now then, for the mission, Gaikaku had taken human infantry, Beastkin grenadiers, and Dark Elf scouts with him.

As a result, Elf artillerists, Ogre heavy infantry, Goblin engineers, and Dwarves had remained behind.

The development of their assigned base had been entrusted to them.

Gaikaku had conveyed a general plan before his departure, but how much progress had they actually made?

What greeted Gaikaku and his party upon their return were three completed buildings.

“Whoa! Three barracks, built just according to my designs!”

“Yep, just as ordered. We prioritized building for the Goblins, us Dwarves, and then the Ogres.”

“Man, having you Dwarves around made it so easy~~!”

As expected of Dwarves and Ogres; with twenty members from each of those two races, construction was a breeze.

Newly built barracks, constructed for races of different sizes than humans.

However, while the Ogres were a bit larger, the other two buildings weren’t that small either.

“But hey, Boss. Why’d you make the Goblin and our Dwarf barracks pretty big too?”

“Even if you’re the ones living there, it’d be a pain if it were hard for us to get in, right? The ceiling height and such are set to Ogre standards.”

“…Well, it’s hard to make them bigger after they’re already built, so I guess it can’t be helped.”

They’d finally gotten their own personal space, yet other races might still come in.

It wasn’t a very pleasant thought, but it was practically necessary, so it couldn’t be helped.

The Dwarves grudgingly accepted.

“Master! Master! Our homes are finished too!”

“Come see them later, okay! We’ve decorated them with things we found!”

“Alright, alright. You can do whatever you like with the interiors. Just don’t make them too messy, okay?”

“Okay!”

Gaikaku was as careful with the playful Goblins as if he were dealing with children.

It wasn’t that Goblins were particularly stupid, but their mental age wasn’t high, so he had to be mindful of how he treated them.

“How about the Ogres? Is it too cramped?”

“Chief… well, no, it’s not cramped, but… the interiors are still…”

“The Dwarves want to work on them too, but we have to build the remaining barracks first…”

“Well, you can take your time with that. Making plans is part of the fun, isn’t it?”

Meanwhile, the Ogres were voicing their complaints, though they sounded a little disappointed.

When it came down to it, they seemed happy to have their own rooms and just wanted to voice some cheerful grievances.

“So, Elves. What about your results?”

“Yes, sensei. We were able to manufacture what you instructed us to.”

“To be honest, we don’t quite understand how it’s different from the previous one, but we believe we’ve made it according to your instructions.”

“Alright, well done! I’ll handle the final process, so don’t worry!”

The physical labor and construction work were handled by the Dwarves and Ogres, while the Elves worked as Gaikaku’s assistants, like apprentice mages.

During Gaikaku’s absence, they had been manufacturing the parts needed for a prototype of a new illegal weapon…

“Perfect timing! One Ogre, come here! I need you to test something out!”

“Ah, yes… Understood, Chief.”

Since Gaikaku had called for an Ogre, everyone except the Elves understood that the ‘new weapon’ was for Ogres.

With this new weapon about to be unveiled, everyone… especially the Dwarves… looked expectant.

After about ten minutes, an Ogre equipped with a Fresh Golem appeared, along with a triumphantly grinning Gaikaku.

At a glance, it didn’t look much different from the previous Fresh Golem.

“This is the new model Fresh Golem… heat-resistant type! By incorporating Babubabubaobabu tree-flesh inside, it can delay heat accumulation! This should drastically increase the operational time for both the pilot and the Fresh Golem itself…!”

“Should, you say…? No, really, it’s gotten a lot cooler! This is amazing, Chief!”

“Problems are meant to be solved!”

The Babubabubaobabu.

It is an extremely thick-trunked tree native to savanna regions.

This region is characterized by cold nights and hot days, and the trunk of this tree possesses the property of absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night.

This trunk is tree-flesh… containing a lot of moisture, much like aloe or cactus, and Gaikaku had incorporated it into this Fresh Golem.

There’s a limit to how much heat it can absorb, but it was still supposed to be a significant improvement over having nothing.

“Muscles generate heat, and that heat can break down their own proteins. The Fresh Golem’s own muscles are damaged, and the Ogres wearing them quickly tire out because they can’t dissipate heat. Until now, as a symptomatic treatment, we’ve had them take in extra water and salt, but that ultimately doesn’t solve the problem for the Fresh Golem itself.”

Extreme heat buildup drastically lowers physical performance.

It’s not a simple problem you can just endure, or fix with salt and water.

Your head stops working clearly, and your motor skills decline.

Even if you used medicine to not feel the heat, it wouldn’t fool your body at all.

“I want you to wear this and exercise for a while. I’ll check the temperature when you’re done, so no water or salt intake until then, got it?”

“Okay~~! An activity test, right~~!”

Though she was considered a dropout among the Ogres, she still possessed twice the strength of a human.

Wearing the Fresh Golem increased her strength up to five times, but that also meant her body generated a correspondingly large amount of heat.

How much of that could the Babubabubaobabu absorb? How much could their operational time be extended?

Gaikaku watched her movements with the eyes of a researcher.

“…Hey, Boss.”

“What is it?”

“Uh, well… those Ogres, they go out to battle wearing that thing, right?”

“Yeah.”

“From what I’ve heard, they inject drugs into those external muscles and can become as strong as an elite-sama for a short while…”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“We can expect something too, right?”

For Ogres, the Cultured Osteo-Muscular Reinforcement Armor: Fresh Golem.

For Elves, the Compound Magical Power Turret: Demon Tower.

For Beastkin, the Buoyancy-Type Lightweight Knapsack: Sea Runner.

Human infantry just get slightly better outsourced weapons and armor because there are so many of them, and Dark Elves and Goblins are non-combatants, so they don’t have anything particularly fancy.

Given all that, what would the Dwarves be supplied with…?

It would have to be the Fresh Golem, allowing them to excel in close combat.

“We get to wear that and fight too, right?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Gaikaku, on the contrary, was bewildered.

At that moment, the Dwarf was looking up at him, and Gaikaku was looking down at them…

This was merely a matter of posture, with no deeper meaning.

But with his next words, it took on a negative connotation.

“With your arm and leg length, it’d be completely meaningless, you know?”

“Wha—?! Are you kidding me?!”

Gaikaku meant no harm, but the Dwarves were furious.

To them, the way he’d said it was deeply hurtful.

“No, I mean, think about it. You guys already have a narrow range of motion in your joints, right? If you wore something like that on top of it, you’d barely be able to move.”

Both Ogres and Dwarves possess robust physiques.

The biggest difference between them would be their body size and limb length.

You could say they’re polar opposites in that regard.

“The other day, I fought some human men whose muscles were enhanced with drugs… and that was awful. You guys would be even worse off.”

Gnnnngh!

Gaikaku truly wasn’t being sarcastic.

He was merely stating biological characteristics, not making fun of them.

“So, are we just stuck with being engineers then?!”

“Even though we finally became knights, sort of?!”

“Just building houses, making weapons, and supporting Ogres, is that it?!”

“No, no, you guys will have a role fighting on the front lines too, so don’t worry.”

He grinned knowingly.

“The latest illegal weapon is already in my head! All that’s left is to research, develop, experiment, deploy it to the battlefield, verify, and put it into practical use! If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just think of something new then!”

“…That’s not ‘all that’s left’ at all, but… well, we’ll take your word for it for now.”

They had a lot they wanted to say, but it was better than him suddenly making a finished product only for it to fail on the battlefield.

“Well, that’s how groundbreaking this weapon is. We can’t do anything without basic research first.”

“So, until then, we’re stuck with construction, huh… Sigh.”

“Nope, I’ll leave that to the humans. From now on, you all have… an even more tedious and utterly uninteresting job waiting for you! Mwahahahaha!”

Gaikaku laughed heartily.

He had the completed blueprint in his mind, but imagining the hardships until then, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re going to tirelessly make gears and axles!”

“…What, are you making a water wheel or something?”

“Eighty points!”

“(So he’s mostly right, huh…)”

※

Now, about Gaikaku.

He was currently engrossed in fun, fun basic research.

In a research facility built inside a pre-existing massive structure, he was observing several ‘hearts.’

Living, beating hearts, placed in transparent containers and submerged in a purple liquid.

Gaikaku was measuring their heart rates and blood pressure, taking detailed notes.

Of course, his elven assistants were also participating, but they were somewhat perplexed.

“Um, sensei. What are these ‘hearts’ going to be used for?”

“For hearts.”

“…Could you explain that a little more clearly?”

“You’ll see! It’s a surprise!”

The Elves were troubled.

For one thing, those hearts were absurdly huge.

Even if you just say ‘heart,’ their size and shape differ depending on the species.

Of course, without a thorough knowledge of anatomy, one couldn’t tell which was which.

However, they were so large that even beginners like the Elves could see it.

If a heart were this big, the other organs probably wouldn’t even fit inside a body.

“We understand that you’re making limbs and organs. We don’t want to imagine it, but if someone gets injured, you’d replace them with those, right?”

“And we understand culturing muscles too, since those are used for the Fresh Golems…”

“So, these hearts will also be used for something like that, right?”

“It’s a secret!!”

Seeing Gaikaku’s eyes sparkle, the Elves thought.

(sensei is just like a regular magician…)

He loved surprising people and spared no effort to do so.

He tried to surprise not just his opponents, but even his allies.

That attitude was exactly like a magician’s.

“Everyone’s gonna be so surprised~~!”

(If you just showed them hearts pulsating like this, I think that alone would be surprising enough…)

He wanted to surprise them, but not to scare them; Gaikaku was, in fact, quite serious.

※

The heart.

It is a pump whose function is to circulate blood throughout the body.

However, unlike commonly imagined pumps, the pressure of the blood supplied by the heart does not directly become motive power.

Blood has the role of carrying nutrients and oxygen, while actual motive power is generated within cells, such as those in muscles.

The idea of increasing combat ability by raising heart rate… is nothing more than a kind of illusion.

However, it is a fact that the heart is a pump.

It applies pressure to the blood flowing in from the veins and sends it to the arterial side.

This is the function of the heart, and it is nothing other than a pump.

Therefore, well, it can also be used as a pump.

“Look, Elves! This rotating axle, this shaft! The experiment is a success!”

“…Um, so what is this for?”

“You don’t get it?! An artificially cultured heart is applying pressure to the ‘water’ inside and sending it out, which then passes through industrial-grade agar, rotates the water wheel at the end, and transmits that power to the axle!”

“…Well, yes, we can see that by looking, but…”

“Isn’t it amazing?! If this wasn’t illegal research, it would be worthy of being etched into human history!”

Inside the laboratory, Gaikaku was conducting an experiment on motive power.

He was using a cultured heart as a pump to send out water from within it, thereby rotating an axle.

Incidentally, industrial-grade agar is a transparent material made from a seaweed called ‘Bentengusa.’

It’s initially liquid, but if you pour it into a mold and let it cool and solidify, it becomes a transparent container with a certain degree of strength and flexibility.

He had used it to create transparent tubes, making the model easy to understand.

“…Well, I mean, it’s a water wheel, right?”

“That’s right!”

“And you’re turning the water wheel with a heart, right?”

“Well, yeah!”

“And with this, what are you going to do…?”

Gaikaku was making a big fuss, but the Elves were unimpressed.

After all, the rotating axle, the shaft, was tiny.

The beating heart wasn’t that large either, the rotating water wheel was small enough to fit in one’s hand, and the axle was about the length and thickness of chopsticks used for deep-frying.

And its rotation was pathetic.

“…This is why I hate beginners. They don’t understand the significance of an experiment!”

“That may be so, but we don’t understand because you don’t tell us.”

“Let me ask you instead: if you made a huge one and it failed, what would you do then? The budget would become astronomical, honestly…”

Gaikaku’s explanation was, indeed, quite reasonable.

“Listen, no matter how grand the experiment or construction… you always start by making a small model. That way, you can run more tests, and if it fails, the accident will be smaller. Besides, if it’s small but precise, you can predict the expected values if it were completed.”

“…Is that how it is?”

“Yeah. Experiments are about creating data for success… and also for testing how to make them fail. From now on, I’m going to raise this heart’s blood pressure and pulse to see how far it can go before it breaks, what happens to the shaft’s rotation speed, and so on.”

“Sounds pretty tedious…”

“That’s what research is. If you neglect this part, you end up with something that doesn’t budge an inch in front of sponsors, or breaks down when deployed in actual combat.”

For an Illegal Mage, Gaikaku was surprisingly sound when it came to magic.

Or rather, being a genius mage, his fundamentals were probably solid.

There is nothing for which ‘fundamentals’ are as important as they are in magic.

“…We don’t mind helping with those records, but what exactly are you making?”

“Aren’t we already making it? A heart and the mechanism to transmit its power.”

“No, I mean… what kind of weapon will it ultimately become?”

The Elves were thoroughly perplexed.

What their experiments would lead to.

They couldn’t quite grasp it.

“…Your level is low. Those who can only see things in terms of actual profit or practical application can only be called philistines… but well, that comes after you’ve known the joy of it.”

Gaikaku, after drawing it out, finally spoke.

“We’ll incorporate this mechanism into a carriage and move it with the power of the heart!”

The military branch Gaikaku would assign to the Dwarves.

It was to be this world’s first tank troopers.

“Yes, those Dwarves, they’ll become the Dwarves’ first cavalry… powered cavalry!”