Chapter 58

The Kingdom of Lordberg, with over 200 years of history since its founding, is one of the largest nations in the southern part of the continent.

In comparison, the Kingdom of Lancel, to the west, is still a relatively young country, having been established only around 60 years ago.

It was about four years ago, after the third king ascended to the throne, that the Kingdom of Lancel began to show territorial ambitions toward the Kingdom of Lordberg.

Since then, both countries have been engaged in a conflict in the southern region of the Bezel Forest, a zone where small forests are scattered across the plains.

The Kingdom of Lordberg has relied heavily on mercenaries in this conflict.

Neither the current king of Lordberg nor the nobles, including Marquis Gardwin, who holds land in the disputed region, wish to deplete their own forces. They aim to preserve their regular army as much as possible for the full-scale war they anticipate will come.

With this in mind, many mercenaries have been shedding blood in the conflict zone in place of the regular army.

The mercenary group led by Gosling was one of these “disposable pawns” used in place of the regular forces.

Gosling and his men were ordered to attack a certain fortress built by the Lancelian army. The expected casualties were so high that the regular army would not have considered advancing under such conditions—it was a harsh order.

However, since they had accepted payment, they could not refuse the order. As a result, the mercenary group suffered heavy losses, to the point of being nearly half-destroyed.

Gosling found himself in a situation where he had no choice but to abandon not only the dead but also the wounded who were still alive, leading his remaining men in a disorderly retreat.

Having failed the mission and with his forces reduced to less than half, they had no place to go and eventually fell into becoming bandits.

Even though the mercenary group was half-destroyed, Gosling was still the leader responsible for his men’s lives.

Even as bandits, they were still alive. And as long as they lived, they would get hungry and thirsty.

In order to survive and to keep his men alive, Gosling continued to attack others.

…

With a “whoosh,” the sound of air being cut was heard as a crossbow bolt was released, striking dead center into the target set up in the shooting range.

“That was the 100th shot, right?”

“Yes! That completes the test of 100 consecutive shots! How’s the crossbow holding up?”

Yuri, who had just fired the bolt, asked Damian as he checked various parts of the crossbow in his hands.

“There’s no problem. No damage or loosening of parts. There’s been no change in accuracy either. As for the feel… I’m fine with it, but what about you guys?”

“I think it worked just fine,” Pence replied.

“Yeah, no complaints from me either,” added Radley.

The prototype crossbows, now up to model No. 12, had passed the tests of power, ease of use, and accuracy, and had finally reached the final stage of durability testing.

Yuri, Pence, and Radley had just finished the grueling test of shooting 100 consecutive bolts between the three of them.

“Well then, the durability is no issue now! What do you think, Lord Noein!?”

With all the tests complete and positive feedback from Yuri and the others, Damian turned expectantly toward Noein.

Noein, who had been observing the tests, showed a thoughtful expression.

“…In terms of performance, it’s perfect. There’s just one last thing.”

“Wh-what is it?”

Damian, usually calm, showed a rare sign of tension.

“This question isn’t for you, Damian. It’s for Yuri and the others, who will actually be using this crossbow in combat… If you were on the battlefield, would you trust this weapon? Not based on logic, but would you rely on this weapon by instinct and feel confident fighting with it?”

As he said this, Noein looked directly at Yuri, Pence, and Radley.

“…Yeah. If I were an archer, I’d trust my life to this crossbow. It’s a weapon of high enough quality that I’d feel safe using it.”

“It’s way more reliable than your average bow.”

“No soldier would complain about getting such a good weapon.”

All three of them gave their stamp of approval without hesitation. Hearing this, Noein turned back to Damian and nodded.

“Then it’s settled. I recognize the crossbow as a completed weapon. Well done, Damian.”

“R-really? Woohoo!”

Damian let out a joyful scream on the spot.

The others covered their ears in response to his loud voice, and among them, the rabbitfolk Mathilda, with her keen hearing, grimaced in discomfort. Christy, who had been tending to the experimental garden in the backyard, and the maid Kimberly, busy with laundry, looked back in shock. Even Anna peeked out from the steward’s office window, wondering what was going on.

That was how loud Damian’s voice had been.

“Damian, you’re a little too loud…”

“Oh, sorry! I was just so happy! I can’t believe something I developed has finally been recognized! I feel like I could ascend to heaven!”

“Haha, I get how you feel. But don’t go ascending just yet, okay? We need you to mass-produce these crossbows.”

For now, Damian was the only one who knew the intricacies of crafting crossbows. If he were to “ascend” prematurely, mass production would be impossible, and all of Noein’s investments would be wasted.

“Right! I know! Just making one won’t change the world, will it? I need to keep making them and spreading them far and wide!”

“Exactly. For starters… let’s aim to produce 10 crossbows and 300 bolts by winter. It might help to get someone to assist with the simpler tasks, don’t you think?”

“Understood! Yeah, if we had more people to handle the basic tasks, production would go faster!”

“Got it. Though we don’t have much manpower to spare, I could buy a new slave and assign them to help out. I’ll look for one with experience working in a workshop.”

“Of course, that would be fine! Please do!”

Although Noein had purchased a large number of slaves in the spring, the rapid development of Arlkvist territory meant his labor force was once again running low.

There were plenty of jobs to be done, from maintaining his farmland and carrying out land reclamation to producing crossbows and extracting oil from soybeans in the near future. The more hands, the better.

(Guess I’ll need to contact that slave trader again…) Noein thought to himself.