I'm actually quite fearful of getting involved with a military. While I'm aware that having military power also means having political power, the problem lies in empowering one with military power the right to speak. I grew up at my moms' side and my city was given to me by them. Will my moms feel a little threatened if I have the right to speak…… not to mention that the army I intend to build consists of humans and elves?

On the elven side, I've always considered making a unit that rode Earth Dragons. If I could create such a unit then my vanguard would virtually be unstoppable. I've witnessed the destructive potential of Earth Dragons charging at the enemy before. If I were to give them armour which could guard against pierce-attacks, then they could run wild in the enemy camp and stomp them.

As for humanity, they still use a linear formation even though they have guns. The most powerful types of soldiers in this era are artillerymen. Napoleon started as an artilleryman. Cannons are the most effective weapon against enemies utilising a linear formation.

However, we're in a different era right now and a different world. Not only are there humans in this world, there are also elves. I'm not sure if there are other races out there. If I utilise humans versus humans methods here, I'll easily get caught in a pa.s.sive position since cannons aren't much of a threat to races which split their forces up to do battle. Plus, cannons are easily disabled.

Consequently, I need a highly mobile unit. While infantry are the mainstream choice, I need a unit that can attack, which means I need cavalrymen. Now if I were to fuse human cavalrymen with guns, then they would be the very common but have the infamous chunnibyou t.i.tle, Dragoon.

Of course they're not just infantrymen on horses.

Dragons exist in this world, a fact I know since my father died trying to slay the dragons up north…… Actually we don't know if he actually died or not. He might just have fallen in love with a dragon mistress up there. But if my moms were to find out that was true, they'd raise an army to go and destroy the two of them…… but back on topic. It looks like the dragons in this world are scary and rare. Since the Earth Dragons are low-end creatures, they can't be called proper "dragons".

I guess I'll be forming a human-cavalry unit out of cavalrymen with guns then. However, I won't be using the current weapons of this era. Single-shot rifles just won't work with cavalrymen riding Earth Dragons because they're not troops that would ride their steed to their location and then dismount. What I want is a powerful elite unit like the Guan Ning Cavalry. Therefore, I need to give the riders the best weapon I can think of.

The Spencer M1685. Ah, you don't really need to know the specifics of the gun. You just need to know that it can fire consecutive shots and that the Dragoons accomplished a lot with it during the American Civil War.

I remember it very well because it was the first rifle that could fire consecutive shots. However, it needs its own specific ammunition, a type of metal bullet I've always wanted to make. I just didn't make them previously because I considered it to be a pain. My handgun doesn't require metal bullets either. But I can now start manufacturing them.

And so, I went back to the red-haired lady's shop……

"You humans' winters could really kill me……"

She had returned, except she wrapped herself in a tight blanket and drank a distilled beverage facing the fire. I shook out my cape, looked at her and said: "Ah… it's alright…… It's just that elves can't really handle it I guess…… Won't you be fine if you just return to the elves then?"

"The elves don't welcome me. And I haven't been back in so long. If that girl Vyvyan found out I returned, she would never let me come back here. I can't bear to part with these things. They're my blood, sweat and tears." The lady with red hair looked at the blueprints on the wall as she cherished them. She had a drink then narrowed her eyes to look at me and Nier before saying: "It looks like your relations.h.i.+p is different now. What happened between you two when I went to the desert?"

Nier wrapped her arm around mine, looked at her and replied: "Umm… we're going to get married I guess."

"How nice. Congratulations. Your father created a ma.s.sive tragedy by falling in love with a human chick, and what do you know? You fell in love with a human too." She giggled and then lazily raised up her bottle and said: "I won't be attending your wedding. I don't have any right to attend the wedding of royalty anyway. Do you have any other business?"

"Yes."

I looked at her and sternly continued, "I just received a domain from mom. I hope you can help me out by helping me manufacturing guns."

"Oh, really? That's great. But I dare not."

She answered me simply with just eight words. I smiled helplessly and said: "Come on… didn't you help my mother back then? It's not too much to ask for you to help me now is it……?"

"Back then I came here because the elf-king ordered me to. But are you ordering me as the elf-prince now or the human-prince? Unfortunately, I'm an elf here in humanity. I'm not willing to kiss up to either side." She rolled her eyes and continued, "The weather is so cold and you want me, a poor elf to work? You don't have a conscience."

I played my cards: "The workplace is the elven border…… And if you accept it, we can try a repeated-firing rifle."

"Repeated-firing rifle?"

The red-haired lady laughed and replied: "While that sounds interesting, why should I go somewhere so far? If we're talking about repeated-firing rifles, I've got some clues on my own already. Your majesty, isn't making these things just for fun to us? If it's just for fun, I can make you one."

"No. I don't want just one or two, but hundreds and an entire factory."

I looked at the red-haired lady and continued in a serious tone, "The manufacturing process I have in mind for the factory is but child's play to me. If you can help me, I will give you an entire factory. Your current place restricts you from carrying out some of your ideas doesn't it? If you are willing to helping me however, I shall give you the entire factory with all the required equipment ready. You can use the factory for your own research and experiments."

"Factory?"

She didn't seem to know what sort of place it was. I pointed to her workshop and said: "It could fit roughly an entire street of blacksmiths and could produce the same amount of guns a street of blacksmiths could in a single day. It has the latest production materials and production equipment, money, plans and tools. I can get you anything you want."

She looked at me with puzzlement. I imagine she couldn't imagine what it looked like. But a moment later, she then squinted a little and said: "Your majesty, though I don't know what a factory is, I'm willing to trust you for once. If you really have such a large place… I might be willing to stay there."

"Thank you so much then!"

"Good grief. I had to help that old geezer look after his two kids, then I had to help that elven king wipe his own a.s.s, and now I need to work for his son. I've been destined to meet my doom at the hands of you Galadriels this lifetime."

She smiled helplessly and then took in a deep breath. She stretched her back out and then softly said in a voice with antic.i.p.ation: "If the place you spoke of truly exists… I think… humans will be able to conquer the continent even without magic…… Humanity's technology… is just miraculous."

Glossary

*Chuunibyou is a derrogative colloquial term in the j.a.panese language used to describe a person which manifests delusional behaviour, thinking that one has special powers that no other person has.

**I don't know if Dragoon sounds Chuuni in English speaking culture, but in Chinese culture, the Chinese term for it does sound try-hard and Chuuni

***Before someone calls it out, dragons per Chinese, Vietnamese, j.a.panese and Korean culture are mythical flying creatures, that's why lots of their idioms that refer to flight reference dragons. But somebody isn't going to read and say something about dragons not strictly having to fly while completely ignoring this cultural difference

**** Guan Ning Cavalry was a cavalry unit formed in later years of the Ming Dynasty. It was ruled by famous military general Yuan Chonghuan (1584-1630). It was considered a formidable unit even though it was small relatively speaking.

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