Chapter 27: Chapter 23: The Lady Vengeance, Part III
*BOOM!*
Another prototype violently exploded. Nairi yelped in fright as the broken pieces of the prototype scattered all over the testing ground.
I sighed in defeat. "Well, let's clean this up and take a quick break…I need to think..." It'd been almost a full day, and zero progress had been made. All of the prototype firing mechanisms I'd tried so far had resulted in the cartridge eventually getting stuck outside the chamber. And when the firing pin struck it outside of the chamber… boom. This was a natural result of having a machine gun with such a high rate of fire- eventually a jam would result in the gun catastrophic blowing up.
If it weren't for the fact that I only put a quarter of the usual amount of the elemental dust in the test ammunition, my eyebrows would've been burned clean off by now. Damn, this was frustrating! Based on the results so far, the rate of fire was simply too high for the receiver to handle and the firing pin failed to stop when the gun was jammed.
Nairi approached me and asked. "Is there anything I can do to help, Forge-Master Rummy?" She asked me while looking down on the ground as if she dropped her coin purse. Oh right, I took off my shirt hours ago. The soundproofed testing range was about as hot and stuffy as a sauna, so I'd been soaked in my own sweat for the better part of the day. Ugh, it wasn't like my intention to make things awkward for her. But hey, if I were to get a heat stroke, I wouldn't be able to finish the testing on schedule.
"Collect all the spent casings and scrap remains into those crates. I'll deal with them later." I responded almost absent-mindedly. Obviously, my mind was on engineering a solution to the current problem. The key had to be slowing down the firing rate, that much I know. But making the bolt heavier wasn't enough to slow it down. That smoking pile of scrap next to Nairi was proof enough. And that was with the test ammo. If I went with live ammo (which had 4x the dust) with that design, I could easily imagine the gun blowing up sooner. No, I needed a radically new approach to slow down the firing rate.
"Forge-Master Rummy, is it because of my presence that nothing's working? Did I throw off your rhythm?" Nairi asked with a guilty look on her cute naive face.
I chuckled a bit and patted her head a bit. "Don't be ridiculous, Nairi. Failure is a big part of the development process. It's nobody's fault. We just gotta be patient and keep trying! Besides, if having you attached to my hip would slow me down that much, then I wasn't much of a forge-smith to begin-" I stopped mid-sentence. Holy Gandalf, I got it! The loading, firing, and ejecting process is powered by the recoil and repeated by the recoil spring in a rhythm. So what if I installed another spring on the bolt catch to disrupt that rhythm? It should slow down the firing rate even with live ammo (Since the increased power of the live ammo would also apply to the bolt catch spring)!
"Ok, let's call it a day. I've figured out what's wrong and I need to fix the remaining mechanisms." I said cheerfully. "I will need you up early tomorrow morning to make a lot more test ammo!"
Having been given a job, her mood considerably brightened. "I understand, Forge-Master Rummy."
I cast <<Sap>> and opened up the room. A blast of fresh air hit my face, instantly refreshing my frazzled mind. My apprentice and I exited and went back upstairs. After I bid her good night, I went into the workshop to start crafting the prototype bolt catch spring mechanisms. The new bolt catcher had a helper spring around it, almost like a pogo stick. That spring was also attached to the locking plugs, ensuring that the gun wouldn't fire out of battery. I'd also made the bolt itself heavier than the previous versions to further slow down the firing rate. With all of these modifications, I was pretty sure there wouldn't be another explosion tomorrow.
After burning the midnight oil, I completed 3 candidate prototypes for testing tomorrow. As I began to clean up, I heard a knocking on the door. I stored all of the prototypes in a wooden crate and walked to the door.
"I told you, Nairi, you need to stop worrying and go to-'' I opened the door and realized that it wasn't Nairi at the door, but Cornelius, the androgenous looking guy I met back when he visited me with Emma at Mike's tavern. Oh wow, it'd been a long while since we last met. As I recalled, the last time I saw him, he was dressed up as a decoy Natalia to keep the townspeople from wondering where she was that week we were exploring the Narrows.
Man, and I thought my job was tough. If I had to walk in those heels, I'd be tripping over myself like a damn fool. Oh yeah, I wondered why he's here.
"Good evening, Forge-Master Rummy. I'm wondering if you have seen Emma around?"
Oh, it looked like he was just looking for his BFF. "No, I haven't. She's been out escorting convoys the last time I hear. Ever since the Yellow Shirts ambushed us, we have beefed up security in response."
He looked downcast. "Yes, I've heard things have unfortunately taken a turn for the worst in Carnwennan."
"Heard? You weren't in town when all of this happened?"
Cornelius wryly smiled back. "No, Lady Natalia sent me to Clarent to gather information on House Mordred right when she got back from the Wilds. I just got back from that dreadful trip."
"Oh, I see. Well, I hope you can take a well-deserved break. You look like you really need it, my friend." The poor man had surely seen better days. He seemed to be sporting a limp on his left leg and I saw some cuts and bruises on his extremities. Must've been one heck of a trip...
Cornelius gave me a frustrated look. "I fell off the convoy wagon on the way back. Twisted my ankle and scraped myself all over. Gods, I really hate the outdoors." He bitterly complained. Man, this clumsy fella would not do well out in the Wilds…
"The way things are going, the outdoors might be our only option…" I drily noted.
He gave me a bitter smile. "Here's to hoping Lady Natalia finds another option..."
I nodded politely in response. "Well, it is getting late. I really should go to bed. I have a full day ahead of me, after all. Good evening, Cornelius." I began to walk past him.
Cornelius cleared his throat and pointedly asked. "Rummy, what are your intentions with Emma?"
Oh. That was the real reason why he's here. Well, it wasn't like I didn't anticipate it. After all, if my BFF told me that a shady guy with harem aspirations was interested in her, I'd wanna ask the guy a couple of questions myself.
"I intend to marry her after this job is done." I replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And that's it?"
"Well, I do dream of having a large family with lots of kids from lots of wives someday, so I would try to expand the harem eventually." I honestly answered. It wasn't like I was trying to keep it a secret.
Cornelius sighed. "I will be honest, Rummy. I don't like this harem dream of yours."
I cheekily replied. "Luckily, I have no intention of inviting you to my harem. I propose that we live and let live"
After a brief moment of pause, he replied. "... I just don't want Emma to be hurt. She deserves a husband who worships her and only her."
"I have been perfectly honest with her since Day 1. She knew about my harem dream and still wanted to match. I have chosen to honor and respect her wishes. I think you should too…"
"Why her? Couldn't you just make your harem from a couple maids from a major noble House? Surely your extraordinary talents could command such an arrangement!" Cornelius, who was typically soft spoken, was uncharacteristically assertive on this.
"I don't want a bunch of glorified dolls who have no will of their own. I want Emma. I want her daring ambition. I want her everburning passion. I want her and our children to surround me on my deathbed as I reflect on a wonderful life lived."
I paused for dramatic effect. "And you of all people should know that most nobles don't see commoners like us as people. So why would they honor any deals made when they could just kill us and take everything we have?"
Cornelius seemed pensive. Well, if I could get him to think about my words and not reject them outright, I'd consider that a win. I began to walk past him once more.
"Anyways, it's late. So I'm afraid I must go. Good evening, Cornelius."
***
*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*
Prototype #3 was a success (third time's the charm)! It shot out a burst of 25 consecutive shots with 0 jams, heralding the dawn of a new era. The rate of fire was so high that the sound of each gunshot blends with one another, creating this buzzsaw-like noise (True story: soldiers on both sides of WWII refer to MG-42 as "Hitler's Buzzsaw" for that very reason). YES! I DID IT! Sure, the development process itself wasn't finished quite yet, but I got the proof of concept working. The hard part was over. Now the rest was just simple forging and basic engineering.
Nairi took her hands off her ears and smiled at me in relief. "Congratulations, Forge-Master Rummy!"
I smiled back at her and gave her a quick head pat. "Thank you, Nairi. As it turns out, having somebody to talk to was the key to resolving the jamming issue."
"However, the job is nowhere near finished. I need you to start making the ammo. Darrak has been making casings and bullets, but I wouldn't trust him around elemental dust. So I need you to put it all together. We need at least 900 rounds."
She simply nodded and said, "I understand, Forge-Master Rummy." Then she sauntered off to the forge-smithy after I cast <<Sap>> once more.
By the time the MG-42 and the ammo belt were fully assembled, another month had passed. The Summer Solstice will soon be upon us. Natalia told me that Gaius was bum-rushing the peace talks for some reason, willing to give more concessions than she'd expected. Maybe he grew disillusioned with his less-than-impressive allies and just wanted an off-ramp to this shitshow. Or maybe he was in a rush to marry Natalia due to his upcoming inheritance fight. Eh, who cares? One of the best benefits of building a functional MG-42 was that I didn't have to give a flying fuck about those prissy cocksuckers anymore.
Hmm, the MG-42 did inspire a take-no-shit attitude that reminded me of a certain badass Knight. A person whose very nickname inspired fear and terror into the hearts of her enemies.
Welcome into the world, "Lady Vengeance". You shall carve your name into the history of this crappy world with the blood of bad men…
***
"Please come in." Natalia's voice faintly carried past the wooden door.
I opened the door and closed it. Then I stuffed some damp towels on the bottom of the door to prevent eavesdroppers.
"Good news, Tali, Project 42 is completed!" I reported with a beaming smile.
A sense of relief appeared on her face. "Finally, I've waited too long. So when can we see the final testing?"
"Not for a while, I still needed to work on the armored carts, remember?"
Her excitement dimmed a bit. "I see. Are we still at 6 completed carts?"
"Yeah, 6. So assuming we cram 6-8 people in each cart, how many more do you think we need based on your last count?"
Natalia gave me a complicated expression. "Perhaps 6 more? Based on the private interviews I've had with my employees, most of the adults were hesitant of going into the Wild, even if they did like me. So adding 74 orphans and women to 2 dozen men gets me 98, give or take."
Crap, that was a lot of carts to make. Good thing we had time.
"How goes the match negotiation?"
Natalia gave me a sour look. "No idea. Unlike the peace talks, I'm not invited into those meetings. But knowing Father, he will be sure to squeeze out any profit he can before agreeing to sell me off to that smug bastard. You should have sufficient time." Fucking wow… I knew arranged marriage was the norm for far longer than the lassez-faire marriages of the modern era, but the idea of letting my parents pick who I marry with zero input from me was utterly repulsive no matter how understanding I tried to be (More so if my parents were basically selling me for $$$)
"And if not? Do we have a plan for evacuation and exodus? What if your father signs the papers tomorrow?"
"Other than stockpiling supplies in secret and keeping crucial personnel near the headquarters? No. And even if that did happen, we would still have time since it takes time to plan a wedding fit for a noble of the Founding Houses. Decorum and tradition demands it." She replied with some sadness in her eyes.
"Alright Tali, let's hope your father's greed holds up. Either way, I'm sure soon you will be rid of this pathetic farce and be free to build a better society." I gave her a hopeful smile.
Natalia politely smiled back. "I have to say, telling you my childhood nickname was one of the worst mistakes I've ever made."
I chuckled a bit. "Hey, as far as I am concerned, that was a fair trade for Cleopatra. If you disagree, I'd be happy to take back the pistol."
Natalia showed a faux panicking expression and retorted. "As if you would magically forget my nickname after you take back my dearest Cleo."
I gave her a wink. "Alright, I'm going back to work. Glad that you like your pistol, Tali~" I gave her a wave before heading out. Then I heard a knocking on her door.
"Please come in." Natalia announced with a tentative look on her face. It doesn't look like she was expecting company. I wonder what was that about.
The door opened and Cornelius entered. He gave me a nervous nod before handing a note to Natalia. Well, that was none of my business. I continued to walk out the door. I've got armored carts to build.
"Rummy, wait. You are being summoned by my brother along with Skera." Natalia said with a grim expression. "It appears that he suspected you of producing Skera's armor and would like to question you two about this matter."
Well shit, I was hoping they wouldn't find out until we're ready to leave- guess I should give those guys more credit. I mean, 6 weeks was a long time, especially given the resources of the Galahads. But I still hoped I wouldn't have to talk to these assholes. Now I had to decide whether to lie to them or to tell them the truth and piss them off.
"Thank you, Cornelius. Is there anything else to report?" The jovial mood that Natalia previously had was completely gone, replaced by a more somber and serious mood.
"No… no, my lady." Cornelius answered as he looked down. Man, it sucked being the bearer of bad news, but hey, somebody's gotta do the dirty job.
"Thank you. Please inform Emma and the guards of this news and make sure they're on high alert today."
"Yes, my Lady." Cornelius gave a slight bow and leaves. I made sure to stuff the door again with damp towels.
"How are you going to answer them?"
"With a bullet?" I calmly replied.
Tali slapped my shoulder and gave me an exasperated look. "I'm serious, Rummy!"
"Who says I wasn't? I have a bad feeling about this, Tali. It's not illegal for a Guild-certified forge-smith to make Knight armor if a member of the nobility commissions it and supplies the Artorian Silver required. Skera and I both qualified those requirements. If they just want to harass me about the technicalities, some clerk from the Forge-smithy Guild would suffice. Getting your brother, the Guildmaster and the future City Lord of Carnwennan, to harass some no-name forge-smith is overkill."
"It's not like I haven't considered that possibility. But what would my brother possibly gain from all this? He already had 2 Expert-level Forge-smiths working under his banner, so he wouldn't need you. That man doesn't do anything unless he can benefit from it." True, but I wondered what he would do if he found that his cash cow is trying to skip town? I bet that would motivate the fuck outta him~
"Tali, you need to consider the possibility that our secret is out. "
"But… that's impossible! That would mean…"
"Either they're paying closer attention than you'd think, or that we have a rat problem in this building."
The nervous tension in her face doubled. The breathing room we thought we had wasn't there anymore. Hell, we might have to skip town by tomorrow.
Natalia sighed. "Oh Gods, this is bad. The summon is for tomorrow noon, so we only have until then to get ready. Fortunately, most of our stuff is already here. Even so, loading them up would take up a lot of time..."
"Are we going to answer that summon?" I asked. At this fucking point, I'd rather get the fuck out of this city. I didn't like how things are trending. Sure, I'd like more time to build more carts while Natalia stockpiles more supplies (like potable water), but it was just not worth it anymore.
"No, but we need time to mobilize and load up. We'll do as much as we can and leave right before noon and give the impression that we're heading to the Galahad Mansion. Meanwhile, I'll send runners to collect whatever supply I can get my hands on tonight. You should get ready too. Stuff whatever you can into your bracelets."
"Yeah. And Tali, make sure you do that trick I taught you and load 8 rounds into Cleopatra. There's a chance that blood will flow in the streets of Carnwennan tomorrow. You need to physically and spiritually prepare for that possibility." I grimly warned.
A wisp of sadness escaped from her steely purple eyes. "I was prepared for this possibility from the very beginning. However scarring it will be, I must commit to this duty as leader. That's all there is to it…"
***
"Hey Emma, does anyone in Natalia's inner circle seem off to you?" I casually asked her as I put an anvil into my storage bracelet. Since forge-smith equipment would be very hard to come by in the Wilds, that was the first item I stuffed in the bracelet.
"No? I mean, everybody's snappy and stressed out, but they're all dealing with it in their own way." Emma answered as she helped me gather hammers and chisels into a crate.
I remained silent as I pondered the possibilities of any one of them betraying us.
Emma gave me a shoulder rub and planted a kiss on my messy hair. "It's not like it's impossible for them to find out. Natalia asked dozens of people about the possibility of settling in the Wild. On top of that, she had been buying massive caches of supplies. It's way more likely that they found out by themselves."
Well, she was not wrong. Occam's Razor and whatnot. Plus, none of the suspects had any good reason to side with the nobles over Tali- all of them were marginalized people who suffered under the heels of those assholes and got life-saving help from Tali. You'd have to be braindead to think that these same nobles would somehow generously reward you after you'd outlived your usefulness to them. Sigh, whatever. I wouldn't be able to figure it out without more data, and we definitely didn't have time for an investigation. All I could do at this point was to watch my back (and Emma's).
Sapphire was also helping the moving effort by quietly filing elemental crystals and crystals into dust in the corner. I still couldn't completely trust Sapphire, but at the very least, I know that she wasn't gonna side with a couple of provincial nobles. Trouble was, she might take this opportunity to escape. Shit, I really gotta keep my eye on her over the next few days.
After packing the entire forge-smithy, I pivoted to the next major issue: my wolf puppy. I took out the Adept-level ice elemental mana crystal I looted from Loki's mother. "Loki! Come here, boy!"
A white wolf about the size of a small pony walked into the emptied room. He looked huge, but he really hadn't grown that much compared to a month ago despite eating all the mana crystals and jerky in sight. I waved the crystal around and the gluttonous puppy immediately got excited. He charged right at me and jumped. Despite bracing myself, Loki easily took me down. Holy Gandalf, I felt like he's gotten 3 times heavier since last month. Maybe rather than growing bigger, he's growing denser? Fuck, I'm gonna miss the days when I can bully him with impunity.
I rolled off his attempt to pin me down and commanded him to sit. Like a good boy, Loki listened and sat. He then looked at me expectantly.
"Listen. I fought your mother as equals in the Wild and won. By the laws of the Wild, her crystal belonged to me. Now I'm giving it to you because things are going to get dangerous again and I need you to become even stronger. So here." I fed Loki the Adept-level crystal.
*CRUNCH* *CRUNCH* *CRUNCH*
Loki chewed on the crystal and a burst of cold energy enveloped the empty room. Not that it bothered him in the slightest. He kept on chewing and swallowing until all of it was gone. A quiet burp erupted from his mouth, resulting in another blast of coldness. Loki then licked me in the face in joy. Jeez! It was fucking freezing! His licks reminded me of the stupid-ass ice bucket challenge people used to do decades ago in my last life.
After that, Loki became lethargic and sleepy. Within a minute or two he was on the floor gently snoring. I guessed his body had some trouble processing the crap-ton of ice elemental mana this doofus just ate. I'm not worried about it though. Based on the fact that I'd seen Loki eat many Beginner-level crystals and he is a capable Adept of ice elemental spells, I was confident that this massive infusion of ice elemental mana wouldn't hurt him.
Why did I feed him that crystal? Ever since my first run-in with that Champion bear mana-beast, I'd developed the blind guess / scientific theory that when a mana-beast consumed an Adept-level mana crystal, it'd absorb enough mana to grow into its Champion form.
And believe me when I say we needed Loki to be a Champion. The convoy I was tasked to protect only had half the required amount of armored carts. That meant 40-50 civilians would be traveling on foot in the middle of that death jungle. I needed all the help I could get, and Loki had to be stronger.
I carried this sleepy boi to our bedroom. "Sleep well, buddy. We're gonna have a fun day tomorrow." Ugh, I missed the days when Loki was just a 20 kilo puppy. He'd gotta be at least 60 now.
Emma wryly smiled. "You sure you want to reveal the existence of tamed mana-beasts to the world? You might cause the wrong type of people to pay attention to us."
"Nope, but I don't think we have a choice either way. If things get hostile, escorting this many people through the city is impossible without a mobile strike force capable of smashing through checkpoints or conducting rearguard operations." I sighed in frustration.
The only credible "military" forces we had on hand were: me, Skera, Emma, Sapphire, Natalia, the dozen or so guards that Skera personally trained, and the men who has elected to stay under Natalia- hardly a reassuring security force considering the other 70+ people had the combined combat capability of a newborn puppy. On top of that, we're 6 carts short- so any time an enemy breaks through our thin defenses, people would die.
"Besides, even if the wrong kind of people takes interest, they'd have to survive the Wild with a loudass army to get to the Narrows. Considering what happened the last time the Empire sent the Legion to the Wild, I'd pay gold crowns for front row seats to that disaster~"
Emma chuckled a bit. "That's all true, but is that it? Surely you have a plan that can make use of Loki without announcing his existence to the world…"
"Of course I do, darling. Not a good plan, but a plan nonetheless." I gave her a wink as I approached our bed.
I dropped Loki on the bed and put on one of the goggles I made a few weeks back on his head (r/doggles). I gave the sleeping wolf a nice head pat and head back out. There was still much to pack.
I should start with the warehouse. After all, getting raw supplies wouldn't be a thing after tomorrow. Sigh…this was gonna be a long night...
Field Inventory
Primary Weapon
M1D Garand v.2.0 [Christened Severance Pay]
MG-42 General-Purpose Machine Gun v.1.0 [Christened Lady Vengeance]
Secondary Weapon
Colt M1911A1 Semi-Automatic Pistol v.3.0 [Christened Aurelia]
1x mithril parrying dagger [Christened Swordbreaker]
Armor
Crystal-modified dragon leather body armor set {<<Reinforce>>, <<Sap>>, <<Minor Heal>>, <<Heal>>, <<Pocket Dimension>>, <<Slow>>}; Crystal-modified dragon Leather boots lined with wolf fur { <<Air Blast>>, <<Updraft>>, <<Blink>>}
Mana Crystals
1x Adept-level fire elemental mana crystal
1x Adept-level ice elemental mana crystal [My doggo ate one]
1x Adept-level space elemental mana crystal
1x Expert-level earth elemental mana crystal
1x Expert-level space elemental mana crystal
Stash of various mana crystals
Misc.
1x storage bracelet, 1x goggles
Utility belt, grappling hook, rope, dark green cloak, field satchel, puppy backpack, waterskin, rations, boarskin map and steel knife
1x .45 ACP steel centerfire pistol suppressor
1x .30-06 Springfield steel centerfire rifle suppressor
1x crude telescopic sight
10x en bloc clips of .30-06 Springfield armor-piercing ammo
5x magazines of .45 ACP hollow-point ammo
Spare ammo
3x mithril dagger
1x male mutated Champion wolf mana-beast [Christened Loki]
Equipped with doggles
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone