Survival in Another World with My Mistress!, Volume 2, page 12
The staff presently available were Ira, who was a former member of the Merinard Order of Mages and knowledgeable on both magic and alchemy, Sykes the alchemist, and other craftspeople who excelled in specialized skills like magic, alchemy, smithing, woodworking, and goldsmithing. Sykes and I were the only men.
“It depends on the golem. What exactly do you intend to use one for?”
“I was just thinking that it’d be more practical if we let golems draw the bowstrings of ballistae and crossbows. I have this image of golems being pretty damn strong, and drawing a bowstring should be a simple enough order to follow, right? Maybe we’d just need ones that only have arms.”
The alchemists oohed at my suggestion.
“It’s innovative,” Ira said. “Normally, golems are mobile human-shaped puppets. Their cores have to have all kinds of operative procedures in place, like making sure they’re balanced for walking and can perceive their surroundings so they don’t crash into anything. But we wouldn’t have to put so much information into the core if all they’re meant to do is turn something or draw a bowstring.”
“We wouldn’t need to use nearly so many materials in making them either. We might be able to get away with using cheap materials if all we need to do is input simple orders. Plus, golems for just that purpose wouldn’t need to be so large.” Sykes was into the positives as well.
“I actually came up with a design that exploits the principle of leverage to help draw a bowstring,” a lamia blacksmith said as she spread out her design across the table.
We all took a look at it. I see, so the lever would be on the top part of the crossbow—maybe it would be hard to aim? But if I change the shapes of the sight and the lever, maybe I can make it work.
“This lever crossbow is a good idea. But what about putting a golem mechanism on crossbows that people carry? Think it’s doable?” I asked.
“I don’t think it’d work for infantry-scale crossbows. But it should for ballistae,” Ira said.
“Then perhaps we should try modifying the ballistae and crossbows we already have positioned first?” Sykes suggested.
“I still have a lot of iron and wood, so we won’t have to worry about materials for that. What are golem cores made of?” I asked.
“I think alloys of copper and mithril like the ones we used in the heaters should suffice. Let’s try using enchanted clay and stone for the golem itself,” Ira said.
And so we concluded that the blacksmith and woodworker would improve the crossbows. The mages, alchemists, and goldsmiths would work on our prototype golem autoloader. If the prototypes worked, then I’d start mass production. It was also my job to come up with a variety of new items based on my knowledge of technology from the world I came from and what I knew from games, anime, and manga.
“Kousuke comes up with such interesting ideas. He really does see things differently from the way we do,” Ira said.
“Yeah. And I bet this idea of simplifying golems will lead to all other kinds of applications too,” Sykes said.
“We might even want to stop relying on hydro power and use golem power instead. I guess the problem would be how much magic it takes though, right?”
“Yes, how much magic it takes to make them move is the issue. The node back at our home base gives us an inexhaustible supply, but we don’t have that luxury here,” Ira told me.
“Can’t the operator just supply their own magic? Though I doubt I’d be able to use it that way.”
“That’s an idea. If all the magic does is draw a ballista’s bowstring, then it shouldn’t require much magic. Let’s try to think up a mechanism for absorbing magic as well.” Everyone nodded at Sykes’ proposal and set out to work.
First, I added the golem core element (name TBD) made from spherical mithril and copper alloys to my crafting menu using item creation, banged out a few using my improved workbench, and handed them over to Ira and the others.
I joined the group of alchemists, including the lamia who had come up with the idea, and we discussed how to modify the improved crossbows. I was useless when it came to magic, but I could be helpful in discussions about mechanical things.
I got some flirtatious vibes from the way the women were looking at me in this group, but I wanted to believe it was just my imagination. It kept feeling like the lamia alchemist was furtively rubbing her tail against my foot, but surely I was just imagining it. And it felt like everyone kept touching me.
I’m just being paranoid, right? I tried to convince myself as I glanced over at Sykes.
A goldsmith and an alchemist each had a firm grip on Sykes’s arms, and he was recoiling at how unreasonably close they were leaning into him as they spoke. Good luck. Hang in there, friend. I think I’ll be okay so long as I utter Sylphy’s name every once in a while, but I have no way of saving you. I’m so powerless…
After some talking and testing, we finished the improvements for the crossbows. We improved their rate of fire while maintaining consistent power behind each shot. Since the mechanism was simple, it wasn’t liable to break too easily. We made sure that the parts like the lever were sturdily built, so there were no obvious defects.
It was a bit too heavy for me to use, and it wasn’t much more useful to me since I had always been able to easily reload using the command action. Well, it’s no skin off my nose.
It took a bit longer to wrap up with the ballista golem mechanism. It took about five days for us to whip up a finished prototype. It had an immediate effect, and by combining what we had come up with for regular crossbows, the ballistae had a blistering rate of fire now. Furthermore, the improvement came with the added bonus that we only needed one person to man each ballista.
As we spent our days steadily improving our armaments, the first team returned to the fortress. And with them, they brought the latest information on the Kingdom of Merinard.
***
“Good work out there. Are there any injuries?”
“All twelve of us from the fifth squad are alive and well. Not a single scratch on us.”
“Excellent. Then without further ado, give your report.”
“Yes, sir.”
The first team to return to the fortress comprised its full original complement and 37 people they managed to bring back. We were currently in the strategy operations room, where the commanding officer, Jagheera, and her second-in-command, Zarda—one of the three we rescued the day we met—were giving their report.
“Erm, first things first, infiltrating the kingdom was in itself a difficult task,” Jagheera began.
“Oh? I had a feeling it would be. By the way, you can speak to me like usual. Don’t worry about formalities,” Sylphy said.
“Uh, no, I cannot do that, Your Highness. So, um, there were gizma attacks against the kingdom as well, just as we originally predicted. They have fortified themselves between the border and our fortress in the Great Omitt Badlands.” Jagheera was firm in her refusal to speak casually with Sylphy, trying to sound as polite and professional as she could. Sylphy was the highest-ranking person in their community, and she probably didn’t want to upset the order of things as a civilian in military employ, after all. However, she was clearly unused to speaking that way. “Be that as it may, there is a vast expanse of badland that is connected to the border, so we managed to sneak in under the cover of night.”
Teams paired up, then split their combined twenty-four members into three groups and began their full-scale infiltration from there. They stayed clear of the roads, traveling through the forest, wilderness, and other trackless paths. Jagheera’s squad and Sir Leonard’s squad headed for the villages near the border. The other two teams were bound for villages a bit deeper afield.
“They had maps, although they’re three years old. They decided on their route advance, and they said they would withdraw immediately if anything unexpected occurred.”
“I see. And what was the state of the village?”
“Well…”
The Holy Kingdom made the Kingdom of Merinard its vassal to obtain its mines, which produce high-quality rock salt, iron, and other minerals. They couldn’t afford to starve the Holy Kingdom soldiers stationed there or the people they were using as laborers; they would be in an internationally precarious situation if they governed in a way that was transparently oppressive.
Because of that, they had taken a certain degree of care in ensuring that the farming villages in the borderlands lived relatively the same way they did before the kingdom had been conquered.
“However, taxes are high and they aren’t free to travel,” Zarda added.
They weren’t allowed to uphold their ancient rituals either, and were forced to convert to the Church of Adol, which worshipped Adol as the one and only god. They were forced into subservient positions to humans, since the Church of Adol’s doctrine was all about human supremacy. As a result, their actual treatment was still inhumane by any reasonable metric.
The villagers’ compliance was maintained by keeping women and children in the army’s custody. The families and friends of those who displayed any defiance were severely punished. It had already resulted in the death of a small child—and this was just the one community we knew details about.
“That’s awful. How did you manage to free them?” I asked.
“We struck under the cover of night. We can see well in the dark, and the soldiers all carry lights when they go on patrol. They made for easy targets.”
“So you didn’t even need to draw your blades.”
Many demi-humans had good night vision. But even if they didn’t, the lights made the soldiers sitting ducks for their crossbows. We had already demonstrated that the improved crossbows were powerful enough to punch right through their armor.
“After we neutralized the soldiers, we took as much as we could carry, did what we could to make it look like a bandit raid, and booked it straight home.”
“Sir Leonard’s squad followed after the other two teams. They planned to meet up with them to assist.”
“Okay, I understand the situation. If you have anything to report about your equipment or anything else worth mentioning, tell Melty, Ira, or Kousuke,” Sylphy said.
Jagheera and Zarda thought for a moment before speaking up.
“Ah, yes. It was difficult because we couldn’t make a fire. We weren’t able to fill our bellies with something warm,” Jagheera said.
“Yeah, that’s important.”
The quality of food greatly impacted morale. Block cookies were pretty tasty, but one couldn’t subsist on those alone without growing tired of them. We had prepared some jerky using steak I had crafted, but of course people would prefer something hot ’n’ fresh.
“Also, it would be good to have a way to communicate. Some kind of tool for communicating across a long distance with our allies would be helpful.”
“Oh, a communicator? That’d be preeeeetty hard to make,” I said.
I doubted very many people actually understood how walkie-talkies and cell phones actually worked in modern society. At the very least, I knew squat. I was familiar with the concept of morse code, but I had no idea how the equipment for that sent and received radio waves. I could try to make a transistor radio at the very least, right? But I had never even touched a transceiver before.
“I only know a little bit about that kind of thing, but I’ll try talking with Ira and the others about it.”
With what little knowledge I had, I doubted I’d be able to make a device like what we had back on Earth, so I was hoping that maybe they could finagle something magical. Besides, I still hadn’t gotten to the point of reproducing anything that used electricity, regardless of whether I had a grasp of the inner workings of Earth’s technology.
Using a magical approach, we were able to create items similar to electronic devices using golem cores, so magic could well be a workable resource. Surely that was the direction I should be taking my inventions from now on.
“Do you have anything else to report?” I asked.
“That’s it, unfortunately. We shot all of the enemy soldiers and took no prisoners to make sure we wouldn’t be caught. The villagers we freed this time had not been allowed to travel; we don’t know anything about the state of things in the kingdom itself. However, according to the people whose job it was to transport crops to the cities, only humans inhabit the towns bigger than villages now. They said they hadn’t seen any demi-humans at all.”
“Twenty years is a long time. I wonder what happened to the original inhabitants?”
“The villagers believe they were rounded up and sent to develop the borderlands and work in the mines. They’d overheard some soldiers talking about as much.”
“I see. Depending on how we look at this, this might actually be a good thing,” I said.
“How so?” Sylphy asked.
“You mean because the villages and mines are likely to have worse defenses compared to the cities with their tall walls?” Danan offered.
“I suppose so,” Sylphy agreed reluctantly, a pensive look on her face.
That kind of work did have its dangers, to say nothing of what the human supremacists of the Holy Kingdom must be putting them through. I doubted they were working under fair conditions.
“How are the people you freed faring?”
“A few are unwell, but in general, they’re all right. At first, they were afraid when we said we would be fleeing to the badlands, but when we easily put down the gizmas and reached Kousuke’s underground shelters before it got dark, they recovered their willpower. The block cookies were also well received. The younger adults and children who had never eaten anything sweet before were especially excited,” Jagheera said.
“We have assigned housing to the families and given them food,” Zarda added.
“Okay. Today and tomorrow, your team and the people should rest. Then you’ll be taking them to our home base.”
“Understood.”
Jagheera and Zarda withdrew. I sighed once I was sure they were out of earshot.
“Well, I guess that’s one win for us,” I said.
“It’s a tiny step in the grand scheme of things, but a momentous one,” Sylphy replied.
Our prospects were grim, but we managed to take one step forward. And in a way, it was a big one.
***
“That being said, we have two requests from the front lines: The first is warm food that doesn’t require fire. The second is a tool for covert communication with our distant allies,” I informed Ira and Sykes.
“Hrmm, that won’t be easy.” Ira folded her arms with a groan, and Sykes did the same.
“We might be able to do something about the warm food, but the communication thing will be a great challenge,” he said.
Yeah, I feel you. Even I’ve got no ideas this time.
“Well, one thing at a time. Any ideas for providing warm food?” I asked.
“Make a small, self-heating portable container?” Ira suggested.
“It’s not impossible, but each team has twelve people, right? To make enough food for that many people, wouldn’t they need a decently sized pot?” Sykes asked.
“That’s true. Should we give them a shield that can also be used as a pot?” Ira replied.
“That doesn’t sound like a very elegant solution. Well, I guess we can try to come up with something in that vein, though. How should the container heat up?”
“It’ll work if the person using it can use their own magic or a magic stone.”
“Also, I think it’ll be best if we make sure it comes out sturdy and lightweight,” I said.
Thus, we decided to tackle the warm food problem first and try developing a shield that could also be used as a portable container slash self-heating pot.
“Do you have any ideas for this?” Ira asked me.
“Hmm, I think we had a method of heating up food using water and quicklime. But I don’t think I have any ideas for making a container or anything like that.”
“Quicklime, you say? It’s true that it heats up rapidly,” Sykes said.
“How interesting. Did people back from your world cook using quicklime, then?” Ira asked.
“Nah, it wasn’t commonplace. Allegedly, our people used it in circumstances where we couldn’t use fire. I’m pretty sure it’s only used in special situations like on a vehicle or during a disaster when it’s hard to cook. And of course, I think it was also used by soldiers when they were being mobilized for military operations so they could eat warm meals.” Naturally, I had no idea if they’d actually used quicklime or not. “Still, they’d be one-time use. It’d weigh people down if they had to carry a bunch.”
“Putting aside the question of whether we should use it, it might be a good idea to try multiple renditions,” Ira said.
“That’s true,” Sykes agreed. “We might come up with a different kind of technology that could be applied while we’re working on it.”
“You think so? I s’pose I can see that,” I said.
The effort certainly wouldn’t go to waste. At present, it would be best if we did whatever we could here behind the front lines.
“Next, a way to communicate,” Ira said.
“That’s a tough one. Kousuke, you got anything that might help here?” Sykes asked.
“Back on Earth we had a couple of different technical solutions that made this kind of a non-issue, but I have very little idea of how they actually worked. But if you think it’ll help, I can tell you about it,” I warned before telling them about the history of telecommunications as I knew it. “I think the simplest of them is morse code.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a system where you kinda go dit, dah, dit, dah. You can communicate across long distances using short sounds and long sounds to create a simple code.”
I tapped the desk with my fingertips to explain the general idea. However, I didn’t know that much about it, so that was the most I could tell them about it.
“Imagine it’s like, the dit part is magic flowing for just an instant, and then the dah, is it continuously flowing. Back in my world, we used electricity, but it’s probably easier for you guys to understand magic, right? You know, like that barrier device we’ve got for our headquarters. That thing chases monsters away by periodically emitting magical waves. We should make magical waves travel long distances, and they can transmit messages via wavelengths. Frankly, it’d be much simpler if we could find ways to make those waves carry voices.”
