What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

“Oh, you finally made it?” Leon reached out, picked up the handgun, and weighed it in his hand.

Seeing this, Adele instinctively shifted a little to the side. She was still somewhat afraid of this kind of weapon.

“The team we hired made improvements based on the ideas you provided. This gun can now greatly reduce the time needed to reload. After firing once, you only need to make a simple manual adjustment before firing the next shot.” Father Auden explained.

“What do you mean, after a simple manual adjustment? It can’t fire continuously?” Leon frowned upon hearing this.

The whole reason he had hired these experts was to develop a firearm capable of continuous fire.

If his Time Acceleration Ability could be used together with a firearm capable of continuous fire, it could greatly increase his combat strength.

Even without considering that point, possessing weapons technology ahead of this world could also greatly improve the combat capabilities of the troops under his command.

However, from the looks of things now, updating and iterating weapons was not something he could forcibly accomplish merely by relying on a few vague impressions from his previous life and then having experts in this world work overtime on research and development.

“There still seem to be some difficulties with the requirements you proposed. But I had people test this one, and they all said it was already a considerable improvement. Actually, it isn’t that complicated to operate either. You only need to adjust it like this.”

As Father Auden spoke, he roughly demonstrated the steps the craftsmen had shown him.

Leon neither agreed nor disagreed. After fiddling with it back and forth for a while, he finally more or less understood the gun’s structure.

Although this gun had, as he requested, been fitted with a rotating magazine that turned after firing, the ignition principle had not changed. In essence, it was still a flintlock pistol. After switching to the next round, the hammer still had to be manually adjusted before it could fire again.

Although there was no need to reload the bullet each time, which did clearly improve its efficiency in actual combat compared to the flintlock pistols commonly used in this era, it still could not achieve true continuous fire.

Apart from that, once the magazine was emptied, all the bullets still had to be loaded again according to the method used for loading a flintlock pistol. Considering the overall time involved, it was not actually a particularly major technological innovation.

“According to the test results, this structure seems to have reduced both the range and accuracy somewhat. Also, when using it, you need to pay attention to where you place your fingers. High-temperature gas will spray out from the gap around the rotating cylinder when the gun is fired. One unlucky tester injured his hand.” Father Auden reminded him.

Wasn’t this basically inheriting all the disadvantages of a revolver without gaining its advantages?

Leon’s reaction gradually changed from his initial surprise and delight to slight disappointment.

He had originally thought that with the small amount of knowledge he possessed from his previous life, if he conveyed his ideas to the experts of this world in conceptual terms, they would be able to find the correct design direction and then drive technological innovation forward.

But in practice, because many details of the intermediate technological breakthroughs were missing, things were far less smooth than he had imagined.

Using existing technology, the craftsmen had successfully recreated the rotating cylinder structure for him, but the ignition mechanism could only continue using the old design, resulting in this kind of half-finished product.

“Some parts of the design reproduced my idea fairly well, but to be honest, it still doesn’t completely meet my requirements. They can’t make the kind of cartridge-enclosed ammunition I asked for?” Leon asked while inspecting the accompanying bullets and gunpowder stored in the sandalwood box.

For bullets to achieve continuous fire, innovation was required not only in the structure of the firearm, but also in ammunition technology.

If both gunpowder and bullets had to be loaded separately, there was no way shooting could ever become truly efficient.

He had mentioned to the craftsmen the concept of metallic fixed ammunition, where the propellant was sealed inside a cartridge case and combined with the bullet. If this kind of ammunition could be realized, then a leap forward in firearm technology would be close at hand.

“They mentioned that too.” Father Auden thought for a moment before replying, “They said the kind of ammunition design you described is indeed very interesting, but first, they still haven’t found a suitable material for the cartridge case. Second, to ignite this kind of sealed ammunition, they would need some kind of primer capable of instantly igniting the gunpowder within that structure.”

“A primer……” Leon fell into thought.

A leap forward in practical technology often required breakthroughs in multiple details, accumulated layer by layer, until quantitative changes finally became qualitative change. It was not something that could be achieved simply by tossing out an idea and hiring a group of experts with enough money.

Thinking about it, that made sense. If it had been that simple, he should have made his fortune long ago using knowledge from his life as a Transmigrator. Why would he have needed to get involved in selling Mana?

At times like this, he somewhat regretted that in his previous life he had not been a military enthusiast who understood a little about the history of technological development, or someone who studied chemistry. If he personally understood the technical principles involved, perhaps he could now help them bridge this final gap.

Unfortunately, even with his Memory Recall Ability, he still could not find any relevant technical details in his mind. After all, memories that had never existed simply did not exist.

But at this moment, Father Auden continued: “Someone among that group also said the Church seems to possess something like that.”

“What did you say?” That immediately caught Leon’s attention.

“One of the craftsmen we hired previously participated in improving artillery for the Church Navy. While listening to them discuss it, I heard that the Church has a very useful primer. Once prepared, it detonates upon impact and is quite powerful. Using it to fire shells can greatly increase range, and it’s also very convenient to use.” Father Auden said.

Leon was not particularly surprised. The Church did not strongly support firearm development, but it was still willing to invest in naval artillery.

After all, for the Noren Empire, the greatest current threat and trouble was Moiland, the island nation across the sea. The war ten years ago had proven that without sufficiently powerful naval warfare capabilities, Moiland could not be conquered.

“Can’t you find an expert who knows how to make it?” Leon asked.

When they had hired Apothecaries before, they had also encountered some civilian Alchemists, and a few of them had been fairly capable.

“I asked around. That was only developed by the Church within the past few years, and the formula is classified. You’ll probably have a hard time hiring anyone from outside who knows how to make it.” The priest explained.

“Classified technology……” Leon thought for a moment, “Then I’ll try looking into it myself.”

Johnny had left the Church after the war and was not a technical specialist either, so he probably would not have any leads in this area.

But Weiss, who came from a Church research department, was quite skilled in chemistry. Perhaps she knew this technology.

“All right then. They also asked me to ask you whether we should try mass-producing a batch of these guns first?” Father Auden asked.

“Improve it a little more first. I think there’s still room for improvement. Once it’s improved to the point where I think it has practical value, then we can discuss mass production.” Leon said.

“You’re planning to manufacture weapons on the island?” Adele finally could not resist interjecting after hearing this.

“Don’t worry, Miss Adele. I’ll arrange it outside this territory.” Father Auden said.

“If possible, wouldn’t building an arms factory within the territory be safer? Isn’t our objective to have an army here?” Leon said.

Now that he had become Viscount Arend, he no longer needed to use any pretext of a Church investigation to station personnel at the Labyrinth. As the lord, he himself had more than enough justification to send people to seal off the Labyrinth and prevent harm to his territory.

According to what Adele had said before, stationing large numbers of hired mercenaries on the island like this was not a long-term solution, so Leon had developed the idea of possessing a formal army like a true lord.

Earl Foyle, for example, possessed a sizable territorial army. Combined with the underworld mercenaries he effectively controlled, calling his influence that of a regional warlord would not be an exaggeration. This was probably the fundamental reason neither the Church nor the Old Western Noble Houses could easily move against him.

“Even I know that it isn’t easy for a lord to apply for permission to establish a proper weapons factory within his territory. Otherwise rebellion would be far too easy. I’d advise you to secretly set one up instead. It’ll save you a lot of trouble.” Father Auden said.

“And as for the right to apply for an army, the population of our island probably isn’t large enough to qualify yet. At present, I’ve only managed to get approval to establish a Security Office. A sheriff was just appointed, and the Self-Defense Group in the fishing village has been incorporated into the guard force.” Adele quietly added.

“Then develop some industries. I don’t care whether you start farms or factories. Open up more salaried positions, introduce policies to attract talent, make people want to line up to come to this island!

Don’t you want to revive this island, Adele? Then work harder! I’m leaving the affairs here in your hands now, and I want to see what you’re capable of!” Leon stared at Adele and spoke seriously.

“O-okay……” Faced with the forcefulness Leon displayed, Adele instinctively straightened her back and nodded in agreement.

It had been a very long time since she had experienced the feeling of someone placing such high expectations on her. Being entrusted with an important responsibility like this naturally made her feel that she could not let the other party down.

“Army.” Leon raised a hand and pointed at Adele, then pointed at the priest, “Weapons. We need to develop all of them. Funding is no longer a problem. Help me get everything I need properly handled!”

“Why do I hear the scent of trouble in this? Who did you provoke again? Or…… is this fallout from what happened afterward?” Father Auden frowned slightly.

In front of Adele, he could not openly mention the matter of killing the Earl. Leon’s urgency in developing military strength seemed as though he was preparing for the possibility that trouble similar to the Earl attacking them might happen again at any time.

“Don’t be naive, Father. Our line of work, when you strip everything else away, is a world where the strong prey on the weak. You need sufficiently powerful violence to protect your own interests! Think about how your previous employer died. Trouble began the moment we stepped into this business!” Leon reminded him.

Put plainly, the reason Mr. Griffin Potter had been killed so easily was because the power he controlled had not been strong enough.

No matter how much he considered the balance of power or relationships of interest, the thing that could most reliably protect everything in his hands would always be the combat power he himself controlled.

Political power came from the barrel of a gun precisely because only the barrel of a gun could preserve political power. In the underworld beyond the law, this was even more true.

“That’s true enough.” The priest could not refute this viewpoint.

Adele silently listened to their conversation, continuing to experience the impact on her worldview.

The strong preyed on the weak, and interests could only be protected by violence. This was…… a world she had never come into contact with when she had devoted herself entirely to studying law and commerce in the past.

Leon being able to possess profits on such a scale was not actually without cost. These were enormous benefits that could only be seized by someone prepared to step into a world of violence. It meant struggling amid storms, where one could be smashed to pieces at any moment.

Thinking that she herself had already begun gradually coming into contact with such a world, her heartbeat unexpectedly quickened somewhat.

“I’ll take the money back first and count it. Prepare the accounts for any money you need, along with the money-laundering accounts, and give them to me so I can allocate the funds.” After saying this, Leon added another sentence, “As soon as possible. I need to make another long trip in a couple of days.”

“You just got back and you’re already going on another long trip?” Adele was somewhat surprised.

The image of Dorothy’s Labyrinth, far away in the Augran Region, as Lamia had described it, surfaced in Leon’s mind. He calmly replied to Adele: “I still have something more important to deal with.”