Rupegia

Chapter 184: Industry of War – Part 3

Alissa is like a child with a new toy, which is concerning since we're talking about guns, but she knows enough about gun safety to not do something stupid.

"Can I send a rifle to my mother?" she coyly requests through [Bind].

Sure, just write a very thorough instruction manual. I don't want to hear about Allura causing an accident later.

"Good idea…" is all she replies because she knows how much of a daring tomboy her younger sister is.

And I watch them with envy as they train with the rifles, but Alissa's childish mood starts to infect me, so I join them for a bit as she begins to teach the Companions about guns. Ciel has taken a break from investigating that dangerous-feeling gem, so she's teaching the Lordsguard in another yard, leaving us free to spend some quality time with our bodyguard girls.

Princess Belind seems quite popular among the girls due to how pretty and cheerful she is, but Roxanne's gaydar is pinging repeatedly, making her almost certain that the pixie has got the gay. What her actual preferences are is unknown, though, so we can't just have anyone try to seduce her because we might overload her gay senses and scare her.

This actually makes it more likely that I'll be the one to taste her first since you can't beat the Cock, man. Nothing beats the Cock. Not the Cock.

And the moment I appear, all eyes fall on me… because I have the Cock.

Cock.

Anyway, enough hentai memes. Yesterday, I couldn't Ravage anyone, which means that tonight, we'll make up for it, and my soldier girls know that, so they smirk as I approach.

"Your Highness! Teach us how to handle your heavy, long, thick weapon," a Companion exclaims with a steamy tone.

We have to warn them not to fuck themselves with a gun.

So I answer in kind, "Be gentle, girls. It may be sturdy, but all you need is a delicate touch to make it unload."

But the girls are only allowed the occasional perverted flirting, so the next Companion asks in a more serious tone, "Your Highness, will this 'rifle' replace our bows?"

I nod and deliberate a bit, "Most likely. Bows will become obsolete in most scenarios, and the rifle will even grow to be the most integral part of your kit, so you all better get used to it fast."

"The sound hurts my ears, though," a weredog girl whines concernedly.

"It does," Alissa sympathetically agrees with a bitter smile and glances at her enchanted rifle.

But this is a serious concern since weredogs and humans are kind of tied for being the most numerous in our Lordsguard, second to elves, so I answer them truthfully, "Perhaps we can research something to deal with that, but it won't be a priority."

And the girl's ears suddenly go flat as she becomes embarrassed. "I apologize, Your Highness. I didn't mean to complain. I get that the gun is to keep us all safe."

I shake my head and gently cup her cheek (though I have to reach up as she's taller than me) as I reassure her, "Being able to comfortably use it without going deaf would benefit your combat performance, so we will look into it at a later time. Alissa's [Muffle] enchantment isn't that expensive, after all." And her tail starts to wag uncontrollably from my touch, making her even more embarrassed, though her worry has been lessened.

"Well, aren't you such a softie," Lily dryly remarks, deservedly earning herself a few glares, and Belind can't hide her surprise at the loli's lack of reverence.

"I wish my superiors were like that when I served," Thant quietly hums and chuckles.

"Being well-cared for is a perk of the job," I calmly reply and pull my clawed hand back, making the dog girl frown dejectedly for a brief moment.

"He does 'take care' of us, yeah," Hukarere cheekily hums and waggles her eyebrows, deservedly earning herself a lot of smirks. I also notice that Chesa is trying to hide a naughty smile, so it seems like her pussy isn't dry like Lily's.

"Let's leave the flirting for later, or else we'll upset the virgins," I huskily request. I'm not feeling like bickering with Lily in front of Belind.

"Who the fuck are you calling a virgin," the angry loli immediately tries to pick a fight.

So I use my expertise in bantering to smoothly deflect, "I didn't think you'd be mad about that, but I guess Kelloggs is too busy drooling."

The gnome blinks repeatedly as he wakes up, then grunts filth exactly as I expected, "The hell? I told you I lick anal blood."

"To be fair, you do look like you'd enjoy becoming an 'unsoiled slave' for a rich woman," Alissa immediately piles on, obediently following my plan.

And the man-child gives her a surprised look. "Goddamn, is Yulania whispering in your mind, or something?"

This actually annoys Alissa a bit, who sternly corrects, "Queen Yulania, and no, she didn't say anything. You're just underestimating me because I'm younger than her and look cute."

But this lambasting doesn't seem to phase Belind, so I guess she doesn't have any prejudice against perverse fetishes, which is good, but I wanted her to feel disgusted with Samkelo.

So I abandon the plan and return to my original goal. "Enough banter, please. I wish to fire the gun."

"The gun you invented, yet you've never fired one before," Lily wryly points out, and this time, she doesn't get glares because everyone else finds it curious too.

"Most of the work was done by Lina and Aoi. I just guided them a bit," I explain, and my tone becomes warmer as thinking about my two gunsmith girls makes me proud.

Then I grab an empty rifle and humanize my hands so that I can load it up. Even though I've seen these motions being done countless times in video games, they're still unfamiliar to me.

Clunky and awkward, that's how it feels to use this gun. Not a jab at Lina and Aoi's work, but it's embarrassing that I'm struggling with something that I've "used" so much.

I load the magazine, then rack the bolt and aim, but Alissa has to correct my posture through our connection. Then I pull the trigger, and the recoil hurts my shoulder.

"Not bad aim," Thant hums, and I snort.

Well, I was an FPS player, so I really can't accept anything less than "good."

I rack another bullet and take aim again. The target is very far, and I don't have enhanced eyesight like Alissa and possibly also Thant, so I'm at a disadvantage here. But I still shoot again and again until the magazine is empty, then pull the target towards me with [Telekinesis].

Eight rounds, high accuracy, low precision.

I remember going "pixel hunting" in mil-sim games as an insurgent without a scope and scoring headshots left and right, but this feels nothing like that. Without the context of games, this is just a sport, which isn't really my thing.

Alissa loves it because she's competitive, and so does Lily, though she isn't that great of a shot. For me, it's still nice and a bit fun, but I don't feel like a child on Christmas.

What I do feel is unrelated to my skill, actually. It's like I'm a Dad seeing their child prove that they can hunt a bear. Now I can trust that my men and my girls will be safe… well, relatively safe. But it's still mighty comforting knowing how much of a technological advantage we have on the Titans now.

I replace the empty magazine with a new one, then rack the bolt and fire another shot.

Yes… this feels powerful. Strong. Safe.

And we haven't even reached the full-auto stage.

There's one problem, though: Draconic Climax isn't smokeless… and it also leaves a pungent but tasty smell of baked bread, so two problems. I guess we'll have to order Samkelo to help with that, but the mixture is magical, so I dunno how helpful he'll be. Maybe we should call for Aisco, but we've been doing fine without having to rely on the sociopathic elf.

"You do seem familiar with the rifle," Belind amiably states, her lovely voice bringing me back from my gloomy musings.

"I know quite well how it works, but I lack the muscle memory to handle it skillfully," I explain as I slowly rack another shot.

"I believe no [Shooting] skill yet exists, yes?" she misunderstands me.

And I chuckled softly at the pretty pixie. "Yes, but you can still learn how to write without the [Writing] skill."

"Ah, I see…" she hums in understanding, but then she smiles bitterly. "But in my case, even the skill won't help since the 'recoil' is too disruptive for a flying pixie."

I lower my gun to stare at her pretty blue eyes as I reassure her, "Don't worry, there are ways to mitigate that, though they'll create other downsides, but pixies will definitely play a part in the future of guns."

And her butterfly wings flap as she happily hums, "That sounds exciting."

Then a Companion walks into the yard, and Alissa recognizes the determined steps of a soldier bearing a message, so I turn around to face the newcomer.

"Your Highness, Princess Urmeie has returned," she announces, and Belind's everlasting brightness dims a little bit.

It seems that the big sister bear has come directly to us as, just a minute later, she appears in the yard. The Companions don't know about the "differences" between the two Princesses, so they cheerfully greet Urmeie as they have deep respect for the warrior woman.

"What an interesting surprise I've come back to," she cheerfully grunts.

"Wouldn't be a surprise if you announced when you came or left," I immediately reply with sass, making her put some effort into not rolling her eyes in front of me.

"I see the Imperial Princess still does as she pleases," Belind remarks with a perfectly curated, polite tone.

But even that makes her real meaning obvious, given the context of their relationship, so Urmeie answers in kind, showing she isn't that socially unaware, "Princess Belind, I didn't expect you to tag along with your brother, but I should've known, considering King Wolf's reputation."

Wait, did Urmeie imply Belind is a slut? A bit hypocritical, but I assume she has a very specific definition of "slutness" that doesn't include her.

And I notice that Belind's wings stop moving entirely as a sliver of hostility seeps into her answer, "A very good reputation, I must emphasize. There are few who wouldn't look up to the benevolent and holy King, but lesser women have a tendency to focus on his martial prowess."

Doesn't Urmeie refer to others as "lessers"?

"She does, though she's a bit more humble in your presence," Yunia leaves a brief remark in my soul space.

"Of course, King Wolf is famous for protecting the weak, after all," Urmeie answers with a smug grin, though her gaze is more intense.

But Alissa feels like this is bad for the health of my harem, so she interrupts them with a subtly harsh tone, "Let's not get caught up in too much praise. There are already too many women wanting to tongue my husband's asshole, so don't make them jealous."

And a few dangerous smirks appear upon the faces of some of the more perverted Companions, so I mark them in my memory for when I'm feeling like doing some multi-tentacle-dick anal.

It also deflates the ego-swords of the Princesses as they were getting prepared to duel. Urmeie becomes indifferent to Belind's presence, while the pixie seems embarrassed that she let herself get caught up like that. I get the feeling, though, that most of those present didn't pay attention to the subtle insults, so they're oblivious to the dissipating tension in the air.

It'd be bad for me to favor either of the Princesses, so I just play around for a bit more with the rifle as I watch Alissa teach Urmeie how to shoot. The bear woman is a bit rough with her weapon, but she's smart enough to easily get how it works, so she quickly becomes a decent shot.

After that, I return to my cave and continue creating more golems.

The negotiations with Hekeman progress smoothly, and he requests a demonstration, so Hana takes him to Ciel, and our chocolate angel takes over for her because our red-haired barbarian is easily distracted by the sounds of training. She's already done well enough by getting through the first part, so now it's better to just let her loose.

She's actually good at working with the Lordsguard, while Ciel is too gentle with them, and we need to update their doctrine, so an eager drill master is better. Alissa has actual experience with being one, but she hates it and refuses to do that job.

She still helps through [Bind], especially because we want our men to become skirmishers, which is a specialty of the werefoxes. We're not going for pike-and-shot because we expect to be able to kill most enemies before they can get into melee, and if they do get close enough, the men should retreat. Therefore, they're basically less mobile skirmishers.

We're making bayonets just in case the Titans throw waves of meat at us, but if that happens, we'll set up shield walls while the rest of the men shoot over their heads. That formation is more complex, though, so we need the men to be able to do it with their eyes closed because speed is everything in battle, and I've read about too many armies that got wiped out because they got hit in the ass with their pants down.

"If the enemy stays in formation, then just a few squads firing on the sides will make a mess," an officer curiously makes a remark.

And another officer more eagerly adds as it begins to click in his head, "And if they try to use cavalry on the skirmishers, they can easily defend themselves as long as they have ammo."

"Yeah, that's why guns will change everything," Hana agrees with a nod.

"What about us…?" a court mage hesitantly asks as he raises his hand.

And that's a… delicate question since most mages focus on learning low-level spells to spam projectiles at the enemy, but now they're basically obsolete.

So Yunia gives me a nudge, and I help Hana give a polite answer, "We don't know what exact role the court mages will take, but [Ritualism] still exists."

What role does a [Fireball] or a [Wind Blade] have on a modern Earthling battlefield? Guns are just too OP, but scientific knowledge makes magic cheaper and easier, so [Gun Magic] might actually become a thing one day. There's also too much infrastructure already supporting system magic, so someone will find a way to make mages useful.

The same can't be said about cavalry. Though armored vehicles will become a thing, there's zero reason for melee cavalry, making them obsolete. Still, someone is going to find a way to armor up a Ronti or a Gatun and maybe even try to strap a cannon to the poor thing.

Unless… something like [Kinetic Shield] is developed and becomes ubiquitous. Maybe it doesn't even need to be a perfect shield, just [Kinetic Inhibitor] that lowers a bullet's velocity to the point that a [Reinforce]d suit of armor is enough to stop it.

"Oooh…" Lina hums in my soul space, eager to test it out by mixing enchanting, metals, and ceramic plates for the ultimate, all-purpose armor. But there's no need for that since nobody but us has guns, so she can't justify pausing gun development for that.

Intermission – Prince Hekeman-u

"Mother, the Ryders have made a frightening weapon," I make my opening statement, surprising myself with how fearful I am of what I saw.

"So we've heard, but I want details, son…" she solemnly replies, then patiently waits for my answer.

I look around at my brothers and sisters. Just as I started to believe that the Ryders may not be so dangerous, especially to my sisters, they go and do something like this.

So I sigh softly and simply relay what the experts concluded, "The Master Smith of Blades had the right words: deadlier than an [Arrow of Annihilation], faster than a gnomic repeater crossbow, and they already have a hundred of the "rifles" ready for battle."

"In a day?" my first brother blurts out in awe.

I slowly nod, then serve the tea unsweetened, "In a day, but they'll craft them even faster tomorrow as the number of worker golems has continuously increased throughout the day."

"May we… acquire one of them? Surely the Ryders wouldn't miss one," my first sister shrewdly suggests, and I realize that's why I'm the Chosen Descendant and not her.

"I advise against that," I emphatically state and stare intensely at her to ensure she gets the message. "The golems' organization and intelligence are uncanny. They aren't husks, and they're better than even high-level summons."

"Then shouldn't we look into acquiring [Golemancy]?" she instantly switches targets, but this time, I don't chide her as that's a topic beyond even my authority, so I just turn to our parents, and their stoicism makes me wary.

"I believe the whole Avgi Empire is trying to, but it seems to be harder than even [Monster Summoning], something King Wolf also has," Father states, his hulking frame obviously stiff, revealing discomfort as he was never good at hiding his emotions.

And I can guess why. There's just so much happening around the Ryders that you can't help but be afraid of what the future holds. He's a walking calamity himself…

Then Mother finishes the discussion, and I'm unable to decipher her stoicism, "Focus on securing these 'guns.' We need to deal with the Fortress of Calamity before we can even think about something like [Golemancy]."

Wise. We also can't grow lax around a hero because only they have divine protection.

Intermission end.

No more issues arise, and soon, bath time comes, so I finally leave my cave for good.

The girls and Urmeie all go to the main bath, so Alissa stops for a second to warn Princess Belind, "Wolfy will be there. If you wish for privacy, there's a female-only bath." But the pixie doesn't immediately react, which makes Alissa believe she might be concerned about something else, so she hurriedly adds, "Wolfy has rejected Urmeie's advances; she's far too domineering for his taste, and it's unlikely they'll solve that anytime soon."

Now that makes the pixie react, and her thin blonde eyebrows rise up as she flashes a brief smile before her [Acting] kicks in. "Oh… I see…" Then she looks pensive as she honestly considers whether or not to join us. "Well, I'll… take the private bath, then."

Huh… I guess I almost NTR'd the Princess. Also, we'd better not tell her that Urmeie sucked me off.

"Agreed," Alissa's voice echoes in my mind.

But everyone easily envisions Belind joining us soon. We just need to get more comfortable around each other.

Now, for the bath itself, Hana got horny from training, and she can't wait until the evening, so I Ravage her and include Roxanne in a threesome just to make Caterina horny. We know it'll take more than that to get the milfy Punisher to join us, but the dragon in me still feels very delighted to just show off.

But the real performance will come after dinner. I want to fuck someone in front of Belind, but I also want to see her reaction to steamy lesbian sex, so the gears start to turn in my head. Maybe we can turn it into a party by inviting the Companions, and my soldier girls need only the weakest of excuses to start an orgy in my presence.

Then I remember that we have to talk to her and her brother about the truth behind my and The Four's background, so lewdness will have to wait a bit.