Chapter 75

Emilia began the prototype of the magic cannon staff incorporating the [Steel Arrow Scatter] magic that Prince Aurelio had requested.

Normally, the process would start with figuring out how to reproduce the factor letters for the magic to be incorporated, but Ricardo had already put the factor letters together effortlessly.

There was a reason for this. The black plate obtained from the Magic Realm Point 4 laboratory could display in two languages.

One was the language of the factor letters originally used in the laboratory, and the other was Japanese. During the examination at the laboratory, the examination device had read Ricardo's memory and acquired knowledge of the Japanese language.

Thanks to this, Ricardo's knowledge of factor letters had increased significantly.

The reason it was set to display in two languages was probably because Ricardo's knowledge of factor letters was incomplete, and it was determined that he could not read them with factor letters alone.

Ricardo was able to increase the information on the factor letters by displaying the same section in both factor letters and Japanese.

Emilia carved factor letters into five yellow tree fruit crystals and assembled them into a single magic circuit.

She then incorporated this magic circuit into the prototype magic cannon staff to complete it.

Usually, developing a new magic cannon staff would take at least a month, but this time the prototype was completed in just a few days.

When it came time to test fire it, Ricardo was also allowed to observe.

Ricardo himself was developing a magic cannon staff incorporating the [Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet] magic, but the development had not progressed much. The reason was that, unlike Emilia, he could not focus solely on development.

The test firing location was the underground test range of Emilia's workshop. It was decided to start with a third-grade magic formation rod.

Emilia was using a third-grade rod because, during the price negotiation with the royal finance officer, she was told to make it a bit cheaper.

"Inspection complete, everything's fine. I'm going to fire it."

When testing a magic cannon staff under development, it is sometimes done cautiously by securing the staff to a stand and tying a string to the trigger, pulling it from a distance. This method was used this time.

The string connected to the trigger was pulled, and seven all-metal arrows appeared from the magic cannon staff and flew towards the target. Their flight speed was about twice that of a regular arrow.

At the same time the steel arrows were fired, the magic formation rod used in the magic cannon staff made a creaking sound.

The flying steel arrows pierced through the wooden target and disappeared after piercing the sandbags behind it.

Emilia hurriedly went under the magic cannon staff to check its condition.

"No good, the magic formation rod has a crack. It couldn't withstand the magic power that flowed into it."

Ricardo went to the target to confirm its power. The thick wooden target had been pierced, and a hole had been made in the sandbags behind it.

The seven steel arrows had hit within a one-meter diameter circle, just as Ricardo had expected, and he was relieved.

"Let's try using a second-grade magic formation rod, then."

The test firing was done again, and this time it was successful. There was no abnormality in the magic formation rod used.

With this result, Emilia said,

"What should we do? What do you think, Ricardo?"

"As expected, the result is as predicted. The problem is that using a second-grade magic formation rod would result in a loss at the price the royal finance officer suggested."

Emilia sighed.

"That's true. What should we do... Do you have any ideas?"

After thinking for a moment, Ricardo said,

"If we make the steel arrows about half the size, a third-grade magic formation rod might be able to handle it."

"That might be true, but the power will definitely decrease. Prince Aurelio is going to hunt the bear-eating eagle, so a decrease in power would be bad."

Prince Aurelio and his party had chosen the [Steel Arrow Scatter] magic because it could deal damage to the bear-eating eagle. Any modification that reduced its power was not allowed.

Emilia and Ricardo started a discussion. Several ideas were proposed, but they were eliminated as they could not solve the problem. Finally, the idea of using a third-grade attribute color rod was proposed.

The third-grade attribute color rod uses new technology but is cheaper than a second-grade magic formation rod. Second-grade and higher magic formation rods are more expensive because they can use advanced magic.

"I think it's possible. But, using an attribute color rod requires the crown prince's permission, right?"

"Yes, I'll go to the Yogr territory and get permission."

The next day, Ricardo left home and headed for the Yogr territory.

He took a shared carriage to the capital city Yaro and then went to Yogr Castle. He arrived in the evening, and after stating his name at the gate, he was led inside.

He was made to wait in a room like a reception room, and about ten minutes later, the crown prince appeared.

"This time, you're not with a wise beast, I see."

"Monta is taking care of the seeds in the garden."

"Hmm, the seeds of a tree that bears new fruit, I see. Has it sprouted at least?"

"It has grown to about the size of Monta's chest."

The crown prince was surprised at the astonishing growth rate.

"Did you use magic?"

"No, I didn't do anything."

"Hmm, interesting. The seeds I received might also grow quickly."

"Have you planted the seeds?"

"No, not yet. I plan to build a proper breeding ground before planting the seeds."

"I see, that's wise."

"By the way, what is the purpose of your visit this time?"

Ricardo explained the situation and received permission to use the attribute color rod.

"If it's a request from my brother, there's no reason to oppose it. However, I am also concerned about the bear-eating eagle."

"That's true. It could be a serious situation if it attacks the capital."

The crown prince slowly shook his head.

"That's not it. What I'm concerned about is the response of the Apra territory. Why did the Marquis of Apra set fire to the mountain? It seems to me that he deliberately drove the bear-eating eagle into the royal territory."

Ricardo also thought it might be the case when he heard it.

"However, I don't think the Marquis of Apra has the nerve to provoke the royal family. It's likely that Duke Melbis is pulling the strings behind the scenes."

The crown prince's speculation was correct. However, to confirm it, the royal intelligence unit would be needed, and the crown prince did not have the authority to mobilize it.

Hearing about the intelligence unit from the crown prince, Ricardo became interested.

"Intelligence unit? What do they usually do?"

"Training pigmen."

Ricardo was surprised that the crown prince answered a question he didn't expect to be answered.

Moreover, it was an unexpected answer.

Pigmen are magical beasts similar to hamsters. They are the same size and shape as hamsters but have a small horn on their forehead.

Ricardo, who was curious about what it meant to train pigmen, asked.

"Pigmen are magical beasts used in intelligence activities. Intelligence officers use the [Life] magic [Consciousness Empathy] to connect their consciousness with the pigmen, infiltrate them into the target mansion, and obtain information."

"I see, so they use the pigmen's consciousness for intelligence work?"

"No, that's not it. It's not about taking over the consciousness. It's just connecting the consciousness. They can give instructions, but the intelligence officer cannot control the pigmen's body. That's why training is necessary."

Ricardo learned that the country's intelligence activities were unique. However, the use of pigmen in intelligence activities was a technology unique to the Romanas Kingdom, and other countries conducted ordinary intelligence activities.

"Pigmen seem to be intelligent magical beasts."

"They're not as smart as wise beasts, but they're intelligent enough to understand human language to some extent."

The difference from wise beasts is that they cannot speak even when they grow up.

Ricardo and the crown prince talked enthusiastically about pigmen. The crown prince seemed to like cute things.

The next morning after staying at Yogr Castle, Ricardo headed to the Second Magic Realm Gate. He wanted to check if the divine rare tree he had found near the Magic Realm Gate had borne fruit.

He entered the Magic Realm from the Second Magic Realm Gate and walked towards the rocky mountain. He could see the running demonic tree Kumiri and searched for a small cave. He encountered a demonic tree Trill.

Ricardo drew the Death Oprodd from the sheath on his back and got ready. The demonic tree swung the lightning whip on its head and attacked.

He dodged the lightning whip's attack, stepped forward, and struck the Death Oprodd into the demonic tree's weak point, the tumor on the tree liver. The tumor was crushed.

With that one blow, the demonic tree Trill was killed.

Ricardo stored the demonic tree's body in a storage aqua crystal and started walking again. He encountered and defeated several demonic tree Trills. The fourth demonic tree Trill had a long, acorn-like fruit, and he obtained the acorn after defeating it.

He approached a small cave he had discovered and peered inside, where a group of demonic tree Kumiri was still gathered.

"Well, let's move a bit."

When Ricardo entered the cave, the demonic tree Kumiri fled to the back. He found a path leading to an upper rock shelf and started climbing. After about ten minutes, he reached the rock shelf.

On the rock shelf, there was a divine rare tree in the center. There were no tree fruit crystals on its branches, and he was disappointed, thinking that a magical beast might have eaten them. However, upon closer inspection, he found several tree fruit crystals at the base.

Ricardo quickly collected the tree fruit crystals. He picked up eighteen yellow tree fruit crystals, twelve red tree fruit crystals, six purple tree fruit crystals, and two green tree fruit crystals.

"Two green tree fruit crystals this time, what a great harvest."

He stored the collected tree fruit crystals in a pendant-type storage purple crystal and left the cave.

"All that's left is to get the materials to make the attribute color rod."

For a third-grade magic formation rod, the best would be the branches of the demonic tree Damir or the demonic tree Tamir.

He searched the area and found a group of demonic tree Damirs to the north of the cave.

"Eight is quite a lot. If I'm surrounded, it's over."

Ricardo took out the [Earth] magic rifle and tried to leave the area.

At that moment, two tree-biting lizards appeared and started fighting the group of demonic tree Damirs.

The tree-biting lizards, about 150 centimeters long, could kill a demonic tree Trill, but the demonic tree Damirs were a tough opponent. The demonic tree Damirs had a head with a hairstyle-like branch, and two powerful lightning whips grew from it, attacking the tree-biting lizards like whips.

The two-legged tree-biting lizards skillfully avoided the lightning whip attacks and jumped into the demonic tree Damirs' embrace, biting into the trunk.

A big fight began.

Ricardo, hidden behind a rock, fired the magic rifle at the tumor of the demonic tree Damir's tree liver, which was focused on attacking the tree-biting lizards. The powerful shock wave hit the tumor and created a crack. Tree liver oil flowed out, shortening the demonic tree Damir's lifespan.

The surrounded tree-biting lizards tried to escape, but the demonic tree Damirs did not allow it.

Even when their companions were shot, the demonic tree Damirs seemed to think the tree-biting lizards had done something, and their lightning whip attacks intensified.

Ricardo steadily took down the demonic tree Damirs one by one, and when he had reduced them to three, the two tree-biting lizards were cut in half by the lightning whips and died.

At that moment, the remaining demonic tree Damir finally noticed Ricardo's presence and approached.

"This is bad."

Ricardo put away the magic rifle, took out the Death Oprodd and catalyst, and prepared the [Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet].

He aimed the [Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet] at the demonic tree Damir that was approaching first. The [Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet] opened a large hole in the trunk of the demonic tree Damir and shattered the tumor of the tree liver of another demonic tree Damir behind it.

The remaining one swung the lightning whip at Ricardo.

He jumped back with all his might, but the tip of the lightning whip tore his combat robe.

Ricardo's heart raced as if it were about to burst, and sweat poured out of his body. Adrenaline surged through his body, and his thoughts sped up.

The lightning whips attacked one after another, and Ricardo ran for his life.

At that moment, his accelerated thoughts came up with an idea.

He took out a container house from the storage aqua crystal in front of the pursuing demonic tree Damir. The demonic tree Damir collided with the container house with a loud noise.

Taking advantage of this, he prepared the [Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet]. When the demonic tree Damir circled around the container house and approached, the [Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet] was fired, cutting the trunk of the demonic tree Damir in half and killing it.

"Phew, I thought I was going to die. I shouldn't have been greedy and should have escaped while the Damir and the tree-biting lizards were fighting."

Ricardo stored the bodies of the demonic tree Damir and the tree-biting lizards in the storage aqua crystal and entered the container house.

He was worried that it might have been damaged by the collision with the demonic tree Damir, but it seemed to be fine.

He sat on the bed and drank cold water from the refrigerated storage purple crystal.

After calming down for a while, he went outside the container house. There didn't seem to be any dangerous magical beasts around.

He stored the container house in the storage aqua crystal and started heading back to the Magic Realm Gate.

He left the Magic Realm, took a shared carriage from Yogr Castle to the capital city Yaro, and stayed at an inn.

The next morning, he took a shared carriage to the capital and returned in the afternoon.

Back home, Ricardo processed the branches of the demonic tree Damir in the garden to make rods. He made twelve and returned to his room to start the magic power coating.

He sank his consciousness deep into the mental structure through probe meditation. As he quietly sank, feeling the source gate, he approached it. As he got closer to the source gate, he began to feel resistance.

He reached four steps away from the pitch-black source gate. Previously, that was his limit, but now he could go further. Ricardo increased his concentration and willpower and took another step forward.

He reached three steps away from the source gate. He felt a tremendous force flowing in from the source gate, and part of that force was converted into magic power, surging through his body.

However, in this state, even a moment of distraction would blow his consciousness away. He took a step back. Even so, the resistance was strong, and it seemed that the magic power coating could not be done.

Reluctantly, he took another step back and maintained a distance of five steps from the source gate.

This way, it seemed that the magic power coating work could be done.

He concentrated on exciting the magic power to be emitted. The magic power changed to the brown color of the [Earth] attribute and gradually became darker.

When the magic power turned dark brown, he poured it into the rod. The moment the dark brown magic power eroded the surface of the rod, the rod's surface cracked with a sound.

"It's no good. The branch of the demonic tree Damir can't withstand the magic power equivalent to advanced magic."

Ricardo retreated from the source gate and excited the magic power at a distance of six steps. The color of the magic power was brown. He poured the brown magic power into the rod. The surface of the rod turned brown, and snowflake patterns appeared on it.

It was a beautiful snowflake pattern like a work of art.

Ricardo was satisfied with the completed attribute color rod.

The next day, he gave one attribute color rod to Emilia.

"Wow, a beautiful attribute color rod."

She immediately incorporated it into the prototype magic cannon staff and tried a test firing. Knowing that the attribute color rod had a quirk, she didn't expect it to succeed on the first try.

As expected, the steel arrows fired went in a completely different direction. However, since the attribute color rod did not crack, Emilia was relieved.

"I'll modify the magic circuit to adapt to it, so leave it to me."

Emilia, who had a clear idea of the completion, said confidently.