Lord of Rot

Leech also received the iron tubes and several iron canisters he had previously ordered from the blacksmiths.

The hollow iron tubes were made of two seamless layers, one sheathing the other, with the seams joined by forge welding. This level of craftsmanship was beyond what Black Ears could achieve.

It wasn’t easy to produce these sturdy, straight, hollow iron tubes of uniform thickness. Following Leech’s instructions, the blacksmith had also rifled the barrels and produced a batch of metal projectiles.

With that, the initial preparations for the firearm Leech envisioned were complete.

The next step was to go to the promontory caverns and have Betty try to create a firearm with these components.

Leech soon delivered the gun barrels to the promontory caverns. As soon as Betty received them, she immediately understood what he wanted.

The experiment itself was quite simple: block one end, pour in Magic Gunpowder, then stuff a projectile in from the muzzle. However, they ran into a small problem. Once loaded, the projectile would roll around inside the iron tube. They had to keep the barrel angled upwards at all times, or the projectile would roll right out, sometimes taking the gunpowder with it.

”If we wrap the projectile in a thin layer of paper, it could seal the bore, and the gunpowder wouldn’t spill out so easily. Plus, when the gunpowder ignites, the flames would burn the paper to ash.”

Unfortunately, this world had no systematic method of papermaking. There was only parchment, leather, bark, or paper made from tanned scraps of cloth. Stuffing any of those into a gun barrel would only cause it to explode.

Leech hadn’t paid much attention to papermaking before. ’My people in the territory can’t even get enough to eat, how could I be thinking about papermaking?’ Besides, the craft was too easily replicated, making it nearly impossible to turn a profit selling paper.

Now, it seemed he would have to bring over another of his ancestors’ great inventions from Earth.

The projectiles weren’t the right size either. They were oval-shaped, which meant some were likely to get stuck halfway down the barrel, requiring a long, thin wooden rod to poke them into place.

’Thankfully, this is just a preliminary test.’

Once everything was ready, Betty raised her hand, gripped the iron tube barehanded, and recited a Spell.

BANG! The iron tube trembled slightly, then spewed a cloud of thick smoke.

THWIP!

The body of the corpse Leech was controlling nearby was instantly pierced through.

”I think I used too much Magic Gunpowder,” Betty said, sticking out her tongue. But her expression was one of pure excitement. This meant Leech’s concept for a Magic Firearm was actually feasible!

Leech looked down and felt the spot where the corpse had been shot through. A bone was broken, and there was a clean hole from front to back.

’It’s fine. Doesn’t hurt.’

’But the accuracy is a huge problem. It’s completely unusable in its current state.’

He took the gun barrel. Having just been fired, it was scalding hot. It might not have seemed like much in Betty’s hands, but the moment the corpse Leech controlled touched it, it started to SIZZLE and smoke.

The forge-welded seam of the iron tube had already cracked and was starting to flare out like the bell of a flower.

’The material isn’t strong enough.’

’It’s failing on every front.’

Leech was not satisfied with this result. Even if the Magic Firearm worked, there were several problems that had to be solved. First, Betty could control the direction and intensity of the Magic Gunpowder’s combustion, but Leech needed the Magic Firearm to be usable by ordinary people. An ordinary person couldn’t possibly control the direction of the Magic Gunpowder’s explosion.

’If it can’t be used by the common person, it’s meaningless.’

’Someone who can use Magic has access to far more wondrous abilities. They have no need to haul a gun around and fight on the front lines.’

Second, Betty could ignite the Magic Gunpowder with a Spell. An ordinary person could never use a Spell to ignite Magic Gunpowder through a gun barrel. This method of use was simply not replicable.

However, this second problem wasn’t hard to solve. As long as he could replicate the famous Matchlock Gun from Earth’s history, he could solve the issue of igniting the gunpowder.

While Leech didn’t know how to build a rifle from scratch, he understood the basic principle of a Matchlock Gun. The actual manufacturing would have to be left to his subordinates to research. As for the Flintlock Gun, the technology wasn’t advanced enough for such a large leap. ’One step at a time.’

The principle behind the Matchlock Gun was similar to that of a firecracker. A specially treated cord, when lit, would burn very slowly. This matchcord would be used to ignite the gunpowder on the gun, which would then combust and propel the projectile, completing the shot.

But to create the Matchlock Gun as Leech envisioned it, a lot of prerequisite technology was needed.

Stronger iron tubes, paper, a long-burning matchcord—even the firearm itself needed to be designed. How to load the gunpowder more conveniently, how to aim, how to ignite and fire while aiming—all of these things required research, step by step.

The incident at Longship Castle had also reinforced Leech’s long-held belief: the war was never over. Therefore, he had to build high walls and stockpile provisions.

Porcupine Territory had no dedicated ranged units. Only a few Soldiers used bows and crossbows, and they weren’t very effective in battle.

Take bows, for example. Unless you were a Transcendent like Stacy, it was impossible to be slender, long-legged, and fair-skinned while casually drawing a greatbow. Even a top archer, firing recklessly, could only loose a few hundred arrows before their arms gave out.

Every archer had to be an elite Soldier, powerfully built and subjected to daily training.

Able to draw a bow and shoot from a distance, and withstand the slash of a greatsword up close—that was an archer, one of the most elite types of soldiers.

If Leech had transmigrated to Endor instead of the coastal Porcupine Territory, with a population of people who lived on horseback, he might have considered training archers.

In reality, no one in Porcupine Territory was currently equipped with a bow. At most, they used crossbows.

Compared to the difficulty of training with a bow, the crossbow was much simpler. As long as you could span the crossbow with your foot, load a bolt, aim, and fire, you were qualified. They were simple and effective; a farmer could be sent to the battlefield after just half a day of training.

But the crossbow had a similar problem to the bow. While spanning it with your foot was indeed easier than drawing a bowstring by hand, it wasn’t *that* much easier. After a few dozen or a hundred times, your legs would still turn to jelly. In modern warfare, the combat value of a crossbowman certainly surpassed that of an archer, but in Leech’s eyes, compared to either of them, thermal weapons—firearms—were what truly needed to be developed.

Reloading was convenient: pour in some gunpowder, stuff in a projectile. It didn’t require much strength at all; the steps were just a bit complicated.

But by using the famous Matchlock Gun ”volley fire” tactic, this problem could be mitigated to some extent.

However, this was all just in Leech’s imagination for now. The price of raw materials for Magic Gunpowder was currently sky-high. Equipping a large-scale firearm corps would be tantamount to burning gold.

’No need to think so far ahead. Let’s just focus on creating a working firearm first.’

Leech then gave the iron canisters to Betty. He planned to have her fill them with Magic Gunpowder once she had produced a sufficient quantity.

A tightly wrapped bundle of cloth was a demolition charge, shockingly powerful. So, if you put the explosive in an iron canister, threw it, and detonated it, you could call it a magic grenade.

He believed the magic grenades would give the long-haired monsters in the promontory caverns’ castle a huge surprise.