Ch.170Firearms (1)

BOOM!!

“…Oh.”

The hand cannon in the servant’s hand spewed fire with a loud noise, instantly shattering the pile of logs in the distance.

It really worked.

Since this was a report that came to me directly, I didn’t think it would be just a paper plan, but I was still somewhat skeptical about how true it would be. Seeing it with my own eyes is truly impressive.

Five years since the development of cannons, and in that time, they’ve managed to miniaturize them to the point where a person can carry one.

Looking at its shape, it reminds me of a “chongtong.” Not the red-armband mustached man, but the cannons from the Joseon Dynasty.

TING—

“Urgh…”

“…Hmm.”

The servant who demonstrated the hand cannon collapses to the ground with a pain-filled groan, and the hand cannon that was in his hand hits the ground, making a heavy yet high-pitched ringing sound.

It’s still not perfect, I see.

It looks quite large for a hand cannon, which means its weight, powder charge, and recoil are all proportionally large as well.

“How much does that cannon weigh?”

“10kg, Your Majesty.”

10kg, huh.

When we previously worked on standardizing units, we couldn’t perfectly match the SI system, so we roughly unified them by eye, but it should definitely be around 10kg.

That’s certainly heavy for a hand cannon.

A typical hand cannon would usually weigh about 3kg to 5kg, but at 10kg, even if you can lift it, the recoil when firing would be no joke.

“Are there any smaller cannons? Something under 5kg would be nice.”

“That is…”

“I see there aren’t.”

I can tell just by the uneasy expression.

What I’m looking at must be the most successful product from the research institute right now.

‘Well, at least the power is decent.’

Seeing how the pile of logs was completely shattered, the power is quite substantial.

It might be difficult to break stone walls, but it’s powerful enough to quickly collapse wooden gates or well-constructed barricades after a few shots.

Plus, although it’s heavy, it’s still light enough for an individual to carry.

The downsides are the recoil and firing process.

The recoil, which requires the cannon to be mounted somewhere for the user to withstand it, greatly diminishes the advantage of a hand cannon being portable.

And as for the firing process…

“Does that always require at least two people to operate? Is there no cannon that can be operated by a single person?”

“Currently… that is correct, Your Majesty.”

A hand cannon, no matter how small, is still a cannon. It’s not a gun where the user can freely aim and adjust the firing timing as desired.

Even if loading is manageable, a single user cannot handle both aiming and ignition. A hand cannon is literally a miniaturized cannon, and in this era, cannons are ignited by applying a flame to the touchhole.

Using a fuse could extend the time between lighting and firing, but that doesn’t eliminate the ignition process itself.

You have to pour gunpowder into the muzzle, load the cannonball, light a fire, transfer it to the fuse, and aim the heavy hand cannon at the enemy while waiting for the fuse to burn down. During this process, you also have to be careful that the muzzle-loaded cannonball doesn’t roll back out.

Ugh… it’s horrifying just to imagine.

‘If we could make a trigger that brings the flame to the touchhole when pulled… no, that would be difficult.’

We could make a trigger, but the problem is that introducing such a mechanism would dramatically increase the cost.

It’s already expensive to cast these, and adding mechanical parts would make the price skyrocket.

The structure of a trigger isn’t particularly complex, and in a pinch, we could make a simple lever-based trigger, but it’s hard to expect such a process to run smoothly in a medieval armory. Production would plummet while costs would rise.

‘Tsk, if only we could at least solve the ignition issue.’

Even if the recoil is unavoidable due to its large size, it would be good if we could at least solve the ignition problem.

Should I make matches that can be lit just by striking? If fire could be easily lit and handled, one person might be able to manage the entire ignition process.

…But that would be difficult too. Making matches requires potassium chlorate or phosphorus.

The former needs chlorine bleach and potassium chloride, which might cost just ten thousand won at a local mart in modern times, but is impossible to obtain here. The latter can be extracted by boiling urine, so the materials are available, but phosphorus matches are dangerous as they can ignite with the slightest friction. They can even light up when struck against a sweaty palm.

If soldiers in combat were to use such things, with gunpowder weapons all around… no, absolutely not.

It would be nice if fire could be easily lit… like using a button lighter— wait a minute.

‘Huh?’

…I forgot.

An easy way to make fire.

A method that could never be used on Earth but can be used here.

“…”

Whoosh—

“What is it, Your Majesty?”

A small candle flame suddenly appears at the tip of my finger, but no one who sees this flame questions it.

It’s a phenomenon that’s rare to see but natural enough that no one doubts its existence—magic.

‘…I forgot.’

It’s called magic, but no matter how much one trains, its power can’t exceed that of a candle flame, so I had forgotten about it.

Unlike Earth, magic exists in this world, and anyone can use it with enough practice, but unfortunately, except for Jeanne, everyone’s magical power is extremely weak.

But it’s worth noting that anyone with enough practice can produce at least a candle flame.

Fire is fire, regardless of size, and for ignition purposes, a smaller flame is actually better.

“…Director of the Research Institute.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Can you incorporate fire magic into the ignition process so that a single gunner can operate it?”

“That… is possible.”

“Really?”

Using magic requires time and effort, but once mastered, one can easily produce a candle flame, making life more convenient. Being able to create a flame at any time is an extremely advantageous trait in a medieval environment.

Because of this, most people, except for the lower classes who struggle to access knowledge or those too busy to learn magic, want to learn it if their lives allow.

This means that among the research institute staff, there must be those who know how to use magic… so why didn’t the technicians think of incorporating magic into the hand cannon operation?

“Why didn’t you use magic? Even I can tell at first glance how difficult it is to use a hand cannon alone.”

“That’s because… soldiers need to use them. Unlike cannons operated by a few, hand cannons are designed to be used by many. If we incorporate magic, wouldn’t that make them harder to operate?”

Hmm…

Is that right?

There are many people in the palace who can use magic, so I haven’t really felt it while living here, but outside the palace, the number of people who can use magic drops dramatically.

Even though anyone can learn magic with time and effort regardless of talent, only those who can afford not to work can actually do so.

And people who can afford not to work are… only the privileged class.

People who need to work hard to survive make up 99% of the medieval population, and soldiers are recruited from that 99%.

At first, I thought they were taking an unnecessarily roundabout way when they could just give hand cannons to knights who know magic or some standing army members, but hearing the director’s explanation, it seems like a reasonable approach—

“And incorporating magic into the process of designing such a precise weapon and tool is something a researcher should never do! It’s as deplorable as using deus ex machina in plays and novels! How could a technician endure such humiliation—”

“Incorporate magic into the hand cannon’s firing process. That’s an order.”

“……….Yes, Your Majesty.”

This little…

I almost fell for it.

……….

“…Magic, you say?”

“Yes. We need to teach magic to select standing army members through military training.”

Leclerc is puzzled by my sudden declaration.

He seems to wonder why we should bother teaching such a useless thing to soldiers who should focus solely on combat training.

“If one knows how to use magic, life becomes easier whether they’re a serf, peasant, or commoner. If soldiers learn magic, they can live comfortably even after retirement.”

“However, magic requires at least six months of intensive learning to use, which could interfere with the combat training soldiers need.”

“This is something we must do to mass-produce musketeers.”

We need to prepare from now on.

Even in a future where hand cannons are replaced by guns, this will be extremely useful until flintlock muskets emerge.

No, flintlocks were very expensive initially, so magic would remain useful for quite some time even after their invention.

It’s cheaper to use magic for ignition than to make precise firearms, isn’t it?

Above all, there are many situations in the military where fire is needed, which is all the more reason to teach magic to the standing army.