Ch.251Exclusive Equipment (3)

Though Droop had heard about the powered suit I was conceptualizing, I couldn’t hide my slight bewilderment at his request to actually build one.

Ah, of course, the bewilderment I’m referring to wasn’t anything like displeasure or anger toward a subordinate’s presumptuous request. If anything, it was closer to genuine confusion about his motives.

“…Could you explain in a bit more detail?”

Noticing from my expression and voice that I wasn’t going to reprimand him, he showed relief as he shared his thoughts.

“Previously, didn’t you mention something about it?”

“…Yes, I did.”

In the past, Droop and I often exchanged ideas about large, magnificent machines due to our shared interests. During those conversations, he seemed to have developed a particular interest in the powered suit I had conceptualized.

Using mechanical engineering knowledge accumulated from examining golem armor, we could create artificial joints. Based on this, we could add another layer of fully sealed medium armor powered by magical energy.

In other words, adding magical prosthetic arms in addition to one’s natural arms to generate more than twice the normal strength, enabling the use of heavy weapons or armaments that would normally be impossible to wield.

When I consulted experts about this, they said it was feasible enough to consider pursuing, but the project was abandoned due to excessive costs and, above all, weight issues.

There was already golem armor as a kind of alternative that didn’t require separate manufacturing costs, and if a mid-level user with sufficient output wore it, it would become too slow to be worthwhile.

But—Droop said he found a kind of hope in this.

“If I have the power to move three times faster, couldn’t that compensate for the slow speed?”

Based on rough simulations, the agility reduction from wearing a powered suit would be between 0.67 and 0.8 times normal speed. If Droop’s three-times-faster speed were added, it could achieve roughly 2 to 2.5 times normal speed.

Though slower than in normal situations, this speed would still be remarkably fast, and his thinking speed would still maintain the original threefold increase.

In short, adding the unique heaviness of a powered suit with heavy armor and high firepower, while compensating for its only weakness with triple speed, was not something to be overlooked.

Therefore, I immediately realized that Droop’s proposal would be extremely useful, and part of me wanted to adopt this plan right away.

However… there was one prerequisite that had to be addressed for this kind of application.

“Droop.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Your idea is excellent. I’d like to adopt this proposal, but there’s one matter that needs to be addressed first.”

“…What would that be?”

“Your triple speed. Until now, I’ve simply trusted you and let it slide, but not anymore. It’s clearly closely related to the principles of the powered suit, and it would be unreasonable to just ignore it.”

“…I see.”

Perhaps he had already anticipated this. He wore a very ambiguous expression in response to my reaction, and I looked straight at him while calmly continuing.

“I’m sure you have your circumstances, so I won’t ask you to tell me everything. However—”

“…No. I’ll tell you everything.”

“What?”

This was unexpected by anyone. Contrary to my original intention of being considerate and only hearing about the principles behind his abilities, Droop spoke with determination, calmly revealing his story.

He was actually a descendant of the old Orc Khagan—the unified leader of all orcs—and his current abilities were not just due to his own skills but also to a special innate talent.

Despite how deep his circumstances seemed, it was actually a matter of little consequence to me, but Droop appeared extremely tense as he watched me, thinking it might be problematic.

Of course, as I said before, I really didn’t care about such issues, so I spoke bluntly to the visibly tense Droop as if to say “what’s the big deal?”

“I was wondering what important story you were about to tell… and it’s just that?”

“…Pardon?”

“What does it matter if you’re of that bloodline or not? Would anyone even recognize it? This Orc Khagan, how many generations ago was it?”

“Four generations… ago.”

“Ha. As if people would remember that well. Even I can’t recall the name of the previous Khagan. Don’t worry too much about such meaningless things.”

“…I see.”

After dismissing what turned out to be rather underwhelming information for something that seemed so serious, I happily opened my mouth, now that all obstacles to my plans had been removed.

“Well, now that that’s settled… you want to proceed with the powered suit plan?”

“Yes. Please, I beg you.”

“Good. I also think it’s an excellent idea. But wouldn’t it be a shame to stop there?”

“…Pardon?”

“Since we’re doing this, let’s think bigger. Let’s add firepower enhancement units and mobility units on top of the powered suit—a Floating Fortress Plan.”

※ ※ ※

The Floating Fortress Plan, which I conceived after hearing Droop Bazilit’s powered suit proposal. Simply put, it’s a special plan to add humanoid expansion parts to the powered suit, incorporating flight capabilities and high-firepower armaments.

It’s the culmination of various technologies I’ve been developing one by one. To explain it in a way some might understand, it’s like high-firepower special equipment similar to Dendro■bium or Neo Zi■ng.

Since the plan is to attach heavy weapons at least equivalent to fortress cannons, the firepower is certainly guaranteed, and these additional modules also include crazy amounts of armor, dramatically improving durability.

For flight, the original plan was to rise into the air using levitation abilities and gain propulsion through additionally equipped parts.

We would mount one motorcycle-type magic broom on each leg—the ones I was discussing with Gretel—and add two more rod-type magic brooms around the waist to instantly solve the heavy weight issue.

Of course, the back would feature a large thruster that expels energy for propulsion, along with wing-shaped hull armor sections equipped with multiple medium and small thrusters for additional thrust.

Also, if possible, the internal powered suit would follow Bazilit’s original suggestion, specializing in close combat with moderate mobility and high firepower and durability.

While this Floating Fortress, designed as a high-mobility, high-durability unit, is certainly an outstanding piece of equipment, the real focus is on the “cutting-edge” weapons it will carry.

One large-caliber magic cannon, also used as the main gun of the golem armor ‘BASILISK.’ Eight laser-rapid-fire magic cannons for fire support. An active defense system formed through energy discharge. And the only solid ammunition weapon, disposable missile pods.

Except for the disposable missile pods that fire six rocket warheads at once, this armament pod consists entirely of energy weapons, designed specifically for long-range engagement premised on high-speed maneuvers and disengagement.

Of course, looking at this, one can’t help but wonder:

From the thrusters to the armaments, most of the components are designed to operate using the user’s magical energy—can Droop, who has less magical energy than the average warrior, actually pilot this machine?

“…Will the energy efficiency be adequate?”

Indeed, Droop raised this negative point about my proposal, but naturally, as the original planner, I had already given this some thought.

“Droop, look at this.”

What I produced was a small gem about the size of a pebble—a transparent, sparkling byproduct from burning the shell of the fallen angel Dobiel, purified by soaking it in holy water. It’s essentially the source of the energy supply ability unique to fallen angels—or more precisely, angels.

Showing him this directly, I explained calmly:

“Wouldn’t this be sufficient as a power source?”

“…It would be sufficient. Yes. Combined with my aura, it should be entirely possible.”

With the energy source problem already solved and the concept addressed through close-range core and long-range parts, most of the technologies to be introduced, while expensive, can be handled sufficiently within the village.

“Now then, let’s begin—our final preparation.”

As I calmly explained the current situation to them and issued orders, I couldn’t help but tense up slightly as I sensed the approaching “end.”

Truly, there isn’t much time left.