I pointed the gun straight at the emperor.
He remained completely unmoved, even as he stared down the barrel.
“What about the gunpowder?” he asked. “Without it, the bullet won’t fire with any real power.”
“Don’t worry about that part,” I said. “I received some gunpowder from one of my connections.”
That connection was none other than Lady Fillia.
Once I realized she was working with Princess Ileze, I reached the conclusion that Lady Fillia could be in possession of a gun.
The Gardener Cats had claimed that someone shot a rock at them faster than they could even see.
At first, I assumed this to be the work of a crest tool as well. But once I laid eyes on the weapon schematics, everything fell into place. It was a bullet, not a pebble, that they found in their field. I always thought of bullets as long, skinny things, but then I remembered how humans in my past life used round bullets that looked like pebbles long ago.
Lady Fillia told me she’d been given a gun when she first agreed to help the Ringrard Empire. She engaged in fierce negotiations with them, demanding collateral as proof that they weren’t going to betray her. She emerged victorious in the end when they gave her one of their guns—a brand new technology and military secret
Lady Fillia then lent her gun out to be fired at the Gardener Cats’ field and send them into a panic.
It was impossible to forgive her for that, but I was in a situation that demanded I use every advantage I could get my hands on.
The gun itself was completed relatively quickly thanks to the Bureau of Magic’s hard work, but progress halted when we found we had no gunpowder. With no way of obtaining firepower for this weapon, I ended up borrowing gunpowder from Lady Fillia’s gun and submitting it for research.
The bureau’s new honey-harvesting crest tool turned out to be a useful bargaining chip in my negotiations. All she needed to do was cut ties with Emperor Ishnad and provide me with her gunpowder.
However, if she still insisted on plotting with Emperor Ishnad to take me down, I threatened to reveal her involvement with the Gardener Cats’ shooting and her secret communication with Emperor Ishnad. I didn’t exactly have physical proof of these things, but when combined with her rhododendron honey plot, these accusations were more than enough to destroy Lady Fillia’s reputation within Wolfvarte. I could also weaken her family’s power by providing the honey-harvesting crest tool to competing beekeepers. Lady Fillia would be backed into a corner—losing even her home in the palace grounds and consideration to become the next queen.
This was something she couldn’t allow. Lady Fillia still wanted to see Silverio again.
After careful negotiations, I managed to walk away with gunpowder in the end.
With the gun in my hand and the ability to fire it at any moment, it was time for the next round of negotiations with Emperor Ishnad.
“The Ringrard Empire has overrun other countries thanks to these firebolt cannons,” I continued. “Your people understand their might better than anyone, don’t they?”
“If you try to attack this country, your empire is going to be the one on the other ends of these guns.”
I laid that threat upon the emperor before me.
It was hard not to feel a bit upset by how these weapons would influence this world in the future, but before anything else, I needed Emperor Ishnad and his country to retreat.
Gun in hand, I glared back at the emperor until he let out a chuckle.
“Yes, the firebolt cannons are incredibly powerful. That’s why we’re accompanied by our Flying Dragon Knights. Firebolt cannons have no way of taking out enemies in the sky, do they?”
“That may be so.”
“Oh? You admit it?”
“But just as you have your Flying Dragon Knights, Wolfvarte has a lot more than firebolt cannons at its disposal.” With that, I stood up and headed outside the tent. “Take a look. This is the true power that keeps this country safe.”
I signaled to the castle wall and began to chant a spell.
A gun’s true strength was its ability to be mass produced. Sorcerers were still the ones capable of the most firepower and destruction, and no one had more magical energy than myself.
I cast my spell and constructed gigantic arms made of wind.
With the Flying Dragons watching, the long, transparent arms extended up into the sky.
When the timing was right…
“Grrrah?!”
The dragons began to cry out, startled and fascinated.
They were watching as an incalculable number of flower petals started to dance in the wind. I’d had the petals placed around the castle wall in advance, which my arms of wind scooped up and released into the sky.
Red, blue, yellow, purple, pink, and white.
The colorful petals rained down from above like something from a dream.
“Beautiful. …It’s beautiful, but…” The emperor squinted. It seemed the clever ruler had picked up on my intention.
“What if these weren’t flowers, but stones or arrows or bullets?”
My arms of wind could rain down anything from above.
Emperor Ishnad understood that not even his Flying Dragon Knights would be able to avoid a painful battle should our countries go to war.
“This power is what our country is presently capable of. Once you’ve burned this image into your memory, what do you say we begin our negotiations?” I smiled at the man. Something in the way he looked at me was like he wanted to avert his eyes but couldn’t.