"This should be far enough," Barda said as he brought the steed he was on to a halt and jumped off, relieving the poor beast of his bulky body.
"Far enough for what?" The commander asked. He and his men had been following the 3 blacksmiths and their carriage for a few miles without getting any answers. He knew not to ply too much, but sometimes curiosity gets the better of you. He had no idea that the other 2 blacksmiths were just as curious as he was.
Both Kia and Batoo had watched as Barda had locked himself in a forging room with his bat guano and other chemicals and materials. For a whole night he had toiled, and the following morning he had a trunk full of strange-looking weapons. He had then instructed them to get a carriage and loaded the trunk. All this was so hush-hush that they couldn't wait to see what these weapons did.
Brimming with confidence, Barda pulled out a rifle from the trunk and instructed everyone to do the same. He had made 60 rifles in total, but there were a few other goodies in there.
Looking at the weapon in their hand, many were not very impressed. It seemed to be a spear of some kind, but it was all wrong. The forward-looking part had a sharp edge, the bayonet, which everyone assumed was the tip of the spear.
Many tried swinging the weapons in an attempt to use them in war, but they couldn't make much use of it. They felt more comfortable with the swords and spears they were used to, that they had trained with all their lives. The commander had a grim face, wondering if this was the prized treasure he was promised. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't this.
The first item on the agenda was naming the components. He chose to call the weapon a firearm, something that confounded the listeners. They didn't see any association with fire. He showed them the various parts, including the magazines and the bayonets. The lesson also included tutorials on how to attach the magazine and bayonet and remove them.
After an hour, Barda had shown everyone how to deconstruct and reconstruct the weapon. It would take a long more than just an hour, but this was just the preliminary lesson. He could tell the soldiers were not particularly impressed by his creation, but that was because he had not gotten to the good part.
All this while Barda had been insisting on safety and care while handling the weapon. They didn't understand why he was so concerned with that especially since they were veterans who knew how to handle their weapons well.
That was when Barda introduced the bullets. They were shiny and silvery, which drew the attention of the onlookers. Consisting of a copper-plated steel jacket, a large steel core, and some lead between the core and the jacket, the 7.62×39mm piece of metal did not seem all that impressive either. Barda brought a barrel full of those things.
As everyone watched, Barda pulled out a magazine from the weapon he was holding and began loading it with the bullets. He counted off until he had loaded 30 bullets in there. Once done, he took the clip back to the gun and cocked it. He knew that a demonstration was everything, so he aimed his new weapon at a bird that was flying overhead. He could still remember this exact demonstration back when he was with the Dark Flames Adventurer team. A tinge of nostalgia hit him.
Boom.
A very loud sound that made everyone want to scurry away like children. It felt like thunder had just exploded next to them. Many even jumped up in a bid to run away.
Plop.
The lead goose in the formation fell on Commander Greer's face. Barda picked up the metal casing that had been lobbed off his gun, then walked over to the bird that had fallen on the Commander's head. Lifting it, he was met with disappointment, "too bad, it went through."
Needless to say, Barda's demonstration was a big hit. At first, everyone assumed it was a magical weapon that would hit anything they aimed at, but they quickly realized that while they had the weapons, they weren't going to be shooting down birds for sport. That was legendary stuff that they should just leave to the legends.
It took them a while to shake off the notion that it was a magical weapon, but by then they had already come to appreciate the true genius that was this weapon. Unlike bows and arrows that were bulky, this was much better. Comparatively, the firearm and the bow might be of the same weight, with the bow being considerably smaller. However, the bullets were way smaller and easier to handle than arrows.
The same went when it came to taking down targets and the rate of fire. With a bow, the rate of fire was on average one arrow every 3 seconds for peak bowmen. With the firearm, Barda had introduced 3 rates of fire. There was the single-shot semi-automatic, 3-shot semi-auto, and full-on automatic fire.
The rifle lost to the bow in terms of range and accuracy. It had a maximum effective range of 400 meters but could travel up to 800 meters. The bow could shoot well over 2 kilometers, provided the archer could see that far. With the recoil, it was hard to properly aim at a target round after round, but it made up for the loss of accuracy with quantity. With so many rounds, one was bound to hit the target.
Barda taught them the proper way to use a gun. How to handle the recoil and how to maximize shot output. All-day long they spent working on the weapons, and by evening as the soldiers got back, they might have been partially deaf for all the explosions happening around them, but they were veterans in this.
"Can't you make a little more?" The commander asked Barda with all seriousness. He had seen the effectiveness of the weapons against trees, rocks and anything else they had pitted them against. As a commander, he could imagine the possibilities these weapons provided in a war.
The warriors too were eagerly listening in on the conversation. They liked the fact that they were the first to try the weapons. However, they were not confident enough of the weapons, at least with just these numbers.
"To make them, I'll need an alchemist and a blacksmith," Barda said as he turned his attention to the 2 companions he had come with, "if only I had those lying around somewhere."
"I was wondering what I was going to have to sell to bribe you to teach me how to make this!" Kia exclaimed, causing everyone to laugh out loud.
"Count me in!" Batoo said.
This was part of the reason why Barda had brought these 2 along. If they could take over the mass production bit, he could get his hands dirty in other areas. He also wanted them to be impressed by the weapon and to learn how to use it.
One thing that was made clear to everyone was the need for secrecy. after using the weapons, even the warriors themselves recognized the need since they understood the value of the weapons in changing the tide. Specifically, on aiding them in transforming the current situation.
The next day, he left his helpers back as he met with a new group of trainees. Batoo and Kia were left with a large stockpile of sculptured plywood and documents containing instructions on how to make the relevant productions. Barda had walked them through the tutorials but he still left them reference materials.
Like that 500 guns were produced, but only 300 people were trained. The commander wanted to keep a tight lid on the information, especially now that they had so many leaks. He couldn't have such an important secret leak to the enemy. He was also very happy with the caution Barda was taking on his end.
Now that he had several trained smiths, he didn't have to worry about war weapons for now. Although even those, Barda had a mind to bring some improvements, all that would come in due time. Until that time, he didn't need to worry himself with catapults and ballistae, so he could focus on inventing new things. One could say he was in the RnD (Research and Development) department, focused on developing new things. He was not missed in his field tours.
On his way back after 3 days of continuous training the men the commander provided, Barda received word that the Queen requested his presence. He went off with a knowing smile, only this time, he wasn't met by a horny girl, but with somber men wearing somber expressions on their faces.