Fun Territory Defense Chapter 193 (Patreon)

In the Process of Restoration

The next day, I took Murcia, Arte, Till, and Camsin out to the broken castle gate early in the morning. Rubbing their sleepy eyes, they look up at the heavily distorted steel gates and parts of the crumbling walls. Up close, the stone walls are huge and powerful.

The walls, which had been repaired, had been partially destroyed. It is also sad to see the gate on the Jiernetta Kingdom side, which was the only one that was still intact, and the surrounding walls destroyed.

"...I guess it can't be helped, so let's just assume that the walls were destroyed to make way for the artillery. First, it's a problem to be in a situation where they can shoot at us with such a bang, isn't it?"

Muttering this, I go to the back of the broken castle gate and look at the land and road that is Jiernetta Kingdom's territory. From this vantage point, I can't see any of the invasion routes that Jiernetta Kingdom's army took last night. Perhaps it was an important land that was defended by another country before it became Jiernetta Kingdom.

"Van-sama? Well, that thing called cannon is that iron cylinder, isn't it? I'm not sure how to use that, or how to prevent it from being used."

Till muttered curiously, and Camsin pulled his chin back with a difficult look on his face.

"...I was inside the castle operating the ballista to protect the castle when they used it, and all I could see from there was smoke rising with a loud noise and something hitting the castle gate. I think it was probably a black ball..."

"Oh, correct!"

I respond in surprise to Camsin's reasoning. Murcia tilts her head at me.

"What do you mean, 'correct'...does Van know what that is?"

Murcia asks curiously, and Arte smiles and nods before I can.

"Van-sama knows a lot."

Arte's words were subtly meaningful. I chuckled at that and narrowed my eyes.

"...Well, I've been thinking about it since I first saw the black ball. I can think of many things I could do with the black ball...but if I were to use it in battle, I would put the black ball inside that tube and send an iron bullet or something flying. I think it would be possible to send a super-heavy object flying at a speed equivalent to shooting with an arrow. Furthermore, if you could send a ball filled with black balls flying, you would be able to make it explode at the point where you hit. The power of such a ball could even surpass that of a first-class fire magician."

Murcia and the others roll widen their eyes and freeze as I explain this to them, looking far away, toward the end of the road.

"...I think Van would be the only one who would think that."

Murcia finally opened her mouth and said this after more than a few seconds had passed. Till chuckles and nods at that, and Camsin's eyes light up.

"I still don't understand it completely, but it's such a great accomplishment."

Camsin muttered in admiration. Arte, on the other hand, raises her eyebrows and speaks.

"Can that black ball be used for something other than fighting?"

Arte asks in disbelief. Surely, you would look at that explosion and wonder what else it could be used for. I nod that I understand the feeling, and then point in the direction of the Wolfsburg Mountains.

Then everyone's eyes turned toward the mountain range as if caught by my finger.

"For example, I think we can make a hole in the hard rocky mountains if we use black balls. It would be difficult to penetrate such a large mountain range, but using the black balls, I think we could make a hole in one mountain to make a path through it. I think it could also be used in iron mines. It could also be used to widen rivers to prevent flooding, and the more I think about it, the more useful a tool it is... right?"

I was just saying whatever came to mind, and I noticed that everyone had taken their eyes off the mountain range and were looking at me. As I tilted my head and looked around at everyone's faces, Murcia spoke with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"...Have you been thinking about that since you first saw the black balls?"

"...Yes, I have. It's a new tool, so I've been thinking a lot about what kind of uses it can be put to..."

The truth is that the answer includes some things I know as knowledge, but I'm hiding that part of my answer. But when you think about it, even though Van is known as a genius, he is not even 10 years old yet. Was it unnatural?

I was a little worried, so I decided to follow up myself.

"...Well, I've learned a lot since I became a lord. About flood control works, about the roads..."

I tried to give a brief supplementary explanation, but it didn't have much effect. While I was wondering what was going on, a messenger soldier came toward me at the right time.

"Van-sama! Support has arrived from Seat Village! The adventurers and Lord Rango from the Bellrango Chamber of Commerce are here too!"

"Really? That's great!"

I'm sorry Murcia, but I can't wait to get back to Seat Village to take a bath. There is nothing to do here, nothing to buy, nothing to enjoy. I want to eat what I want, take a bath, and walk around in the developing Seat Village.

So I turn to everyone with a smile on my face.

"Well then, let's remodel the fortress today and tomorrow! We will give Big Brother Murcia the strongest fortress city!"

When I told him this, Murcia blinked his eyes and then chuckled. His appearance looked just like what Till and Arte often show.