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Chapter 361 – What You Can and Cannot Do
Two hours later.
“No, I can’t make this. Impossible.”
After Bella, satisfied with driving the truck, was called back by Shumel, the blacksmith and the engraver waved their hands in front of their faces as they said this with straight faces. I knew it was impossible?
“Impossible, even with a golem-style lathe. Especially this ball bearing or whatever it is called. It’s hard enough to make a sphere out of steel, but it’s impossible to make several of them without the slightest error. It’s too crazy.”
“Do you know? If you cut too much metal, you can’t put it back together again, you know?”
The blacksmith and the metal engraver look at me with gloomy eyes as they say this. I think it’s true that it would be difficult to do by hand and to tell the truth; I don’t know how it’s made either.
“But this is great. I think I can make a metal axle for a carriage with this.”
“I guess so. Hmm, I wonder if I can manage to make it with alchemy?”
Isla and the alchemist are inspecting the ball bearing itself and the steel ball that was taken out after disassembling it. If it’s alchemy, can you make a genuine ball of steel?
“I wonder how much it would cost to make one? I’d like to know.”
“Oh, you’re here.”
When did she come? Iphrita picked up two steel balls while saying so. She looked around at the two steel balls in her hands and stared at the alchemist, who wondered if he could manage to make one.
“From my point of view, it seems to me that you’d have to blow a few gold coins to duplicate one of these, don’t you?”
That’s why I said somehow.”
The alchemist, who was staring at Iphrita, waved his hands in the air. I see; if you disregard the cost, it’s something to be done.
“At present, it is impossible for anyone other than Kosuke to make and maintain this.”
“Ah, yes.”
Right? I knew that.
In other words, it is the same as the light machine gun that I make and operate in the rifle corps, and if I make it and use it myself, or if I can operate it within a narrow range where I can take care of it, I can manage, but it is difficult to spread it widely.
“But I can use this one.”
Saying this, Isla rotated the ball bearing with her hand. Yes, it’s fun to spin with a little force, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll make a hand spinner next time.
“Isla-san, even if you say you can use it, you can’t make this one. It’s impossible to prepare such a large number of steel balls of uniform size…”
“We can make them out of wood. After that, if it is possible to magicalize the wooden balls, it should be possible to make something quite useful, even if it does not go to the level of steel.”
“I see. I wonder if that would work.”
Iphrita agreed with Isla’s idea. When it comes to wooden spheres, there may be slight variations in the grain of the wood depending on the material used, and above all, there is something to worry about.
“No, if we are going to do that, I think we need to make it resistant to heat. The wood would keep spinning at high speed, and the frictional heat could cause it to catch fire.”
“The wooden axles used today are also heat-resistant. The same reinforcement method can be used.”
“Oh… I see.”
It is true that the axles of a carriage always rotate at high speed while in contact with the bearings. If the bearings are not reinforced, they may be burnt by frictional heat.
“Then, let’s make the ball bearing itself by using a shaved wooden ball. Regarding the golem track…”
“We are not ready yet. If you only think about the speed and the amount of transportation, it is probably better to develop an air board. I’ll adopt Kosuke’s idea of using an objective barrier as a brake.”
“I see. The air boards might be better when it comes to magic power efficiency and speed.”
Air boards literally float off the ground and move. In other words, there is no friction with the ground. At high speeds, the inertia of the board allows it to travel a considerable distance. However, there is still air resistance, and the air board is not free from the effects of gravity, so inertia does not necessarily mean that it can travel any distance.
In addition, air boards have an advantage in terms of body weight because they can eliminate undercarriage devices, and the number of parts is much smaller than that of golem trucks.
The main components of an air board are the frame that serves as the vehicle body, the levitation system to float the frame, the propulsion system, and the piloting system to control them. Of course, in addition to this, there are seats, cargo space, a wind-magic barrier generator, and a physical barrier generator as a braking device.
The number of parts in each component is very small. The size is different from that of a golem truck, so a simple comparison cannot be made, but it is probably less than half the size of a golem truck. The fact that the number of parts is less than half means that the time and effort required for production can be reduced accordingly.
“Is it superior in terms of the number of parts? Perhaps the only advantage is sturdiness.”
“Sturdiness is important. To be honest, air boards are fragile.”
“That’s true.”
The alchemist nodded at Isla’s words.
Air boards are delicate vehicles. No, the seats are properly covered with wooden walls and armored with steel plates, but if they are hit by a blow from a high-powered magician such as Isla or a being with strong muscles such as Shumel and others, they may be rendered inoperable with a single blow.
“It’s the same with trucks, though. If they get hit in the undercarriage, they’ll stop.”
“Air boards are lethal no matter where they are hit.”
“And if you make them too heavy-duty, they’ll slow down.”
I guess it’s the same in this world that armor and speed have a trade-off relationship. Well, crossbows, bolt-action rifles, light machine guns, magic rifles, and other projectile weapons now have more power and range than ever before. If there is speed, we can destroy the enemy side by endless pulling shots, so speed or mobility is more important than armor now, right?
“Well, how’s the mass production and deployment plan for the magic rifle coming along?”
“On track. The golem-type lathe is proving useful. We have separate workshops for each part, so confidentiality is maintained.”
“I see. Well, eventually, it will leak out from somewhere…”
It is difficult to keep any information about new weapons from leaking out. The crossbow has already been leaked to the public and is being used by adventurers. Even assassins from the Holy Kingdom have been using them.
“Even if the original is captured, it is not so easy to imitate it. The processing of the gun barrel is a problem, and above all, the core part we are making―the tailstock―has a little trick in it.”
“A trick?”
“If you try to disassemble it, it will explode. The same is true if you try to use magic to dismantle it.”
“That’s scary.”
“We originally wrote the explosion formula. It is easy to work out.”
Isla makes a smug face. The alchemist also makes a smug face next to her. So they are all in on it too. Well, that’s fine and good, but… I wonder if the soldiers on the front lines know about it? Or is it safer if they don’t know about it…?
“As for making magic tools for anti-physical barriers, I will work on it as soon as possible. As for the airship, it will take time to design it since we have to invite a ship carpenter from Pitoren.”
“Understood.”
Designing a ship is not something that can be done at random, you know. A raft is one thing, but a proper ship is something else. Well, I don’t know how much knowledge of sailing ships can be applied to the design of an airship, but it is much better than a complete outsider’s work.
“Until a ship’s carpenter, or rather a ship’s expert, arrives, we’ll have to develop brakes that use anti-physical barriers and a large means of transportation for land use.”
“Hmm, I’ll do my best.”
“Then I’ll see if I can come up with some effective ways to use this ball bearing.”
“Tell us what it was used for in your world, Kosuke-san.”
“Then we’ll try to make wooden balls.”
Isla snorted, and the other members of the development department seemed to be thinking about how to use ball bearings. The woodworkers are going to make wooden balls, right?
Okay, okay, I’ll just twist and turn my knowledge to the best of my ability.