Rimuru was walking back to his house at a quick pace. He fell asleep on a couch he found in Artoria's house, but was rudely woken up in the morning. He found out why Artoria told him to go home unless he wanted to find out what happened in the morning. Very quickly, he got up and left without looking back. He didn't know why it took him so long to figure it out, but of course, people who are married would do things like that in their homes.
'Raphael, you should tell me these things.'
[I've tried. Multiple times.]
/\\//\\//\
(A few hours later.)
It's been some time since I visited Vesta, but I need his knowledge to make some things for the upcoming war. It sucks, but any big invention is going to be weaponized. The first plane was invented in 1903, and barely a decade later, they were being used to kill people.
Not like I'm going to invent something. That's already been done on Earth. I'm just going to add a magic twist to them.
Heading into the cave where Veldora was formerly trapped, I made my way to Vesta's workshop. He was going to come up with a feasible plan to make these things, and then I'll order our industry to mass-produce them, before ordering our military to set them up.
I opened the door and saw him doing some experiments. I'm pretty sure it was his own little hobby. He had long ago figured out the potions and other quality-of-life things to make sure humans don't get overwhelmed by all the monsters here. If he's bored, then that'' go away real quick.
"Hey, Vesta. Good to see you." I said to take him out of his trance. He was really focused.
"Huh? Oh, Lady Pendragon!" He quickly took off his goggles and made a space on a nearby table.
"Relax, Vesta, this isn't a big meeting. Look, I'll get to it. I need you to make some weapons and armaments. I know you have experience in this, and no, I'm not going to make you do anything big."
"What kind of weapons?"
"The kind that can work against a large number of people." As I said that, I made my way to a table, picked up a pen, and started writing. I grabbed a map and highlighted a part of our Eastern border.
"The plan is to cover this part of our border with the Eastern Empire. And this—what I've written down—is going to be the weapons you'll make and what they are and what they are supposed to do." I explained in a concise manner as he looked at the map and the list.
"Anti-personnel landmines, anti-vehicle landmines, napalm, white phosphorus, cluster munitions, and chemical weapons." His eyes wandered as he looked at the list. His voice died down, and it became just a quiet muttering as he read the list and their descriptions of what they're supposed to do.
"Can you make them?"
"Uh, why do you want me to make this?"
"Simple. Steel before flesh. Before I send in our military, I want to use these things first to kill as many people in the Eastern Empire's army before I send in our own people. Soften them up. Make the fight easier. However you want to say it. So, can you do it?"
"Yeah, I can. What other requirements do you require?"
Good. I thought there were going to be some more questions or other things, but his background of making weapons for Dwargon seems to make him used to doing things like this.
"They need to be able to be mass-produced and also be 'magical' in nature. They should be able to affect people who have resistances or even have barriers up. You know, make it so 'magi' is added as a prefix to the names."
"I understand what you mean. Yeah, I can do that."
"Good. Tell me when they are done, so we can do a test firing of them. And save the blueprints and instructions on how to make them."
"Yeah, I'll let you know when they're done."
Vests immediately went to a board and started brainstorming some ideas on how to make it work. I'll just leave it up to him. Let all the chemistry and science be solved by him.
/\\//\\//\
(Training grounds.)
I was at the training ground. Benimaru, Souei, Geld, who returned recently from building the basilica in Falmuth, Carrera, and Gabiru, were here. What was I doing? Very simple.
"Alright, I'm going to teach you how to make booby traps. I'll show you how to rig a dead body to explode, fake equipment and supplies that explode, make some pitfall traps that have spikes that are also laced with 'magic poison', tripwire traps, and some other things."
"Oh yeah, this is going to be fun," Carrera said.
The others just looked at her weirdly.
"Uh, who is she?" Gabiru said. Honestly, now that I remember, I need to knight some more people. He's on the list, but who else? Geld for sure. I'll figure it out. I just hope Gabiru doesn't start getting bad luck, because if the last knighting session is anything to go by, he'll definitely get some Lancer skill. I still don't know how or why, but what can I do?
"I guess I haven't given her a proper introduction yet. She's Carrera, the Primordial Yellow. I named her, and now she's on our side. That's pretty much it. You might have seen her exploring town, 'cause she's new, but she's a part of a new group in our military. Anyway, pay attention. This will give us an advantage in the upcoming war with the Eastern Empire."
"How soon will this war be? You make it sound as if it's just around the corner." Benimaru said.
"We still have time, but it's better to be prepared now. I'll teach y'all, so then y'all can teach others. Pay attention." In front of me was a hole I dug, some C4, metal spikes, some of that 'magic poison, which was made by Shuna, some dummy equipment like swords, rations, and whatnot, wire, and other things.
"So, this is simple. Booby traps take advantage of human behavier and thought. Soeui, if you were an average foot soldier being fired upon by magic, what would you do?" I suddenly asked Soeui, but he was ready.
"I would find some kind of cover, or maybe lay low on the ground," he answered quickly.
"Good. This first trap and some variations of it, take advantage of that natural instinct. Pay attention." I quickly put together the trap, I put a few spikes and coated them in the poison, before putting a mesh over it that seemed to perfectly blend in with the surrounding grass.
"Now, with this trap, be conservative with the spikes and liberal with the poison," I said before getting a human dummy body. I tossed the dummy where the trap was, and it fell down into the hole before being impaled. Normally, that would be enough, but then it started to seemingly dissolve where the point of contact was. Well, I thought it was a poison, but it seems more like an acid. Or is it both? Would that even be chemically possible? Well, Shuna made it, so I'll just say it's magic.
"Use fewer spikes so more force is focused. If you use a bed of spikes, it might not impale the person, and they'll live, but if they get pricked a bit by the poison, then they might still die, but better to be sure."
"Woah, now that is kind of messed up…I'm eager to learn more." Carrera said.
"Alright, we'll get there. Next up is rigging a corpse and fake equipment to explode. Gabiru, what instincts does this kind of trap take advantage of?" Now it was Gabiru I suddenly asked.
He jumped up a bit and thought for a second, but he eventually answered. "Instincts of scavenging supplies or recovering the body of a dead comrade?"
"There's a bit more detail to it, but that's basically it." I picked up a C4, a piece of wire, and another human dummy body. "This one is very easy, since this C4 is more sensitive and easier to detonate than it normally is." I placed the C4 on the ground and tied a wire to it before attaching the wire to a dummy body's wrist. "Make sure to keep it short, so there's more tension." After that, I placed the human dummy on top of the C4, hiding it.
"Now, this is very simple. The enemy is going to check the dead body, and when they move it, it will explode, very simple. I'll demonstrate."
I moved to the dummy body and moved it. As soon as I did, there was a large and loud explosion. I closed my eyes as I let the explosion finish. The tiny pieces of the dummy body and pieces of dirt rained on top of me, but I was perfectly fine.
"And there you have it. The same method applies to fake supplies as well. Just rig it so that movement causes the C4, or whatever other explosive device you use, to detonate. Alright, pay attention, we have more to get through."