Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 129

A New Mission

“I did it.”

After she showed up in my room then entered without knocking, Drew said that she fell asleep on the sofa.

“Did what? Drew?”

By the time I asked her she was already fast asleep.

Wickharlt, Rufa, Diku, and I, who were in the middle of a discussion about the pantry’s management, exchanged glances with each other and tilted our heads in confusion.

At the very least, no one here understood what ‘it’ Drew was referring to.

“…Let’s just wait until Drew wakes up. Rufa, can you please go and tell Rays-sama that Drew created something again and I’ll come let him know when Drew wakes up?”

“Ok.”

Rufa, who left my room energetically passed by Nelfia who was about to enter my room.

“What happened…? Drew…? Ah, I see.”

Looking at the sleeping Drew, Nelfia seemed to have understood the gist of the situation.

“Ah, Nelfia, you’re here. Can you call Sazabi? I don’t want him getting mad again and saying that we were having fun without him.”

“I would like to, but Sazabi is doing a mission outside of the capital right now.”

“Oh, well, there’s nothing I can do then. So, Nelfia, why did you come here?”

“I came to tell you about the news regarding Sazabi’s mission and also since I’m free right now, I came to help you out…but it seems better to wait until the matter with Drew is over.”

“I’m curious about the thing Drew is making again, but I’m also curious about Sazabi, so just tell me now.”

“Alright then. There has been some talk recently that it’s time for Prince Zeland to hold a royal ceremony.”

“Royal ceremony?”

“You don’t know about it? A royal ceremony is a ceremony where a member of the royal family makes a pilgrimage to the royal shrine located in the eastern mountain range. The members of the royal family will be recognized as adults after they complete this ceremony. Because of Prince Zeland’s shy disposition, it was thought that doing the ceremony right now was too early for him, but thanks to you, Prince Zeland had shown rapid growth so the King must have decided that it was time.”

“What will happen after Prince Zeland completes the ceremony?”

“He will start to become fully involved with official duty and will learn more things.”

“Oh, really? And what does that ceremony have to do with us?”

“Prince Zeland asked the Roa Brigade to be his guards for that ceremony.”

“You mean he asked the 10th Division to guard him for the ceremony?”

“No. Even a royal family can’t mobilize the entire 10th Division just for the ceremony. The amount of guards he will bring will be more or less the same as the amount of guards that were dispatched for the escort mission for the Imperial Prince the other day. Since Prince Zeland accompanied the Imperial Prince in that escort mission, he was asking if he could get the Roa Brigade and Lapilia Brigade, who he had become familiar with, to guard him at the ceremony.”

“You’ve informed Rays-sama about this?”

“Yes. I came here just after going to Rays-sama’s office. Coincidentally, Lapilia-sama was also there so I had also gotten her approval.”

“Alright then. I will tell Frein and Luzel about the new mission later. So, when is the mission?”

“It will depend on the weather but it’s scheduled for a month from now.”

Just as we were finishing our conversation about the new mission, Rufa returned while bringing Rays-sama, Grantz-sama, and Lapilia-sama with her.

“Rays-sama, you came too? Drew is still asleep, should I wake her up?”

Rays-sama stopped me just when I was about to wake Drew up and he sat down in the chair.

“I came here to talk about the new mission, but since Nelfia is here, have you heard about it?”

“Yes. The mission to guard Prince Zeland, right?”

“Yeah. Let’s discuss the details while waiting for Drew to wake up.”

So in the end, Frein and Luzel were also called over to my room and we had an impromptu meeting for the new mission in my room.

In the meantime, Drew finally woke up.

“Hoaahm.”

She confusedly looked at her surroundings, “Huh? Where am I?”

Just as I was about to explain, someone knocked on the door.

Hornet, one of Drew’s subordinates, entered the room…

“Finally! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Please, I beg you just stop disappearing like that!”

…and approached Drew.

“I’m really sorry for the trouble,” Hornet bowed deeply.

“It’s fine. Anyway, what did you make this time?” I asked.

“It’s easier to show you rather than explaining,” Hornet answered while helping the still half-asleep Drew to stand up.

We all went to Drew’s room and when she saw us with Drew, Judiano let out a relieved sigh.

“It’s this.”

Hornet handed me what looked like a bunch of metal parts. They were pretty light for something made of metal and these shapes…

“Is this a disassembled crossbow?”

I asked Drew, but she was absentmindedly eating the soup that Judiano prepared for her. She didn’t seem to be in the mood to explain anything.

Seeing Drew’s condition, Hornet sighed softly and started to explain in Drew’s stead.

“Yeah. Most metals are too heavy and difficult to process so we’ve had a hard time looking for the right material. In the end, we made this using the combination of Saltonite steel, which isn’t as strong as iron but easier to work with, and Harunoa woods. If you assembled it like this…”

As he spoke, he joined the parts using screws and in no time, the metal parts transformed into a proper crossbow. What’s more, the size of the crossbow is nearly two sizes smaller than the wooden one I’ve used before.

“As you can see, it’s smaller but since this one is reinforced by steel, it’s more powerful than the previous crossbows. Drew-san has been working on this prototype for a while.”

“This is..amazing,” Frein commented in admiration.  Being smaller yet more powerful means this crossbow would be easier to use.

“At this size, it might be possible to reload an arrow while on horseback,” Luzel murmured with interest as he held the prototype.

“It’s possible. If you turn the handle attached here, you can pull the string. So you can reload and shoot as many arrows as you want as long as the string doesn’t break.”

…That’s amazing.

“Can you mass-produce it?” asked Rays-sama.

“It takes longer to make compared to the wooden crossbow, but mass production is possible.”

“I see…Then, let’s use it for the Roa Brigade. Your brigade had used some crossbows in real combat before, so it should be easier for your brigade to notice the difference between this one and the wooden one. Hornet, can you guys prepare enough for the Roa Brigade?”

“Sure, but making them all at once is impossible, so is it okay if I make it little by little over time?” 

“That’s fine.”

“Roa, test this crossbow in your brigade and report back. If it’s useful, we’ll make more.”

“Understood.

Thus, it was decided that this small, metal crossbow that could be disassembled and assembled using screws Drew created would be used in the Roa Brigade.