Chapter 1705
“What are you doing here, Bernice?”
“A-aren’t you going to Jespain? I barely just heard the word and rushed over.” Bernice responded haughtily.
“Huh? What does Jespain have to do with you?”
She flushed. “Why can you be the only one who gets to play… ahem… I mean have a cultural exchange? I’ve been working so hard to reform Alerith after the Demon King Aberis nearly ran it into the ground, and I could use a break… I mean a cultural exchange too! I’m the count of Alerith! Who wouldn’t be excited to visit an elusive country we’ve only heard about in books?”
I scratched my ear. “This isn’t for fun. We have a lot of things we need to do there. I hear that their golem research is years above our own. We need to know what they know so we can rebuild Terra’s body. They’re also the only country that builds airships.”
“W-well, it’s important to me too!” She touched the guns on her built. “I’ve heard from some traders that Jespain can build artifacts like these. I don’t want to have to depend on you for bullets indefinitely, so I’d like to see if the rumors are true.”
“Jespain has guns too?” I responded in surprise.
Now that I thought about it, the idea of building something that propelled a small object at high speeds wasn’t that original. Guns had been around in one form or another for thousands of years. It had just taken until the 1800s before their effectiveness in killing and ease of distribution exceeded the alternative methods. In a world with magic, why couldn’t some kind of magical explosion exist? Since these guys were advanced in making magical artifacts, a gun didn’t sound particularly more impressive than a golem. Who knew, Bernice might even be able to find magical guns that far outstripped the power of this gun, making her stronger and more effective.
Well, she had shot her guns at me a few too many times, and no matter how strong and fast I got, bullets were still a little scary. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her getting much stronger.
“So, I’m going along.” Bernice nodded.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
I thought about it for a few seconds, and that’s when an idea struck me. A small grin appeared on my face. Bernice seemed to notice it and took a step back, grabbing her guns at her sides, but not drawing them.
“I will let you come with us, but only under one condition.”