Magical Girl City: Empire of Ice

Time resumed. Rather, it almost crawled forward. The month is February now. I had work today, which I wasn’t looking forward to, that and my day was further ruined by a call, and a letter. Talia called me, at some point during the day to tell me a suspicious shipping container had appeared outside the warehouse. As it was, the letter I received answered as to why it was there.

It was for the next event. Another letter, starry paper, with glittering letters in gold. A stamped picture of a sheep at the bottom.

For those qualifying, a shipping container would be sent over. Mainly to be used to store materials or goods we would need for the upcoming event. A brief explanation was given, mainly that the event was of a longer variety, and we would need to bring plenty of supplies and gear with us.

Though, there was a warning not to put anything living inside any of the containers. Which should have been common sense, really. Only, what constituted a living thing?

Talia was a no go, but Shi? She was supposed to be a revenant, a kind of undead. A sort of, maybe inanimate object. As for my knights and soldiers? They’d fit in nicely. I’d just need to see the dimensions of the container.

Something I’d have to do when I get the chance.

As for Monty? The president of the condo’s board. I got some information on him. It wasn’t too difficult. Especially since everyone seemed a lot more contained after our meeting.

Word spread that he had his eye on me, and thanks to that, it shut everyone up. No more heckling or bothering me when I visited my condo. Nor did they take my space anymore or cause small issues just to harass me. A benefit at least.

Not that it was bad. Monty wasn’t pushy. He didn’t keep cornering me or pressing me for some time or favors. No, he kept to himself mainly. The man was apparently divorced, with children, two, apparently. The divorce was messy, based on the gossip I overheard.

As a kind of mid-life crisis splurge he bought his muscle car and road around town trying to pick up girls. Word is, he frequented certain streets and areas, though, I didn’t doubt the credibility of them. As the man was often seen bringing women to his condo or smelling of thick perfume on some days.

No doubt ladies of the night, or prostitutes. I doubt he had the charm to actually pick anyone up. Not that I cared, so long as he wasn’t my problem.

His relationship with his wife was rocky, and almost hostile. There was a story there, but nobody talked about it. Rather, I think they were afraid too, but his relationship with his children was good. They’d often visit, play in the pool and the general area.

It was generally accepted not to bring up the divorce or his flings with the children around. A common courtesy, and also, nobody was dumb enough to mess with the man.

Whenever his children were around, Monty almost seemed… happy. How he talked and played with his children, how he spent his time with them. It was odd. It helped that the children were well behaved, and more than once, throughout the month I ended up running into them or having to watch them as Monty went to do something or the other.

Still, it added to the list of options I had when it came to dealing with him, only, which avenues do I explore? Questions, questions…

As for the month as a whole?

I really didn’t do much. My damaged weapon was a bit of an issue. When I brought it up with Éclair at our next meeting she just gave me a look and a shrug.

“You won’t be able to spar as long as its damaged… I’d also suggest you don’t bother trying to call for it, not unless it’s a true emergency. It could exacerbate the injury to your soul.”

I followed her advice and did something else, entirely. I went to the gun range/bowling alley and talked with Berry. Specifically, to ask for alternative weapons I could make use of. Either by having them be copied, or by making them myself.

Really, I was looking for alternatives, just in case the original plan falls through.

He was enthusiastic. Brought me into the armory showed me all kinds of weapons and guns. I spent, perhaps, hours looking over them. Finding the right one, was difficult. Many weapons used springs or other such material that couldn’t easily be replicated with ice. At least, not with my current mastery.

After filtering out the weapons I literally couldn’t make, came the more odd ones.

“The hell is this?”

“A gatling gun.” Berry said with pride. It was crank operated, simple, big. Top fed with a large magazine, no springs involved any of the construction. He gave me a round, and I could easily replicate it, but… But…

“The hell am I going to use this for?” I had to ask.

He shrugs. “Get it made, enchant the hell out of it and you got a decent weapon that can clear away chaff.”

It was stupid, but… “First, the ammo is going to be difficult to produce. Especially with a gun made to shoot this much. Not that it’s a gun, it’s more of an artillery piece.”

“Speaking of artillery, you could probably get away with making an anti-tank gun. The parts can be fairly simple to replicate. And it has some good oomph.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t replicate an anti-tank round. Not with my current mastery, but…

“Still doesn’t resolve the major issue I’m having Berry. How am I going to lug these things around, even if I do make them?”

He just shrugs.

“I just thought it’d be cool.”

I held back a few choice words and focused on the here and now.

“I need something, the average soldier could use. Something simple, easy to use.”

“Could try a matchlock, or flintlock.” I give him a look.

“What?” He says. “Most modern weapons, or even older weapons use springs in some capacity. So, really, your options are limited.”

And so it was. The spring was used for the whole trigger and hammer part of the assembly. I couldn’t replicate what a spring could do with my ice, not yet anyway. Eventually, I’m sure I could.

“Are you sure you want to equip your soldiers with guns? The cost is one thing, but the wear and tear of using them with magic is another. A lot of the guys and gals can work through their weapons fast if they abuse them too much. Runic bullets make up for it, but I doubt you have the money or means to mass produce those.”

“I don’t… and what would the cost be per bullet?”

The number he gave me, was frankly insane.

“We hand inscribe for the most part. We have the manpower, so nobody has seen the need to get a machine for making runic bullets specifically. It’s not easy, and it is time consuming. Not just that, but a normal etching machine won’t work. It has to be one capable of etching with magic. Since, runic bullets have to be etched and filled with magically conductive material to work.”

I nod along, grateful for the additional information.

Talia might know how to make something like that, but… it wasn’t like I had the funding to pursue that option anyway.

“Is this really all I can do?”

“A cannon?” He suggests. “You might even be able to make some real artillery, like a Big Bertha, or a railway gun, I’ll have to check.”

“No, that’s fine…”

Frustrated, I decided to settle for the obvious answer. A gatling gun, crank operated. But that was a whole other issue, the gun itself would need a team to work it. Maybe two to hold the thing, another to crank it, and a final one too aim… making for a total of four soldiers to a gun. I could put it on wheels, but… maybe I could just make a stand or something.

Making it out of ice would take time, but it doesn’t resolve the main issue… Maybe I should take a few guns, if, for some reason, Shi can’t copy my rifle.

“Mind if I borrow a few guns?” I asked. He was more than happy to lend them.

A quick check with Shi and well, it worked, just like Talia thought it would with some exceptions. She could copy them, but they were made of ice, and they were able to shoot, but only one shot before the assembly broke apart. They’d need to be supplied energy to repair the rifle. At the bare minimum, it took nearly a minute for the rifle to repair between shots.

They couldn’t actively make bullets, not unless I was actively supplying them with energy either. Making it kind of frustrating. Even then, they could only make first tier bullets, and it took them far longer to make them.

For me, it took like three seconds to make a bullet, for them it was a whole thirty seconds.

They did however, prevent the weapon from dissipating. So, there was that.

The real issue was that Shi couldn’t just copy everything. Mundane weapons came out far too brittle to be of use. Hell, even the ice rifles she made were annoyingly fragile, at least until supplied with magic. Once supplied with magic, even passively, the enchantments would activate, strengthening the rifle. Hell, they could even summon bayonets like I could, only, they were ice, and also, they still needed someone supplying them energy to activate that enchantment, since it wasn’t a passive one.

The issue wasn’t really the weapons themselves. The issue was Shi, rather, the issue was her lacking energy. The barely successful ritual animated her, but didn’t give her a lot of juice. Juice needed to make effective copies.

She could replicate items, but the quality and quantity was based on her total magical power. Her spear was special, being her weapon, a gold ranked weapon to boot. The weapon was specially made to enhance her copying ability. Even the range and duration.

Her uniform further bolstered it. Not enough to make much of a difference. At least, not anytime soon. Getting her to practice was easy enough, I just had to be on hand to feed her after each session. And even if she was a fox, her growth was fairly good. If only because of my blood.

We still didn’t quite have an idea of what she was, but Talia on visiting the library had an idea.

“She might be a jianshi, a kind of vampire.” She offered up. Really, from what she described, Shi might be a corpse demon of some sort.

Which was, a bit odd… The whole thing was supposed to create a revenant. The process was supposed to be simple enough. The rank of the corpse determined its abilities and capabilities. For Shi to become, what she is. Not just a revenant, but a whole other kind of undead…

It definitely was because of that extra material I threw in…

We swiftly worked on animating every doll we had on hand. Equipping them with rifles and simple pouches to hold their bullets. Talia trained more with Éclair. I worked on creating a gatling gun or two. Though, how I was going to feed the damn thing… well, Talia had an idea.

“Why don’t you use the silver coin you got?”

“How so?”

“Whenever we needed something specific, we would often be directed to use a silver coin. Your knights, you just had a general idea for what they would do, yes?”

“I suppose. Rather, Luna and Estrella were created to support another of my knights.”

“The big one, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… intent matters when using coins to make familiars. Why don’t you use a coin on one of the soldiers, and focus on making ammunition or something?”

With nothing to lose, well, besides a silver coin, I gave it a shot…

It worked. The soldier in question was of a different hue compared to the others, but more or less, looked the same. It took nearly a minute to make a normal bullet though. That is, until it was given a rifle copy. From a minute down to fifteen seconds, yeah, big improvement. And after we made an effort to bolster it to Mid-Silver, it could make bullets at a good pace of about one bullet every five or six seconds.

Not just that, but the new silver could act as a batter empowering the soldiers to let them produce bullets as well. Albeit, much slower. And, they couldn’t make specialty bullets, like the gatling bullet. Leaving the new silver rank to do it all. Luckily, I had until the end of month to build a stockpile.

Without my weapon, I had to forgo further patrols, but Taylor was actually pretty accepting of that, “Every month we receive additional recruits, not many, but the situation isn’t nearly as dire. Rest, recover, and get back to me when you can resume your duties.” Was what she said in response.

And as for work?

Work went about as usual. Our ranking was more or less secured with the new work Leo had gotten us. He was taking charge, leaving me to my duties. The workload was still something, but the mood of the whole division had shifted.

Even with the demotion, everyone was starting to have fun. As for my relationship with everyone? Nothing really changed. Samantha talked to me on occasion, with us even managing to go out on one weekend. Nothing much. Tom was... avoiding me. Kenta, never really changed. And Terada? Still looked lost at times. Liche and Joan both engaged in small talk and chatted with me. After all, it’d be awkward if they were to ignore me as well…

As the event came closer, it was obvious to see that Liche was driving herself up a wall. Whilst Joan was looking more and more concerned by the day.

Every day, near the end of the day, I’d go back to sorting the records room. It was less chaotic after a month of work, and throughout the month a proper system came into place.

There was a growing pile of projects that could work, but most of them either weren’t good, or weren’t near ready enough for what I need. Perhaps we could manage if we pushed it, but I’d rather not do that, not unless we have to.

Knowing I had this month and up until the end of next month, I still held some hope that I’d find something…

Though, I was beginning to think that may not be possible. The records room had signs of being rifled through. And that wasn’t just from me. People actively visited here and looked through the files. Probably to do the same thing I was, in the here and now. Nobody touched the piles I had set aside, a small mercy, but I wasn’t sure if that would hold. Not that I had anything worth hoarding.

As the month came to a close, the time for the event came ever closer, in between everything, I didn’t exactly stop meeting with Éclair. Talking with Berry about different munition types and weapons was an experience, and I could practice with normal weapons. Spars were out, but Éclair was more than happy to teach me more about the ins and outs of just about everything. Including how her own magic works and how she uses it.

After my fight with the golem, it was clear my efficiency had gone through the roof. Which meant that I could now comfortably hold my uniform for longer periods of time. Time usually spent cycling my magical energy through my body, better acclimating it to the power, and thus, further improving my up time, usually under Éclair’s guidance.

As the month came to an end, and our supply of dolls dwindled, I made time to visit the condo and actually spend time there. Getting to know the people and the situation. Which is how I learned about Monty and it wasn’t just him I gained information on.

Only, I had no idea what I’d do with it. Or even if I’d do anything with it. At the moment, the situation was fine, and I had no intention of rocking the boat. An uneasy truce was better than an all-out war.

And finally…

As the month wound down, as the clock ticked ever closer, it finally was time for the third, and final tutorial event. Soldiers made of ice, with skeletons made of magically enhanced titanium, each equipped with copied rifles stood lined up and ready inside the cargo container I had been provided at the start of the month. Beside them, was a gatling gun I had made, and Talia had enchanted. At the very front, were my own knights now fully healed after a month of rest. All three of them, Luna, Estrella, and Fathom. With Fathom having some difficulty fitting inside…

Finally, the day of the event arrived. That morning a truck came by to pick up the container, and that very night, it was time.

Giving Talia and Shi a farewell, I made my way to my destination, the port. Where a ship awaited us. Familiar faces, and those not so familiar gathered. Our total number was… distinctly lacking compared to the first event. But still, we were all here.

Together, we’d be taking the third, and final tutorial event Just knowing that, and having experienced what I did before… it was clear, this wouldn’t be easy.

And over my growing anxiety, as I approached the port, I could almost hear Sheep’s laugh…

End of Book 4...