Beyond the door, staff members in white coats stood in orderly formation.
The staff bowed upon seeing me and Grom.
"My Lord Demon King, welcome! We are all deeply grateful for your visit!"
The female director stepped forward to greet us with energetic formality.
A young sorcerer wearing spectacles, she wore a slightly unreliable smile.
The freckles on her cheeks gave her an unsophisticated impression.
At first glance she seemed ill-suited to a laboratory in the Demon King's territory, but she was in fact a remarkably gifted mage.
She possessed an unusual history.
Until two years ago she had worked at a magic workshop in the Imperial Capital, but after conducting unauthorized research into forbidden spells and misappropriating substantial research funds, she was demoted.
Her place of exile happened to be captured during the Demon King's army's advance.
Now, valued for her abilities, she serves as the chief researcher of this laboratory in the Demon King's domain.
Even with restrained assessment, she could be called quite the oddball.
Of course, the other staff were not without their own quirks.
They had chosen to work here specifically for the research.
Everyone possessed abundant magical knowledge, with no biases or concerns regarding gender, race, or age.
They spent their days immersed in research using ample resources.
Regular reports reached me confirming their immense satisfaction.
"Lead the way at once."
"Understood! Right this way!"
Following the director's guidance, we proceeded inward.
Beyond the entrance stood several small gates. Each was large enough for a single human to pass through comfortably. Larger monsters or demi-humans would find them cramped.
"These are gates with magical authentication built in. Only those who are registered can pass through them. If you try to force your way past, an alarm will immediately activate and defensive mechanisms will deploy."
"Oh, how convenient."
Grom stroked his chin in admiration.
Information about magical authentication technology had been included in the documents seized from the Imperial Capital. It had been listed as one of several anti-intrusion proposals. However, since nothing had progressed beyond the proposal stage, I had constructed the core spell formula myself. After that, I had left it entirely to the research institute, but it seemed they had properly implemented it in the facility. This institute handled a great deal of classified material and documents. All were strictly forbidden from being taken out; in a sense, it held items far more critical than those in the royal castle itself. Therefore, Luciana had thoroughly vetted every staff member's background, ensuring no foreign spies infiltrated their ranks. If research data from here were smuggled abroad, it would cause significant trouble. As far as I knew, there had been no reports of spies slipping in.
"Your two magics are already registered, so please be at ease."
With that, the director passed through the gate. There was no sense of any mechanism activating. Grom and I followed behind. Grom bumped his shoulders and head against the frame, but he managed to squeeze through.
The interior of the research facility was kept impeccably clean.
Not a speck of dust lay on the white corridors.
Thorough tidying meant there was no sense of clutter.
The interior was decidedly functional.
Moreover, numerous magical devices were installed in unseen locations.
They were likely the type that detected suspicious magical energy or intruders.
It was designed to spot any abnormality immediately.
The entrance gate was probably just a diversionary tactic.
The real security seemed to be the magical devices installed throughout.
Meticulous thought had been put into the finer details.
With facilities like this, stealing anything from inside would be nearly impossible.
It would require some extreme measure, like teleporting the entire facility itself to seize it.
Even then, that was only something I could do, so it wasn't a realistic plan.
The director stopped before a room, unlocked it with a key in hand, and then ushered us inside.
"This room is the armory for the handguns. It's also set up for test firing."
The moment we entered, the ceiling lights illuminated the space.
Metal shelves lined the room, storing handguns and ammunition within.
They bore a striking resemblance to the prototype I had captured in the Empire, but each had subtle differences in shape.
They were clearly still in the phase of repeated refinement and prototyping.
The director stroked the musket with an admiring expression.
"Ah, as I thought, muskets are truly fine. They will certainly become a primary weapon of the next generation."
"A pea-sized thing like that a primary weapon? It hardly looks like one..."
Grom picked up a bullet with a skeptical expression.
He was an undead who favored fighting styles centered on magic and miasma, capable of facing armies alone.
That was why he doubted the musket's practicality.
In truth, he would not die even if he took hundreds of bullets.
Before the unconvinced Grom, the director began explaining the musket's usefulness.
"From Lord Grom's perspective, perhaps so. But for ordinary soldiers, it is a powerful weapon. It requires neither the practice nor the aptitude of bows or magic, yet can kill humans from a long distance."
"Hmm, I cannot deny that."
Even Grom could not refute this and let out a low growl.
The director's point was valid.
For humans without magical aptitude, long-range attack methods were precious.
The musket was precisely a new option.
It was easier to aim than a bow as well.
"If you would like, shall we try a test firing?"
"Ah, please."
I accepted the musket that was offered.
It had two barrels and two triggers.
It seemed to be a mechanism that allowed firing two shots in succession.
At that moment, one entire wall of the room retracted, revealing the space beyond. Inside, armor and shields were set up at uneven intervals. They were all punctured or caved in. These seemed to be targets for shooting practice.
"Hmm..."
I examined the gun, analyzing its structure.
The mechanism itself was simple.
Not much different from the initial prototype.
They seemed to have focused on improving usability and shooting accuracy.
I aimed at a suit of armor set far away and pulled the trigger.
With an explosive sound, a jolt ran up my arm.
The fired projectile pierced the center of the armor.
It was buried in the shield behind it.
Next, I shot a fixed sword.
A dull metallic clatter rang out as the blade chipped at the point of impact.
It had shot clean through, quite impressively.
"As expected of the Demon Lord! What splendid skill!"
Grom clapped his hands and praised my performance.
He seemed a bit excited.
Just moments before, he'd been dismissive of the gun, but the scene of it firing had clearly struck a chord.
Meanwhile, the director asked with a tentative air.
"How was it? It is the latest model, but still..."
"Easy to handle. Not bad."
I handed the gun back as I replied.
It was clearly an improvement over the ones I’d handled in the magic workshop.
It was good enough to deploy in actual combat.
However, if we did, we’d need to assemble a sufficient number of these guns.
According to the memories and experiences I’d gained in the Valley of the Dead, it was best to have a large group fire simultaneously.
By increasing the density of fire, you could break the enemy’s formation.
The operational method would be similar to traditional bows and arrows.
But since the gun was easier to handle, its overall effectiveness was superior.
"I plan to eventually apply enchantments to the bullets themselves. For now, we’re tentatively calling them ‘magic bullets.’ Ideally, we’d be able to use different magic bullets depending on the situation in the future."
"...I see."
I stared intently at the gun in the director’s hands.
As I reflected on the gun, a thought occurred to me.
Noticing my gaze, the director looked at his own gun with a somewhat bewildered expression.
"Um, was there a problem? If so, I can have it corrected immediately..."
"Do you know who proposed this design?"
My question left the director looking blank.
It was clearly an unexpected inquiry.
She gazed at the ceiling as she traced back her memories.
"The proposer? He was a male technician temporarily dispatched from the Macha Kingdom. Though his stay was short, he contributed numerous groundbreaking proposals. Most of the prototype weapons brought to the Imperial Capital were apparently his inventions."
"Can you recall his name?"
"John Doe, wasn't it? I believe it was something like that."
The Director uttered a single name.
It was a name that had appeared several times in the magic workshop's records.
Just as the Director remembered, he had been involved in the development of various weapons.
And the Macha Kingdom, to which he belonged, was a nation secretly allied with the Empire.
It could be said to be the substantive reason why the Empire possessed such an arsenal.
(John Doe... Should I have Luciana look into him?)
He had a premonition that this man could not be left unattended.
If the Director and the records were correct, he possessed the intellect and spark of inspiration to conceive a multitude of weapons.
He was probably not a soldier, but he was undoubtedly someone who would bring transformation to warfare.
He might still be engaged in further development even now.
In any case, the Macha Kingdom warranted a thorough investigation.