The drilling grounds had been constructed at a location removed from the city center.
For a place within the Great Cursed Realm where evil beings dwelled, it was unusual to see trees cleared away; in that prepared space, basic facilities for soldiers to learn military operations had been arranged.
From scarecrows and mock swords to canvas tents for field training and an elevated supervisor's platform—primitive, perhaps, but more than sufficient for the Dark Elves, who until now had been unable to conduct organized training.
However, in that facility where new recruits were supposed to undergo basic training, a scene completely unrelated to that purpose was currently unfolding.
"It's really something."
With each thunderous "Boom, Boom" that shook the trees, the scarecrow faintly visible at the edge of the grounds and the earth around it would erupt.
At the entrance to the drilling grounds stood the Dark Elf warrior unit under Gear's command, and what they held were weapons utterly inconceivable in this world.
Weapons that used the power of gunpowder to fire bullets and kill or injure the enemy.
Holding what were called Dragunov sniper rifles, the warriors were conducting their training.
"Your Majesty! Welcome. —Fall in!"
"Relax. Everyone, return to your training."
Having sensed the approach of someone arriving at the grounds, Gear, who had been observing the soldiers' training, flicked a glance toward Takuto, then hurriedly barked out an order.
In response, the warrior unit placed down their weapons and formed ranks in movements so perfectly synchronized they might have been a single living organism.
Nodding, satisfied with the meticulous discipline, Takuto urged them to continue their training.
"It certainly looks impressive... but how is it in practice?"
"The sound and recoil are still a bit much... our accuracy is improving, but since it's so different from a bow, we're not yet confident it would be useful in actual combat..."
As they climbed up to the management structure built in a nearby tree, avoiding the sound of the gunfire, Gear gave Takuto an explanation.
However, compared to the disciplined formation they had just witnessed, their proficiency seemed to leave something to be desired. The fact that Gear was being evasive might have been due to pride, but from his expression, filled with chagrin, Takuto could sense a regret at being unable to fully meet his demands.
For Takuto, however, this was a result that could be called a success.
For them, using firearms was entirely new in the first place. They had likely never even touched one, let alone seen one.
While categorized similarly as long-range weapons, they were fundamentally different from bows.
Furthermore, Dark Elves, unlike typical elves, did not possess particularly high aptitude for archery.
Takuto himself understood that their early mastery was an unreasonable expectation.
"Mmm, then Gear, would you try firing at that target over there?"
Mortar, the elder, grinned as he looked at the rifle visible behind Gear.
The rifle slung over his back was a full size larger—an anti-materiel rifle compared to what the warrior corps possessed.
Its destructive power and effective range were incomparably greater, but that also made it much harder to handle.
With a single shot, the barrel would kick upward violently, and the recoil force nearly knocked you off your feet.
The old man knew well how much Gear struggled with this beast-like difficulty of control.
"Ugh... Then please observe, Your Majesty."
Takuto guessed most of the situation from the elder Mortar's smirking expression.
But before he could say anything, Gear was already bracing the rifle from a kneeling position.
They were currently in an open area resembling the veranda of the administration building.
He intended to aim from there at the training ground targets visible below.
"—Hagh!"
After a few seconds of silence, a deep boom echoed, and the wooden floor shuddered faintly.
At the same moment, far in the distance, the shoulder of the scarecrow target exploded outward.
That was quite the marksmanship.
Even just damaging a lower-ranking Holy Knight to the point of incapacitation should be possible with that, but it was a bit regrettable that the shot didn't hit dead center.
Nevertheless, Takuto was genuinely impressed by the skill shown in hitting the anti-materiel rifle while kneeling.
(No, this is seriously incredible.)
While Gia wore a frustrated expression, difficult to read, likely because the hit wasn't perfect, Takuto was satisfied with the result.
In truth, what he hoped to achieve with the warrior band's sniper training was the effective utilization of the Dark Elves' innate darkness adaptation.
If the Dark Elves, who were said to be able to move at night as easily as during the day, possessed such vision, assassinations and raids shrouded in the night's darkness would become considerably easier to execute.
And seeing Captain Gia's proficiency, Takuto concluded they could fully reach the level he required.
A guerrilla unit capable of launching one-sided attacks on the enemy while cloaked in darkness.
That was the role demanded of the Dark Elves.
"That level of performance from a kneeling position is more than sufficient."
"T-That is... an excessively generous assessment. I will continue to train diligently."
Takuto intended his words as an acknowledgment of the current state of affairs, but Gia's response carried a hint of lingering frustration.
It seemed he interpreted the praise as consolation for failure.
Takuto had no such intention, but if the misunderstanding spurred Gia to work even harder, he decided to leave it be.
...In reality, the results they were already producing surpassed the people of his former world.
Fundamentally, an anti-materiel rifle was not designed to be fired from a kneeling position.
They didn't seem to grasp the sheer magnitude of being able to handle something weighing over ten kilograms with such ease, simply because their understanding of firearms was still limited.
Still, if Gia had reached this level, the warrior band he led would soon prove useful in actual combat.
There were few beings capable of dodging bullets fired from sniper rifles with ranges of several hundred meters to several kilometers.
Perhaps those with exceptionally tough bodies, like Hill Giants, or powerful soldiers like high-ranking Holy Knights, could withstand their lethal force, but in that case, one only needed to overwhelm them with numbers.
So Takuto had been thoroughly satisfied with how things stood.
And yet—
**BOOM!** A report even louder than the earlier shot rang out from just beside them.
He raised his head and turned his gaze toward the source of the sound.
Standing there was Mearia, shouldering an anti-materiel rifle a full size larger than the one Gear carried, firing from a standing position in target practice.
"Wow! You're amazing, big sis!"
"I shoot with my mind's eye."
With a self-satisfied nod, the elder Mearia tossed the rifle to her younger sister Caria, who had been pestering her, flinging it over as carelessly as if it were a toy.
The sister caught it with equal ease and, beaming with excitement, took up the same standing stance as her elder twin, handling the weapon as though it were a dead branch.
If Takuto's memory served, this thing weighed no less than twenty kilograms. Of course, its original purpose was absolutely not this sort of thing.
Given its absurd weight and destructive power, it was meant to be operated as a team — with dedicated spotters, carriers, and all the rest.
And when firing, it was to be firmly anchored against the ground and shot from a prone position.
Without doing so, the recoil alone would send the operator flying in an instant.
Hitting a target under such conditions was out of the question entirely.
"Like this...? Ei! I hit it!"
A sound that rattled his eardrums rang out, and far below them on the valley floor, the scarecrow target burst into fragments.
Though inanimate, the sight of it scattering to pieces was almost pitiful.
A perfect shot that had struck dead center through the heart. Anything short of a truly resilient living creature would not even be granted the mercy of understanding death before it came.
After that, the twin sisters proceeded to demolish one target after another, their cheerful girlish laughter filling the air.
How to put it? Only one word came to mind: extraordinary.
Of course, this miserable Dark Elf cannot rejoice wholeheartedly.
Having his pride utterly shattered as he witnessed abilities bordering on the unreal, Gear let out a heavy sigh and slumped his shoulders.
A renowned warrior of the Dark Elf tribe, feared by many, Gear had now been defeated by two girls in a single day.
"I... I will train harder..."
His voice was so faint, you had to strain to hear it.
He was completely demoralized.
"A-about those two, they are special..."
Takuto, switching tactics from his earlier words, couldn't help but offer words of comfort.
He could sympathize, thinking he'd probably feel just as dejected if he were in Gear's situation.
However, the reason the twin sisters displayed such abnormal talent was clear.
They were witches who had inherited Isla's power, and they were heroines.
Even without the moon's magic driving them mad, their potential and talent were immense, to say the least. In fact, one could argue that Gear had put up a remarkably valiant fight against them.
Old Mortar, having already heard the sisters' status from Takuto, naturally knew this well. Yet, instead of comforting Gear, he simply let out a wheezing, cackling laugh.
Any further words would only wound the Dark Elf warrior's pride. Above all, there was a certain begrudging trust that this fellow would be fine if left alone.
Takuto had offered his initial words, and frankly, he had no intention of saying anything more. Men treating each other roughly was the same in any world.
………
……
…
"However, Your Majesty, there is one point that concerns me..."
"Hm?"
"These are ammunition... correct? We have been using them generously for training, but wouldn't the cost be quite substantial?"
And so, poor Gia was left abandoned as the conversation moved on.
Elder Mortar's concern was about the ammunition required for proficiency training with the firearms.
All of it was being produced through Takuto's emergency synthesis.
Even with the cheat-like mana supply using Brave Questus gold coins, there was, of course, an end to it.
He was worried that by wastefully consuming ammunition here, resupply would be cut off in any future crisis.
But Takuto had already solved that problem as well.
"Oh, it's fine. You've all been finding and collecting the cartridge cases and bullets as much as possible, right?"
"Naturally. After each training session, the entire warrior corps collects them. Isn't that right, Gia?"
"Aye! Not a single round of the ammunition Your Majesty has personally created has been wasted!"
"Then it's all good."
Gia, who had been slumping his shoulders in despair, sprang to his feet here as if to seize the moment and deliver his report.
Trying to regain even a little face, his momentum was tremendous.
Takuto let out a wry smile at that attitude, then nodded with satisfaction.
"The bullets and cartridge cases can be exchanged for a good rate as metal too. In fact, it's nearly free."
Lead, brass, soft steel.
The materials of the bullets and cases, which could be divided into several types, possessed value as metals on their own.
And if they had value as metals, then of course they could be converted into "mana" via the "Market."
Because the materials were somewhat special, they were treated collectively as "minerals," but that wasn't much of a problem.
Even though they couldn't quite reach the point of "totally free," the fact that they could recover ammunition costs to a level of practically zero was, when Takuto actually confirmed it, almost too much of a cheat, making him flinch.
Guns were money pits not only for the firearms themselves but especially for their bullets. To raise one's skills through training to a level capable of withstanding combat naturally required repeated live-fire exercises, which in turn demanded that much more ammunition.
Under normal circumstances, this would incur immense costs, making the maintenance of the army impossible. However, in this world, a fearsome combination granted Mynoghra precisely the power needed to make it possible.
"Explosives and grenades still cost a bit, so we can't just use them freely," Takuto noted.
"Even so, the sniper rifles and assault rifles currently in training alone will undoubtedly transform the battlefield greatly. This is truly an Army of God, one might say. By the King's command, we have obtained even greater power," remarked the elder Mortar, gazing down below with satisfaction.
For a sage of his caliber, he could easily envision the devastating killing power modern weaponry would unleash on the battlefield.
Takuto shared this opinion.
Yet the bitter memory of still falling behind even with Isla present warned Takuto not to let his guard down. This world held various supernatural existences. No matter how powerful conventional firearms might be, if entities like the Four Heavenly Kings of Brave Questus or a Demon Lord appeared, claiming they could be annihilated one-sidedly was simply unthinkable. He could not relax his vigilance. He must never feel safe with just this.
Furthermore, no matter how powerful modern weapons were, there was a fundamental problem.
"The combat power firearms bring will wreak havoc on this world. With this, other nations would not be foolish enough to interfere rashly. However..."
"...the overwhelming shortage of personnel," Takuto finished.
They were clearly short on numbers. The warriors under Gia numbered only a few dozen. Even adding those who had recovered from illness or malnutrition and wished to join the warriors' corps, the total barely reached one hundred. Their current numbers, where four digits were a distant dream and even three digits was questionable, clearly fell short of the absolute minimum required for a functioning army.
"If you gave firearms to Pseudo-Humans, they'd end up discharging them accidentally, you know."
"Well, something like that would certainly lead to friendly fire."
As a solution to this, the idea of equipping Pseudo-Humans—unique citizens of Mynoghra—with firearms had initially been floated. If this were possible, it would allow them to quickly build an army by leveraging the Pseudo-Humans' superior reproductive capacity.
In 'Eternal Nations', weapons are treated as equipment items. Since primitive ranged weapons like bows could be used without issue by an army composed of Pseudo-Humans, they had grown greedy for more. But it turned out things weren't that simple.
Pseudo-Humans possess the trait and setting of being ill-suited for intellectual tasks. Therefore, in 'Eternal Nations', they could equip primitive-structured weapons like swords or bows, but could not handle complex weaponry like crossbows or siege engines.
Given this background, it was only natural that Pseudo-Humans couldn't handle firearms.
This meant they had to bring in personnel from elsewhere. People who, at minimum, possessed the basic intellectual level of a race and could pledge loyalty to Mynoghra.
And Takuto had a lead on just such people.
"Well, there is a solution. Besides, it's about time I fulfilled the promise I made to you all."
"Oh! Could it be?!"
The words he had been eagerly awaiting were finally spoken, and old Mortar's face clearly lit up with delight. Gia, listening behind him, looked equally pleased.
To welcome their Dark Elf brethren, who were still persecuted and living as wanderers.
There had been complications that delayed it, but that had been the original plan. Through their interactions with Fonkavun, they had already confirmed that a number of Dark Elf refugees were present in their homeland. All they had to do was summon those people.
Though the numbers aren't that overwhelming, they would certainly prove useful in Mynoghra's hour of need, even if they were merely 'lending a cat's paw.'
Takuto already had several follow-up plans in mind.
From intelligence gathered by the Long-legged Insects conducting reconnaissance around Dragontan's city, he had conceived a somewhat difficult method that could potentially solve the manpower shortage in one fell swoop.
The remaining matter was negotiation with Fonkavun.
He considered it unlikely to become overly troublesome, given the current situation where both sides recognized each other as threats, even though the other party's stance remained unclear.
Whatever the future held, they were still, for now, allied nations.
"Your Majesty! I bring a report!"
As Takuto mentally fleshed out his strategy and contemplated the future flow of events, a Dark Elf hurried up into the administrative building.
Clearly bearing some news, the elf knelt on one knee, slightly out of breath. Takuto quietly prompted him to speak.
"What is it?"
"A messenger has arrived from Dragontan! They bear a personal letter for the king from Pepe, the Staff-bearer of Fonkavun!"
"Hmm, the timing is perfect."
Takuto clapped his hands together once at these words, nodding.
Simultaneously, another strategy surfaced in his mind, and a smile escaped his lips.
It was a tactic no one else would have conceived—yet it was effective, and lethal.
"Recall Atou. Gather the key members. We hold an immediate council."
There were many matters to discuss. Although Mynoghra's policy had shifted, respecting the opinions of the Dark Elves remained as important as ever.
Now then, what sort of proposal had Fonkavun brought?
Descending from the administrative building with a strangely buoyant step, Takuto was trailed by Elder Mortar and Gia, both carrying a deep sense of awe at the rapidly changing situation over the past few days and the king's displayed prowess.