PSA: Sorry it's been a while since the last chapter. Been kinda busy with uni. Also got exams coming up so there might be a bit of a wait again.
-That being said, this chapter is pretty thicc
-I don't know if you guys know, but Japan's prime-minister isn't Suga anymore, so I guess my story isn't accurate now haha.
-There's a bit of discussion about enchanting in this chapter, but in the LNs the exact details of how it works is a little unclear, so I've had to guess a bit. Let me know if you guys have more info.
Steel and Sorcerers – Chapter 19
Itami's squad lay slumped in their LAVs, shadows cast by the trees flickering overhead. The numerous roots along their path bumped and jostled the vehicles as they drove through the forest, preventing all but the most dedicated of them from sleeping. It was around late-afternoon when they arrived at the outermost perimeter checkpoint. Soldiers disguised in clothes of the native inhabitants of the special region waved them through the crudely constructed roadblock. After passing through a number of other stops, all increasing in security as they went, they finally made it into the main compound.
As they stepped out of their vehicles, they were directed to the decontamination zone by individuals in PPE. After being thoroughly cleaned, and dressed in new clothes, they were all about ready to head off to bed and get some rest. However, there was one still one last part of their mission left for one of them. Gathering himself, Itami knocked on the door of their commander's office to give his report.
After being let inside, Itami told the commander about everything they had done while they were in the dwarf kingdom, including the general situation there, and their declaration to help the dwarves fight the Quagoa.
After Itami finished his report, the commander was silent for a moment. However, that quickly changed as they slammed their fist down on their desk.
"Itami, you've really made a mess of things haven't you?"
"Uh, what do you mean sir?"
"Haah… Let me explain it for you. You basically promised that we would help the Dwarf kingdom fight their war against the Quagoa, correct?"
"Well, it wasn't really a promise…"
"These Quagoa, who just happen to be resistant to conventional fire-arms, have claws capable of cutting through steel, exist in unknown, yet presumably large numbers and have the backing of… what were they? Frost dragons?"
"…"
"And who do we have to support us? The dwarves? From what you just told me, it seems like they're on their last legs, only capable of defending that narrow chokepoint on the bridge. Not to mention, this is all going on deep underground, over 100km away from the gate, and across a forest filled with hostile monsters. Also, you must've been extremely lucky to make it there and back alive or without being attacked."
'That isn't completely true' thought Itami. The main reason why they had managed to avoid encountering any monsters was because he had been constantly scanning the surroundings with his elite ranger skills, and secretly guiding his squad along a safe path. Still, he could see how moving large amounts of men and equipment through the forest would be hazardous.
"So… then. Are we going to help them?" Itami asked meekly.
As the commander gave him an expression as if to say, 'are you serious?', there was a knock at the door. Looking a little annoyed, the commander got up from his chair and opened it.
Standing there was a tall muscular man with a blonde buzzcut, his hands clasped together at his font in a powerful stance. A pair of dark sunglasses obscured his eyes, and on his camouflage army outfit Itami made out a patch, emblazoned with stars, and red and white stripes.
"My apologies Mr Commander" said the walking stereotype, his voice booming out through the room. "I just happened to overhear your conversation as I was walking by, and wanted to provide an answer to Second Lieutenant Itami's inquiry."
He then took his sunglasses off, folding them up in his hands to reveal a pair of sharp blue eyes.
"And that answer, is 'Absolutely'."
There was a moment of silence in the room as Itami and the commander processed what the American had just said.
"Wait, you can't be serious?" asked the commander. "I'm sorry if I'm being disrespectful, but do you have any idea how difficult and costly it would be to help the dwarves retake even one of their cities?"
"Oh, I'm sure it will be very difficult Mr Commander," replied the American with a confident smile. "But in the end, wouldn't any losses on our part serve as additional leverage over the dwarves anyway?"
The commander seemed lost for words. "What are you saying?"
The American sighed, unfolding and putting his sunglasses back on. "Look, the United States is well aware of the huge potential that the dwarves, and by extension the special region offers. If you're worried about the costs of this mission, then we're more than willing to bear the full price. You might not have heard yet, but Congress and your National Diet recently passed legislation exponentially increasing the maximum US military presence able to be sustained in Japan."
The commander laced his fingers together, deep in thought. "Please allow me to speak to my superior about this."
"No problem, take as long as you need."
The commander then picked up his phone and excused himself from the room. After a few minutes he returned, a slightly strained expression on his face. Sitting back down at the desk, he gave his answer.
"Very well, we entrust the planning of this operation to the United States. However, in addition to the usual requirements, we want to be fully informed about the situation. Also, Itami's squad must be involved since they've already met with the dwarves once before."
"I think we can make that work" smiled the American. "Looks like we have ourselves a deal."
It was in the early hours of the next morning when a convoy of five vehicles departed the JSDF's compound. M2A1 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles drove at the lead and rear, escorting a group of three M113 armoured personnel carriers. Each Bradley contained four US soldiers, while each M113 carried 10 assorted scientists and soldiers, including Itami's squad. Due to the size of the formation they had to travel mostly through the forest to avoid being seen, a more hazardous route than the path Itami's squad had taken.
Sure enough, a few hours into their journey Itami's squad heard yells from the American soldiers, as well as the sound of a primal snarling.
Their radios crackled to life. "3 o'clock and 9 o'clock! Group of large hostile wolves incoming! Fire at will!"
Due to the auto-translation, Itami's squad were able to understand everything the US soldiers were saying. They wanted to get out and help, but the US head of the formation had previously assured them that they had it all covered, only asking that they help if things got out of hand.
The sound of gunfire blared out all around them, the commander opening fire with the 50cal machine gun mounted to the roof.
A few moments later the commander yelled "Shit!", and quickly ducked back down into the vehicle from his machine-gun mount. Blood flowed from a deep gash in his right upper-forearm. As another soldier moved to re-occupy the turret, the commander quickly moved to stop him.
"They're all around us now, let's button-up and let the Bradleys deal with this."
The soldier nodded and shut the hatch, leaving them to sit in silence while Kurokawa tended to the commander's wounds, messages continuing to be shouted across the radio. A few heavy thumps and the screeching of metal could be heard from the outside, but their armour seemed to hold against the beasts.
A few minutes later they head on the radio "This is Hobbit 1 to all units. All clear. I repeat, all clear. Hostiles appear to have vacated the area."
The M113's commander picked up the radio to respond. "Copy, Hobbit 2 commander has received minor injuries. Requesting permission to inspect exterior of vehicle for battle-damage."
"Permission Granted. All military passengers to dismount and inspect for battle-damage. Hobbit-1 and 5 will provide overwatch."
"Does that include us?" asked Itami.
"Yeah, sure. We could use a few extra eyes out there" replied the M113 commander. "Help cover us while we do our inspection."
Itami opened up the rear ramp to the vehicle, allowing the light of the forest to shine in. They all trickled out under the trees, leaving the commander to recover from his injury inside. All around them soldiers were also dismounting from the other vehicles, although notably fewer from the two other APCs since they were carrying mostly scientific personnel.
Itami scanned the forest and saw it was clear, with the exception of at least a dozen wolf-carcasses laying all around. The beasts were huge, much larger than normal wolves, with thick dark fur. One had a large bloody crater in it's side, probably a direct hit from a Bradley's 25mm gun.
"They'll be back."
Itami turned around to see who had spoken. It was Akira, who had bent down to examine the corpses.
"What makes you say that?"
"All these carcasses look around the same size right? That means we didn't get the alpha."
"I see… But we did kill quite a few of them didn't we? Surely they'll know better than to attack us again?"
Akira paused for a moment. "Based on what I've heard, these creatures should be called 'Wargs'. They're like wolves on steroids, being not just bigger, but more intelligent. Since we didn't get their leader, there's a chance that they might wait for a better opportunity to strike again. I'm guessing probably at night, when we won't be inside our vehicles."
Itami glanced at the M113's and Bradleys. While there were a few clear scratches and some components were broken off, it all seemed to be superficial damage.
"You might be right. You should go tell the formation head."
It was around late-afternoon, and a farmer in the western frontier of the Baharuth Empire was tending his crops under the red glow of the setting sun. He was about to finish up for the day when he head a shout from off in the distance.
Looking up, he spotted a small group of individuals approaching from the tree-line of the Tob forest. One seemed to be waving gleefully. At first glance nothing seemed particularly odd about the group, except that they had just emerged from the forest.
Ae he eyed them down with suspicion, they eventually came within talking distance. The one who had been waving introduced himself and the others.
"Hey, sorry for bothering you. My name's Itami, and these are my fellow adventurers."
At this, the farmer's stance relaxed a bit. If they were adventurers then it made sense that they would be coming from the forest.
Itami continued, "We were just wondering if you could help give us some directions, we were wondering where we are right now."
He then pulled out a map, unfolding it and handing it to the farmer.
For the first few moments he looked at the map, the farmer couldn't quite believe his eyes, his jaw falling slack as he struggled to comprehend what he was looking at.
Compared to the other maps he had seen, it was incredibly detailed, showing the contours of the landscape, the names and positions of minor locations and villages, and even had a scale. Looking closely, he eventually spotted the name of his village, a small farming community in the west of the Empire.
"We should be right here" said the farmer, pointing with a worn finger at the spot on the map.
"Oh, nice. Thanks for the help! We won't bother you any longer then."
As Itami and his comrades turned to head back towards the forest the farmer exclaimed "You aren't going back into the forest are you? It's getting dark! Even if you are adventurers it's not safe. If you want, I could talk with the chief and you could maybe stay somewhere around the village."
"Ah, thanks for the hospitality. We'll be alright though; we plan to head north for a while longer while the sun is still up."
And with that they left, disappearing back into the forest.
After a couple more hours the convoy emerged from the forest, which didn't stretch this far north. Now that they were in open terrain they would be able to move a lot faster, but it also increased the chance that they would be spotted. In addition, they were now nearing the main track leading up to Feo Jera. They didn't want to climb the mountains at night, and there was a large Imperial city near the foot of the mountains, so they decided to make camp here, not far from the edge of the forest.
There were shifts of soldiers that would be keeping lookout while they slept, but Itami's squad weren't part of that. Perhaps he should've felt disheartened that he wasn't able to help provide security, but all Itami felt was thankful that he would be able to sleep uninterrupted.
Itami suddenly woke to the deafening sound of gunfire and screams all around him. Fully alert, grabbing his rifle and jumping out of his tent, Itami tried to figure out what was going on. Suddenly a dark mass knocked him to the ground, knocking the wind from his chest.
As Itami saw a flash of white, he instinctively moved his arms to intercept, grabbing hold of thick fur. With his elite ranger strength, he managed to hold the beast at bay. Just as he was about to execute a jiu-jitsu move, a shot rang out from next to him, and the monster went limp.
Heaving it off himself, he looked up to see the form of Akira grinning down at him, holding a smoking SFP9-M handgun. "Saved you" he said, pulling Itami to his feet.
"Sure, sure. I had it handled. Anyway, what's going on? Did those wargs come back?" asked Itami, looking around at the carnage unfolding around him as his eyes adjusted to the dark.
"You would be correct. Now shut-up and let's get to fighting!"
The dark plains were illuminated by the pale light of the moon and the near-constant flash of gunfire. Amongst the tents soldiers fought tooth and nail against the ambushing force of wargs. Many fell to the ground and were torn apart by the voracious monsters, left bleeding out on the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.
Itami raised his rifle and begun firing into the pack of beasts, who had surrounded them on all sides. They nimbly ducked and weaved to evade the bullets, undeterred by the loud discharges of the fire-arms. His Howa Type 20 assault rifle was chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO cartridges, which while accurate and with good armour penetration, had little stopping power due to their relatively small size. This wasn't an issue for Itami, who always went for headshots, but it meant that many of the other soldiers would often empty an entire mag into the side of a warg, only for it to turn around unfazed, and maul them. It would still die of internal injuries not long after, but that wasn't of much solace to the fallen soldier.
The warg pack had to number at least 40, and the convoy had around 25 soldiers plus those manning the vehicles. After some time the balance began tipping in the soldiers' favour. This was mainly due to the Bradleys, and their thermal imagers. With them, even in the darkness of night they could acquire and fire upon the wargs with impunity, their 25mm high-explosive incendiary tracer rounds tearing huge holes in the monsters.
A few minutes later the gunfire finally died down, and victory was pronounced over the attacking monsters. It wasn't much of a victory though. 16 of the soldiers, and 3 of the scientists were either dead or seriously injured.
The head of the convoy, furious, ran up to the commander of one of the Bradleys. "How the hell did this happen! Didn't I say to immediately alert everyone at the sign of any monsters?!"
With a deep sense of guilt and exasperation, the commander explained, "It all just happened so fast sir. The moment we spotted them in the woods we opened fire, but by the time we moved to alert everyone they were already upon us."
The convoy's head sighed, looking over at the forest. It was over 100 metres away, but looking at that distance now he could imagine a large wolf might be able to traverse the distance quite quickly.
"This is my fault. We should've camped further away from the forest. Arghhh…"
He then moved to address the crowd, many of whom had been busy trying to haul away some of the warg carcasses before they began to rot. "I'm going to call for reinforcements from HQ. The dead and wounded will wait here with one of the 113's and Bradleys to be picked up. In the meantime we will push onwards with the remaining Bradley and two remaining 113's."
Miraculously, none of Itami's squad had been seriously injured, except for Kurata who had a deep gash along his forearm where he had been bitten. Even the old man, Adriano, had come out seemingly unscathed. In the morning he spotted Shadu a short distance away cleaning off a bloodstained halberd, accompanied by Kuribayashi who was doing the same with her rifle-mounted bayonet.
After the fiasco that occurred the previous night, the formation's head acknowledged his mistake, and recognised that their strength had been greatly reduced. Thus, the decision had been made to travel along the main road rather than a side-path like they had originally planned.
This would be much safer; however, it had the issue that they might run into awkward situations like this one.
It was around mid-morning the next day. The lead Bradley commander peered through his 12x zoom optics out into the distance, scouting the terrain up ahead when he spotted something.
"Hobbit-1 to Alpha-1. I've spotted a group of individuals approaching along the road at our 12 o'clock, roughly 1 mile from us."
"Hobbit-1, more detail please."
"Roger. There's what looks like a horse-drawn cart carrying various storage containers, being driven by a single man. They're being escorted on foot by a group of five individuals armed with swords, bows and staves, wearing light armour, metal plate armour, and robes."
(just so you guys won't yell at me, I'd like to clarify that these guys were looking for herbs, not trading with the dwarves)
"Copy. Attention all units. There's no cover nearby, so we'll continue past them. Stay alert, but try to act natural."
Itami suddenly bolted upright in his seat. "We're just going to drive right past them?"
"Seems like it" replied the M113 commander. "We don't know how long it'll take us to get up the mountain, so we can't waste any time. Unless you have any better ideas?"
Itami peered out of a vision slit on the M113. All around them was open plains, with a light wooded area closer to the mountains. There wasn't really anywhere to hide. Their only other option would be to go back the way they came until they reached a spot with more cover.
As the convoy of two M113s led by a Bradley approached the party, the individuals guarding the cart drew their weapons and took formation, bows strung and swords at the ready, but didn't move to attack.
The group stared in a mix of wonder and confusion as the armoured vehicles rolled past, their diesel engines spewing exhaust fumes. Luckily, they were too dumbstruck make any sort of offensive action or demand identification, so the convoy was able to pass by unhindered.
Once the road climbed up into the mountains, progress became much slower again. The path was fairly narrow, and soldiers often had to disembark to clear obstacles such as fallen trees and rocks. Not to mention, it was beginning to get colder as they ascended the peaks, with patches of snow beginning to appear even though it was summer.
It was when a group of soldiers were clearing a fallen tree, that a screech was heard from the sky. Stopping their work to look around to see where it came from, there was a rush of movement as one soldier was suddenly snatched away from the group off into the air. As the man's screams faded away into the distance, the remaining soldiers in the convoy spotted them.
Flapping their feathered wings to hover in the air above them, four beasts looked down on the soldiers who were scrambling for cover. Itami identified them as Perytons, ferocious carnivores that could be encountered in mountainous regions. They had the wings of a bird, and the head and body of a stag. Horns protruded from their heads, but instead of hooves, their four legs ended in claws with razor-sharp talons like those of an eagle.
"All units fire at will!" came the order from the formation head, gunfire erupting from the convoy as the beasts dove upon the remaining exposed soldiers who were rushing for the M113's.
Two more soldiers were snatched away just before they made it. The Perytons flew at great speed and in unpredictable patterns, making it extremely difficult to hit them. Diving down once more in a coordinated attack, they made passes on the vehicles themselves. They managed to damage some external components such as the Bradley's commander sights, but nothing serious as all the crew made sure not to expose themselves from the outside. One Peryton was hit by a number of 25mm shells from the Bradley's main gun, hitting the ground with a dull thump as it failed to pull out of its dive. A burst of gunfire from the Bradley's 7.62mm coaxial machine gun finished the job.
Appearing to see that they had lost the initiative, the Perytons screeched, retreating off into the distance.
After this attack, the convoy was forced to move a lot more cautiously, and clearing obstructions had to be done in a way that the soldiers outside could return to the safety of the armoured personnel carriers at a moment's notice. For this reason, along with the path becoming steeper and more treacherous, they didn't reach the gates of Feo Jera until sunset.
Itami advised the formation head to stop the convoy some distance away from the external fortress leading to Feo Jera. He and his squad then dismounted and closed the rest of the distance on foot. This way they wouldn't be seen as potential invaders since some of the dwarven guards might recognise them from last time. It had only been around 4 days since they had last come here after all.
A voice boomed out from the battlements. "Ah! Itami and friends! We weren't expecting you back soon! Those machines back there look impressive, but I hope this isn't all you brought to fight the Quagoa haha!"
"There's actually a few reasons for our visit!" Itami shouted back up at the dwarf. "Is it alright if we speak inside?!"
"Sure, sure! Come in! And don't be afraid to bring those machines in too!"
Itami then walked back to the convoy and informed the head of the situation.
"Is it really alright to drive our vehicles in there?" asked one of the commanders.
"Yeah, there's a really big cave system on the inside, it should be no problem" replied Itami.
"Hmmm. Would it be alright if we left one of our M113's out here? They seem friendly enough, but I want to have a quick-reaction force available. Do you think that would work Itami?"
Itami scratched his head. "I think so. The dwarves said that monsters know for the most part to stay clear of the fortress, so it should be safe if you stick close."
"Alright then. Since we'll be going underground, our radios probably won't reach the outside. Hobbit-2 will be assigned to stay up top. If you don't hear anything from us from us within 5 hours, link-up with the reinforcements before staging any investigations. They're at the base of the mountain right now, but don't count on them being here until around this same time tomorrow. Is that clear?"
"Sir yes sir!" came the reply from the team assigned to that M113.
"Also, I'm sure that ya'll will be happy to know that our injured and deceased brethren have made it back to base without issue. Alright now, let's move out!"
The formation, now consisting of just a single Bradley and M113 rolled through the tunnels leading to Feo Jera, their headlamps illuminating the path far brighter than the meagre lighting provided by the dwarves. Itami and most of the other soldiers and scientists walked alongside the vehicles on foot, glad to stretch their legs after spending most of the day cramped inside either the Bradley or M113. The group was also escorted by a number of dwarves, most of whom appeared fascinated with what appeared to them as rumbling metal boxes.
Once they made it out of the tunnels and into the large cavern that Feo Jera was situated in, many of the soldiers and scientists were blown away upon seeing its grandeur. The idea of having a large city underground was something you might only see in fantasy.
At the entrance to this cavern, the remaining M113 was assigned to remain at the tunnel entrance while the rest continued into the city.
In what seemed to be a small-town square, they were met by what appeared to be a high-ranking dwarven official, their clothes more lavish and beard well-groomed.
"Greetings weary travellers, I am the Cabinet Secretary of the Regency Council of the Dwarf Kingdom. It is my deepest apologies that we were unable to provide a proper reception for you. If you'd like, how about joining me and my compatriots for a drink just down the road?"
The formation head looked around at his fellow soldiers, who looked back for guidance, unsure how to proceed. Although he would rather avoid getting his men drunk on unfamiliar alcoholic beverages, many of them had lost close friends on the gruelling path here, and were in dire need of a morale boost.
"We'll be in your care then. But let's go light on the drinks."
The Cabinet Secretary cheerfully burst out laughing, "Haha, you really are a joker aren't you. Well, let's go!"
Sure enough, the dwarves really liked to go hard on the liquor. Within just a couple of hours most of the company was wasted and fast-asleep. Kurokawa had decided to refrain from drinking, making her one of the few sober people left. Thus, she was sent to inform the troops stationed at the entrance of the situation. They ended up being a little disappointed that they didn't have the opportunity to participate, but were glad that everything was well.
At around noon the following day, most of the company had recovered from their hang-overs and were ready to get to business. They split off into a number of groups who had various objectives. This included touring the city and its defences, speaking with the other Regency Council members, and investigating the possibility of enchanting their firearms. Itami's squad was unfortunately assigned to sit in on the regency council meeting, where various aspects of policy and dealmaking would be discussed.
Meanwhile, a group of American scientists escorted by soldiers from the taskforce had headed to the dwarves' mage guild. For obvious reasons, the dwarves specialised heavily in lightning magic, and also magic related to underground operations, the tunnel doctors. This group of Americans had also brought the Bradley with them.
At the door of the peculiar stone structure, they were greeted by a dwarf dressed in long flowing robes. "Ah, you must be the group coming to discuss magic. My name is Jagaya, and I am the head of the mages' guild here. Please feel free to come inside."
The Americans complied, leaving a few soldiers with the Bradley outside. Once inside, they were led to a large semicircular room, which appeared to be a sort of lecture hall. Jagaya assumed a spot at the podium, while the soldiers and scientists took seats in the stands. From an outsider's perspective it might've looked like they were sitting down for class.
"My apologies if it feels like I'm talking down to you from out here" said Jagaya, "I just thought that this room would be most appropriate."
"Oh no, it's no problem" replied the leader of the taskforce.
They ended up discussing a number of magic-related topics, many of which left the scientists amazed and confused. After all, they were learning about a whole new way of understanding the world. Eventually though, the conversation moved back to what their original objective was for coming here, that being enchanting.
"Jagaya, do you think it would be possible to enchant our weapons?" asked the taskforce leader, unstrapping his rifle and presenting it to him.
"Hmmm", the head mage studied the weapon. "Please forgive me for asking, but what kind of weapon is this. Is it similar to the 'pistol' that Itami demonstrated when he was last here?"
"More or less."
"I see. Well then it should be possible. If you'd like, I could try enchanting it to inflict additional electric damage?"
"Oh, that would be great. Is the complexity of the weapon not an issue though?"
"No, that shouldn't be a factor."
Jagaya then led them to a side-room which appeared to be specialised for enchanting. Crates of reagents lined the walls, along with racks of weapons such as axes and crossbows. A jar containing luminous fluid hung from the ceiling and lit the room with a pale light. Jagaya took the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, which had been unloaded, and placed it on one of the few tables around the room.
The table itself was ornate, and covered in various symbols. The mage then took a number of vials from the shelves around him and poured some unknown liquid into various grooves. Then out of jars he began scattering powders and placing some small objects around the gun. After this, he raised his hand and recited an incantation, a blue light and rings of symbols emanating from his outstretched palms.
There was a brief bright light, after which the rifle was left emanating a light blue glow, which receded away over the next few seconds. All the various materials that he had placed around on the table were nowhere to be seen.
"Well, that should be done then. [Detect Enchant]… Hmm, not one of my greatest works, but not bad either."
"Can we test it out?" asked the taskforce leader.
"Certainly. I'm also curious to see its effects. Shall we head to the archery range then?"
As they walked out of the Mages' Guild, the taskforce leader gestured to the Bradley. "Jagaya, do you think it would be possible to enchant that?"
The head mage studied the vehicle for a moment and chuckled. "I'm not 100% sure, it would certainly be interesting to find out though. I've heard of things like carriages having enchanted wheels to reduce any bumpiness in the road, so it should be possible. You'd have to take it apart and enchant components separately though. Although, if you had a big enough enchantment table that might not be an issue haha!"
After a few minutes of walking, they made it to the archery range. There were several dwarves there practicing their aim with crossbows, but as soon as they saw the group coming they stopped what they were doing to watch.
The taskforce leader pulled a single 5.56×45mm cartridge from a 30-round magazine and showed it to Jagaya. "Is it also possible to enchant projectiles?"
"Yes, that should be possible. You can enchant basically anything you want as long as you have the required materials and a sufficiently skilled magic caster."
"I see." He then took aim with the rifle, firing off a single shot into a wooden target. There was a loud bang as the weapon fired, then a small flash as the bullet struck, leaving a small, charred hole.
"Not gonna lie, that wasn't as flashy as I was expecting. Did it work?"
Jagaya ran his hands through his beard. "True, usually there is a bit of a larger 'flash' with our crossbows. Perhaps the difference is due to the size of the projectiles."
"Well, either way this is excellent" praised the taskforce leader. "Does the charge ever run out?"
"No, not for this type of enchantment" replied Jagaya.
"Oh?… By the way, I saw you use a lot of various materials when enchanting this. Are they really necessary, or what are they for?"
"Well… I'll spare you the long explanation, but basically they are a requirement for the enchanting process, and make up a large portion of the cost of doing so."
"Oh, I see…" replied the taskforce leader, a little dejected. The various reagents he had seen Jagaya using were no doubt fairly exotic in nature, and not something found on Earth. This could make mass-enchanting weapons prohibitively expensive. While still nice, it might not be as big of a game-changer as he had hoped.
'Perhaps I should've let Itami's squad come along for this after all.'
"Jagaya, are there any ways to circumvent the material cost? Or perhaps an alternate system?"
The mage sighed. "No, I don't know of any way to enchant without the use of reagents. Well… actually, I guess there is a way. It's basically an extinct art though, only few individuals still know how to use it."
"I don't mind, please tell me more."
Jagaya then proceeded to explain the basics of what he knew about the system of magic known as RunecraftTM.
The taskforce leader, and the scientists' eyes widened. Sure it took longer to produce magic items, but no reagent cost? Given enough time to create a large base of runesmiths… this had huge potential if it could be done on Earth.
"Jagaya, if the Dwarf kingdom isn't interested in developing this 'runecraft' any longer, would it be possible for us to take in the existing runesmiths?"
"Hmm, that's not really a decision for me to make. I'd recommend speaking with the Regency Council, and the actual smiths themselves."
"Well, I guess we'll head back then. Thanks Jagaya, you've been a real help."
"It's been my pleasure" replied the head mage. "Make sure you put that knowledge to good use helping us fight the Quagoa."