I had some unexpected delays with this chapter regarding the initial direction with the start of the new arc. Eventually, I had to cut out one major scene at the beginning of this chapter that was meant for foreshadowing. But in doing so, it also spoiled part of the twist-up I had for one of the significant events of this arc.

I may release that scene as a tiny bonus when the arc is complete, so show you what I meant. (That's also if you want to see the scraped content.)

Anyway, that should cover the basics today; enjoy the new chapter.


In Another World With My Smartphone: The Lost Hero

Chapter Twelve: Prep Work


"Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure."

-Confucius


"Okay, I'm setting the meat to rest!" Alex declared with an excited grin as he began getting the plates ready. "So I'm going to start on the potatoes; Finn, are you done making the salad?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Alright, set the bread to bake! If we time it just right, the bread should be ready by the time the meat is done."

"R-right!"

Business had been booming for the Silver Moon Inn during the time that Alex and his party had undertaken the delivery job for Zanac. Dolan, the inn's owner, had apparently been serving Alex's French Onion Soup during the gang's time away and quickly discovered that the town had easily developed a taste for the simple yet hearty soup. As such, upon his return, Alex's dream of a restaurant arrived much sooner than expected as the old man jumped at the chance to give the young man more control of the lunch and dinner menu once they reached a general agreement on terms they deemed fair.

The first term was how they would split the profits, considering the amount of money the soup brought in just five days was staggering for the tiny inn. Though Alex was generous enough to sacrifice a significant amount of his initial profit margin to allow him and his whole party to live in the inn for free going forward. Much to Elze's initial chagrin, though, Alex quickly shut her down once he announced that they would all collectively take turns helping at the inn between jobs. So it wasn't exactly a free hand-out like she feared. However, it would still give the girls more free time to pursue other interests, such as Linze's reading, Elze's newly found interest in mercantilism, and Yae's Alchemy, in addition to their usual guild work.

The second term Dolan had agreed with was hiring additional staff to fill the gaps if and when Alex and the party set out on another guild job. The first of these new hires was a kindly-looking young man with shaggy chestnut hair named Finn, a childhood friend of Mika. Who would serve as the American's Sous-Chef once he was adequately trained. While Fleur, given her age, would go into semi-retirement but would remain on staff to occasionally help Dolan make the classic menu that was still popular with some established regulars.

Finally, the two men agreed to a general rotation in the menu to keep costs and prep work low while still maintaining a good amount of quality. This included Alex's demands for a new system of proper sanitation, dating, and food storage. Plus, if Alex ever wanted to introduce a new menu item, it needed to be served to the inn's staff first for a taste test approval and often at his own expense. Thought everything Alex has introduced so far has been met with widespread approval. Given that today had been another successful day for the humble little inn and along with Yae's promotion to Green Rank in the Guild yesterday.

Alex had announced that he would be making a very special dinner tonight to celebrate, much to everyone's excitement.

"Dinner's almost ready, guys!" Alex announced from the kitchen once he double-checked the current progress. "Finn! I said keep an eye on those loaves! I swear, if they burn—can someone get the twins?! I'm almost done, but I need to watch these potatoes!"

"I got it!" Dolan called out as he finished washing the dishes.

"Thanks! Mika! Yae! You two almost done with the dining room?"

"Almost!" Mika called back as she finished sweeping, and Yae was setting the tables up so they could all dine together.

"Thanks for all of your help today, Yae," said Mika as the two finally finished cleaning the dining room and settled in their seats. "I couldn't have done it without your help."

"It's the very least I can do," answered Yae with a delighted smile. "I am grateful for the chance to practice writing in Common when I take orders. Besides! I can not blame how many people come here to try Alex's new dishes; they are just so delicious!"

"Yeah..." said Mika with a long sigh of relief that ended with a smile as she relaxed into her seat. "I can't remember the last time the inn was so consistently packed! It's a huge relief given our lack of business before Alex arrived."

"Was it really that bad for you?" Yae asked with concerned curiosity.

"I mean..." Mika sighed while her fingers lightly danced on the table.

"Business has always been tricky here. When my parents first opened the inn, Reflet was still a small farming town, but it's been growing. At the same time, we've largely stayed the same. But we never grew with the town and slowly started to fall behind newer, bigger establishments that took most of our business. Our only advantage was our pricing, which kept us afloat, but it was never enough to expand."

"I see," Yae commented with a nod and a frown. "Did you try anything new before Alex came along?"

"I think there was an idea to expand the inn. But after Mom passed, I think Dad was too shaken up to change anything that could risk us ending up homeless," Mika continued with a bittersweet smile. "But now it looks like we finally have a chance to not just expand, but do so much more with the food side of the business and...maybe..."

Yae leaned forward with curiosity as she watched Mika's face slowly turn red as she bashfully looked away.

"I could...finally get...married."

Before Yae could comment with an excited smile upon hearing about a possible marriage. Dolan, Fleur, and the twins arrived in the dining room to take their seats while waiting for the two chefs to finish. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long as Alex and Finn arrived with several wooden plates decorated with a beautifully cut steak topped with caramelized onions. In addition to the meat, there was a basket of freshly baked black wild wheat bread, a large dish of roasted buttered potatoes, and a large wild green salad topped with cheese, nuts, spices, and a homemade vinaigrette. Finally, it was accompanied by three bottles of chilled red wine that Alex had bought from Elze, who had found the prized alcohol from the Capital.

"Wow..." Linze managed to speak up for everyone at the table who stared at the feast being spread out before them. Jaws dropped, and mouths watered as everyone was served their respective plate. From the rich meaty aroma of the steaks; the warm, comforting scent of the fresh bread; the potatoes that gleamed with the brightly golden butter and salt; even the salad's sourly-sweet vinaigrette had an unusual allure that tickled the noses of everyone at the table.

"Since I can tell you guys really want to dig in, and because this meal is best eaten hot," Alex started up with a raised glass seeing that everyone was ready to eat. "So I'll keep the speech short! To the continued success of the Silver Moon Inn and congratulations for making Green Rank, Yae!"

"Congratulations, Yae!" Everyone else, save for Yae herself, said in unison as they toasted the Eashen lass.

"Thank you; thank you, everyone," Yae said bashfully as she quickly bowed her head. "You all honor me greatly! Now let us enjoy this glorious feast!"

"Alright, guys, you heard the lady! Dig in!"

"YAY!"

The table quickly broke into renewed conversations as they enjoyed their meals.

"Oh my, this is divine!"

"So tasty!"

"My goodness, this meat is so tender!"

"So...when are we adding this to the menu, Alex?" Elze asked after another tasty bite of her steak. "Because this is beyond delicious!"

"The main dish? Oh hell no," Alex answered with a shake of his head while nervously chuckling. The American had finally learned the actual cost of beef after going to the local butcher to get these cuts. Needless to say that without a massive beef farm to lower the price, the cost would be way too high to make this into their regular menu. That being said, he might be able to do a special maybe twice a year for the town's upper class. "This is just my treat for today. But we can add everything else to the menu without much issue."

"Oh, that's a shame because this is so good," interjected Mika after a nibble of bread.

"It was a lot of hard work," Alex followed up with a pained grin.

"Speaking of hard work," Elze interjected with a raised eyebrow. "You've been really busy with a lot of the town's merchants, huh?"

"Yep," Alex answered as he sliced another cut of his steak. "You should see what I have for our dessert."

"Is that new roll cake from the Parent cafe!?" Linze suddenly asked with excited eyes. "I saw a sign for it when we were coming back from the Guild!"

"Yep," said Alex with a proud nod. "I got a good deal with Aer and her sister for a ten percent share from the cake's sales."

"As much as I'm happy with your newfound success," Elze continued with a concerned expression. "But are you planning on joining us for any new quests? You haven't taken a job with the Guild since we've returned."

"Not yet," Alex admitted with an awkward smile. "I'm still working on my new weapons, but I have made a lot of progress! I just have to do some more testing before I get back into the field proper, you know?"

"Well, you might want to make it quick," said Elze as she picked at her salad. "Or Yae might overtake you in rank. Plus, now that Yae has some experience under her belt. We want to check out the quests in Capital Guild Hall."

"Shit...alright, alright...I'll double down and try to speed things up," said Alex reassuringly, though he had to remind the twins and Yae about his meeting with the Duke tomorrow morning. "Thankfully, I'm not far from being done, and the menu for this week should be easy for Finn to handle on his own."

"Speaking of which," Mika interjected again as she turned her attention to her childhood friend. "How's kitchen duty, Finn?"

"G-great!" Finn was quick to answer Mika between bites and sips of wine. "Mr. Springfield is a tough teacher, but I'm learning a lot!"

"I said you can just call me Alex, Finn," Alex sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hell, last I checked, you're older than me!"

"And I said, that would be improper! You are both my teacher and my employer!"

"Dolan's your employer, not me," Alex groaned while chewing on a piece of steak as the table lit up with laughter. "I'm just a guy who likes to cook."

"Just give it up, Alex," Mika said with a playful grin. "Finn's always been stubborn when it comes to manners."

"Yeah, yeah," Alex responded dismissively while picking at his salad.

"Well, hck, you never know when things might change," Dolan interjected with a red face, having clearly drunk his fill of the wine. "Hck, I mean...You could always just marry Mika! Hck! Then you'll get to own the inn when I croak!"

"Quoi?" What all Alex was able to say, as the table basically exploded at Dolan's suggestion. Yae held her hand to her mouth with shock at the idea while the twins and Finn looked beyond concerned, each looking like they were each about to object to the sudden proposal. Meanwhile, Fleur, who was just as red-faced as Dolan, was simply cackling at the chaos.

"DAD! I NEVER AGREED TO THAT!" Mika yelled out with a bright red face as she turned to look at Alex. "No offense, Alex, but I am not interested in you in the slightest."

"Oof," said Alex as he made a point to melodramatically put his hand to his chest as the sarcasm came quick to his voice. "Rejected again! However, will my heart continue to endure more heartbreak?"

Fleur let out another wheezing laugh as she looked at everyone's reaction. While Finn and the twins looked relieved, Yae, on the other hand, looked confused, likely not understanding Alex's joking tone. Finally, Mika was clearly still embarrassed by her father's suggestion that contradicted her desires. It wasn't hard for the old woman to see that romance was indeed in the air, just not with these two.

"What?" Dolan suddenly retorted with a confused look. "Hck, it's abou' tim' ya' got hitched. Besides-hck! Best bein' first wife! Ya' get a better claim to t'ings if he decides to want more!"

"Even if I wanted to marry Alex, I would never allow him to have a second wife!" Mika shot back with a scandalized expression. "My husband better have eyes for me and me alone!"

'First...wife?' Alex mentally questioned as he furrowed his brow until it clicked as he looked around the table. No one else seemed confused by the comment unless the second wife comment was some kind of cultural joke about acceptable infidelity. Of course, there was also the other possibility. 'Wait...don't tell me...is polygamy...a thing here? But if that's the case...you'd think it would be more common...at least in the upper class...right?'

"It was jus' a thought, sweethear'," Dolan mumbled with a hearty burp and boyish grin. "Oof, this meal is simply heaven-sent!"

"Ugh! Dad!" Mika said in disgust as she fanned away her father's offensive breath. "Anyway! I'm not going to marry Alex, and that's final!"

"Hey, I'm good with that arrangement," Alex added with a chuckle before biting into some potatoes. "While I wouldn't mind getting married one day, I'm not exactly in a rush to get married anytime soon. I guess we'll just see what the future holds now, right?"


Alfred Ortlinde did everything he could to keep himself from running towards his office early that morning. He was surprised when he had gotten word that Alex had arrived at the front gate, as he had half-expected for the young man to simply warp into his private office and notify the staff of his arrival. Still, then again, Alex liked to keep his powers low-key. As the guards saluted and opened the door for him, the Duke found the strange young man sitting comfortably in a chair before his desk.

"Good morning, Your Grace!" Alex called out from his seat with a wave and then pointed to a few small boxes piled nearly on the desk. "I brought you and your family a few gifts!"

"I thank you for coming, my young friend, and for your gifts," said Alfred with a relieved sigh. In the few days since Alex and his party had left for Reflet, things had quickly begun to get busy for the Duke and his brother, the King. Their agents throughout the country confirmed that the dignitaries representing the nobility had started to make their way to the Capital. Though rumors have it that some of these nobles may have been under assumed names in the city for much longer. "I hope you have been well."

"I can't complain, Your Grace," Alex answered as he moved to stand up, but Alfred politely motioned him to remain seated. Considering everything the young man had done and what he needed from him shortly. The Duke would not make Alex stand at on ceremony, especially since they were alone in his private office. "Though I've had my hands full with some of my newest business ventures."

"Really now?" Alfred questioned with a surprised look as he sat at his desk. "I thought you were a career Adventurer?"

"I was never really interested in Adventuring, and it's more of a side gig for me," said Alex with a shake of his head. "It was just something to do to earn money before I got myself situated in Reflet. Thankfully, I had made friends with a tailor along the way, and he was the first among the handful of business partners I've made in the town. One of my newest partners made this."

"Quite resourceful," Alfred followed up with a chuckle as he grabbed one of the small blue boxes from his desk and opened it. The gentle smell of sweet cream quickly filled his nostrils, making his mouth water. The pastry looked so simple, yet so delicious. Impressed but not surprised, given what he knew about the young man. 'We need to rope this boy into the family before it's too late. Hopefully, he'll catch the Princess' attention during the treaty...worst case scenario, I could always volunteer Sushie once she comes of age.'

"And how are the girls doing?" Alfred continued casually setting aside the pastry box and assembling some of the reports on his desk while mentally preparing for Alex's mission briefing.

"They're all good," Alex responded with a casual nod. "Given the size of our party and Yae's still being new to Guild. We've been taking turns being with Yae so she could rank up, and the rewards won't be diluted with so many party members. Though I'll admit that the twins take her more often than me since I'm busy with this and my other projects."

"Which brings me here today," Alex continued as he sat up straight and got down to business. "So, what's the plan?"

"In twenty-one days," The Duke began as he began handing Alex a report with the details.

"The treaty summit will formally begin at the King's palace. Aside from the envoys from Mismede, we are also expecting representatives from the four main counties of Belfast. Count Barbus Balasa from the South, along with his son, Lord Barbro Balasa; Lord Wein Arbalest, on behalf of his father, Count Owen Arbalest from the North; Count Ramposa Vaiself from the West, with his children Lord Zanac Vaiself and Lady Renner Vaiself. Finally, we have Count Fyshtarre Marden from the East and his only daughter, Lady Zenovia Marden."

"In addition to the nobles," The Duke continued, handing Alex the following report. "We are also expecting several of their servants, which includes everything from stable boys to men-at-arms."

"That's a lot to keep track of," Alex said with a long whistle as he read the report with the vast list of servants and their respective occupations. "So, where exactly do I come in?"

"You will be attending the meeting with me," The Duke answered promptly as he handled Alex another file.

"Publicly, you will simply be one of my two sworn personal men-at-arms permitted to attend. This will give you a considerable degree of liberty within the King's palace as you will be expected to patrol the perimeter occasionally throughout the meeting with the other noble's men-at-arms. In general, you are simply a form of insurance should any number of things can go wrong."

"Who is the second person coming with me? If I'm working with someone, wouldn't it be best to get to know them before the job?"

"Don't you worry about that," the Duke answered with a chuckle. "Your partner for this mission is my newly appointed Master-at-Arms: Arne Braun."

"Oh, Arne?" Alex followed with a surprised smile as he remembered the man had befriended after Sushie's rescue.

"Indeed," The Duke said with a nod. "While he is still a little young to become my new Captain of the Guard. My previous Master-at-Arms and newly appointed Captain recommend Arne to succeed in his previous position given his proven skill."

"Wow, that's great!" Alex exclaimed. "Good for him! I'm glad to know I'll have someone reliable for this job."

"Indeed, Arne will be able to show you the ropes of being a proper guard," The Duke reassured the young man. "So I ask you to follow his lead during your patrols."

"Understood, so that being said, I'm going to assume you want us to engage these other guardsmen when it's our turn to patrol?" Alex questioned as this job reminded him of one of the bodyguard jobs he had done during his work studies. Hell, he once had the pleasure of escorting Lilian Weinberg, a famous American singer who had been touring Japan for a week and often had to shoot the shit with the bodyguards of other famous people collaborating with her.

In this case, his fellow bodyguards might actually be an enemy in disguise.

"See if they might spill out any secrets or whatnot?"

"Ideally, yes," The Duke nodded with approval.

"Are there any people you want to keep a particular eye on?" Alex followed up with a raised eyebrow.

The Duke seemed to hesitate to give him an answer, likely not wanting Alex to form a basis that could lead him astray. But Alex had already been ready for this, after all, just like his friendly neighborhood tailor had told him when he first arrived in this world. Count Basala was already on the record for his distaste for the Kingdom of Mismede.

"Such as Count Balasa?"

The Duke sighed as he rested his chin on his hand.

"If there was one noble who I believe could cause trouble specifically because of the alliance with Mismede," The Duke finally spoke up after giving it some thought. "It would be Count Balasa."

"What about our friend in prison?" Alex questioned as next to raiding the gang hideout in Amanesque, the mage they captured would be their next best lead to discover who was behind the plot. "Did you get any intelligence from him?"

"I am afraid he's dead..." The Duke answered with a grim face.

"What?! How?!"

"Apparently, he had managed to sneak in a dagger and used it on himself."

"Impossible!" Alex exclaimed as he rose to his feet. "I made sure to comb him for weapons before we transported him..."

The young man froze when he realized the implication.

"He was murdered in his cell, and it was reported as a suicide..."

"That's what we suspect, " The Duke said with a tired sigh.

"Unfortunately, we have been forced to accept this fact to avoid tipping off the culprits. But rest assured that we will purge the corrupt guards that allowed this to happen once things settle. Hence why I want you to keep your guard up. Count Balasa's prejudice against Demi-humans is well-known. Yet, he alone would not have this kind of influence. So I suspect that other nobles with ambitious thoughts could either be in cahoots or even just using Balasa's hatred as a smokescreen for their own plans, be it at the summit or at Crown Princess Yumina's engagement ball, which follows after the treaty."

"Understood," Alex answered with a firm nod as he sat back down. "Now, given the formality of these events...I assume I'm going to need some formal wear."

"Correct," The Duke responded with a nod.

"Well, I suppose I can have my tailor friend whipping something up for me."

"No need. We can have that taken care of here if you will permit Leim to take your measurements before you leave. Since you'll be acting as one of my men. Your outfit has to be done in my colors and style. A proper uniform custom-made for you."

"Hey, I won't say no to free clothes, especially if they make me look good," Alex managed to say with a nervous grin. "You said that the summit is in three weeks. Do we have a timeline of how long this could take once it starts? I can't imagine a treaty on international relations could be done in a day."

"My brother and the Prime Minister have been working on a general proposal for the last few years," The Duke answered promptly. "It was finished shortly after the last census and re-evaluation of the current state of the economy. While it covers several broad ideas, the summit invites the greatest nobles of the realm for their input and vote to formally ratify any amendments needed for the treaty."

"Are...there any...representatives from the commoners to have their input into the treaty?" Alex couldn't help but ask while trying to keep his face neutral.

"Why would we do that?" The Duke questioned with a puzzled expression.

'Because they'll likely be affected too!' Alex mentally wanted to yell out but chose a different approach. "Well, considering that the treaty could affect trade and the economy at large, I imagine that commoners might take issue with any major decisions in the trade that could affect their livelihoods without some of their input. Especially if, say, things were to go south?"

"That's what the nobility is for," The Duke responded confidently. "We are here to lead and direct our lands for the greater good of our subjects."

'Dear God...I never thought I would ever miss US politics more than I do now,' Alex thought as he nodded with a forceful smile. 'Sure, it's always a shit show. Sure most of the politicians don't give a flying fuck about us, but they still have to at least pay lip service come election time! We can still vote for some of the shit that could affect us!'

"Well, back to my original question," said Alex after awkwardly clearing his throat and being forced to set aside his personal issues with the politics of this world.

"The conservative estimation is at least a week," The Duke answered honestly.

"Regardless of when the treaty is formally ratified, there will be a three-day gap to prepare for the Princess' Engagement Ball. However, the Ball is simply a formality. The decision who will marry the Princess will likely be made during the treaty negotiations so that so only take a day for any of the candidates to present their case and possibly change the outcome."

"Ah," breathed Alex as he pieced together the final clue and looked at the sheet with the names of the noble sons invited. "So the King will judge which of these eligible bachelors will be best suited for his daughter?"

"Actually, the Princess herself makes the final choice," The Duke answered with a crafty grin. Alex didn't know why, but something about that smile made Alex a little wary of the man's intentions.

"The King, the Queen, and any advisor the Princess requests will be permitted input. By law and tradition, the Heir to the throne has every right to choose their spouse as it is a test for the Heir to see if they can determine one's character. An essential skill for a good ruler to have."

"Interesting," Alex commented, surprised by the answer, but nonetheless, it made some sense. "Alright...suppose that covers the most important questions I had about the job."

"Right, then," said The Duke as he rose to his feet. "Allow me to summon, Leim, for a proper fitting. Wait here, please; I shall return shortly."

"No problem," said Alex with a tired sigh as he slumped into his seat as the Duke walked passed. 'Look like things are getting serious...I need to hurry and finish Operation 2nd Amendment as soon as possible...'


A few days later...

BANG!

"WHOAHOHO!" Alex exclaimed as a shot rang out from the barrel of Alex's latest experimental gun, and saw the destruction to the round wooden target he had set up. The young man breathed a sigh of relief. After the successful test fire, he began jolting down additional notes regarding issues like comfort and recoil. Given the update from the Duke and Elze, Alex had been determined to leap over the world's weapon tech tree with the invention of semi-modern firearms.

Alex had been at this project, mentally code-named: Operation 2nd Amendment, since the day after he and the rest of his party had returned from the Capital. He had initially split his time between this and his other side projects to ensure a sizable passive income so he wouldn't have to rely solely on the Guild for money. Now, however, the young man had decided to double-downed and relocate his initial workshop from a warehouse he had borrowed from Zanac in Reflet to a small forest hut somewhere far south of the main road between the Capital and Amanesque to avoid the chance of the possibility of collateral damage just in case things went wrong.

This happened...quite often, much to Alex's chagrin, but he refused to allow these minor setbacks to discourage him.

Like Alex had suspected, the Modeling spell had proven invaluable in cutting down on the construction process of the guns and ammunition. However, as the American quickly discovered, the spell required an extreme amount of mana, mental focus, and attention to detail to get things right. Unfortunately, it didn't help that Alex didn't have any means to accurately measure things in the dimensions of his old world. So it made the construction of the vital pieces, such as the weapon's action and the bullets, challenging to manufacture, leaving Alex to often have to wing it to typically disastrous results.

Thankfully, Alex eventually got it down, though he earned some new scars on his hands and forearms for his trouble.

So after much trial and error, Alex had settled with four calibers that were roughly based on the .357 Magnum, .45-70 Government, 12 Gauge, and 4-Bore. (The last one being for that one person you wanted to make sure was not only dead but scared the absolute shit out of everyone nearby them when doing so.) This allowed the American to have three healthy varieties of possible weapons and one that wasn't (but was still fun to shoot despite the recoil that promised to always leave a big bruise.)

"That was fun!" said Alex with a slightly crazed chuckle as he unloaded the experimental single-shot rifle that looked more like a small cannon and a single-shot breech-loading rifle. Considering how expensive it was in terms of material, Alex couldn't afford to do much test firing for now. Instead, he returned to work on his alternative for long-distance shooting, another single-shot beech-loading rifle based on the Martini-Henry series of rifles.

Alex had tried to go semi-automatic from the word go. Yet, his attempts to make one, even with the help of schematics online via his smartphone, had proved challenging for a novice in gunsmithing. And considering his limited resources that weren't recyclable such as gunpowder. He ultimately settled on older gun designs that relied on much simpler mechanisms; pump-action, bolt-action, lever-action, revolvers, and single-shot beech-loading guns.

Once he got the dimensions correct, they were much easier to construct.

Thus far in the days following the meeting with the Duke, Alex had successfully produced, and field tested several revolvers, lever-action rifles, and pump-action shotguns in various barrel lengths. Ironically, the most significant pain the ass next to making bullets was making the right kind of springs needed for the actions and the tubercular magazines. Now all he had to leave was to create a reliable rifle for long-range distances. To save on his limited material, Alex had decided to go for single-shot breech loaders with the plan to upgrade to proper bolt-action rifles with a box magazine once he could consistently afford the materials.

When considering his current plans for the near future, the single-shot rifle would do the job for long-distance shooting.

"It's not exactly the classic .577/450 caliber bullets of the original. But I think .45-70 Government will do the job just as good and with less recoil," Alex said to himself as he finished assembling the new rifle and loaded a fresh bullet into it. As he aimed down the sights towards another one of the targets he set up to start its first test fire. The young man relaxed as he adjusted the sights and breathed in as he squeezed the trigger.

Pop!

"Son of a bitch...of course, it would be squib round," Alex muttered as he opened the smoking breech and unloaded the dud bullet. After one unfortunate case of a squib round blowing up in his face and destroying the first handgun, he had successfully created. Alex made it a point to be extra wary of a repeat incident.

"It's these fucking primers," Alex noted as he got to work with a cleaning rod to remove the bullet currently stuck inside the barrel. He had long suspected that these tiny yet vital pieces meant to ignite the gunpowder were the primary cause for roughly every fourteenth or so bullet he produced being a squib or dud. In his defense, however, Alex was relieved that he had finally gotten it right after several experiments. "If only I could make exact copies of the good ones, but that's why I made my new knives as a backup for such an occasion."

In addition to his guns, Alex also decided to complement his arsenal with several knives. Some were meant to be bayonets for his rifles and shotguns. Others were for when things really up close and personal, such as a trench knife that included built-in brass knuckles made of steel and even a pair of kukri knives for that added intimidation factor. The American had even considered adding a built-in blade into one of his revolvers but found that it made the gun woefully unbalanced and awkward and put additional strain on the gun's frame, as it was not designed for such a stupid idea.

"Alright," Alex muttered to himself as he cleared the bullet stuck in the barrel and reloaded a fresh round into the breech. "If this works. I'll be good to go. I can add the final touches up later. I just need to know that this works."

Once again, Alex aimed down the gun's sights and carefully aimed at the target.

BANG!

"Finally!" Alex said with relief as the shot struck true. Satisfied with the results, Alex elected to pack up and head up back home. Now that he had the designs down, making more to serve as additional backups in case he needed one on the fly would be much easier. Considering the number of squib rounds Alex had dealt with, he likely wouldn't have a chance to clear one during a fight, hence the need to have backups. Once everything was cleared, Alex checked his phone and found that he was ahead of schedule for once.

"Phew...I could use a bath..." Alex noted after noting the strong smell of his body odor mixed in with the gunpowder. "Maybe I should take the day off tomorrow. I still have eighteen days before the summit, so I have plenty of time to return to the guild grind..."


Author's Commentary

I usually try not to have chapters focus solely on just the main character, but when taking everything I have planned for this arc. I found that the need to set up what Alex was doing in the now helps smooth out a future issue I foresaw when planning out the story. I was also originally going to introduce a new girl for the harem (Basically Leen's replacement) in this chapter. Still, I ultimately decided to delay her introduction for a bit once I realized I had given myself plenty of time in-universe before the main event.

Now regarding the new characters the Duke listed.

I first need all of you to understand that none of those characters are OCs. They are all imported characters from the other anime I have tagged in this story. All of the characters mentioned are either from Overlord or the Genius Prince. Aside from Balsa, I found the lack of other nobles to be weird for such an essential event that even the Duke...you know...The King's brother wasn't invited until after the man was poisoned.

So, as I promised, there will be some severe shake-ups from canon going forward.

Now for the details within the details.

For context, I am a gun owner. (I wouldn't call myself an expert in guns, but I like to think I know enough to cover my bases in general.)

Like many other things in the anime, I honestly found how easy it was for Touya to make a handgun and bullets from scratch infuriating! Even with modeling, the amount of internal moving parts, in even some of the more simple designs for revolvers, require some attention to detail and making sure everything you know...fits!

Then when it comes to ammunition. The same thing we just see (what I hope is lead, but looks like iron) and a glass jar of black gunpowder. And presto! Bullets! So where did the yellow-gold brass come from? How did he make the primer for the bullets? Depending on the type, require quite a bit of material to make! Again, I know it's a power fantasy, but come on...it's just so damn lazy! Plus, if Touya was making iron bullets instead of lead, yeah, that would not only make the shot not only heavier, but it can really fuck up the rifling of a gun's barrel something fierce. There is something weird about a Japanese teenager who would most likely have little to no actual experience with firearms, being so comfortable with them.

Now, because I know guns can be very OP. I wanted to basically show that while Alex has experience with firearms, he is still a novice when it comes to gunsmithing, and while I do expect him to improve. Don't expect his guns or bullets to always work until the kinks are worked out.

Oh, and I'm also going to make this clear.

No rubber bullets. I found that excuse to avoid graphic violence while still using guns to be such a fucking cop-out. Yeah, no, if Alex pulls out a gun, his targets will bleed. Again, this is more on the idea of the weight of his powers, and his weapons are not to always be used lightly on any opponent but an opponent who

indeed poses a threat.

Anyways, that should cover it for now.

The next chapter should be a lot more eventful and fun.

Until next time!

-ZX