The Mechanical Era

The sun was at the top of the sky, making it midday. Kant had finished up all the parts of the blueprints he needed and now waited for Arjun in his office. In the meantime, with the typewriter in front of him, and a bunch of books beside it, with some of them open, he was typing out a new piece of legislation he intended to work on for a few months.

The books were all mainly about land, the value of land, the multiple ways it could be used, and so on. After reading the information in the books, he has to make an informed decision on how to continue with the bill.

As he worked on the typewriter, his ear picked up the sound of the firm knocking on the door. He assumed it was Arjun, allowing him to enter. The door opened, revealing him in his black cloak and round glasses. His hands, usually filled with a stack of papers, were now empty, free from the tyranny of carrying them around.

"You called for me, sire?" he asked. Kant, opening his drawer, took out a few rolls of paper.

"I did, yes. I have a few requests to make of you. Sit down," Kant replied. Arjun walked over and sat on the chair right before him.

"What are these requests?" Kant passed a few blueprints at a time. He reached out his hand and took the blueprint away from Kant, to take a look at it himself. The paper was rolled and tied with a blue ribbon. Arjun untied it and unraveled it.

On the paper, it featured a black powder smoothbore flintlock musket, but Arjun didn't know that yet. The drawing, clearly made using the help of a ruler and pencil, went into detail about how it operated and how it worked.

Kant then passed the other blueprints, which all went into detail on how each part worked; how the trigger function works, how the projective travel, and so on. He was surprised by the amount of detail in it, as a lot of thought went into making the blueprint.

"What you are seeing in this drawing, is what I call a gun or firearm. More precisely called a black powder flintlock musket with a smoothbore barrel. For short, you can just call it a flintlock. It is sort of a new experiment of mine. I want to make a weapon to defend myself.

I wanted to make one a few months back, but I got caught up with making new laws and settling disputes. Since there will be a demonic wave in the next few months, I decided that it would be a good time to make one."

"Hm... How does it work?" he asked, wanting to make small talk and not just examine the blueprint.

"When you pull the trigger, the lever goes down that place over here..." Kant pointed to where the flint causes a spark.

"This causes a spark that activates the propellant. This causes the bullet to escape through the barrel at high speeds."

"Ah. I assume the metal ball deals damage by going fast?"

"Yes, precisely."

"How is it reloaded?"

"Once a bullet is fired, a bit of black powder is placed inside the barrel. Not too much, which could cause the gun to break, but not too little, which might cause the firearm to explode."

"Explode?"

"Yes. I am going to have to calculate the right amount to put. Don't worry. I got a safe setup in mind."

"Alright then... continue."

"Alright. Anyways, after the gunpowder is loaded, a projectile, which is most likely a metal ball. Then, with a special stick, we make sure that the ball goes all the way down the barrel, to meet the gunpowder.

After that is "done, the lever is pulled back to the second position, and it will be ready to be fired once again."

"How powerful will it be?"

"Enough to go through a suit of armor. At least, that is what I am aiming for." Kant's hands go under the desk. His answer raised suspicion in Kant. Sitting straighter, he asked another question.

"Sire, what kind of threat do you think you will encounter, that you think you would need a weapon like that to defend..."

Before Arjun could finish his sentence, he felt something crawling on his leg. He looked down to see, what appears to be a roach. He suddenly jumped off his seat and slapped it across the room. It landed near Kant's feet, where it got squashed by the heel of his boot.

"A person is most vulnerable when they feel safe. Though there might not be anything that could be done about it, a powerful weapon would help, won't it?" he replied. Arjun stayed silent, processing Kant's answer.

"I see. Alright," he says. He walks over and sits back down on his chair.

"Do you have any more questions?"

"No sire. Not at all," he replied, still a bit shaken.

"Good. Now, I would like you to find an alchemist and get him to make black powder. The black powder can be made by mixing 75% potassium nitrate, which comes from saltpeter, with 15% charcoal and 10% sulfur. I will write it down on a piece of paper, so make sure to put it in the letter."

Kant opened his lower drawer and took a piece of beige paper. He puts a ruler in the middle on top of the paper, bends the paper, and carefully tore it apart, giving a nicely divided piece of paper. His right hand then went to grab a quill, which he used to write down the information he needed.

"For my next request, I want you to send these blueprints to a smithy to build specific parts for the musket. However, make sure that smith writes down how he makes the gun parts. I will need to as to improve any new designs in the future.

After that, have him send it over to an artisan, who will promptly finish the job. Make sure the artisan also receives the blueprints and has the smith to build at least several of the components. I am going to need 2 muskets, in case something goes wrong with my experiments and I need a spare," he replied.

As he was writing, Arjun asked whether there was anything else he could do for him. With a smile, Kant politely asked whether there were any disputes to solve.

"A little, why is that?"

"Send them over here. I will finish them today before they stack up," he replied. Arjun nodded as he understood what Kant meant. His eyes turned to the books on the desk, thinking that Kant wanted more time to concentrate on them instead.

After handing him the paper, Arjun got up from his chair, exclaiming, "Well sire, if that is all you need, I will be on my way now." With that, he walked to the door, and left the room, closing it and leaving Kant alone again.