The Mechanical Era

Kant, wearing his suit, found himself in the middle of the castle grounds. In front of him, there is a wooden table, with an open crate. Inside the crate, laying on the haybale, were two flintlock muskets he had wanted. Kant picks up a flintlock musket from the wooden crate and raises it near the sun to examine it more closely.

It had a 40-inch barrel to it, with a total length of 56 inches. Parts of it were made out of iron, polished to look new, while the other half was made out of fresh wood, painted in a coat to make it last longer. Under the barrel, there was a place for the stick he can use to get the gunpowder and bullet thoroughly inside.

Besides the crate, there was also a glass bottle filled with gunpowder, brought over from Duesenberg, as well as a chest full of metal balls that would act as projectiles. The final three items were a clipboard with paper attached, a pencil, and an eraser.

On the beige paper attached to the clipboard, there was a table drawn, with multiple rows and columns inside it. It was there to study the range and powder of the flintlock musket, as Kant had no idea.

In the distance, there were wooden targets, with red and white circles painted on them, as well as the distance there to them and the wooden stage they were meant to fire it from.

Other than Kant, Kristina and a bunch of armored knights were present. Instructed by Kant, as well as his highness, King Danil to make sure he doesn't get hurt, as they fear the wrath of Malinda, who would probably have them executed if any harm comes to her little boy.

"Is that it, sire?" Kristina asked.

"Hmm... I think so," he replied. Kristina was pretty unsatisfied with his answer.

"You think so?" she asks calmly.

"Can't tell till we test it." Kant pushes the hammer into half-cock position and checks the moisture of the gun.

"It's dry," Kant commented.

"Is that bad?" Kristina questioned, not knowing anything about the weapon.

"No. That is good. Moisture would mean that the gun would have a hard time firing, and that is not good." The simple explanation stuck with Kristina.

"I see."

Kant lays the musket down on the table and opens the glass jar containing the gunpowder. He measures the amount of gunpowder using a little wooden cup and pours in the gunpowder inside the barrel.

As he pours the gunpowder inside, Kristina asks another question, partly to make sure to he is safe, and partly curious about how the weapon works.

"Is that safe?"

"Perfectly safe. It is currently in half-cock position, meaning that the seam is in the first. The first notch is angled in a specific way, so even if I try to pull the trigger, it won't budge. A safety mechanism, if you will."

He then takes out the stick and inserts it inside the barrel to make sure it has gone all the way through. After that, the metal bullet followed. He then opened the frizzen, and place another bit of black powder in the priming charge.

"I think you shouldn't be firing that weapon. For your sake, sire." Kristina suggested.

"I guess not. Who do you have in mind?" he asked. She turned to a knight covered in a suit of warmer, with even a helmet on.

"Hmm... Alright then. Say, what is your name?" Kant asks.

"My name is Leon De Vandel, sire."

"Ah, yes. I remember you, Knight Leon. You were pretty helpful back there." Kant hands over the musket to the knight.

Kant then went through a quick rundown, explaining to Leon how the weapon worked. As he listened, he points the barrel to the ground, and away from any human around, not wanting to injure anyone.

"Pull the hammer back and fire at the ground. To fire, all you have to do is to pull the trigger." The knight listened to what Kant told him and quickly followed through. He pointed at the grass, pulled the hammer back, and fired.

In a second, their flint went down on the fizzle, causing a spark. This spark caused the black powder inside the priming charge to explode, causing the first small explosion. Then, as the first explosion caused the gunpowder inside the barrel to ignite, the first boom was followed by a second.

The bullet launched out of the barrel and hit the grass hard. It traveled a little before coming to a stop. There was lots of smoke everywhere, caused by the firing of the weapon. Kant, Kristina, and even the knight inside coughed a little.

The knight in the suit felt a bit of recoil which meant that the gun swang towards him after firing. Partly because of the miniature explosion, but mostly due to the large bang it made.

"It works. This is it," Kant commented.

"How fast did that bullet go?" Kristina asked.

"Not sure, what I can tell you is that it is definitely below the speed of sound." Kristina turned to Kant.

"Pardon me sire, but what?"

"Let me explain. When something goes past the speed of sound, which someone calculated to be about 700mph or 343 m/s, it causes a sonic boom. Since we didn't hear that crack, it meant that it went below that speed."

"Ah. I think I understand. So will it be louder if it did travel faster?"

"Definitely, and there would be a lot more recoil as well," Kant added. Leon felt a wave of power come inside him as he fired the weapon. A sense of awe and fear struck him, imagining what would happen if a peasant wielded this. It would not be pretty for them.

"Alright Knight Leon, we are going to be adding two cups of gunpowder. I want to see how much I need for optimal use." Kant then went on to take the weapon away, safely reload it, and then give it to Leon, resulting him in firing the weapon.

Eventually, they got to 3 cups of gunpowder, where the bullet broke the spread barrier. They did follow up with a fourth, which only caused an explosion that caused the gun to crack and break. Leon, who was in his suit, managed to get away, albeit a little injured.

"3 cups it is then. Are you alright knight Leon?"

"Yes sire, I am alright."

"Good. Because now that we know how much gunpowder we can use, we can focus on how far the bullet travels." Leon soon got up and used his hands to get rid of any dirt attached to his armor. Kant, after handing over a loaded gun, gives it back to Leon.

They walk up to the wooden platform and take aim at the closest target, which happened to be the one at 25 feet. They fire multiple times, getting a knight nearby to tell them how accurate it was so that Kant could write it down on his clipboard.

They continue on till they run out of gunpowder, where they have to forcefully conclude it. Kant would go on to test the weapon for a few more days onward, all under the watchful eye of Kristina Robin.