Published: January 15, 2026
“Good grief… Baron Van keeps surprising me, and it’s frustrating.”
His Majesty spoke with a face that hardly looked frustrated at all. Still in high spirits, His Majesty continued asking me various questions about cannons, so I explained the threat posed by cannons and the future direction of their development as I understood it.
Of course, I wasn’t talking about something far in the future, but about things like larger sizes, rapid-fire types, and miniaturization. What caught His Majesty’s interest the most was the idea that miniaturization could allow each individual to wield weapons similar to the guns from the past life.
Even a farmer could gain the power to defeat enemies immediately. His Majesty’s insight was not wrong.
The difficult part, however, is that once such weapons become widespread, the nature of warfare will change entirely.
Until now, if soldiers formed a tight formation with long spears, even untrained farmers could achieve a certain level of battle achievements. Some armies used formations like the “crane wing,” which spread out like wings to counter magicians, or variations of the fish-scale formation dividing troops into groups of a hundred with small gaps forming triangles, but these were not common.
However, if guns and cannons become common, the previous way of fighting will become obsolete.
Extremely small units will be able to achieve battle achievements, so tactics that spread the frontline thinly and widely will become possible. Additionally, guerrilla warfare, ambushes, and siege defense will all showcase tremendous power.
Above all, if the use of them as traps becomes established, they will become extremely troublesome weapons.
While worrying about the future that will inevitably come, I turned back to face His Majesty.
“At present, I believe there are no such weapons in the Yelinetta Kingdom. However, behind this, there is a country that provided the Black Orbs. Yelinetta’s first line of defense has already been subdued, so there will definitely be moves to do something about it. We should begin the march before Yelinetta acquires new weapons.”
Upon hearing this, His Majesty murmured, “Understood,” and lowered his gaze, holding his chin with his fingers. After pondering deeply for over ten seconds, he furrowed his brow and looked up.
“…Very well, then we will depart the day after tomorrow. Ideally, I would have allowed a week for preparation, but as Baron Van said, we have just occupied an enemy stronghold. Without waiting for all our troops to assemble, we will act swiftly in the order of arrival at Seato Village.”
Having made that decision, His Majesty turned to the assembled nobles and commanders and spoke.
“We are moving the schedule up! Since more knight orders than expected have gathered, we will promptly move to the new base! We will strengthen the fortifications so the wedge that has pierced into Yelinetta’s territory cannot be pulled out! Take as much supplies as you can carry, but the additional supplies will be transported by the knight orders arriving late! Our departure is early morning the day after tomorrow! Understood!?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Upon His Majesty’s order, the atmosphere of everyone changed instantly. Is this how an absolute monarch’s command differs? Everyone’s expression became that of a genuine soldier, and they quickly began to act.
“Your Majesty, how shall we form the formations? If you wish, my knight order will take the lead…”
“We shall stand before His Majesty and protect him.”
“We intend to hire adventurers to guard the march. The formation will be decided and communicated by tomorrow. For now, hurry and prepare the necessary supplies.”
Being a nation seasoned by war, everyone’s fighting spirit was high. I imagined Mr. Panamera’s resolve must be considerable as well.
Looking for him, I found Panamera watching me with his arms crossed.
“Mr. Panamera, aren’t you going to prepare?”
I asked, and he replied with a confident smile.