Esstrey reloads her crossbow after having taken a shot at another mutated creature running around outside Malencia, all contact with the people west of Malencia was rapidly lost, luckily most had managed to flee eastward. The only thing sent out west these days are ''soldiers'', with the caravan being the exception that proves the rule. The people hired to defend it were adventurers, those were Jake''s idea. Apparently adventurers tend to be stronger, but disproportionally more expensive than the regular guard. Thus, they were the best option to act as security for a small high-value shipment that has to go through terrain as dangerous as the upper-mountains. Apparently the western mountains the dwarves live in that separates Malencia and Rila is home to drakes, lesser dragons that make travel over the mountains nigh-impossible.
Ex-captain, now colonel Crendell walks up the now ruined stairs carrying one of the muskets in hand. He''s a competent officer, but since he is of common birth never had a chance to rise high in the ranks. Or at least, that was until he decided to side with the only big-shot of the paranormal division that has a concept of politics. He had somehow made it back with his men after causing a sufficient distraction, and once the kingdom as a whole reconnects with the duchy, he is sure that the kingdom has some questions for him. Yet, as he looks at the titanic mermaid flanked by a creature of the stars and a slime completely made from adamantine he feels like if he keeps sticking with her, a way out, nay, a way to the top will present itself. He had never imagined himself being ambitious, but having risen to a rank no non-mage commoner has in a hundred years awakened something within the man.
"Thank you Crendell, how did the auxiliaries do?" Esstrey begins inspecting the musket he brought, it seems to be a flintlock musket as she had initially guessed, but there is no powder. Instead, it seems that it relies on the glowing crystalloid underbarrel for providing firepower. Lead musket balls are still preferred, and if the manual she had received earlier is correct sometimes orichalium mithril or even adamantine shot is sometimes used, albeit the last one is complete overkill for anything that isn''t a full-blown dragon. After firing, the crystal underbarrel charges using magic from the surroundings, it also comes with the handy ability to adjust charge to increase the power at the cost of charge. A standard shot is 30% charge and still able to accurately hit a target at 100m, more power is less fire-rate, but increased range.
"They were... enthusiastic. I predict a significant decrease in mutant activity, but the popular panic that can happen once our ''auxiliaries'' return mutated themselves could be...drastic." Esstrey keeps fiddling with the musket, and seems to break it in two which shocks Crendell a little, only to realize it''s meant to do that. The ''fiddling'' she was doing was trying to figure out if it had to be reloaded like a musket as well, and it seems there is a break-action system in place to make reloading easier at the cost of needing some more complicated components.
"Good. The time comes soon for our many auxiliaries to take to the field more openly. With the complete and utter collapse of trade, getting regular troops out on the field will be difficult, and I don''t believe it would be the best idea to deploy the auxiliaries against the inevitable hunger-riots." Esstrey loads the gun, and tries to aim it at one of the more distant creatures, but her finger doesn''t properly fit the musket, and the entire things is too small for her.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"I... worry about the future of humanity, ma''am. I don''t want to do riot-control for the rest of my life! Us mere humans have other needs." Crendell seemed genuine in the first half, but as he realized he was the only thing even somewhat human on that little piece of wall, he quickly tried to brush off his worries. Esstrey''s response is to shove the musket in his hands instead.
"Crendell, hit that mutated human." Esstrey points at some unfortunate farmer who must have been at the wrong place and the wrong time, there''s plenty of other targets, but she specifically pointed at the former-human.
Crendell takes aim, and quickly finds that the sights on the musket help with aiming, despite the rather large underbarrel, the thing is well-balanced. He takes a moment to really look at the creature before shooting it. A straw hat has rotten and fused with the top of the man''s head, and the overalls are completely tattered. A piece of former-wood is also balled in one of the hands of the man, he must have had a tool in his hands at the time of his demise, and a small piece of flesh is all that remains of whatever stood between him and a horrible fate.
*BLIING* *HSSSSS*
The shot hits the mutant in the leg, and it crumples over soundlessly. It doesn''t seem to have much of a concept of pain, or if it does, it expresses it differently. The mutant keeps trying to slowly crawl to a distant patrol that hasn''t noticed it. Regardless, the shot missed, and now Esstrey will-
"Nice shot! I wouldn''t be able to tell this is your first time holding a gun if I didn''t know you. As for your worries, I have a few fixes regarding the whole trade issue, so the hunger-riots are a temporary problem. They will have to happen for me to be able to enact some reforms, since I don''t think people would agree to what I am planning to do if they weren''t starving. Once the issue is solved, I want you to lead soldiers into battle with these muskets instead, there ain''t nothing in the world a sufficiently big wall of guns won''t stop. Remember Crendell, there is no such thing as a mere human." Esstrey is completely oblivious to the anxiety of Crendell, as she is currently still wrapping her head around the odd noise the musket made.
"Lady Esstrey, this one believes the [noise/sound/auditory effect] is different from what you know due to energy-based propellant instead of chemical propellant. In addition to the [reload/recharge/feed] system requiring access to the air." Cathy, always seemingly omniscient concerning Esstrey correctly guesses what she was thinking.
"Right! Cathy can you get the smithies, the carpenters and the enchanters to see if they can work together to mass-produce these things? Take Sofia with you in-case any smiths need help being shown how the more complicated parts look, or if those parts even need to be made by her directly." Cathy bows, and already begins dragging Sofia with her who was looking at the patrols move about idly. Her metallic mass stands no chance against the might of a secretary given an order.
*KA-CHUNK*
A bolt is let loose from Esstrey''s crossbow, and it hits the prone human mutant right on the head, spreading the insides of it in a small pool around it as it was very slowly crawling toward a patrol it was never going to reach.
"Yes! Bullseye! Drinks are on whoever gets me that corpse last!" Esstrey can tell Katerina wants something to eat, and she heavily prefers nerve-dense meat. Esstrey yelled it loud enough for the entire gate garrison to hear, and they have both enough confidence in the mermaid and too little pay to care for the oddly-quiet mutant forest or why the mermaid wants one of their corpses.