Jerry, that's my name. Was part of the army reserve, but never deployed. So least I did was study them weapons and well... admire the big guns.
Until I died in my sleep.
It was a whistle, then bang. Blacks. Everything.
It's familiar. Quite. Whistles of bomb being dropped. Actually, since when did enemy artillery get that close? Unless of course, it's those new tech nerds kept on talking. Something like, plasma artillery, or railgun???
But nah, too familiar.
Nevertheless. I died.
"You are to be reborn with power. Live a life free of burden." Said the bearded man who seem to have a God complex, while sending me to a body of a noblemen in the brink of collapse due to famine and constant warring.
"Your excellency, documents for the recent reports. It seems we lost another village due to the famine. We are also receiving refugee from the neighboring territory. What do you want me to do with them?" Ah, classic butler. Wearing a nice black tuxedo, stripes o' pants, and them iconic white hair.
This is Sir Johannes Numberg. A former knight (but mostly direct servant under my father). He was bestown the title of knighthood after performing selfless act of generosity towards... well, other noblemen.
Easy way to rise through ranks, perks of being in a medieval society. Primitive class.
I knitted my brows, massaging my forehead with two of my fingers. Refugee? We're barely scrapping our resources to maintain my status. Ugh...
Back in my previous life, I never received inheritance from my parents. I mean, we were kinda poor, we make ends meet.
But this... yeah. This made me realize there is different variations of being poor. If this is similar to my daily reports during my serving time, I'd see red inks overwhelming the screen.
5,000+ estimated deaths since winter. Harvest was poor, Trade deficit. Hell, our military is full of corruption that... most weapons are missing, found used by bandits roaming the territory.
It's almost laughable, I wanna escape.
Still, my standing is quite strong here. Mostly because I partook most expedition my father did, which is a no-brainer expedition, just hunting some enemies.
If I say... introduce some new things here, perhaps that could be a changer? I mean I have a power. A magic, yes! Fucking magic. Classic fantasy.
Though I have no means of using it cause... well, I don't have the game-like menus. I have to rely on raw will just to see a glimpse of it.
Haa~, having the body of a 15 year old boy sounds nice and all, but to give it a burden of an adult is something.
"Man, what do I do?" I thought out loud, forgotting that the butler is here.
"Pardon, sir?" I took a glance at him. Then returned to the papers.
I drew a blueprint, unknowingly. Yes, I simply did. Perhaps it's due to my power. But this is the first time I use it with blueprints.
It's a composition of an engine, but not an engine similar to Earth like gasoline, diesel. No. I drew one that utilizes magic stones that combust with air, much like how this world can use fire with their body.
Only difference is, I have to code some runic stuff and integrate it to the engine, this will make the stones emit only flammable instead of the four basic elements they call.
Then the oh-so-wonderful spark plug will ignite it, causing said combustion then bwalah, we got ourselves a nice working mobile.
"Give this to the alchemist." I ordered the butler, leaning my head to the table, but Johannes seems to have something in his mind. "Questions?"
A little hesitant, Johannes implore,"Uh... shouldn't this be handed to the blacksmith?"
I looked at the man and smirked.
"Hey, well, well, well. You seem familiar with this engine. Didn't know you had it in you! But, would a blacksmith code runes? Would they be able to integrate the engine with the stones without accidentally igniting the entire workshop? Oi. Perhap you have something in mind that might enlighten me!"
"N-no..."
"Well, go deliver it to the alchemist then. Tell them to make that."
Johannes slipped away from the office with panic, leaving me in my lonesome. It's been a week since I found myself in this young man's body, and, well, initially, I thought I'd fair well. But nah...
"Burdensome." I wrote yet another blueprint, one that I am most certainly familiar of. A glock. But with specialized mag well that houses the stones. Since I am unfamiliar with how gunpowder works. I studied a few on how to make an alternatives of it. Found stones, did it. Bwalah, found myself a blueprint of the bulletless glock that shoots projectile as fast as a bullet, but deadlier.
The runes of the gun are coded to make the stones work by producing an element. But I'm no medieval person, I studied quiet well in my science class. And so, I did extra work on it. I produce here, Mercury projectile. Solidify under low temp, fires it, causing heat, the moment it pierce through bodies, it spread.
I laugh wickedly, "Finally, a gun." Despite being in military, we rarely use guns. Only for practices and drills. Most of the time, either we're using woods or... nothing at all.
Still! I made it. But with a slight twist. Unlike Earth, we got OP healers here who can heal grave wounds like fevers. But if you give them toxicity within their bodies— one cannot be fathom with by anyone at all, you'll be giving them death sentence the moment this gun chose their direction.
Ah... I like it. I've always imagined how useful would this be against OP magicians.
And right on time,
Knock knock
"Ah, Johannes, you're back. Here, give this to the alchemist as well." He seems down, but I don't care.