Chapter 474 (1/2)

Chapter 474: The Killing Machine

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Two days after the enlarged meeting, Iron Axe was ordered to test new weapons again.

Since the northwest side was vulnerable to the attacks of demonic beasts, the new shooting range was set on the other side of the Redwater River. When Iron Axe got there, the prince’s guards had already surrounded the place with hemp ropes and red flags, and set a checkpoint at either end of the steel bridge. Unauthorized personnel were not allowed in that area.

Obviously, His Highness took the test on new weapons seriously.

Iron Axe walked quickly in the uneven snow, and every guard he met gave him a friendly glance. Seeing this, he could not help but remember his first time participating in a test of flintlocks. Back then, he was a nobody, and the people of the Kingdom of Graycastle were vigilant and suspicious of him because he was from the Sand Nation. He had lived in the town for five years by then, but only had built up relations with huntsmen living near him because of his expertise in archery, and no one knew him beyond the Old District.

At the time, he believed that he would live in seclusion in this desolate town as a hunter until he died of old age, or got killed by demonic beasts or prey. He didn’t expect that His Highness would hand-pick him and show him the power of fire and thunder. Then, fast changes began to happen. He fought against demonic beasts in the Militia, which was then turned into Border Town’s First Army. He was promoted rapidly from Head of the Hunter Squad to Commander of the First Army. To his great surprise, and to make up for his greatest regret of his life, he had met the heiress of the Osha clan, Lady Drow Silvermoon, again in the town because of His Highness’ open attitude towards witches. Due to this trust, recognition, and improvement of his fate, he swore allegiance to his new lord deep within his heart.

In the middle of the shooting range, Iron Axe saw His Highness Roland, Chief Knight, and unexpectedly, several Sleeping Island witches.

“Your Highness, Iron Axe reporting to you!” He walked forward and saluted the prince.

The prince nodded and said, “Everyone’s here. Let’s get started.” He gave two long guns to Iron Axe and Carter. “It’s one of my newly developed weapons, still in the prototype stage. The numbers are limited, so take turns trying them, please.”

Iron Axe carefully studied the gun in his hand. It looked similar to a revolving rifle except that it had no cartridge.

This made him wonder if its bullets had to be reloaded through the muzzle like the oldest flintlocks.

“It’s called a bolt rifle,” His Highness quickly explained. “It uses the newest smokeless gunpowder. The caliber is 8 mm, smaller than the 12 mm of a revolving rifle, but it’s more powerful.” He turned the gun over to give a demonstration. “The ammunition is inserted from the front of the trigger, and each clip can be embedded with five bullets. However, it cannot fire continuously like a revolving rifle, so you need to reload it after ejecting all the bullets.”

Soon after the prince’s demonstration, Iron Axe understood how to operate the new rifle and shot a clip of bullets. The kickback of the rifle was quite strong. Every time the gun was discharged, he felt a heavy kick on his shoulder from the butt, and it was much louder than a revolver.

Five bullets shot out of an old gun would usually cause thick smoke that blocked his sight, but now there was no smoke in front of the muzzle, which might be due to the “smokeless gunpowder” that His Highness had just mentioned. Apart from that, there was nothing special about this new bolt rifle. Iron Axe thought there was a substantial improvement from the flintlock to the revolver, but the bolt rifle seemed to have no improvement and even wasn’t as good as a revolver. Its most obvious shortcoming was the low rate of fire.