Winter here wasn’t as bad as it was in New York City (a city I’ve lived in back when I was a student in my Old World), where the sheer volume of the snow could shut down the entire city at its worst. In fact, Carnwennan only snowed for a couple of the coldest days in winter. However, the scarcity of food and firewood still killed a lot of the less fortunate. There was a reason why people in this world measure their age in winters- surviving the winter was not something you could take for granted if you weren't rich.
It was the night of the Winter Solstice. The silence of the dark was only occasionally interrupted by the chilling wintry winds and the drunk laughters. In a certain alley of Carnwennan, 3 figures trudged through the shallow snow on their way back home.
“You were amazing, Ser Oskar! You must’ve broken his nose with that left hook!” Lackey A exclaimed!
“I bet those Bravestorm dogs regret ever picking a fight with you!” Lackey B rejoined.
“As long as they quietly learn their lesson. Any noisier and I could’ve faced sanctions.” Oskar reflected on how lucky they were that the brawl they just had with Bravestorm Knights didn’t escalate further.
“Don’t worry, Oskar, I’ll escalate it for you. No need to thank me~” I thought to myself.
“Bezz, didn’t you say there are usually peasants camping here? Where are they?”
“I’m not sure, Ser Oskar. They were here yesterday…”
“Well, I’m still hot from the fight, so I need to find a peasant to take it out-”
*POP!*
“... what...just…” Oskar fell forward to the ground with a shocked expression and a bullet hole in his back.
“SER OSKAR! WHAT HAP-”
*POP!*
Lackey A received a point-blank shot in the back of the neck; his blood spraying the snow piles red..
Lackey B turned around in panic. “WHO… WHO ARE-”
*POP!”
Lackey B received a headshot and dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
I holstered Aurelia and stuffed a partially torched pillow with 3 charred holes into my satchel. Contrary to popular opinion, pillows were actually effective suppressors for subsonic rounds (muzzle velocity <343m/s, which Aurelia qualified for). Problem was that they were usually only good for 10-20 decibels worth of reduction, which could only bring down the noise level of a .45 Auto from supernaturally loud (this world hasn’t heard a jumbo jet takeoff yet) to REALLY loud.
Luckily, Oskar was in the Commercial District, which is typically devoid of people at night. He must’ve chosen this place to fight the Bravestorm Knights to avoid attention, which worked out great for me. I thought about building a suppressor, but my resources were dwindling and I didn’t see a pressing need for it. I planned to strike at isolated places at night, so the only potential witnesses are the homeless peasants and orphans; no constable of this era would ever bother interviewing them.
After looting the lackeys for much-needed coin and recovering the spent casings, I began to extract the grand prize- the Artorian Silver this guy has on. Looting is love. Looting is life. Now, I couldn’t take all of it, since that would arouse suspicion. I’d have to take a few pieces here and there as I escalated this into a full-out turf war with a lot of dead noble brats with broken armor.
I took an ornate sword with a seal of House Bravestorm that I’ve made from materials embezzled from the forge-smith and stabbed the bullet wounds. Then I left the sword buried in Oskar’s back to really drive home the point. Sure, if the Empire had a CSI team, my amateur efforts would be utterly meaningless. But this was a nation obsessed with honor and chivalry (despite a damning lack of both), so even if they somehow figured it out, they couldn’t possibly stop the chaos that was about to unfold.
That chaos would be my ladder, to a M1 Garand.
***
The Solstice Murder, as it was being called on the streets, shocked the commoners and nobles of Carnwennan alike. Nobody was going to fret over a street brawl, but this was clearly over the line. House Lionel, who hosted Ser Oscar, accused House Bravestorm of this crime, who promptly denied any wrongdoing. But since their Knights were last seen brawling with the murder victim (and “their” sword was discovered stuck inside him), it was not a charge they could simply deny and dismiss.
House Lionel was a part of the coalition of new upstart nobles seeking to expand their influence in the City Council at the expense of the Old Guard nobles like House Galahad and its subordinate houses like House Bravestorm. So I imagined they were going to milk this for all it was worth. I was thankful to my bartender friends who provided me with that bit of intel. I couldn’t have started this senseless bloodbath without them~
There was a palpable tension in the air, leaving everyone on edge. People were buying up supplies, eager to hole up in their homes this winter to wait out the upcoming storm. Rangers, who were seldom seen in the city, started patrolling the streets en masse as a show of force to stop things from spiraling out of control.
Not that deterred me from my mission. After all, the type of Knights I targeted often leave the broad streets of Carnwennan for the comforts of its dark alleyways. People like Ser Paul, who felt it was necessary to beat an old man to death just for accidentally bumping into him, wouldn’t be satisfied with just that. Against their better judgment, they would venture forth into the dark grimy alleys to satisfy whatever impulses they had. It was simply their vile nature.
Coincidentally, my target that night was Ser Paul. Usually, it’s a bad idea to mix personal feelings with business decisions, but Paul was a Knight of House Bravestorm and I needed a Bravestorm Knight to die for the plan to work. Headache or not, I was gonna kill the bastard.
I was following him from a long distance away all night via rooftops to avoid suspicion. Arminius, old friend, I remembered you once said that you shudder at the thought of whatever it was that I was making. Tonight, you’d be avenged by this very horror.
As I put away these wandering thoughts, I slowly and stealthily approached a dilapidated alleyway via rooftops. I saw 4 lackeys on the lookout- 2 on the west end of the alley and 2 on the other end. And I think one of them was holding a trouser? Oh I see. He was one of those people, huh.
“Hey, I’m done here. Bring me my trousers!” Paul commanded in an irritated tone.
“Yes, my lord!” Lackey A turned around and walked into the alleyway. This was my chance. I nocked an arrow and loosed it on Lackey B. The shot flew true and pierced his neck. He gurgled a bit before falling on his knees. As Lackey A turns back to see what’s going on, I loosed the 2nd shot into his neck as well. Thank you, <
I picked up the trouser and placed it on top of a pillow I bought. Then I walked towards Paul. He heard the sound of my footsteps approaching him. I was about 10 meters from him- an easy distance, but he still hadn’t noticed anything wrong, so I continued to approach him.
“Hurry, you fool! It’s freezing out here!” He said in an irritated tone as he stared down at the poor peasant girl he had just raped.
Not that confident in my ability to imitate voices, I simply hurried my pace to him. I was now roughly 3 meters from him. I lowered the pillow in front of Aurelia, took aim, and fired at point blank range.
*POP!*
Paul never saw it coming. The bullet pierced his prized Knight armor from the back and into his heart. He fell upon his knees, and then forward on top of his victim.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!? MY LORD?” The remaining 2 lackeys turned around and ran towards me. With the dimly lit alleyway as my ally, I fired an arrow against the silhouette on the left, then quickly on the right. At a distance of 15 meters, their fates were sealed. This was the difference between a trained Ranger and a noble’s lackey- a trained Ranger would never blindly sprint towards an unknown situation like that. But then again, lackeys relied on their lords to survive, so maybe it was only natural they ran toward their rice bowl.
I approached the unresponsive peasant girl under Paul. Her homely face appears bruised and cut, and there were marks of redness around the neck. I knelt down and checked for her pulse.
Ah shit. She didn’t make it. Sigh… poor girl. I wished her better luck in her next life as a throbbing headache annoyed me. For what it was worth, I’d avenged her too...
The silver lining in this shitty cloud was that I didn’t have to convince or bribe her to stay quiet. But still, the way this whole thing went down really rubbed me the wrong way. All I can say was: I was extra glad I got to gun down that piece of human filth.
After collecting my casings and loot, I began to harvest pieces of Artorian Silver from his armor. All of a sudden, I heard shouts. “Quickly Rangers! I heard something in this alley! You two, go around and secure the other end of this alley!”
“Yes, ser!”
Shit! That was a quicker response time than I expected. My poorly suppressed gunfire must’ve alerted a Ranger patrol squad nearby. I plunged the sword I looted from Oskar through the hole in the armor and into the bullet wound. That sword, emblazoned with the seal of House Lionel, lay buried in the back of Paul.
“Ser! 2 men are down! Watch for archers!” They just discovered the bodies of the first 2 people I’ve killed. Their Ranger training kicked in and they began to approach the two bodies slowly and wearily.
“Fuck! They look like Bravestorm’s men. You two, notify the Legate. This is about to turn into a godsdamn mess.” The Centurion in charge audibly sighed.
I quickly cast the spell, <
***
Well, this operation almost failed, and judging from the small amount of Artorian Silver I got from this, I kinda did fail. My overconfidence in the pillow almost fucked up my plans. Looked like I could no longer put off building suppressors for both of my firearms (Besides, suppressors are good for my long-term ear health). With my tech limitations, I doubted I could build anything better than a centerfire suppressor, which was a design that relied on a series of bafflers to suppress the expanding gasses of a gunshot (think of 1 baffler as a steel cone, but with the pointy end cut off to accommodate the bullet).
To start, I cast-forged a steel tube and 4 bafflers that snugly fit. Then I constructed an expansion chamber that threads with the steel tube. The expansion chamber also had a piston and springs to stabilize the suppressor when the barrel retracts right after firing. I also added a mixture of water and animal grease into the chamber before screwing it on the tube (which will further dampen the sound thanks to the Ideal Gas Law). The expansion chamber was also threaded to screw onto the barrel.
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It took me roughly 2 weeks in the Sequoia Locker to finish the suppressor and to retool my barrel to be threaded (so I can screw on the suppressor) and my slide to have taller sights than typical design (since the suppressor would’ve blocked the typical sights). I’d also improved the pistol handling by adding a leather grip. After all these upgrades, Aurelia felt like a whole new pistol.
I went outside in the cold wintry forest and practiced shooting a couple of mags with the new and improved Aurelia to get comfortable. The suppressor worked well- I’d say this thing knocked off about 20-30 decibels, turning an unbearably loud discharge into a somewhat loud sound. I also did some reloading drills to get it into my muscle memory in case I needed to fight off a whole Ranger squad.
Lastly, I reloaded the cartridges and prepared for Phase 2 of my mission.
***
By the time I got back into Carnwennan, the city looked like a freaking warzone. Shop doors were boarded up, armed men patrolled the streets (some of them wearing yellow shirts and armbands), and occasionally sounds of battle could be heard from a distant part of the city.
I saw a squad of Rangers rushing to contain one such battle. Hey, I know some of those guys! It was the 1st Squad led by Vinnick! We made eye contact, and he tapped the officer next to him. He saw me and immediately stopped the double time march.
“Halt! Take a quick break, Rangers! You’ll need it the way this day has been going.”
I smiled at him and extended my right arm and grip his forearm. He reaches forward and does the same. “Well met, Centurion Keith.” I greeted Vinnick the same way.
“Well met, Ranger Rummy. I wish we’d meet under more pleasant circumstances.” Keith said in an exasperated tone. Technically, I hadn’t been a Ranger for years, but I wasn't gonna fight him on this.
“Yeah, the past few days have been chock full of madness and stupidity.” Vinnick added.
“Why do you think I’ve been in the Wilds these past couple days? I wanted no part of this noble pissing match.” I casually replied.
Keith chuckled. “The way things are going, Vinnick and I might join you.”
“For what it’s worth, you’re doing the city a great service. The only losers in this fight are the unlucky people caught in the crossfire.”
“Damn right. We spent the whole bloody day trying to stop those idiots from looting shops owned by the rival faction. Worst of all, we’re not even allowed to kill the fuckers!” Vinnick complained.
“And get this, we even got a request from House Galahad to protect maidens from the marauders prowling in the city. What are we, the corset constables?” Keith complained. Huh, I did recall hearing about a Galahad lady who tirelessly campaigned against these sorts of things.
“Hey, you think you can join us for 1 more tour? We could really use somebody with your talent right now.” Vinnick sincerely suggestd.
“If you say yes, I’ll slap on Decanus stripes on your cloak right now.” Keith added on.
“I’m grateful for the praise, Vinnick, I truly am. But I’m fine where I am now.” I took out a sack full of mana crystals and showed it to them. “Hell, after I sell this off and buy a few drinks, I’m heading back out there.”
“You were always one of the smartest Rangers I’ve trained.” Keith wistfully replied. “Now, you’re sipping on the good stuff in a warm tavern while we’re out here in the cold trying to stop those bloody idiots from burning this whole city down.”
“Oh yeah, I think I saw some yellow-shirts prowling around. What’s their stake in this?” I asked.
“The upstarts claim that they share a similar ideology of Imperial Supremacy and centralization of power. And that once they subdue House Galahad, the Emperor himself would improve the lives of every commoner who lives here.”
“Hahahaha! Now that’s a funny joke!” We all laughed at this line of bullshit. Wow, so even in this world, the cunning factions would direct well-deserved grievances from the populace at their rivals for political gain. In a way, I was wrong about these backward savages. This kind of savvy mass manipulation would impress even a 21st century American politician.
***
Based on my conversation with Keith and Vinnick, my plan had finally reached Phase 2. After I took advantage of the tension between the 2 factions and ignited an open conflict, of course the politically neutral Rangers would be called in to keep the peace (City Constables were bought and paid for by nobles, after all). Since the more capable Rangers prevented direct confrontation between the 2 sides, those vicious idiots would eventually resort to raids on shops (and women) of the opposing faction.
And why would I want that? I wanted a perfect smokescreen to claim my severance pay from Stanfur~
I intoned “<
Then I struck the padlock with a rock and easily broke the thermally stressed lock. I stood back and unleashed the Adept-level spell <
*BOOM!*
The charred door got violently blasted down. Small embers continued to burn on the floor. I trashed the office (but not the forge-smithy itself), and took the Artorian Silver, the mana crystals, and even the elemental dust in the trash bin.
Out of the 6 Expert-level forge-smithies in Carnwennan, 2 were pro-Galahad, 2 were pro-upstarts, and 2 were neutral. All I had to do was loot all the pro-Galahad forge-smithies and nobody would suspect a thing. Hell, things could even escalate further, giving me even more cover.
Fortunately for me, the Rangers were all in the Red Light District tonight trying to stop a full-blown street war. Apparently, pent-up unmarried men from both factions got really angry when they heard unsubstantiated rumors of an attack on their preferred brothels. I, for one, am shocked at this turn of event. Shocked, I say~
***
After getting the loot from 2 pro-Galahad forge-smithies and sneaking back into my room through the window, I took a brief nap until first light. As I walked out of the tavern, Mike popped up from the counter to say goodbye.
“Hey Rums, you in a rush?”
“Yup, don’t want to stay in this fucking warzone if I can help it.”
“I hear that, my friend. I hear that.” He sighed in agreement.
“Oh, by the way, don’t sell our mana crystal stock just yet. Hold it until the market price rises.”
“Why? How’d you know it’d go up soon? You got a tip or something?” Mike looked at me with mild suspicion.
“Yeah, someone told me that there’s a fucking turf war happening nearby~” I sarcastically replied.
“Oh, right. That makes sense. At the rate they’re going, they just might target the crystal shops and the forge-smithies…”
“I might not be back for a while, so just hold onto my share of the crowns. Hell, you can borrow some if you need. I’ll be fine on my end.”
“Thanks my friend, but I don’t need the crowns that badly, at least not yet. I will have to charge you for the salt and the pillows though.” Shit! I didn’t disguise the discarded pillows in the dumpster well enough. Mike must’ve noticed it this morning when he was cleaning.
“Oh right. Sorry about taking the salt without asking first. Charge whatever you want.” Please don’t ask about the pillow...
“Gotcha. Oh by the way, I know you need the salt for making jerkies in the Wild, but I have to ask. What’s up with the pillow? Why are there burn marks and holes on them?” Godsdammit, Mike! This was gonna be hard to explain.
“Uh...it’s for an experiment.” I vaguely answered.
“What kind of experiment would… Oh I see. Is it like one of those experiments where lonely guys heat up a chunk of meat, carve a hole, and relieve themselves?”
Fuck, I couldn’t think of a better cover story, so let’s roll with that…
“Something like that.” I replied regretfully.
“By the Gods! Look Rummy. If you don’t know which brothel to visit, you should’ve just asked me! Before I met Jenai, I knew my way around the Red Light District if you know what I mean. You don’t need to get creative here!”
Well, if I was in it, I might as well commit. “Ain’t no brothels in the Wild though.”
Mike threw his hands up in exasperation. “For fuck’s sakes! That’s it! We’re going there the next time you’re back.” Sure, if those noble idiots hadn’t burned it down yet...
“Hah! Good luck getting your wife to say yes to that.” I teased.
“Trust me, after I show Jenai the pillows, she’s gonna demand that I take you there next time.”
“Please don’t.”
***
Well, that just happened. After that embarrassing episode, I quickly exited the city to rush back to the Locker. Today’s the day I finish the Garand! Let’s focus on that AND ONLY THAT!
By midday, I’ve finished melting and hammering the Artorian Silver. I then pour the molten metal into the molds for the trigger housing group and firing pin. While I waited for the molding to cool, I completed the construction of the suppressor. I’ve followed the same design principles as I did for Aurelia’s centerfire suppressor. However, since the M1 Garand fired supersonic rounds, it was expected to be much louder than the Aurelia’s subsonic rounds. In an attempt to compensate for that, my suppressor system contains 8 bafflers instead of 4. In addition, I’ve welded a sharp steel spike (about 10 centimeters) along the side of the suppressor as a bayonet substitute. That way, when I carried the M1 Garand around, people would simply assume it was a weirdly shaped spear, and not the most lethal weapon in this world.
The final assembly began sometime before sunset. The safety guard, elevated rear sight, receiver, clip latch, bolt, operating rod, follower rod, follower spring, gas system with an elevated front sight, barrel (drilling the gas port with medieval tech was a real bitch and a half), and the stock and front hand guard were assembled together. Then I screwed on the suppressor. Sadly, by the time the rifle was fully assembled, the sun had set and I couldn’t test it and adjust the sighting.
Instead, I handloaded more .45 Auto and .30-06 Springfield cartridges. Not only did I use up all of the dust I stole last night, I even had to start filing down spare fire and air mana crystals into dust. By the time the cooling process was completed, I had produced a stockpile of 241 Springfields and 98 ACPs. I was ready to take this party up to the next level!
After some pondering, I’ve come up with a name for my Garand knockoff. In honor of Stanfur and his generous donation of Artorian Silver that made this possible, I christened this rifle, “Severance Pay”.
Field Inventory
Primary Weapon
Recurve bow made from Champion mana-beast sinew/Quiver with arrows
M1 Garand v.1.0 [Christened Severance Pay]
Secondary Weapon
Colt M1911A1 Semi-Automatic Pistol v.2.0 [Christened Aurelia]
Armor
Champion mana-beast leather body armor, bracers, and greaves; Leather boots lined with bear fur
Mana Crystals
1x Adept-level air elemental mana crystal
1x Adept-level fire elemental mana crystal
1x Adept-level earth elemental mana crystal
1x Beginner-level ice elemental mana crystal
Stash of various mana crystals
Misc.
Utility belt, grappling hook, rope, dark green cloak, field satchel, waterskin, rations, boarskin map and steel knife
1x .45 ACP steel centerfire pistol suppressor
1x .30-06 Springfield steel centerfire rifle suppressor / bayonet
6x en bloc clips of .30-06 Springfield armor-piercing ammo
3x magazines of .45 ACP hollow-point ammo
1x leather holster