The next day, we were shown the equipment of the First Magic Knight Battalion led by Ernesta as promised. The equipment lined up in the middle of the encampment included prototype weapons which seemed better than expected.

“Our unit is always the first one to be asked to try out various things. You can choose whatever you like, but…how about this? This one’s called the ‘Shield of Love and Peace’.”

“Wafi?” (What?)

She shows Ax a small shield with dark green and gold accents.  It’s a type of magical equipment where a certain amount of magic could be felt.

“Guoaruau?” [What kind of effect does it have?]

“Hmm~ if I’m not mistaken, the Royal Blacksmith said this is a shield which spreads Healing Light every time it receives an attack until the user’s magic is exhausted.”

So its effect is indiscriminate…Still, it’s valuable as a recovery artifact.

“Also, its user needs to possess Holy Attribute magic for it to activate.” 

So it’s useless even if Ax had it… Wait, if the user has Holy attribute magic, can’t they at least use the elementary spell, ‘Healing Light’?

Looks like its value just dropped in one go…

“Can the big, blue Kobold use magic?”

“Gua, kuaruo.” [No, he can’t.]

“Ah, then this electromagnetic shield might not be useful either. If you run Lightning magic through the shield, then it will become powerfully magnetic and attract iron, but…”

Even if it attracts Iron Swords, it seems to be ineffective against weapons made of Mithril and Orihalcon. Well, except for the ones with some iron mixed in, I’ve never seen a pure Mithril or Orihalcon weapon before, so this one could still have various applications, but… None of my companions could use lightning magic.

“Guruu garuoaan.” (I prefer this one.)

In the end, Ax chose a variant of the so-called Duel Shield, which is a white shield with a short, horizontal handle and a blade-like, tapered point which is good for both offense and defense.

Meanwhile, Lancer was comparing a spear with a mechanized spring structure that extends length-wise and a spear with a short sword-like blade tip.

“Guruouaru, garuo aruo kurua aruu… gaoh!!” (This one’s pretty tempting since the spearhead could extend during offense, but… hiyah!!)

She unleashed a quick thrust in the open space and pushed the release mechanism in the handle.

The spring-latch was released, and the speartip shot out with a length of at least 1.5 meters.

From there, she quickly pulled it back, but… the spear was too long that it became hard to handle.

That was the weakness of the prototype flying spear called the Bullet Spear. The length had become so long that it would be impossible to quickly return the spear tip to its original length during battle.

“Wauoan, gurugaorua…” (It might be great for surprise attacks, but after that…)

This time, Lancer picked up a slightly shorter slash spear with a speartip that looked like a short sword.

“If you hold it near the blade, then you can use it as a sword to make a slash attack.”

Ernesta took Lancer’s right hand as she talked, and made her hold the part she was referring to, and stepped back. 

“Woa!!” (Seyah!!) 

Immediately after making diagonal slashes and transitioning to horizontal blows, Lancer thrusts her spear forward while backstepping to keep her distance. Timing her movement, she loosens her right hand on the hilt and slides it backward, drawing out her left hand as she takes a spear attack stance.

Then, she loosened her grip on the spear as soon as she pulled it back, sliding the handle towards the blade and once again taking a sword attack stance.  

“Kuruaoaan.” (I wonder if I should get this…)

Lancer looked like she had already made up her mind.

“Gurua, guruukuruaou.” (Boss, I’m taking this one.)

Blazer, who had been cunningly rummaging through the selection of armaments, equipped a black Long Sword and a gauntlet with some sort of contraption attached to it.

“Garuo?” [What are those?]

“It’s a black sword for surprise attacks and a small, crossbow gauntlet.”

When Blazer turned on the mechanism, a part of the gauntlet extended on both sides and a bowstring stretched between it much like a crossbow. It seems that the small arrows installed in several small grooves are fired from it.

“It’s a small crossbow so it’s not very powerful, but it’s assumed that the user is supposed to use poison arrows on it, so I’ll add a vial of a highly viscous paralyzing poison for the arrows later.”

… If anything, this choice of weapons perfectly reflects his personality.

Dagger, on the other hand, did not seem to have any intention of replacing her beloved Stilleto made from a unicorn’s horn and only replaced the other dagger.

“Gauh!” (Eei!)

thud

“Uu～～♪” (～～♪)

Since earlier, I had been playing with some mechanical daggers whose blades pop-out due to springs by throwing it on a wooden board. Well, I guess I’ll take this one too.

Now, just when I thought of choosing a weapon too, Ernesta confidently brings out a medium-sized bow. The bow had pulleys attached to both ends of it, and it had a complicated string tension.

“Fuffu~, this is the latest creation of the Weapon Manufacturing Division of Riastize Kingdom, the mechanical bow, Baroque. The pulleys allow the user to draw the string with minimal effort so you can draw the string tighter to gain more distance.”

Its appearance seemed somewhat odd, but…

“Woaoon garuan?” [How far do the arrows fly?]

“Hmm～, I hear it has an effective range of over 100 meters.”

I took the weapon from her and pulled the string. I aimed the arrow at the dark, empty forest, but…

“Wau???” [Hnn???]

Unlike a normal bow, there is a strong resistance when I begin to pull the string.

“Guouh! Ooh!?” [Nnngh! O-ooh!?]

When I put some force into it and drew the string again, I couldn’t help but feel anxious as I felt a click as I passed its point of elasticity. There’s a somewhat inexplicable feeling about it, but… I’m glad that the force required to maintain my shooting stance is minimal.

Although I can’t say for sure until I’ve finished testing it out, I am attracted to the distorted bow and I decide to take it.

For my auxiliary weapon, there was a Scimitar, a nostalgic, one-handed curved blade that continued to attract my attention which I, of course, equipped.

Still, we refrained from equipping the Knights’ full plate metal armor as it clashed with our preference for mobility.

【Weapon Change】

Name: Ax (male)

Weapon: Royal Soldier’s War Axe (replaced)

Armament: Dual Shield

Name: Lancer (female)

Weapon: Slash Spear (Main: replaced), Mechanical Dagger (Auxiliary: replaced)

Armament: Leather Armor

Name: Blazer (Male)

Weapon: Black Sword (Main: replaced), Small Bow Gauntlet (Auxiliary: replaced)

Armament: Leather Armor

Name: Dagger (Female: Sister)

Weapon: Stiletto Dagger (Main), Mechanical Dagger (Auxiliary: replaced)

Armament: Leather Armor

Name: Archer (Male: me)

Weapon: Mechanical Bow Baroque (Main: replaced), Scimitar (Auxiliary: replaced)

Armament: Leather Armor

Thus newly armed, we, together with Ernesta’s troops, passed through the gates of Selkram, the Royal Capital, after a six-day journey.