Although Vivian and Altair had been living and eating together during this time, Hahn, the butler, still had a huge grievance against her, believing it was Vivian's fault for leading his Count astray.
During this period, he had frequently tried to persuade Altair to let Vivian leave, but was refused for various reasons... After reporting the income and expenditure of the assets for the past half month today, Hahn opened the study door and was just about to leave when he saw the person he least wanted to see in this manor, Vivian Laurent.
Seeing her greet him, he gritted his teeth out of politeness despite his dissatisfaction and said, "Good morning, Ms. Vivian!"
Vivian, seeing Hahn Clayton's look of not wanting to chat and leaving directly, shook her head helplessly and turned to enter the study.
Walking closer, she said, "What's wrong with Hahn lately? I feel like his grievance against me is getting bigger and bigger."
Hearing Vivian's words, Altair also looked up and smiled, "Isn't that because someone's cries were too loud last night and got discovered?"
Vivian's face turned slightly red upon hearing this, "You know very well why that was. You're like a bull every day, and those movements... I've never even heard of them in Intis. You even wanted me to use 'Spider Silk'. I really don't know how you thought of it when you clearly didn't understand anything before."
Seeing Vivian's current state, Altair stood up, walked to her side, and comforted her, "Alright, alright. You know that my public identity now is an underage girl. I can only trouble you for a while."
Altair's words left Vivian helpless. This was indeed a last resort, and it was a hole she had dug for herself, so she had to jump in. After a moment of intimacy, she stated her purpose for coming: "I need to leave Backlund for a while. The Sect has issued a mission for me to handle some matters."
Hearing this news, Altair was surprised, "Aren't you one of the people in charge of the Demoness Sect in Backlund? Why would you suddenly receive a mission to leave?"
Vivian showed a troubled expression, "I can't tell you about this. This matter involves a lot, and I'm afraid you'll get sucked in."
"Besides, your body should rest for a while."
Vivian leaned down and whispered in Altair's ear, "I can feel that your body has been significantly weaker these past two days."
Feeling the warm breath and hearing her words, Altair turned his head and rubbed his nose awkwardly, "Will there be any danger on your trip? I know you can't refuse this matter, but when going out on official business, safety should still be the priority..."
Hearing her little man's instructions, Vivian said slowly, "Don't worry, it's just a normal item handover mission. I'll come back as soon as I get the items. No accidents will happen."
"Besides, you've learned some Beyonder knowledge now. If you miss me in the next few days, you can contact me through the 'Magic Mirror'."
...After a night of 'madness', Altair saw Vivian off to her carriage the next morning. Standing at the villa's entrance, he watched Vivian's carriage leave, then turned back into the villa to handle the family's industrial documents.
Sometimes having many family industries really isn't a good thing. Although Altair didn't have to personally handle most documents, major matters required his signature.
And those nobles really have nothing better to do! There are several banquet invitations every day.
If he could write back freely, he would definitely let them experience the greetings of people from the information age, cursing their entire family to the heavens. Is it not annoying to send invitations every day? If you're not annoyed, I am! What's with this Baron? This is the eleventh time he's seen his name in the past half month!
Tap, tap, tap.
Hearing the sound at the door, Altair didn't even look up and said, "Enter."
When he looked at Hahn entering, the butler was already carrying a large box.
Seeing the large box, Altair knew what it was. He put down his fountain pen and stood up, saying, "Just put it on the table."
Hahn slowly placed the box on the table, opened it, and said, "Count Altair, this firearm is definitely a milestone of the past century. It completely overturns the modern definition of firearms, combining the power of a High-pressure Steam Rifle with the firepower of a machine gun."
Altair looked at the items in the box and said, "Actually, this gun isn't quite as good as you say. Compared to existing firearms, it only has an advantage in gunpowder technology."
Through his practice with firearms during this time, Altair had understood why special firearms like 'high-pressure steam guns' appeared among existing weapons.
Because the gunpowder manufacturing technology of this era hadn't fully entered the smokeless powder stage, Black Powder affected the power, let alone the high-energy composite gunpowder that would come later.
This matter also disrupted Altair's original plan. He had originally thought he could only sell some 'advanced weapons' later on.
But he never expected that even though Roselle had been gone for over a hundred and fifty years, Black Powder hadn't been completely replaced.
After learning about this, Altair used the abilities he had acquired to have Hahn find materials for him to create a new type of 'gunpowder' himself.
He didn't need to pay a price to get his hands on such materials; he could just take them directly from his own factories.
During this time, he spent half the day in class and half the day researching gunpowder. Naturally, danger was a common occurrence; the garden area outside the laboratory window had been completely ruined by Altair.
For the first prototype firearm, Altair drew a design based on the 'Winchester M1895' Lever-action Rifle as a model and had the factory manufacture two of them for testing. Hahn had frequently gone to the industrial zone to supervise during this time.
The gunpowder for the ammunition used the 'new type of gunpowder' he had provided.
As for why he didn't produce better firearms, there was no need for it right now. These two prototypes were for his own amusement and wouldn't participate in military bidding.
According to current technology, it would be easy to build 'Bolt-action' firearms with simple parts.
Of course, even a 'Bolt-action' is better than a 'Lever-action Rifle'. Why not produce the former, but instead pick the lesser of the two?
To this question, Altair's answer was because 'it's cool', and he wasn't going to the battlefield anyway.
Altair took out the two firearms from the box and weighed them in his hands, finding the weight acceptable.
These two guns were cast entirely from blued steel with walnut stocks, and then complex patterns were engraved on the exterior. Now, the more Altair looked at this gun, the more he liked it.
Considering safety issues, Altair asked curiously, "Hahn, has this gun been tested?"
Seeing Altair's current movements, Hahn said with a smile, "Both firearms have completed testing. The bullets are made with the gunpowder you provided. The Winchester M1895, using 7.62×54 pointed rounds, can hit a distance of 800 meters and maintain stability. The Marlin M1895, using.45-70, can hit around 200 meters according to test results."
"The factory's suggestion is to abandon the round-nose bullet version and directly mass-produce the pointed-nose bullet version. In the first month, they might only produce a thousand units, but after expanding production, that can be tripled."
Seeing Hahn's excited look, Altair directly poured cold water on him, "There's no need to mass-produce these firearms. This kind of gun is fine for hunting right now, but on a real battlefield, all sorts of problems would arise."
Lever-action Rifles have major flaws: high manufacturing costs, many parts, difficult maintenance, and not all of them can use pointed bullets... They were made for his own amusement. If they're really going to the battlefield, let them use Bolt-action rifles instead.