The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 93: Fight! Fight! Fight!

The mayor interjected first.

"Well said, Mister Faust! My guests—these people have saved my life and yours at some expense to them. Please, treat them with respect!"

"Hmph! Only because this is your request, Matiliy... But I will be watching them." The angry nobleman sat down and folded his hands over his chest. "Let’s speak business instead. I’m too old to stay up late."

Reynard let out a breath and relaxed a little in his chair. On a chair next to him, Marien humphed and raised her chin with visible disdain toward all the haters.

Matiliy nodded to the old nobleman and waved his hand.

"Of course. I didn’t ask you to gather on such short notice, when we all still bear the traces of the last disaster, to waste your time. Friends, I know you burn with outrage as much as I do. For all this time, we kept our heads low in fear of magi and their might. You all know that even hiring foreign mercenaries wouldn’t have helped us to gain our independence."

"We would have just changed our current masters for others. As soon as a mercenary conquers a place, he starts to think it’s his," the ring-fingered woman said. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Yes. But only as long as the mercenary can hold the place for himself. But what if he could only use the power WE give to him?"

Matiliy smiled victoriously. He opened a wooden box lying on a tea table next to him and pulled out a small revolver.

Marien sucked in a shocked breath. Reynard leaned forward, immediately noting the slight differences from his own guns. This revolver was made by his blueprints, but not by him.

There was recognition on the faces of the most nobles.

"A gun artifact? I heard that they are powerful, but can only be used by magi," the angry nobleman said. "What use are they to us?"

"Only a magus can activate this weapon, but any magus can do it. Even the weakest ones, who can be beaten with ordinary sticks and enough effort! Meanwhile, each shot of a gun artifact requires ammunition. As long as we control the ammunition supply, we control the magi we hire. And we WILL control the supply. The charges for the gun artifacts are sold by a single source in Darland, and she has good reasons not to sell them to anyone untrustworthy."

The most shocking thing about the entire thing was the fact that Reynard still didn’t see anyone staring at him. Well, except for Marien, but she turned away quickly enough.

’These people don’t realise that I’m the designer of these guns!’ Reynard realized.

"Master Faust, I saw you using a gun artifact just like that one... On the celebration!" said a middle-aged nobleman with a large moustache. He pointed a finger at Reynard. "It was very loud, too. Did you get your ammunition and gun from the mayor, too?"

"No, but I know what seller he’s talking about," Reynard said. "She only sold the guns to me when I convinced her that I’m not loyal to the Order of Winter."

Matiliy nodded as if he expected no other answer.

"Yes. This was another reason I trusted you, Mister Faust, Miss Windblown. The trader is a good judge of character."

Reynard glanced away to hide the complicated emotion on his face.

’Damn, Amelia! Did you want me to glaze you right now? Oh, I am starting to really hate all this intrigue...’

This seemed to be shared by Marien. Based on her unimpressed expression, she was currently thinking that she was surrounded by fools. Entertaining fools.

She even chuckled a little when she caught Reynard’s eye.

Thankfully, after this, the attention shifted from Reynard again.

The mayor spoke a little more about how deadly the guns were, even against the stronger magi, and Reynard just nodded along. Eventually, the mayor’s words convinced the guests that guns are worth using, and they began speaking about the resources they could and are willing to spend in the name of the revolution.

It turned out that many guests already had magi mercenaries on stand-by in their out-of-city estates. All these mercenaries were at the Nigredo stage, but there were also ordinary soldiers, as well as mercenaries that the rebels were planning to hire.

It was a good season for this—many foreign magi made into Darland at this time of the year, either with trade caravans or directly searching for work.

By a total estimate, an army of a hundred Nigredo magi could be gathered within a couple of weeks, and ordinary soldiers would be without count. Of course, all of them had to be armed.

To Reynard’s lack of surprise, a lot of guns were already prepared for the magi, and some of them even had training with them. It seemed that most of the Boom Powder he had sold to Amelia in the past year went to this. She must’ve organized an entire hidden smithing operation.

Still, this wasn’t a very large force.

"Two hundred? Each of the orders has twice as many, as well as dozens of Albedo magi," Marien commented at this with a frown.

Her doubts were shared by other guests.

"Even if the orders are distracted and won’t suspect an attack, they are led by the most powerful magi of Darland! Can we really take them?"

"If we fail... We will all be destroyed..."

"It’s better to die free than to live like rats!" the mayor exclaimed, raising his fist in the air. "Are you going to hide your heads in snow again just for the tyrants to plant their feet on your sticking out buttocks? Fight! Fight with me!"

"Yes! Fight! Fight!" Marien cheered, stomping her foot in rhythm. "I will kill the heads of the Order of Snow myself if I have to! It will be a fight for ages!"

"Hey... Don’t be overly eager, I will help you with that!" Reynard said. "But yes. Keep your spirit up, most of the magi from the orders will kill each other, anyway!"

After this gathering was over, Reynard remembered his words from time to time for the rest of the week and cringed a little every time.