Volume 2 chapter 44
"You?"
Looking at Charlo's confident demeanor, Clyris raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical.
"Heh heh~ Don't underestimate the current production capacity of Ironwood!" Charlo placed one hand on his hip and waved the other grandly. "It just so happens that the rifle you chose is the Mosin-Nagant. That's exactly the same model I selected for mass production!"
"Right now, Ironwood is fully mobilized for military production. I can simply expand the scale and send the rifles to you via the System! I checked earlier—with my current level, I can transfer 1,000 cubic meters of material at a time. That's about five hundred crates of rifles per transfer."
"It's a bit slow, but I'll use Research Points to upgrade the channel later. Since there's no limit on the number of transfers, once I expand the channel, I can send thirty to fifty thousand rifles at a time. Do that a few dozen times, and your entire army will be equipped in no time! I'll send the ammunition along with it..."
"Wait. I have millions of troops!" Clyris couldn't help interrupting him. "Does Ironwood even have enough workers for that? When I left a year ago, you only had a few tens of thousands of people!"
"Ah... right! I forgot to update you!" Charlo punched his palm and laughed. "It's been almost a year. Ironwood is completely different now!"
"The population has reached nearly 300,000. Steel production exceeds 200,000 tons. The second Dreadnought-class battleship and the first aircraft carrier are under construction. We've built five 8,000-ton transport ships. We've produced over a hundred 'Falcon' Fighters and 'Griffin' Bombers each! And we've rolled out a dozen Type-1 Tanks based on the T-34/85! All of this was achieved in just one year! And that's not even our full capacity; that's just saturation for our current troops."
"What... how can it be that fast?" Clyris's mouth fell open slightly, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Well... because Davis opened the sea route to the Balar Empire. I don't have to be as restricted as I am in Maurice, so expansion went smoothly..."
Charlo explained vaguely.
Though he didn't say it explicitly, Clyris understood. Expansion meant war.
Charlo was a noble of the Maurice Empire. While the Emperor tacitly allowed internal conflict between nobles below the rank of Count, attacking fellow countrymen still required a valid Casus Belli to maintain appearances.
But facing foreign nobles—those of the Balar Empire—there was no need for face. While Charlo couldn't touch the Counts and Dukes directly loyal to the Balar Emperor, there were plenty of minor nobles to target.
These minor nobles usually pledged allegiance to a greater noble, not the Emperor directly. Following the feudal rule of "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal," their destruction was a matter for their liege lord, not the Emperor.
And even if those liege lords were furious, they couldn't act directly against Charlo.
To prevent devastating wars between nations, the empires of Rodinia had strict rules: High-Rank supernaturals (Seventh Rank and above) could not enter foreign territory without permission. Doing so was an act of war.
With the re-establishment of the Rodinia Alliance, enforcement was even stricter to prevent internal friction.
As for those below the High Rank? They lacked the power to destroy cities single-handedly, so the empires ignored them. As long as no High-Rank entities were involved, it was just a "border skirmish."
Thus, Charlo could freely plunder the minor nobles. And those nobles, facing his tanks, planes, and battleships, were utterly helpless.
"Fine! So... we are partners again?" Clyris raised an eyebrow and proposed after thinking it through.
Although she knew Charlo was frantically plundering while the Alliance was distracted with her, she didn't feel uncomfortable. Nobles are always like this. As long as he doesn't target me, it's fine!
Besides, she knew that the people Charlo "plundered" would live better lives under him than under their original lords.
Even in another empire, there were likely no other nobles who let their slaves eat meat.
Charlo was unique. He was the most distinct noble she had ever met. Not even the priests of the Church possessed his generosity. She didn't need to worry about those people; Charlo would take care of them.
"Sure! So, Miss Clyris, how do you want to cooperate?" Charlo accepted without hesitation.
"You produce the rifles for me. Skip the tanks—demons are too big to fit inside them anyway. I'll buy them from you at a price of 100 grams of Mana Stones per rifle. How does that sound?"
Clyris quoted a high price intentionally. She didn't want him to lose out. He had helped her repeatedly, even risking his life. She wanted to repay him, and this was a perfect opportunity.
"No, no, no... Clyris, that's too high! The Mosin-Nagant isn't a luxury item; it's a cheap consumable!" Charlo quickly refused.
"It's fine! That's the price! Equipping the entire demon army will only cost a thousand tons or so. The Demon Race can afford it!" Clyris waved her hand dismissively, setting the price in stone. "We have Mana Stone Synthesis Factories too, don't worry! Our production capacity is higher than Ironwood's!"
"Then... alright!" Charlo looked at her for a moment before accepting.
"Then I'll only charge one gram of Mana Stones per thousand rounds of ammunition! Also, I want combat data. Can you provide feedback later? I want to know how these guns perform in a high-intensity war!" Charlo added after settling the rifle price.
"No problem!" She said casually. "Not just the guns. I can share data on other weapons and our tactical summaries too!"
"Hey! That's not necessary! Those are lessons bought with blood, aren't they?!" Charlo hurried to stop her. "It wouldn't be right for me to just take them!"
"Hmm... you have a point..." Clyris frowned, realizing he was right. Those precious experiences didn't just belong to her; they were summarized from the lives of thousands of demons.
"How about this! In addition to rifles and ammo, what if I provide you with aircraft?!" Charlo proposed again. "For each plane, you just give me 300 kilograms of Mana Stones and the combat data! That's fair!"
"One ton of Mana Stones per plane! Plus the data!" Clyris countered. "The Demon Race can afford it!"
Charlo was dumbfounded. He had seen plenty of people haggle prices down, but never someone who haggled the price up.
But she refused to budge, insisting on the one-ton price. After failing to persuade her, Charlo accepted.
"Deal. I'll go back and upgrade the transfer channel first!" Finally, Charlo ended the call.
Clyris breathed a sigh of relief. With Ironwood's support, the Demon Race could finally catch its breath.
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