The Emperor and The Prototype

The Emperor, Franz von Hohenzollern, is the current leader of the Great German Empire. 

He had led his country for 20 years now, and he will lead until his last breath. 

Being an Emperor is a tedious task which has a very heavy responsibility. He has a reputation to uphold, and an Empire to sustain. 

Franz has a lot of stuff to do for the nation. He has to check every detail of their economic situation. Due to the war, he also needs to ensure that the frontlines were properly manned. Beside all of this, he also choose to write consolation letters to the families of those who lost their lives in the war.

For every decision he makes, he also need to take into account the citizens of his country. He is the one who leads in the back. He is the backbone of the nation.

Now, this backbone is heading towards his son's room. He noticed that his son, Felix, has changed greatly after his sickness. A boy who back then does not even touched a page of a book, is now reading books after books in his small library. 

He even asked the Grand Butler for books in my personal library, books concerning Geopolitics, history, and even firearms. The Grand Butler also reported that his son wanted to have some books or records containing state secrets which was obviously rejected. 

The Emperor is proud of his family. His wife who was so lovable and caring, is now his pillar when it comes to stressful times. His wife also acts as the Minister for Science, Education, and Culture, which his wife has done a fantastic job so far. He is also great at 'night time activities'.... :)

He also value his kids more than anything else in this world, except his wife of course. His eldest son who is 19 years old, is currently studying at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, also known as the best university in the country at current times.

His second son who has recently found his stride, reading and training his magic control and his body. He is the only mage in the family except for the Emperor. Maybe his son will head to the battlefield in due time... which he was scared of.

His lovely daughter who was the princess and most loved family member is now having fun and playing, just like anyone who is the same age as her.

He values his family as much as he values his nation. If he were to choose from the nation or his family, he does not know if he can make such decision, regardless, he will do his best as a father to both the nation and his family.

Arriving at the door of Felix's room. The Emperor thought about what he will talk with his son. 

After a minute of thinking, he knocked lightly on his son's door.

"Son, are you there? Come talk to Father."

After ten seconds, he heard not even an ounce of response from inside, so he knocked again. 

He can feel that presence of his son at his son's desk so he does not bother thinking that his child snuck out of the palace. 

The Emperor opened the door and looked inside. He immediately saw a pair of golden eyes staring right at him. It was the Golden Eagle.

Honestly, he was kinda scared of the Golden Eagle, it sometimes gives him chills. Most of the time, the eagle was just acting like a bird, but oftentimes, he can see the bird act somewhat like a human, just as the way it was acting now.

The eagle was looking straight at the emperor with its glowing golden eyes. After five seconds of staring, the eagle closed its eyes and went back to sleep. 

Relieved, the emperor then went on to the desk, where his son was sleeping on. He can see that Felix has fallen asleep head down atop a bunch of gun schematics. He noticed that even if the drawings are child like, it was still a good design. He also noticed that it still has no measurements or the metals to be used on, to which he can infer that the gunsmith he contacted earlier will be the one doing it. 

He looked at the sleeping face of his second son and a dribble of saliva can be seen moving to the design schematics of his child, so he carried Felix back to his bed. He gently laid Felix at his son's bed and covered him with a blanket and put a nearby eagle plushie near his chest which Felix immediately hugged.

Suddenly, Felix woke up and groggily asked his father what he is doing, while still holding the eagle plushie.

"Father, what are you doing here *yawnnn*"

"Father is here to check on you."

Felix groggily nodded and smiled.

"Thank you Father, I am fine, your son is the strongest hihi."

Seeing his child smile, the Emperor also adapted a kind smile. He also asked his son a very important question, leveraging on his son's vulnerability due to grogginess after waking up. He knew it was wrong, but he wants to know more about his son.

"Felix, what do you think about the empire and the wars?"

Felix, still a bit groggy, answered the question truthfully.

"Father, *yawnnn* the empire will lose in this current state, if we choose to advance and win over our enemies, then we must have a technological revolution. We must be ahead of our competitors by a kilometer, and be strong enough to withstand any threats to our land. *yawnn*"

"Father, we must also adapt a defensive strategy in the frontlines, and let a specialized mage battalion to *yawnn* do the dirty work, so that the infantry and the tanks can be safe to advance."

Hearing this, the Emperor was a bit startled. He just received a paper this morning from the General Staff regarding the creation of a specialized mage battalion which will rapidly react to any threats during the war. They will also be the one to be used as attacks against artilleries, and other special targets. 

Hearing the plan straight from the mouth of his son, made him think that his child is a genius, just like the child in the War College.

I wonder what will happen if the two geniuses will meet.

Felix closed his eyes but before going back to sleep, he uttered some words.

"Father, can I have an... operation orb?.. zzzzzzzz For practice..... zzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Seeing and hearing this, the emperor lightly brushed his son's hair and silently left the room and prepared for his day tomorrow. He needs to prepare an operation orb for his son, he wants it to provide his son with a single core orb for practice, before handing to him the family's heirloom orb.

He will also need to talk with the General Staff regarding paper that he received.

_____________

Since then, three days has passed. 

Felix attributed about what happened back then as a dream where he talked to his father about the war. 

During the past three days, he was stuck in his room and only going out when it is time to eat with the family. He was designing gun schematics with only the perceived measurement available. The metal used and the design of the chamber will be discussed with his gunsmith.

He continuous to practice his mana control and now he can balance a pencil in the middle of his four fingers. His body is also now gaining a bit of a muscle.

He was also practicing his eyes in order to get a feel for it. He can now activate and deactivate it freely.

Wearing a cream colored shirt and a dark aviator glasses to cover his eyes, with an eagle perched on top of his head, he is now walking side-by-side with the captain of his Royal Guards, Carl Schmidt, on the way to the gunsmith. The captain is now summarizing the results of the investigation on the gunsmith and his family. 

"Your highness, we have finished investigating the gunsmith and his family. He is a German citizen, born and raised here in Berun. His parents are both Finnish, but they do not care about their own country. There are no possibilities that they are spies sent here by the Legadonia Alliance since we followed them and watched his every move together with the intelligence agency."

"His wife and child are also both cleared since his wife is a pure blooded German. During this past 3 days, he just went to the forge in order to make the gun that you have commanded him to make."

"I see, so basically, they can be trusted, right?"

"Yes, your highness. We can trust him and his family."

With this, he basically have his own gunsmith. Felix, together with Jarvin the gunsmith, will have to create a corporation based on manufacturing war equipment and armaments so that they can still earn money while advancing the technology of the empire.

While walking, he noticed the War College at the distance. He and his companion went towards the opposite side of the road, across the college in order to look at the college for a little bit. The guards of the college saluted him and stayed that way until the prince leave the vicinity of the college. The prince saluted back to the guards as a sign of courtesy and respect. 

He stayed there for a good 10 minutes in order to have a glimpse of his goddess, but looks like his luck has ran out again.

He didn't know, the goddess he was looking for was in a coffee shop just 2 meters behind him, drinking her black coffee and reading a newspaper, with a gun leaning at the seat beside her. 

The girl noticed the duo, a child looking like the same age as her, and a tall male. Tanya also noticed that the guards of the college were saluting towards the child, but she didn't give anymore attention towards this, after all, she hates nobles the most, and this stemmed from an event that happened back then.

She heard that a group of nobles inside the college are attempting to undermine her efforts, saying that she only got his ace medal because she was lucky. Of course, she kicked the hell our of these nobles, but it backfired. She was clawing her way to be part of the Twelve Knights of the college which were given a noble status upon graduation. 

Her noble enemies influenced some teachers to gave her a low score in some of the subjects and fell out of the Twelve Knights designation. Fortunately, Brigadier General von Zettour saw this and punished the teacher and kicked the nobles out of the college.

Even if she was acquitted and was now back in the race, she swears that if she saw the nobles, who harmed her reputation, in the battlefield, she will not hesitate to send them to a dangerous line and let them suffer in hell, she will also torture them bit-by-bit and psychologically drain them until they wet and shit their pants, and at the end, he will send them to their eventual deaths while running towards the enemy with bombs strapped on their chests, this way, they can still contribute a bit to the war. 

Tanya giggled and thought of these stuffs while drinking her black coffee peacefully. 

She strives for the noble status is because once she attained it, she will have the chance to stay at the rear lines which she truly wants. She wants to stay at the rear and not waste her life at the front, if it so happens, then she might have one upped Being-X. Just the thought of it gives Tanya literal chills in her spine.

Going back to our MC, having stared at the college for a whole 10 minutes and missing a Goddess-given gift, walked towards the gunsmith in order to see the prototype of the guns he commissioned to be made. 

Upon arriving at the alleyway where the scuffle happened, noticing the absence of the gangsters, Felix looked at the captain of his guards. The captain just smiled mysteriously. Now, Felix knew what happened to them, and thought inwardly that they deserved it the most. The Golden Eagle then flew towards Goddess knows where, to flirt or to set his territory.

Felix then walked towards the door of the gunsmith and knocked three times. Waiting for 5 seconds, the door opened and a family of three was waiting for him. 

"Good morning your highness!"

The family saluted with their right arm across their chest. Felix then told them to just be relaxed in front of him.

"Don't mind the details, just be relaxed in front of me."

The family was a bit relieved but was still on their toes since the person in front of them is a member of the Royal Family, a prince. 

Noticing the nervousness of the family, he knew to moved on to the main topic.

"Jarvin, can I see the gun that I commissioned?"

Jarvin, the gunsmith, then went towards the place where the gun is stored in order to retrieved it, while his family gave a generous hospitality towards their guests. 

The wife of the gunsmith then provided chairs for the duo and prompted them to seat. She then served them with tea and some cookies while waiting for her husband. After all the formalities, the mother and daughter duo then politely introduced themselves.

"Good morning your highness, I am Emma Vertanen the wife of the Jarvin Vertanen. This is my daughter, Valmet Vertanen, she is 14 years old is studying at the public high school His majesty has provided."

"Good morning and Thank you and thanks to your family, your highness, for providing people without capacity a thorough and proper education."

He already knew these information based on his investigations that the gunsmith's daughter was named Valmet. Yes, he named his gun after his daughter

"No worries, my father has put his emphasis on education since educated workers are the true backbone of this nation. Study well alright?"

"Yes! Your highness!"

Just then, the gunsmith came back to the living room and presented the prototype to the prince. 

The prince attempted to grabbed it but his escort was faster. Felix looked at the 6 foot tall man with threatening eyes but the man just started inspecting it. After inspecting it, he then gave it to Felix.

"Your highness, I am sorry but I need to inspect it first and made sure that it is safe."

"You just want a first look at the gun, come on tell me the truth."

The escort heavily denied it and Felix paid it no more attention but instead starts inspecting the gun. 

It was heavily close to the first Valmet AK-inspired rifles which was the M-58. It was presumed to be an automatic gun, with an alternate mode of semi-automatic. The stock, grip, and the hand guard was made out of wood. It also closely resembles the AK, but with a better performance. One thing he noticed though was the iron sights used was based on the current Gewehr rifles, which is a alright, but it will not reflect the true power of this gun. 

Felix wanted it to change it to the iconic AK-47 or AKM iron sights, for a much better range since it can be adjusted up to 800-1,000 meters. Further testing about this will be required.

The gun was chambered to use the standard bullets of the current German Empire, which was the 7.92×57mm Mauser or most commonly known as the 8mm Mauser ammo.

Overall, Felix was happy about the gun and cannot wait to head to the range to test it. 

He then motioned for his escort to bring the car at the front of the alleyway and wait for him there. The escort saluted and left the home in order to do the task of his prince.

The family of the gunsmith then read the mood of the room and politely left, leaving the two behind.

Felix reached to his bag to get a couple design schematics and handed it to the gunsmith. 

Jarvin was a bit confused at the design schematics at his hand. It was drawn childishly, yet he can still see the overall design and measurement of the guns. 

"I know it is a bit bad for a drawing but... it is what it is. The one on your right hand is a design for the pistol known as the Wüstenadler (Desert Eagle). It is a milled gun which is hopefully made out of stainless steel. I need your help in looking for a metal suitable for this since it will fire a high caliber bullet. Basically, it can be a rifle in a pistol. It is my aim to create a hand cannon which mages can use just in case."

"The other design is a semi-automatic rifle made for long distance engagements. This will be used as a gun for our flying comrades, so a high precision is needed for this gun. It will also be fired at a long range. This is a sniper rifle known as the Hohenzollern-Scharfschützengewehr (Hohenzollern Sniper Rifle)(based on the SVD or the Dragunov Sniper Rifle)."

"The gun closely resembles this current prototype gun you presented to me earlier, so we can make our moves based on the success of this prototype gun."

Honestly, Jarvin was suddenly overwhelmed. In front of him were two designs which were obviously of high quality, but the sheer psychological pressure of a negative feeling of 'Can I do it?' is continuously gnawing on him. 

Noticing this, Felix helped relieve the gunsmith's nervousness.

"Stay calm. Don't you want to be at the forefront of the current gun technology? Don't you want to be part of the Empire's technological revolution? You and I will be the center of this revolution. Don't be afraid, for our names will be etched into history. It will be read from the books that your future children, grandchildren, or even great-grandchildren will see."

"History will show that you and I are vital for the development of this world! So don't be afraid. Don't be overwhelmed. Think about your family. Think about how you suffered having nothing to eat. This will be the start of yours's and I's journey to riches. So straighten your body, put your chin up, for we will be known as the gods of firearms!"

Hearing the encouragement from his prince. His nervousness went away for a bit, instead, sheer determination can be seen in his eyes. 

"That's good. Now, let's go to the range to test your gun."

Jarvin went to his family and told them that he will be back later.

Both of them went towards the car that was waiting for them. The prince and the gunsmith sat at the back and went towards the range which was waiting for them already.

The guard greeted the group and lead them to the shooting range. The range has different distances from 100m down to a kilometer. 

Felix then shooed away the range owner since what they will be testing is still considered a classified gun. Even though they are in a classified shooting range, the smaller the number of people who knows about this, the better.

He grabbed the prototype gun and went towards the place where he will shoot, but his escort intercepted him.

"No, your highness. I need to first check the quality of the rifle. It might blow up in your face."

Felix glared at his escort and threatening him to move out of the way, and... the escort is not threatened. Both of them stared at each other for a whole 5 minutes before Felix backed down. 

"Alright, but you will only fire ONE BULLET! JUST ONE BULLET!!!!!!"

"Alright, your highness."

The Royal Guard then put a single 8mm Mauser bullet in the famous bent cartridge and aimed at the 100m metal dummy. He open fired and a metal vs. metal sound was heard, meaning it hit the target. He was stunned by how accurate and strong the bullet was. Even though it uses the same bullet as the Gewehr rifles, he can feel that it is much better.

Honestly, he wants to fire another bullet but feeling the piercing stare from his back, he knew that his time is up, and proceeded to head towards his prince. 

Felix grabbed the gun and unloaded the cartridge. He then put 30 Mauser bullets in the cartridge, which was the full amount, and loaded the gun again. He then wear the specialized hearing protection and aimed at the 100m dummy. Without looking back, he asked the gunsmith a question.

"Hey, Jarvin! What should we name this gun?"

"Your highness, You can name it anyway you want."

Hearing this, Felix thought for a moment. He thought of a name based on the original name of the gun it was modeled on. 

"How about Automatische Vertanen-Hohenzollern or the AVH-1 for short. We can also call it as Valmet internally."

"That's a good name sir!"

Felix then fired a bullet and noticed that it didn't hit the target. So he activated his cheating device, his eyes. He suddenly saw multitude of lines but the most prominent is the line of his rifle. He observed that the line coming from his rifle was a bit to the side of the dummy. 

He straightened the line to test his eyes and shot the target. This time it hit the target. 

Hearing the satisfying metal sound and feeling the recoil in his shoulder, his adrenaline suddenly went up. 

He turned the lever for the automatic mode on and aimed at the target. He can see the straight line between him and the target. 

He then shot the target in a 3 round burst. 

He went towards the 300m target and aimed at it. He also let out a 3 round burst on it.

He skipped the rest of the target and went straight to 800m target to test the prototype's capabilities. 

The 800m was the intended maximum effective range of the AK-47. Felix wanted to test its long range capabilities and aimed at it. 

Felix observed the trajectory of his shot and noticed that it is bending a little bit by the end. Felix shot one bullet and hearing the satisfying metal sound after 2 seconds, he knew that he hit his target. 

Felix shoulders are getting bruised for a bit but due to the adrenaline in his veins, he takes no notice of it. 

Felix went back to the 300m target to test the automatic mode of the rifle, and let me tell you, it is one hella fun.

Felix shot out the remaining 23 bullets straight to the supposedly chest of the target.

*Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* *Pang* 

Seeing this, the Royal Guard and the gunsmith was amazed.

Felix looked back at the two of them and said.

"So... when can we produce this?"