"Once this batch of new guns is delivered, we'll finally be able to give every member of the expanded Cadman People's Army a firearm."
In Transia's bitter winter, Loyalist Bro was rubbing his hands and blowing on them. Dressed in a green military greatcoat that looked awfully familiar, he said to the Honorary Knight Taipal beside him:
"Of course, this still isn't enough. We'll need to keep producing the same number of weapons to make up for losses. That Sulk Flywheel really is an engineering master. He only spent two days advising us, and our semi-automatic ammunition assembly line is finally running properly. Now we just need to work flat out for twenty days!
At most a month!
That should ease our ammunition shortage, which has been plaguing us all along. But to solve it completely, I'll need at least two more production lines.
Still, once the machinery from Chardo Port arrives, we should be in decent shape."
"That really is our most pressing task."
Taipal fully embraced the role-playing spirit. Although he knew Madam Water's tailor shop made "otherworldly-style military greatcoats" that were extremely warm, he stubbornly insisted on wearing the locals' "traditional winter clothes."
Though he was freezing like a dog, the Honorary Knight still stood ramrod straight.
He watched box after box of guns and ammunition being loaded onto the carts, then couldn't help asking:
"But during new-recruit training, we keep getting complaints about the quality of the ammunition. Haven't you done anything to improve it? My squire, Sir Marcus, told me that machining tolerances cause the rounds to jam from time to time.
"Sometimes they even turn out to be duds."
"I know, I know."
At the mention of the problem, Loyalist Bro looked a little embarrassed. He coughed twice and sighed.
"If we were back