After putting on the crosshair, Claude resumed his shooting practice and his life became more regular.
For example, he would ride horses in school two days a week, practice shooting in the forest outside town two days a week and help build a fishing boat at the Altronis' dock two days a week. Of course, he only did what he could and didn't get to do any technical work.
On another Sunday, Borkal urged the four of them to bring their muskets and go hunting in the hills and forest at the southern outskirts of town.
In the end, they set off in high spirits and returned dejectedly. Not only did they not manage to catch a single bird feather, they even had two huge blisters on their feet from walking for a whole day. When they got home, Claude collapsed on his bed.
It was no longer a matter of accuracy. It was just that they didn't manage to catch any prey.
The southern outskirts of town was mostly occupied by the farms, forests, orchards and vegetable gardens. Even though there were quite a few hills and forests, there wasn't much big game there at all. Even if there was, it would have been hunted down long ago.
What was left were small animals such as moles, hares and pheasants. However, those animals were constantly being chased by the watchdogs of the farms, orchards and vegetable gardens, so they became much sharper and would run away at the slightest sign of movement.
There were many times when Claude and the other three found their targets, but before they could set up their muskets, they would disappear without a trace.
On the way back, Borkal gritted his teeth. It was his fault that they didn't catch anything because he chose the wrong place.
The hills and forests in the southern outskirts of town weren't a good place to hunt. He had forgotten that there were so many people there that it was impossible for there to be any big game.
So, he planned to bring out the delivery carriage from his family's shop and bring everyone to the foot of the mountain to the west of town. The forest there was dense and they would definitely find some decent game there.
Claude would deal with the matters of the next week. He picked out the two blisters on his feet and applied some of the ointment Welikro gave him. His feet felt a cooling sensation and the pain lessened considerably.
Last week, his feet had grown quite a bit and his shoes weren't suitable anymore, so his mother bought him a pair of leather boots that were a size too big for him. However, he forgot about the fact that new shoes would chafe his feet and wore them to climb the mountains. The blisters on his feet were self-inflicted.
There was a stack of manli paper on the table. It was the result of Claude's hard work.
Every night at home, he would draw down on these Manley papers the structure of flintlock muskets and the design of early muskets from his past life so that he would not forget them in the future.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, he had not majored in science like machinery or chemical engineering. Instead, he had majored in computing and business management, which was of no help to his current situation.
If he had known that he would transmigrate, he might have worked hard to learn and understand military and mechanical forging knowledge …
Claude sighed and lay on his bed helplessly. In his past life, he couldn't even be considered a military fanatic. The only time he had touched a gun was during his first military training in university. He fired ten rounds with a Type-81 and scored 63 points, placing him at the top of his class.
Later on, he didn't know whether it was the third or fourth time that his boss brought him to an underground shooting range. It was said that it was a place where a military-civilian business company operated.
But those few times were mostly for business discussions and socializing. After all, the boss was a firearms fanatic who loved shooting, be it at the shooting range or in bed.
If only he had Boss Wu's knowledge on firearms. He would be able to explain all kinds of guns so well that he could even make a flintlock out of the discarded pipes in the garage and decorate it with gold and red paint to make it a nice gift for his boss. It was quite eye-catching on his desk and many people who didn't know better would think that it was an antique gun, much to Boss Wu's delight.
If Boss Wu had transmigrated, he would definitely be able to show off his skills in this world … That was what Claude thought. The flintlock drawings on his desk were mostly based on his impression of the one Boss Wu gave him. The problem was that that flintlock hadn't been fired even once. Even though Boss Wu said that it had practical uses, no one would be so bored as to actually use it to fire a shot.
In truth, Claude had thought that if Borkal were to sell his shaliuns, he could go to Big Hammer and ask Mike to make the parts for the flintlock and try making a flintlock himself.
But he was faced with a difficult problem. The kingdom's laws didn't prohibit firearms hobbyists from modifying their own firearms. However, the designs had to be approved by the kingdom's firearms workshops and could only be customized there.
It wouldn't be a problem for the blacksmiths to make some gun parts, but they wouldn't be able to make a gun barrel for them.
All gun barrels could only be made in the kingdom's firearms workshops. They had their own serial numbers and were recorded in the workshops.
If a gun barrel was found not to have a serial number on it, the person would be punished even if he was a citizen.
Not everyone could bear the crime of making a gun without a serial number.
Claude had another way, which was to dismantle the aubass mark 2 and modify the numbered gun barrel into a flintlock barrel.
However, he quickly dismissed that idea.
If he really wanted to make a flintlock, one barrel wouldn't be enough. He would have to experiment with at least a few.
Claude wasn't a skilled worker and he was filled with confidence in his skills.
He could only experiment based on what he remembered from his past life. It wasn't a possibility, but he would definitely break quite a few barrels at the start.
Those broken barrels wouldn't be able to be reassembled, either. In other words, they wouldn't be able to be reassembled.
Perhaps there would be a chance in the future … Claude didn't want to break his only gun and get scolded by his father.
He forced himself to get up and put the stack of manli papers into the drawer. Unable to hold back his exhaustion, he washed up and went to sleep.
The next day, he went to school with a wide smile on his face as if he had picked up riyas on the road.
It was only after asking that he found out that the fellow was really rich. His father, Captain Altroni, returned the previous night and saw the flipper being modified at the docks. The moment he asked Pegg, who was in charge of the docks, he found out everything.
That morning, Eriksson was praised by his father, who praised him for his ability to save money. He even promised to pay Eriksson two crowns for the repairs.
In Whitestag, a single-sail fishing boat like Old Sunny's Swordfish would cost around eight to nine crowns, which was around 40 thales. If one thale was equivalent to a hundred dollars, it would be equivalent to around 4,000 dollars.
Commoners nowadays only earned around one to two thales a month. If they wanted to buy a new single-sail fishing boat, they would have to scrimp for three to four years before they could afford it.
Eriksson used the spoils he got from his adventure in Egret to buy the broken flipper. After removing the planks, he planned to use his family's broken waverpiercer to modify the two into a single-sail fishing boat. Even though it was only five meters long, which was around two meters shorter than most single-sail fishing boats, it saved him around two-thirds of the cost. It was no wonder his father was so happy that he agreed to pay him two crowns right away.
Eriksson had already made up his mind. He would give Pegg, who was guarding the docks, a crown for the manpower he had to remodel the small fishing boat.
Claude, Welikro and Borkal, who were his assistants, naturally helped out out of friendship. They didn't have to be paid for their work for free.
The remaining one crown would be used to buy the glue, powders, copper nails and other miscellaneous parts to write off the debt he borrowed from Welikro and Borkal.
He still had a thale and a few riyases left, which he could use to treat everyone to a good meal.
According to Eriksson's calculations, his small fishing boat should be ready for sea trials in a month's time. Currently, the biggest problem that puzzled him the most was what kind of coolest name he should give his little fishing boat.
Claude, Welikro and Borkal hurriedly walked forward and left Eriksson behind them, leaving him to ponder over the name.
No matter what name they came up with, Eriksson wouldn't think it suited his beloved fishing boat, which was the only one in Whitestag. It was better for him to figure it out on his own.
Claude's life remained the same. He went to school and after school, he would either go to the docks to help Pegg or go to the forest outside of town to practice shooting.
When he returned home at night, he would still think about how to improve his gun and try his best to recall the memories of his past life. He would jot down anything he found useful on a piece of paper in Chinese.
He believed that no one in this world would be able to understand what was written on the paper.
Borkal's custom-made sight from Big Hammer's smithy was fine too. Mike's skills were still as exquisite as ever.
Claude took some time to install it on his gun.
However, Borkal didn't have much patience. After practicing a few times and grasping the basics of aiming, he felt that he had a talent for shooting and there was no need for him to practice shooting so hard. He handed the gun to Welikro and went back to his own business.
When Welikro used Borkal's aubass mark 2 to practice shooting, he would always have to remove the sight and use the error adjustment method he had mastered to aim.
It happened every single time, so Claude impatiently taught him how to install a calibrating sight and Welikro became the only one among them who didn't have to use the three-point and one-line aiming method to install a calibrating sight.
Borkal did as he said and managed to get his family's carriage to deliver goods in town on Sunday.
Early in the morning, the four of them took their guns and rode towards the mountains to the west of town in the carriage.
To the west of Whitestag was an endless mountain range with dense forests. It had always been a hunting ground for the hunters in town.
On the map, this large mountain range with a radius of nearly a thousand miles was called the Lomich Forest Mountains. No one knew when this name was given.
But according to folklore, the mountain range was once the kingdom of an evil dragon and Lomichilin was the dragon's name.
As for the story of the evil dragon named Lomicillin being hunted down by the evil magicians, it could only be occasionally mentioned in folklore. It was not recorded in any official history books or novels.
In any case, it was the magi and the dragon killing each other and it had nothing to do with mortals. It would be best if all of them died.
Borkal miscalculated once more. Due to time constraints, they only had one day to rest. Minus the time needed to travel to and fro, they only had half a day to hunt.
They wandered around the foot of the mountain but didn't find much. Not to mention the big game, even the smaller ones were hard to come by. In the end, the only thing they could bring out was a pheasant whose wing was injured by Welikro.