Chapter 431: Firearm Squad

"Oh, Severus, and Harry," Lu Xiusi was standing at the door to greet them when they walked out of the elevator. "You came just in time."

"Mr. Department Head, you have to understand," Snape said lightly, "our current funding is allocated from the Doctor plan, so we almost can't bypass Director Noble to promote the plan."

"But according to the appointment during the Hack period, Mr. Potter is the person really in charge of the Doctor plan, right?" Lu Xiusi said with a smile. "This is the reason why you brought him, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry, Sir Malfoy," Harry quickly learned that kind of fake official tone. "I also think it's a bit too hasty to promote the Queen plan now."

Lu Xiusi's smile froze on his face all of a sudden. He lowered his voice and questioned: "I thought we were together, Sev!"

"You're right, but Gregoriou and I are not necessarily together," Snape responded coldly.

"Perhaps you will change your mind," Lu Xiusi's expression softened a bit, and then he led them toward the conference room.

Gregoriou and Tang Tang Nade sat on one side of the long table in the conference room, and Donna and a man Harry didn't know sat on the other side. Then, Lu Xiusi sat at the end of the long table, and Snape took Harry to sit on Donna's side.

Harry couldn't help but turn his head to look. Many older wizards were sitting on chairs by the wall, only he, a student under seventeen, was sitting at the table, which made him a bit nervous.

"Let's continue the topic just now," Gregoriou said first. "We have analyzed the main reason for Cruse's loss of control. Now Mr. Fontroy can also provide a perfect solution. It is time to start the second round of experiments."

"Yes, I think the Queen plan is a very promising plan, enough to break the pattern set by the Heavenly Dynasty people," Tang Tang Nade followed up. "Everyone present has also seen that even if a wizard transforms into a Herrscher, it is not enough to rival a knight. We must make more bold attempts."

"I think you can continue to try your iron suit, that is much bolder than the Queen plan," Donna said suddenly.

"But many practices have proven that the iron suit is not feasible," Tang Tang Nade shrugged.

"Yeah, these practices also happened to prove that you don't have enough scientific research vision," Donna shrugged as well.

"But those flintlock guns of yours are even more of an expedient measure!" Gregoriou said eagerly. "These guns have no other use except to deal with Kamen Riders!"

"The implication is, besides dealing with Kamen Riders, you are also prepared to let your Queen play a little 'other role', right?" Donna sneered.

Harry suddenly understood why Gregoriou was so persistent about the Queen plan. Obviously, the main purpose of this plan was still to help them obtain the qualification to talk to wizards on an equal footing, and, it happened that the wizarding world needed the Queen's power to deal with the changes in the Knight System, so this might be the only opportunity in the entire vampire history.

"Minister," Donna turned half her body to face Snape and Harry. "Since actual combat has proven that Blood-English bullets can have an effect on knights, then we should dig deeper along this path. Our top priority is still to find ways to deal with Kamen Riders, isn't it?"

"But didn't actual combat also prove the feasibility of the Herrscher?" Tang Tang Nade looked at everyone with burning eyes. "I have full confidence in our technology!"

"The feasibility of the Herrscher itself is indeed quite high," Snape said slowly. "However, whether the Herrscher's technology can be realized in the Queen plan, have you evaluated this risk?"

"We all think the risk is controllable," Gregoriou said indifferently. "Even if it gets out of control, it can at least leave a little Queen's blood, right?"

"Even if you don't take the Queen's life seriously, at least consider the sunk costs and aftermath expenses," Donna hit the soft underbelly of the entire Department of Mysteries. "We really don't have much money now."

Hearing this, Lu Xiusi himself couldn't help but sigh.

"I think," Harry said after deliberation, "Donna, can you introduce your train of thought again?"

"It's not just the concept; I've already made a prototype here," Dona said confidently. "Adopting the design principle of a rear-loading rifled gun, it only requires the vampire to master the simplest 'Netherblood Projection' from blood magic. After filling the chamber with 10 milliliters of Netherblood, it can fire immediately. The alchemical array inside the barrel can quickly drain the moisture from the Netherblood, forming a combination of blood cells and magic. The nature of this combination is already very close to Blood Core, and it can inflict significant damage on knights."

"But isn't that just the same idea as Muggle firearms?" Harry sighed. "First, knight armor is thick enough that it might not penetrate; second, knights can dodge, and we aren't necessarily accurate enough."

"If you have some understanding of Muggle firearms, then you will better understand the superiority of this prototype," Dona said full of confidence. "The firing method we use is not gunpowder, but the 'Flying-Away Charm' and 'Repulsion Charm' inscriptions. Because the magic concentration of Netherblood is very high, it can further charge and repeatedly stack the Flying-Away Charm during rotation; its principle is similar to a Gauss rifle."

"The muzzle velocity of the Mark I bullet has already reached nearly 4,800 meters per second. After further optimization, it should easily exceed 5,000 meters per second. Furthermore, the Netherblood precipitated by blood magic happens to have a self-solidifying effect, meaning it can maintain its bullet structure even during high-speed flight. A simple calculation using the DeMar armor-piercing formula shows that this bullet can easily penetrate a 1.2-meter-thick homogeneous steel wall at a distance of 1,000 meters."

Dona rattled off a long string of data in one breath. The wizards present were a bit confused, but Tang Tang Nade showed an expression of sudden realization.

Seeing that Harry still seemed a bit doubtful, Dona added, "By the way, even for the top-tier Muggle sniper rifles, their muzzle velocity is hard to exceed 1,000 meters per second."

"In other words, the power of this flintlock of ours far exceeds even the strongest Muggle firearms?" Harry summarized in a daze. "The power is fifty times greater?"

"According to the kinetic energy formula, it should be more than 50 times greater, because our warhead weight is also higher; the density of Netherblood is much higher than that of wizard blood."

Lu Xiusi wore a satisfied smile. He wouldn't understand if you talked to him about speed and kinetic energy, but if you told him that wizard firearms were much stronger than Muggle firearms, he understood immediately.

"I believe the power is sufficient, but what about accuracy?" Harry asked again.

"Sir, a flintlock doesn't need high accuracy; we are doing phalanx volleys."

"A genius idea, an absolutely genius idea." Tang Tang Nade stood up excitedly, slapping the table continuously. "I have an idea; the iron suit is feasible. I must go try it again."

Gregoriou showed a stunned expression. He reached out a hand to grab Tang Tang Nade's sleeve and said blankly, "But..."

"I must remind you, sir," Dona said with a half-smile, "our flintlock relies heavily on the uniqueness of the Blood Core. If you want to find a substitute, the closest substance to this should be the Sorcerer's Stone—and how many Sorcerer's Stones exist in the whole world right now?"

Tang Tang Nade was stumped. He immediately thought of the most critical step in this principle, which was the rotating warhead activating the Flying-Away Charm inside the rifling. This step required the bullet head to harbor the wizard's casting intent. If they hadn't taken a shortcut by using the blood magic method to precipitate Netherblood, they would have to use a Sorcerer's Stone to achieve it.

Or rather, the reason the Sorcerer's Stone is called the highest achievement of alchemy is that it can store a wizard's spirit within matter. And the Sorcerer's Stone is not only incomparably precious, but it also has many other wonderful uses. It can be said that if you could really get a Sorcerer's Stone, doing anything else with it would be better than using it as a bullet.

"Ah, so you can only make flintlocks, not automatic rifles." Harry also realized with a start. "The so-called flintlock is essentially a wand designed specifically for vampires."

"You can understand it that way." Dona smiled helplessly.

When everything was converted into terms Lu Xiusi could understand, he no longer held prejudices against this project, and naturally, his stance began to shift toward Harry and Snape.

"Looking at it this way, the cost of this gun project shouldn't be very high, right?" Lu Xiusi asked.

"Asking an alchemist to make a barrel costs about 15 Galleons each; the rest can be outsourced to Muggle factories. After converting Galleons to Rubles, the cost is very low. A complete gun only costs about 25 Galleons. To equip a squad to deal with a single knight, maybe about 3,000 Galleons would be enough, which is less than the price of two broomsticks."

"But the participating vampire soldiers need recruitment fees, wages, and pensions." Gregoriou said something akin to a concession.

"We can take out 8,000 Galleons first to test the effectiveness." Lu Xiusi said suddenly. "If the Queen Plan were to be repeated, just buying magical creature blood would cost over 10,000."

Tang Tang Nade's face also went through a series of changes. Finally, he patted Gregoriou on the shoulder and said, "I think I have to change the plan. I'm going back to recruit some local vampires to form a musketeer squad; this is obviously much cheaper than the Law-Enforcer Plan."

Lu Xiusi showed a trace of a disdainful smile and politely asked him to leave.

After the meeting ended, Harry followed Snape toward the outside. Snape was speaking very calmly about finding another special instructor, as if he had only objectively come to sit in on a meeting. It wasn't until Mia chased them from the corner that Harry heard a trace of fluctuation in his tone.

"Don't be too optimistic." Mia said to them, "I actually support the Queen Plan, because knights can use automatic firearms, and the musketeer squad is destined to be just a stopgap measure."

"I know," Snape said lightly, "it's just that the Minister said the employment rate of vampires also needs to be counted, so we had to resort to this."