Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Princess Eleora is recuperating, but she’ll probably feel more at ease if she has subordinates around her.
It seems her favorite officers are Natalia and Borsche.
However, since Borsche is a battle-hardened warrior, I still have some lingering concerns.
To be on the safe side, I’ll assign only Natalia to be with Eleora. After all, they’re the same age and of the same gender.

Today, once again, I’m poring over the Rolmund Imperial Pedigree, working hard to memorize it.
I can manage to memorize just the three main branches, the Emperor and his siblings, but memorizing all the surrounding factions is a massive undertaking.
The factions within the Rolmund Army, court officials, local lords, the Sonnenlicht Temple, and the wealthy elite.
On top of that, everyone acts according to their own interests, so they’re constantly switching sides or cozying up to other factions.
Also, while it’s not confirmed information, there are relationships where rumors circulate about hidden connections or rivalries.
It’s complicated.

Finally, I gave up on trying to memorize all of this.

“I can’t do this. Kait, you memorize it for me.”
“Ah, sure. I’ve memorized it. All of it.”
“All of it? Even this relationship chart of the surrounding factions?”
“Yes. I was an investigator, after all.”

Come to think of it, this guy used to be a Senate staffer; in other words, a bureaucrat.
An elite, no less.

“…Why don’t I pour some tea for you, Kait?”
“Eh, why so sudden?”

Having such an excellent adjutant has made my life so much easier, so I pour tea for Kait as well and relax.
Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

“Hey, s̲h̲i̲t̲t̲y wolf, open up! I know you’re hiding in here!”

I could hear the sound of violent knocking and a cute-sounding curse, from quite a bit below the door.
Kait looked puzzled, but a laugh escaped me as I nodded.

“Don’t worry. He’s my junior disciple.”

The moment Kait opened the door, a fluffy creature darted inside like a whirlwind.

“Drop dead, you damn Veit! Today’s the day I’m finally going to settle this once and for all!”

The one shouting while twitching his long ears was a rabbit about the size of a dogfolk. His fur was brown, and his ears were a bit short for a rabbit.

I’m not very familiar with rabbit breeds, but he looks a lot like a Netherland Dwarf.

“Lucco, you look full of energy.”
“Of course I do! I came here all fired up just to finish you off!”

This guy, who’s stomping the floor violently, making an adorable pittering sound with each step, is Lucco, is another Gomoviroa disciple
He isn’t a soldier in the Demon Lord’s Army, but he’ll come whenever Master calls.

Kait crouches down and peeks at Lucco’s face.

“Sir Veit, who is this rabbit-like person?”
“He’s a member of the Rabbitfolk. They’re a timid but peaceful race of demons who live in forests and grasslands.”
“This guy doesn’t look timid or peaceful at all.”

Everyone says that when they first meet him.

“Just watch this.”

I laughed as I transformed into a werewolf.
At that moment, Lucco jumped up just like in a manga.

“Pyaaahh!?”

With even greater speed than when he first appeared, Lucco dashed into the corner of the office. He curled up behind the curtains, trembling violently.

“Y-y-y-you think I’m scared of some w-w-w-werewolf?!”

Blabbed the brown rabbitfolk in a panic.
Since Kait was completely dumbfounded, I shifted back to human form, slipped my arms into my sleeves, and explained.

“Rabbitfolks are easily frightened, so as a reaction to that, some of them act aggressively to intimidate others instead. Apparently, werewolves’ appearance is especially scary to them.”
“Anyone would be scared of a werewolf, though?”

That’s true, I suppose.

Just then, Monsa came into the office carrying some documents, so I asked her to pull Lucco out from behind the curtain.

“The guy’s weak to girls. Go easy on him, okay?”
“Aha, leave it to me. Come on out—”

Upon seeing Monsa’s face, Lucco popped out from behind the curtain with an obvious look of relief.

“Geez, what a pain. I was planning to treat the damn werewolf to my ‘Ambush’ killing move, but showing a gory scene in front of a girl wouldn’t be good, you know?”

Ah, crap.
Monsa grinned wickedly while still holding Lucco in her arms.

“I actually like gore.”

Needless to say, Lucco screamed his head off when he saw her transformed into a werewolf.

“You werewolves are so barbaric. You should take a cue from us intelligent, sensitive rabbitfolk.”

Muttering complaints in a cute voice, Lucco is wrapped in a towel on Lady Aylia’s lap. Judging by how hard he’s trembling, he must have been absolutely terrified.
Aylia, who had come running after hearing the scream, gave Lucco a gentle pat while offering a slightly wry smile.

“Is he the magic tool expert that Her Majesty the Demon Lord was talking about?”

“He’s a bit too timid, which sometimes causes him to lose control, but that makes him all the more cautious and well-prepared. You can trust the magic tools Lucco creates.”

When I said that, Lucco wagged his tail proudly on Aylia’s lap.

“Damn right. Leave it to me, I’lll analyze your Magi-thingamajig perfectly and give it a hardcore magical overhaul.”

I didn’t ask for a modification.
Wait, maybe I should ask for one.

I lined up the recovered Magiarm Staves on the desk. They really do look a lot like matchlock guns or muskets.
Lucco hopped down from Aylia’s lap, his eyes sharp as a hawk’s, and his nose twitching.

“Hoo, uh-huh… This is interesting.”

Lucco opened the large backpack he’d been carrying—well, large for Lucco, anyway.

Picking up a row of tools, Lucco puffed out his chest proudly.

“Just watch this. You do this here, right? Then, when you do this, this part comes loose, so you hold this down while pulling… and then this part comes off, and that’s how it works.”

Like a tuna dissection show, Lucco deftly took the magic staff apart.
Even though it was his first time seeing this weapon, his movements were smooth and unhesitating.

“This thing’s easy to figure out. It actually feels good to take it apart. This is going to make daily maintenance a breeze.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, it’s simplified to the extreme—great design. The runes are organized like a textbook example, too. And what’s more—”

Lucco pulled out a metal rod with a purplish sheen and hoisted it up with both hands, giving it a little heave. I’m pretty sure that’s a rare metal, right?

“This mana-massing steel has plenty of capacity to spare. It’s even got two separate circuits for releasing mana. That means they’ve properly ensured redundancy… Ah, do you even understand what I’m saying, damn Veit?”

I’ve heard about that sort of thing in my past life.

“If there’s no margin or backup, it’s more prone to malfunction, right? On the battlefield, that could be fatal.”

Lucco then made a “Tsk” face.

“Exactly. Actually, how do you even know that? This isn’t your niche, you know?”

I just brushed it off with a vague smile.

Lucco continued to take the Magiarms staff apart, then explained its structure while wiggling his ears.
To put it simply, these magiarms are like a “mana water gun.”
The user manipulates their mana to charge the magiarm staff using their internal mana pool. The more you charge it, the more shots you can fire, the greater the power, and the longer the range.

“So does that mean only mages can use them?”
“That’s about right. Well, anyone can learn to manipulate mana with enough training, but to generate any real power, you need mana on par with a mage’s.”

In terms of requiring innate talent from the user, it seems to fall short of a gunpowder gun.
In that sense, it’s closer to a bow.

Since the Magiarm Staff was a little different from what I’d expected, I started thinking it over again.
This guy really loved modifying things with magic, didn’t he?

“Can’t we make this usable by demons other than mages? If I had about sixty of these, it would make our future plans a lot easier.”
“Hmm… Well, that’s a bit…”

Just as he was about to say that, Lucco suddenly snapped to attention.

“Whoa, whoa! Who do you think I am?! I’m the great Lucco, the finest magic craftsman in the Gomoviroa School! That’s way easier than blowing a werewolf to smithereens!”

My junior apprentice, stretching up on the desk and sniffing the air.
Well, I suppose modifying it would be easier than blowing a werewolf to smithereens.

Alright, then, I’ll leave it to you.