I Became a Tycoon During World War I: Saving France from the Start Chapter 352 353: The Sniper Rifle

Dominique seed to see right through Charles' intentions and looked sowhat defiant. "I understand that I may not be suited to it," he said, "but everyone who goes to war has to go through a period of adjustnt—they all start off uneasy and learn to adapt…"

Charles cut him off. "You're right, but a lot of people beco casualties before they even have the chance to adapt."

Dominique fell silent. He knew Charles was speaking the truth. Apart from his knowledge of firearms, he lacked other necessary survival skills for the battlefield. His stocky build alone made him an easy target. Even if he could run, his larger-than-average fra would make him highly visible to the enemy.

"Everyone has their place, Dominique," Charles continued. "Your place is ensuring that better, more accurate, battle-ready weapons reach the soldiers on the front lines. That's much more valuable than putting yourself at risk."

Dominique acknowledged Charles' reasoning, though it didn't particularly concern him.

"I'm not in this for anyone else's benefit, General," Dominique replied. "It may sound selfish, but…"

Charles nodded, understanding Dominique's fixation. Dominique's true passion was guns. Contributing to his country's defense was a secondary matter to him. His desire to be on the battlefield wasn't about patriotism—it was about improving his skills and ntal resilience with firearms.

Then a thought occurred to Charles, an idea that could help Dominique without him going to the front lines. "Maybe you don't need to be on the battlefield to challenge yourself."

Dominique gave a bitter smile. "Thanks, General, but I can't imagine how that would work."

For him, this was nearly a lost cause; he was convinced that the next step for him required the battlefield experience. The only question was if he'd go or not.

Without saying anything, Charles rose, gestured for Dominique to stand, and then held out his hand to signal for Dominique to hand over his rifle.

Dominique hesitated before handing Charles the rifle. Charles took it and removed a small spyglass from his belt, mounting it on the rifle before returning it to Dominique.

Confused, Dominique took the modified rifle, not understanding what Charles was trying to demonstrate. At Charles' urging, he raised the gun and aid down the range, peering through the makeshift scope. He suddenly turned back to Charles, eyes wide in surprise.

"My God! You're suggesting combining a telescope with the rifle?"

"Why not?" Charles replied. "With that, you could see distant targets clearly. Your accuracy would improve imnsely."

Dominique was stunned, trying it again with fascination. "Incredible idea, General! And it seems so easy to accomplish, just by adding a monocular."

"We should mount it on a sliding rail," Charles suggested.

"A sliding rail?" Dominique asked, montarily puzzled.

Then it clicked, and he nodded. "Yes, a sliding rail would make it detachable, useful in different combat situations—like for advancing on enemy positions. Plus, it'd allow for quick replacents."

Dominique beca visibly excited as he imagined the possibilities. "Amazing, General! I… I can't wait to see what it will look like. I'll start production right away…"

In truth, he wanted to test how far he could hit a target using this new weapon. But Charles stopped him before he could dash off; since they were already discussing firearm upgrades, Charles figured it was ti to bring up the submachine gun.

"We should discuss another weapon as well," Charles said, nodding towards Billy.

Billy was over at the range, practicing with his gas mask on. He was testing different angles of refraction in the mask's lenses so that if he ever had to shoot while wearing it again, he wouldn't miss his target. Billy was highly goal-oriented and practical, determined to overco any obstacle in the shortest ti possible.

"Are you suggesting outfitting the sniper unit with scoped rifles?" Dominique guessed.

"Yes," Charles confird. "This will allow them to engage targets at longer distances with greater accuracy."

Dominique looked slightly puzzled. "You only want to issue these to elite units? I thought you might want all rifles to be modified like this."

"No, Dominique," Charles said, shaking his head with a smile. "Ordinary soldiers don't need it. The nature of trench warfare and the skill levels of most soldiers don't make precision scopes very useful for them."

It wasn't a matter of cost, but rather of tactics. Regular soldiers on the front lines needed to focus on rate of fire, putting down enough bullets to counter the enemy charge. Precision wasn't their primary objective unless massed assaults ceased to be the standard.

"Understood, General," Dominique replied with a nod. "I'll produce a batch of these scoped rifles as soon as possible—it shouldn't take long."

Once again, he was eager to begin the project right away.

"But there's another weapon we should discuss," Charles added, stopping him. "We need a gun to provide covering fire for the rifle, one that could be used by the observer."

As a training officer, Dominique was aware of the sniper squad's two-man pairing system.

"I've heard about that," Dominique replied. "Billy told the observer needs a weapon that's compact and has a high rate of fire, to protect the sniper during an enemy assault."

Charles raised his eyebrows, impressed. He hadn't ntioned this idea to Billy, but Billy had analyzed the need and was spot-on in his assessnt. It confird that Billy was an exceptional talent.

Dominique sighed. "Unfortunately, we don't have anything suitable. I considered the Saint-Étienne Model 2 light machine gun, but after testing it, we all agreed that its length and need for a secondary gunner made it unsuitable for an observer."

"Have you considered using pistol rounds?" Charles asked.

"Pistol rounds?" Dominique looked at Charles, realization dawning on his face. "You an, to develop a high-rate-of-fire weapon—a new type of gun?"

"Yes," Charles nodded. "Pistol rounds are low-powered and have minimal recoil. Using them to create a compact, high-speed weapon shouldn't be difficult, should it?"

Dominique's eyes widened, staring at Charles in disbelief. It was indeed a simple idea—shortening the Saint-Étienne Model 2's barrel and adapting it for pistol rounds would achieve the exact effect they needed.

Yet, no one had thought of it.

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