"The crossbow?" The king asked in a confused tone
Caesar approached Danny and showed him the blueprint, Danny looked at the blueprint and said astonished "This is similar to the Ballista but a bit different, how does it work?"
Caesar pointed towards the blueprint while patiently explaining "The crossbow is essentially a bow mounted horizontally to wooden tillers, or stocks. When shot, an arrow, or bolt, will travel down a groove or through a notch in the tiller. A person can brace the crossbow with his foot while drawing the string with both hands or with a hook attached to his belt"
Danny started contemplating for a few seconds before he said "I think it will work but how is it fired"
Caesar smiled and replied " we will employ a trigger to release the c.o.c.ked string Using a rotating nut held in place by a lever.
Danny started stroking his chin in contemplation, his eyes suddenly turned bright and yelled in excitement "That will work!"
Danny immediately ran back to his workshop and started rummaging through parts and pieces to create the crossbow. After Danny left Caesar turned towards the other engineers and said "Go help him, We need to make as many of these weapons as possible"
The engineers didn"t waste any time and immediately rushed into Danny"s workshop, Caesar turned to the still shocked king and said "Your Majesty, I"m afraid we will need more engineers to create a large amount of crossbow"s and ballista"s before the month is up.
The king stood in a stupor for a few seconds before finally replying "y-yes, I will use my connections to get more" Caesar started walking towards his carriage "My job is done here, now it is up to the others to create as many crossbows and Ballistas as possible" He thought inwardly
As he was about to enter the carriage door he turned towards the king and said: "Oh, by the way, your majesty can you deliver as many beast cores as possible to my residence…"
The king looked at Caesar confused "beast cores…? Is it for a new weapon?"
Caesar shook his head and smiled "no, mere testing purposes"
The king looked doubtful but still nodded his head "That can be arranged, they will arrive later tonight"
"Thank you, your majesty" Caesar said quietly as he closed the door of his carriage.
"Clak"
The horses started moving after Caesar sat down in the carriage, Caesar folded his legs and started contemplating about other preparations that needed to be made before the enemy reached their doorstep. "The crossbow"s beauty isn"t just about the power but also the fact that a citizen without any training can wield it effectively"
Caesar opened the front window and spoke to the carriage driver, "Don"t head towards my manor, change directions to the barracks"
The carriage driver nodded his head with a stoic expression and changed directions. About 30 minutes later an extraordinary looking carriage drove into the training grounds that the knights used.
The sweaty knights stopped training and looked at the upcoming carriage with curiosity in their eyes. One of the knights looked towards his peer and said with a sneer "What is one of the "clean" n.o.bles doing in our dirty training grounds"
The carriage made an abrupt stop and the carriage door opened slowly, The knights all held their breaths and waited for the appearance of the n.o.ble.
A slim and tall man soon walked out of the carriage, long flowing white hair and beautiful snow white skin without blemish… Red eyes that looked as though they glowed and pierced through your soul.
The knights immediately drew a cold breath and saluted, the knight that sneered earlier had a fearful expression and saluted as well.
The Knights roared "We greet the Marshall"
Which knight had not heard the fearful stories of the red-eyed demon, or the White Oni… the 400 or so knights that came back with the marshall told stories about their battle. They spoke of how the marshall had killed two orcs with just a swoop of his hands or how ma.s.sacred the entire elven army himself… They said he even dueled a gryphon to equal standing.
Caesar walked to the middle of the training grounds and yelled "LINE UP!"
"Step"
"Step"
The knights immediately started rushing to follow Caesar"s orders, after about 10 minutes there were roughly around 2500 knights lined up in front of him. Caesar rubbed his chin and thought "The others are probably archers or currently at home"
Caesar paced in front of the knights that were lined up and said "as you may or may not know we have a very important battle ahead of us"
The knights didn"t reply but all nodded with solemn looks. Caesar continued "Because of the dire circ.u.mstances I have decided to personally train all of you for three hours a day"
The knight"s faces looked as though they swallowed a fly after hearing Caesar"s words… "may G.o.d bless us" was whispered from the many knights that were lined up. Caesar smiled warmly, but to the knights, it looked like the devil"s smile.
In Caesar"s past world people trained with efficiency because they were afraid that they would damage their bodies. However with this worlds strong bodies and inhuman recuperation he could make these knights break their limits with the most efficient method and not be worried about their bodies becoming injured.
Caesar opened up his lips, "first we will start with endurance training, 20 laps around the training grounds"
The knights thought "it"s a bit more than normal training but not too bad" They breathed a sigh of relief and started taking off their armor.
Caesar looked at them quizzically "Why are you taking off your armor? You fight with your armor why would you train without your armor?" The knights slowly started putting their armor back on with tears in their eyes.
About three hours later "Excellent work men, we will continue training tomorrow"
"Thud"
The knights all collapsed on the ground gasping for breath, they all had dread in their eyes and were sweating profusely… After they saw Caesar get on his carriage and move away the knights all stared at each other with mutual understanding. "If I die, take care of my family"
Inside the carriage Caesar was thinking about tomorrow"s practice, "I should dilute a beast core in their meals… That should progress their strength faster"
As Caesar was in deep contemplation the carriage pa.s.sed by a hooded girl and hooded man, Caesar immediately sensed strong mana within the bodies of both. Caesar opened the window and peered down at the door for a second or two before the carriage pa.s.sed them.
Caesar closed the window and smiled deviously "interesting, I didn"t know we had such a strong magician in our country haha" he thought as a m.u.f.fled laughter escaped from his lips.
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"Empress are you alright?" the man asked looking at the woman"s trembling shoulders
"I-im fine, but that man in the carriage. H-he is dangerous"
"Yes, I felt it too. It"s better we leave this kingdom soon"
"T-that man"s gaze looked at us as though we were toys… Can you defeat him, Bradley?"
"That"s hard to say, your majesty, I could not detect his true strength"
"I see…. We should tread carefully"
"As you command your majesty"
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Caesar"s carriage finally arrived at his residence, Caesar stepped off the carriage and opened the door. Immediately a little girl rushed into his abdomen and hugged him tightly
"Daddy, your back!"
Caesar smiled and rubbed her head, "I am back", Sebastian walked towards Caesar and said: "Young master, your food is prepared on the dinner table"
"Thank you, Sebastian, Meticulous as always," Caesar said as he took off his overcoat and hat and placed them on a nearby rack.
"Your praise is wasted on me young master," Sebastian said as he bowed gracefully.
Caesar walked to the dinner table and ate the sumptuous feast in front of him, Sebastian walked behind Caesar and said: "Young master, The beast cores you had asked for have arrived, so I placed them inside your room"
"Thank you, Sebastian, how are the three doing?"
Sebastian smiled "I have been teaching them etiquette and knowledge while you were away. They are all quite talented and should pose to be useful in your business"
"Excellent" Caesar replied.
After the meal, Caesar walked upstairs to his room and closed the door.
"Cacha"
The sound of the door locking was heard, Caesar walked towards the chest full of beast cores and picked one up. He held it close to his eyes for a second before putting it in his mouth.
"Gulp"
The beast core traveled down his throat and dissolved in his stomach… Caesar felt a slight stinging pain but nothing exaggerated like last time he ate beast cores. Caesar waited for a reaction but nothing happened… Caesar frowned and started swallowing more and more beast cores.
After the 15th one finally a robotic voice was heard in Caesar"s head.
[n.o.ble physique evolution progress: 1%]