When Andrei woke up early at dawn, he immediately washed his face and tied his shoes. Andrei immediately went outside and jogged around the castle, as he jogged around he saw the familiar faces of the maids, butlers and servants that worked with him since making molotovs, every time they saw Andrei they would bow or wave their hand Andrei then would wave back in return.Andrei"s platoon was composed of mostly servants, average knights, everyone was those of commoner origin like Geraldine his vice-commander, most of them bragged about how awesome their commander is when they get back to their homes, because of this he became popular to the ma.s.ses immediately.
"Your Highness Andrei!" while running Andrei saw a familiar person, but strangely he wasn"t sure, because he have only seen the person with bulky armor "Ummm… who are you- wait… Is that you Erneis???"
"Yes Your Highness!" the old man bowed and smiled at him, when Erneis wore his normal clothes, he looked like an average old man in his 60"s or 70"s wearing a long sleeve and a suspender and behind him a small kid was hiding at the back of his legs.
"You look totally different when wearing armor"
"Well, it"s still early after all Your Highness"
"I see, then I"m glad to see another side of you" Andrei couldn"t help but ask about the kid clinging to him.
"Is that your son?" Andrei knelt in front of the child clinging to Erneis. He was happy seeing such a cutie early in the morning.
"Surely you jest Your Highness, I"m already too old for that, this is Shri... my grandson" Erneis then patted Shri"s head.
"Ohhhhh, he"s cute" Andrei then patted Shri"s head with a warm smile, "Nice to meet you Shri! Be a good boy okay!" Shri became shy and hid at the back of his grandpa.
"By the way, where are you going this early Your Majesty? You seem to be in a rush?"
"Ahhh, no, I"m just exercising"
"Are you able to exercise just by running?"
"I don"t know how it works with knights, but for an average person like me, this is enough" Andrei checked the sky and the sun was gradually showing already. "I should be going now Erneis! See you later!"
"Yes your highness, I also have something to talk to you about later"
Andrei knew well what should and shouldn"t be discussed in public so he nodded and set off.
…
After exercising Andrei took a bath and dressed up, and went to the blacksmiths, when he was about to go out of the door, he felt a presence behind him for some reason.
"This presence… is that you Claire?" Claire and Andrei spent a lot of time together that Andrei could tell where she was.
"Ahhh you noticed" Claire plays with her hair, this time she was in her armor.
"Don"t just "Ahhh you noticed" me!" Andrei exclaimed.
"Where are you going so early?" Claire ignored him and proceeded with her questioning.
"The blacksmiths? Why?" Andrei made sigh, he was gradually becoming used to her habits that he doesn"t know how to retort anymore.
"Ahhh the weapon? The ma.s.s produced version will be done today right?" Claire this time had a hint of happiness in her tone and Andrei was also happy hearing it.
"Want to come along?" Andrei stretched out his hand which Claire ignored.
"Yes, yes, Your Highness after you" Clair opened the door and just like a real gentleman Andrei gave up and just followed her.
…
When the two arrived at the blacksmith"s, it was a house made with bricks mostly with a large chimney that releases black smoke, the door made of hard material, but from outside they could hear the sound of the fire roaring while metals were being beaten in certain intervals.
As Andrei expected, the blacksmiths started early, he wanted to see what has become of the flintlock, he wanted to be ma.s.s-produced for the upcoming war.
"Matthias are you there?" he shouted in order to get his voice through the noise. However no one answered, "Was the volume too low? MATHIAAAAAS!" still no one answered.
"Are they so busy they can"t hear us? Or is the volume too low? C"mon you try it now Claire"
"Don"t be unreasonable, it"s early in the morning and you want me to expend that much energy already?" she yawned while covering his mouth.
"Power saving mode already huh? Didn"t you just wake up?" Andrei complained almost wanting to flick her forehead, but as they were talking the door opened and Matthias the blacksmith showed up, he didn"t wear any upper clothing so bulging and convulsing muscle showed.
"This couple… so early in the morning aye!"
Andrei and Claire looked like children in front of him. Being a commoner and close to the Royal Family due to his special talents, Andrei was described to not much care about royalty and formality, Matthias was born on Kydus, but with the corruption that was happening in the lower level of the n.o.bility, he chose to live in Ethareri, where his talents and skills were acknowledged.
"Morning Matthias!" Andrei slapped Matthias" bulging muscles as a greeting "Was that really muscle?" he asked in his mind as he felt slapping rocks instead of muscles. Andrei was comfortable speaking to Matthias because he didn"t care about Andrei"s position despite being a commoner, and Andrei was a person who didn"t want to be treated as n.o.ble each and every time.
"So, is it done?" Claire asked flatly.
"Ahhh about that… there seems to be a problem, anyway come in" Matthias opened the door for the two.
When they came in, the two saw the workshop with many of Matthias" apprentices inside, they either sharpened blades with wheatstone or hammered burning blades. They were so focused and absorbed with their work that they didn"t notice the royalty pa.s.sing by.
The three walked into a separate room with a large table, there laid the ma.s.s production version of the BC and beside it was two flintlocks, and noticeably one is bigger than the other.
"Isn"t this too big?" Andrei was surprised to see a bigger and heavier-looking flintlock.
"Well… how do I say this, the Miss" magic power creates those tubes too small aight? But replicating it with smithing only results in this"
At Matthias" hands the flintlock looked normal but when he gave it to Andrei it was double his size.
"Pfft… " Claire almost let out a laugh, "lame… pft" Claire turned around and hunched her back laughing at the corner.
"HAHAHA indeed Andrei you look like a dork carrying a weapon like "at!" the old blacksmith lets out a heartily laugh.
It looked like Andrei was carrying a log, but to Andrei it didn"t bother him and he just muttered.
"I see, so this is the level we can ma.s.s produce it huh?" Andrei remembered the Russian Federation soldiers that carried bigger guns, because of their physique.
"Matthias can you hold it again?" he gave the rifle to Matthias, which Matthias took as he wiped his tears from laughing.
"Hey Claire… " when he looked at Claire she was still laughing at the corner without sound, just her shoulders trembling."Just how long are you gonna laugh… " Andrei thought as he sighed.
Claire recovered and turned to Andrei but when she saw the image of how Andrei looked carrying the weapon beside him, Claire couldn"t suppress her laughter and turned back again.
"Hey… I"m gonna tell Michaela on you just you wait…" Andrei exclaimed.
…
After a few minutes Claire was finally able to be serious.
"So… what did you say?" Claire asked as she went to Andrei"s side facing the large Matthias.
"Ahhh I"m just thinking that, as we don"t have that much advanced techno- techniques yet this is the level of the flintlock we can produce, if that"s the case, why don"t we just find people who can carry this? Just as Matthias could?"
"It"s worth a try" Claire responded as she put her hands at her back.
…
The next day the palace issued a recruitment for those who can carry the new weapons among the knights and commonfolk.
It was written on the bulletin this time, without any pleasantries and formalities.
"Gun Carriers Needed! The larger you are the better! Join Your Highness" Platoon Today!"