Son-con – Vol. 2 Ch. 26 (Added Chapter)
“Since you elders are here today, let’s not let what happened a few days ago happen again. I see that General Kurt and Federline are also here. What do you two have to say today? Ah, right, before that, Kurt, I want to know how Andre’s arrangements for the parade you had planned for my son are coming along.”
The empress sat behind the black veil and spoke in a cold tone without a hint of compa.s.sion. Kurt turned around to look at Andre, and Andre froze because he seemed to be put on the spot. He fidgeted around a bit and then answered in a shaky voice: “Your majesty… I… I overlooked the fact that the garrison guards had just finished their exercise. The soldiers and horses are worn out and are not in condition to put on a parade…”
The empress shouted: “Useless!”
Andre s.h.i.+vered with fear. His formerly steady eyes became filled with terror in a split moment. He knelt down with a thud, his entire body quaking, not knowing what to say.
The empress angrily stood up and violently shouted: “Useless sc.u.m! Does the army get vacations?! If enemies were to attack our imperial city, are you going to tell them that our troops are fatigued, ask the enemy to let them rest for a few days and ask to fight at a later date? The parade is to be conducted the day after. You have one day to rectify the situation with the army. I’ll kill whoever doesn’t look in optimal condition on the day of the parade! You’re not exempt!”
Andre trembled as he replied: “Understood!”
The empress sat back down on her throne, took in a deep breath and then said in an annoyed tone: “I led the army for ten years, and never once did I hear the soldiers complain of fatigue. Why is it that there are more and more problems after you generals took command? You complain about this and complain about that. I didn’t complain once when I had to face armies with more than five times the armoury or supplies. I gave you my trust, so I hope that you’ll return my kindness with merit!”
General Kurt bowed and respectfully replied: “I will, your majesty.”
Andre is the commander of the imperial army. In terms of ranking, he’s lower than Kurt. The empress changed her legs position and then said: “Kurt, Federline, what are your opinions on the matter with Castor? I don’t want to hear your a.n.a.lysis, just give me your conclusions.”
“Understood, your majesty. Umm…”
It took quite a bit out of Federline to get his fat body off the ground. He raised his hand which had jewels fitted on every finger and said: “Your majesty, I am a merchant. Based on my judgement, if we try to control the business front solely, then our empire will suffer great losses. I believe that only by combining our efforts with the army will we achieve complete victory.”
“Your majesty, I believe that it will not be a problem for our troops to capture that city. Their navy is of no significance to us as we can sink their s.h.i.+ps when the war starts.” Kurt looked in the direction of the empress and firmly continued: “Castor is but a mere city. If we can destroy a country, conquering a city is but child’s play.”
“General Kurt. If I needed that city, I would’ve conquered it years ago.”
The empress supported her face on her hand as she sat on her throne. She sounded tired as she said: “What I want right now isn’t land. Our empire has enough land and territory. Castor’s religions, their peoples’ lifestyle, their culture and traditions are completely different to ours, so it’s very easy for us to come into conflict. If we act rashly, our businesses there may run into the ground. I want to maintain its status quo. Does our army have the ability to siege their city and force them to surrender?”
“I believe it will be very difficult as they have sea access.”
Federline answered first. With an idea in mind, he said: “We cannot completely trap Castor, but if we point our heavy cannons at the city gates towards them then that will serve to threaten them. That will benefit us during our negotiations.”
The empress pondered his suggestion for a while. She then sighed and said: “Forget it. We’ll discuss this again later. There’s nothing else for today. You may all leave.”
“Bang… Bang… Cough! Cough! Cough!”
“Cough, cough! How dare you play with guns in my workshop, you brat! Go outside and test your gun!”
The revolver I created stopped working after firing two shots… No, it’s not because it can’t fire consecutively, but because my nose was overwhelmed with the smell of the smoke in the workshop which was released from my gun after I fired the two shots. The entire room was covered in white smoke. I was choking so bad I was tearing up. The red-haired lady also suffocated; she grabbed me by my arm and threw me out of the shop.
The door of the shop which hadn’t been opened in a long time finally opened, albeit for the sake of getting rid of the suffocating and blinding smoke. I took in big breaths of air. Nah, this won’t work. This black gun powder isn’t suitable for consecutive shots. If I actually fire six shots, I’ll die from smoke inhalation. It looks like I need to create gun powder that doesn’t release smoke…
Even Nier was choking and coughing non-stop. She held her chest with her hands as she gasped for air, and while looking at me with contempt, said: “I don’t know what you invented, but it looks like it’s capable of choking its wielder to death. If you’ve finally thought it through and committed to suiciding, please go into a small room and use it yourself.”
I smiled helplessly as I fanned the gun-smoke and asked: “Would I need to choke myself to death if I used this to kill myself?! Couldn’t I just put a bullet in my head instead?”
Nier looked at me with antic.i.p.ation and said: “Please go ahead then.”
“I won’t die!!”
I still don’t want to die yet, sorry!
Despite the commotion, the creation of my revolver was very successful. It may not be as compact as a modern one, but it’s not a bad revolver. It can fire six shots consecutively, except I won’t be able to see anything in front of me afterwards because my vision will be completely covered by white smoke…
Loading the bullets is also extremely difficult. That’s just one of the problems with revolvers that you can’t do anything about.
“To be honest, you continue to surprise me, prince.”
The red-haired lady leaned her back on the wall. She took out a pipe from her pocket, put some tobacco leaves in, and said: “Where did you get that idea from? The elves have never been renowned for their use of machinery. And judging from your handiwork, handling and thought patterns, it’s fairly obvious you’re an experienced gunsmith. Where did you learn this from in the past? I think that if you were to run a workshop, you’d truly be able to change this world.”
“You’re flattering me. These are actually ideas I usually come up with, I just never acted on them is all.”
I looked at the revolver in my hand and then tucked it into my belt. I then smiled and said: “Before I leave, I have another idea to share. I hope to see this long gun model made.”
It was the rifle I wanted to make for Lucia. I don’t know why myself, but while I was making this revolver, I wanted to make Lucia a rifle that belonged to her alone as well. I believe that Lucia would be formidable with the gun since she has the a.s.sistance of wind elves who could a.s.sist with bullet trajectory. She’d probably have a one-hundred percent accuracy rate.
As such, I wanted to make Lucia a rifle with relatively high accuracy.
Rifling isn’t a problem since this red-haired lady already knows about it. What came to mind therefore was a rifle with high accuracy and a greater range. And that would be none other than the Sharps rifle that the United States cleverly crafted.
But before I create that sort of rifle, I need to make gunpowder which doesn’t release smoke first…
The red-haired lady knocked on her pipe, looked at the street, coughed, and faintly said: “But a war will probably start soon, won’t it?”
I got surprised and asked: “WHY?!”
“Because Federline runs this street. He’s already ordered gunsmiths to begin making artillery. There has also been someone buying Castor coins at the market recently. It’s obvious that something big is about to go down.”
“That fatso owns this street?! He’s a firearms merchant?!”
“Firearms merchant?”
“Someone who sells firearms.”
“He’s involved with everything. He originally was an arms manufacturer. Afterwards, when the empire didn’t need to go to war, he turned his attention to other stuff. But since he’s gone back to manufacturing artillery, it’s an indication that a war is about to start.”
I nodded, and lowered my head to think about it carefully. Kids who grew up in my generation don’t a.s.sociate any positive adjectives with firearm merchants, because they’re essentially people who incite wars for monetary benefits. But I didn’t hear anything about a war starting… I didn’t know about this as the prince. And when I met that fatso yesterday, I didn’t realise he was a firearms merchant.
“Then why do they need to buy Castor coins? What’s buying Castor coins got to do with waging a war? Oh… Right… After Castor becomes occupied, they won’t need their coins anymore… But… But something like that should’ve been an order pa.s.sed down from the royal family. I didn’t hear anything about it.”
The red-haired lady waved her hand and said: “It wasn’t someone from the royal family. I haven’t seen the person who’s buying the coins, however, judging by the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like he’s on the same side as that fatso. Also, I don’t think it’s correct to call it ‘buying’. It’s more like converting, as in taking Castor’s coins and then exchanging them for bronze or gold coins.”
Huh? Who’d buy Castor coins? Why would they buy Castor coins? Does that mean that something is going to happen to that currency? Is Castor about to face some sort of problem and they coincidentally happen to be preparing for war? I just met with the Envoy from Castor yesterday and I didn’t hear anything about the two countries relations.h.i.+p becoming tense.
I stood up and asked: “Where’s the person who’s buying Castor’s coins?”
Why would they buy Castor coins if a war is about to break out?
Nothing about this is normal!
“Nier, come with me!”
I want to find out what the problem with Castor’s currency is!