15th July 1574"Now I understand why you wanted to talk in private. This matter is indeed rather… sensitive."
After hearing to the last part of my words, Kristina leaned back in her chair while sending me a taxing look. Considering how we were speaking about one of the most important questions that currently troubled the country, it was no wonder she was taking her time to consider how should she reply to me.
"I know, but it"s not like we do not stand to lose anything by putting it off. Be it as our own respective households, or as the whole country. Right now, we are putting all the necessary reforms that Henry promised to push through because the matter of who"s supposed to be the next King is at the front. Unless we want the entire country to be paralyzed for only G.o.d knows how long, we need to act ourselves."
Rather than attempting to push her towards a certain decision, I softly explained my reasoning behind such a hard stance on the topic. After all, there was no way I could just explain that I perfectly knew what would happen if the current trend continued!
"Trust me, I perfectly know what you mean. It might come as a little surprise, but our men in the east brought some reports claiming that some of the grand boyars in the Muscovy are arming up. That"s the main reason why I didn"t chase you off the moment you mentioned the last part of your aim here…"
After I heard those words, saying that I was surprised would be a gross understatement. From what I remembered, with how Russian royal family was aiming to take the Commonwealth throne by themselves, it didn"t make any sense for the Tsar to allow any sorts of provocative measures right as the interregnum begun!
At first, I wanted to brush it off as the matter of delay in the information, yet when looking at the dates, there was no way that the Muscovy didn"t receive the news yet. After all, when an entire country was at stake, people tend to do their best to pa.s.s the important information to their lieges!
"You are quite surprised, I see. But that will only make it simpler for both of us. Tell me, do those funny inventions of yours, have any military appliance?"
While Kristina"s previous sentence was enough to put me on edge, her last question was the best thing that I could hear! After all, outside of everything that the steam engine could be used, just those rifles of mine already held an insane value on the battlefield, especially with how expensive it would be to even attempt replicating them without proper, industrious background!
"To be honest, I didn"t expect you to ask this… kind of question. Or rather, I didn"t dare to hope for it!"
Instead of humblebragging or attempting to hide how much I loved the fact that this topic was brought up, I decided to come clean about it. After all, the military was always the leading force that promoted new technology! With all the countries on the continent locked in a fairly balanced position, every small advantage that one would get over his enemies was worth its weight in gold!
"It"s nice to hear that. Before I will ask you to show it to me though, would you mind explaining in a few words what you could offer… in regards to increasing one"s force? Also, if your proposition turns out to be compelling enough… What would you ask for in exchange for your goods or ideas?"
Word by word, Kristina was making the situation better and better for me. At this point, I wasn"t capable of hiding my cheerful smile anymore.
"Okay then, let"s start with purely military tools. I a.s.sume you do realise all kinds of drawbacks that come with our current weapons?"
Since she wanted to learn about the capabilities of my babies, there was no better way for me to start than with the rifles. While some might think that explaining the idea behind making a steam-powered tank would allow me to make a better impression on Kristina, when the push would come to the shove, I had no prototype that I could present.
"Yeah. Unless we are fighting some kind of cultured war, aimed more at prestige rather than the real military gains, then after the first salvo… They are as useless as it can get… and let"s not even get me started at how useless they are during the rain!"
To be honest, this statement was quite surprising for me. Thinking about it, when asking about the drawbacks of the current weaponry of the age, I expected them to point out at the small details that would be the pinnacle of what they would imagine being able to be improved, yet she actually managed to pinpoint two of the crucial parts!
It was quite sad that unless I could come up with a way to create a proper fire initiator, solving the problem of the faulty shoots during the rain wouldn"t be that easy!
"While I have to disappoint you on the second aspect, I think I have not only good news in regards to the first one but also when speaking about all kinds of other matters. But to not put it off for too long, as there is no point in keeping the tension, let me tell you that. Think about literally any aspect of the weapons that we currently have, and I"m quite positive that the ones that I brought, are better!"
Firing myself up to this point, there was no way anyone would be capable of stopping me. Unless it came to explaining the reaper guns idea, I was going to set myself free of any limits in terms of bragging!
"But rather than swarming you with all the details, let me pick the most important part that I find useful with the improved design. My rifles can shoot up to twelve shots in quick succession!"