“This is great. This is exactly what I wanted.”
Inside the Alchemy Workshop, Anke carefully touched the strange long rod resting on waterproof leather as if he were stroking a lover’s skin.
“Is this the musket you mentioned, Your Highness?”
Vera looked at the strange long rod called a musket and questioned Anke.
“Yes. To be precise, it should be called a needle gun — a breech-loading rifle.”
Anke’s attention was entirely on the gun. As he answered Vera’s question, he pulled the bolt a few times.
“Needle… gun? Ri… fle?”
Vera didn’t understand how those words were supposed to fit together.
“The front doesn’t have a blade. Or rather, has the spearhead not been installed yet? But the length is too short; it wouldn’t have an advantage on the battlefield.”
Vera continued to study Anke’s so-called needle gun carefully.
She felt that this thing was full of flaws and was simply not something that could be taken onto a battlefield.
“No advantage? Vera, do you want to bet? I’ll bet ten Gold Markors that you can’t even imagine how powerful this thing is.”
Anke looked very much like a child sharing his favorite toy.
“Since Your Highness wishes it, I naturally won’t refuse. However, Your Highness, I have no stake of equal value to give you,” Vera said, her gaze shifting away from the musket as she spoke in a tactful tone.
“Of course you do! If you lose, you’ll be the first to learn how to use the musket proficiently. Then you will be responsible for organizing training methods and teaching them to the other guards.”
“I understand. Then, Your Highness, please let me witness the power of your musket.”
Vera took a few steps back and faced Anke. She spread her arms, holding her body in a cross shape.
“Wait, the gun test isn’t supposed to be on you! The range — let’s go to the firing range!”
Anke was stunned for a moment before he spoke hurriedly.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
……
The firing range outside the Alchemy Workshop.
Vera watched Anke, who stood beside her, as he inserted a paper cylinder slightly smaller than a cork into the musket.
He then aimed at a target fifty meters away and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A flash of fire erupted from the muzzle as the gun kicked upward, and a deafening roar that Vera could not describe exploded at the same time.
Thud!
The wooden target standing 150 feet away was pierced clean through, leaving a clear hole in the wood.
‘What on earth is this? Ancient magic? Or a lost alchemical creation?’ Various possibilities flashed through Vera’s mind.
She had seen it just now — after Anke pulled the trigger, fire erupted from the gun, a blast sounded, and a tiny object flew out.
That object was what had pierced the wooden target, but how exactly was it done?
“How about it? Was I wrong? Do you still think the musket has no advantage on the battlefield, my Chief Knight? Once mass-produced, even a fully armed heavy knight will be taken down with a single shot.”
Anke lowered the muzzle and turned his head toward Vera, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Your Highness, how exactly did you do it?”
Vera was still immersed in the shock brought by the power of the new weapon.
“Sai-insi. Mr. Sai taught me,” Anke replied after a moment of thought.
“Is he a mage?”
“No, no, no. Mr. Sai isn’t a mage, nor is he even a person. He is a summation of a vast category of knowledge known as science. And science, well, it’s…”
Anke searched his mind for the few adjectives he knew, trying to explain to Vera exactly what Sai-insi and science were.
However, Vera’s understanding wasn’t just unrelated to Anke’s explanation; it was the exact opposite.
‘A god who controls science?!!!’
Vera attributed the incomprehensible knowledge directly to divine power.
In her mind, Sai-insi was a god who possessed countless lost ancient magical secrets.
“It’s a bit complicated to explain. Do you understand?”
“I understand. Your Highness truly is the man prophesied to become the New King!”
‘With a god’s support, it is inevitable that the prophecy will be fulfilled! Then there is hope for me to use Anke to restore my race!’
‘But since Anke has a god backing him, I must be even more cautious. Otherwise, if the god intervenes directly, forget about reviving the Mimic Beast race — even my own life would be in danger,’ Vera thought silently to herself.
“As long as you understand… I guess?”
Anke felt that Vera probably understood, so he turned back, reloaded the gun, and aimed at a more distant target.
Bang! The distant target shattered upon impact.
The sound of the gunshot echoed into the surrounding woods, startling a flock of birds and drawing the shouts of guards and the pleading cries of a commoner.
In the forest on the outskirts of the firing range, two patrolling guards had caught a commoner gathering dry firewood.
Because Anke happened to be testing the gun at the range, the guards brought the man before him.
“What did he do? Why did you beat him like this?”
Looking at the thinly clad commoner kneeling on the ground and trembling, his gaunt face smeared with blood and mud, Anke first ordered the warlocks from the Alchemy Workshop to lock the rifle back in its box and take it back to the workshop before asking the guards what had happened.
“Reporting to the Lord, this shameless thief stole your property. We caught him and brought him to you.”
“What? What did he steal from me?”
Hearing that his property had been stolen, Anke’s heart immediately skipped a beat.
“Lord, it was the dry branches from your private forest.”
“Huh? Just some branches?”
The guard’s answer caused Anke’s heart to drop back into his stomach.
“I… I didn’t know that was your property, Lord. Please, Lord, forgive me. I really didn’t know this was the Lord’s private land. I was just so cold and wanted to start a fire for warmth. Please forgive me.”
Ignoring the pain in his body, the commoner pleaded incoherently with Anke.
“According to Article Three of the Lord’s Law, anyone who steals the Lord’s property shall be hanged!”
Vera’s sword point pressed against the commoner’s throat, and the guards all echoed Vera’s sentence.
“Stop, Vera. Does the law say that the dry branches and fallen leaves on this land belong to me privately?”
Anke pressed down on the hilt of Vera’s sword.
“Your Highness, the laws of Hanover have always been this way. Everything on your land, even a single fallen leaf, is your property.”
“Yes, Lord. Those aren’t just branches; they are your property. If we don’t kill him, it will only encourage more crime.”
Vera answered Anke, and the guards spoke up in agreement.
“Absurd! Even if it is my property, how can a few branches compare to a human life? Vera, I command you, put down your sword immediately!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Facing Anke’s command, Vera could only lower her sword.
She then snapped at the commoner kneeling on the ground, “Be grateful for His Highness’s mercy. You’ve kept your life.”
“Your Highness, are you really going to let him go? This is condoning crime!” the guard tried to persuade Anke further.
“Enough. Don’t try to persuade me. To me, a mountain of firewood isn’t worth as much as a human life, let alone a few branches!”
Immediately after, Anke’s tone shifted back to the “thieving” commoner.
“As for you, since you committed the crime of theft, I sentence you to report to the Lord’s Castle tomorrow. You will participate in unpaid labor within the territory, using your sweat to pay for the stolen wood — I mean, property.”
“That’s all. Let’s go back, Vera.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After Anke finished speaking, he led Vera away from the firing range.
“Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord…”
The commoner knelt and thanked Anke repeatedly for his mercy, not standing up for a long time.
“Remember to go to the Lord’s Castle tomorrow to atone, you disgusting thief.”
The two guards gave the commoner no kind looks.
They chatted with each other about the new Lord’s mercy and preferences as they continued their patrol in the woods.
……
Night, the Lord’s Castle in Border City.
“You are too merciful. This was blatant theft, a provocation against noble dignity. Your Highness’s mercy will only cause these commoners to lose their sense of awe…”
Vera was still brooding over the events of the day.
Under the candlelight, Anke was leafing through a Territory Management Log written by previous lords.
He put down the precious manuscript and asked Vera a question.
“Vera, what do you think is the most important part of a nation?”
“A wise monarch?”
“No.”
“A powerful army?”
“No.”
“Countless treasures?”
“None of those. It’s the people. The people are the most important part of a nation.”
“With all due respect, Your Highness, people — especially commoners — are the least valuable things.”
“You’re right, Vera. In the eyes of people in this era, humans are the least important. But in my eyes, they are the most important. I’ve always wondered why the population of Border City stayed around 6,000 under every lord without any significant growth. Now I know. They wasted their precious population on punishments meant to uphold noble status. The rules must change. From now on, most non-capital punishments will be changed to atonement through labor.”
‘This era? Atoning through labor?’ His Highness was using strange terms again. ‘Was he taught all of this by Sai-insi?’ Vera tilted her head as she listened, looking like a curious red fox.
Meanwhile, the commoner who had caused the discussion between Vera and Anke had returned to a dilapidated shack in the slums in the southwest corner of Border City.
The surrounding area emitted a pungent stench. Under the dim moonlight, there were various groans and the squeaking of rats gnawing on flesh.
Unlike his cowering and terrified appearance during the day, although he was still covered in scars and looked quite miserable, his eyes held a spark that was different from the listless beggars lying around him waiting to rot.
Under the cover of night, he mimicked a string of bird calls. A pigeon slowly landed in front of him.
The commoner grabbed the pigeon, stuffed a prepared secret letter into a paper tube, and tied it to the pigeon’s back. After finishing this, he held the pigeon, preparing to release it.
But just as he was about to move, he began to hesitate. He remembered the words Anke had said to the guards and the Chief Knight.
‘The Fourth Prince seems like a benevolent ruler. Do I really want to harm him?’
After an internal struggle, the commoner released the pigeon anyway.
‘All nobles are the same. Why should I fall into the same trap they set before? Giving the secret letter to the First Prince, getting the gold, and then fleeing far away is the right choice!’
At the same time, the pigeon spread its wings in the night, fluttering toward the southeastern horizon.