War Preparations

After the Dumont Dukedom's envoy left, Blanc immediately continued making preparations.

He knew that they would have to go to war against the Dumont Dukedom sooner or later so he has been preparing for it.

Although the leading figures of the Dumont Dukedom seem to be stupid, He shouldn't underestimate the top warriors of the Dukedom.

According to Blanc's informant in the Dumont Dukedom, The top warrior of the kingdom, Gar Grayleaf,  is very arrogant and likes to show off.

The only known thing about him is that he's a Swordmaster. Unfortunately, the informant wasn't able to get any information about the guy's physique tier.

Gar Grayleaf was granted the "special unit" status and he doesn't have to obey the commands of the general.

In addition to him, there were five known elites among the ranks of the Dumont Dukedom military. 

It was unknown how many of them broke through the ranks of a Swordmaster but it is a known fact that they all lost to Gar Grayleaf in a duel.

Due to this, Blanc didn't dare let his guard down. 

Although it was unknown if the Dumont Dukedom would dispatch all of its elites in this war, he would still prepare meticulously to reduce the casualties.

The main focus of his preparations is their town's fortifications. Fortunately, the stone walls were already finished but Blanc feels that this isn't enough.

This is why currently, Blanc is inside the craftsmen workshop.

"James, is the new weapon ready?"

James was the guy who recently broke through to master craftsman so Blanc assigned him to be in charge of the craftsman guild.

"Yes mayor, we finally completed the weapon yesterday night and we can test it now if you want"

A few months ago, Blanc gave a new weapon blueprint to James.

After months of trial and error, finally, James has finished the creation of the new weapon yesterday. 

Blanc thought that the weapon wouldn't make it in time for the war against the Dumont Dukedom and he was already thinking of other countermeasures.

Fortunately, James has successfully created it in time.

"Great! Let's go to the fields to test this new weapon."

"Sure! I would like to test this new weapon as well"

James happily complied and ordered some of his men to load the huge weapon in a large horse cart.

After a few minutes, they finally reached the fields. Doran also came with them to test the new weapon since he was the one responsible for the creation of the new weapon's ammunition.

The weapon looked similar to a ballista but there were some differences.

For example, the new weapon uses iron bolts like a normal ballista but Blanc made some adjustments and their version of the ballista can shoot three iron bolts at once which made it very effective for defending the town.

In addition, Blanc's modifications included an ammunition box that automatically reloads the iron bolts which increases the fire rate of the Resonance Ballista.

A normal ballista can fire one iron bolt every fifteen to twenty seconds depending on the mastery of the team operating the ballista.

In comparison, the Resonance Ballista can fire three iron bolts every twelve seconds. In addition to this, only two persons were needed to operate the Resonance Ballista, one person was in charge of reloading the ammunition while the other one was in charge of firing the ballista bolts.

It also has disadvantages though, for example, it is way heavier than a normal ballista which means that it needs to be placed in a very secure spot.

This is because it is very hard to reposition the Resonance Ballista so once the enemies successfully capture the area where the Resonance Ballista is located, it would be very hard for them to retrieve it.

Blanc is fine with this disadvantage though since he plans to install them above the stone walls so it would be very hard for the enemies to destroy it.

Due to its weight, the craftsmen team had a bit of trouble unloading the Resonance ballista from the horse cart but after a few minutes of struggling, the Resonance ballista was finally ready for testing.

Blanc and Doran loaded the ammunition box and watched as it automatically loaded the iron bolts to the drawstrings.

"Not bad!"

Blanc and James nodded happily after seeing the automatic reloading function of the Resonance Ballista.

Next, to test the power of the Resonance ballista, they lined up twenty wooden planks on each iron bolt's trajectory in order to see how many planks can each iron bolt pierce.

"Fire!"

Blanc pulled the drawstring trigger and three iron bolts were fired.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Blanc's, Doran's, and the craftsmen team's eyes opened wide due to the unexpected power of the Resonance ballista.

each bolt was able to pierce around 12 planks which means that with every shot, one Resonance Ballista can kill around 30 to 36 persons.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Blanc nodded happily again after seeing the weapon's power. 

Seeing the mayor's satisfied smile, James was very happy. It took him a few months of trial and error before he finally managed to complete the Resonance Ballista.

"Great job James and the craftsman team! This is a huge contribution to the town so I will be rewarding you guys with 1000 silver coins. You may divide it among yourselves depending on each member's contribution."

Hearing that they would get a bonus, the craftsmen were very happy, especially James. The reason why he is working so hard is because he is about to get married.

He's currently saving up money to buy a better house for his future family. This huge amount of silver coins will truly be a huge help to him.

"By the way James, how many more Resonance Ballistas can you make in three months?"

"Three months? Hmmm…I believe we can still create at least four more ballistas in three months."

"Hmm…If you can make it five ballistas then I'm willing to give you guys another 500 silver coins as a bonus!"

"Say no more! We'll make sure to create five ballistas in three months!"

Blanc almost laughed at how fast James guaranteed to make five. He was very happy though, since a war is bound to bring calamity to their town, he can't be stingy here.

"Thanks, James! I'll be counting on you!"