Questions

A dust cloud covered the observers' position, creating an impenetrable veil. The king and the guild leaders looked out from behind the wagon warily, unable to see anything further than five metres away, and the trio, coughing and spitting up dust, froze in surprise. A rectangular purple visor was staring back at them through the brown veil. Its owner approached quickly and soon appeared in all his glory, dirty as hell.

"Lord Bondrewd are you all right?" Aivina asked frightened, tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn't know why, whether it was the sand in her eyes or she was so worried about the Lord.

Bondrewd replied in full, brushing off a small mountain of sand. Unable to take it any longer Avitus screamed.

"Lord Bondrewd explain how, how you managed to create such a thing." The monarch didn't know how he should react, yes this guy was on his side, but when this would end no one knew, and that thought was weighing on Avitus like nothing else right now. Mira was absolutely delighted, and was not shy to show it, with all her looks letting him know that the performance was a success.

"I will answer all your questions, but in the meantime, please come with me." Said Bondrewd and walked briskly towards the camp. The trio looked at each other, as there was nothing to say to each other, and followed.

The group entered a large tent, Bondrewd sat down at a massive table, the others sat against it, taking all the available chairs.

"Since we are all here today, I propose to celebrate our little victory." The lord snapped his fingers and numerous servants flew into the room, carrying trays of food and alcohol. Bondrewd handed a glass to a servant and raised it up, already full.

"To scientific and technological progress." No one but he himself understood what it meant, but keeping a clever expression on their faces they raised their glasses up and drained them to the bottom. The further dinner was not very long, they skipped a couple of glasses, Bondrewd ate mostly alone, his guests only slightly touched their plates, all waited patiently for explanations.

"Now that the ceremonial part is over, I will answer Avitus' question, since he asked it first." The King kept a stony expression on his face and looked at the Lord with sweat dripping down his face.

"In general terms," the Lord of Dawn faltered a little and leaned his hand on his temple, as if trying to remember something." During the siege I was pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the rifles, but there was one thing that bothered me - the low rate of fire, I struggled to solve this problem until I drove out of town, on the way I saw a watermill and it hit me, and after a few nights of thinking, I managed to assemble an old rifle under the drum mechanism."

Avitus and the guild leaders listened in silence, but Bondrewd didn't think to stop.

"I was looking for a way to reinforce the infantry group while keeping it mobile, increasing the size and calibre of the rifle was not an option, it became too heavy, and the recoil was so strong that it knocked people off their feet. Having tried a lot of options, I almost lost hope for success, if not for one case. I went to the city on business, and on the way literally one eye unintentionally, saw a glassblower at work. Thanks to this lucky find, I was inspired and built a hand-held rocket launcher, it's a pity, though, that the range of the shot is small, but I'm thinking about it."

"The rocket launcher appeared as an extension of its smaller counterpart, no obsession was needed here, I just increased the size of the rockets and put them on rails, in general nothing complicated.

Bondrewd's eyes lit up with happiness, for the long time he had been in this world he was finally able to do something he loved, scientific and engineering research was his true passion and he felt like a fish in water. He continued his story with pride.

"I can already see by your faces that you are interested to know how I came up with the Great Bombexploer, but I hasten to disappoint you, it was nothing extraordinary, I just created a really strong cannon, but the projectile - I won't lie my pride, I don't think you will be interested in its exact structure, the main thing I managed to put enough enchanted burst cryst crystals in it, the same ones used in gun bullets. But the first samples did not satisfy me, and I decided to take a risk, with Mira's advice I decided to grind and compress the explosive crystals, it was very risky, one sharp movement and half the city would blow up. But fortunately, it turned out well and the result exceeded all my expectations." Bondrewd finished his tirade and stared at the listeners, "you can see by the eyes except for Mira nobody understood anything" - Mira not only listened to the story, but also carefully wrote down, making some notes in a small book. The awkward silence was interrupted by Avitus.

"Lord Bondrewd, thank you for the story, but I want to ask you one more question, tell me, why are you doing all this?" Upon hearing the question Bondrewd raised his head and the monarch swallowed nervously, pulling back his collar, wanting to increase the flow of air, Aivina had already recovered from the shock and was looking at the lord with a predatory smile. Mira struggled to tear herself away from her notes and looked up with eyes burning with enthusiasm.

"I'll answer three of your questions, one for each of you, and then I'll ask each of you one question myself, all fair and square, what do you think?" Everyone's brain was working frantically, the offer looked tempting, but on the other hand, the danger was huge, he was not a local and might ask something he didn't need to, or try to catch some of them in a lie with unclear consequences.

"I agree," Mira stated her wish with a very confident expression, and looked questioningly at those sitting next to her.

"I do too." Aivina said with a smug smirk, the girl looked at the sorceress with anger. Avitus was silent, all those present stared at him, making the king even more nervous, he wanted to bang his fist on the table, but one look at Bondrewd was enough to realise he had been given a choice without a choice.

"D... yes. And my question remains unchanged." Avitus answered uncertainly.

"Good. My reason for helping you is quite simple, I want to return home," All those present stared at Bondrewd questioningly, their faces showing incomprehension." Bondrewd, with all due respect, why don't you just leave, don't get me wrong, we are all grateful to you for saving us all, twice, but until we know your motives, we can't fully trust you." Avitus finished and exhaled.

"It's very simple, I come from another world, and I died, rather mediocre to be honest, and this force offered me a deal, I help you, it sends me home," Avitus and the ladies looked at Bondrewd, his speech sounded like fucking nonsense, on the other hand it explained a lot, mostly his strange appearance and incredible strength.

"Did I answer your question?" Avitus only nodded silently, the information was very contradictory and it would take time to comprehend. 

 "Where did you get such power from?" Aivina was about to ask a question, but Mira beat her to it by a couple of seconds, to the first one's dissatisfaction.

"Very simple, what is the most important thing in development?" Time, and believe me I have had plenty of it, I have lived much longer than you can imagine, of course I have had power, subjects, and the necessary resources, and of course my territory, you could say I was a frontiersman, and got the nickname of Lord Dawn, and at the same time I was learning the laws of my world." Bondrewd turned his head towards Mira, who just looked at him as a traveller lost in the desert looks at water, with longing and hope.

"Um... I was hoping for a more detailed version, but I think we'll fix that," Bondrewd nodded, and Aivina started to get angry and stood up from her seat and asked loudly.

"Bondrewd, what kind of man are you?" The question was straight as a board, to be honest Bondrewd didn't really know what to say to her, but the contract obliged, Avitus and Mira cautiously squinted in the direction of the trader. And Bondrewd remained silent, "and what do I say?"

A couple of minutes passed, and there was no reasonable answer to Aivina's question, which drove Lord Dawn into frustration, under Aivina's heated gaze, Bondrewd wanted to give in to the philosophical impulse, and go into a long long long discourse. "Wait, why the fuck do I care so much, it's very simple."

"I'm the evil." Loud and clear, said Bondrewd.