C77- Meeting the Emperor (1)

"I see... that's what happened..."

"Yeah... Well, I also skipped a lot of details. But basicall-"

RUUUMMBLEE!!

"Run fasteer!!", screamed Noah.

Before Kharon could end his sentence, Noah and Clair sprung out of the forest, followed by Amy and Acherie behind them.

As the rumbling got louder, the ground shook like never before and the Twin Peaks of Aos started to crumble under their own weight. The tip of the mountain tipped over and many rocks broke off and fell downwards. Felyp got up and talked to his subordinates.

"All of you, get on our horses and leave. This place is too dangerous."

Everyone except Kharon quickly got on a horse. Kharon said he could run as fast as a horse with his magic. And the unconscious Corvin was carried by Olivia since she and her horse was trained at carrying an injured person at full speed safely.

They got away from the mountains and after some time, arrived at Tarlen village again. After Corvin got scolded by his mother, with Felyp scolding Noah besides him. A giant earthquake caused by the falling mountain shook the vicinity of the Werga Mountains. Felyp sent a report about the collapsed mountain and the earthquake to the Emperor.

Acherie and Kharon went back to their homes in Aleanakib after the shaking calmed down.

"Ah! We said let's meet again, but they didn't tell us which Ale-An kingdom they lived in...", said Corvin as they watched the backs of Acherie and Kharon get smaller and smaller.

"We can always find them one day. Instead of that, you should read this letter.", said Felyp from behind Corvin and handed him an envelope.

"What's this?"

"Jack brought this when he came back from Demice city. Appearently Dion sent it to Noah, but it arrived in our mansion."

"Why?"

"That's just how my dad is. Sometimes he is too busy with his experiments that he forgets the most basic stuff.", said Clair.

"Don't say it like that. This just happens when someone gets old.", said Felyp.

"You two are the same age, aren't you?"

"...He is older than me."

"Whatever. Let's just see what's inside..."

"Hey!"

Clair snatched the envelope from Corvin's hands and tore it open. She took out the letter inside, unfolded the paper and started to read it.

What Dion wrote about was a large vein of niter found inside a cave system in the new Piscin terriorties of the Flarum County. Appaerantly, when they asked where to look for saltpeter, Dion remembered to start a search for natural resources in the new territories to help the destroyed economy of the region. He also wrote about how to use niter instead of the saltpeter when making black powder, and other uses of it as well. The date written on the letter indicated that the letter was sent three days after they started searching on the mountains.

"..."

"..."

"We never needed to go to the mountains in the first place..."

"Don't say that. We helped people as well."

"But now we have to tell the Emperor why a mountain is no longer around..."

As a carriage appeared and arrived next to them, Felyp talked.

"Well, for now, let's go back to the capitol and prepare."

"Hm? For what?"

"Isn't it obvious? You are going to meet with the Emperor in about two weeks."

""""WHAT?!""""

"Why are you all surprised? Aren't you guys working on a new weapon? Did you forget about it already?"

"...Yeah, we might have."

"Well, now you remember it. So, quick, get in the carriage and let's leave already."

*****

In the following two weeks, Dion gave the rights to mine the niter vein to the Novaeta Company and helped the kids with establishing the first mine and things related to it like finding workers to mine.

The construction of a road that led to Celati from the cave, along with a building for storage and a central building started. The money for the buildings were taken as debt from Flarum County because of legality reasons, and Novaeta Corporation officially started it's first project.

A carriage of niter was gathered and sent to the factory in Alaturb before the construction of the mine started. So the development of the new weapons continued once again.

Corvin started working on designing a gun that could store bullets inside and fire them one by one instead of reloading a new bullet by hand every time, while Clair continued experimenting on the black powder to find the perfect ratio of the materials for maximum explosive power.

Going back and forth between their dorms at the Institute and their factory in the capitol became a daily habit for the three of them. Amy sometimes visited the factory when she had something to do in the capitol, but other than that, their days went on with hardwork at both school and the factory.

The two weeks went by, and the time to show the new weapons they developed to the Emperor came. The design Corvin was working on was finalized, but because it was much more complicated with small parts, it couldn't be produced fast enough to supply the army with. So they decided to show the Emperor the basic design they could produce with machines along with the new design that could shoot eight bullets before needing to be reloaded.

Currently standing in front of an archery target was Corvin, holding the new gun design in his hands and aiming it towards the target.

Click-Boom! Click-Boom! Click-Boom! Click-Boom!

The bullets landed near the center of the target. Corvin lifted the tip of the barrel up to his mouth and blew on the smoke coming out of it.

"Foof~ Did you see that? It works! We only need to figure out how to make more of this using machines."

"That's the hardest part, you know? But, it really works! It was worth the two days that took to make it!", said Clair enthusiastically.

"You can fire eight bullets with this! Well, you nees to pull this part every time, but it is much faster than reloading a new bullet every time. So, how about it, Master? Do you like the new gun I made?"

"Hmm.... Hold on..."

Felyp walked in between Corvin and the target while scratching his chin with a thoughtful face. He turned towards Corvin.

"Can you shoot at me with that?"

"Huh?"

"Just shoot at me twice. No, actually, use all the remaining bullets."

"A-Are you sure? This thing is really dangerous, you know?"

"I can see that. But, just do what I say for now."

"O-Okay. I am aiming at your legs just to be safe, okay?"

"It doesn't matter, but okay."

Corvin lifted the gun again and pulled the trigger.

Click-Boom! Click-Boom! Click-Boom! Click-Boom!

The bullets flew towards Felyp, who stood without moving. But nothing happened to him.

"What?! What happened? Did I miss?"

"No, you didn't. They were actually headed towards me, really."

"Then what did you do?"

"The black powder heats up the bullets, so I can feel them after you pull the trigger. If I focus on doing it, I can boil the bullets before they reach me, even from this distance. So, mages are still going to be useful in battles, even with this weapon in the fields though it will be harder for them..."

Even though Felyp said all that, there was only a single part of his spiel that entered Corvin's head.

"...B-Boil the bullets?! What do you mean?"

"Well, no matter how good you are, almost no one can stop a bullet with a sword, so I thought about using magic to stop it. Since even if it melted, the molten metal might hit me and burn me, I thought heating it until it boiled away was the best option. And, as you can see, I was right."

'...No, what do you mean best option? How can anyone boil metal that fast? Really, how strong are you, Master?'