Chapter 2.

Farrow castle, a medieval-looking structure in the western region of the kingdom of Beltir.

A small person's silhouette wearing a robe is holding a lantern with both its hands, slowly walking down a dark underground spiral staircase, the wall and floor is cladded with blocks of stones.

He reached the end of the staircase and moved towards an eerie passageway that split into three.

He eventually turned to the left path looking at an open door at the end of the tunnel with some light peeking from the inside.

The small person reached the door and knocked twice before entering the wide oval underground space. He then stood unmoving just a few feet from the entrance waiting…

In the middle of the huge room is its sole rectangular pillar designed with almost a hundred mummified faces encapsulated by a brownish transparent substance.

The small servant had been inside this crypt numerous times yet he always felt distressed on each occasion.

A figure sitting on the floor with its back leaning on the wall suddenly moved. It stood up grabbing a stone sticking from the wall to assist itself.

The person moved to the middle of the room revealing himself as a tall, slender man in his fifties with a broad shoulder, by the help of some light coming from the crystallised substance.

The slender man with light-grey hair and pale blue eyes then gave his servant a questioning look.

"Lord Barsaul had just arrived. M'lord."

"I notified him that you didn't want to be disturbed."

….

"Hmm..?"

"And yet, here you are."

"He insisted, and according to him, 'you'd really wanna see it'. He said."

….

The heavy wooden door to the study opened and a tall slender man with an air of authority came in followed by an armed guard and a dwarfish-looking person in a brown robe.

The duke quickly went and sat on the luxurious chair behind his desk.

He quickly noticed a lengthy item wrapped in a leather cover in front of him.

Duke Wilhurm Routanen, lord of the farrow lands, Beltir's grand marshall, and is said to be one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. Some even believe he has more authority than the young king at the moment.

Even though the duke appeared to be annoyed for being interrupted, and is somewhat impatient, he stayed silent and just stared at his visitor.

This person is a relative, though a lesser noble, the person is a wise loyalist to his noble faction.

"Your grace." Lord Barsaul bowed respectfully, and remained standing.

"One of my tradesmen came back from Evgrad and delivered an item with a piece of paper with an inscription written on Harluk."

"It is for you, your grace."

….

The duke unwrapped the covering and uncovered a rifle, though it looked plainly different to the ones displayed on the rack at the side of the room.

The duke unfolded the piece of paper with only a few words written on it.

"With a spark." It says here.

Wilhurm waved his hand and gestured to his guard to pick up the weapon.

The man took the gun and held it to a firing position. But still looked back to his lord confused.

The duke looked at his little servant, and knew just by looking at his facial expression that the man had an idea.

"Go on, Tumil."

Lord Barsaul and the guard stood back a bit and gave the duke and his servant an open area between them.

"My lord, I believe the firing mechanism is by creating a spark to ignite the gunpowder."

"Firing would become more efficient and with less warning, even in wet conditions too."

…

It took a few moments of contemplation before a reaction was made.

"My god! It seems like the empire doesn't stop creating new weapons, do they? It hasn't even been a decade since they brought out the matchlock musket while we were still using handheld cannons back then." Lord Barsaul was utterly shocked.

"They have just recently fully armed a whole army with matchlocks and now this… We hadn't even caught-up with their cannons and military tactics yet." The guard adds.

The room fell into silence once more.

"Where are we in firearms and gun Tumil?"

"My Lord, we had made over 1000 muskets, 500 rifles, 15 six pounders, and 4 twelve pounders. Though we had a few accidents, we had stored around 150 barrels of gunpowder."

"With the royal command, we had urged the other major lords of the kingdom to prioritise gun smiting, cannon-making, and the production of gunpowder. However, their development is lagging, and is more relaxed, my lord."

"And what do you think of Norstedt's movement?"

….

"I believe that they will finalise their campaign on the kingdom of Arsaw, and whatever lands they'll get their hands on what's left of Altion before winter arrives. Furthermore, I suspect that they will send a massive force to the Bosilia."

"So soon? The Bosilian Empire is not strengthless and forceless, even though their core powers have been in constant battle against each other, they are still a force to be reckoned with." Lord Barsaul was sceptical of this one specific notion.

"I am convinced that after taking Vremen, Mertaix and Collancia, the empire will know the importance of diplomacy and will now be able to bring the remaining nobles to their side, ending the conflict sooner than expected. Since they have a bunch of great talents on their side."

"And since Bosilia hasn't stationed enough forces on their border, they are clearly inviting Norstedt to invade early to gain a foothold on their northern region."

….

Day 24 of the 11th month.