Wine, Tornwall and his dilemma.

After the testing,

John then called Tornwall, "I am very happy with the results and with the effects of the currently improved ballista, the very fact that you tried to improvise this weapon and gave a good result to us was very satisfying."

John continued as he smiled and said to him, "As for the reward, you will certainly be getting one of a kind Alchohol which you haven't tasted ever. I will be immediately ordering the start of construction of a new distillery in North-frontier town to meet our domestic needs, it would anyway be useful for the town as it would increase the employment opportunities and it would also increase the popularity of our town when it comes to making unique food and beverages, it would be quite good for advertisement among other duchies and domains of other lords. As you know rich only lack experiences, not money so it would be better for us anyway."

Hearing this good news, Tornwall was a lot more pumped than usual today. He was already pumped up enough after that incredible show a while ago but now he was pretty much excited as he knew that he won't be disappointed by John because he already tasted all the food at Hope which was recently created by John these days and he knew about its quality which was leagues apart from anything he had dined and wined even as a high ranking official in the dwarven country.

Eating at Hope and drinking beer from Red had become the favorite moment for Tornwall these days after arriving at North-frontier town.

Hearing that news Tornwall replied to John, "I guess, improving weapons of any type comes as a part from my previous work so it was only natural of me to help and create a better weapon suiting our needs. And getting John to personally create a new alcoholic beverage was certainly worth the effort. I guess this alcohol would become as famous as the dishes from Hope. If every improvement of mine could make you create more beverages comparable to those dishes from Hope then I would be happy to dedicate even more of my time just to get a taste of those unique beers and wines."

Hearing this John laughed and replied to him, "Well, What I can assure you is that after drinking that alcohol you won't be disappointed by what I have experienced after drinking some famous beers and wines in Aelius."

"However after this event, I want you to take the dwarves who were bought personally by me earlier and make a team out of them. This team will be focusing on producing these Ballistas for the preparations of winter. The team producing these ballistas will have to sign a confidentiality agreement with us. In compensation, they will get freedom from slavery 2 years earlier compared to the current contract for maintaining confidentiality and increased wages plus incentives."

"So we will practically be building a special workshop for the production of these ballistas.

However, due to political reasons, you will also be required to build a less powerful version of the current ballista so that people don't become too much wary and hostile to us this early."

Tornwall very much understood why John wanted to make a less powerful version of the Ballista for a show. So that even if the current power of the ballista is revealed then it would be an illusion for their enemies about their current power, "Okay I will make sure to implement those orders, Are there any plans about the small miniature ballistas. is there a need for a live test."

John: "Hmm.. yes we will make them equipped for our warriors if they are good, they can be pretty much useful to our men for their archery training and for practicing their shooting, as for its presentation, I can pretty much already guess its power however we will still need a live demonstration to make an accurate guess on its real firepower."

Tornwall asked for confirmation from John, "As for the lower grade version, how much do you want its power and speed to be lowered to the standards that match our current situation."

John thought a bit and said"Well lower its performance by half and I just wanted to confirm one thing, could all the runemasters upgrade the firepower of that Ballista like you did earlier? nah, make it 40% of the current power."

"Well there are quite a handful but it requires a lot of energy and time to engrave magical runes to suit the current weapon and if it comes to runemasters comparable to be me? I don't think there are more than 30 people who can engrave runes as masterfully as I can do on this whole continent. You see I am someone who focused a lot when it came to improving weapons anyway possible and hence I got acquainted with runes early on in my profession of weapon making. most of the runemasters could only reach 50 percent of my power when they make runes. One of my strong points is when I make weapons, I know about it inside out and hence the advantage over other runemasters."

"The miniature Ballista will be tested a bit later after we complete our current conversation."

"And yes make sure to take all your trusted men who were recently recruited from our current batch of slaves. They could also get an increase in their wages and other incentives which they could benefit from later on if they agree to the confidentiality agreement. I suggest this since we are short on labor."

This was one of the ways John wanted to build more trust about him among the slaves which would benefit and reflect about him later on, As slaves see more benefits, they would eventually start developing a positive image on John which would be useful for John later on in future. He didn't want to be seen as someone who dabbled in the Slave-trade for future historians and people to see.

Hearing the current wave of good news Tornwall replied in a very happy tone, he had a big smile plastered on his from the time he heard that John will be making an alcoholic drink personally because of his results. This made him quite proud.

"I will make sure to inform them of this good news. I am pretty much assured that they will be excited on working for such an honorable project which would benefit everyone in the north-frontier town later on, whether its employment, defense or honor to be able to protect their own homes."

"As you have already given the good news of making personalized alcohol, they will pretty much be excited to taste that beverage. This would be a piece of very welcome news for all the dwarves as you know we are quite heavy drinkers and love it second to none."

John laughed and said, "Haha, I am pretty sure they will spend most of their wages on alcohol if they don't control their urges on alcohol. And the most I am worried about is you as you are pretty well known when it comes to drinking."

Tornwall grinned and said, "Haha, you don't have to worry Lord, this will only motivate us to work more splendidly so we earn more and spend more on the things we enjoy most."

Vlad heard them from the sidelines as he thought of a sinister plan to irritate Tornwall as he joined them with a curious look, "I am hearing a pretty interesting talk between the two of you and from your expression, I can guess that you were rewarded quite heavily for your current performance."

Tornwall proudly said after hearing Vlad, "That's true, after my performance, John decided that he will make an alcoholic beverage to suit us and we can get access to better alcohol in the North-frontier town as you know trade here is quite low which creates a shortage on certain goods which are needed for everyone. So previously before when this project started, John promised me that if I can show a good performance then he will consider my proposal on building a distillery dedicated to making various types of new beverages and he will personally make one alcoholic beverage as my reward. So I guess my face pretty much reflects my current happiness."

Vlad thought about Tornwall's answer and said, "So that was the reason you were so happy because from what I know, very few things can make you happy unless it is related to alcohol or it is related to new technologies and those are also the things which can make you angry easily. So the reason this time was related to alcohol. hmmm.."

Vlad continued with a sheepish smile as he knew what would be the answer from John but he still said it to both of them, "However, from what I know, there are a lot of people involved in this business, don't make too many enemies, you wouldn't want to piss off another dude, do you? And this time it would be the brother in law of the king which you would piss of this time. From what I know, he is a duke from central."

Everyone knew he was duke from central but Vlad still emphasized on both the things.

Tornwall panicked as soon as he saw Vlad's speak, "Hey, hey, don't ruin the party over here, go and deal with your own business and first deal with that kid over there instead of bothering our important business."

Tornwall continued and snarled when heard another big aristocrat would ruin all of his efforts as he said, "as for those snotty guys from capital I can simply make more of those weapons if they dare point their swords in the direction of my Alcohol...

Ahem... I mean if they dare point their swords in the direction of North-frontier Town. I won't let anyone dare to ruin my plan."

Both John and Vlad laughed as they watched this show from the sidelines as they were quite amused by Tornwall's act.

When Tornwall saw this, he understood he was already being played by Vlad when he made those remarks earlier. Tornwall's whole head was red hot after realizing his current situation as he angrily pointed his finger at Vlad and cursed him, "Damn you, you planned all this from the start since can't stomach my happiness. Didn't you, right?"

Tornwall angrily stamped his feet, he thought a bit and said to Vlad with a sheepish smile, "I will make sure to make under par weapons with no runes when it comes to your deal, now let's see who will have the last laugh. hahaha..." Tornwall laughed with a high nose as he said that to Vlad.

Vlad smiled cunningly and said to him, "Well just for your information I made sure to add a clause that would have consistency in quality of weapons for both the parties i.e John and Bluesea house when I signed it with John so it's not my problem whether you make good weapons or not.

Vlad harrumphed and continued, "As for those runes, I don't need them I can anyway hire one of those guys from Fire Abyss kingdom."

Tornwall was pretty annoyed as he heard that Vlad had already included factors outside of his expectations when he had the deal with John but he still replied.

"Can you really? I wonder because from what I know they aren't that easy to persuade and make them work for others."

"Well I can any way make them forcibly work for me, so there won't be a big problem," Vlad said without any sense of shame, rather he was proud of it.

John watched as both of them bickered with each other,

John stopped their fight and said to both of them seriously, "Tornwall, you don't have to worry, they will attack us sooner or later so you don't have to worry about them attacking us. The only question is when will they make a big move. As for those alcohols, I will only make it a luxury wine at the start which would only be served in my Mansion, Hope, specialized shops in limited quantity every day in North-frontier town and our business partners to properly handle this situation so you and your folks won't have to worry about the shortage of Wine. This will anyway enhance the reputation of our town in the long run so its better this way."