King's Demand

The construction of the government plaza and elementary school is progressing fast. The school is estimated to complete in April this year at the earliest. The town hall in every city has almost completed its expansion, upgrade and refurbishment.

Thanks to the cement Riz has created, it gives a significant boost in construction speed. The construction speed is fast by a modern standard. Despite cement playing a major role, there are two main factors that contribute to the high construction speed.

First, the lord doesn't need to go through the complicated process of land acquisition, getting authorities permissions, permits and so forth. There are also no stakeholders that will whine about every single thing.

Second, the workers' wage is very low. As long as the lord pays them with sufficient food, they are willing to do the job without complaining. This allowed the lord to employ as many as he can and with good management, the lord can utilize all of them.

Richard is currently in his office. The light illuminates Richard's office through the window behind him. Despite reading a report about the construction progress, it didn't manage to lift up Richard's mood a bit.

There, Richard is holding a letter with a royal seal on it. The letter arrived in his hand last night. He knows the urgency of the letter for it to be sent in the middle of the night.

Richard starts reading the letter line by line. As he keeps reading, more and more veins seemingly appear on his forehead. He grits his teeth to prevent his mouth from cursing but unsuccessfully in doing so.

"That bastard king!!!", he smashed his hand on the table. He is very angry.

"Milord! What happened?", Edward who is outside Richard's office entered when he heard a loud smashing noise.

"You should read this too, Edward", Richard handed over the letter to him.

Edward starts reading the letter. The more he read, the more he couldn't believe it. The letter is very straightforward, the king demands Richard hand his son over to the capital. Riz would then be handed over to Cerdeauxia.

Nicholas I stated that,

[...Giving Riz to Cerdeauxia wouldn't pose any problem to the Ryntum family as they still have Russell as an heir. In the first place, making the youngest son when the older is still alive and mentally healthy had never been done in nobility. Hence, it is going against the noble tradition]

"I couldn't believe the king would be so brazen like this", commented Edward.

"I know. Compared to Riz, Russell is only good at art and nothing else. There is no way I would make him an heir", said Richard. "For now, let's wait until Riz comes back from Rafoldrod first".

....

1st March 300 Paign Era.

Riz has arrived at Bideford with an extra eleven carriages with him. The amount of treasures is so much that the initial ten carriages Henry sent are insufficient.

Their speed becomes slow as they are taking eleven carriages with them. Thankfully there is no incident occurring during the journey.

"I'm finally home", Riz muttered after Ryntum mansion showed up in his sight. All those cement and ancient forts are very tiring to him.

He still has to meet with Arnold and Goban to see the prototype of the arquebus and cannon.

Not to mention he needs to mass produce them and trained the knights to use them first. Then together with the knights, they need to select and train a few soldiers to use it.

It will take a long time to provide the arquebus to every soldier.

"So much to do. At this rate, I will die due to overwork", he complained but he knows that it needs to be done if he wants to be safe.

Before he can even reach his room, Edward emerges behind him, frightening him.

"Welcome back, young master".

"Woah!!" Riz startled. "I'm back, Edward. Please don't suddenly appear like that".

"My apologies, young master".

"So what do you want?"

"Your father has called for you. He is in his office waiting for your arrival".

Riz headed to the office and began knocking on the door.

"Come in".

"Why are you looking for me, father?".

"Look at this", with haste, Richard handed the letter to Riz.

Riz starts reading the letter with great focus. He was astonished by the king's request. This king really treats him like an object.

He looked at Richard after finishing the letter. He asked, "So what are you going to do?".

"You know there is no way I will follow his demand. I think Nicholas I mistakenly thought that Ryntum was a royal dog. Others who study our family history may think so too since most of the time we abide by the king's order. However, that is because being on the kingside brings us benefits. If not, how do you think our family rose from Viscount to Count under a mere 200 years?".

Riz stays silent. He let Richard finish his speech.

Richard continues, "Since he provides no benefits anymore, there is no point hanging around him. He threatened me with war, then war he will get". He looks at his son, "This is going to be a tiring war. You better prepare mentally".

"Yes father", Riz hastily leaves the room but stops for a moment. He turns around and asks Richard, "Father".

"What?"

"Hypothetically, if we go against the king, how long would they take to organise an army?".

"If it's only the king, it probably takes two months for them to prepare. If other nobles join, it can take up to six months. Don't worry, they won't come right away since now it is March, they might come in late May or early June. Moreover, there are many things to prepare if they want to raise a large army".

"Alright, thank you father".

His first destination after leaving Richard's office is Arnold's workshop. There are so many things he needs to do now.

"Damn it!! I just got back and now this shit. Can't they just wait until I finish supplying the weapon to soldiers", Riz wonders if he has time to mass produce an arquebus and train the soldiers.

He took his time to visit his workshops first. Both of his companies are doing well and basically, there's no problem. All of the administrative positions in the companies were recruited and trained by Charlotte. He trusts her decisions.

In the storage room, many textbooks from various subjects have been stockpiled. There is no problem in supplying it to Bideford once the school opens.

Not far from his workshop is Arnold's. He and Goban have been waiting for Riz.

"Kid, what took you so long?", asked Arnold.

"I'm sorry old man. There is something that comes up at Rafoldrod. Did you have the prototype?".

"I have fifteen here".

"Great. Let's go to the forest and test them. My knights have been waiting there".

....

Riz gives each of the knights an arquebus. The knight held it as if they were delicate glassware that easily broke.

Charlotte helps set up the target for shooting practice. She was also eager to try the arquebus.

"Alright everyone, listen up. The weapon in my hand is called an arquebus and the person who uses it is called an arquebusier. I will show you how to operate an arquebus so watch it closely".

Everybody begins to pay attention. Except for Arnold and Goban, others have never seen this weapon before. Riz started explaining every part of the arquebus.

Just like a normal student, they easily get bored hearing all theory behind its mechanism. Therefore, Riz proceeds with the demonstration part. He never uses it on Earth but he tries to do it based on what he has seen on the internet.

"First, burn the slow-burning rope and hold it in your left hand. Then, open the pan, put the gunpowder in it and shake the arquebus. Now, turn the arquebus to a vertical position to let the gunpowder sink.

Next, pour the gunpowder on the front side of the arquebus. Draw out the scouring stick and ram the gunpowder. Finally, cover your pan back before sticking the slow-burning rope to the arquebus. Adjust the rope to make sure the burning ends of the rope can enter the pan when you pull the trigger. This might take some time before you can get it right. Then, open the pan back, aim and shoot!!"

"Boom!!"

"It seems I hit the target. Maybe today is my lucky day. Hahaha".

All the people there clap their hands.

"Now, all of you come here and line up. Everyone must try it, no exception".

"A good arquebusier takes thirty seconds to a minute to reload. Try to achieve that."

Everybody tried using the weapon including Arnold and Goban. Unsurprisingly, Charlotte was the one who was quick to learn and become proficient in a short time. Riz kind of expects that she had a knack for using weapons.

They spend their time in the forest until sunset. Charlotte is enjoying her new toy.

Before they return to the mansion, Riz confiscated the arquebus which caused opposition from everyone especially Charlotte.

"This is a secret weapon. I can't let its existence be known by others. Not until I managed to supply it to all of the soldiers".

"Soldiers?"

"I plan to establish a new team specifically to use this weapon".