Chapter 397: Creating a Weapon to Change the World

Horace rode back to the Maximus territory. The further north he went, the colder the temperature became. The sparse snow on the roads transformed into a blanket of white. Horace put on another layer. Each breath he took blew out white mist as the horses slowly trudged along.

"You have experience camping in this type of weather, don’t you?" Horace casually spoke to Halfdan, who drove the carriage. Halfdan’s eyes looked into the distance, remembering his life before the Empire.

"I really was uncivilised back then." With a self-mocking tone, he nodded, "Yeah. Our winters were worse than this. Why do you ask?"

"Because we couldn’t enter the Maximus manor straight away." Horace clicked his tongue. "Magnus has sent us away, but he is an arrogant enough man not to have told his family that we are no longer working together. In the small window when he leaves his manor, we will strike. It’s the only chance we have."

"What about the girl’s husband?" Thinking of Ash, Halfdan had no confidence in winning a fight. The man was double his size, but moved surprisingly fast for someone so tall. Adding to that, he always had his loyal guard around him.

"You will lure him away." Halfdan spun around in confusion and shook his head.

"I ain’t dying," Halfdan spoke without respect, annoying Horace. Standing up, Horace walked through the small carriage until he was face to face with Halfdan. His eyes were incredibly cold, as if looking at a bug.

"You will do as I order. Is that understood?" There was a tense silence between the two, and Halfdan gulped.

"I was joking. No need to get so worked up." Trying to ease the atmosphere, Halfdan spun back around and focused on the road ahead. He could feel Horace’s gaze linger on him for a few seconds, only sighing in relief when it vanished.

"I’m not asking you to fight him. I need five minutes with Valeria. I can make it quick. But this relies on the fact that Magnus hasn’t told his daughter or Ash about me. If he has, then we abort." Halfdan nodded before spinning around.

"I was confident in my ability to fight, and back in the day, I think I could hold my own against Ash. But without my right hand, there is no chance. Could you lend me some poison? Just in case things go wrong. Like I said, I ain’t dying." Halfdan made his case, and Horace thought on the matter for a second. Nodding, he opened his briefcase. Unlike a usual traveller, Horace’s luggage was an arsenal of knives, poisons and antidotes.

Carefully gliding his finger over the vials of liquids, he paused on a grey liquid. Opening it, he took a small smell, his nose and face going numb from that alone. "This will temporarily paralyse him. The best way to use it is to drink its contents, but obviously that will be hard in battle. Coating your weapon will work. Although its effects will take longer to hit, it will work eventually." Halfdan held his hand out, and Horace passed it to him.

Looking at the vial of grey liquid, he nodded and carefully pocketed it. "If we are going to camp in this weather, we would need a fire, but seeing as how we are hiding from Magnus, we can’t do that." Halfdan frowned, "We may need to hunt some large game and use its fur for warmth."

"We will have time. Besides, both of us have experience hunting." Halfdan nodded and focused on the road once more. For the next few days, the scenery didn’t change. The same snow-covered road and dead trees appeared every few minutes, making one wonder if they were stuck in a loop.

Stopping at the occasional village, they never rest for too long, only stopping to eat or sleep. What would normally take two weeks was done in a week, and the two watched the Maximus manor in the distance.

Setting up a camp in the treeline, they got a partial view of the main entrance. They weren’t far from the manor’s patrol routes, but they didn’t worry. If caught, they could easily talk their way out of any hassle.

Halfdan worked alone for the next few hours, setting up a camp for the two, and when he was nearing finishing, Horace came back with a deer. "You shot it too much. The pelt ain’t perfect." Taking a quick peek, it was obvious to Halfdan.

Horace rolled his eyes and threw the corpse to the ground, taking a few deep, tired breaths. "It’s pelt. Some holes won’t matter. We’re not selling it after all." Horace called Halfdan over to help him pick it up. With great effort, the two threw it onto the carriage, and Horace got to work skinning the beast. The two didn’t know how long they would have to camp outside the manor and prepared themselves for a boring few days to follow.

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Alfred stood in the obsidian castle. Although Horace hadn’t permitted him to enter, he knew the man wouldn’t care. As of now, he needed utmost secrecy, and it was the only place that could provide it. No nearby villages or huts; it stood alone in the middle of nowhere.

Alfred wondered sometimes why it was built. It provided no strategic benefit and did not intercept any roads. He had tried to examine old documents to see if any explained why it had been built, but nothing turned up. Even its colour confused him. The black stone it was made of couldn’t be found anywhere in the Empire. There was nothing special about it other than its colour, and after a while, he had come to the conclusion that the walls had become so filthy they turned black.

Shaking his head, he saw Ameilia at the end of the hall, holding he pregnant stomach. "I greet His Majesty the Emperor." Ameilia’s voice was respectful, but Alfred could tell she was bothered at having been disturbed.

"Thank you for receiving me. Are my guests inside?"

"Yes, your Grace. I shall prepare refreshments for you and your guests." Ameilia tried her hardest to suppress the annoyance in her voice, only wanting to relax in her room and read. Alfred didn’t know whether to laugh or not at how openly she was acting.

’Maybe it’s the pregnancy. I can’t imagine Horace marrying someone like her otherwise.’"That will be fine, Amelia. Please go and rest. I don’t want to strain a pregnant woman." Ameilia thinly smiled and lowered her head, before walking off.

Looking around, he couldn’t help but think the entire place was too dark. But pushing the thought aside, he threw open the door before him and let himself into a large guest room. Five men and one woman stood all around, discussing different topics with one another, whilst the academy headmaster sat reading a book.

The headmaster looked up and smiled. Closing the book, he walked over and shook Alfre’s hand, whilst lowering his head. "Your Majesty. How have your personal projects been going?" Alfred knew the headmaster was on about the books he had been writing and sadly sighed.

"I’ve been busy with something else. I’ve had to sideline them for now." Seeing the headmaster thrown, he chuckled, "Don’t worry, old friend. I haven’t forgotten our promise. You will lead them eventually."

"Good." Turning his head, he pointed to the six people, with him, each one bowing respectfully. "The Empress was very clear about what she wanted, and whilst I can’t say they are the best in their fields, they are still experts. More importantly, they can be trusted."

Alfred nodded and walked past the Headmaster. Looking at all of them, his eyes went cold. Whilst he didn’t like nor want to do what he was about to do, it was the only way he could ensure they would stay in line.

"Raise your heads." All of them looked up at Alfred with cold eyes. Meeting them, they felt nervous as hundreds of dangerous thoughts came to mind. "Before we begin, you all must promise me two things. One, you shall never reveal any of the contents you see here and that I’m making you work on. Second, you are only to go into rooms you have been granted access to during your work in the castle. Am I clear?"

Everyone nodded their heads, but it wasn’t good enough for Alfred. "If anything is leaked, I will know it was one of you. I will stop at nothing to destroy your lives if I find out. And I will not stop with you. I will make it so that even your name is forgotten, no matter how many have to die for your crimes. Am I clear?" The people took deep breaths and lowered their heads. Alfred watched them shake slightly and felt bad for threatening them. But he couldn’t take the risk. The secret of gunpowder and the musket was too dangerous. He needed them to be scared of leaking it.

"If any of you wish to leave. Now is your chance. But know that you will not be given it again." Alfred and the headmaster coldly watched as one man raised his hand to say he wanted to leave. With a nod of the head, Alfred sent him out of the room. The rest stayed still, debating what they should do, but after a few minutes, Alfred decided for them. "Perfect. I promise you this. I am a fair boss. I will cover all your living expenses and provide a fair wage. If you create what I want, I won’t pay you for a reward, but I will offer you one request to ask of me."

"This request can be anything within my power. The only things I will not grant are those that threaten the stability of my Empire. So, unfortunately, none of you can request a noble title higher than count." The people slightly forgot their previous fear and happily smiled at the idea of a reward. Seeing it, Alfred spun around and went into one of the drawers.

Pulling out his blueprints for the musket and recipe for gunpowder, he laid them out before them. "I wish for you to create these two things. They have descriptions already about what they do. For this one," Alfred pointed to the gunpowder recipe, "I already know what it needs to be created, I just don’t know the ratios. That’s for you to figure out. Follow what I have written on the paper and be careful. This stuff is incredibly dangerous."

The Headmaster moved before anyone looked at the information about gunpowder. He wasn’t a blacksmith or engineer. The idea of the musket, whilst interesting, didn’t appeal to him. Reading about gunpowder, he quickly realised its advantages.

"A dangerous weapon you want to make." Alfred looked at him in surprise, and he realised what it would be. "Don’t look at me like that. You put a formula in front of me that explodes when lit. Then you put a design for a weapon next to me, even telling me it’s ammo. It obviously a weapon. Just a scary one."

"It will be created at some point. I may aswell do it."

"I won’t ask how you think of this." The headmaster shook his head and put the paper down. "I’ll leave this to them."

"Don’t want to help make the weapon," Alfred said, slightly concerned. He knew some people regretted their own inventions and wondered if the Headmaster would be one of them.

"That tone is wrong. Alchemy and such is not my area of expertise. Besides, studying the human body and disease has become much more fun for me. It is amazing to find something new about the body every time I study one."

"Well..." Alfred paused and chuckled, "Good luck." The headmaster waved his hand and walked out of the room, leaving Alfred to listen to the five people discuss the papers in front of them.