Chapter 125 - Cannon Shoot & Entering inside Amnemos City
"Kirin, I want you to start your preparations for the blockade. I will give you the signal for your deployment."
This was the first thing Vlad notified Kirin of as he answered his call.
"Your Highness, all is clear on my side. Just give me the signal for the operations, and I will make sure no noble scum escapes, or would there be someone to help them from outside."
Nodding his head at what he heard from the marine officer, he tapped his finger on the snail shell and asked another question.
"Good to know you started preparing for your job. How is the atmosphere in Valent? Any black rat lurking around you?"
"None Prince Vlad. It's been 2 days since those assassins tried to kill me, and no one came to bother me. However, I have to be careful now. I can only trust a handful of people because of those rats."
"Don't worry too much Kirin, everything will be solved in time. I have my plans with those Dark Union guys. Still, if you encounter any of them, trying to kill you, capture them and seal all their possibilities of suicide."
"Why do you need them, prince?"
"Heh, I need some experimental rats for my studies. I would rather kill those rats rather than killing some criminals who can be used for other things." said Vlad, with a cold tone after giving a slight laugh.
"Huh, I will not ask what your studies are but sure. Prince, I will end this call if there's nothing more to be said."
"That's all I had to stay, you know what to do after I give you the signal in two, three days." said Vlad to Kirin in a casual manner, while the marine officer respectfully bid his farewell.
*Gotcha*
Nius, who heard the conversation between those two, said with an interesting expression.
"This marine officer, are you sure he is trustful enough to work with us? From his voice, I get this feeling he hides more."
"So far, with this operation, he will for sure join in the fun. The gifts he would receive are too sweet for him not to. He is also someone who is a bit dissatisfied with his status as a Commodore after all the time he spent as a marine. What I intend to give him is an alternative path. Anyway, let's move on. There are still so many things I have to set."
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Meanwhile, on another part of the kingdom, where some small islands could be seen, around the shores of the sea on a frigate, an old man wearing simple clothes, close to a sailor, stared at the sandy shore with a sharp face. Alongside him, was 3 men, one of those guys was Johan, the craftsman, Lagos, his son, and Faust, who seemed to have a sleepy face.
The old man turned his attention to a cannon who looked different from the standard cannon in use and the sailors who were busy like ants around him.
This cannon gave Patrick a slight jolt on his spine when he saw how Johan and Faust, along with their workshop people, were moving this new cannon. It was entirely black, and even the moving support looked different from the standard big wooden wheels.
"Start the preparations, guys." said Patrick to the sailors moving around the large cannon.
"AYE, SIR!"
As the sailors began getting busy cleaning the muzzle and preparing the cannonball, Patrick stared intently at the target they set on the shore and said to Faust, who was next to him.
"Kid, if this boy really works as intended, you will never be worrying about your funds. I promise you that, but if it fails…"
"Lord Patrick, please be lenient. I had a shitty night yesterday. I couldn't even sleep properly in Johan's workshop because of how noisy the entire process of building this cannon was." said Faust, interrupting the old man.
"Sigh, maybe I should do some training on you? You seem quite weak. Yea, that's what I will do, after this war ends." said the old admiral after looking at Faust's slim body with a sharp expression, while the blonde guy turned a bit scared.
"Please, no need for that, Lord. I'm good the way I am right now." said Faust with a pleading expression.
Before Patrick could say something, his ears got picked by the sailors who were calling out their processes with loud voices as he taught. In only a few minutes, the 6 sailors stationed around the cannon called out for Patrick's following orders.
"Lord Admiral, the loading process is finished! Should we start targeting the mark on the shores?"
Looking at the cannon's position with his sharp eyes, then later at the wagon placed as target practice, he confirmed the sailor's question.
"It's all set. Prepare the firing sequence. Let this boy roar to the sky."
"With pleasure, sir." responded the sailor while he gave orders to the other 5 sailors.
The one who seemed to be of a higher rank in the navy looked at the 5 sailors, and while holding a slowmatch in his hand, that was something similar to a rope used to light the fuse of the fire.
"READY!?" shouted the officer, at which the other sailors placed their thumbs in their eardrums, at which he followed by placing the slowmatch over the quickmatch used to fire the cannon and gave the final roar before grabbing the rope and pulling it from where the quickmatch was.
"FIRE!?"
As soon as he said that, the cannon roared out alive and, with a thunderous noise, created a big explosion which sent the projectile toward the wagon, in just a few seconds instantly destroying the wagon, sending all sorts of pieces flying in different directions.
"Shit, I can't hear anything. Ahhh, drop down boys, something is moving toward the ship!" screamed loudly a sailor who didn't cover his ears and had his eardrums ringing in his brains.
"FUCK, everyone drop!" roared the others sailors.
The sailors were quick to react and ducked down using the protection of the frigate. Some of the wooden pieces even went so far as to fly toward Patrick's direction, straight to his head. Without being bothered to crouch down with his old body, he took a pistol from his waist and quickly shot 2 fires for the wooden pieces targeting him and commented while looking at the beach.
"Little Faust, would you look at that? Your crazy idea actually worked, and it is even more satisfying than I expected. Chavos, shoot another round." ended Patrick while looking at the officer who was at the cannon, seeming fine after this explosion.
Nodding his head at the old man, he roared at the sailors.
"CLEAN THE CANNON!"
Hearing the orders from their superiors, the sailors began their procedures. One began clearing the remains of gunpowder that might be left after the explosion while the other checked the cannon itself. Soon came another guy with the cannonball, and in another minute, Chavos checked the cannon's position and had the sailors move the target of the muzzle.
After selecting a clear side of the beach, he gave the sailors the signal to be ready, and using the slowmatch, he fired the cannon again with success.
With another roar of the cannon, Patrick looked at the location of the impact and saw the mark of the impact and explosion, which sent sand flying all over the place.
"Pretty good. I like it. Drag him to the forecastle. This one will storm any enemy facing Neptune and its might."
The sailors, who this time prepared ahead of time and covered their ears, replied affirmatively to the old admiral and began the moving process, which was on its own a tricky process.
"So I take it, you will help me out, right, Lord Patrick?" asked Faust with a face that seemed more awake after experiencing those explosions.
Turning his attention at Faust, the old man extended his hand toward Faust and began patting his shoulders while having a satisfied smile.
"Kid, if you can improve the designs for the cannon or think of another technology that might improve my navy, I will have that arrogant brat say only yes. Ahem, and I might also pull a nice word on my behalf to Aldenis so he might land you some more money from the whole budget."
Johan, who listened to the old admiral, could only think to himself while looking at Faust, whose expression turned even worse as if someone fed him some garbage food.
'Faust, this old man will dry your brains out with his demands. I feel bad for you a bit. Wait, I am the one who actually has to build his crazy ideas, so why I should feel bad for this crazy guy. I need to talk with old Aldenis about starting hiring more people for my workshop.
I need to extend it to keep up with the increased development of Sol and the pace those crazy guys around me move at. Sigh, master, if you see what technology I have to work on, you probably will be happy to work on this new stuff even from your grave.'
Thinking that to himself, Johan later saw Patrick turn his attention to him and, with his arrogant tone, said.
"Craftsman Johan, don't think I forgot about you. Your work will be repaid without a doubt. If those stingy bastards do not pay you for your hard work and the boys working under you, I will sure make a big commotion and solve this injustice."
"Ahh, thanks for the words Lord Patrick." humbly responded Johan.
"No, young man, this is a small thing for me. Those guys holding on to the money can't say NO to my demands, especially when I am in charge of the navy and sea operations. But, forget it, I'll start ranting again about me. What I wanted to ask you, Johan.
"Yes, sir?"
"Right. How many of those cannons can you build?"
"This one took me about 4 months. However, because it was a prototype and I wasn't sure how stable the iron plates would be, I took my time to work it out with my staff. I guess 1-2 months?"
"One cannon per month?" asked the old man for confirmation.
"Theoretically, one-two months if I only focus on building the cannons. But as you know, my expertise is required in many domains. From construction to shipbuilding to all sort of stuff that drowns me in work."
"Tsk, I guess you need people, right? Don't worry. After this war is over, I will put this problem on the council table."
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The war atmosphere seemed to start enveloping Kaysang under a heavy shadow. From the lowly Baron houses to the prestigious Count houses, all sort of noble houses began their preparations for the war after receiving the news from the nobles at Duke Lacilet Vestios' side.
However, as different regions of Kaysang mainland territory began their war preparations, there was a particular region of the kingdom on the side controlled by the nobles that remained stable and unfazed by this change.
This region was Alderhine County, where life remained in the same, orderly fashion, nothing sending you the vibe that a change would happen, especially at the capital of Alderhine county. Amnemos City, things seemed simple.
The city gates were wide open for the people to flow inside the city, while the guards stationed around the gates were seeming to laze a bit. This flow of people, who were wearing all sorts of clothes, from the most simple one belonging to the peasants to the slightly more extravagant one belonging to the wealthy, signaled the city and region's stability and the wealth of its people.
At the gates, there seemed to be a new batch of people who were wearing simple clothes, belonging to the commoner class, a young man with black hair and brown eyes accompanied by a heavily tanned girl who had long black hair and blue eyes, another young man who had black hair and sharp golden eyes, followed by other two guys, one who had some features close to a frog and another one who had very plain features.
Entering the city, the golden-eyed guy looked at the brown-eyed one and the blue-eyed girl and said with a relieved tone.
"The first stage of the plan is a success, Valen, Maika. Now we should split up into two groups. I will go with Morlocc and Kane to the city's tavern while you two try another place. Don't do anything stupid while inside Amnemos, or we will be noticed by the people and be found suspicious."
"Sure, Bors, let's do this. We will meet at the city square at the fountain after we finish digging for information. Don't forget to find a sleeping place because I doubt we will succeed at even encountering Alderhine." replied Valen to Bors while looking calmly at the city and its architecture which made him feel that this place was really similar to Sol.
Bors nodded his head at Valen, and turning to look at the blue-eyed girl, he said to her in a colder tone.
"Maika, you better don't do anything stupid to attract some flies to disturb our work here."
Maisha looked straight at Bors golden eyes without batting an eyelid. She replied calmly to him.
"You are worrying too much about me. Instead of doing this, you should be worrying for your side."
"Hmph, I didn't tell you, woman, but my parents were immigrants coming to Kaysang from the island of Checheminas. My name in my native language means Wolf, so you should tell me Maika, wouldn't a wolf be vigilant with any of his surrounding competitors?" said Bors while looking with his golden eyes directly at Maisha, who didn't shy away from his stare.
"You are still suspicious about me? Sigh, what do you want from me, to prove you I hold no bad intentions on you guys?"
Valen, who felt that a conflict would spark soon, once again between his old friend and Maisha, he jumped in between them, and with a calming yet serious tone, he reminded them.
"This isn't the place to have a fight between you two. Brother, I know you don't like when new people appear around you since you were like this with the other ones who you never knew, but I believe in Maisha."
"Tsk, Valen, I still don't fully trust her. I don't know what kind of shit intuition you have, but I am a straightforward person. I said it in your face if I don't like you regardless if you are a beautiful chick or some mighty noble. Heck, I would even dare to say this to Lord Blood's face, but I have no problem with him.
His conduct and treatment over us is about the same mindset as mine. The best to survive."
"I know what you mean, brother. We will talk more after we get a break from all this action. Now let's start the operation and focus on the job at hand. I still want to be a general at the end of the day."
Bors, listening to Valen's declaration, smirked at him and only commented as he took the other two guys with him.
"I doubt you will become a general before me. Let's see who is the most competent in finding actually useful info about Alderhine. Let's go, guys. Time is of the essence."
As Bors said that, the other two nodded their heads and made an eye signal to Valen, who also nodded to their signal before moving toward another location followed by Maisha.
Maisha, who kept close to Valen, said what was on her mind.
"I really don't get it. What is his problem with me? Do I really look so suspicious, Valen?"
"Huh? No, don't take Bors so seriously when he starts his antics. He lived a hard life as the son of an immigrant family treated by the nobles of Sagletius like some vermins, and with the Syndicates ruling the former Sol who didn't care much about people's lives. Bors was forced to work from a young age to support his parents and younger siblings. He also had his fair share of encounters with death, where some of the crazy guys from Leviathan Syndicate wanted to capture his younger sister.
He butchered those bastards with his bare hands, and as a deal with master Aldenis to protect his family, he had to do all sorts of odd jobs that all concerned the other syndicates. Sigh, now that I started remembering his stories from when we were trained by lord Blood, he said something about killing the son of an important person in Gargoyle Syndicate, which almost started a war between Behemoth and Gargoyle."
Maisha, who listened to Valen's stories about Bors, could only look a bit surprised by the things the golden-eyed young man had to live past.
"Now I can explain why he doesn't like to trust new people who enter his personal space. Thanks for telling me this Valen, it would help me out in my approach with him in the future, so I don't say some mean things to him."
"It's not like he will even be bothered. However, knowing him, he might throw a punch at you, which I will be late to catch." said Valen while sounding a bit awkward.
Maisha chuckled a bit, and in this way, the two started making their way inside Amnemos, taking in the atmosphere of the city for the first time, a unique experience for both of them, especially for Maisha, who began getting accustomed to the new architecture and customs.
