Road to the Crown

13th march 1574

The simplicity of the new project not only means that there was hardly any part that could break during the process of shooting but making the entire thing didn't require any real skill. After dressing up and turning the sketches that I made into a properly written blueprint on a normal piece of paper, all I had to do is to get down from my castle to the lower part, pick up a horse with Elia and take a quick drive to the city.

After passing the Tarnow's gates, it took us only about three minutes before we reached one of the most popular smithies's in the city, quickly explaining what we wanted to the master of the place.

"Sure, I have few of the barrels ready since I had a few orders on the entire weapon, but if lord want's a few of them, I could sell them at the normal price. As for those smaller parts… Hmm.."

Looking at the blueprint that I drew in three different ways, from the side, from the front how it would look if cut in half, the blacksmith moved his hand along the hair of his beard.

"It really depends on how fragile it can be. Making a casting form can take a while, up to even an entire day, but worst-case scenario, everything should be ready at tomorrow, about third bell's ringing, is that okay?"

With this part out of the way, I pulled Elia with me as I ran around the city, visiting all sorts of shops in order to get all the required materials for my new weapon. I never was a patient man, so when I saw the chance of changing the history with this new invention of mine, there was no way I could hold myself back!

"Come on, Mike! How long are you going to drag me around! We are about to get married next month, yet we never actually went on a proper date! This is the first time when we have the chance to just walk leisurely around the city, yet you can't stop yourself from thinking only about that idea of yours!"

Suddenly pulling back on my hand just as I was about to enter the City stronghold where all sorts of munition was held, Elia stopped me in my track, pouting. While it was true that we never really had the chance to enjoy ourselves in a calm manner, but wasn't her request the reason for me to drop everything and focus all my attention on looking for a way to kill Peter and his people without really endangering my own folks?

Women are truly moody beings!

"What should I do then? While that thing seems to be fairly simple and feasible to make, we won't know it before we try it. Take that bullet for example, how can we be sure if it can really shoot properly without testing it out?"

After moving a few paces closer and bringing her into my arms, I actually grabbed her by her waist, lifted her a bit off the ground only to turn back and carry her into the city armoury. Only when stopped by the crossed halberds of the local guards that barred me from entry to the place I decided to let her down, all the while ignoring her playful fists massaging my back.

"Hello, boys. Do you want to tell me I can't enter my own armoury?"

Revealing my face, hidden in Elia's waist so far, I could watch the interesting way in which the expressions of the guard's faces turned from a stern one, through surprise, amazement all the way to fear and respect.

"Welcome, Lord Mike!"

Unsure whether to straighten themselves up and look in front like their official position would require of them, or if the ceiling wasn't actually the most interesting thing they could see in their entire life with how potentially dangerous looking at the state of their lord and his mistress could be, in the end, the both of them uniformly raised their chins and inspected whether the roof above their heads wasn't actually rotting in any of the places that could avoid their every day's inspection.

With the guards out of the way, I left Elia at the entrance and walked inside, filling a single pouch with gunpowder and a few lead bullets before going back.

"Come, now we have everything that we need."

With the thin cloth bough in a clothing store, gunpowder just robbed from the city stockpile along with the bullets, and oil available in any place that has torches, the fused ammunition could be already made. Even though sewing the bullets while using the cloth wet from oil could be a pain in the ass due to dirtying up our hands, it could also serve as fun after time for me and Elia!

While she complained about me not going on a date with her in the city, it would be far better for us to walk around the Pilzno for the leisure sake when we could actually waste our time, rather than enjoying the cold weather of the middle of the march by pretending that we could have fun in it! It would be far better to just cuddle up near fireplace while watching as our empire would grow!