“Alex”
Before Klein, Aurora and him left for the library, Arlin was called back by Belisari:
“If you meet her- well you will certainly meet her there…then…help me do something.”
**
“May you repeat what you said?”
“I said, are you willing to join the army again?”
While Aurora and Klein were sinking into the content of their books on the tables far away, and Arlin and Angela were telling the other about their life during the time Arlin was absent from the library, out of the sudden, the Voyage’s second son staggered the head librarian with that question.
“Don’t try to hide me Angela.”-Arlin elaborates-”You must’ve heard about our expeditionary plan from someone.”
“I didn’t”-Angela denies, speaks-”But I am sure that the monarch is up to something. The library has windows looking over the port, you know.”
From the third floors of Lvina, thanks to the fact that the surrounding area was full of low-rise buildings, the vision of an individual can be extended quite far, capturing even the harbor of Latila within its view. Angela, who spends her days wandering around the floors of the library, couldn’t help but notice the sudden change in frequency of foreign ships entering the port and unloading their cargo, a sign of a preparation for something massive. Yet although knowing all of that, Angela can’t properly explain the motivation behind this change, at least not until now when she has heard Arlin himself confessed to her about that matter, when he was trying to recruit her back into the army:
“Well, at least now I can confirm that y’all were preparing to invade Elestovakia with what you said. Quite a bold and risky move there I must say.”
Arlin nods, then saying:
“Your mind is as sharp as how I remember it was. Yes, we are about to invade a superpower, and in order to win, with such a small population compared to the empire, we need all available hands, especially experienced people, like you Angela, or should I call you Amerius Luscusius?”
Hearing that name again, the wings behind Angela flap a bit.
Angela Lucius, Amerius Luscusius, Vitta 1, the commander of the 2nd Fliers corp. The solitary librarian was in fact fought as an aerial scout/attacker during the Elestovakian conquest and the Siege of Latila. After the war, the woman retired from the army and changed her name to work here as a director of the librarian. Since then, her life became much more peaceful, at least until this time when Arlin decided that he would drag this woman out of her retirement:
“So, are you willing to help us?”
“Of course no, are you an utter idiot?”
Angela replies to Arlin, placing one hand on her cheek. The answer is reasonable, who wants to fight in a war in the first place? Unless that person is driven by madness, or is being encouraged by patriotism, or money.
However, none of these cases can be applied to Angela. The librarian is totally not insane enough to go to war for her liking, nor want to kill people. As for nationalism, her original homeland was the old Aeropostale Republic, not the Kingdom of Latila, there is no existence of loyalty between this librarian and the kingdom for Arlin to exploit to have her recruited.
Money, that is even less of a problem for Angela. This library they are sitting in right now was a fortune left by her relatives in Latila. Therefore, Angela could just sell the entire library away, move to Milishila, build a brand new palace and live in luxury for the rest of her life, that is if she didn’t find it boring in the first place. To put it in perspective, even if we included the profit from selling synthetic diamonds and shared it evenly between the House of Latila and the House of Voyage, Angela would still be one of the most prosperous individuals in the entire city by owning the library and every book inside it alone. It is not ideal for one to hire someone who is even richer than they are to be a mercenary with something as simple as money, especially when that person is already a billionaire to begin with.
Additionally, the librarian is completely out of the conscript age. In Latila, the mature age for fliers is twelves and the optional retirement age is twenty-two, Angela is twenty-five, or fifty fliers years old. For reference, the official service age for humans is 16, for elves is 32, for dwarfs 20, and vampires 40. Of course, she could choose to serve until the age of 35, but it is entirely dependent on her decision, not Arlin’s, and she chose not to do so.
“I thought you would like the idea of adventuring?”-Arlin claps his hands into a begging pose-”Come on, please help us Amerius”
“Again, why would I?”-Angela sighs-”Unless you have something that could convince me to play the game of war with you, and I am certain you can’t find anything like that.”
She utters with confidence. After all, for a person who had everything like her, what could Arlin and the Latilians pay for her service?
“Here…”
“Huh?”
Just as Angela thought Arlin was about to give up, the man reached out to his waist, then drew out…a pistol? But instead of pointing it at Angela and forcing the woman to accept his offer, Arlin simply shrugs his head, then places the gun gently and elegantly on the table in front of Angela, as if the gun was made entirely for the show off purpose:
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“This is not an ordinary one like many you saw in the army”-the man turns his head to the corner where Aurora is sitting while explaining-”That girl said this one can fire multiple times before needing to reload with the help of a thing called “percussion cap”. She also told me that if you throw this in front of an intelligent, knowledge-hungry person, that person will-”
Angela picks the pistol up and inspect before Arlin has a chance to finish his sentence.
“Sound queer, I am interested. May I try it?”
The librarian says, then not waiting for the answer but stands up from her seat immediately to test the weapon. The design looks 70% like any ordinary musket in the armed forces around the known world, but according to what Arlin told her, it should be able to fire more than once at a time. Switching off the safety mode of the gun, Angela aims its head at a general direction and pulls the trigger:
Bang!*
After the first bullet was released from the barrel, the gun emitted a flash which almost blinded Angela if not for her eyes to react fast enough to close and prevent it from happening. Then, something was rejected out of the chamber. Something like a copper cap, and was smelting hot on the wooden floor of the library.
Bang!*
Another shot came out of the barrel.
“Hah…hah…”
Angela rests her arms down and breaths heavily, shocked. She can confirm for sure that it did fire twice, but….how? The librarian wants to do it again when staring closely at the gun:
“Hold up.”
However, Arlin grabs back the pistol from her hands:
“Enough testing”-he says-”Percussion cap bullets haven’t been mass produced yet, they are still limited in number. Two is enough, you’ve just thrown forty denarii into the wall.”
“Doesn’t matter”-Angela seeks under her table and throws a bundle full of silver coins in front of Arlin, and then reaches out to the pistol-”Take the charge, I will take this gun and break it down into pieces, no, just to fire two more bullets-”
“Absolutely not”-Arlins steps back-”This is a valuable war asset, equipped only by the airborne army of Latila, and only for high rank individuals who will fight head on into battle. This thing is not for anyone to buy…”
Tch!*
Angela clicks her tongue.
As it turned out, she has one weakness, only one thing that could be exploited.
There is a reason for Angela to be a librarian, is the joy of diving into the content of the books on shelves, finding wisdom and knowledge hidden within pages of books. And it is not just books either, it applies to anything surrounding her. Something new and unordinary like the multi shot pistol Arlin has just shown her would absolutely seduce her desire for knowledge without any effort:
“Unfortunately”-Arlin changes his speech tone to a teasing voice-”In just a month every pistol like this one will go with us to Elestovakia, we can't leave any advanced weapon behind in such an ambitious war, right? You will not see them return any time soon…unless…”
Unless Angela joins the aerial force, where she will be trained with that gun and living with it. But that idea do make Angela hesitant, she does not want to go to war:
“Alright, I think it’s time to leave. It is very unfortunate that I have to bring a gift home, but what can I do now if you reject it? Anyway, bye-”
“...”
“...Now to think of it, being in the expedition army, I might learn how this thing even work, or how to make one like this from Aurora, that kid also join the army-”
“Agh! Fine, fine, I get it.”-Angela screams-”I will join the army, okay? Now give me that!”
“Not yet. I have one more request.”
Taking advantage of the situation, Arlin has another demand. Now he might’ve gone too far, but this is for the good of the nation:
“What do you want?”-said Angela out of frustration.
“Write invitations to all of your old friends, tell them to gather at the Voyage Palace within a week. That’s all. Say it “I agree””
Tch!*”Fine, I will.”
“It was a pleasure working with you~”
Then, the man gives the pistol to Angela. It is hard to describe the expression displayed on her face after having received the pistol. Happy because she got what she wanted, but also worried that she might’ve traded too much just for it. Nevertheless, Angela is now unofficially back to the army:
“Alright, see you soon”-Arlin pronounces-”If you don’t mind, we will borrow some of your books home. Come on Aurora, brother, let’s go.”
**
“Are you sure that would work for her?”
At the same time when Arlin and Klein were at the library to do their job, Belisari, flanked by Lily and Gerald were going out to the training camp supervising the preparation of the armed forces:
“I don’t know, but it's worth a try, and we know her well enough to try it and have a higher chance of success. Let Alex do his job, he is a master of negotiation after all. But hey, we are not here for that.”
They are here to see their army.
On the field, the magnificent Winged Husaria, Lily’s unit is training with their new rocket propellers. Knight angels with bazookas, the scene here best matches with that image. A wild combination it is, but that’s just how the Winged Husaria looks right now in the eyes of a modern person.
Far from the place where they are standing, riders of the Companion Husaria are machine gunning with their crossbows. It doesn’t take a question to know that they love their new weapons, repetitive crossbows are no more a joke, more precisely, even considered deadly. Klein’s Legionary, which is thought to be a perfect unit with no room for improvement, are training assembling what Aurora called “Rapid Assembling Bridges” and “Fast Setup Camps”. Other units in the army are also transforming dramatically. Since Aurora’s arrival in Latila, more and more Belisari confidents about victory of his kingdom:
(I don’t- no, I cannot regret mistaking Aurora for a vampire on that day anymore. This is far more than what I’ve asked)
His private army, the Latilian Marine Corp, are testing new tactics with their carriages purchased from Milishila and the Federation. Finally, at last, the plan for a rapid react infantry unit is being executed, thanks for Belisari’s vision for this kind of force, and thanks for Aurora’s donation to make the plan more than just an idea:
“I hope in history books in the future my name would still be there around that child’s name, maybe being written smaller, but still there.”
The prince speaks to himself silently, chuckling, unknown that the archduchess by his side heard it:
“I doubt your name will not outshine us all.”