Waving goodbye to the last merchant team as they head away from the Enchanters Guild tower, I nod to my companion as we both begin to climb the excessive number of steps. We both remain silent until we cross the threshold of the guild’s privacy spells, where we can finally talk about the subject on both our minds.
My companion, an imperial messenger, spoke first. “Word from General Chang’s scouts say the core is still active and has encountered the odd adventurers from the west. It showed no sign of hostility until they began approaching the last known location of the core, but still let them pass. There’s also been no reported tide assets that have made it past the position.”
Interesting, so it must be sincere about halting the tide. “Any news on it’s fox-kin? They’re a rare sight so I’d like to know their status.”
“There are significantly more than what you personally witnessed the last time you visited, enough to build most of a north-facing gatehouse in a very short time. They have also been observed gathering lumber from the nearby forest, and eating roasted meat, suggesting subterranean infrastructure.”
“Hmm. I’ll tell Chang to organize another northbound caravan. With the next spill-over of tide waves coming in towards the north-eastern lines, I wouldn’t want to lose this asset if I were him, and since its my summon, I don’t either. Its value is measureless as it holds the northern passage, as Chang surely knows, so maintaining positive relations through frequent aid should remain our group’s priority.”
“Of course, Sorceress Luo, I’ll tell him first thing tomorrow. Is there anything else to inform the General of before I depart?”
I placed a hand to my chin as if pondering, though both me and the messenger already know the answer. “Yes actually, I’d like you to meet some students I’ve been working with. I’m sure Chang would love to know about what they’ve been building.”
That’s practically a lie, since both Chang and Kiki visited some weeks earlier undercover to see the heavy arbalest that the students have been working on, so he knows full well what they’ve been doing already.
Still, in the interest of formality and bureaucracy, I lead the messenger to their workshop on the ground floor. This early in the morning, it’s basically guaranteed to only be us and the most dedicated of students, which these group certainly qualify for, as I can hear the team of 7 already working away on another bundle of bolts.
Chang, Kiki, and I were all secretly acting as the benefactors for this student project, Chang because of the military being the military, Kiki because of her otherworlder network connections, and I because of the nature of my core’s artworks. I’d told them about seeing enlarged crossbows mounted along the depictions of the wall, how the bolts pierced deep through the vague depictions of the tide, and how some bolts appeared to explode into fireballs. When we realized a similar device was being worked on by a team of students, we knew we needed to help.
Stolen story; please report.
Of course, the emperor being the emperor, was left out of the loop. It’s less of a headache that way. The man was arrogant at best and never took criticism from anyone less than his advisors, who were too terrified to do so anyways. His guards were over encumbered and silently resented the incompetent crowned man, who treated high ranking men like Chang as mere decorations.
Back to the meeting at hand, all the students had dropped what they were doing, in one case literally, to line up and bow to the imperial messenger before them, who promptly waved them off so he could examine their work closely.
He hmm’d and hah’d as he inspected the oversized feat of engineering before he stood up straight and turned back to me. “Tell me, Sorceress, how long has this been under production?”
“A little over a year, only recently gaining funding from me and two other benefactors. This prototype is of great interest to us, as you know.” I replied.
“Indeed. And the bolts?” He asked.
“The unenchanted bolts had been one of the first things these students had decided upon, from there they were able to create mana-fluent munitions that hold enchantments as good as any magic weapon in the imperial armories.” I boasted slightly, but they bolts were among the better holding things I’ve enchanted in my career.
The messenger glanced back at the large weapon before again looking to me. “Is a demonstration perhaps on the table?”
All the students leapt into motion, loading the arbalest onto a rolling platform that they slid out of the workshop and into the guild’s testing ground.
Normally, this area was meant for visiting student-level warrior classes to practice with their abilities using enchanted equipment, but on the occasion that our own students decide to band together like this, it’s a suitable target range with some effort.
Three students push the arbalest into the far corner of the courtyard, while the other four set up some worn-out testing dummies as targets.
The “heavy arbalest” was a six-armed monster of a crossbow, with a dragon’s visage on the front, a tall, ornamented box on the top, and a huge intricate folding base with claw-like hooks to plant it firmly into the sandy courtyard testing ground.
The students unloaded the beastly weapon, folding the base out to reveal a snaking carving of the dragon’s body, and grabbed a dozen bolts wrapped in twine that was then placed into the top of the box.
At last, with a very satisfying chunk, the first bolt was loaded by gravity and was primed to fire.
The messenger is looking increasingly in disbelief now that the unpainted siege-grade prototype is fully deployed, perhaps now realizing, outside the cluttered workshop, just how impressive it truly is.
“Fire!” I command, and with a hefty THUNK and a clatter of mechanical components, the bolt flies free. The 5 dummies are wood with a layer of straw and are all lined up in the arbalest’s sights.
The meter-long bolt pierces clean through the first two targets and shatters the next three with its speed before slamming a quarter’s way into the far wall.
I do nothing but smile.