7

Jerome secretly peeked into the back of the workshop and was startled. He did not know where to rest his eyes. Even so, with the resolve to cut through hesitation, he searched for Enneu. Finding her—drenched in sweat—he felt his heart pound. After a few minutes like that, Enneu somehow sensed Jerome’s gaze and, to his surprise, looked straight at him.

‘…….I’ve been caught.’

How do women notice a man staring at them from such a distance? He had aimed, like a proper mage, at her blind spot… but failed; flushed with shame, Jerome fled.

Enneu watched Jerome as he vanished like that.

“Where are you looking like that! Do you think I’m easy! Enneu! I told you to look into my eyes!”

Ten shouted like a madman, but it had no effect on Enneu. Ten thought a beating was the only way to make her listen, but because Louis had given special instructions, he could only grumble under his breath…

‘This crazy girl… she’s enjoying it.’

In fifteen years of his craft, Ten had met his greatest nemesis.

Louis, who had been lounging and rocking idly in his chair, sprang to his feet. Startled, the attendants tumbled over as well, but Louis ignored them and left the office.

‘The iron is here.’

Knowledge about manufacturing heavy equipment had already been shared with Ten. In other words, they only needed to begin production now.

‘Approve.’

Louis looked over the Hidden Promotion list.

‘More astonishing the further it goes…’

Special branches he had never seen before began to appear.

Hetairoi, who increased armor beyond the norm and crashed in with crushing momentum; Keshik, heavy cavalry whose mobility was even faster than ordinary cavalry; and Keshikten, a light-cavalry variant that shed armor to heighten mobility—mounted archers in this case.

Winged Hussars, and so on… he had never heard these names before, but each effect was fearsome. The only drawback was that despite requiring five promotions, there was only one chance to choose. There was no need to explain how hard it was to keep them alive on the battlefield and maintain their numbers.

That was a matter for later anyway.

Because it had taken a long time, the point reward was large. Had he chosen the City Growth quest, he would have gained 5,000 points with the bonus added, but Louis believed it was more important to put the sword in his own hand.

‘Time to finally raise Mathematics.’

To keep his promise with his elder brother, Louis had to make a catapult as payment for the warhorses.

As 2,000 points were deducted from the 4,000, a notification window chimed.

It was the most basic siege engine. Even so, the blueprint for a “basic” siege engine was thoroughly sealed. Louis had obtained a state-secret level of manufacturing know-how through the System.

Soon, the knowledge of the blueprint was shared.

‘The structure is simpler than I thought.’

By comparison, the heavy gear that demanded lots of labor felt more difficult. Yet the reason a catapult could not be copied by mere observation was the ratios.

If the proportions were off even a little, efficiency plunged, or it would fail to trigger at all.

To solve this, one had to discover the optimal values through countless repeated experiments. Naturally, without a national-scale apparatus, it required continuous manpower and funds that were hard to bear, and in a ducal domain, royal oversight made it virtually impossible.

‘First, I’ll soothe him with a letter.’

Upon receiving the report, Fred slammed the desk. He struck it so hard that one leg snapped and the table toppled over. Stacks of papers scattered down and an inkwell shattered with a clatter. The subordinate who finished reporting broke out in a cold sweat. It had been a long time since Fred had raged like this. He believed he’d been toyed with by his younger brother’s ridiculous scheme.

‘I was the fool to believe it. He came to deceive me—and I swallowed it whole.’

Now that the warhorses had gone over to Louis, retrieving them would be difficult. If he had to make a formal demand, he would need to ask their father, Remitri, but pride would never allow it.

“Damn it… Louis. You must have stolen my warhorses…”

Fred’s adjutant, Jodan, offered counsel.

“It doesn’t look like a total lie. I hear large quantities of iron have recently flowed into Proia; that implies he has craftsmen capable of making equipment. I believe it’s better to ask step by step what happened, rather than breaking the alliance immediately.”

If heavy equipment could be made, that meant he had very capable craftsmen. Fred, who had not heard anything that far, was startled and asked again.

“Large quantities of iron? Wait, are you saying he’s making equipment from iron?”

“That seems to be the case. Rumor says heavy cavalry…”

“No, impossible. That’s not a branch you can raise so easily.”

Even Fred had been unable to found a heavy cavalry corps. It was not merely making gear and putting it on riders. The biggest problem was talent. To charge in heavy kit, one needed tremendous balance and at least the ability to handle mana. But cramming those who could wield mana into the cavalry was inefficient; one should assign one to each infantry unit as a sub-commander.

“In that case, perhaps heavy infantry.”

Heavy sword infantry made sense. It was Pierre’s mainline branch. Even if Louis now possessed it as well, it would not be that strange.

A man came running and delivered a letter.

“Reporting. A letter from Consul Louis.”

Reading it, Fred’s fury subsided somewhat.

The letter said work had been delayed due to an accident, and apologized to his elder brother. The gist was that the craftsman had recovered and would begin at once.

Jodan could not hold back his question.

“……….What does it say?”

“He says he’s only now begun the work. If he deceives me again this time, my first target will be Louis.”

The aides replied in unison.

Louis watched as the craftsmen finally began manufacturing catapults. Several wooden pillars were raised by laborers, and a good number of the supervisors were women. It was a strange sight, but Louis did not care about onlookers as long as the making got done.

The most outstanding, of course, was Enneu, whom Louis had marked in advance. Normally it took five or six tries to true a catapult’s axle, requiring repeated adjustments, but under Enneu’s direction, the axle was set upright after a single correction each time.

‘I can hit the numbers faster than expected.’

Even after setting aside the catapults for his brother, Louis could meet his own quota of siege engines. Once the siege engines were finished, he would truly be ready for war with his brothers.

Thanks to Enneu’s terrifyingly rapid growth, Louis made the catapults faster than expected and sent a set amount to Fred.

Fred was watching the catapults entering his city.

‘Honestly, I’m impressed, brother. You’ve grown into a fearsome man.’

He had worked for three years to master catapult blueprints, but never succeeded. All he gained was a crack across his pride. How Louis had learned the catapult method was not the point. What mattered was the result: manufacturing siege engines under the harsh conditions of the Remitri ducal domain.

“We’ll run a test.”

With a half-smiling face, Jodan spoke to Fred. For the first time in his life, Fred felt inferior to his younger brother and gave a short nod.

Two days later, Jodan came to the office and reported.

“Lord Fred, I can say this much.”

“What is it?”

“It is the finest catapult in the Duchy of Eron. It has top-tier accuracy and balance. The trade for 200 warhorses actually favored us.”

‘Something that good…?’

Fred doubted briefly, then accepted that good was good, agreeing with Jodan. With this, they could break into Pierre’s city, which had solid defenses.

They could wage a siege.

‘This should compensate for the delay.’

Louis was not sure whether the military alliance would continue, but he believed his brother would keep it for now. The results were so good that even sending mid-grade pieces, the shipment was all solid quality. Of course, Louis kept the best catapults. The quality margin was generous enough that he had, in effect, killed two birds with one stone.

It had been worth the strain of bringing Enneu. Any catapult whose axle she tuned was not just high-grade, but top-grade.

After finishing that work, Louis was focusing on internal city affairs while waiting for the next quest—when bad news struck.

Louis received an urgent letter, broke the seal, and opened it.

What he had expected was written there. His father had passed away. Duke Remitri had gone hunting and died of a heart attack.

‘So it begins.’

Louis’s face hardened. It was time for everything he had prepared to be put to use. How did the overall strengths compare? Naturally, his eldest brother Fred had a military edge of 7:3 over Louis. Against his second brother Pierre, Louis was at a 4:6 disadvantage. That was how it looked on paper.

‘I have a joker.’

Heavy cavalry. He was confident his two brothers would mistake them for heavy sword infantry. Hansen had cooked the reports in the middle. With the heavy cavalry hidden, if he lured them onto open plains—or lured their infantry—he could massacre them. The power of heavy cavalry against infantry was beyond imagination.

‘That was close.’

Without stirrups, ordinary soldiers who had not reached the Sword Expert realm could never have formed a heavy cavalry corps.

“Tell everyone to assemble.”

At dawn, Louis issued an emergency muster. One lamp was lit, and after dozens of minutes, Louis’s inner circle began to arrive one by one. The decision-makers—Kalbang, Hansen, Boromir—as well as Kaiser and Jerome. Jerome, who arrived first, watched Louis nervously and trembled in a corner; arriving at top speed, Kaiser, followed by Boromir and Kalbang, entered in that order. Hansen was last. And the moment they came in, everyone was overawed by Louis’s ominous presence. Louis said nothing, but they all knew a momentous decision was about to be made. As a long silence fell and none dared speak, Louis broke it.

“Father has passed away.”

Just one sentence. Everyone’s minds began to race tautly. This was no ordinary matter. From this moment, they were effectively on maximum alert. Inside the city were Dekal and Max—the largest local pillars—and various nobles lingering as tourists.

“Tonight, we strike Dekal.”

All six shuddered at once. At last, the time had come, Hansen muttered inwardly.