Chapter 30：New Developments and an Unlikely Ally

Business has been good for Keizwell Dunnwal lately.

Recently, Keizwell has seen a large boom in the sales of his 'products.' More specifically the sales of the 'Widowmaker Musket,' the latest musket model developed by Keizwell's head artisans.

It probably had something to do with the news of the Dunnwals victory against the Paniards. Ever since then, a lot of groups and organisations, both legitimate and otherwise suddenly wanted a copy of the musket 'responsible,' for the Dunnwal's victory.

"Haha suckers...They really believed that this weapon was the only reason why we won? Damn... people can be really gullible nowadays."

Keizwell talked to himself as he counted his money. Although, this money technically belonged to the family, Keizwell preferred to say that it was his money that he was 'personally investing' into the family.

"Not that I mind..."

Keizwell laughed to himself as he flicked another golden Threan coin into the pile.

Although the Widowmaker was the latest model in Keizwell's long line of musket models, it cannot be counted as the most technologically or magically advanced.

It just the only musket model that he mass produced.

Although it shares around the same strength as the experimental breechloading rifle, it could not compare with its reload speed.

Similarly, there were many other experimental muskets models and variants that the Widowmaker just pales in comparison against.

The only true strength of the Widowmaker is how darn cheap the damn thing actually is.

The reason why Maxwell chose the Widowmaker musket as the standard issue weapon for his army was because it was the easiest musket model to reproduce in large quantities while still being a reliable and efficient weapon.

However, the victory at the Vlate Plains seems to have exaggerated the actual capabilities of the Widowmaker. Making it seem as if it played a huge role in the battle when in reality it was the men themselves who were responsible for the victory.

When Keizwell received the news of their victory, he immediately inflated the price of the Widowmaker thanks to his monopoly over the product before releasing it to the public.

Although this can be seen as greedy on Keizwell's part, in truth this money was going towards the war effort in order to expel the Paniards out of Drussia.

Like Cromwell, Keizwell also stayed at the city of Maximinus with their father in order to manage their territories while Maxwell, accompanied by Sicilia, went to personally handle the Panish threat.

Cromwell managed their public image and policies while Keizwell continued to manage the Army's logistics and supply lines as well as his many 'miscellaneous' businesses.

On top of this, Keizwell also had to oversee the experimental projects that Maxwell left to Keizwell's artisans. More specifically, he was responsible for the overall management and funding of said projects.

[Now that I thought about it... Why don't I pay them a visit?] On a whim, Keizwell suddenly felt the urge to visit his main workshop and check up whatever new developments his artisans had made.

Standing up, Keizwell went to the mirror to check on his appearance before moving to leave the castle.

After leaving the castle district with his personal escort, Keizwell soon found himself in one of his multiple secret warehouses where his craftsmen worked day and night to perfect Maxwell's experimental weapons.

He has only just entered the warehouse and he already found a new oddly shaped experimental weapon that piqued his interest.

"What is this?"

Keizwell pointed at the weapon as he addressed the artisans working on it. The one who came to answer Keizwell was none other than the chief artisan himself.

"It's a brand new weapon prototype that we've been working on. Of course the concept itself was conceived by Maxwell but even among them... this one is still special!"

The chief artisan could barely stop his excitement from leaking out. Apparently he was very proud of this prototype.

"It's so ingenious and innovative that I can hardly believe that I have never thought about it myself! Just one copy of this weapon on its own can single handedly kill a hundred men within a blink of an eye! However..."

The chief artisan sighed sadly before he continued.

"Apart from the actual difficulty and cost of producing even just one, it also comes with one inherent flaw."

"And that is?"

Keizwell's curiosity got the better of him as he continued to question the chief artisan about the new weapon.

"Its consumption of ammunition is... rather high. Although the weapon derives its strength from its high firing rate... you could also say that it's too high. Maxwell himself, expressed concerns on whether the Dunnwal economy can reliably support such a weapon or not."

Keizwell's eyebrows rose when he learned about the 'fault' of a weapon that could supposedly 'kill a hundred men within a blink of an eye.'

"Really now? And what is this weapon called?"

The smile returned to the chief artisan when he replied.

"The Gatling Gun."

...

Near the coast of the Breetish Isles, there stood a white coast-side villa.

Although it wasn't raining, the sky was stilled dyed in a dark grey colour as storm clouds loomed over every horizon.

Within one of the rooms of this white coast-side villa there was an 18 year old girl who stood silently as she read a letter.

Her pitch black hair gently rested on her shoulders while her golden eyes seemed to shine the more she continued to read the letter.

However, this silence would soon be broken-

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

By a mad laughter.

The girl laughed hysterically to herself as she finished reading the contents of the letter.

"Drussians stretched out their forces in long lines to maximise firing rate.

Drussian muskets had a knife attached at the end of the barrel to ward off Panish cavalry.

Drussian soldiers seemed to be organised into sub-battalions that allowed for greater flexibility of command."

The girl couldn't stop giggling to herself as she put the pieces together in her head.

"There's no feasible way for a single person to spontaneously come up with these revolutionary battle tactics unless..."

Although she stopped giggling she still wore a wide grin on her face.

The girl's wide grin only continued to stretch wider the more she spoke to herself.

"Someone... who's just like me."

The girl couldn't help falling on her knees as tears of joy fell out of her eyes.

"I'm not alone... I'm not alone..."

As the girl continued to bask in her happiness, a sudden thought came across her mind.

She quickly put the letter back in front of her eyes as she searched for the content she was looking for.

Soon enough she found it.

"The Dunnwal family... Why does that name seem so important?"

The girl quickly went to her drawer before taking out a huge ledger which contained the banners of all the great noble and royal families of the mainland continent, whether they belonged to the Unified Kingdoms of Great Breeton or not.

Eventually she came across the Dunnwal's banner.

A silver snake on a purple background that ate its own tail.

"Snake... snake... why does the image of a snake seem so important?"

Another smile formed on the girl's face as she remembered that one stormy night long ago.

That one stormy night months ago where a sort of 'vision' revealed itself to her.

A vision in the form of a battle in the skies which pitted the animal of her family; the golden hawk against the animal of the Dunnwal family; the silver snake.

"So it truly was a vision..."

With a smile still on her face, the girl quickly skimmed through the letter again to find the name of the general responsible for the Drussian's victory against the Paniards.

"Maxwell... Galnus... Dunnwal..."

With a smile, the girl burned Maxwell's name into her heart. However, as she continued to contemplate the situation, the girl's smile gradually began to disappear as another revelation came to her mind.

"But Drussia is currently in a bad spot... With the continued war with the Panish Empire and the threat of the Kingdom of Ostria to the south... it would seem that the Drussians are outnumbered."

The girl sighed to herself as she continued to think over the situation.

"It would be no fun if it was an uneven playing field..."

However, another smile soon reformed itself on the girl's face as she came up with a rather peculiar solution.

"Then logically, the best course of action would be to make the playing field a little more even... at least until Drussia is firmly secured."

The girl couldn't stop giggling to herself due to the sheer irony of the situation.

"So if I want to properly go to war with Maxwell. I have to become an ally with him first? How utterly ridiculous."

The girl sighed happily as she continued to speak to herself.

"And yet it's also such a spectacular set piece at the exact same time."

With a smile, the girl left her bedroom of her own volition for the first time in years.

"Lady Dyme!? You're out of your bedroom?"

The girl only nodded silently at the surprised knight whom she approached on her way out.

Soon after, the knight was able to regain his composure before he went to question the girl's motives.

"Apart from leaving to eat, you never left your room?.. Why now?"

The girl only stared blankly at the knight when responding.

"The situation has changed. Prepare my ship."

Her next set of orders only served to confuse the knight even more.

"Prepare the ship? Where are you going?"

In response the girl responded in her usual, clear and concise tone.

"I will be going to Landon. I'm going to make an appeal to the king."

"An appeal to the king? An appeal to do what?"

The girl's eyes seemed to become sharper as she slowly voiced out her next words.

"An appeal to make war."

"Make... War?.."

The girl sighed before she started to explain herself.

"Make war with the Paniards. Ever since their first defeat at the Vlate plains, they have lost a relatively large fraction of their fighting force. If us Breetons assist the Drussians, the Paniards would be expelled from their hold in Drussia."

A look of understanding quickly formed itself on the knights face as the girl explained herself.

"And the Panish Empire will be substantially weakened! Leaving the Unified Kingdoms of Great Breeton as the strongest power on the continent!"

As the knight silently stood in awe of the girl's plans, the latter reminded the knight of her orders.

"What are you waiting for? Prepare my ship."

As the knight scurried off, the girl smiled as she once again spoke to herself.

"The game is set... now it is time to see if the players are ready."