Iron Axe knew that he was being supervised.
The hunters who had participated in the test explosion that day were gathered together and moved into a two-story building near the castle. Looking out of the window, he could see a stone wall with guards guarding the entrance and exit.
He didn't care about this at all, and even felt that His Highness had only sent two guards to guard the place, which was very imprudent.
Until now, Iron Axe still remembered the roar of the test explosion that day — no weapon had ever brought him such a strong shock. In the extreme south, he had seen the orange fire erupting from the ground, which could last for decades; he had also seen the wind and huge waves covering the sky at the Endless Cape... However, the power of heaven was unpredictable, it was the will of Mother Earth or the Sea God, and the iron whip used by the gods to punish all living things.
But His Royal Highness had stolen the authority of the Three Gods with his own strength and obtained the power of Heaven's Punishment. Although he was still far from the real Father's Thunder, it was not a realm that a human could achieve.
In Iron Sand City, if the participants were still useful, they would usually have their tongues cut off. Of course, this was not the safest way, only the dead would keep secrets forever. As for the foreigners? It would be blasphemy if they looked at it, and it would never be possible for foreigners to join the core class of the Mojin Clan.
The prince knew that he was half an alien, but he still allowed him to witness the fire of heaven's punishment, and planned to let him be responsible for the formation of the hunter team. This trust made Iron Axe's blood boil.
In Iron Sand City, he had experienced countless betrayals and frame-ups, and fled to the southern border of Graycastle. He was discriminated against because he was half Sand Nation and half mainland Nation. Finally, he came to Border Town disheartened, intending to rely on hunting for the rest of his life. He did not expect that he would be favored by His Highness here.
He had no doubt that with this new weapon, the one to win the battle for the throne would be His Highness Roland Wimbledon.
Thinking of the opportunity to serve the future King, Iron Axe was very excited.
"Everyone, gather downstairs!"
Hearing the voice, Iron Axe looked up and found that it was the Chief Knight of the 4th Prince, Carter Lannis.
He quickly tidied up his clothes, walked downstairs, and stood at attention in front of Carter. He had participated in the training of the Militia, and knew that His Highness liked disciplined and uniform troops. The other hunters were much slower. The six of them spent about half an hour to line up.
"Same old place, come with me." Carter did not seem to mind. He led the group out of the door and went straight out of the city walls.
It was still the location of the previous test explosion, but this time, there was no longer a warning line.
Other than Roland, there were also four other Knight – all of them were Carter's subordinates. Iron Axe noticed that the prince was fiddling with a strangely shaped metal stick while explaining something to the Knight.
Seeing Iron Axe and the others, Roland came up to them and said, "How is it? Are you used to living in the new place?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness," Everyone bowed and said that their new residence was very comfortable.
In fact, the new house was much better than the old one, Iron Axe thought. At least it wouldn't leak, and the roof wasn't made of transparent straw, but tidy tiles.
"That's good," Roland nodded. "The current arrangement is for safety reasons. After the end of the Months of the Demons, you can move back. In addition, I have already sent your first month's salary to your families, and you can also meet them every weekend. Of course, you will be accompanied by guards. "
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness," the hunters said cheerfully.
This really surprised Iron Axe. Not to mention the iron law of the Sand Nation, even the management of the Graycastle army shouldn't be so lax. Is it because of His Highness's personal tolerance? Iron Axe faintly worried that if he wanted to fight for the throne, he had to be ruthless – he had seen this too often in Iron Sand City.
But when Prince Roland said that he would test a new weapon based on gunpowder, Iron Axe immediately put these worries to the back of his mind. He stared at the prince without blinking as he took the two odd-shaped iron sticks in front of the crowd.
"This thing is called a 'flintlock'," Roland said. "Next, I'll tell you how to use it."
…
It only took Iron Axe half an hour to completely familiarize himself with the use of the new weapon.
He poured the black powder, which could attract the Fire of Heaven's Punishment, into the barrel, stuffed a lead ball into it, and stabbed it to the end with a straight bar. Then he poured the gunpowder into the medicine pool at the back, aimed at the target, and pulled the trigger.
Although he had always thought that he had a talent for killing, whether it was a sword, knife, hammer, axe, or spear, he had mastered these skills after years of training and actual combat. To master a weapon in half an hour, this speed was probably only comparable to a crossbow.
The other flintlock was handed to Carter.
The Chief Knight was also full of interest in this novel weapon, so he picked it up and didn't want to put it down.
After a few rounds of simulation, Roland let the two of them test the effect with live ammunition. The target had already been prepared. A half-body plate supported by a wooden stick was set up by the other two Knight at a distance of about 30 feet (about 10 meters).
Iron Axe and Carter followed the Prince's instructions, raised the gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
The loud sound of the first shot startled everyone present, including Iron Axe, but soon there was only surprise left on everyone's face.
A small hole appeared on the half-body plate armor that served as the target. The lead ball neatly penetrated the thickest part of the chest of the plate.
Before shooting, Iron Axe had carefully observed the armor. It was obviously not a low-quality product made by a manual workshop. The hammer and anvil marks on the collar proved that this was a standard armor from the Graycastle Blacksmith Guild. The thickest part of the front edge was about half a finger, enough to resist a crossbow at close range. To deal with this iron can, a heavy crossbow, a warhammer, or a halberd was the wisest choice.
In comparison, the gun, which was also easy to operate, was at least far more powerful than the crossbow. And its loading speed was comparable to the crossbow, and its accuracy … a 30-foot target was not a problem.
"Your Highness, the production of this thing …" Carter asked.
"At present, there are only these two. When the Months of the Demons come, we can produce at most two more."
Seeing Carter, Iron Axe was obviously relieved. He could roughly guess what the other side was thinking. If this weapon was easy to make, it would only take a few days of simple training to train a large number of "soldiers" who could hold a gun and go into battle quickly. They were not limited by age, profession, or even gender – even a weak woman could pose a great threat to the Knight.
Although it was not as shocking as the Fire of Heaven's Punishment, it was still a good weapon. Iron Axe thought that the great power made it easy for him to kill some large demonic beasts with thick skin and flesh on the city wall. If he had a gun when he faced the hybrids, he might not have been so embarrassed.
Roland was the only one who knew the true significance of this weapon.
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