As we'd made are way into Traer, we were greeted by the still usual site of wealthier merchants, slave traders, and wealthy nobles seeking their new toys. Nelwynn did not dare look towards the skavers, shaking as we proceeded passed them. I'd mkved to hold Nelwynn's trembling arm, as means to ease her worries.
"I will not allow them to take you."
Nelwynn's fear did not completely fade, though she'd ceased trembling and smiled dimlyupon my declaration. All the while, father had instructed us to search for suitable lodging while he begun setting up shop. The three of us had taken this time not only to find lodging, but to greet Cordell's father, and see about the production of the primitive firearms.
While the arquebus is a horrendous model, no guns had ever existed in this world. With the arquebus having only an effective range of 100 to 120 meters, it was comparable to high quality crossbows, however the strength and training required to train an arquebusier compared to a crossbowman were vastly different. While a frail pesent could successfully fire a crossbow, the strength required to reset it were rather demanding, whereas the only strength an arquebusier needed was the strength to carry the weapon, and the stamina to clean and reload it. This is what made even the arquebus superior to crossbows.
While the Xanadu Gun was of a primitive cannon model, it still would be devastating in the event of sieges, something required given that upon defeat in the field, Oswin and his army would likely turn to hiding inside the royal capital. While not comparable to the falconet or the culverin in any way, let alone the artillery of the 16th century onwards, their impact would nevertheless be meaningful.
Designs in hand, we'd made way to the smithy under the ownership of Cordell's father. Many weapons of great quality line the shelves and walls, with even a few sets of fine armor on stands.
"Cordell? Is that you?"
A feminine voice spoke out from behind the counter, while the hammering deeper in ceased where a deeper masculine voice could be heard.
"Cordell?"
The smithy, whom one could only assume was Cordell's father made his way from the forge, with hisbface and clothes covered in soot, and hammer still in hand.
"Yes father, I've returned from the Magical Institute, these are my compatriats Landyn, and Nelwynn."
The rough smithy set his hammer on the counter, while the woman behind the counter made her way over to embrace Cordell. The smithy in the meantime held out his hand to greet us.
"Greetings, I am Vilhelm, Alan Vilhelm. You must be Landyn? And this fair maiden must be Nelwynn?"
I'd reached my hand out to meet Alan, greeting him with a firm handshake, though I'd found that befitting of a skithy, his grip was greater than that of steel. Instead of a handshake, I had felt like I was being shaked around by this brutish smithy.
"Yes, I am Landyn, Landyn Raye."
"And I am Nelwynn."
Nelwynn did not reveal her last name, though for slaves, they'd either have no last name, or in some cases would take on the name of their masters. Thus I'd decided to interject, making it of appearance that Nelwynn was a newly wed bride to the Raye family, to me."
"Nelwynn Raye, dear."
Nelwynn's face lit up, though she did not protest to the proclamation, opting instead to turn away and agree.
"Y-yes, of course."
I decided not to tease Nelwynn too much, despite her seeming enjoyment upon my teasing of her. Alan then let out a haughty chuckle.
"I see, is she to be your fair maiden then, young lad?"
"That is correct, ser Vilhelm. Nelwynn is my fair maiden and I her faithful eagle."
"I see you've a silver-tongue, I take it you must be of the merchant class? Though I'd never imagined Cordell the type to befriend any of the lower class."
Cordell then decided to interject himself into his father's assertion.
"That is usually correct father, however, we'd all been drawn into the war with Kotesh, and Landyn was the defiant conscript whose legend has spread among many of the commonfolk. Surely even you'd heard of his feats in the war?"
"Aye, I have, tell me young lad, how did a small force of peasants manage to defeat not one, but two cavalry charges, along with a contingent of archers and even mages? Such is not a tale even found in the grandest of chikdren's tales."
"Ser Vilhelm, as much as I'd love to share stories of the war, I'm afraid doing so would be of little interest to all here, and would expend the entire stay we have in Traer today. Forgive my rudeness, though I've already made promise to my father to find us appropriate lodging for the night."
Vilhelm looked at me, somewhat disappointed from my refusal to tell stories of the war, however he'd understood the importance of finding lodging.
"Very well, though after you find suitable lodging, I'd love to hear such stories, young Landyn."
"Very well, I shall indulge you after I'd found suitable lodgings, ser Vilhelm."
"Oi Landyn, show him the things you showed me earlier, you can at least spare my father kindness enough for that, no?"
Cordell proudly reminded me of our original meaning for visiting his father, to show him the new weapon designs. On Cordell's request, I'd brought forth the designs I'd sketched onto several strips of wood, cheerfully handing them to Alan. Intrigued at first, his eyes lit up, brighter than Cordell's did when he'd first seen the designs.
"These are weapons. None of which I'd ever seen before. Tell me, where did you acquire such sketches or ideas for them?"
"Ah yes, I'd acquired some of the design ideas during my many trades with my father before the war, though I'd considered making several adjustments to better aid the functionality of them. Do you think you'd be able to produce them?"
"Hm, this larger one, this Xah-nah-doo gun would be rather intesnive in development, though I suppose it doable. This other one on the other hand, this Arc-a-bus, would be leagues easier, I could perhaps produce several models for it. It's process would be tedious, and I'd need to receive assistance from some of the woodworkers, though I believe I can manage to produce half a dozen of these within a week. The cost of course would not be terribly cheap..."
Hearing that, I'd grown a smile reaching from both ears, pulling out 15 greater coins, before asking if such would be sufficient payment for 200 arquebus rifles, with the remainder being used for the xanadu guns and the ammunition.
"More than enough! I'll begin making these immediately!"
"You've no intention of questioning why I wish to make these? or their effects?"
"Why should I care? I see before me a challenge to my smithing abilities, and I'll be damned if I allow such a challenge to slip by me!"
"Father, please you should at least take your occupation seriously."
"I am taking it seriously you damned brat! I've been hammering away alone here while you were enrolled at that magic school!"
Cordell let out a soft chuckle before responding to his father's delightet outburst.
"Haha, of course father. Do you suppose I could aid in the production? Whence I've finished aiding them in finding lodging of course."
"You may watch, this will be a difficult task, even a master smith could easily screw up something as complex as this!"
"Very well. Landyn, Nelwynn, come I know of some fine lodgings within town that aren't too expensive, even for commoners."
With that we'd followed Cordell to the inn he'd had in mind for us. It was a inn of more grand design than the first I'd stayed within when I'd travelled here with father those many years ago. The pricing for lodgnings wasn't much more costly either, the diffirence being about 25 copper, though the quality between the two inns was vast. Where the bedding in the first hotel were cheap and rickety, with the walls even rotting out in some places, the cleanliness within this inn was in a league of its own.
After acquiring the lodging at the inn that Cordell had recommended, we'd begun to make our way back to father. On our way, we'd come across an alcjemists shop, whereupon we'd entered to find the materials I was looking for. Within we'd found many potions, powders, and reagents strown along the shop, before being greeted by the alchemist behind the counter.
"Greetings, what business do you have with my shop today? Healing potion? Eye droplets? Throat lozinges? I've many wares to choose between!"
"No, no, nothing of the like, rather, we're here to acquire a powder of sorts."
I'd then described gunpowder the the alchemist, asking if he'd carried any for sell.
"Ah, you mean firepowder?
"firepowder?"
"Yes, it's a mixture of sulfur and saltpeter, however I'd never heard of mixing it with charcoal."
"Could you produce it with charcoal?"
"I suppose, though firepowder on it's own doesn't pose too many uses."
"Aye, but adding charcoal too it does, though you should be rather careful in it's creation, as one misstep could well cost you both your shop and your life."
"Haha, I've not known firepowder to be such a delicate item, though I've a few instances of it catching fire and causing issues around my lab. Nevertheless, I'll heed your advice young lad. How much of this "gunpoweder" would you like?"
"If possible, 2 small barrels full, though I'd need to know the cost for such an item first."
"Firepowder is relatively inexpensive, usually I charge 45 silver barrel, however since this is different from firepowder, in its inclusion of charcoal, it will be 47 silver per barrel."
Hearing this, I'd reached into my now nearly emoty pouch of coins and retrieved a single greater coin.
"Consider the change an offer of gratitude for adhering my request."
The alchemist took the coin and headed diwn to his lab. Before doing so he'd thanked me for my patronage, and had told me that the powder should be prepared in about a month.
With the procurement of firearms and gunpowder underway, we'd all decided to meet back up with father, who was still selling goods from his stall.