—Cole POV—
Getting the four women up to speed on the situation, Yasaka called for the Dwarven Elder over to examine the rifle. When he initially saw it, he asked me why I was having his men handle it instead of Bolton's Blacksmiths. Stating that as he was my father-in-law I should have given him a chance to claim the work, I refuted that and said I did not give work out solely based on familial connections.
"Your blacksmiths need the work more than Bolton's men, that is plain to see.", I said glancing over to the smiths observing us from afar.
"Ya only need a hundred or so of these though, right?", he remarked looking the rifle over.
"Haha, where did you get that number from? If you can manufacture them, those nations are willing to buy two hundred and fifty thousand each for their soldiers. That does not include any noblemen who want to arm their private forces, adventurers who may want to purchase one, or families that want one or more for hunting/protection.", I replied, "They agreed to pay two gold per rifle and five gold for a pack of five hundred rounds of ammo. The timeline would be very flexible with bimonthly deliveries of around five to ten thousand rifles with crates of ammo as well."
Doing the math in his head for a moment, the old dwarf nearly keeled over in shock. Realizing that he was holding a figurative gold mine in his hands, he doubled down on trying to give Bolton the work. Telling him that only his men could do it, I refused to give Bolton the work.
"Your people are my people, and I take care of my own.", I stated firmly, "Either you accept the work, or I take it to your grandson and have him accept it. Your men need the coin more than Bolton's do, I have them working on several different projects so they have work coming out of their beards. Just accept the work and get to it, you old bastard."
"Old bastard!!", he shouted with a smirk, "Alright fine, will take care of this shite for ya!"
Taking the rifle over to his blacksmiths, he promised to bring it back to Yasaka by the end of the day. Once he was gone, Lilith spoke up.
"Cole, should we be worried about the Wild Hunt as well?", Lilith asked me, "If they can kill Gods, that means most of the people in our universe are fair game for them. Should we potentially order those rifles?
"I personally think most of you are strong enough to fight them head-on, you only need to be worried about the White Frost bomb and their Soul-Stealing Magic.", I answered her, "In all honesty though the chances of them coming here is extremely low, their primary focus is on Ciri at the moment. If she has not been to this world the Wild Hunt will probably never know you are here to begin with."
"So what makes Ciri so special that their King wants her?", Serafall inquired with a hint of curiosity, "Is drop-dead gorgeous or something like that? Who would you say is better looking, Ciri or me?"
"Are you seriously asking me to compare the two of you?", I laughed unable to contain my surprise, "Ciri's looks have nothing to do with why they are after her, it has to do with her genetics. She is the last remaining survivor of an extremely, powerful Aen Elle bloodline, her grandmother eloped with a human which sparked this whole problem to begin with. They effectively want to use her body to pump out incredibly powerful mages…similar to what Lucifer did to Lilith."
Understanding why Ciri was running away from the Wild Hunt now, Lilith felt the urge to help Ciri out. Not wanting someone else to suffer the way she had, she asked to see an image of the woman in question. Projecting a hologram of Ciri for them, the four inspected the image closely before shaking their heads. Apologizing to me for not recognizing her, I assured her that was what I expected to happen.
"In all honestly, everyone's attention was focused on the Great War so I do not blame you for missing her if she did pass through here. I hope that either Ophis or Great Red may have seen her, and can point me in the right direction to find her first.", I said with a smile, "I am actually about to go find them now and ask."
"You want to go talk with those two?", Lilith repeated with a smirk, "They are extremely illusive and do not speak with anyone outside of their own kin. While I know you can force them to talk, things may get a bit dicey for the rest of us…"
"Haha, I am confident no one will notice anything.", I replied with a mischievous tone, "Thanks to the power I siphoned off of the White Frost Bomb, I gained a new ability. Previously I could time travel, but now I am also able to stop time around me with minimal effort. While time is frozen, I can move around freely and attack without disturbing anything. Needless to say, if the Dragons do not want to be civil I will beat the information out of them."
"OH!!", Runeas and Serafall shouted with excitement, "Think of all the pranks you can pull!!"
Watching Lilith's smile turn into a frown, she pleaded with me not to go along with their antics. Already imagining the pranks they might pull, Lilith did not want the rebuilding of their territory prolonged by their antics. Telling Lilith she was a party pooper, Serafall leaned over the table and grabbed my left hand tightly.
"Come on, it has to be a rule somewhere to pull at least one prank when you can stop time.", Serafall argued, "I promise it will not be against any of the pillars, I want to prank Sirzechs and Ajuka for being meanies all the time!! We could move them around while they are frozen, and then watch them crash into stuff without understanding how it happened. Oh, we could dump buckets of ice-cold water on their heads and they would never know it was us!!"
"Hehe, there are a lot of grumpy people out there to prank like that!", Runeas acknowledged with an evil smirk, "I have a long list of people to prank, my grandson Zeoticus is at the top of the list!!"
"Listen, if you are still upset about missing that date you are welcome to come to my daughter Lily's birthday next weekend.", I offered, "If you do not mind helping make her day special, you are more than welcome to attend as well."
"A birthday party!?", Runeas exclaimed nearly shooting out of her seat, "Of course I want to go, but…are you sure it is okay? I do not know you that well, and a child's birthday is really important."
Nodding my head, I told her that Lily would love to meet Runeas as she enjoyed making new friends. Telling Serafall that she could come too, as Lily would get a kick out of her, she jumped out of her seat with excitement. Holding each other's hands, the two women danced around with excitement at the prospect of playing arcade games with Lily. Looking over at me, Lilith asked if Misla, Leviathan, and her could come too.
"That is fine, but please understand that it is Lily's celebration I will be prioritizing her needs first.", I stated bluntly, "If you want a second date, I can plan something separate on another day where I can prioritize you."
Agreeing to my terms, she promised to ask the other two women if they wanted to come. With our plans settled, I excused myself and got ready to leave.