A couple of months passed with a blink and the end of spring came. Time flew without stopping, not giving anyone the chance to properly deal with the tension in their lives. Even if the the tranquility of daily life was disturbed, life still continued as if it didn't matter.
The protests spread all around the Altus Empire. The Emperor had already started conscripting and nowadays a week didn't pass without small skirmishes happening at military outposts of the Empire, especially around the northwest of the Empire where the most recent conquests were.
The craftsmen sent by the Duke were returning to the Pevo territory after properly learning everything there was to know about making firearms and started the production of the weapons at the Duke's territory as planned.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Popalis mainly continued recruitment efforts. For a while now, instead of searching for talented individuals, they were visiting cities and villages where protests happened and recruiting everyday people who were willing to fight for their cause. Speaking with influential commoners and making deals was done by Andy while Roz was better at appealing to the emotions of young men and recruiting them to their fighting force using their want for glory.
There were a few times they almost got caught by the authorities, but it seemed like the Emperor was going to not bother with investigations and defeat them at the battlefield all together.
Matt and his friends had finished their engine, and they were swiftly employed by Novaeta Corporation to the factory city that had finally finished the construction of the most important parts. They were given a manufactory to produce the engines they invented and lodgings to live for free.
Corvin spent most of his free time visiting Matt and his friends at the new city and getting help from them to build a prototype for the last month and a half. Just as the first two working prototypes were made, the end of spring came, and so did the graduation of Amy and the birthday of Clair.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"It will probably get hot, but we are outside so it should be fine.", said Corvin as he hang up the lights on the poles. "And, we don't have much time until they come anyway, it's already this dark. And, tonight is moonless so it's more dark than ever."
"Don't you know the tale of the kid that held up a torch at the moonless night? What if monsters come and eat us?"
"Pfft I remember the time I used to believe stories like that."
"I think there is some kind of truth to it though..."
"It's just how monsters appear. At night, people are at their homes unlike the mornings when they are out in the fields. Monsters appear more when people are closer to each other. That's where it comes from. Monsters don't come more at night because of the dark... Well, maybe it is because of the dark that humans are closer but you get the point."
"Sigh~ I make a small joke and you keep talking like this..."
Corvin connected the cable to the small steam engine and the lightbulbs on the cable lit up, illuminating the green grass around them and the table with some food and a cake on it.
"There, done. So shut up and help me bring the gifts here."
"Right... What kind of gift is this anyways? Isn't this too much?"
"That's why we are telling them this is a gift from us both, since someone completely forgot about it even though I reminded them of it..."
"Oh shut up! You know what I have been dealing with."
"Right, that I do. Now come on."
Corvin and Noah walked towards the gifts Corvin had prepared.
"Man... I actually can't believe you made these things..."
"Well, I had help and a lot of time. So, behold! This is the greatest thing I had a hand in the making of yet! Cars!", said Corvin and pointed his hand at the cars.
They were two cars that looked exactly the same. They were shaped like two differently sized boxes glued together and painted gray. It had two doors at the sides and four wheels made out of steel and wood. At the front of the vehicle, there was a crank that destroyed most attempts at making this machine look better.
"Wooow!!!", shouted Noah and clapped his hands with fake enthusiasm.
"At least be a bit more excited man! This thing is actually incredible."
"I know, I know. You spent two hours explaining how it works to me already."
"Yeah, but now you are seeing it with your own eyes. Isn't it exciting?"
"It is, let's try them."
"Yup!"
Noah got into the car and made sure the brake was on. He got off the car and walked to the crank at the front. Cranking it as fast as he could, the engine started a few seconds later. Noah got back in the car without injuring himself with the crank. He looked to the side and saw Corvin jump into the car and crank it using his magic. They started to drive around for fun before stopping the engines to not make so much noise for long. A few minutes later, the girls finally arrived.
They celebrated Clair's birthday and Amy's graduation. When Corvin and Noah showed them the gifts, Clair told Corvin to find better materials to make wheels out of. Corvin told her he didn't know about materials as much as she knew and asked for help from her. After eating dinner, the while the girls were cutting the cake, Noah took Corvin and walked a few step away to talk.
"What happened, Noah? Your eyes became serious all of a sudden."
"Corvin, you know, summer is coming, right?"
"Duh..."
"With the car, we can move much faster as well."
"Well, I want to keep this a secret from people for now but yeah, if it's an emergency we can use it. It can go much faster than a carriage."
"I think it's time, Corvin."
"What? You are leaving? But we were going to eat cake now."
"What? No, I am not talking about that. I am talking about Popalis."
"Oh... Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I think it's time to actually start the revolution. We have enough numbers and summer is the best time to fight for us. And just as the Emperor is busy at the northwest currently, we can strike hard..."
"I see... I am also ready. Tell me anything I need to do."
"I need you to go after the Emperor pretty much just as the battles start. We failed to recruit enough mages so they are going to have more mages than us. We can kind of close the gap with our numbers and better weapons and logistics, but that would hardly break even."
"So, you want me to go after the Emperor? Why aren't you making someone better than me do it?"
"I have thought about it a lot, okay? But, I don't know anyone that I trust will not back down from this and have enough skills to have a chance at it. I know you are not the best at your magic, but you are really talented. You did survive when you were fighting against the two knights back at the Butaldhi Kingdom, right? Even if you almost died, you still survived. And you keep training so you must be better now. But, most importantly, I know you won't run away from this and I can trust you most on that part."
"...I understand. Did the others agree to this?"
"Yes, so please, Corvin. Will you be the one to do this?"
Corvin answered after thinking about it for a while.
"I will try my best."
"Thank you, Corvin. And, I am sorry for making you do this."
"Buy me a big cake after everything and we will be even."
"Sure. You want to eat some now?"
"Yeah."
The two walked back to the girls who were chatting as if they forgot the two were there a couple of minutes ago and joined their conversation while eating the cake.