The Commander cast a longing look at the weapon in the hands of the Clerics, but everyone knew that he wasn't getting that one back. He had gotten to test it, but they would be taking it back to the temple as part of their research project, where it would be subjected to weeks or months of scrutiny before being filed away in the Library as an exhibit, or evidence of a theory.
They also knew that Karl could make another, as they had gleaned that much information from the ramblings of the Clerics, but asking an unknown Monarch, who might be one of the nation's hidden assets, to make them a new weapon was an expensive proposition.
Neither of them knew Karl, but he was a Monarch already, so he was probably older than he looked, and deliberately hidden from the public.
