"You don't have a choice," John said in a cold voice, his natural demeanor turning hostile.
"Theia search the place"
"OK"
The old man couldn't help but worry, a look of dread crept up on him. John looks closely at the old man's eyes and smiles.
"Theia, search near the workbench"
"No!" The old man is shocked "How did you!?...."
John pointed at his eyes
"You are looking there when I order her to search."
"Don't! there is nothing there!"
Theia did not hear the old man's plea. She scans the area, focusing on the multitooled oak table. The blacksmith has left a lot of tools there after using them. The last time it was cleaned was when an old man was working on it.
Theia looks around, the work table. There is nothing that looks suspicious here. At least not that she could find it.
"Mater, there is nothing there!"
"See there..."
"Move the table"
Theia uses her little hands to push the heavy table away. She couldn't help but pants after she was done. When the table was moved it made a click sound. Turns out one of the table stands has been pressing ain't a secret button, after removing it a rock near it moves, creating a door.
She looks inside and sees a ton of weirdly shaped metal poles with something attached to them. The room is also too clean for it to be just an abandoned room. The old man's face pale like a ghost.
"What is this?"
Theia touched the metal pole with curiosity, having never seen anything like it. John approaches her and removes one of them. Its grip is slightly curved for comfortable holding, and it fits perfectly into his hand.
"This is what we're looking for" John ran his hand along the metal "A gun"
"You're done now! The church is gonna be looking for you!"
John looks back, amused at the elderly man's feeble attempt at intimidation while being choked by Hilda.
"That makes two of us then" John waved the thing around "If this gets out you will be crucified by the holy sun as well"
John smirks at the old man, but the older guy can't rebuke it. If this gets out he could be captured and executed on the spot. The church also had his hair sample with them, If he tried to escape they would use it to find his exact location. Ultimately, he's in a worse spot than these heretics if this matter gets out.
"Don't worry I'm not gonna reveal this thing so easily. Unless I don't get the blueprint"
"You want more!?"
At this point the old man is seething with rage, trying to claw out of Hilda's hand to punch John but he couldn't. Hilda's grip and mystic power were too much. He started to feel his age when he couldn't overpower the woman.
"I want a blueprint for all of these, you must have them right?"
"Like hell, I would give it to you!!" He holds firm on his stance, these guys broke into his workshop and stole his guns, so why would he give them? It's his life's work.
"Even for your daughter's location?"
The old man couldn't be more surprised at what John said.
"Are you playing with me!? She's already dead!"
The man could joke about something else but when it came to his daughter, John just went too far. The old man used his nail to dig into Hilda's skin but only his arm was hurt, he couldn't help but feel helpless in this situation.
"No" John denied "She has been living happily without you knowing, So the church will always have a way of controlling you"
The old man couldn't speak, he thought back to the moment he lost his dear daughter. The only one that reported his daughter passing in the house fire incident was the sun church. So his daughter may be still alive but he's going to trust the stranger's word?
John also signals Theia to grab all the guns inside and put them in a bag.
"Where is she?"
"Blueprint first, you daughter after"
The man swallows all his rage and answers John with a determined face.
"If you lied to me, I'm willing to burn to death with you."
"Hilda release him"
The choke on his neck releases, and he checks his neck with his hand. With a hostile stare in John's direction, the elderly guy goes to his work table, picks up an axe, and uses two hands to split the table in half. There was a bundle of papers inside that included all the knowledge he had about building a gun.
The man hands it over the John and asks with a shilling voice
"Where is my daughter"
"Sun church siant, Lucy Lockheart. Lmemore cathedral"
"Sun church Saint...?"
"Yep, The last line of defense against you"
"How could they... you are not lying to me right?"
"Go check it yourself," John said with confidence, the old man couldn't help but believe it. The old man to caught in a trance thinking about his life so far.
John sees that this is a good time to leave.
"We'll have to take a leave here, good luck finding your daughter."
"Wait!"
The old man halts John and the party's departure.
"Could you help me to Lmemore?"
"I'm sorry, you would have to go there yourself. I know they have your hair, If we take you with us the sun church would be swarming in any second."
"But..."
"Just go there by yourself," John said "They're not gonna stop you from moving to Lmemeore, you just need to threaten them with this if they don't let you leave"
John threw one of the flintlock pistols he got in front of the old man. The older guy picks it up and gets what John is saying. If the matter of this thing's prowess gets out to the world, there would be another purge to contain its existence.
The old man couldn't help but smile. After so many years he finally has something to do.