June 26th, 1693 – Fort Rochevelle
News of the ambush reached Prince Bruno by the afternoon. His face darkened as he listened to the report.
"Vallier's detachment was ambushed," Leclerc said grimly. "The Republicans set a trap. He managed to retreat with a third of his men, but the rest were either killed or captured."
"They're adapting," Bruno muttered. "This General Marceau isn't like the others."
Berthold nodded. "They've captured some of our rifles. If their engineers can reverse-engineer the designs, they'll begin closing the technological gap."
"No, that won't be easy on their end. The rifles I designed required precision tools and specialized machinery to produce. Without access to those, replicating them will take time—possibly years. However, we can't assume they'll fail to make progress. We need to act quickly and stay ahead."
