Tie Axe knew he was being watched.
The hunters who had participated in the test explosion that day were all moved to a two-story building near the castle. Looking out the window, he could see a circle of stone walls, with guards stationed at the entrance and exit.
He didn't mind it at all, and even felt that it was imprudent of His Highness to send only two personal guards to act as sentries.
Even now, the roar of the test explosion that day remained in Tie Axe's mind—no weapon had ever brought him such a strong shock. In the extreme south, he had seen the orange fire erupting from the ground, which could burn for decades; he had also seen the overwhelming wind and giant waves at Endless Cape... However, the might of heaven was unpredictable, and those were the will of Mother Earth or the Sea God, the iron whip used by the gods to punish all living beings.
But Prince Roland Wimbledon had stolen the quanbing of the three gods with his own power and obtained a power like divine punishment—although it was far from comparable to the true thunder of the Heavenly Father, it was no longer a realm that could be reached by human power.
If there was any use for participants in Iron Sand City, they would usually have their tongues cut out. Of course, this was not the safest way, only the dead would keep secrets forever. As for foreigners? They were blasphemous to even look at, and foreigners could never join the core ranks of the Mojin Clan.
The prince knew that he had half-foreign blood, but still allowed him to witness the fire of divine punishment and planned to let him be responsible for forming the hunter team. This trust made Tie Axe's heart surge with enthusiasm.
In Iron Sand City, he had experienced countless betrayals and frame-ups. After escaping to the southern border of Greycastle, his half-Sand and half-Continent blood also subjected him to discrimination. Finally, he came to Border Town disheartened, intending to live out the rest of his life by hunting, but he did not expect to be favored by the prince here.
He had no doubt that with this new weapon, it would be Roland Wimbledon who would win the Battle of the Throne.
The thought of having the opportunity to serve the future king made Tie Axe excited.
"Everyone, gather downstairs!"
Hearing the sound, Tie Axe poked his head out and saw that the person who came was the Fourth Prince's chief knight, Carter Lannis.
He immediately tidied up his clothes, hurried downstairs, and stood at attention in front of Carter. He had also participated in the militia team's training and knew that His Highness liked disciplined and unified troops. The other hunters were much slower, and it took them about half a quarter of an hour to line up.
"Same place, follow me," Carter didn't care much, and led the group out the door, heading straight for outside the city walls.
It was still the same place as the last test explosion, but this time there was no cordon.
In addition to Roland, there were also four knights present—they were all Carter's subordinates. Tie Axe noticed that the prince was fiddling with a strangely shaped metal rod in his hand, while explaining something to the knights.
Seeing Tie Axe and his party, Roland came forward to greet them, "How is it, are you used to the new place?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness," everyone bowed and said that the new residence was very comfortable.
In fact, the newly moved residence was much better than the previous old house, Tie Axe thought, at least it would not leak wind and rain, and the roof was not covered with translucent straw, but with neat tiles.
"That's good," Roland nodded, "The current arrangement is for safety reasons. You will be able to move back after the Months of the Demons are over. In addition, I have paid the salary for the first month to your family, and you can also meet them once every weekend. Of course, under the escort of guards."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness," the hunters said happily.
This really surprised Tie Axe a bit. Leaving aside the iron laws of the Sand people, even the management of the Greycastle army should not be so lax. Could it be that this is because of the prince's personal tolerance? He was faintly worried that to compete for the throne, one must be ruthless—he had seen too much of this in Iron Sand City.
However, when the Fourth Prince said that he would test a new weapon based on huoyao next, Tie Axe immediately threw these worries out of his mind. He stared unblinkingly as the prince brought two strange-shaped iron rods in front of everyone.
"This thing is called a «Firearm», " Roland said,
“Next, I will tell you how to use it.”
……
It only took Tie Axe half an hour to fully master the use of the new weapon.
Pour the black powder that can attract the fire of divine punishment—that is, huoyao—into the barrel, insert a lead pellet, push it to the bottom with a ramrod, then pour huoyao into the pan at the rear, aim at the target, and pull the trigger.
Although he believed that he had a talent for killing, and could skillfully use swords, knives, hammers, axes, and spears, that was also a skill mastered through years of training and actual combat. Mastering a weapon in half an hour, this speed is probably only comparable to a hand crossbow.
The other firearm was handed over to Carter.
The chief knight was also full of interest in this novel weapon, and was reluctant to put it down once he picked it up.
After a few rounds of simulated operation, Roland asked the two to test the effect with live ammunition. The target had already been prepared, a half-body plate armor propped up with wooden sticks, which was erected by two other knights at a distance of about thirty feet (about 10 meters).
Tie Axe and Carter followed the shooting method dictated by the prince, raised it flat to aim, and pulled the trigger.
The loud noise of the first shot startled everyone present, Tie Axe was no exception, but soon everyone's faces were left with only surprise.
A small hole appeared in the half-body plate armor that served as the target. The lead pellet cleanly penetrated the thickest part of the plate armor's chest.
Before shooting, Tie Axe had carefully observed this armor. It was obviously not a low-quality product made by a small workshop. The mark of the hammer and anvil at the neckline proved that it was a standard armor from the Greycastle Blacksmiths' Association. The thickest part of the front edge was about half a finger thick, enough to resist the direct shot of a hand crossbow at close range. To deal with this kind of tin can, heavy crossbows, warhammers, or halberds are the wise choice.
Compared in this way, the firearm, which is also easy to operate, is at least far superior to the hand crossbow in terms of power. And its loading speed is comparable to that of a hand crossbow, and as for accuracy... a thirty-foot target does not explain much.
"Your Highness, the production of this thing..." Carter asked.
"There are only these two at the moment. By the Months of the Demons, we will produce at most two more."
Tie Axe saw that Carter obviously breathed a sigh of relief. He could roughly guess what the other party was thinking. If this weapon was easy to manufacture, with just a few days of simple training, a large number of hastily trained "warriors" holding firearms could be cultivated. They are not limited by age, occupation, or even gender—even weak women can pose a huge threat to knights.
Although it was not as shocking as the Fire of Divine Punishment, it was still a good weapon, Tie Axe thought. Its great power would allow him to easily kill some large and sturdy demonic beasts on the city wall. If he had a firearm when facing the Hybrid species back then, the ending might not have been so embarrassing.
And only Roland on the scene knew the true meaning of this weapon.
He personally opened the prelude to hot weapon warfare.