-Okay, so it be looking like this, aye?

I nodded. It took us about three hours to work out the kinks of the design for the crossbow. The main reason for it was that Krewly, the dwarf, was overly excited and wanted to turn the project into something you could see in a Hollywood zombie movie. I quickly shot down all of the ideas regarding any sort of extra stabbing or slashing types of attachments to the base weapon, pointing out all the different reasons for why they were basically never done historically, like throwing off the point of balance, creating hazard for the user, increasing difficulty of wielding the weapon, lowering overall accuracy or, the most basic and most impactful one, increasing the weight of the crossbow, as well as its manufacturing time and cost. One of the main disadvantages of crossbows over regular bows was their weight and creating an even bigger gap wasn't doing us any good. In the end, we agreed on a design that was, more or less, looking like a normal crossbow should.

-Yes, that's the thing I wanted. Thank you.

-Ah still think mah ideas were better.

-Sure, but not for the prototype. Let's first make sure this thing works, then we can pimp it up. Although, before that, I'd still rather have a stockpile of the regular variants prepared for the army, obviously.

-Yar gonna use that thing against them bandits, right?

-Yes, that’s the plan. I want to have something simple to use in case we encounter shields and heavily armoured targets or find lookouts in spots they would be hard to take down with regular bows. I have a few things to test out with them too.

-Like?

-Bow Skills compatibility.

Krewly glanced at me and ran his fingers through his beard. He was silently thinking about something for a moment.

-Ah wonder... Wouldn't that weapon have its own Skills, ha?

-Possible. That's what I want to test, too. After all, you can use some sword Skills with different sword types, or even knives. So it might apply here too.

-Ya wouldn't happen to have any archer Skills, would ya?

I shook my head. If only I had any sort of a Skill it would be nice but I couldn't just tell him that. The dwarf looked back at the parchment full of crossed out drawings and notes that were the result of our long discussion, if you can even call it that. He remained silent for a moment longer, clearly focusing hard on something. A drop of sweat started to drip down his temple as he did that, eventually disappearing somewhere between the hairs of his beard.

-Alright. It doesn't seem that complicated to meh. Ah can probably whip it out in two to three days if I manage to get the materials quickly enough.

-Mind if I swing by tomorrow to check on the progress? In case there's anything we have to revise or troubleshoot.

-Ah hate people watching me do mah work but… Ah, suit yarself, lad.

-Great. Regarding payment...

-Ah’ll take a Servet and forty Frags for the design... Materials will probably cost about three to four Servets, since it be rather small. It needs that custom metal bow, tho. Work and assembly... Ah’ll take eight Servets from ya for it all. And ah’m not gonna lower the price because yar on king's court or somethin’.

-Of course, I wouldn't agree to pay you any less for something like that either.

I pulled out the coin pouch and procured eight golden coins. The dwarf happily took them off of me and stashed them in his own pocket. The coinage system in this world is relatively simple - one gold coin is called a Servet and is equal to hundred Frags, the silver coins. It's difficult to get a good scale for how much each of them is really worth, though, as different things have vastly different price standards compared to my world and, despite everything, I'm not too familiar with the coinage system and market prices for the mediaeval period of Europe, so I can’t use it as a point of comparison either. Still, I know I'm currently carrying a lot of King’s money on me and I don’t like that fact one bit, so making sure at least some of it was well spent and is no longer on my person helped put my mind at ease, even if just a little.

After all that, I’ve returned to the castle to get my cold dinner. Mearyl wasn't around to keep me company this time, so I finished eating faster than normal. Having located the king on his evening walk through the gardens, I informed him of the progress and tried to give him back his money but he insisted I keep it in case any future costs arise. Reluctantly, I agreed, even though I felt uncomfortable walking with this much money on me. Well, it's not like anyone will try to rob me but the perspective of losing it was still a haunting perspective.

The rest of the evening and the first half of the next day went by as usual. I did have to cancel a few training sessions to find the time to visit Krewly, though. This time, his shop was brightly lit and curses were flying through the air as soon as I entered. I called out to the dwarf and, in response, I was instructed to go through the door in the back and into the workshop behind them.

The space I entered was completely cluttered with chests, boxes and loose piles of materials, tools, equipment and generally piles of scrap that I couldn't even dare to try and recognise. Despite that, in the middle of it, there was an almost perfectly circular clearing with a workbench where the dwarf was operating from, standing atop a wobbly wooden stool that seemed like it’s barely holding under him. Within the lathe was locked a wooden mock-up of the crossbow. I guess the metal bow hasn't been made yet but it was understandable. It wasn’t even a whole day-cycle yet since we came to an understanding on the design. Did the dwarf ask some blacksmith to procure it for him while he's fiddling with the finer mechanisms of the weapon? Or was Krewly planning to forge it out later? Looking at all the small gears at the table, and the fact I didn’t see a proper forge anywhere, it sure looked like the former was the case. Personally, I couldn’t even figure out what all those bits and pieces were, what function they were meant to play or where they were supposed to fit into the crossbow. They weren’t on the design schematic either.

-What's the problem?

-That... trigger mechanism, was it? It's too complicated, even for meh.

-...is it?

-Ye. It's hard to work on such a small scale too.

-But it should be just a piece of solid material that's locked in place to hold the string that can be moved in and out of the position by a lever…

-Are ya perhaps suggesting ah don't know what ah'm doin'?

I sighed. I could already see the exact issue this dwarf was facing.

-No, you sure do. But I also think you're trying to overcomplicate things a bit too.

-If it's working, it ain't complicated enough!

-It clearly isn't working though... Eh, this will get us nowhere. Show me what you have there and let’s figure something out.

-Take a look yarself. It's all on the desk.

I walked up and noticed that the design was, unsurprisingly, severely overcomplicated. It involved a number of gears, connectors and other useless mechanisms that I couldn't even tell the use of. It's true that we didn't discuss the details of the trigger mechanism too much because I believed such a simple job cannot be screwed up this badly… Turns out I was wrong. I probably should have expected that to happen, people have a fascinating ability to just mess stuff up the more, the simpler the job seems to be. And it only seems to be amplified in this magical world.

-But the whole trigger can be as simple as just a single block that cannot fall out on its own that the soldier will push up while loading to catch the string and release it to fire.

-...wha?

-Ugh, just give me some parchment.

As I said that, I grabbed a blank piece of paper and a block of charcoal and started drawing a simple schematic for the release system. In short, the system would be in 'safe' mode, retracted into the body of the crossbow and not able to catch the string by itself. By pushing on the block at the bottom of the crossbow, it would extend out and allow for catching the string and placing the bolt. To fire, all the soldier had to do was to stop pushing on the block so that it could fall down and release the string. The one improvement I immediately made was to add a lever that would run alongside the tiller in save mode and could be pulled back to “cock” the crossbow and allow stringing it without the need to constantly hold onto the block. It was not the best solution by any means, and from what little I recalled, the actual crossbow triggers were more complicated than that, but it was simple and all I wanted was a working prototype. This shouldn't affect the power of the crossbow or its utility in testing conditions, so I didn't care all that much about it either. Final design for manufacturing purposes will need that mechanism reworked from ground up, though, but that’s neither here nor now.

-That's... That's too simple!

-Engineering isn't always about making things complicated and flashy. Sometimes it's about finding a simple and reliable solution or improving existing ones to be more effective and streamlined. Trust me, you'll still have a chance to show off. Your understanding of gears and similar systems gives me a few ideas as well. And one of those just happened to be including a bigger crossbow that could actually house an automated mechanism like that.

-Ya can't insult me and then try to make me feel better like that, kid.

-Imagine this but five to ten times bigger, including the ammunition it fires, mounted on towers and walls, using gears and levers and other mechanisms to allow just a single person to rotate it however they see fit, or even move it along the wall to adjust the firing arc, while the big crossbow strings and loads itself after each shot, requiring only periodical reloads.

As I explained the vision of an automated ballista to the dwarf, his eyes started to shine a little. He nodded, at first really slowly, then faster, probably visualising some fantastical monstrosity. Well, I'll ruin his dreams later, for now all I need is his full cooperation. I felt a little bad for the arguably underhanded method I resorted to but I'd rather pull something like this than go the "I pay hence I demand" route. Having him be actually interested in the project and its prospects can help us move along it much more smoothly and will help build a better partnership. And since he was apparently the only person in Katerial with some decent engineering knowledge, this relationship was quite important to me. I had to make sure he is interested in working with me in the future.

-None of this will be possible, though, unless we first make a regular crossbow that the army will be satisfied with. For now, we need something working as a proof of concept, so it needs to be simple and show everyone it’s worth investing into.

-Fine, fine. Well, if ya want it this simple, all ah need is to wait for the blacksmith to finish making that metal bow. Actually, wanna go see’em with meh?

-Sure, I'll accompany you. Getting to know a few more faces can be beneficial to me as well. Who knows whose help I might need in the future.

-My thinkin' exactly. Come then.

Krewly took off his goggles and gloves and threw them into a corner of the room. Without further ado, he simply walked out of his workshop. I followed him, having a surprisingly hard time keeping pace with him. His legs were shorter than mine and I myself am also quite a fast walker, so the speed of the dwarf really caught me off-guard. To my additional surprise, we didn't head towards the main square, where I knew a couple decently good smiths had set up shop. We went the exact opposite direction, towards the suburbs. We didn’t talk or anything, and Krewly was constantly looking around and over his shoulder, clearly anxious about something. Then, he suddenly stopped right in front of a completely unassuming house with no signs or other giveaways there could be a shop there. However, once we entered the building, after Krewly didn't even think about knocking or announcing his presence in any other way and simply pushed the door open with enough force to dislocate the simple bolt serving as a lock, it became apparent that there was either a blacksmith living here, a whole garrison of soldiers or a psychopath.

-Take a look around, kid. If ya know yar stuff, ya'll know.

I didn't even need to take a look around. At first glance, from the distance and despite the dim interior, I could tell just how fine the swords displayed literally everywhere are. Most were still in their scabbards but a couple had their blades exposed. The edges were sharp and the steel had this dark, sinister shine to it. The sword I carried right now was supposingly from a renown blacksmith and cost fifteen Servets, a relatively steep price, and it still looked like a cheap toy compared to those exhibits.

-Who's the smith? It's hard to imagine finding someone this talented in this backwater country, let alone without a proper shop.

-Aye. That's because their kind is not welcomed anywhere. Even here they come off as freaks. So don’t get scared seeing them.

-As long as they're not a serial killer or someone like that...

The dwarf glanced over at me and suddenly burst out laughing. He leaned on a table and wheezed, finding it difficult to catch a breath. After a moment he looked at me, still finding it hard to control himself.

-If that's what yar worried about, ah have no more doubts about bringin' ya here.

-So, what's the deal?

-They don't seem to be home yet, so ah guess we'll have to wait. Feel free to browse, though. They don't usually sell but ah can cut ya a deal if one strikes yar fancy.

I took him up on his offer, not sure how I'll be able to afford such masterpieces in the first place. Compared to the weapons I owned, those had to cost a small fortune each, and I didn’t want to spend the king's money like that either, even if he probably wouldn’t mind it that much. Each sword had the signs of being carefully crafted. There were no visible defects or chips on the blades and they all looked perfectly balanced, but I couldn’t be sure since I didn't want to pick any of them up. Many of them also emanated this weird feeling I couldn't quite place or describe. It all felt surreal, to a degree.

Then the door suddenly opened and two tall, fully cloaked and hooded figures walked in. The door closed behind them as suddenly as it opened. Krewly turned to them and opened his arms as if he wanted to hug them.

-Ah, yar here. Howdy.

-Who's that?

The slightly taller figure spoke with a deep, male voice as it nodded in my direction, clearly agitated. Before I could reply, however, the dwarf already stood between us.

-The kid ah talked to ya about yesterday.

-Why did you bring him here?

-He's different. He talks to meh like ah'm a normal human. Ya guys will be fine too.

-I'm Edward, aide to his majesty the king. It's a pleasure to meet you.

The two figures shifted towards me when I spoke up. I knew better than to be over-friendly in a situation like this but I still decided to play my cards.

-A rat from the Holy Alliance, huh?

-I'm not with them, that's just a ruse set up by the king to get people to ask less questions about me. Actually, I have quite a bit of a problem with the Head Princess, and the Holy Alliance as a whole, and don’t like them one bit myself.

-What problem?

-...kidnapping me and a couple of my friends and forcing us to work on their behalf but then tossing me aside when they suddenly deemed me not qualified enough to their unrealistically high standards. You’ll have to trust my word on that, but I don’t want to deal with that group unless it’s related to causing them trouble.

The hooded figure thought about something for a second, standing completely silent. It was impossible for me to figure out what he was thinking about me but he clearly didn’t drop his guard just yet.

-I guess we'll see.

With those words, he reached to the edges of the hood and pulled it back. Before me now stood a man, likely a few years older than me, with dark, unkempt hair and a short, although very messy, beard. His thick neck suggested that he was hiding quite a bulky body under that cloak. What was fairly surprising to see was a pair of black, cat-like ears at the top of his head, with the left one seemingly slashed off at the half-point.

-See what?

I said in a curious voice, trying my best not to show any surprise on my face. I already learned from Mearyl that beastfolk do exist in this world and that they even separate into several races, but she wasn't aware of any living in this country. Given the way they were acting, it was also obvious that they were hiding something and their race seemed to be the most obvious thing. Even here, where people were rather tolerant to others, as long as they pulled their weight around the town, the inequality was rather substantial, especially since the general populace was still rather religious and the church did push some weird human supremacy agendas. The beastfolk man stared at me for a few seconds, sizing me up. The atmosphere was getting really thick but then he finally sighed and spoke.

-If you bring us any form of trouble, I don't care how I'll end up, you will pay for it.

I opened my mouth to protest that I'd never bring any trouble to them but that's likely not the response he would like to hear. Instead, I opted for something more diplomatic.

-Understood. I have no intention of such but if I ever inconvenience you, I'm going to do everything to right my wrong. I'm not going to treat you any differently than I would any other citizen of this kingdom.

-You're going to play nice until you get what you need and never look back at us again now, will you?

-If you continue to be this rude towards me, likely. But I wouldn't mind becoming more acquainted or perhaps even friends. This will require mutual trust, though, and you’re not helping the situation right now.

-Friends? A human like you wants to be friends with us? Don't make me laugh, you scumbag!

I let out a heavy sigh. This is going to be harder than I thought. With the corner of my eye I saw Krewly taking a step back. I had to figure something out before it came to blows. I wasn’t as confident in my hand-to-hand techniques as much as in my swordplay, and the beastman looked like he was used to beating people up, not to mention he likely weighed almost twice what I did.

-You're just as human, tough, aren't you? So what that your ears are slightly different from mine? You're still, what, 98% the same as me? I'd have to be pretty messed up in the head to discriminate against you based solely on that 2% difference. If you don't feel I should treat you as my equal, if you consider yourself some inferior being, then all I can say is that I'm sorry for you. The same if you consider yourself better than those around you. I won't comply, though. In my eyes, you're as human as Krewly, me or anyone else I've met so far. Deal with it, buddy.

I said all of it in the most nonchalant way I could, though I couldn't hide a slight frown and a hint of a defiant spirit by the end of my speech. The catfolk guy looked at me intently, both surprised and agitated by what I had said. Both his hands were clenched into fists, suggesting he's likely more willing to remain in his hostile attitude than try to come to terms with me. What caught us both by surprise was the sudden hearty laugh belonging to a young woman. We both looked towards the other hooded figure, who was now bent forward and holding her stomach. It took her a moment to compose herself enough to straighten up and catch a breath. She brought her finger up to her eye and wiped off a tear. While there, she simply threw the hood off, exposing her pale face, piercing green eyes and long, wavy blonde hair. There was a pair of golden cat ears at the top of her head that were twitching slightly with each giggle she let out.

-Fillyan!

-It's alright, Markus. Enough with the hostilities.

When the other catfolk made a move to protest her exposing herself, she raised a hand to stop him and turned to look at me. Her expression changed completely, replaced by sheer curiosity. You couldn't tell she was laughing herself to tears just a moment ago. After a second or two, she spoke with a weird sweetness in her voice.

-Edward, was it? You must forgive my brother, he's just very overprotective of me. There really aren't many people like you among humans who treat us, beastfolk, on equal terms like you seem to do, so it is hard for him to trust strangers.

-It's completely understandable, I've taken no offence.

-I'm glad to hear that.

She gave me a heartwarming smile. She seemed younger than her brother, likely somewhere around my age, but at the same time she gave off a feeling she was more mature than me, Markus and Krewly all together. Markus probably didn't contribute much to our combined score, though. I gave the bulky catfolk a side eye and noticed him approaching the dwarf.

-I have your order ready. I have to say, a shortbow made out of metal, that's a first.

-It's the lad's idea. Ah'm just curious how it will work, is all.

Seeing those two start discussing business, I had to butt into the conversation:

-Excuse me, are you the one who forged all those swords?

-Ain't selling them to you, human.

With that, Markus disappeared in the back of the house, refusing to elaborate on my question or to let me ask a follow-up one. Krewly came to my rescue here, though.

-Aye, it was him. He's a great blacksmith, although… Nevermind, ya’ll learn soon enough for yarself.

-Does he have some Skills or something to help him get this level of quality?

-Aye. Don't worry, he'll warm up to ya in time, as long as ya do nothing to piss him off any further.

-Seems like me existing is already pissing him off enough.

My comment made Fillyan giggle, although I didn’t know if she really found it amusing or if she just tried to appease me there a little in an attempt to defuse the situation a bit more.

-He really isn't a bad person and just needs time. But is it true that you're going to fight off the bandits plaguing the region?

-Correct. That's what those crossbows should help with. We're still gathering intelligence on their exact numbers and location, though.

This was when Markus came back and handed Krewly a package. Unceremoniously, he ordered us to get lost and shut the door behind us. I barely managed to catch a glimpse of Fillyan giving us a farewell wave but I had no time to return it myself before being shoved out. The dwarf, meanwhile, casually continued on towards his own workshop, not minding the manners of the catfolk one bit.

-Quite some friend you got there.

-Don't mind him. He has his reasons.

-I don't mind him but next time you're about to introduce me to someone, please, let me know beforehand what type of psychopath they are.

The dwarf laughed and stopped, turning towards me. His expression turned serious, almost angry, in the blink of an eye.

-Honestly, ah expected ya to handle it differently. But he didn't make it easy for ya either. Still, it didn't come to blows, did it? So that’s still a good outcome. But be more careful in the future, ya hear? All types of folks out there.

-It did not come to blows only thanks to that girl. I can see that bulkhead attacking me if she didn't intervene, and probably not stopping until I’m at least unconscious.

-Yeah, Fillyan seems to be taking a likin’ to ya. Good for ya. Anyway, I'll have yar prototype ready for tomorrow but dunno how quickly. I'll bring it over to the castle for ya. I wanna see it tested too.

-Sure thing, I'll let the guards know to not cause you any trouble.

-Aye.

With that, Krewly simply turned and disappeared in a side alley. I stayed put on the main road for a little bit before finally heading straight for the castle. Once there, I let the guards know about Krewly's visit the next day and went to the kitchen to grab some food. When I was eating, lost in my own thoughts about this whole bandit ordeal, Liyanne joined me at the table, startling me a little when she tapped on the wood to get my attention.

-All good, Edward? You seem oddly distracted.

-Yeah, I was just thinking about our little dilemma.

-Speaking of them, we’ve got some new intel on them. They seem to be preparing for something big.

-Big? What do you mean?

-They might have spotted us or learned about our plan to eradicate them and are preparing defences. Or they're just moving bases. Or preparing for some big score, we honestly don't know yet but we have noticed them move a lot more supplies recently.

-They have to peddle their stolen goods somewhere, so let's hope it's just that.

-If it is just that, we might be able to trace back or even catch the associated merchants too. This should give us plenty of intel on other potential groups and dealings as well.

-That would sure be nice. Starting new investigations without any leads is always a pain… Still, how are the preparations going?

-Potentially, we could set off as soon as in three days, but we won’t be able to deploy the full force. In a week, there shouldn’t be any problems. I wouldn’t want to wait longer than that, however.

-Well... Let's see what they're up to first. If there's someone else we can associate with them, it's information worth waiting for. If they did spot us and are preparing for the attack, striking now would be better, though... Eh, tough choices.

-You're the commander in charge here, so I'll follow orders but I'd rather not wait around for too much longer.

-Mhm. A dwarf will come by tomorrow with a prototype of a new weapon. I'd like to at least have it tested and see if it works like I hope it does. And if so, how many he can have manufactured within the next couple days. By then, we should have some more intel from the scouts, so we'll go over the plan again with all the information we've been provided and choose the best course of action accordingly.

-Sounds reasonable. I’m curious about that new weapon too, so I have no objections.

We continued to chit-chat for a while longer before we both retreated back to our rooms for the night. The showdown is drawing near and I could start feeling more of the pressure again. My first battle, not just as a soldier, but as a commander on top of that. Not only will I likely have to kill another human being, potentially dozens of enemies and allies alike may fall due to my orders. I didn’t know if I was ready for this just yet.

I glanced out the window of my room, watching over the city hidden away under the cover of the night. The night was still fairly young so many of the streets and windows were still lit up with numerous shadowy figures walking through them. The whole view had an oddly calming atmosphere to it.

-It's my duty to protect these people, though. It has to be done.

I sighed and closed the window. There's no point in worrying about it. Living in this world, I'll have to kill sooner or later, better get used to it now. It's all for a higher purpose, too. For now, I have more pressing matters to worry about, though. There's so much work to be done tomorrow that I’ll probably won’t even have time to worry about it all. Well, at least I can’t complain about being bored here, and that was already something. I kept wondering, though…

…do my students also have it tough, or are they living more leisurely lives thanks to their Hero statuses? Guess I won’t know the answer for that for a while still.