‘Damn it! Hum, there is another way.’ Ariadne whispered to herself.

  ‘So one must be loyal to her grace to use this weapon? What?’ Alon spoke it aloud.

  ‘Alon, calm down; everything is going to be fine.’ She spoke while addressing Alon.

  ‘Anyway, if you are familiar with how a noble uses magic with incantations and all that, this lever action I am performing is the same thing but faster; this is not a known spell; it is just pure magic being shot out of the weapon.’ Edmund handed Alon the rifle.

  Edmund got a spare battery from his pocket and gave Alon a rectangular object with a dent in one of its corners.

  ‘Now, take out the one on the weapon and make the switch; it is simple; just pull it out and get the new one in; just make sure it is secured.’ Edmund pointed at it.

  Alon stiffened as he removed the old battery and replaced it with the one Edmund had given him. He was still unsure of how it worked.

  ‘This right here is a safety pin; it sort of cuts the magic going to the runes, so nothing will happen even if you pull the trigger. Don’t point this thing in our direction; just set it aside like this:’ Edmund directed the weapon's point in the tree's direction with his hand.

  Alon aimed and pulled the trigger. A recoil followed the sound, almost causing him to drop the rifle, but he held it up.

  ‘What? How come it didn’t affect you? Do you think my lack of loyalty is the cause?’ Alon widens his eyes, surprised by the recoil.

  ‘Oh no, it's because I’m stronger than you; I’m sorry for not telling you it has recoil; now reload and shoot.’ Edmund chuckles.

  ‘How many times can this thing shoot, peasant? I didn’t count, and what is the range?’ While watching Alon's shooting, Ariadne remarked.

  ‘Alon, stop. Shoot at the tree on the opposite side of the training camp.’ Edmund pointed at the other side of the camp.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  ‘But it's so far; can it reach?’ Alon aimed at a large tree on the other side.

  They could see it fly for a split second after he pulled the trigger, and the light came from the weapon. They could not tell if it hit the target. All of them walked to the other side.

  ‘I can’t believe it reaches that far; what is the real range of this thing, peasant?’ Ariadne gasped.

  ‘I don’t know the effective range, to be honest.’ Edmund shook his shoulders and looked at Ariadne.

  As they drew nearer to the tree, they noticed that the hole, along with burn marks and pieces of wood on the ground, was ?like the one on the other tree. Eliza observed Ariadne even showing her teeth because of the broad grin she had on her face, which was something she had never seen her do. It was not like this; it was like a maniacal person had discovered how to destroy the world.

  ‘A battery has seven shots, but in reality, it has ten shots in it; each shot uses at the same time a little of the magic left to reinforce the weapon itself; otherwise, it would explode on your hand.’ Edmund touched the hole in the tree.

  Alon regarded the rifle with admiration and fear. All his sword training is now useless; it is not even close. Everything changed in his mind. He took a deep breath and then turned to face Edmund.

  ‘This weapon changes everything, so you must tell me everything. We need to develop a new strategy for combat.’ Alon placed a hand on Edmund’s shoulder.

  Edmund called them to the warehouse and showed them the battery recharger. Its size surprised them; it was as tall as Alon and so broad that they could not even hug it. It had places for the batteries to fit in.

  ‘It’s not perfect; there is always room for improvement. Don’t expect to recharge in the middle of a battle. It is big and can only recharge some at a time.’ With his hand, Edmund lightly tapped the side of the recharger.

  ‘We don’t need to worry about that; they will not get close to us with this new weapon; it will be over before they notice.’ Alon laughed.

  ‘You think I did this to fight people from other kingdoms? Even defend this territory? It is for the dungeon!’ He came closer to Alon and tapped his chest.

  ‘But we will use to do exactly that, peasant; with this, even going to the dungeon will be easy.’ Ariadne interrupted.

  ‘If we rely on these things, everyone will die; it only gives us a fighting chance, nothing more, nothing less.’ Edmund nodded his head negatively.

  ‘Peasant, aren’t these lights in this warehouse supposed to be on my mansion?’ Ariadne shut her fan and pointed at Edmund.

  Her words took Edmund aback, and they made his hands sweat. He slowly turned his head around to face Ariadne.

  ‘Well, I need a good place to work, sleep, and test first.’ Edmund tried to dry his hands on his pants.

  ‘Put those lights on my mansion right now!’ She looked at Edmund and raised her voice.

  Edmund felt a rush on his body suddenly. He grabbed lights and other items, put on a bag, and left the warehouse, heading for the mansion.

  ‘Wait, peasant, I’m just asking; you don’t need to do it.’ Ariadne screamed.

  ‘Duchess, it is all right; I will start immediately. It was my fault.’ He screamed back.

  Ariadne and Eliza emerged from the warehouse, seeing Edmund's back as Alon placed the rifle alongside the battery charger and exited.

  ‘Your Highness, this new weapon will help us deal with the increased number of monsters after the archduke’s guards are gone.’ Alon closed the door of the warehouse.

  ‘Talk more about this problem that I wasn’t informed about.’ She spoke while casting a sidelong glance at Alon.