Since the soldiers could not fit in the villagers' homes, the center of the village served as a camp for them. Ariadne was staying at the village chief's home, where the dining room had been converted into a sleeping area.

  Although she thought it was inconvenient for the chief, they did it for her. As time passed, the villagers grew accustomed to the lights, and because of those lights, there were no nighttime attacks on the village.

  The village guards were being trained and gained much experience defending the village. A wagon approached the village; the driver was a Shafran man, and a young Chatzi child was beside him.

  ‘Hey, even here, they have street lights! Look!’ The Shafran man pointed at the lights.

  ‘Yes, father, they are lovely.’ The young Chatzi child smiled at his father.

  ‘What is your purpose here, my friend?’ A soldier at the village entrance halted the wagon and inquired.

  ‘We are from the Arc company; my name is Levi Arc, and this is my son, Isaac Arc. We are here to trade.’ He nodded to the soldier.

  ‘Hello!’ exclaimed the small child.

  ‘Hello, little one, you are lucky, mister Levi; this village was attacked a few days ago, and if it weren’t for the duchess, maybe you would walk right into an ambush right here.’ The soldier scratched his head.

  ‘The duchess is doing good work in the territory.’ Levi responded in a cheerful tone.

  ‘Do not worry; the captain is already devising a strategy to deal with the monsters in this region. You're ready.’ The soldier returned to his position.

  ‘Father, will everything be alright?’ Isaac reached for his father's clothing and moved in closer.

  ‘Everything will be fine; I bet the duchess will help us with the mine.’ Levi grinned as he watched his son.

  They stopped at the corner of the village's main square and set up shop. Ariadne was having her daily walk. Edmund said she needed to do it in all villages so they felt she was close to them, raising loyalty. She approached them as the villagers drew nearer the merchants.

  ‘Levi, why didn’t you tell me about mine?’ She shot him a chilly glance.

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  ‘Isaac, look after things... Please follow me, Your Highness.’ Levi made his way around the wagon to the other side.

  ‘Eliza, help the child.’ Ariadne pointed her fan at Isaac.

  ‘As you wish.’ Eliza bowed to her.

  The duchess' presence shook Levi as they went to the other side of the wagon.

  ‘I will be upfront with your highness. My grandpa decided the Arc company should have exclusive access to the mine.’ He lowered his gaze while his voice trembled.

  ‘Well, I can understand the choice, but ?it will not happen again. I need information about my duchy because the villagers, not the Arc company, are the true owners of this mine.’ She approached him and tapped his shoulder with her fan.

  ‘Yes, I told Grandpa it was an error, but he was worried the Socher company would find out.’ He continued to look down.

  ‘So, you thought you could fool the villagers? You would lose money if Socher offered better deals, huh?’ Ariadne used her fan to poke at his chest.

  ‘No, hold on, I give the market price to them; we would never defraud our people; my son is a chatzi, your Highness.’ He raised his head and gave her a determined look.

  ‘Hum… They aren’t complaining; I simply need to ensure that the people under me are treated fairly.’ She started gently cooling her face with her fan.

  ‘I understand your highness; you are a great ruler.’ He bowed to her.

  ‘Tell your grandfather that while business is good, my duchy comes first.’ She turned around, catching a glimpse of the merchant from the corner of her eye.

  ‘Yes, your highness.’ The merchant kept his head down.

  Edmund was watching the villagers at the merchant's stall in the corner of the village center.

  ‘Edmund, Ethan told me you have a new weapon you forgot to mention.’ Alon approached the young man.

  ‘I merely believed it to be unimportant to you then.’ Edmund shrugged his shoulders.

  Alon turned around and took a deep breath while looking up, which confused Edmund but made him chuckle a little.

  ‘Edmund, you must tell me these things.’ Alon turned around and looked at Edmund.

  ‘Fine, fine, just wait a little.’ Edmund entered the wagon.

  He pushed the recharger to open the chest, which held the weapon. When he opened it, he found the weapon inside: a long rectangular object with a cylinder-shaped opening to the front and a square-shaped space on the back. He then gave it to Alon.

  ‘Well, I have no idea what this is.’ Alon looked at Edmund, puzzled.

  ‘This right here at the back is where a battery with a projectile inside goes; the magic in the battery travels through this rectangular chamber to charge the weapon. The battery breaks into four parts when it launches, and the ball travels at high speed through the weapon. I have different types; the one I built the most is the iron type, but there are also ones with explosive magic. Edmund explained as he pointed at the parts.

  ‘Why don’t you make one that spews water or fire?’ Alon enquired.

  ‘These things are dangerous, and I don’t want to kill myself. Do you think I’m some kind of god, Alon? Perhaps in the future, at the risk of my student's lives, I will let them take the shot at it. Edmund shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Fine… But will you risk your student's lives? Why?’ Alon looked confused.

  ‘Do you think I’m going to do everything by myself? I tested a lot of things and faced death a lot of times when they failed. Let them try.’ Edmund responded.

  Alon examined the weapon and was struck by its peculiarity. After showing him the trigger and the canon's components, Edmund came to his side and assisted him in placing the weapon on his shoulders.

  ‘To get it ready to fire, you need to pull out the sight on the side of the cannon; I did it like this to make sure people wouldn’t just shoot each other by accident.’ Edmund laugh.

  ‘Let's use this to obliterate the monster's hideout.’ Alon looked at Edmund.

  ‘Ah, I already did that.’ Edmund grinned.

  ‘What?’ While pulling the trigger, Alon yelled.

  ‘See, this is why I did like this; you need to be more careful.’ Edmund shook his head in dissatisfaction.