Theus grinned but did not answer directly.
He beckoned to a Faithguard Army soldier nearby. The young man ran over excitedly, saluted, and kept casting curious glances at the prince.
"Give me your rifle."
The Faithguard Army soldier immediately took the gun off his shoulder. It was an ordinary bolt-action rifle. Since he had been on patrol and the main cathedral was a highly secure place, there was no round chambered. He also handed over several magazines.
Theus skillfully opened the receiver and removed the recoil spring and bolt assembly. Before long, the bolt-action rifle had been reduced to a pile of parts.
Quite a few people noticed the commotion and gathered around. Even Monica and the other Banshees curiously craned their necks to look over.
After taking it apart, Theus called over another, older Faithguard Army soldier and dismantled his rifle into a pile of parts as well.
The prince frowned in confusion. Bolt-action rifles were currently the most powerful firearms. Ever since Theus had given him one, he had often taken it out to examine and study it at length. He could perform all the disassembly Theus had just done.
Neither of these two rifles looked particularly unusual, and he had seen every component inside them before.
Then Theus winked at the prince and began reassembling them—mixing the parts from both rifles together.
No way...
The prince suddenly understood what he was trying to do and could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
It did not take Theus long to reassemble both rifles, but it was impossible to tell which one had belonged to the young man and which to the other soldier.
The parts of the two rifles had been completely mixed together.
Once they were assembled, Theus took the magazines, loaded one round into each