Seeing the natives' bewildered expressions, Zhaotian Zhi stepped forward smugly to explain. "This is an entirely new weapon I invented. You could call it the most powerful weapon on the continent today!"
Yoana exchanged a glance with her dwarven assistant, Fergus, and asked in surprise, "Isn't this the iron pipe you commissioned us to forge?"
"Ahem!" Zhaotian Zhi gave Yoana a rather awkward sidelong glance, deeply displeased at having his moment of showing off interrupted.
"...Yes, and I must also thank Master Yoana for her contribution to this invention."
"Without further ado, please enjoy a demonstration of its power!"
Zhaotian Zhi quickly lit the fuse with a firelighter.
Chen Xu could hardly spare a thought for the armor test now. He threw himself to the ground.
There were too many uncertainties with this homemade cannon. Its gunpowder and shell had been loaded beforehand, leaving too little information exposed for [Ballistic Analysis] to be of any use.
The barrel walls were less than a centimeter thick. There was a very high chance it would burst, turning the entire barrel into an oversized fragmentation grenade.
Even if it managed to fire successfully, the handmade shell might detonate in midair.
Two deafening explosions rang out in extremely quick succession, and countless splinters and clods of earth showered down on him.
Clutching his head, he rolled aside. The target behind him and the wooden house behind the target were shattered, and even a section of the earthen wall behind the house had been blasted apart.
...White smoke drifted slowly from the muzzle. The barrel had visibly deformed.
The smell of gunpowder filled the air. Chen Xu had to admit that Zhaotian Zhi had actually succeeded!
Could it be that weakening my luck indirectly boosted my enemy's luck?
An eerie silence followed the thunderous blasts. Everyone had been stunned speechless by their power.
The Nilfgaardian officer recovered first. Shaking his dazed head, he ordered everyone present placed under guard.
He immediately realized the military value of a weapon that was easy to move and no less powerful than a catapult.
Word of this must not get out!
He glanced toward the "king of inventions" and asked cautiously, his manner deeply respectful, "Is this truly your invention?"
Zhaotian Zhi was extraordinarily excited. The moment he arrived, he had noticed how backward this world was. It was the perfect place to put his "ingenuity" to work.
Over the past few days, he had bought saltpeter and sulfur everywhere he could, even secretly setting aside time at night to boil manure-rich soil for saltpeter.
He had also exchanged every point he earned from quests for crowns before he could commission such a labor-intensive creation from the smithy.
All his efforts had been for this one cannon blast that would make his name.
What he had not expected was that, after receiving his confirmation, the wing-helmeted officer immediately ordered the soldiers to take him into custody.
"Why?!" The inventor's face drained of color. "What right do you have to arrest me?!"
"Don't worry. This is for your protection." The situation now involved military secrets, and the officer clearly neither wanted nor needed to explain much:
"Believe me, a top talent such as yourself can play a greater role in the empire."
The officer wrote a letter detailing the actual situation, summoned the most elite company of winged cavalry under his command, and ordered:
"You must escort this man and this letter to Vizima to meet His Majesty the Emperor within four days. Any delay will be punished under military law!"
He handed his official seal to his trusted subordinate:
"You may mobilize any garrison along the way. This is classified at the highest level. No officer below legion command is authorized to inspect it!"
Two elite cavalrymen hoisted Zhaotian Zhi up and headed outside. The "king of inventions" twisted and struggled. "Wait, wait, wait, we can talk this over... I still have family and friends here!"
Looking somewhat helpless, the officer stepped forward and spoke quietly with Zhaotian Zhi.
Soon, Zhaotian Zhi no longer seemed resistant or afraid. He even looked excited.
He had clearly triggered an exceptional quest with lavish rewards.
Tsk, tsk. So this was the price of overstepping the world's setting?
Chen Xu clicked his tongue inwardly.
That idiot Zhaotian Zhi was still a little too shortsighted.
Even setting everything else aside, the Nilfgaardian emperor, whose body had been taken over by a Chosen, would be more than enough trouble for him.
And the battlefield had even taken the initiative to use a quest to trick him into walking into the tiger's den. These so-called gods were truly devious.
"All right, but I have one small request." Zhaotian Zhi had indeed triggered the quest of his dreams through the officer, but he still wanted more.
He fixed Chen Xu with a rather sleazy stare. "Leave this spy to me."
Was he determined to drag someone down with him even in death?
Chen Xu nearly cursed aloud. The other Chosen with the [Soldier] identity were indignant too:
Sure, you can have the meat, but isn't it going too far not to leave your brothers even a sip of broth?
Only then did everyone remember the lucky fellow who had survived the "most powerful weapon in the world."
He certainly had skill, but he had been scared flat on the ground during the weapon test. How were they supposed to judge that?
The officer did not know that Zhaotian Zhi coveted the points and equipment he would gain from killing Chen Xu.
Although the request seemed strange to him, it was not difficult to fulfill. It was simply awkward to publicly declare Chen Xu a spy.
Anyone with eyes could see that Chen Xu had some attainments in Forging.
"You claim to be a blacksmith from White Orchard. How can you prove it?" the officer demanded, approaching from a different angle.
"..." Chen Xu really had no way to prove it. He had sneaked away and had neither identification records nor a travel permit.
The officer smiled. Just as he thought. If this commoner had any records proving his identity, he would have produced them long ago.
"Under Nilfgaard's wartime decrees, anyone of unknown origin..."
Just as he was about to order Chen Xu's arrest, Fergus, the dwarven assistant beside Yoana, suddenly interjected:
"I know the blacksmith in White Orchard. He's not as tall as you."
Now that he had a witness too, the officer immediately ordered the soldiers to act.
"The old blacksmith in White Orchard is Willis. I'm his apprentice."
Chen Xu seemed to have keenly seized a lifeline.
"That old fellow actually managed to find an apprentice? Hahaha!" Surprise and delight immediately lit Fergus's eyes:
"Not bad, not bad. Your work does your master proud... though you're a bit of a coward."
A dwarf was a dwarf. Easy for him to talk without hurting his back-he had no waist.
The sudden reversal made the officer's expression sour.
Why did every last one of them have to be such a pain in the ass?
"He must be a spy, and so is that dwarf!" Zhaotian Zhi was so angry he nearly spat blood, adding the dwarf to his list of grudges.
He had poured so much effort into this, and success had been right before his eyes. Did this dwarf think he could brush him off with a few words?
Not a chance!
Fergus burst into curses, but the soldiers quickly subdued him.
Zhaotian Zhi wore the fearless air of someone who knew he was favored, leaving the officer with quite a headache.
On one side was an invaluable asset to the empire; on the other, his own dignity...
No need to agonize. In the face of the greater good, of course he would sacrifice the empire-er, no, of course he would sacrifice his own dignity!
"Without identification records, there's nothing I can do for you. Tie him up!" The officer delivered his final ultimatum to Chen Xu.
He had decided to overturn the table. The empire came before everything.
By then, Chen Xu was quietly edging toward the base of the blasted wall. His only choice now was to break out.
"Pro?"
As the confrontation reached breaking point, a man and a woman approached the inner city on horseback.
The white-haired man among the newcomers was astonished by the scene before him:
"What are you doing here?!"