'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 2: Here Comes The Witches

Cruel Weapons Of Destruction

"Hello everyone, I would like to introduce you to Earl Marcel of Corral, our Trade Minister of Gracehaven. He handles all our merchandise to all the 15 towns and monitors the uptrend of the products and produces a report of what's fast-moving against those slower-moving ones."

"He had just returned from Corral Town and he had a proposition to make. So later on, right after the nightly conference, we would all meet in the conference hall for another post-conference."

Marcel exchanged pleasantries with everyone and then saw that Andy was intently checking his broad arrowhead that he was filing to make it razor sharp. It had 3 fins instead of 4 and would be used within a killing zone of between 260 feet. From an angle, it looked like a throwing dart.

Marcel looked at the broad arrowhead and found that it was very precise. It was an interchangeable arrowhead where it could be fitted on a special shaft that had a screwed top on it.

Seeing Marcel looking intently at his work, Andy stopped, looked up and smiled. "Hello, Sir. I am Andy and I knew you are Master Merchant here. Hmm... Could I ask if you are familiar with the Kingsmen?"

"Hello, Andy... Hmm... Kingsmen. The cream of the crop that's in the Tower of London? I am not familiar with them but I heard about them before. Why do you ask, Andy?" Marcel queried as only some people would know about Kingsmen and not even Old Jack but definitely Eagle.

When Eagle heard, he pricked his ears as he wanted to know how much this laddie knows about the Kingsmen.

"Ah... I wanted to know if you could procure a small pouch of saltpetre. Would it be alright, Your Majesty? I have a wonderful design that would prove to be a decisive winning advantage over archery warfare, especially against armoured knights and warhorses."

Eagle was truly interested since he discovered that this laddie before him can know about saltpetre that only exists in muskets and flintlock from the Royal Armouries Fort Nelson, near Portsmouth.

"This laddie is something. The moment he keeps quiet no one would suspects of anything but the moment he opens up his mouth, he is full of ideas and surprises."

Eagle thought to himself and he smiled inwardly. He got to harness whatever this laddie ideology and put it to use. If he said he had a decisive winner over knights and armours, then his arrowhead would have something to do with saltpetre he had asked for.

Eagle nodded at me and I knew it was meant for me to approve the request from the laddie. A twinkle from the side of Eagle's eyes betrayed his enthusiasm. Likewise, I too wished to know what this laddie could do for the militia in England, but we could start with Gracehaven first.

"Ah Yes... No problem. Marcel would help to procure an ounce of saltpetre, in fact, I think we could get a pound of those." I nodded to Marcel and Andy was elated that he punched the air with excitement.

Marcel asked about the arrowhead that Andy was doing and he explained about the uses and penetrative effect. He said the one he asked for the saltpetre would be used as a concussion arrowhead.

"Please explain about this concussion arrowhead, it sounds interesting." Eagle scooted next to Andy was took a stool and sat across him.

Andy used a forefinger and explained, "This is a normal arrowhead and take an example what you're wearing is an armour that is not easily penetrated. Can you feel my forefinger?"

"Then, how about an unblockable punch coming in, it won't damage the armour plate but you would get hurt because of the impact it made, right? Just imagine, a punch comes in and lands directly on your chest..."

"*BOOM*"

"The skin, flesh and organs underneath the armour may get hurt even if someone wears another piece of clothing underneath it. The more compact or loose the armour against the person, the more impact they would feel."

"It is like a battering ram the size of an arrowhead," Andy explained and Eagle got the whole picture. You don't need to penetrate the armour but sending a concussion punch towards the person would knock the person down, or even make him lose consciousness.

"So if a lucky arrow lands on his helm... Not only he would see stars, but he would also see the other constellations as well...! Good laddie...I like the idea. So how does a concussion arrowhead looked like?"

Eagle was ecstatic as he was literally sitting up straight on the stool as if he was given a great lecture from a well-known professor before him on a one on one basis.

Andy took a piece of paper, dipped the quill on an inkpot and traced a simple diagram. It consisted of a triangular-shaped piece with a flat tip, and another one that was longish that protrudes from the end of the triangle.

He explains that the triangular piece is hollow and filled with saltpetre and the piece that joined was detachable and acts as a striking pin.

"So when this end here struck a blunt object, the force made this end here to strike the insides thus creating a reaction which would result in a small explosion."

"This explosion would create a blunt force of concussion about a foot in radius and if someone was hit in the face, I think it might pop one or even both eyeballs and damage the brain." Andy described the horrific damage the concussion arrow can do.

"So it if hits the chest, the explosion would actually cause an implosion then. The heart may stop beating, defibrillate or even be internal damage with no signs of external damage. By Golly...! That's one cruel weapon of destruction you got there, laddie... Where did you learn about it? Do you read books or something?"

Eagle was literally jumping about in his stool when he learnt about this new technology. He knew that armoured knights would be best impossible to bring down by a mere arrow but with this new innovation, there might be a chance where one shot one kill rule would still be implied.

"Hahaha... Let me tell you, laddie, if Marcel can't get you the saltpetre, I will source it out for you. At the meantime, keep up with your hard work."

"Once you had made this broad arrowhead, His Majesty would purchase directly from you and equip our guards first and then the next would be the concussion arrowheads."

"I assure you that you would be honoured in this profession. We really appreciate your hard work laddie... Keep on coming...! " Eagle clapped Andy shoulders as he went outside to summon a member and sent him some instructions. The member nodded and went off to the windmill to send the carrier pigeons the message.

"Your Majesty, what Andy would innovate is a ballistic missile. This would only be used by a cannon, like the ones aboard our royal warships. But his innovation would be limitless and this would be a huge turnaround for the Hundred Years War, Your Majesty."

Eagle finally concluded as he moved away and held me close to his sides as he whispered the extent of damage a ballistic missile arrowhead could inflict.

I nodded my head and understand what he was trying to imply — equip this new arrows with a new recurve bow so that if enemies were to gather back the expended arrowheads, they would not be able to use it at all.

Besides, these new ballistic middle arrowheads could be supplied to the King's army along with the new recurve bows. In this case, Gracehaven would have established its name as a weapon supplier as well.

I held Eagle's shoulder and informed him to note in his journal so we would be able to highlight it in our 'post-conference' meeting.

Eagle nodded and smiled at me, as he now had to procure the saltpetre from the Kingsmen or from saltpetre manufactory elsewhere.

=*=

"Come, my dear friend. Let me update you what you had missing for the past week. There are so many changes so I have to show you around to make you understand them better."

Marcel was ushered out and I brought him to the Gracehaven's General Store and showed him the hand warmers. I explained what it was and he was simply exultant. "So this thing won't catch fire or anything but keeps one warm on cold nights?"

"It doesn't have to be a hand warmer, right? You can keep them in the pocket and you could still feel warm. I like that. 10c per piece. This could fetch at least a few silvers. I will bring some to the Merchants to make a show and then take orders."

Marcel placed the item back and followed me to the residential lots. There, he could see rows of privvy cubicles that had been erected, way faster than the commodes that were being produced.

Presently the privvy that was erected was on the empty residential lots and each one of them had a piece of string around it. This shows that the privvy was not ready for use.

After a week, the workers at the commode area were able to produce close to 10 clay commodes a day. These commodes were air-dried and once it is ready, the commodes were fired up.

The method of firing was different this time, unlike in the past since this time it was placed in a kind of room like a huge oven and was left there to be dried slowly at 2000°F.

Since the room was sort of airtight, the clay commode was transformed into stoneware and was sturdier since the clay was mixed with fine sand.

Farah was in charge of the temperature control while Earl was the one who made the drying room by summoning the earth to form such a facility. The commode was baked for 2 hours and then Imelda would cool down the room back to normal temperature by summoning her snow clouds within the drying room for another 2 hours.

Safety was emphasised at all times ensuring that no one enters during the heating and cooling process. It takes 4 hours for the process to be completed and the cooled commode was then assembled at the residential houses that were currently occupied.

Nearly all the houses have their commodes and private privvy along with the clay vat as a means to wash up and flush the commode after use.

Everyone worked in tandem and its how the process of the clay production areas could complete the project in a more productive manner. Once the houses have their own privvy outside, Earl closes up the latrine pits and raised it to be a dome so no one would think it as a latrine pit anymore.

Marcel was astonished to find how much improvements were being made within a week since the arrival of the Priests and Priestesses. When he saw the newly innovated Ovens, he was also awash with delight.

"Too bad this can't be implemented to other homes because the Ovens are unlike Gracehaven, that operates 24/7." Marcel thought to himself as he felt that his friend had made a wise decision to induce the formerly known Witches and Sorcerers to be known now as Priests and Priestesses instead.

"Bravo, Your Majesty. You have made a very wise decision. You never failed to impress me from time to time and if I look back today, I also made the right move to put aside my matters and sending back Gwen and Frank back to the encampment and meet you and the rest. By Golly... How time flies and Gracehaven is going to be one year old, right? Hahaha."

Marcel was elated and he clapped my back which he usually does but then his eyes went wide with horror because he just struck a King and not a mere Prince any more...!

I laughed at him and placed my arm around his neck and went to Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon to grab another chilled ale.