Chương 400: 395. Testing - I

"It'll be completed sooner than we estimated," Duvas replied, looking at the third longhouse block.

"One of Taniok's apprentices who's acting as the foreman here said another week at most to get it ready for people to start living in. Having Trevalo's six extra wagons has helped us immensely. These workers' past experience from making the first two blocks is also helping them work faster."

"That's good to hear," Kivamus said. He glanced at the makeshift camp where the people from the encampment had been staying on the left side of the third block, which would become a market square in the future. They all had been put to work wherever more laborers were needed, although some of the elderly amongst them were still there keeping an eye on their children who were running around and playing.

The late spring weather was mild enough—neither too hot nor too cold—so it wasn't a problem staying in the open in the nights, but soon they'd all be able to live indoors after the third block got ready.

"The completion of the third block will help with the overcrowding in the other blocks too," Duvas said after noticing his gaze.

"It still won't be enough though to house all the people living in the courtyards and sleeping on the floors, even with its double housing capacity."

"That's why we aren't stopping after this." Kivamus looked across the third block, where the foundation work for the fourth block was already underway. Once the third block was done, the fourth one—also with two floors and double the usual capacity—would be the next building to be constructed. After that, they should finally be able to catch up with the housing problem, and should probably be able to provide a separate bunk to everyone who stayed in the village.

Unless even more refugees arrived by then, depending on how successful Feroy's rumor-spreading operation went, and how soon they could start sending liberation squads to bring in slaves here. He chuckled. It would mean they couldn't stop constructing housing any time soon, but that would be a good problem to have.

"Let's go to Darora's workshop now," he ordered.

"He must be getting impatient to show off his latest toy."

"The man is enthusiastic in his work," Duvas snorted.

"That's for sure. I can imagine him getting restless to start the testing." Kivamus and the captain laughed as they all turned west and started walking again. He looked at the captain.

"Do you think the scouts would have found Torhan's compound by now?" Hudan shrugged.

"I don't have nearly as much experience moving through forest as the hunters or Feroy. But we had selected the four best men from our five hunting squads—that's a pool of 18 skilled men, excluding the two village trappers. They all are experienced hunters now, and they know how to look for prey that doesn't want to be found. If anyone knows how to move quickly and without leaving a trail, it's them." He glanced to the west.

"They left three days ago, so let's say it took two days for them to reach near Kirnos—it's usually a day and a half journey, but they'd move slower through the forests. That means they've had a full day to travel north of Kirnos and look for that compound based on the directions Joric gave. I'd say they would've found the place by last evening, and by now they must be keeping an eye on it." Kivamus nodded slowly as they moved ahead of the third block and turned right towards the northern village wall.

"Let's hope they can find everything about the compound by the time we send the other guards there. Levalas also left yesterday with two wagons, so he and the two recruits would also reach Kirnos by this evening. Hopefully their ruse of acting as a coal merchant isn't found out, and they will manage to convince Joric's family to move back with them." Duvas exhaled.

"As much as I disliked your decision of letting Levalo live, I can't deny that the kid really is far too talented. At this point, I believe using him as a regular guard is just wasting his skills."

"I agree," Hudan said with a nod.

"He's like a younger version of Feroy, but with a slightly different skillset." Kivamus laughed.

"True. Feroy is the master of the jungle, and no enemy can lay a finger on him at night. His strategies and intuitions are exceptionally good. But Levalas… he's a master of disguise. He can infiltrate any place he wants to without people getting any idea of it. Let's just say I hope we don't need to use his true skills anytime soon." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Duvas nodded, somber.

"I agree. If we need to send him to assassinate someone—assuming he even wants to do something like that in the future—it will only mean that times are not going well for Tiranat. I hope it doesn't come to that."

"Yeah…" Hudan muttered.

"I prefer having an honest fight with an enemy, whether it's a giant like Nokozal or someone else. Battling swords with an enemy in front of you is the only proper way to send him to the goddess. It's just more honorable this way." Kivamus shook his head, knowing that Hudan's childhood spent dreaming of becoming a gallant knight as he saw real knights coming and going near his home outside Ulriga—as well as his training as a squire—meant he often wanted to follow the so-called knightly ideals in battle.

"Our enemies aren't trying to use such honorable methods. You know that, right?" he asked rhetorically.

"So far, people have tried to assassinate me at least three times—that I know of—and they certainly aren't going to stop in the future when they see our village getting stronger and more prosperous. As noble and honorable as it may seem to have an honest swordfight with a foe, that's not how our enemies operate. We can either adapt to their methods, or we won't live to see the future..." Hudan didn't reply, and just looked ahead, like he was lost in thoughts.

Kivamus let him be, knowing that his own habit of reverting to Earth's 21st-century modern ideals—or at least how they were supposed to be in theory—was not really suitable for this brutal medieval world. So even for him, it was the same as what he was preaching to Hudan. Either you adapted to this cruel world—at least in some ways—or you died... Before long, they reached some distance west of the center point of the northern wall, where Darora's workshop was located and entered the shed.

A group of apprentices was hard at work as usual, and they gave him and the group nods of respect before they went back to their work. Some of them were cutting logs into smaller pieces of wood, others trimming them into something resembling the shape that was needed. The blonde woman Layita—whom Darora had claimed was his best apprentice—was shaping the trigger, the nut, the trigger guard, and other small parts. As he watched, one of the younger apprentices went to her to ask for some advice.

Layita only had to take a single look at the wooden part he was holding in his hands for her to start describing what he was doing wrong. Darora was indeed right that she was talented. He still hadn't seen Darora though, nor the scorpion. Before he could ask, Layita noticed him looking around and jerked a thumb behind her, towards the west.

"Boss is back there with the scorpion," she said, answering the unasked question, before she went back to work again. Kivamus nodded in thanks, although she wasn't even looking at him anymore. He chuckled, appreciating her work ethic.

"Come on then. Let's go." They circled around the workshop, and finally saw a small group of people in the distance, standing around something. That had to be Darora's group. They kept walking, and before long the young carpenter noticed them.

"Milord, you're finally here!" Darora grinned as he jogged to him and pointed at the wooden contraption.

"I can't wait to finally start the testing!" Kivamus looked at it. Yeah, that was a scorpion, alright.

"It's ready!" the carpenter reported.

"I brought it here this morning in a cart and was just getting the others to set up a proper target for this. It's way too risky to test anywhere near other people. Except for those on watchtower duty, nobody else comes to the northwestern corner of the village, since there is nothing here—not even a gate. It was the safest place I could think of for the testing." Kivamus nodded and looked at the wooden scorpion.

It sat low and wide on a heavy timber frame, with thick prods on the front and a long central rail that would hold the bolt in place. Powerful torsion springs had been attached at the front on both sides of the prod, which would store the immense potential energy needed to launch the bolt to such a huge distance. The winching or rather, the reloading mechanism was mounted to one side, with a pair of wooden gears and a crank that could be worked steadily without needing brute strength.

Plank shields rose on both sides near the sightline, angled to cover the operator's torso while still leaving room to aim and reload. The whole thing was mounted on a swiveling pivot, so it could be turned after it was installed on a watchtower, instead of forcing the crew to drag the entire machine to adjust its aim. The pivot had leather layered around the contact points to absorb some of the recoil and keep the movement from grinding itself apart.

At a quick glance, the scorpion looked exactly like that in his blueprint, but one thing kept occurring in his mind—whether the wrought iron would be able to take on the stresses involved in this. The cementation furnaces would still take a couple of weeks to give the first batch of steel—which is what they planned to use in the second scorpion. That's why he had stopped the blacksmith from making more metal components for the second scorpion until they had tested this one properly.