RLAAQ - Chapter 28 < Forging A Sword For Her >
Refusing Love As A Queen
It was a silver revolving flintlock pistol.
It is obvious that this gun was carefully designed and built by craftsmen.
Since the revolving flintlock gun was developed by Northenburg gunsmiths in the 16th century, this gun, which uses a spring to rotate a small steel wheel to trigger ammunition, has been favored by nobles and wealthy businessmen. It is smaller and lighter than the traditional matchlock gun and can be carried and hidden from people's sight.
Adele reached out and picked up the gun.
The gun that Dalton gave to the Queen as a gift was made lighter and easier to conceal, taking into account the gender of the gun owner.
Dalton watched the Queen's fingertips slowly press against the cold gun body as if she was feeling the heat of the bullet coming out of the barrel through the cold metal. His voice was slightly hoarse, and he asked.
"Do you like it?"
"What's its name?"
Adele raised the gun and put it in the sun, and found that the metal gun was decorated with exquisite rose reliefs, and a line of small words was engraved on it. Under the Vine "To the Queen of Imperial Glory".
"It doesn't have a name. Why don't you give it a name?"
Dalton said nonchalantly.
Adele ignored him. She turned the gun around, searched carefully, and finally found the small word "Little Rose" engraved in a hidden place above the trigger close to her finger.
"Little Rose?"
Adele looked at Dalton with a half-smile.
"It's very beautiful. It can be called a special iron rose."
Dalton spread his hands,
"Don't you think so?"
Having said that, Dalton didn't expect the Queen to be so attentive. He carved that word himself. This special revolving flintlock firearm was expensive, not to mention that Dalton, as an experienced officer, made various demands on it that almost drove the craftsmen crazy.
The gunsmith knew Dalton well and was so annoyed by his harsh demands that he couldn't help shouting.
"I have never seen a young man who pursues a girl be as stupid as you! Dalton! You are such a scoundrel. You deserve to be single for the rest of your life! If you don't give gems or flowers to please a girl, but give her this thing, do you think everyone is crazy like you!"
He is an idiot.
Dalton thought.
As early as the night of the mutiny, Dalton sensed something that matched the Queen.
Not all beautiful ladies can put a gun to their heart without fear. The most dangerous thing engraved in the Queen's bone marrow was undoubtedly revealed at that time. Adele said that he was "unbeatable in the casino." How could she not be a crazy and desperate gambler herself?
This flintlock pistol was actually made three days ago. When he got the gun, Dalton sat by the window and thought for a long time before slowly carving it in letter by letter.
The Queen he works for is like a rose blooming in the darkness, with a fragrance that enchants the world, but every petal is as rich as if it were soaked in blood.
Dangerous and charming, but irresistible.
It wasn't the first day that the gun was brought into the summer palace, but Dalton never knew how to send it out.
Those damn nobles were at least right about one thing. In the previous twenty years, Dalton had nothing to do with romance - he would rather take good care of his gun than spend time on those young ladies who fainted at every turn.
"Do you like it?"
Dalton asked.
"As you said, it's beautiful, isn't it?"
Adele replied, smiling slightly.
Dalton smiled too.
He vaguely understood what the young men under his command were thinking when they stood eagerly in front of their lovers with flowers. In fact, they were not thinking about anything, but the hands holding the guns on the battlefield suddenly began to sweat. Come, the body begins to stiffen and the heart beats under the chest.
He wanted to reach out, hold her hand, and kiss her fingertips.
Dalton coughed, brushed away his messy thoughts, and helped the Queen become familiar with this pistol, which had many innovations.
"It's a pity that the cost is too high."
Adele said regretfully, but she quickly began to ask Dalton if the process of making this gun could be simplified and something could be promoted to the imperial army.
"The wheel-type firing device was invented in 1517."
Dalton answered,
"But so far, the army still uses traditional matchlocks. Stable wheel flint guns are expensive to make, and ordinary flintlock guns are more expensive. There is a problem with the gun the sparks from the flint are not enough to ignite it. Besides..."
He paused.
"Other than that, the empire does not have an organized standing army."
Adele naturally took over Dalton's words without any embarrassment.
Like other countries, except for the knights of the aristocratic class, the ordinary soldiers of the empire are often the least educated people, and they are often farmers and will only be gathered when the monarch needs them. Once the army is uniformly equipped with wheel flintlocks, soldiers will need to be trained so that they can perform their due lethality on the battlefield.
Otherwise, a team of improvised musketeers would be a military success in front of well-armored cavalry.
It is not uncommon for the musketeers to lose to the traditional cavalry. Because of this, the nobles can stubbornly insist on defending their glory.
"Why do you let me continue to be your knight?"
Dalton asked suddenly as he watched Adele load the ammunition. He stood very close to the Queen, pressing one hand on the back of the Queen's chair and the other on the long table top. He stood backlit, his face hidden in the shadows.
"Because of my army?"
"What answer do you want to hear?"
Adele looked sideways at him, half of her face was bathed in golden sunlight, and the other half was shrouded in shadow.
"I want both,"
Dalton replied.
The next moment, the cold muzzle of the gun pressed against his forehead.
Every muscle in Dalton's body tensed up at that moment. He subconsciously raised his right hand on the table, trying to hold his hidden blade - all the men who had experienced hundreds of life-and-death battles. People will have this instinctive reaction when facing threats. Their muscles have developed a conditioned response to murderous intent.
When his fingers touched the hilt of the hidden blade, Dalton forcibly restrained his instinctive reaction.
The silver revolver flintlock pistol was held in the Queen's hand, the muzzle of the gun was pressed against his skull, and the Queen's fair and slender hand rested steadily on the trigger. As long as her joints flexed and the bullet left the chamber, the smell of saltpeter and sulfur would fill his head strongly.
Then, even the best doctors in the world couldn't save him.
Dalton lowered his eyes and confronted the Queen.
He saw his own shadow in those rose-colored eyes, the shadow of blood and smoke. He couldn't tell what the emotion was in the Queen's eyes.
So, he looked away and looked down.
His eyes fell on the Queen's hand holding the gun, and what he was thinking about was not the scene of his brain being splattered, but...it was really beautiful, the gun in the Queen's hand looked like a rose made of iron.
He didn't give the wrong gift.
"You didn't kill me because of my army, right?"
Dalton was definitely a madman. He could still ask with a smile,
"If I didn't have that army, you would immediately pull the trigger, right?"
Adele raised her eyebrows and asked,
"Who do you think is my enemy?"
The tip of her eyebrows was like a sharp sword unsheathed in the golden dust of the sun. The ground, carefully, cut Dalton.
"You have an outstanding army, so you can be my enemy and my knight."
Adele said slowly.
In an era when there was no organized standing army, generals had to rely on their salaries to drive their armies. Under normal circumstances, the discipline of the army is actually very... touching.
Think about it! These soldiers who are responsible for agriculture in peacetime and are called in during war have received no training at all, and they did not know their generals before the war. How can such military discipline be discussed? It is precisely because of this that there are mercenary groups active in the Mercury Sea and the Sea of Heaven.
However, as professional soldiers, the mercenary group has objective combat effectiveness, but there are too many people among them who have no credibility.
But Dalton was different.
He has an absolutely elite force. He managed his soldiers more strictly than the mercenary leader, provided them with sufficient financial resources, and trained a rare musketry unit. Dalton's troops displayed a discipline rarely seen in this era. He used this to gain a foothold in the upper echelons of Roland.
This is exactly what the empire needs.
"When you are Roland's enemy, you are my enemy. When you are Roland's soldier, you are my knight."
The Queen said calmly,
"And I -"
"I have no enemies of my own."
She said she is the Queen, and Roland's love and hate are her love and hate.
Dalton was stunned for a moment, and the cut suddenly began to contain a hint of sadness.
He let go of his hand and stood up, looking at the Queen sitting in the light and shadow, looking at her calm and beautiful face, as if he could see how she walked straight step by step in those long days.
Surrounding her is prejudice, suspicion, hatred, and injustice.
But she is always fair, firm, and never broken.
Adele put the gun back and put it on the table.
"Private permission will help the empire attack Yager, and it will also anger Yager."
She spread out the map and laid it flat on the table.
"Allying with the Root Empire can only prevent Yager's fleet from setting sail. But they can cut off the empire's transactions with Tuva and the Free Commercial Cities."
"You want to open up a new trade area?"
Dalton suppressed the sadness.
Grief for others is more terrifying and dangerous than any strong emotion. Because it is like an irreversible trap that makes people do all kinds of things they would never do before. At that moment, he even thought, if she wanted to smash him to the bone and suck the marrow, then she would just smash him to the bone and suck the marrow.
Forge a sword for her, a blade for her.
"Currently, nearly two-thirds of Roland's foreign trade is conducted with these two places. Once the Yager Kingdom cuts off our trade routes in Tuva Harbor, it will cause a major blow to the empire's economy."
Adele said, moving her finger to the southeast side of the Sea of Heaven.
Elmia continent.
Different from the domestic dispute between the New God sect and the Old God sect, it is a land of true pagans.
They believe in the sun.
"We need sailors and adventurous traders who are brave enough and outstanding enough. The empire needs them to arrive here and open up new markets."
Adele touched her fingertips and looked at Dalton.
"I know that Congress has been withholding military pay. The money you receive is not enough to support your military - and I am very sorry for that. However, over the past few years, you have still done a good job. Originally, I thought that this money should come from the taxes of the Port of Kohemia, but I checked the tax revenue of the Port of Kohemia in the past ten years. Although the tax on the port of Hemia has been reduced, it is a good thing done by the tax collector, not you. So, a question - Dalton, how did you build and maintain this army?"
Dalton guessed the Queen's question.
"You know where there are such sailors and businessmen, right?"
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