As days and weeks passed, Edmund continued to train Ariadne daily; eventually, he concluded that his training helped the people of the duchy, especially the city itself, see her as a goddess.

  Every time he glanced at the crowd watching them train, his eyes filled with admiration. The fresh faces among them prayed as soon as the two fought, impressed by the speed and strength of their blows.

  He also noticed that Ariadne had become more confident and her temper more controlled. When training with him, she lashed out the most out of pure frustration or when he made jokes, but now, she doesn’t react at all or smile at him, making him wonder if her personality is changing.

  In another training section, he evaded her strike, put his hand on her, and looked into her eyes. The two stopped, and she looked around. The usual people were there cheering her on or in complete disbelief at what they saw.

  ‘I noticed you are more focused and don’t lose your temper when I provoke your highness.’ Edmund stuck his sword on the ground.

  ‘So you did all of that on purpose?’ She looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

  ‘Well, that's funny, but I was just trying to see how well you did under stress. If we fail, we will have only one chance to enter the dungeon.’ He scratched the back of his head and looked at her?.

  ‘I know… But to answer your question, yes, since noticing my connection with these people, I feel more calm and reserved.’ She waved at the crowd.

  ‘I think we are ok for a time; I have to go with Alon as you ordered me to, so if you excuse me.’ Edmund bowed to her, extending his hand.

  She turned around, gave him her sword, and walked toward the crowd with a shy smile. Edmund? then walked toward the warehouse to store the swords.

  After some time, Edmund was entering Alon’s office and saw him at the back reading something on a tablet. Getting closer and looking around, he noticed that now there was a giant map of the duchy on a table in the middle of the room, with one Shafran male moving some pieces around as he walked past it.

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  'Hello, Captain, how is it going to be? Another suicide mission or what?’ Edmund smirked at Alon.

  ‘No, we are going with a company of two hundred soldiers this time. You said that we would test another weapon that you have; I’m excited about that.’ The captain smirked back at him.

  ‘It is just one; we will need your brightest minds to use it and one week to train and explain how to use it; that will also apply to the leaders of your... company, right? Yeah.’ Edmund tapped his chin with the point of his index finger.

  ‘Is that complex? I can push back the operation another week if you need that much time, but no more than that, ok? You can go now; tomorrow, they will begin.’ Alon waved at him to get out as he returned to read his tablet.

  Edmund turned around and walked out of the room. He was surprised at how well he had built on the basic information he had given Alon, like the new ranks and command structure; it was not the same but a better version. This made him happy as he looked out of the window.

  The next day, Edmund entered the class he typically gave, but soldiers were sitting in the chairs instead of his usual students. He was happy to see familiar faces like Ethan, Egor, Bartel, and even Alon in the front row. He continued to walk until he stopped right at his usual desk.

  ‘Hello, I find it interesting that you guys don’t salute me; I’m a part of this, too.’ Edmund crossed his arms, looking at the soldiers.

  ‘Let’s begin, Edmund; stop joking around, but to answer your question. You are a slave.’ Alon looked at him with a bored expression.

  Edmund looked at Alon and burst into laughter. Ethan rolled his eyes and shook his head in disapproval. The others had mixed feelings; some chuckled and ignored Edmund's actions.

  ‘Ok, ok, ok... We will learn to use this thing right here, so come closer.’ Edmund pulled an object from underneath his desk.

  Everyone stood up and made a circle around the desk. The device was a cylinder-shaped object with two legs on its front. At the bottom was a pointed piece of metal. Edmund pulled a metallic square piece and placed it at the bottom of the device, attaching it to the device with the pointed piece.

  ‘This is our new weapon, the A-RCM1, or just rail mortar; I called it that because it uses the same principles of the rail cannon we all know and love but now to propel up and make an arch to strike our enemies at a distance.’ Edmund was pointing at the weapon.

  The soldiers were not impressed by it and didn’t understand the need for them to be there. Egor broke into Edmund’s shoulder.

  ‘This looks simple to use; why must we be here to learn how to use it? I don’t understand.’ He looked puzzled.

  ‘My friend, you need to know how to calculate the distance if you are going to use it, and the leadership needs to know to because you guys are going to call for it; the guys that are going to use this are not going to be on the front lines.’ Edmund looked, explaining.

  ‘So is it more complex than I imagined, hum? Do you use these knobs here to adjust the position of this thing? Interesting.’ Alon pointed at the different knobs.

  ‘Yes, at the front, you need to call the distance correctly because they will hit you instead if you don't. So pay attention to the class for the next few days and the practice right after, okay?

  When the soldiers returned to their seats, Edmund placed the weapon on the floor before his desk so everyone could see. He then turned his back to the soldiers and started to write on the board.