Since there was nothing else to worry about, Claude returned to the wood and continued his leisurely days. He patrolled the wood, practiced magic and researched on the flintlock.
The only thing that made him unhappy was that he wanted to visit Eriksson in the morning, but he didn't expect to be refused at the door.
Eriksson refused to see him and didn't let him in.
His mother, Eileen, didn't say anything apologetic either. She merely looked at Claude coldly as if she didn't know him.
It was obvious that they had received the bad news of the fleet being destroyed by the pirates and that Captain Altroni had been sent to an uninhabited island.
Unlike the families of the sailors and crew, Eriksson and his mother placed their anger on Morssen and the others who opened up new shipping routes and invested in the merchant fleets. They believed that they were the culprits who caused Captain Altroni and the others to be banished to the uninhabited island.
Claude could only return disappointed. He understood that Eriksson and his mother were worried about Captain Altroni, but he couldn't forgive them for venting their anger on others.
As a matter of fact, Captain Altroni had also gathered some friends to invest in the cargo of a merchant ship and was one of the shareholders of the fleet.
Welikro arrived at the wood in the afternoon and told Claude that he was in Eriksson's room in the morning because he heard the news and wanted to comfort him.
He was rather happy when Claude went over, but he didn't think that Eriksson would stop him from going downstairs to see Claude.
He said that Claude getting refused at the door was already a light punishment. When Morssen and the others went to deliver the consolation money, Eriksson ended up cursing at them, calling them the murderers of his father and demanding that they return him to him.
Lady Elena did the same. She threw the consolation money out of the door and told them to get lost. She said that Captain Altroni would definitely come back and that there was no need to give the consolation money to the dead. As a result, everyone present was very embarrassed.
Claude could only smile bitterly. He didn't think that he would lose a good friend because of that.
Eriksson had always idolized his father, and his goal when he grew up was to become a captain of a fishing boat just like his father. He wanted to sail his beloved boat unhindered across the seas.
But nobody expected him to blame Captain Altroni's fate on the investors. Even Claude was made the scapegoat for it.
Forget it, there's nothing to fuss about. Eriksson, who idolized his father to such an extent, was still like a child who hadn't truly matured yet.
Rejecting Claude's visit meant that their friendship had come to an end. Claude wasn't angry. He just felt that it was a pity for the friendship that once existed.
Due to the arrival of spring, Claude stopped hunting and couldn't think of anything fun to do when Welikro arrived. So, he took out the flintlock he made and showed it to Welikro.
He didn't ask where Claude got the barrel from. After testing it, he only asked Claude, "What's the point of making a gun that doesn't use a match?"
It was the same loading method, but the only difference was that the ignition was changed from an open flame to a flint. From the firing speed, it did not seem to have improved much.
It wasn't just inferior to a matchlock in terms of range and firepower. It would also often misfire. Based on those flaws, there was no need to change a matchlock to a flintlock.
Claude was furious, but when he thought about it, he realized that Welikro's words made sense.
The development of matchlocks in the past six hundred years had almost reached the pinnacle. The complicated process of firing a matchlock had been simplified into a few simple motions. Even Claude could fire two to three times in a minute if he was fast enough.
On the other hand, the flintlock he made couldn't reach that speed. Firing once in a minute was already considered fast. The main problem was the ignition of the flintlock. If it didn't catch fire on the first try, he would have to reload the hammer and lock, check the medicine pool and aim again.
However, Welikro did praise Claude for installing a sight and a shutter on the top of the barrel. Those two would allow a novice to quickly grasp the essence of aiming and shooting, making it possible for a matchlock to fire accurately.
Based on that, he felt that it would be better to move the medicine pool to the side and leave the front of the barrel empty to install the sight and sight.
Claude didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Perhaps, that was the limitation of the firearms researchers in this world. They only focused on the matchlocks with the greatest range and firepower and weren't interested in flintlocks that were far behind them.
What they didn't know was that the flintlock was the ancestor of modern firearms. It was due to the gradual improvement of the flintlock that modern rifles came to be.
Claude couldn't be bothered to explain to Welikro that flintlocks had a better future than matchlocks. However, Welikro did make a request. He hoped that Claude could modify his Gally Mark 3 and move the cartridge, lid, golden handle and hammer spring from the front of the gun to the side. The middle part of the gun would be emptied out to install the sights and shutters. Claude was willing to pay for all the modifications.
Alright, for the sake of face, Claude agreed to Welikro's request in the end.
Welikro, on the other hand, happily went home to get his old matchlock. Claude, on the other hand, was thinking about how to modify the Sioris' charcoal kiln into a smithy. At the very least, he had to make it look like the parts were made from the kiln.
However, it seemed that Claude was thinking too much. After Welikro brought his old matchlock back, he excused himself with the excuse that he had something to do at home. He only told Claude to come back five days later and didn't stay in the wood to help with the modification work. Claude's efforts at the charcoal kiln were all for naught.
Also, after Welikro left, Claude noticed that he left a crown on the stool he used to sit on. That was obviously the cost Welikro had to pay for the modification. He was only worried that Claude would reject it, so he secretly kept it.
Claude felt that he really had to put some effort into modifying Welikro's old matchlock. Since Welikro left the crown behind, he wouldn't take it back and might even deny that he left it behind.
Logically speaking, Claude had to do his best to make the gun better.
Claude decided to dismantle the entire gun. The Gally Mark 3 was a standard military firearm from more than two decades ago and the muzzle was shaped like a trumpet.
Claude put the gun barrel into the alchemical rune formation to refine it. He changed the muzzle to a straight barrel to improve the gun barrel's performance.
Naturally, the only thing that couldn't be changed was the serial number on the barrel. That was recorded in the register.
As long as the serial number was there, there wouldn't be any problems during the annual inspection, even if the gun was modified beyond recognition.
With the alchemical formation, it was a piece of cake for Claude to modify the gun. No matter what the parts were, they were like plasticine in the formation and Claude could mold them into anything he wanted.
In just three days, Claude completed the modification of the Gally Mark 3.
The gun no longer looked the same as before. Instead, it looked more or less like Claude's latest aubass mark 2. Claude even changed the wooden stock of the gun.
The only thing that Claude didn't like was the fact that the cartridge case and the clamp handle were moved to the side. The streamlined body of the gun protruded from the right side, making it look rather cumbersome.
But after testing it out, Claude realized that Welikro's words weren't without reason. Using a matchlock was much more reliable than using a flintlock.
The only difference was that there were two extra steps during firing: lighting the matchlock and clamping it. Before firing, the ignited end of the matchlock had to be moved to the cartridge case and fired.
But compared to the flintlock that always misfired, the ignited matchlock was guaranteed to fire every time.
The modified gun was much more practical and convenient to use, especially with the addition of a magnifying glass and sight. The accuracy of the shot was greatly improved.
Claude gave it some thought and decided to modify his aubass mark 2 to look the same.
He wanted to modify it into a flintlock, but there was no way to improve on the flintlock, so he decided to leave it that way for now.
Five days passed by quickly and Welikro came to the wood on time to get his gun.
When he saw the modified gun, he couldn't bear to part with it. He didn't ask Claude about the details of the modification, much to Claude's relief.
The two of them excitedly went to the empty space in the wood to test out the gun. Only then did Claude realize that he didn't have much gunpowder and ammunition left.
So, he drove the carriage to town with Welikro to buy some gunpowder.
Welikro felt that it would be more worth it to go to the public docks where Monck's fishing gear and boat supplies were sold. Even though Wakri's prices were more expensive than the other shops, his gunpowder and ammunition were of good quality, unlike the impure gunpowder that affected the range and power of the gunpowder. Not to mention, the gunpowder produced a lot of smoke.
Alright, they'll go to the public docks. Claude didn't mind the price, but quality was more important.
When they passed by the old street, Claude felt that something was amiss. The few passersby he saw seemed to be panicking as they walked hurriedly.
Before he could figure out what was going on, the carriage was stopped by a few burly men.
However, they didn't question them. They only looked into the carriage and let them go when they didn't see anyone else.
"What's going on?"
Seeing that Welikro didn't seem to mind at all, Claude asked after the carriage was some distance away from the men.
"You don't know?"
Welikro asked. "You stay in the wood all the time and rarely come here. It's no wonder you don't know."
"It's nothing. Shark and Blacksnake are at war again," Welikro explained.
"War?"
Claude recalled the scene of Gerrard being tied up that night and the corpse of the guard lying in front of him and the sisters. Perhaps it was that night that made Gerrard decide to fall out with Blacksnake.
"Where did he get the courage to do that?
Didn't something happen to the trading fleet? Not a single one of Shark's elites returned. How is he going to fight Blacksnake?
The prefectural capital's garrison is still in charge of the town. Does he have the guts to provoke them? Isn't he afraid of being arrested?
Also, isn't he afraid that the boss of Blacksnake, Butcher Bill, will use the garrison to uproot Shark after he finishes his training? "Claude was rather curious.
Welikro shook his head and said, "I don't know the real reason either, but what shocked everyone was that Blacksnake was beaten so badly that they couldn't even retaliate.
The strangest thing was that the second boss of the Blacksnake Gang, Fatbull Bowen, had disappeared along with a group of experts. If they were alive, they were missing, and if they were dead, their corpses were missing.
"In the end, Blacksnake didn't have anyone to lead them and they were taken down by Shark one by one. Now, most of them are in hiding.
"Also, Shark was quite smart this time. They didn't gather to fight as a group. Instead, they attacked Blacksnake in small groups like we saw earlier and avoided the garrison's security.
"That way, even if they get questioned, they can say they're looking for someone, just like how they checked our carriage.
"Based on what I know, Blacksnake suffered huge losses this time. More than ten of their leaders were captured by Shark and became missing.
We all know where they are. "
Welikro looked in the direction of Lake Balinga.
"In the lake?"