Claude stayed at Baroness Sonia's place for the night.
Liboyd didn't mind it too much and didn't look down on Claude because of his daughter and grandson.
It was a time of war, after all, and it was normal for two young men and women to have some unspeakable things happen between them. He only sighed that his daughter didn't have a good husband.
However, he also knew that Sonia and Claude wouldn't end up together. Firstly, she was a widow and secondly, she was eight years older than Claude.
Perhaps it would be best if everything remained the way it was, and it could only be understood, but not spoken.
What troubled the old man was that he didn't know how to address Claude.
Even though he was Claude's child, if he were to address him as his father, people would know that he was a bastard. Even if he inherited the Milosky name, he would still be known as a bastard for the rest of his life.
As a commoner, it didn't matter if he was a bastard or not. But among the nobles, he had to avoid being called a bastard lest people start talking about him.
In the end, Sonia made up her mind to let Claude address him as godfather. That way, it wouldn't raise any suspicions if the two of them got closer.
Early the next morning, Claude was exhausted after a long night of hard work. But he was still dragged out of bed by the beaming Baroness Sonia. She couldn't wait to bring him to see the results of her experiments.
Claude finally understood why Sonia had wasted more than 800 barrels in half a year. The reason was simple: she had been experimenting with barrels all this time.
Due to the limited range of the breech loading model she designed, she decided to increase the amount of gunpowder in the bullets to increase the range.
However, the excessive amount of gunpowder fired from the bullets had exploded in the barrel, causing great damage to the barrel.
Sonia tried out all kinds of gunpowder formulas, but unfortunately, the most successful one could only extend the range to about 300 meters. A standard Aubass Mark III musket could withstand three thousand shots without any major damage if it was loaded and charged normally.
However, in order to increase the firing range, Sonia increased the amount of gunpowder used. As a result, a good gun barrel could only fire for around 400 times before it was damaged …
In the lab, Claude saw the familiar alchemical formation plates. Sonia was chattering away about how Mark started causing trouble because she didn't play with him and focused on her experiments. She mixed all sorts of potions and powders together and accidentally discovered the most sensitive gunpowder.
With that gunpowder, the firing pin would have a success rate of 97% to 100%. Breech loading would be possible and there wouldn't be any need to worry about misfiring. That way, she wouldn't have to worry about a misfire and could avoid the problem of a flintlock firing with only half of its ten shots.
In addition, she also found a way to blunt the gunpowder. She only needed to apply a layer of wax on top of the gunpowder, so that the gunpowder would not be too sensitive and would not ignite with just a touch of friction.
Just as she was complaining that she didn't have a better barrel and that she couldn't handle more bullets, Claude smiled at her and asked, "Are you a magus?"
Sonia's face paled immediately, but she still answered honestly that both she and her father were magi.
However, they weren't evil magi like the ones recorded in books. Instead, they specialized in experiments and were registered in Aueras. The two of them didn't know any harmful spells.
Perhaps Sonia was worried that Claude would distance himself from them if he found out they were magi. After all, magi weren't exactly reputable in Freia.
Claude nodded. He knew that Liboyd was a famed gunsmith in the eastern part of the continent. If he didn't know how to use magic or alchemical formations, he wouldn't be able to create all sorts of suitable gun parts in his own gunsmith lab. He wouldn't be able to make custom guns for people either.
So, when he saw the alchemical formation plate in the lab, Claude knew that one of them was a magus. He didn't think that Sonia would give him such a pleasant surprise. Both father and daughter were magi.
"Are you both rune magi?" Claude asked.
Sonia was stunned. "How do you know?"
Claude pointed at the alchemical formation plate. "My sister has one too. She's in the field of concocting. She says she's a rune magus."
"I see …" Sonia breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried that you'd be afraid of us if you found out we're magi. Now, I'm relieved.
Actually, we don't even know if we're rune magi. My father was talented in magic when he was young and was taken in as a disciple by an old magus.
In less than two years, the old magician passed away. My father married his granddaughter, my mother, and the two of them lived together.
Back then, my father was only a level-one magus and my mother didn't have any talent for magic.
Life was tough and my father could only work for others. He didn't dare let others know he was a magus.
Two years later, his father entered the Askilin Duchy's gun-making workshop as a laborer. With a fixed income, his life settled down, and his mother also became pregnant.
She gave birth to me a year later, but my mother soon became seriously ill due to overwork after giving birth. Four years later, she left me and my father behind.
My father had to work and couldn't take care of me. He could only lock me up in the house and go out in the morning and come back at night.
When I was six, my father saved some money and sent me to the temple of the moon for the nuns to take care of me. I lived in the temple for ten years and only returned home when I was 16.
My father had already become a firearms designer with a bit of a reputation. He opened his own firearms lab and made custom firearms for people.
After that, my father found out that I also had magic talent, so he taught me everything he knew. We all used the alchemy magic array that my grandfather left behind to make matching parts for firearms, and we rarely interacted with other Magicians … "
That was true. Generally speaking, magi were more afraid of firearms. The magi on Higros called firearms the devil's weapon.
Lord Liboyd was one in a million. He was a magus, but he designed and made firearms. He was an anomaly among magi.
Claude muttered, "I'll have to think about whether I should bring you to see my sister.
Actually, I think your breech-loading method is wrong.
The length of a firearm's range doesn't depend on the amount of gunpowder or the quality of the barrel.
I once asked my sister to help me make a new firearm, but because of the gunpowder, her research couldn't continue.
Also, she invented a new type of gunpowder that's more than ten times more powerful than the black gunpowder we have now. It's a pity that it can't be mass produced … "
"What did you say?
Your sister has a new type of gunpowder that's more than ten times more powerful than the black gunpowder?
I don't believe it! You have to take me to see it! We're leaving now! "Sonia jumped over and grabbed Claude's collar.
"Let go of me first …" Claude didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't think his lover, whom he hadn't seen for ten years, would be such an experimental maniac. She didn't care about anything else the moment she heard about a new type of gunpowder.
However, it wasn't easy for him to get rid of Sonia's pestering. In order to give his kidneys time to rest, he had no choice but to agree to bring Sonia to Angelina's lab after lunch to avoid being squeezed dry by her during lunch break.
During lunch, Liboyd heard about Angelina's experiment lab and expressed his interest in taking a look.
So, after lunch, Claude ordered for a carriage to be prepared and brought Liboyd and his family to Angelina's lab.
It only took around two hours to get from the workshop to Angelina's lab.
Unlike the firearms repair workshop, which was deep in the mountains, Angelina's laboratory was set up beside a remote hill an hour's journey from Lanu Town. The main reason was that this place was desolate and uninhabited, so it didn't matter if she caused a huge commotion.
Claude also bought a large piece of land in the vicinity in the name of building a ranch and made it Angelina's private property.
Unlike Angelina, who only cared about her experiments, Myjack really wanted to turn the land into a ranch.
In fact, he even used his official duties to bring his men there under the guise of training. They spent a week building a metre-tall wooden fence around the perimeter of the ranch and surrounded it with barbed wire. At the same time, they built a gate to the ranch and a row of wooden huts to make it their little nest.
It was called Anna's Farm. When Claude's carriage and guards arrived at the row of wooden houses, they saw Myjack riding over with four of his men.
Claude pulled a long face the moment he stepped out of the carriage. When he saw Myjack and his men dismount nervously and salute him, he yelled angrily, "Why are you here?"
That's right. Myjack should be supervising the captives at Wickhamsburg at the moment. Why was he back at the ranch?
Myjack stood at attention and reported, "General, I'm here on Eiblont's orders to bring Thunderbolt's tribe back to HQ to recruit new recruits.
We reported to General Skri this morning and he gave us three days off to rest. So, I brought them back to the ranch to have a look. "
Claude understood now. Skri had mentioned it to him when they went to the gunsmith workshop. Three days ago, he sent a messenger eagle to Wickhamsburg to have Thunderbolt send some men to pick up the new recruits.
He was on his way back at the time and missed it.
He didn't think that Eiblont would send Myjack's tribe the moment he received the message.
Since Myjack didn't come back on his own, Claude didn't bother getting involved. Myjack and his men were busy preparing for the next year, such as what kind of pasture to plant on the ranch and how many cows and sheep to breed.
So, he waved for them to do as they pleased and took Sonia, Liboyd, and Mark out of the carriage.
When Claude turned back, he saw Myjack covering his mouth tightly to prevent himself from screaming. His eyes were glued to Sonia and Mark's bodies.
It was obvious that he recognized Sonia. He used to be Claude's orderly back then, so it was only natural that he knew the baroness.
As for little Mark, he noticed that he looked similar to Claude, so he was probably making wild guesses in his mind.
"Watch your mouth," Claude warned his brother-in-law.
Claude warned his brother-in-law and brought the family to Angelina's lab.
Angelina was currently experimenting on a new topic Claude had given her. She was trying to figure out how to improve the throwing device's range without increasing the load area and manpower.
At the moment, the throwing device's maximum range was only around 70 meters. That was rather dangerous for the soldiers who used it as they were within the enemy's accurate firing range.
Claude actually wanted to make a grenade launcher. Everyone had a deep impression of the Japanese's grenade launchers from the war dramas he watched in his past life. The distance wasn't too far, only around 200 to 300 meters, but it was enough to inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese.
Now that Claude had a grenade launcher, he really wanted to make a long-range grenade launcher. That way, he would be able to wipe out all the enemies in this era.
Even if the enemies hid in sturdy defences, they would be blasted by a grenade from the sky.
However, Claude wasn't a military enthusiast in his past life and didn't know what a grenade launcher looked like.
The design he drew for Angelina was that of a mortar.
It was a round metal tube with two supports at the front and a square metal plate at the bottom.
He didn't know how Claude saw it, but he remembered that there was a large firing pin at the bottom of the barrel. When throwing a grenade, a magazine would be attached to the grenade and the magazine would be placed at the top of the grenade launcher.
The grenade and magazine would fall into the barrel and the firing pin would pierce through the magazine, ignite it, and throw the grenade 200 meters away.
Claude felt that the grenade launcher was rather simple. Now that he had a grenade launcher, all he had to do was make a barrel around 70 to 80 centimeters long according to the diameter of the grenade.
The propellant cartridge could actually be made separately, or it could be directly attached to the projectile.
The problem was that he would have to calculate the firing length of the grenade and make sure it would only explode 200 meters away and not explode in mid-air.
The only problem was the ignition mechanism. How would he make a firing pin to fire the grenade out of the barrel?
However, Angelina didn't really know how to do it. Things that Claude thought were easy for her were all difficult for her.
Even Myjack sometimes thought that Claude's idea was rather unreliable. For example, with the current grenade launchers, they could at least throw the grenade further away to avoid accidental damage.
But if they were to use a metal barrel like Claude suggested, the grenade wouldn't be able to be thrown out and the barrel would explode instead. That would pose a great danger to the soldiers operating it.
So far, Angelina's experiments were progressing very slowly, or rather, she had no clue at all.
That was also why Claude wanted to bring Sonia to Angelina's lab to have a look when he found out that the father and daughter were both rune magi. Perhaps the two of them would be able to speed up the progress of the experiments.
Perhaps it was because they were both rune magi, or perhaps it was because they could tell the relationship between Madam Sonia and Claude from Mark's appearance, Angelina and Sonia hit it off the moment they met and chatted happily.
Anna took out the safe explosive which she had invented, based on nitroglycerine, and Madame Sonya took out the powder which she had invented.
Angelina was overjoyed after experimenting with the explosive powder. She dragged out a huge box and took out all sorts of strange parts and accessories.
Sonia asked her curiously what she was doing. Angelina said that with the explosive powder, the revolver Claude had her work on could be completed.