In the Royal Capital, just after the continuous spring rain had ended, Queen Lilith arrived at the training grounds with her ministers from the roundtable meeting.
Winter had passed, and many ministers had changed into lighter clothing. However, being outdoors, and with the spring rain just concluded, the damp air left these nobles feeling somewhat out of place. At this time, they should ideally be lazily lounging in their rooms or on their balconies, enjoying a pleasant afternoon tea, admiring their gardens, and discussing the latest interesting news.
At this moment, many soldiers were running around the training grounds, apparently setting up target boards.
Some nobles had started yawning, not knowing why Her Majesty the Queen had summoned them this time, looking quite impatient.
The roundtable meeting was typically convened only for major decisions of the kingdom, but since Augustus III’s reign, it had gradually started to be held regularly, discussing both major and minor matters extensively.
Now, the newly appointed queen had established a routine of holding small meetings every three days and larger meetings every week. While being diligent was commendable, it seemed that Her Majesty had become somewhat too diligent.
Chancellor Nora Les and Duke of Western Border’s son Ampt Scott were flanking Lilith on either side.
After all, this was not inside the Royal Palace; recent reforms by Lilith seemed to have hit some nobles where it hurt, requiring extra caution in recent times.
Opposition voices within the palace against the new policies were growing louder, almost every couple of days there were cases of families going bankrupt due to the new policies, or individuals experiencing family breakdowns because of them, which were laid out on the desks of Lilith and Nora.
Lilith looked down on this, thinking it would be great if the new policies indeed had such a significant impact. The truth was that the new policies hadn’t even made it outside the palace yet, so there was no way that so many people could be displaced because of them. If these nobles continued to exaggerate, soon the number of displaced people might exceed the population of the Royal Capital.
Yet, even with Lilith’s strong attitude, the opposition did not back down, and instances of refusal to comply were numerous, with various schemes and plots emerging continuously.
In fact, the number of opposition members was growing rather than diminishing.
After all, some nobles did not understand the new policies but did understand that the new king intended to interfere with their industries.
Outwardly, everyone remained polite, and any complaints were directed at the new chancellor, never at Lilith.
Lilith had to maintain the status quo under pressure. With so many opponents, Lilith had no means to overturn the situation; she could only puff herself up like a pufferfish, exerting all her effort to appear strong and formidable.
Thus, the new party and the old party managed to maintain a balance for the time being, with everyone waiting for an opportunity.
An opportunity for a front-line collapse; once that occurred, these figures would immediately stir up a storm, pushing the ineffective chancellor off the stage, and requesting Her Majesty the Queen to halt the new policies and revert to the old methods that could defend against external enemies.
At that time, the queen who had lost her foundation could be easily manipulated.
At this moment, soldiers finally had the targets set up and raised flags to signal.
Teams of soldiers arrived at the shooting spots, but instead of holding bows or carrying quivers, they were wielding strange firesticks.
Seeing Lilith nod, Nora clapped her hands and stepped forward to introduce, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the new weapon that Her Majesty the Queen obtained from the Northern Border.”
Nora took the firearm handed over by a soldier and began detailing its specifications.
As it was somewhat formalized, the nobles found themselves increasingly sleepy. However, many noble young ladies were closely observing Nora’s face and figure, beginning to chat about recent anecdotes.
Looking at these nobility, an inexplicable surge of anger welled up in Nora; the state of military weaponry was a matter of national importance, yet these people seemed utterly unconcerned.
But Nora could only quickly end the boring introduction segment and let the soldiers take shots with the firearm.
“Bang!”
The sound of the gun finally brought some nobles back to their senses, but upon seeing the target with a hole in it from afar, many of them yawned again.
The expressions of these nobles conveyed a sentiment akin to, “Is this all that Her Majesty the Queen called us out here for?”
This firearm was less useful than the fireworks typically put on by their own professions.
But Judith, keenly, stood up and asked, “Is this a magical artifact? Why can’t I sense any magic power fluctuations?”
The main members of the new party were mainly from the Southwest Borders, but the two family heads from there maintained noble traditions and did not directly take sides.
The Southern Border and the Western Border had a more moderate view towards the new policy reforms; a stable and powerful Royal Capital could help them resist the Anju Kingdom, so the Southwest Borders would lend some support to Her Majesty the Queen.
Moreover, a factor in this was that the next generation of the Southwest Borders had a very favorable view of the new queen.
However, the nobles from the Southwest Borders would not allow Her Majesty the Queen to truly turn against those nobles, for to them, a strong Royal Capital was best, but stability was the most important thing. They didn’t want the situation to escalate to the point where everything exploded.
So, Judith was not trying to flatter; she wouldn’t be like her brother, reacting impulsively to shout “Long live the Queen!” while the stability of the Southern Border rested on her shoulders.
“It’s not a magical artifact; it resembles a kind of mechanism.”
Nora raised the gun, aimed at the distant target, and pulled the trigger.
Although the recoil of the gun was slightly strong, it was nearly negligible for a knight of Nora’s caliber.
The target fell down in response.
“You can see that even without wearing armor, at this distance it can inflict fatal damage on distant enemies. And even if someone is armored, without enchantments, they would still take damage; however, the exact effect of the damage depends on each individual’s physical quality and rank.”
“Pfft, with this level of damage, if it were to hit my knight, he wouldn’t even blink.”
An old party noble stepped forward, scoffing, having expected the governor from the Northern Border to provide some groundbreaking weapon, only to find it was nothing impressive.
“Then may I ask this gentleman, what is your knight rank, what weapons do you use? How many such knights does your family have?”
Although Nora’s style was very tough, even somewhat crazy, her manner and actions were quite elegant; at least in face-to-face situations, everyone still afforded her a level of respect.
“This… at the very least, blocking your so-called firearm is not a problem.”
“Then what if I have dozens or even over a hundred such firearms? If training regular soldiers to use them only takes two or three days?”
Subsequently, two guards came over and pulled down a report next to Nora, showing the approximate cost of a firearm.
Duke Scott of the Western Border’s eyes widened, staring intently at the report, while Judith began to ponder.
“If purchased from Graywhite Territory, these firearms will be even cheaper.”
The nobles from the Southwest Borders began to study this report, while Lilith looked at these cheaply priced firearms with some despair.
The one who had crossed the line was even starting to sell arms.
