Overwhelming Firepower

The chaos in Norvaegard and the neighboring kingdoms eventually died down. During this time, Lucen became even more obsessed with finding a dwarf.

He had so many ideas of what he wanted to create, and so did Robert, but they couldn’t implement most of them due to a lack of skill.

Still, even with that problem, Lucen decided to build the railroad in anticipation of when they would be able to make a train.

He started with just a railroad connecting Ironhold and Dorsen. It was quite the task since Dorsen was at the edge of Stellhart’s territory.

Despite many finding it weird and not understanding what a railroad was, they simply did as they were told and trusted the young lord.

The young lord did pay the workers handsomely. There was also the fact that the young lord had always created many strange things that turned out to be beneficial to many, like the waterwheel, which had many uses.

Who would question the person nicknamed the Ever-Victorious? Right now, most people in Norvaegard, especially those in Stellhart, would charge forward if Lucen ordered them to, since they fully believe that was what would lead them to victory.

***

It wasn’t just the railroad; Lucen, with the help of Robert and a few mages from every tower, was building a sewage system.

Lucen explained to them that this will help keep people healthy. The mages did not understand it at first, but after explaining about the dangers of wastewater, the mages quickly understood the benefits, especially the druids from the green tower.

It wasn’t just the sewage system they were building under Ironhod. Lucen was also making underground tunnels, which were being built with only the most loyal of Stellhart.

There was also the underground bunker project, but it was the lowest priority at the moment. There weren’t enough people, so it was making slow progress compared to the other projects.

Still, the progress was good enough that Lucen was quite surprised. Despite this world not having the machines to help them build efficiently, they had something his old world didn’t have: they had magic and aura.

Using spells, runes, and aura during building actually made things go faster than planned. In fact, it was nearly as fast as how they were built in his old world. In fact, it was slightly faster, which truly surprised Lucen.

***

Of course, Lucen wasn’t just doing large-scale projects like that; he was continuing to make better weapons that anyone could use.

One of which was a crossbow that you crank; the arrows were bundled in a rotating circular frame, so it functioned like a primitive Gatling gun in crossbow form.

It did not fire endlessly, well, not yet, but with each crank, six bolts launched in rapid succession, faster than any ordinary archer could dream of.

Lucen was planning on giving this to the villagers in key areas of Stellhart. He also started calling for every blacksmith and carpenter to Ironhold so that they could learn a thing or two from the best blacksmiths and carpenters of Stellhart.

Anyone can come to learn, and it was free, so many from small villages from every corner of Stellhart came to Ironhold to learn.

Due to the increasing population in Ironhold in the past years, they needed to expand the Steel Fortress City.

Not only was the city expanded, but it was made even better. They made a new wall that protected the newly added part of the city. Now the city had several more districts. There was one with the mages and the mercenaries.

The new wall was created using the remaining scales from the young fire dragon, the bones of the Frost titan, and other monster materials. The new walls also had the Roaring Thunders now placed in.

Despite the increase in population and the city becoming larger, surprisingly, there wasn’t that much trouble.

No one complained, and no one dared to do anything illegal within the walls of Ironhold. The reputation of both Vardon and Lucen helped with this.

There was also the fact that members of Thornefang who weren’t out on missions were patrolling the streets.

There had been many changes happening in Stellhart, and all of them were because of one person, Lucen Thornehart.

***

In Vardon’s study, Lucen was standing in front of his Father, the two had not spoken for several seconds now, and had only been staring at each other.

”It would seem that you’re preparing for war, my son.” Vardon finally spoke first. A little bit of Vardon’s aura leaked out, making the atmosphere feel heavier.

Lucen didn’t even flinch. He was already used to this, and he simply shrugged his shoulders. ”I guess you could say that.”

Vardon took a few steps forward and was now standing towering over Lucen. ”Thorneharts are the shield of Norvaegard; we will never strike first.”

”I never said we needed to strike. I’m simply preparing for the eventuality of war.”

”Often time by preparing for war, we also provoke the war.”

Vardon’s words carried the weight of decades on the battlefield, of experience, of blood, of choices he could never take back. His aura pressed down harder, not in anger, but in warning.

Lucen met his father’s gaze without blinking. ”And oftentimes, Father... War comes whether we prepare for it or not.”

Silence hung between them thick as steel. The father and son looked at each other for several more seconds before Vardon spoke again.

”What do you know?”

”Not much, but the chaos that’s happening made me feel like it’s an omen of what’s to come.”

”An omen is it?... I guess it’s about time to tell you.” Vardon closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.

”There have been reports about the movement of the private armies of the neighboring nobles. They have also hired mercenaries. They claim they are doing this to protect their lands from the rising monster problem, but they have been secretly doing this for a few months now, and only now are they doing it out in the open.”

Vardon, whose hands were behind his back, was being gripped tightly. It was faint, but Lucen could feel Vardon suppressing his killing intent.

”Only fools would believe them. Those nobles during this time were we need to help the people are only thinking about themselves. Instead of focusing on trying to save their people, they only want to take more for themselves! I already knew their ambitions of wanting to get more land, but to think that they will show their fangs to the Thorneharts!”

Vardon’s voice deepened, the low rumble of a storm building beneath the surface.

”They dare,” he muttered. ”After all the blood we’ve spilled protecting them from the monster waves. After all the years the Thorneharts stood as their wall, they dare bear their teeth at us?”

The temperature of the room dropped a few degrees. Frost slithered across the stone floor from Vardon’s feet, an unconscious reaction of a man restraining an instinct honed across a lifetime of war.

”If they dare attack us, we will make sure that they and everyone else who has ill will on our family know what it means to bear the fangs against the Thorneharts.”

”Then it would seem my preparations were the right move.” Lucen was finally able to speak.

Vardon’s eyes shifted toward him, the frost still creeping like veins across the stone floor. ”To even need to make preparations to fight rabble that don’t have an inkling of what it means to be true warriors.”

His aura, no longer subtle, pulsed outward like a living thing. Books trembled on their shelves. The candle flames bent away from him as if bowing to a king of ice and steel.

This was the first time Lucen had seen his Father this furious. ’I guess being attacked by those you protect will make anyone angry.’ Lucen couldn’t help but sigh.

”Rabble or not, Father... Enough ants can bury even the mighty lion.”

Hearing what Lucen said, Vardon was able to cool himself down and hold back his aura as he stared at his son, who continued speaking.

”They may not know war. They may not understand honor. But they know how to scheme.” Lucen’s voice remained level. ”They might use the next monster wave to declare a territorial war against us.”

Vardon, for the first time, sighed. Lucen almost had his eyes popped out when he saw that. That stoic Father of his had actually sighed.

”It is true those cunning snakes would use that opportunity to take what they want. I already knew about how some nobles didn’t like that the four ducal households held so much power. I guess they plan to rip apart the shield first.”

”It doesn’t matter what they scheme. It doesn’t matter how they move. The second they try to bite, we will pull out their fangs and crush them thoroughly.” Lucen replied with his ever-confident smile.

Vardon’s anger finally settled, replaced by cold resolve, as his lips curled a little before returning to his stoic appearance.

”Yes, that is how one who holds the name Thornehart should react,” Vardon spoke with some emotion. ”We will never strike first, but the second their swords clash with our shields, they will be broken.”

The two then started conversing on how to deal with the threats that were to come. Lucen then told Vardon about the underground tunnels as well as the bunker he was building.

Hearing about the underground bunker. Vardon wanted to make one for every city in Stellhart, where the people could hide when war comes.

They continued their discussion quietly, drafting plans for tunnels, bunkers, and the protection of Stellhart’s people.

For a brief moment, amid all the tension, Vardon allowed himself to feel proud of how far Lucen had come. As the candles burned low, the two Thorneharts prepared their land with unshakable resolve.