28 VICE-COMMANDER OF THE DEMOLITION PLATOON

The mass production of the landmine started, the task fell to the hand of the maids and Andrei's platoon who have experienced making the bombs and were careful of their hands, a total of more or less than 100 people worked together to make the bombs.

Because the metals were made by Claire, who could only make about ten sets a day, Andrei presented the blueprints to the blacksmiths assigned, they weren't able to understand the blueprint at first, but Andrei brought a disassembled set in advanced, this time the blacksmiths started to try to replicate it.

Andrei found out that the leader of the blacksmiths guild was the blacksmith he always saw in the streets dealing with his customers his name was Matthias Rogers, he has a long beard and have a short stature, he is wearing a pointy cap that one could mistake him as a dwarf if not for his clothes.

"So young man, i mean… Your Highness" Matthias tried to speak to Andrei after discussing the production surrounded with other blacksmiths.

"Andrei is fine, they call me that at the castle but it feels really uncomfortable" Andrei responded as he was folding the blueprint copies one by one.

"Then… I'll call you Andrei ey! By the way, just so you know I have been to other continents, I have seen other weapons such as straight swords, scimitars, and other foreign weapons, but it's the first time I have seen this one, which country or continent are you from? If you're from the east continent, then it explains how you were able to come up with that sparkling powder but there it was just for entertainment and nothing more"

Andrei was surprised to hear that a certain country from the east already developed gunpowder for entertainment, "It was probably fireworks, or ninja balls?" he thought as he put his hand to his chin.

Matthias became curious, of the actions of the young man who became silent all of a sudden and went into deep thought, and decided to not pry any further, so he adjusted his goggles and changed the topic and said, "That's fine, that's fine, anyway have you given this weapon a name? It's developed by you after all"

Andrei then let out an evil smirk, as he put his two fingers to his chin "Hmmm… hmmm it's something silent but it really can hurt if you step into it, just like someone I know who's been so harsh to me lately…" his eyes sparked of the idea.

The blacksmith's forehead started to sweat, he can quite guess what the young man was thinking, as he was also close to the royal family as the head blacksmith, he only knew the one member who doesn't hold back on her words, it was the woman who was constantly bickering with Andrei.

"Y-y-y-y-y-you don't mean? Hey young'un don't do it, you're gonna get yourself killed before the real battle!" his old voice covered with his beard gave a worrying tone for Andrei.

"This is my revenge! So I shall name it, BC's or Bouncing Claire's!" and he gave out an evil laugh.

….

Andrei went to the platoon's area where tents stood up, the gunpowder was made by the maids and his platoon was in charge of piecing the metal parts together.

He noticed that Claire was there, chatting with a familiar person, she had brown bangs and a ponytail, it was the girl he saved from the cheating of the grunt during their match.

When Claire noticed his presence, she quickly made a chant.

"Aes metallicus… I summon thee" she concentrated and a pair of long metal needles appeared in the middle of the air, and flew to Andrei swiftly, it passed through a few centimeters beside his eyes.

Andrei was startled, that he fell to the ground. "My… eyes… my eyes…" he screamed in pain, the needles missed his eyes but it grazed the skin beside it a bit, that he thought he was hit in the eyes.

"Ahhh I missed" Claire in her flat voice said and with a "tch" she clicked her tongue.

The girl she was chatting with got worried at first but eventually laughed at Andrei.

"Sorry Andrei but I think it was your fault, naming the latest weapon after Her Highness Claire" she giggled. "Girl's are sensitive you know? Calling it "Bouncing" beside her name"

"Damn, Gerald… Geraldine why are you siding with that dangerous-" Andrei tried to protest but Claire gave him a cold stare accompanied by a new set of needles that appeared in thin air.

"Sh-sh-she's serious" he let out the words in his mind.

"That very… very… beautiful woman right there" he retracted his words and made a sigh of relief but again Claire chanted the same spells and some needles flew again, but this time Andrei managed to avoid it himself.

"What the hell is your problem Claire! And don't waste your magic with those needles! Isn't magic supposed to be sacred?" he protested.

"Ahhh I'm actually practicing this long-range metal spell, I learned from a Kydus book Rara lent me, so it's not a waste" she responded in her flat tone. "Especially if it's for retaliation"

Andrei finally got tired and went to the tent and sat beside Geraldine who was his vice-commander.

"So Geraldine have you finish-"

"Finished organizing the parts right? It's done long ago" she responded in a happy and haughty tone not allowing Andrei to continue.

"A-a-ahhh okay, okay how about-"

"About the gunpowder right? It was already delivered this morning, we are already assembling at a high pace"

"Somehow, I'm getting irritated by her attitude," Andrei kept the words to himself, but he felt safe knowing that she was someone he could trust with the responsibilities on the Demolition platoon as he wasn't always present. "Plus she's a girl, she can communicate better with this platoon made up mostly of girls" he made a slight smile.

Andrei was surprised to have Geraldine as his vice commander, when the platoon was built to make Molotov and smoke-tear bombs, at first she was very obedient, but shortly after Claire's visits her treatment to Andrei changed.

"That Claire must be giving her bad impression of me" he thought within his mind.

Andrei's task today was to survey the production by himself to make sure nothing was amiss, together with Claire and Geraldine they walked towards the wooden house made for the production of gunpowder, the blacksmith's area where Andrei met the old blacksmith again, and finally, they made their way back to the camping site where the platoon is assembling the bombs.

"This is really organized, the process I mean…" Geraldine gave a remark.

"Yes, instead of making the bombs per person, by separating the creation of the parts and assembling it later, we could double the speed of the production and avoid accidents as much as possible" Andrei proudly said with his hands on his waist.

"That's awesome Andrei!" Geraldine has been in the knight environment with Andrei when they first met, he hugged Andrei in a brotherly manner without restraint that he could feel her bosom pressing into his, "She smells… nice" he muttered and suddenly he heard a chant.

"Crap, Geraldine... wait" he tried to jerk away to avoid it.

However Geraldine was still clinging to him, so they lost balance and with a thud the two fell to the ground in an embarrassing position with Andrei on top of Geraldine.

"How long, are you… " Geraldine tried to express her discomfort.

"Ohh sorry, sorry" he then stared daggers at Claire who turned around whistling. "It's her fault" he cursed her ten times within his heart.

"Whew Whew… keep it up vice-commander!" the girls stopped in their work when they saw what had happened.

"Vice-commander I'm cheering for you!"

This made the two uncomfortable, and they turned away from each other.

Andrei then proceeded to the tent to get the new blueprints, while Geraldine went to the other women to help with the weapon making.

"What the hell… ahhh i'm so tired" he massaged his forehead and took the blueprint from his drawstring bag.

In the blueprint, a drawing of a long tube showed on half of the page.