Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Startled awake from deep sleep, he saw a human-shaped creature crawling through the window into his bedroom.

It's described as a human-shaped creature because the intruder was cloaked in black, moving in an odd posture, and under the moonlight, one could barely discern its limbs and head.

This humanoid also noticed that the bedroom's owner was awake and turned its head to look over.

As their eyes met, Winters's sleepiness vanished in an instant.

He immediately leaped from the bed to grab the Dusack saber hanging on the closet door.

He had only an instant to think, it didn't matter whether the intruder was human or monster, getting a weapon was the priority.

Winters drew his combat sword and lunged at the humanoid figure, who was forced back into a corner, meanwhile drawing a short gun from its waist and aiming it at Winters's head.

Not a matchlock, but the kind of short gun with strange mechanisms used by assassins on the docks, what the cripple called a 'wheel-lock gun.'

Winters recognized the firearm and abruptly halted his advance.

Just as the humanoid was about to pull the trigger, seeing that Winters had stopped, it loosened its finger and threatened in a deep voice, "Don't move. Make a sound, and I'll kill you."

With that, the intruder revealed her own information: not a monster, merely a woman. Although she tried to lower her voice, she couldn't hide the feminine tone.

"Don't shoot, guards live downstairs. If you fire, you won't escape," Winters feigned panic.

In reality, only Marita the housekeeper lived downstairs, the only domestic servant in the entire house apart from the four family members, brought from Sea Blue by the matriarch. The housekeeper was nearly fifty, virtually without any capacity to fight; Winters was simply bluffing.

"By the time the guards get here, you'll already be dead." The woman in black, face masked, only her eyes visible, gripped the wheel-lock gun with both hands, the muzzle never straying from Winters's head, "Put your weapon down."

Winters found that the more perilous the situation seemed, the clearer his thoughts became. The intruder spoke a second time, exposing more information.

The existence of guards didn't seem to bother her, implying she knew about the family's military background. However, she didn't know that the Serviati estate had no guards, indicating her intelligence wasn't in-depth, perhaps only the kind available through public channels.

"Don't kill me, there's some money in the pouch on the table, take it all if you want," Winters obediently threw the Dusack knife to the ground. He presented himself as weak and compliant, yet never ceased contemplating a counterattack.

He desperately recalled the mechanics of firearms: there's a short delay from the trigger pull to the ignition of gunpowder, and another short delay from the ignition to the bullet leaving the barrel. Timing the opponent's movement, he would sidestep early, avoiding vital areas. As long as the first shot missed, he would immediately close in and subdue her with his superior strength.

But unless absolutely necessary, Winters didn't want to resort to this method as it was far too risky. It would be best to find a way to divert her attention first.

What could divert her attention?

The Arrow Flying Spell? But all ten steel spikes were on the desk, right beside the woman.

Was there any other way? Winters racked his brains.

"Don't you recognize me, Mr. Montaigne?" The woman in black changed her tone, as if flirting. Yet, she held the wheel-lock gun very steady. Experience tales at empire

Winters shook his head; he realized that she had figured out his name.

The woman in black said bitterly, "Half a month ago, you set my hair on fire."

"It was you?" Winters exclaimed, never expecting that the female thief from that night would have followed him to Sea Blue.

"Yes, me," the thief said with a cold laugh.

Winters felt bewildered, "You broke into the military academy to steal. It was my duty to patrol and stop you. There is no personal vendetta between us, is there?"

"Who are you calling a thief? I was merely retrieving my family's property from another thief!" The woman in black was obviously stung by the word 'steal,' her emotions flaring.

After blurting this out, she realized her slip of the tongue, and tried to cover it up with feigned anger, "You haven't settled the score for burning off my hair."

"So you want to set my hair on fire too?" Winters spread his hands, "Besides, you were trying to kill me then. Aren't I allowed to defend myself? That stab you gave me in the arm still hasn't healed."

"All of you in the Allied Army deserve to die," the woman in black hissed. She realized she had been drawn into revealing too much by Winters and got straight to the point, "Return my belongings, and I won't kill you. We'll be even."

"What belongings?" Winters's heart sank, but he lied without changing his expression.

"Where's my dagger?"

"What dagger?" This was really troublesome, Winters had already given the dagger to Elizabeth, but he couldn't involve his sister now. Elizabeth was sleeping in a room just a few meters away; who knew what this madwoman was capable of.

"Stop playing dumb. I searched thoroughly when I got back, but it was gone. You must have picked it up," the woman said.

"You lost the dagger yourself and you're asking me for it?" Winters noticed the inconsistency in the woman's logic, the night she ran away, she threw her dagger at Winters to buy time. If she valued the dagger so highly, why would she use it as a throwing knife?