Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

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In a hurry, the sheriff who rushed to the Serviati estate realized he had made a pointless trip. It turned out to be a mere misunderstanding; a young man of the Serviati family had secretly brought a woman home tonight, and when spotted by other family members, she was mistaken for a thief.

Although it caused a fuss, the weighty gold coins from the Major General's wife dissolved all of the sheriff's chagrin, and the Major General's wife, her face clouded with worry, earnestly beseeched him not to let word of tonight's scuffle spread.

The sheriff could understand Mrs. Serviati's concerns, for a young man not yet married associating with disreputable women and even bringing them home would not be looked upon favorably by the city's respectable households when considering a match for their daughters.

"Such an imprudent rascal," the sheriff thought, "to have such a beautiful lady troubled."

His protective instincts roused, the sheriff thumped his chest and swore on the graves of his father and grandfather that he would forget about tonight's events as soon as he went to sleep and wouldn't let a whisper of it slip.

While Kosha was outside helping Antonio cover up, Winters "invited" the woman in black back to the guest room on the second floor—of course, by carrying her.

Winters placed the woman in black onto the bed and, worried she might be uncomfortable, found her a pillow.

The woman in black was silent and made no struggle throughout, only staring at Winters with a chilling gaze.

"I'm really sorry about earlier," Winters negotiated with the woman in black, "I'm going to remove the object from your mouth, but please stay quiet."

The woman in black didn't react.

"Your lack of opposition I'll take as consent."

Winters had been unmerciful when he initially gagged her. When the woman in black had shouted, "I'm going to kill you," Winters didn't hesitate to stuff a handkerchief in her mouth. During the struggle, he used so much force that the black cloth she used to cover her face was also stuffed in.

So, when he removed the gag, the black cloth that had been veiling her face was also pulled off. This was the first time Winters had the opportunity to take a good look at the face before him.

He had assumed the female burglar to be between thirty and forty years of age, as her decisive and ruthless approach indicated considerable experience and combat skill.

But upon lifting the black cloth, Winters realized she was far younger than he had imagined, likely just over twenty, barely older than himself. With delicate features and thin lips, it was hard for Winters to believe that such a petite lady had pointed a coil gun loaded with ammunition at him just moments before.

Once her mouth was free, the woman in black didn't scream or shout; instead, she slowly exercised her stiffened jaw.

"You've been misunderstanding all along; you and I are not enemies," Winters said with utmost sincerity.

"Hmph, with me tied up like this, those words aren't very persuasive," the woman in black replied coldly.

"If I released you, wouldn't one of us end up dead right away?" Winters dragged a chair over and sat beside the bed, "We should have a proper talk first, Miss Lavoisier."

This name evidently touched a sensitive nerve in the woman in black, who, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, said with red-rimmed eyes and clenched teeth, "I am not a Lavoisier, and you must not call me that!"

After the woman in black had calmed down a bit, Winters asked, "Then how would you like me to address you?"

She suddenly fell silent.

"Does the name Salome Blue mean anything to you?"

The woman in black's eyes widened, yet her pupils contracted sharply, clearly startled by Winters' words. She scoffed, "You don't need to probe me in this manner. It's not Salome Blue; it's Salomiya."

Anyone with even a slight understanding of military history knows that Lavoisier was the surname of General Antoine-Laurent, but only a very few knew that Salomiya was the middle name of the General's wife.

Winters knew this because, as an admirer of Antoine-Laurent, he had once entertained the idea of writing a biography on him.

So, during his years at the military academy, he had read through all the public and classified dossiers on Antoine-Laurent that he could get his hands on from the archives.

The behavior of the woman before him largely confirmed Winters' suspicions; even if she wasn't a descendant of Antoine-Laurent, she must have had some intricate connection to him.

That would then explain the deep-seated hatred she showed towards the Allied Army.

Because Antoine-Laurent had indeed been sentenced to death by the military court of the Federated Provinces Army—more precisely, the army military court of the Republic. The euphemism that Antoine-Laurent died of a "head illness" referred to his execution by the guillotine.

Sixteen years ago, a decade after the Sovereignty Wars had ended, the radicals in the Federated Provinces rose to power, wielding the military and political control of the Federated Provinces. Shouting "Anything less than absolute loyalty is absolute disloyalty," they initiated a brutal purge within the Serviati front lines.

Accused of treason and involving military secrets, Antoine-Laurent was beheaded after a secret trial, and his research manuscripts consequently lost.

The Marshal, Ned Smith, lamented, "A mind like Antoine-Laurent's comes once in a hundred years, and yet it was chopped off just like that." However, Marshal Ned was also in danger at the time, narrowly escaping the guillotine himself.

"You claim this notebook belongs to your family; how can you prove it?" Winters presented the half-burnt notebook to the woman in black for a moment before placing it on the bed.

"Why should I prove anything to you?"

"Because this notebook is worth a fortune, and I hope you can prove you are not a thief."

If Winters recalled correctly, this woman in black detested the word 'thief' particularly.

Sure enough, the woman in black flew into a rage: "Whom are you calling a thief? It's you soldiers who are the thieves, stealing my father from my mother's hands! Then stealing his research from his hands! And finally, even his life was taken!"

"Calm down; since you've used the words 'father' and 'mother,' are you the missing daughter of General Antoine-Laurent?"

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The woman in black scoffed disdainfully.

"I'm not your enemy. If you can prove your identity, I'm willing to hand over these notes to you," Winters said seriously, "and this dagger as well."

As he spoke, Winters took out the dagger belonging to the woman in black and placed it on the bed.

It had taken quite an effort for him to get the dagger back from Elizabeth.

"Or should I also thank you for your generosity? For so generously burning my father's notes before returning them to me?" the woman in black said with a sneer.

Winters awkwardly said, "Actually, there's still almost half of it left."

"Then come closer and I'll prove my identity to you," the woman in black suddenly said calmly.

Winters subconsciously stood up and approached the bedside, but noticing the slight excitement in the woman's eyes, he realized something was amiss and quickly retreated.

But it was too late; the woman in black leaped from the bed and charged at him.

After all, Winters was an educated Gentleman; he couldn't possibly repeatedly check a woman's sensitive areas—so he had missed a few small silver coins with sharpened edges that the woman in black had hidden on her.

Just now, while she had been seemingly talking to Winters, she had actually been secretly taking out a sharp object to cut through the bedsheet that bound her hands, waiting for Winters to let down his guard.

The woman in black grabbed the dagger beside her and lunged at Winters's left rib. She seemed to calm down on the surface, but in reality, she had not stepped out of her hysterical state; it was all a facade.

If she wanted to escape, she could simply wait for another opportunity to be alone, but at this moment, all she could think about was revenge.

But Winters was no longer the same person he had been on the night of the patrol. A rookie in real combat becomes stiff all over due to nervousness and fear, but a veteran soldier can respond calmly and collectedly. If the woman in black couldn't kill Winters that night, of course, she couldn't this time either.

The pillowcase used to gag the woman in black was still in Winters's hand. He used his left hand, cushioned with the pillowcase, to grab her weapon hand. Just as he was about to punch her fiercely in the face with his right hand, he stopped and instead turned it into a struggle to disarm her.

In a fight, grabbing the blade or body of an opponent's weapon is extremely dangerous and is a tactic born of desperation. Even if one only intends to grab the wrist, it's very possible to grab the blade instead.

The dagger didn't have a crossguard, and Winters missed the wrist and grabbed the palm instead. Fortunately, the pillowcase was there as padding; otherwise, the area in contact with the blade would have bled immediately.

The woman in black wouldn't let go, twisting her wrist in an attempt to slice Winters's arm. Winters, now a bit angry, used a wrestling move to throw her down.

The essence of one-on-one combat is ultimately a battle between two people. The woman in black might be a formidable assassin, but no matter how ruthless she was, she was just a woman with far less strength and weight than Winters. Even her close-quarters combat skills were inferior to Winters's, and she was promptly subdued by him on the ground.

"Calm down!" Winters said, pressing one hand on the woman in black's weapon hand and the other on her shoulder.

"All of you in the Allied Army deserve to die," the woman in black struggled violently.

"What does your father's wrongful case have to do with me?"

"Pah."

"The remaining content is also very valuable."

The woman in black said sarcastically, "Do you think I care about what's written in the notes? Magic, Spellcasters, they are worthless to me."

Winters was completely at a loss for words; he found that it was utterly impossible to reason with this woman: "Then why did you want these notes?"
Enjoy new adventures at empire

"To take back my family's property."

"So, if I return these notes to you?"

"You've already burned them!"

"Didn't you say you didn't care about their contents?"

"That doesn't mean you can burn them!"

"Then what will satisfy you?"

"I want them restored to their original state."

"But the original has already been burned."

"I'll kill you!"

"Are you insane?" Whether or not the woman in black was crazy, Winters was close to losing his own sanity: "You! Need! To! Calm! Down!"

Winters didn't waste any more words and bound her again swiftly.

He pushed the door open and found Elizabeth eavesdropping at the doorway.