Chapter 7: Smuggling Arms?

Su Na, carrying the token, rushed to the Lord’s Manor on horseback to find the administrative officer, Nix, and explained the situation to him while presenting the token for his inspection.

Nix merely glanced at it before waving his hand with a smile: “Your subordinate will naturally follow any of your suggestions, Miss.”

It was best to take such words with a grain of salt; they were willing to flatter Su Na, but before Baron Kaibuli made his stance clear, these people wouldn’t truly obey her, even if she was the heir to the title.

Of course, if it were the officials in the manors and villages under the territory’s jurisdiction, they would follow her orders; although they were called officials, they held neither noble status nor royal appointments and were essentially the Lord’s territorial stewards.

People like Nix, however, were low-ranking nobles who followed Kaibuli, possessing more influence and status; even if they chose to deceive her, they wouldn’t have much to fear.

However, with Kaibuli’s token, things were different.

Su Na smiled and took back the token: “Uncle Nix, please organize a list of everyone in the territory with carpentry or blacksmithing skills, and give me a list of the hunters as well. Also, inquire with all the merchants in the territory if they have bowstrings for sale; we will buy as many as they have available right now.”

“Your subordinate obeys.”

Nix walked out of the office to look through the registration files of the free citizens, while Su Na relaxed on a sofa in the reception room to rest.

Levi, who had been following silently, reached out to help tidy her clothes, checking if any knots or pins had come loose and smoothing the wrinkles in the fabric.

She inspected Su Na from every angle, as if tinkering with a doll.

In fact, that was exactly the case; the primary requirement of the noble attire Su Na wore was to cater to the observer, so no flaws could be allowed to ruin the aesthetic or damage the noble’s reputation.

As for how the person actually wearing the clothes felt, that wasn’t very important.

Su Na’s mind wasn’t on this, so she didn’t feel too uncomfortable.

At this moment, her mind was racing as she calculated what her next steps should be.

The most important task at hand was to arrange the supply of materials needed to manufacture the repeating crossbows.

The strings required for the crossbows were consumables; crossbowmen in regular armies usually carried several spares for replacement, so she estimated she could buy enough raw materials from the merchants, and the same applied to the wood needed for the bow arms.

The most troublesome part was actually the ammunition, as repeating crossbows used short bolts; standard bows and crossbows didn’t use these kinds of arrows without arrowheads or fletching, and after all, no one else besides her likely used repeating crossbows yet.

All she could hope for was that these merchants had extensive connections and might have arrow shafts for sale.

Su Na carefully flipped through the information Nix brought back, a slight curl appearing at the corners of her mouth.

There were about thirty carpenters with registration data in the entire Fafnir Territory, five blacksmiths, and over a hundred hunters—a number that already exceeded her expectations.

These people basically represented individual craft workshops, so it wasn’t as meager as the surface data suggested; including their apprentices, the numbers could easily be increased six or seven times over.

A preliminary assembly line division of labor was already feasible.

‘Hmm… when the time comes, I should ask if there are parts that ordinary people with no carpentry skills can manufacture, so the work can be further subcontracted out.’

In reality, it was to be expected; with a place as large as the Black Moon Forest right next to the Fafnir Territory, a region living off the mountains naturally wouldn’t lack carpenters or hunters, though blacksmiths were relatively scarce.

However, the overall manufacturing of the repeating crossbows didn’t require blacksmiths; Su Na had other uses for them.

While Su Na was drawing and writing after finishing the files, merchants began to gather one after another in the Lord’s Manor’s reception room; seeing that the host hadn’t arrived yet, they huddled together and started chatting, hoping to fish for news.

A pot-bellied merchant smiled at the two who had just entered the reception room: “Hall, Heck, you guys are here too.”

One of the old men replied irritably: “You certainly moved fast enough.”

“Sigh, business is hard to do these days; the Lord has business to offer, so of course I came running.”

“Have any of you heard anything?”

“What else could it be? It’s definitely related to the recent goblin riots; they must be short on weapons.”

“Most likely. I still have a batch of longswords; I wonder if the Lord wants them.”

These men were the resident heads of their respective merchant guilds, responsible for the stationing, resting, and resupplying of caravans upon arrival, as well as the buying and selling of goods.

Transporting goods was no easy task in this era, so these local managers were often also responsible for gathering intelligence and predicting local market demands to maximize the profitability of the caravan’s trade routes.

“Hello, everyone.”

A voice, still carrying a hint of youthful girlishness, rang out, interrupting the idle chatter of the crowd, as Su Na appeared before them with Levi and Nix flanking her.

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