Penelope secretly glanced at Santa who was now resigned to his fate and chuckled.

Of course he couldn't get grounded forever.

In fact, it might even be today.

But why should she tell him now?

It was more fun to tease her husband like this.

Plus, the last mess he did indeed made the researchers feel like strangling him alive.

They almost disregarded that Santa and herself were Royals and nearly flew over the tables to strangle his neck thin.

Now, he was banned from going there without permission.

Not from her but the researchers.

That's right!

Her permission wasn't enough.

Now, he needed to be treated like a baby when he had to visit.

In other words, he needed supervision.

They even went as far as pleading with her, Adrian, and the rest to put his name in the rules.

Yup!

There's a section of the rules that says [Duke Benjamin Hamilton can only be permitted under heavy supervision]

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry when it came to this matter.

What sort of his ace had she married?

.

But that wasn't all. They even had several clauses under that one rule.

What was so hilarious was that they wanted his picture placed by the rule too.

She had never seen such a situation before!

For someone's name to enter a rule or law book specifically meant they had caused not 1, not 2, not even 8 rememberable incidences.

It showed that he was a perpetual nuisance to them.

Penelope also found that this happened a lot, because even the kitchen staff complained a little too, which left her speechless.

This was also one of the reasons why she grounded him so much.

The problem was that Santa was a true born merchant through and through.

And when he saw something fascinating or thought of some crazy idea, he would feel itchy, wanting to touch, manipulate or see it... thinking he could convert it into another item, gadget or tool to sell... Even food was no exception too.

Like the time he tasted a new sort of chocolate cake that the intern Baymardians baked and wondered if he could combine his favourite things, chocolate and meat, into a new cake and sell.

But now, he decided to do things himself.

And the next thing she heard, there was a mini-chicken explosion with chocolate, meat and flour flying everywhere.

How did he do it? She would never know.

But it seemed to be his talent.

Looking at Santa, she felt terrible.

Sigh... Alright. She would release him soon.

But for now, it was time to watch the show!

.

With the royals on their seats, the military research team marched forward on the empty field below.

The new Barracks headquarters was built in a very spacious area of the city, a little further away from the palace.

And just at the back of the place were several open hills, streams and whatnot for occasions like these.

Of course, the entire region, including the nearby hills, and forest area, now belonged to the barracks and were heavily guarded too.

After all, with the training they had from Baynard, they needed ample space for their attack simulations and whatnot.

It comprised of a few hills, streams and whatnot.

Everyone stood either on the viewing Walls or on the empty fields outside the barracks.

As for the royals, they were seated on a wooden viewing stand constructed for this day.

Hahahhaha! Today was the big day.

The research team walked confidently towards the many machines lined up.

That's right!

There were several giant contraptions called Ballistas, which were just giant arrows.

And for the masterpiece that they had been painstakingly working on alongside other empires, they had named it the Slingshot or Catapult, to be exact!

.

One should know that ever since the Pyno Monarchs went for the U.N meeting in November last year, they all spent an entire week in Baymard, coming up with some new inspirations there.

And ever since Penelope &Santa got back around the last week of January, they instantly started creating the ballistic, as well as testing out their ideas on the Catapult.

Back in Baymard, Sirius, William, Astar, Henry, Landon, Santa, and all of them were the ones who thought of the idea... and Landon even came up with the perfect name for it, Catapult!

Well, it was better than their suggestions like Rock thrower or The flyer.

Plus, since they could catapult not just rocks, like items with black powder in them, calling it Rock thrower was a little wrong.

The surprisingly intelligent Prince Astar of Terique was the one who made them realize that other items could be thrown too.

What a genius!

Again, they also planned to integrate Ballistas into their ships to launch flying arrows at enemies further apart.

Ever since they all got back from their trip, all Monarchs had sent their regular bi-weekly letter, communicating amongst themselves.

Of course, Penelope had only gotten Landon, Sirius and William's letters, but she knew that everyone else's would come soon.

Now, it was time for the entire Continent to protect itself.

Because from Landon's letter that had arrived when she was still on the way, there was a deadly Order in their midst called the T.O.E.P.

So they had to act fast and carefully!

.

February 10th!

The researchers all marched out with their chests raised high as they hurriedly stood by the meant contraptions proudly with megaphones in their hands.

It was just that when they glanced at Santa, they still wanted to beat him up.

If not for him, will things be this delayed?

The rowdy crowd grew silent as tension and anxiety filled the air.

The audience's eyes twinkled brightly while watching the crazy contraptions before them.

What could these things do?

The researchers all grinned pridefully.

"Your Majesty, your highnesses, your esteemed elders, and my comrades, protectors of Carona, I salute you all!

Today is a great day in our nation!

We, the military research team, were given several tasks by his majesty and our many superiors... and are proud to present our results to you all.

We worked alongside the other memories collectively to reach this stage.

So today, we will show you the might of our creations!

We will show you what we, as a continent, can do when united!"