Three days later Ben finally woke up. Nick was not able to walk yet, so they just lied there and quietly chatted while Zia was sent off to train. Of course, in the beginning she was pouting, but as soon as Nick said she could use this time to catch up to him, the cheering princess was already charging out the door.

At the start of Nick’s recovery, doctor forbade him to practice Qi at all. Only after applying medicine for ten days he could start using the first Qi technique again. When channeling Qi, he felt that the pathways were recovering bit by bit and the next days were spent this way until they got a sudden unexpected guest.

Embarrassed Steven shoved up at the door with a stack of papers in his hand. Turns out his father, following king’s advise, has sent him here. The south was becoming more and more unruly and, besides the frequent nomad group attacks, it seemed that there might be a real war starting soon as well. Therefore the Sun kingdom’s generals were revising and upgrading defenses of the southern cities according to the latest movements of the troops from both sides.

Rollen family was not only one of the three great aristocratic families, it also has nurtured many strong and wise generals throughout the centuries. Besides that they were the main producers of the military equipment for the kingdom.

As a result Steven had to bear quite a lot of responsibility. While Mason could just take part in family business and have some fun, Steven had to study military tactics, production and train very hard his physical abilities as well – Rollens always had their pride in being strong.

And now he was on the doorstep to consult one of the hidden defense experts in the kingdom on how to improve the defense of southern cities. At this time Ben already was capable of communicating normally, therefore Steven, after an awkward start, began to show the maps and explain the local situations one by one while Ben was quietly listening and seemed to be deep in thoughts.

King, as always, killed multiple birds with one stone. He used Ben’s experience and instincts to enhance his plans, he used this opportunity to entertain the severely wounded hero and divert his thoughts from injuries and pain, Steven got educated due to this experience and there was even a chance that Nick’s unconventional way of thinking could bring some benefits as well.

And the latter didn’t make them wait for long.

“But how can frontal assault be this city’s weak point. Just shoot off the attackers from your walls!” Nick was confused.

“It’s not that easy.” Ben tried to shake his bandaged head, “Nomad archers are much more skilled than ours and the Sand kingdom’s army has always had stronger ranged fighters while our forte lies in cavalry. In the cities with higher walls it is not such a big problem, but in this case we should try to think of something else.”

“Why don’t you just equip few more units with some crossbows and after few rounds of bolt volleys any ranged attacker below will be dead or crippled. Even if the city walls are not that high, that shouldn’t make a big difference in the effective range of crossbows.” Nick was confused. These were common tactics before the invention of gunpowder and even ballistas were used defensively, not only as siege weapons.

“What … what are ‘crossbows’?” Steven was stupefied.

Ben also looked weirdly at Nick. Judging by the way the latter spoke it should have been an elementary thing, but they had never heard of such equipment. It took few moments for Nick to understand what just happened. Looking back at the confused faces of his companions, he cursed to himself, but quickly made up some random story.

“Oh? I thought such things were real. I saw those in my dreams couple of times while trying to learn archery with uncle Ben. There were these items, called ‘crossbows’, mechanical bows that could allow a person who doesn’t have strength and skill to shoot not much worse compared to a real archer.” Nick explained.

“There can’t be such thing! Archery takes years of practice and there are no shortcuts!” Ben immediately said in a strict voice.

“If there isn’t one yet, can’t we invent one? Remember how we made the underwater goggles and fins. Steven, let me draw a rough sketch and you can show it to your father and the king.” Nick took a paper and started to draw “There are few downsides that you should watch out for. First, this technology sooner or later will get stolen, so it would be safer for a while if you figure out at least some parts of this weapon that could be made only by the Sun kingdom. Second, although the penetration power will not loose out to the bows, the reload time will be much longer. Also, despite them being on pair with regular bowman, never expect regular soldiers using crossbows to compete with a Qi master who is using a bow.”

“Oh, right. If you increase the size of this thing, you can use it in sieges along side catapults and may be defensively as well. You are the weapon producers and experts, you’ll figure it out.” Nick passed the sketch and few notes to the stupefied Steven.

“Are you sure this can work?” After a moment of silence Steven finally asked.

“Of course! We are friends, why would I cheat you on such important matter?” Nick smiled back at him.

‘If I had studied engineering or something practical rather than languages, I could have been Leonardo da Vinci of this world!’ He laughed at himself and then abruptly stopped, ‘Wait … what if … what if Leonardo da Vinci actually was somehow reborn in a special way, similar to how I was brought here? He did all his inventions in his twenties or thirties! That should be simply impossible for that era!’

If during his life in San Francisco someone announced this theory, Nick would just snicker and ignore such person, but now it almost seemed as if there was nothing impossible in this world.

When Steven left, Nick started to practice Qi again while Ben weirdly stared at him. He was not stupid and from the sketch saw that the weapon might even work. How did this kid could think of something like that on the spot? Did that really happen because of their archery training? Although he couldn’t find answers, he was really happy to have this boy around. Same way as Nick, Ben also considered him family.

Suddenly Ben got startled with an idea. Whenever he saw Nick, the latter was constantly practicing something. It was even to the point where his old comrade in arms became Qi master following Nick’s ideas. May be he should start practicing as well and more seriously at that? May be as a result his arm could still function normally?

“Nick!” Ben called out, “In the army we were only given a simple Qi technique. May be you have something more effective that could help me recover?”

“I might have one or two.” Nick grinned back at the old man all wrapped up in bandages.

‘Seems like he is not giving up yet. I look forward to see this old hero becoming Qi master as well.’ Nick smiled to himself.

For the next days Nick taught and explained the three Qi techniques and, when he was sure Ben memorized everything, he got up from the bed to go back to his cottage, albeit limping a bit.

Nick had a lot to do and very little time to laze around.

One of the weak points of the Nick’s plan seemed to be resolved. The clothing of assassins was covered in the same powder he was trying to replicate already before the attack. He just needed to successfully refine it and test. The climbing and sprinting practices also had good results, but still needed to be improved.

A month later, before the Royal hunting festival, Nick and Zia could be seen running on the ropes that stretched over the forest lake. Looking at them from shadows even Ling was astonished – both children dashed on the ropes almost at the same speed as if they were running on the ground.

Seeing her own results, Zia even intended to challenge everyone during the festival to compete with her. And actually she could be proud, because many Qi masters could not replicate this just by trying a few times.

Ben also started to go on his old patrol route again. Although he was supporting himself with a stick, moved very slowly and from time to time took breaks, he still managed to finish it in the late afternoon. Nick wanted accompany Ben as always, but the old man shooed him away. They both understood how the other one felt, therefore didn’t think of it too much.

When the time for the Royal Hunting festival came, big bonfires were lit on a meadow near the forest lake. Zia’s persistence was impressive and she managed to persuade her father to organize festival at her favorite training spot.

While few Royalties were hunting, most guests were usually just socializing. It was like a gathering for the cream of Aurora’s upper society, just out in the nature.

When the event begun, Zia immediately started challenging one youth after another to compete in running on the ropes that were tied over the lake. Many of these young boys even liked her, may be because they hoped to marry in the royal family some day or just thought she would grow as beautiful as her mother. Be as it may there were quite a few who decided to impress the young lady and, since most of them were already practicing Qi for several years, they were quite confident in their own abilities.

But this little vixen managed to ‘barely’ win every run and it made her mother laugh out loud, but Nick shake his head.

‘Too much of an actress. For sure these poor people will get scammed till they all fall over.’ He thought.

Obviously, since there was a competition, there were stakes. And Zia’s winnings kept piling up and poor fellows not only lost, they even fell into the icy water from time to time. It was until in her excitement Zia challenged a young Qi master around twenty five years of age. He was gifted and quite well known as well. This time princess couldn’t hold back anymore and under stupefied gazes of audience even managed to win. But after that there were no more volunteers for this competition.

Recognizing her mistake, she could only pout and eat freshly grilled deer.

While the festival was in progress, king called for Nick.

“Tomorrow come to my study, I want to show you something.” He mysteriously smiled.

Nick already had an idea what it could be and the next day his suspicions were confirmed. When he arrived at the study, apart from king there were four other men who all looked like seasoned soldiers. He already recognized general Sanders from the discussion on Holy Order, but the other three he saw for the first time. Old king Albert was present as well.

“Not many people in Aurora can make the king wait and still not get punished for that,” King Alexander laughed.

“My bad. Good morning, king, grandpa king and generals.” Nick apologized and greeted them.

The unfamiliar generals were not surprised seeing him, they probably had been briefed before.