Sight markings have been calculated, measured and engraved. A simple ballistic table has been created. The cannons have been swabbed, inspected and are stored unloaded. Ciara has offered to engrave my name and logo, the Academy logo and year 0 on the muzzle of the bronze cannon because I said it would be fun, and Bodil will make a wooden plug for the cannon barrels muzzle. The piece of fabric has again been draped over the cannon.

I did a rough estimate on an optical range finder with 400mm width between optical paths and what I can expect in practical accuracy, and I should be able to build a range finder for 0.3 to 2.5km with a longer distance accuracy of about 50-100m depending on how fine tolerances I can really keep in the optical path. The rangefinder will be large with a fairly large fault, but it might be fun to try building, and if I can make it wider like 600mm it will have better accuracy, and it might need a tripod since handheld might simply be harder to hold stable enough. The same comparative solution that I did for distance estimation in the rifle scopes of the rifle may work well enough if I manage to make it with higher magnification, but that also requires that there are known heights or widths of something that can be used as a reference, and using a person becomes too uncertain at those distances. If the option is a telescope similar to Iselin's star telescope, it might as well be the wider as it will be more accurate at long distances, but both would be most useful. The wide range finder to measure the distance, and the telescope to study the target, see impacts and correct. Getting good at estimating distances over terrain takes a lot of practice. There's a reason military snipers practice it.

I'm sitting on the mezzanine sofa and making notes in my diary slash logbook and thinking when Gunhild and Alith joins me, with Alith leaning against the wall and Gunhild leaning against the railing. They both look at the cannon looming under its fabric cover and it's clear they have something on their minds. It's finally Gunhild who breaks the silence:

“Sir, you and Jane said this was a 'small' cannon, but we've all seen what the bronze cannon can do and its enormous range, well beyond all bows and throwing machines we've heard about. Considering how quickly it or especially the iron cannon can be reloaded, it will get several shots off at warriors in the open before they get close enough to even shoot arrows, and the fact that the cannon has a wooden shield as protection against arrows is no coincidence.

With Sir's rifles to shoot leaders or the most aggressive ones as they come closer, it would be utterly devastating, even without meeting the attacking enemy at closer range with one of those cannister shots. Just one of those on a line of charging knights might stop the attack completely, and with the bronze cannon for long range and the iron cannon to quickly shoot several cannisters as the enemy reach within long bow range..." Gunhild makes a futile gesture and sound. "With just this 'small' cannon and the rifles Sir has already created, we would be devastating on a battlefield, as attackers or defenders. I can only imagine how many would flee or try to take cover, which then gives more time to shoot them and hunt them. And the injuries. Being brave and wishing to die in battle does not mean being foolhardy or getting slaughtered. If Sir has enough bullets and cannon charges prepared, a small force like Sir and the four of us could sit across the river in Borgarsandr and just blast the king's castle to pieces without anyone really being able to do anything about it. Once they get over the first panic and disbelief, most probably won't dare to counterattack, because we know what is happening, but for everyone else it will just be smoke, chaos and death at enormous distances. And then there is the camouflage. We know Sir doesn't like to talk about war in Midgård, and Sir doesn't have to answer, but if this cannon is small, what can a big cannon do? What can many cannons and firearms do?"

Yeah, I figured they would ask and they already knows a lot, and I trust them enough, so I might as well give them a bit more information, if they promise to not spread it. I gesture them closer and they sit down beside me, and I start talking in a low voice:

"This cannon is small due to the weight of the projectile and the charge, but this cannon is very much a mix of different designs and not an imitation built for a specific purpose. The cannons are mostly made to test constructions and what I can expect in range and accuracy - and to have them available if I ever need it - but neither cannon is built to be truly powerful as that would just make them very heavy and hard to move and actually use. That is what I meant by 'small' because in terms of power this is a small cannon, as going by weight of the solid projectile, this would be a 9 pound gun. A 24 pound cannon means that the projectile weighs two and a half times more than the projectiles this small cannon shoots, and that cannon must use many times more black powder and maybe be double in length, so a big cannon like a 24 pounder were five to ten times heavier and very expensive. A 24 pound cannon is big, but there were bigger like 32, 36 and even larger cannons, that might hit eight times as hard as this small cannon. The damage a big cannon could cause was enormous."

Alith just shakes her head, while Gunhild's jaw has dropped and she stares ahead as Alith replies:

"I know how much Sir paid for this 'small' cannon gun. Those huge cannons would be incredibly expensive and hard to move. It would take so many men or horses. You could hardly move that if the road is muddy. And you would need a road. This cannon is far more practical unless you're sieging a castle."

"You know that ships won't last much more than a couple of decades, but in Midgård we do preserve some important ships in museums. In my home country there is a 400 year old ship called 'Vasa' after a famous King, and Vasa had 48 24 pound cannons and some smaller cannons." Alith's eyes are wide, and Gunhild makes amusing disbelieving noises. "It was far from the ship with the most cannons or the biggest cannons, but the Vasa had a great many big cannons instead of a mixture of all sorts, but its cannons were simple and more primitive than this bronze cannons. They were smooth bore and fired with smouldering ropes like the iron cannon and did not have advanced sighting and aiming, but it is very difficult to fire accurately from a ship rocking on waves."

Gunhild is just shocked, and mutters:

"Great Odin. 48. On a ship. 48 big cannons. Few will be able to afford a ship like the Vasa. How huge was that ship?!"

"The cannons on the ship did cost several times more than the ship itself. The ships were large and sturdy, much larger than the Millennium Eagle, with double decks, and half the cannons on each side to balance their enormous weight, with a small hatch in the hull that could be opened when the cannon was about to fire. Something called broadsides became common from ships, where the ships side was lined up at the target and all the cannons on one side fired at the same time. Imagine what happens if 24 11kg iron balls come flying into your ship or fortification. Imagine if such a ship had anchored out in the strait and started firing towards the mansion. But the warships were big and strong and the accuracy of the cannons was poor, and everything rocked on the waves, especially after the force of a broadside made the whole ship rock even more, so several good volleys might be required to sink a ship of matching size and strength, although a hit on one of the masts caused them to immediately splinter and fall, and sails could be torn apart. There are special shots designed specifically to do such things easier, and yes, I know several projectile designs. In large sea battles there could be 30-40 ships on each side, and a large kingdom's fleet could have several hundred ships. You can imagine the cost of just one such ship, and each ship needed hundreds of men to man the sails and the cannons, and the ships had to be maintained and men trained even in peacetime. A bigger wealthier kingdom could have a bigger navy, and just like here the ships only lasted 20-30 years, but the expensive cannons could be reused. It became an arms race. You needed to have ships like that to defend your coast and coastal towns, and if you had ships like that and all those men, why not use it to become wealthier? Back then humans hadn't invented radio, and information took time to travel. So if you secretly gathered a bunch of your ships and attacked a small unprepared enemy group anchored in a harbour or cove or an important trading town? You could be gone before the news arrived to other groups or the rulers.

Just one ship like that is incredible power. An ordinary castle like King Aeriksson's? A warship like Vasa could make it a ruin of shattered stone by sailing up the river, anchor and start firing volley after volley after volley from the middle of the river. Such a warship would devastate both sides of the river in just half an hour. Then you have a few hundred soldiers with firearms and swords going ashore and attacking, and they could take some small cannons with them. But a ship like that was valuable and thus rarely alone, so you had maybe three, five or more such ships or other support ships in a group. So more destruction and soldiers, and sometimes horses too, unless you plundered that. There is a reason why fairly small kingdoms with large powerful navies were able to dominate the world and take over vast areas of land that were already populated and had more inhabitants."

After a while, Alith is the one to break the silence:

"You could raise a terrible warrior force in just a year without anyone really knowing, and it wouldn't have had to be a thousand men since we're not prepared for war like that. And it's not just cannons, but north arrows, ships compasses, sextants and charts to navigate. Radio to coordinate and send information over vast distances. Telescopes to see. Camouflage to make it harder for the enemy to see and understand. Cleaner water that lasts longer, food from ways we never imagined, and food that lasts. You clearly has knowledge and understanding to effectively use it. Much of what you have created could make a terrible warrior force, and none of us doubt that we've seen but a small part of your knowledge of war related things or tactics. Still, you could conquer any Kingdom you want. Take any fortress you desired. Had you been a conqueror we would be entirely at your mercy. But we know you don't build things for war and isn't here to conquer. This was built to defend yourself, us and this Furstdom, and much is useful for other things we've yet to understand. We know your empathy and that you don't like violence and still refers to the First Blood's duel in the harbour as a murder - because that's how you see it. For you it wasn't a duel. It was an execution. It almost scares me to ask, and you don't have to answer, but that ship and war like that is 400 year old history for you and Midgård, and clearly something no longer in use. What made that become useless? How is Midgård war like?"

This is getting uncomfortably close to what I don't want to talk about, but of course they are warriors and seen much from a warrior's point of view. They already know so much. I feel a resigned smile, sigh, but ask:

"Do you really, really want to know?"

They look at each other and both reply with serious expressions and nods.

"The ships and the cannons slowly evolved over a couple of hundred years, and not much happened for the next two hundred years - they were effective - and the kingdoms that had fleets focused a lot on exploring and conquering the world, and going to war with each other for continents. Alith, you understand what I mean by continents." Alith nods, and I guess Gunhild will become more curious about that globe. "But then technology and knowledge began to have more of an impact. Speed gradually became more important. If you're faster than the enemy, they can't outrun you, but you can outrun them if you don't want to fight. You can also move a force faster over huge distances, so the force practically seen becomes more dangerous and more efficient. More land, more raw materials and forging improvements meant other possibilities, and ships began to get iron clad as armour, and then be built in iron to be even stronger and bigger with less risk of a fire, and could also carry bigger cannons. 100 years ago in Midgård, absurdly large cannons were built, mainly on land as defence, but also on ships. A ship type called battleships had evolved that were built entirely out of steel, and they were about six times the length of this mansion and with this width, and far taller than this mansion. Yes, such huge steel ships, and the steel thickness could be thicker than a foot. Besides many small guns, they could have a dozen huge cannons that could rotate to fire on both sides and forward, each cannon firing an iron projectile weighing double my small cannon's total weight, and the projectile was taller than you and with your shoulder width in diameter. And the cannons could fire those projectiles from here to Borgarsandr. The time between firing until those projectiles land and hit, is like slowly counting to 100. The reload time is faster so they could have fired several projectiles before the first one even hit, from each cannon, but there could be 50 men manning each cannon and drilled to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Just one such salvo with a dozen projectiles from here could, for example, have completely destroyed the King's castle in Borgarsandr. Not only caused it to crumble, but pulverized and shattered the stone, and flinging huge blocks hundreds of meters away. Without warning. Wham! Ruin. With total devastation all around. Then came the next salvo, which had been fired before the first hit. And they could fire many many salvos and spread them out to destroy all of Borgarsandr in a very short time. Basically fired all the projectiles before the first salvo even landed.

Today in Midgård, battleships or such cannons are not used, but there are a few saved as historical monuments just like the Vasa and many other ships of all kinds and not just military. Battleships and such cannons are not worth the trouble, time, resources and have become impractical due to other advances in technology. You can only use battleships on the seas and along a sufficiently deep coast, not inland although you understand that some cannons reach a day trip inland. A battleship could destroy Borgarsandr, Laxlanda, Tingshamn and here during the time it takes to go to the harbour bridge and back. Then the battleship could reach Skiringsalr before the evening on the same day and destroy everything there as well. Modern war in Midgård can take place from close combat as Jane's Krav Maga shows, to much longer distances or in completely different ways you simply won't imagine. It can be far more devastating than you realise even after what I just said, but if your goal is to conquer and raid for riches, you simply can't destroy everything. If say country A religious leaders and population want to utterly destroy country B and turn the land into a wasteland for being heathens, other nations might be nervous that it might happen to them next, so they band together and destroy country A while its busy destroying country B. Politics and alliances becomes important. War cost so much in lives and money. If you can't produce weapons or munitions you can't fight. So many wars are 'limited'. But this is all I will tell you about war or weapons in Midgård."

I put my arms around their shoulders and give them a hug. Until recently the longbow was the top ranged weapon in their world, but my rifles changed that, and the bronze cannon has completely crushed it. They don't use ballistas or throwing machines up here in the north as far as I know, although they have heard about things like that. There aren't many fortresses here that require siege machines, and culturally they prefer a more mobile warfare. Maybe I should build a real trebuchet. If that information is spread, of course more people can build a trebuchet, but trebuchets are large and unwieldy. Siege weapons are against fortresses or fortified cities - not against a village or a farm. Siege weapons exists in this world and I don't see it as a threat to my life here. It will be easy to wipe me and mine out in an ambush while travelling, and the mansion probably can't withstand a proper attack of 40 or so armed warriors, although firearms will change the equation a bit. And assassins or a forced duel will always be a threat. Killing me is something that won't take much silver or influence to arrange, and this is a violent world where that is a huge possibility, so the safest path in life for me is to not motivate people to do it. So it might be a good idea to teach trebuchet construction and use to some students at the Academy, but I'm not the one that do that teaching. I might get allies from allowing that to be taught, but enemies annoyed by it being taught is less likely to attack me, since the information is already out there. Although people are idiots and want revenge or blame someone. Future issues. I decide to tell them a related thing;

"One of the tragic things about innovations, developments and technology throughout history, is that the biggest technological advances generally happen for large scale wars, when everyone's life and the future existence of a kingdom is at stake. When people are threatened with extinction or enslavement, and people are really motivated and will sacrifice everything to survive and be free. It is only later, when the war is over, that the same development and knowledge's peaceful use will be available and help. From stone axes, to bronze weapons and iron weapons. Iron was not produced to make tools until it become more common and cheaper. First use of iron was to make better weapons and was paid for by those who had silver and justification for better weapons. Consider the steel in my swords and our knives. Weapons before they become tools. How many farming implements and tools are not made of wood here in Alfheimr, when iron would have made them better and more durable? But iron costs much more than wood, because it is harder to produce. A looming war might increase iron production many times, and that will make iron cheaper after the war. I have a lot of plans that require large amounts of iron and steel, which also will make iron spades, hoes and pickaxes cheaper. Or swords and plate armour. I need massive amounts of copper for my electrical projects and water and heat, but copper is also the biggest cost of bronze in a cannon. The machines to make something like nails cheaper, might also be designed to help make weapons cheaper.

A lot of what I'm trying to do and introduce here is stuff and knowledge that makes life better for everyone, and where war and killing aren't the primary purpose, although it will be used for that too. Just as Alith said; what helps merchant ships also helps warships. Food production and storage helps the population and an Army. There will be terrible wars in the future of this world no matter what I do, even if I do nothing. It is inevitable, because there will always be people and leaders who don't care how much pain, suffering and misery they cause others in order to gain glory, land or make themselves richer. Or because they believe it's justified. There are not big differences between the Norse and the Daes. There is no visible difference between the people. They believe in the same gods. Speak almost the same language. Live the same way. Have similar laws. But still, Daes King Magnbjorn tries to invade to take the land and is willing to kill those who just want to live their lives. To rule over a larger kingdom, to become richer and more powerful. He considers himself entitled to do so. Most people are no better; from the lowest slave to the highest king; male or female. Warriors seek to serve in his Army, and look forward to fight for him. Seeking glory and riches, or just enjoy violence and killing. The rush of taking some ones life.

Just the law here that a man must defend his honour; how a Duel of First Blood Duel can be used to kill someone you don't like, or force an innocent man who just wants to live his life to defend his honour and be killed for it. To avoid being a Niding. How it is used to take a man's possessions. Take his women against their will. I understand why these laws exist, and why society here is the way it is. Why the view of men and women is the way it is, and life here in the north is probably among the best that exists in Alfheimr. But life can be more peaceful and better, but it requires that people's views on violence, honour and laws change. Humans have a concept called 'human rights', which are moral principles regardless of race, gender, religion, age, language or where they were born. Freedom. Equally treatment. Dignity. Freedom to travel. Freedom to worship the gods they want. To live in peace. Right to defend oneself. Not be subject to torture. Political freedom. The right to speak your mind and have your own opinion. These are just a few of them, and it is far from all Midgård nations that follow all principles. I will change the laws here on the islands. As it is now, no one will dare to use their legal right to duel against me because everyone sees it as a death sentence, whether they are right or wrong. That is a bad law, and there needs to be a legal way to get redress and justice without someone bleeding or dying. No one should be above the law, and absolutely not a regent. With great power comes great responsibility.

But there will be terrible wars in the future of this world, and most of the people who will suffer will be ordinary elves who just want to live on their farms and raise their children. Refusing to use weapons, or refusing to defend yourself, only makes you a more attractive and easier target. There is a several-thousand-year-old saying in Midgård, which arose in several cultures and probably exists here in some form, because everyone trains to defend themselves in duels and in war: If you want peace, prepare for war.

I want to live in peace."

I found a couple of documentaries on one of the USB memory sticks that show a bit about modern combat, and I saw there was the whole 'Commando On the Frontline' series, and an episode of 'Black Sails' which I might show them in the future. For now, Alith and Gunhild look quite depressed as I get up and walk away. I too feel that.

I'm still slightly depressed during the evening meal, and I have no real desire to build things or do anything. So I don't object when my wonderful sambos take me down to the bath house where the hot tub is prepared, and soon we are all sitting in the hot tub enjoying the company and starry sky while drinking mead, cider and wine. We grill some simple hamburgers on the grill, with vegetables and freshly baked bread. I understand why Jane isn't here when they start caressing me. The hot tub was an excellent idea.