Estella stared at the schematic Luka had brought and couldn’t speak for a moment. She already knew Luka was a genius, but whenever he produced results this far beyond her expectations, she couldn’t help thinking that maybe Einstein had reincarnated into this world.

“Nunim, what do you think? Will it be usable?”

A long time had passed since Estella took the schematic, but she still hadn’t said anything, so Luka asked in a worried voice. For a brief instant, he was afraid he might have wasted his already busy sister’s time on something useless.

“Luka.”

“Yes, Nunim.”

As Estella set the schematic down and opened her arms, Luka, by habit, nestled into her embrace, eyes going wide as he answered. Estella, ignoring the fact that the Squirrels and Gerard were right there beside her, pulled Luka into a tight hug and began mercilessly showering his soft cheeks with kisses.

Smooch, smooch, smooch-smooch-smooch!

“Ah! Nunim!”

The sudden, relentless display of affection startled Luka, but his lips rounded into a smile all on their own. Luka’s thoughts and feelings, which had always lain quiet and still, had begun to shimmer, then swell, then sometimes bounce out of his control since he had reunited with Estella. He had only learned how to throw his head back and laugh out loud with his mouth wide open because of her.

With so many people around, he might have been embarrassed, but to Luka, Estella’s presence overwhelmed everyone else’s, so it didn’t bother him much.

“Where did something this adorable just drop down from! You’re so, so cute I could die.”

After kissing him enough that one cheek was left damp, Estella squeezed him tight and basked in her happiness.

“Will it be helpful to you, Nunim?”

At the point where his mind was starting to go hazy from being held for so long, Luka finally escaped from Estella’s arms and smoothed down his tousled hair as he asked.

“Helpful? This isn’t just helpful. It’s exactly what I—no, what Wintfall—needed. How did you even think of making a silencer?”

“A silencer?”

Luka hadn’t gotten as far as naming what he’d made, so he stared, eyes round, at the word Estella attached without hesitation.

Estella unfolded the schematic Luka had brought.

“Yeah. This is a silencer. A device that catches the blast at the muzzle and cuts down the sound. Put simply, you can think of it as ‘a tube that eats noise.’”

There was no need to explain it to Luka in simple terms, but Estella habitually treated him kindly in every way.

“Has someone already made one like this before?”

At Estella’s confident explanation, Luka asked, brows drooping. He wanted his sister to have something that was first in the world more than anything.

“Of course not. Until now, it’s only existed in my head, and a genius like you is the one who brought it into reality.”

“Really? Hehe.”

At his sister’s extravagant praise, a shy smile spread across Luka’s lips.

“We’re going to need a separate weapons development department.”

At Estella’s words, Luka, sitting right beside her, stared straight at her with bright, shining eyes and asked:

“A weapons development team—does that mean a department that makes new weapons?”

“Mm-hm. A department specializing in developing weapons that didn’t exist before. And not just weapons—there are all kinds of things we could develop to make daily life easier too, right?”

“Woooow! That sounds like it’d be really fun.”

Luka clasped his hands like he was praying and spoke with sparkling eyes.

“Just looking at it, it’s a work pit you’ll never crawl out of. What part of that sounds fun, exactly?”

Listening quietly at the side, Gerard shook his head like the whole idea was beyond him. Even working in the Mage Tower, he’d seen a lot of work addicts, but he’d never seen anyone who worked as insanely hard as the Cardeine siblings. And not because anyone was making them do it, but because they genuinely loved it to death—a pure, true kind of work addiction.

And at this very moment, somewhere else—

A swarm of work addicts was sprouting up like mushrooms in First Forge.

“Wow! So this is how these things are made?”

“Since we stamp out the parts separately, a single gun comes together in no time!”

The blacksmiths marveled again and again as they watched the parts being cast and cooled in real time and then neatly assembled on one side into finished products.

“But is this gun really such an incredible weapon? On the surface it just looks like a slightly complicated club.”

Brandrum muttered in puzzlement as he stared at the guns, which didn’t look all that intimidating.

Ulfrik, working in the same barrel-mold zone, clicked his tongue and answered with a look of deep exasperation.

“A tiny, sharp steel bead shoots out from inside the muzzle, they said. Too fast for the eye to see.”

“No matter how much I look at it, it’s amazing. Our Young Lady is the one who made this?”

At the moment the word “Young Lady” came out of Brandrum’s mouth, Ulfrik let out a long sigh and let his shoulders sag.

“She made such an outstanding weapon and then left us like that……. Heaven is truly heartless.”

“That’s exactly why we have to work even harder so we don’t let the Young Lady’s efforts go to waste. Come on, keep your heads on straight and get to it. We’ve only got the chance to work like this because of Young Lady Estella.”

When the two finished their brief exchange and went back to work, the hands of the other blacksmiths quietly listening to them sped up as well.

The next morning, Dolan, summoned as soon as he woke up, hurried to Birch Hall with nerves written clearly on his face.

He was already sitting primly on the sofa, round fists curled even rounder on his knees, when Ria brought out tea. Dolan shot to his feet and took the tray from her.

“Thank you. Is the missus doing well?”

“My wife’s doing fine. She worries about you a lot. She made peanut cookies and told you to come over and eat.”

Not knowing Estella was alive, Meira thought about Ria day and night. She knew all too well how deeply Ria followed and adored Young Lady Estella, and how precious the Young Lady was to Ria. After the funeral, Meira had been so afraid Ria might do something drastic that she had begged Dolan to stay at Ria’s side.

“I’ll stop by sometime soon.”

“Good.”

The look they exchanged was as warm and gentle as that between a father and daughter.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

As the two smiled at each other, a familiar voice suddenly cut in. It was Estella.

“Young Lady!”

Seeing Estella in her own face for the first time in a while, Dolan jumped up from his seat to greet her happily. He had in fact seen her yesterday too, but since she hadn’t been in her true appearance then, it felt like he was meeting her again after a long time.

“It feels like this face is the one that’s starting to feel strange now.”

Picking up on what he was thinking, Estella touched her hair, tied back in a single knot, and gave a playful smile.

“Where has the Captain gone?”

Dolan did not call Ciel “Your Highness the Prince,” but “Captain,” just like the Squirrels. He knew Ciel felt far more at ease when he was called Captain.

“He went out for shooting practice. I was going to head over in a bit too.”

“He’s really dedicated.”

Dolan nodded in genuine admiration. With swordsmanship at Ciel’s level, he didn’t seem like someone who needed to push himself any harder, but in Dolan’s eyes, Ciel was always diligent in training and gave his utmost at every moment, to the point it felt almost excessive. The same was true of Young Lady Estella, of course.

“We’ve got work to do.”

Estella answered with meaningful weight in her voice. Dolan knew exactly what she meant, so he nodded silently. He didn’t need to imagine it to know how tangled the Captain’s insides must be right now when he thought of Miss Emily.

“The reason I called you here first thing in the morning is that I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes, please tell me, Young Lady.”

Dolan had been expecting as much since he’d set out for Birch Hall, so his answer was unhesitating. Right now, whatever task she threw at him, the simple fact that the Young Lady was alive made him feel like he could do it joyfully.

“I need you to leave First Forge now.”

But Dolan was struck speechless by the words that came out of Estella’s mouth. He didn’t know what was happening; it felt like the sky was crashing down around him.

“D-did I…… perhaps make some terrible mistake……?”

His voice trembled with confusion as he asked. His eyes even prickled with tears.

“Of course not. You’re an essential figure Wintfall can’t do without.”

“Then why…….”

“From here on, I want you to leave the production to the other blacksmiths and take charge of a new department.”

“I don’t know how to do anything except work with metal.”

To be honest, Dolan didn’t want to leave First Forge. That place was like his very heart.

“We’re going to set up a new weapons development department. Luka and Gerard will be in charge of research and design, and you, Dolan, I want you to take the role of technical supervisor and overall head of the department. Your job will be clear. You’ll define the structure, materials, and strength of new weapons, and after testing and verification, you’ll complete them in forms that can be mass-produced. Once development is complete, the weapons will be produced in quantity centered on First Forge.”

Dolan felt like his head was spinning as he listened to Estella’s explanation. But one thing was certain—his heart was pounding.

“Well? Will you become the overall head of the new weapons development department for me?”

“I’ll do my very best.”

Dolan answered without a moment’s hesitation, smiling brightly. Another work addict had been born.

After Dolan left, Estella took Ashival’s Curtain out of her pocket. She was both curious and excited to see what form she would take today.

Estella’s face was full of anticipation, but Ria’s face as she watched her was filled with worry.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Seeing all the worries of the world piled on Ria’s expression, Estella asked in a voice with a trace of laughter. The look on Ria’s face as she stared at the necklace was just like that of a mother watching a child who gave her nothing but trouble.

“I wish you could go around in your original appearance again, the sooner the better, Young Lady.”

Ria liked Estella’s unchanged appearance right now. Watching her mistress, who had never been one for dressing up, turn one day into a shaggy, furry man and another day into a wrinkled old person was quite hard on her. She worried that even if there came a day when that wretched necklace was no longer needed, Estella might still want to wear it around.

“Don’t worry. That day is coming soon. It’s not far off now.”

Estella spoke with quiet meaning and put the necklace on.

Bbyororong!

With a bright little sound, Estella turned into a woman about Ria’s age. However—

“Gah!”

A gasp on the verge of horror burst out of Ria’s mouth as she saw her. Estella was just as startled.

“Wow, isn’t this bigger than your head, Ria?”

She had turned into an owner of absolutely enormous volume in a place Estella had never once possessed. She jumped in place a few times, but then, regretfully, took the necklace back off. If she went out in this body, she would definitely draw everyone’s eyes.

Estella put the necklace on again and this time turned into a young man who had just barely grown out of boyhood. Aside from a slightly long nose, it was a face she was fairly satisfied with.

She shrugged on the coat Ria handed her, tied her identity tag at her waist, and stepped outside. It was the ID tag that marked her as a worker affiliated with the Squirrel Mercenary Band.

Bang!

Bang, bang-bang!

Tat-tat-tang—!

The gunshots ringing out over Baramgol Training Ground were so loud it was as if they were shaking the thunderclouds draped over the ridgeline of the mountain.

The air in the training ground was faintly tinted with the gunpowder scent unique to Plareon, and with every gunshot, a brief flash of light flickered at each muzzle.

“Your stance collapsed—fix your shoulder mount and do it again!”

Estella stood with her hands on her hips and legs spread, watching the Squirrels with a razor-sharp gaze, her voice booming like a clap of thunder. The way she checked the targets, the tone in which she corrected their posture, the short, compact orders—all of it was the habit that had come out of her life as Yoon Seo-yi, when she had worked as an instructor in Special Forces, drilling discipline into recruits, surfacing from her instincts.

The Squirrels corrected their stances, gripped the guns tightly, and absorbed the recoil. In the midst of it all, Bruno alone was sprinting madly around the training ground carrying a huge target board instead of a weapon.

“All right, over here this time! We’ll move to the third zone. Don’t shoot while I’m here!”

Bruno planted the signboards at intervals and, even though no one had fired yet, ran hunched over as if dodging stray arrows. Knowing the power of the guns, just seeing them held in other people’s hands made his knees go weak.

“Targets farther! At least forty steps more! There! Right there!”

At Estella’s shout, Bruno dragged the signboard much farther back from where he had first set it.

Once the target was in place, Estella’s commands grew even sharper.

“If your muzzle wobbles, your trajectory will always curve! Aiming isn’t about staring at the target, it’s about looking at the point where the bullet is going to arrive! If you yank the trigger, the muzzle drops. Look at the target, hold your breath, and press the trigger with the mindset that you already know exactly where your bullet has to go!”

Estella’s voice rang through the training ground.

Bang! Tatang!
Tat-tat-tang!

As she watched the Squirrels moving forward one step at a time and hitting their targets, a satisfied smile slowly began to spread across Estella’s face.

“At this rate, we’ll be able to start knight corps shooting drills as early as next week.”

Even now, guns were rolling steadily out of First Forge. At this speed, it wouldn’t be long before they could arm at least half the knight corps.

Just imagining the Black Lily Knights with Thunder in their hands made all the effort she was putting in now feel like nothing to Estella.

A few days later.

One after another, wagons loaded with cargo began rolling up to an old stone building a little way away from First Forge.

Once used as a weapons storage warehouse, the building had been left empty for a long time after the storage space was relocated to another area as the volume of weapons increased.

Now, the long-forgotten warehouse bustled with people frantically hauling materials in.

Thud! Thud!

Around the building, the work of putting up a tall fence was underway at the same time, and the dull sound of posts being driven into the ground thudded on without a break.

This was the moment when the new weapons development department, soon to become the very heart of Wintfall, truly set off.

Chapter 251

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