Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!
Chapter 1705 - 1703: The Mystery
Early the next morning, Louise received an invitation from the royal palace, asking her and Red Ponytail to go to the palace. Naturally, Louise did not refuse, and the two of them boarded the carriage sent by the royal family, heading to the palace.
"But SABER, is the Staff of Destruction really that powerful?"
Although she had already witnessed the power of the grenade launcher in Red Ponytail’s hand, Louise was still quite curious and asked, and Red Ponytail nodded.
"Of course, you’ve seen its power, right? In fact, what I used yesterday wasn’t even the real payloads. If I used it for actual combat, one grenade shot would be enough to completely destroy a residential building."
"Is it really that powerful?"
"Hehehe..."
Looking at the stunned Louise, Red Ponytail smiled slightly.
"However, that’s not the most powerful part."
"Eh? So what is the most powerful part?"
"The Staff of Destruction... The most powerful part is that anyone can use it."
"Eh?"
Hearing this, Louise froze for a moment.
"But wasn’t it that Fukai didn’t succeed in using it last night?"
"That’s because she didn’t understand how to operate it. It’s like if you want to open a door, you first need to unlock it with a key and then push it open. It’s the same as that, as long as you understand the method, a random child on the street could use it easily... Well, considering the weight, that’s definitely not possible."
"I see..."
Hearing this, Louise nodded, while Red Ponytail stared at her.
"You don’t seem like a noble."
"Eh? Where do I not seem like a noble? I’m the third daughter of the House of Duke Valyriel!"
Hearing this, Louise immediately straightened up her chest and made an effort to adopt the posture of a young lady, while Red Ponytail waved her hand.
"I wasn’t talking about your identity, but your thoughts. Hearing what I just said, didn’t you think about something?"
".......?"
Seeing her looking so confused, Red Ponytail sighed.
"In this world, only the nobility can use magic, and the commoners can’t, right."
"Yes."
"And because of this, nobles believe they are superior to commoners, right."
"That’s how it is."
"But with this?"
Red Ponytail once again took out the Hydra Grenade Gun and shook it in front of Louise.
"Do you understand now? You nobles having magic is no big deal. With this, even a farmer in the fields could blow you into pieces with one shot... In other words, the fundamental basis of your noble ruling class has begun to shake."
"Eh...? This......."
Hearing this, Louise finally understood something. She stared at the rocket launcher in Red Ponytail’s hand, her face turning pale.
"This, is it such a dangerous thing?"
"It seems you finally understand."
Red Ponytail put away the grenade gun again.
"So, are you very scared?"
"Of course, if as you said, those commoners can all use these things..."
Recalling the scene from last night, Louise was also pale at this moment. To be honest, the power at that time seemed no less than the Fireball Technique in Louise’s eyes. And SABER actually said that wasn’t real power. If these things truly fell into the hands of commoners... what would become of these nobles?
"Are you really going to give such dangerous things to the royal family?"
"I never said I would give them for free."
Red Ponytail waved her hand.
"This is merely a transaction. I want to see if Tolisstin has anything worth exchanging for. After all, it’s quite interesting."
In fact, Red Ponytail was inspired by that Plane Merchant Miss from the past, who liked to wander back and forth between worlds, bartering goods. Honestly, at first, Red Ponytail hadn’t noticed, it was only later that she realized it was a highly profitable business. After all, every world needs different things, like the Little Mustache Robot she wanted, which seemed worthless and a thing to give away at random in Red Ponytail’s view. But for other worlds, perhaps that Little Mustache Robot was quite powerful—like in the current The Familiar of Zero world, to put it bluntly, this is just a low-magic world, where magic isn’t as advanced as in Lina Inverse’s world, and technology is at a mediocre level. If there was such a robot, it might be enough to conquer this world.
Conversely, some common things in the magic world can’t be found in the sci-fi world. For instance, in some magic worlds, there are even resurrection items. But in the sci-fi world, mentioning resurrection, most people would just think you’re an idiot.
Meanwhile, people in the magic world might be tired of running back to their corpse to resurrect...
Unfortunately, Fang Zheng can’t be like that girl and become a Plane Merchant, because the worlds he travels to are fixed, unlike that Miss who can wander anywhere, so she only needs to handle the buying and selling of goods. It doesn’t matter if people from the magic world buy T-Virus to spread Resident Evil, or sci-fi world people buy evil god statues planning to destroy the world, it won’t harm her at all, regardless of whether they succeed or fail, she won’t suffer a scratch, right?
In this regard, she is truly a model merchant.
Now Red Ponytail wants to see if the Tolisstin royal family will offer an appropriate price for this batch of "Staff of Destruction."
At this time, the carriage arrived at the palace, and Louise and Red Ponytail got off the carriage, guided by attendants into the palace, into a room inside. There, a young girl in a white dress was sitting in a chair, smiling at her.
"Honored to meet you, Her Royal Highness."
Louise stepped forward quickly, then knelt on the ground, respectfully saluting the girl before her, while Red Ponytail just nodded to her.
Seeing this, the man standing behind the Princess narrowed his eyes.
"Insolent, why do you not kneel before the Princess?!"
"Because I’m not a citizen of yours, and I have nothing to do with Tolisstin."
Red Ponytail seemed quite calm.
"Also... I won’t kneel before a mortal."
"What did you say?!"
Upon hearing this, the man’s eyes widened, and Louise turned her head somewhat shocked to look at Red Ponytail.
"How dare you do this, you’re disrespecting the dignity of the Tolisstin royal family! Guards, take her down...!"
"Shh!"
But before the man could finish speaking, Red Ponytail abruptly drew her longsword and pointed it at the man. In the next moment, unparalleled Dragon Might erupted, covering the entire room, and the man targeted by Dragon Might turned pale, unable to speak a word. He stared into Red Ponytail’s bright red eyes, as if being watched by a terrifying beast.
"Listen, mortal, my willingness to stand here and talk with you is already a grace. Don’t push it... Hmm, this is a warning, don’t let there be a next time."
".........."
"Do you understand? If you do, nod your head."
"..........."(Nod, nod)
"Very good."
Red Ponytail lowered the greatsword, and at this moment, Dragon Might quietly dissipated, and the man slumped directly to the ground, his face pale, shaking uncontrollably, as if having a seizure. Even Louise discreetly wiped away some sweat. All along, Red Ponytail had been very gentle around her, and she had never seen the other side show such a pressuring side.
But speaking of which, who exactly is she?
It was only now that Louise realized she seemed to know almost nothing about her familiar, besides the name, where she was from, who she really was, the other seemed never to have said...
"Alright, you may retreat."
The Princess sitting in the chair didn’t seem affected at all, at least she appeared calmly enough to give an answer, and upon hearing the Princess’s answer, the man was like receiving a pardon, standing up before scurrying out of the room, not daring to look back.
"I apologize for the rude behavior of my servant, Louise, may I ask who she is..."
"Re, report to Her Royal Highness, she is my... Familiar."
At this point, Louise felt a bit lacking in confidence.
"This is really... unexpected."
Upon hearing Louise’s response, the Princess appeared quite surprised, but she still nodded towards Red Ponytail.
"Hello, Miss Familiar Spirits, it’s our first meeting. I am the Princess of Tolisstin, Henrietta de Tolisstin."
"Hello, Your Royal Highness. As for me... just call me SABER, like Louise does."
Red Ponytail shamelessly borrowed the name SABER, since it was impossible for them to cross worlds to attack her, right?
Besides, even if they did, they wouldn’t stand a chance!
"Well then, Miss SABER."
Henrietta did not dwell on the name, but continued speaking.
"I heard from the Headmaster that you have a batch of Staffs of Destruction you want to sell to the Kingdom?"
"Strictly speaking, it’s the same category of weapon."
Facing the buyer, Red Ponytail naturally refrained from spouting nonsense like before. With a wave of her right hand, she brought out the previously shown Hydra Grenade Launcher again.
"This is it."
"This is..."
"The name isn’t important. Simply put, you can see it as a handheld artillery piece. Its power and range are slightly weaker than regular artillery, but it has considerable advantages in close-range combat, is easy to carry, simple and convenient. As long as one knows how to use it, anyone can operate it."
"Anyone can operate it?"
At this point, an elderly man dressed in a manner similar to nobility suddenly spoke up, and Red Ponytail smiled at him.
"That’s right, anyone, even children... Well, probably not, because they can’t hold it."
"So, do you mean that as long as they can hold it, even children can easily use it?"
"Exactly."
Ignoring Louise’s frantic signaling, Red Ponytail smugly nodded.
"Well, how many of these weapons do you have?"
"As many as you want. I could equip the entire Kingdom with one weapon each."
After all, it’s like America’s arms depot across two worlds, more than enough to outfit a planet.
Upon hearing this, the elderly man and the Princess both showed surprised expressions.
They then exchanged glances.
"Well... could I try it first?"
"Of course, it’s not very convenient here. Let’s find a more open space."
Quickly, the group arrived at a training ground in the Royal Palace, and Red Ponytail handed Princess Henrietta a grenade launcher, then began hands-on teaching her how to use it.
"First, do this. Put the grenade inside, that’s right, like loading a cannonball into a cannon barrel. Then disengage the safety. Remember not to point the muzzle at people, aim ahead — yes, aim through this, then pull the trigger."
According to Red Ponytail’s instructions, Henrietta struggled with the preparations, then aimed at a training dummy in front and pulled the trigger. With a "bang," a grenade shot out, hitting the dummy, followed by the sound of a "boom" as an explosion unfolded, shattering the area within a few meters and pulverizing even the tough stone slabs.
"Is it... really just that simple?"
Staring at the grenade launcher in her hand and the dummy blown to pieces in front of her, Henrietta was momentarily at a loss for words. The same effect could be achieved with the Fireball Technique, but even palace mages required a magic wand and a Chant Spell, while this weapon accomplished it with such simplicity?
"Does this weapon have any restrictions?"
"The bullets need to be replaced when depleted, otherwise there’s nothing else. By the way, bullets are charged separately."
If possible, Red Ponytail would charge for the grenade launcher’s parts separately too.
But she knew that would be too much.
"......"
This time, Henrietta was utterly speechless.
Mages need rest; Magic Power isn’t infinite, so even mages in battle need time to recover. But this weapon is different. Being a weapon, as long as it isn’t damaged and there are enough shells, it can be used continuously... Anyone from the Royal Family who is competent knows what this implies.
Henrietta exchanged glances with the elderly man again, her expression becoming serious.
"Well then, Miss SABER. How much do you plan to sell this weapon to us for?"
"I don’t want money."
"...Eh?"
"The currency of this world holds no value to me, whether gold coins, silver coins, or gemstones. But if it’s something interesting or unusual, you can trade it with me. As long as I find it good, I’ll exchange for it."
"Unusual... interesting?"
"Exactly, but it must be Appraised by me first."
At this point, Red Ponytail couldn’t help remembering the rocket launcher that was cherished as a Secret Treasure. Given the nature of this world, who knows what kind of bizarre things might appear — if they brought her something like a WWII tank or some kind of war machine hailed as a precious Secret Treasure, she’d truly be upset.
Ultimately, Princess Henrietta ended the conversation citing "needing some time to think," and Red Ponytail hadn’t expected to secure an order immediately, so she left upon bidding farewell.
"What do you think, Minister of Military Affairs?"
After the two departed, Princess Henrietta promptly asked the elderly man beside her.
"Indeed, it’s a very frightening weapon."
Upon the Princess’s inquiry, the elderly man nods. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
"If what that lady says is true and she possesses a sufficient quantity of weapons, it’d be enough to elevate the Kingdom’s strength to a higher level."
"Well then, as she suggested..."
"Please don’t be too hasty, Your Highness."
However, this time, the elderly man interrupted the Princess’s words.
"Currently, the national treasury doesn’t have enough property, and the other side isn’t asking for money either, making it difficult to evaluate. Moreover... I think further investigation is warranted."
"Investigation?"
"Yes, the weapon she presented employs technology that we’ve never seen before, and we don’t know which faction’s representative she is. More importantly, she said she was summoned by Miss Valyriel as a Familiar Spirit, but I’ve never heard of summoning a person as a Familiar Spirit."
Upon hearing this, the Princess frowned slightly with displeasure.
"Do you suspect Louise is deceiving me?"
"Of course not, but we cannot guarantee whether someone might deliberately use her to get close to Your Royal Highness."
"What could anyone gain by getting close to a decoration like me?"
Upon hearing this, Henrietta revealed a self-deprecating smile.
"Isn’t that the rumor in the streets? Although Tolisstin’s royal family has beauty, they lack a magic wand. The one holding the wand is Minister of Military Affairs Mazzarieni, the gray-hatted bird bone."
Faced with the Princess’s words, the elderly man squinted.
"This is just the city gossip."
"Yes, it’s just rumors..."
At this point, Henrietta sighed in exhaustion.
"Well then, I’ll leave this matter to you, Minister of Military Affairs."