Aldo von Passau stared at the substance in his hands with a cautious expression upon his face, almost as if he were afraid that the slightest movent would cause the petri dish in his hands to blow up in his face. The substance contained within the glass was none other than rcury Fulminate, an explosive compound most commonly found within munitions such as percussion caps during Berengar's past life.
The middle-aged Chemist gazed fondly at the substance; after years of experintation, he and his team had finally created a chemical compound that could be used to enhance Berengar's military might.
While Berengar's enemies had begun the lengthy process of reverse engineering matchlock and flintlock weapons captured in warfare, it could be said that Austria had now reached a crucial point in arms developnt due to the efforts of the Kufstein Chemistry Departnt.
It had been close to three years since the Chemist found himself fleeing the church's wrath into the then Viscounty of Kufstein. As Berengar's borders expanded, so too did the number of Alchemists who were forced into Kufstein's labs to learn the science of Chemistry.
With more Chemists appearing among Aldo's ranks, they had begun to experint in many different directions within the field of chemistry; one of these directions was research into explosive compounds.
After years of study, they had finally created rcury fulminate, which Berengar himself was incapable of doing. Though Berengar had a photographic mory filled with many important inventions from his past life, his knowledge of Chemistry was basic, to say the least.
As such, the young King had left the developnt of chemical compounds to the n best suited to the task, and that was Aldo von Passau and his Departnt of Chemistry. Aldo was quite excited about this new discovery.
The re thought of his newest invention brought a smile like no other to the man's face. His subordinates stared at his curious expression from afar, thinking that the man had gone mad.? After a few monts of awkward silence, Aldo von Passau announced the results.
"We have finally done it! We have created rcury fulminate! What we need to do now is create as much of this compound as possible so that by the ti King Berengar returns from his war for independence, we may surprise him!"
When the man's subordinates heard this, they imdiately began to frown; they were already overworked as it was, now they had to produce a stockpile of this new compound? It would appear that Aldo wanted to work his n to an early grave.? Despite their reservations, they did as they were instructed and began to prepare another batch. It would be well over 12 hours before they were finally afforded any form of rest.
While the chemists of Austria were busy mass-producing rcury fulminate, Aldo had brought a sample of the substance with him to a man who was quite renowned within the city of Kufstein. Baronet Ludwig Schmidt had beco an exceptionally wealthy man since Berengar's rise to power. Though he was getting on in the years, he continued to work in the industrial sector, overseeing Kufstein's massive industry.
Ludwig, at the mont, was preparing his son Jakob to take over his role within the next five to ten years; after all, he planned to retire when he reached an appropriate age and leave his work in the hands of his eldest son, who he knew would serve Berengar faithfully.
While he was in his office, with his son, the older man heard a knock on his door, as such he imdiately got out of his chair and walked over to it, where he was surprised to see the head of Berengar's chemistry departnt standing in his doorway with a vial that was filled with a fine white powder.
Imdiately Ludwig's cheerful expression began to sink when he saw the dapper older man gazing at him with contempt. The contrast between the two n was quite substantial; Aldo was tall and refined in appearance, with a clean and elegant sense of attire.
While Ludwig was short and ragged, dressed in a blacksmith's apron that was covered in filth. Even his skin had oil, and soot spread across it. Ludwig gritted his teeth as he asked the question on his mind to the gentleman standing before him; as he spoke, it was not in the friendliest tone of voice.
"What are you doing here, Aldo?"
Aldo's expression was filled with smugness as he responded to Ludwig's question.
"My departnt has just finished making sothing incredible; I brought a sample over for you to test. Be careful, I know it is difficult for a simple man like you to understand, but this is a hazardous explosive compound.
When Ludwig heard these words, his natural prejudice towards Aldo imdiately flew out the window, instead, his curiosity had replaced any inner fury that may have been dwelling within him. Ludwig carefully grabbed ahold of the rcury fulminate and gazed upon it with keen interest. He could not help but ask another question of the man who was his bitter rival.
"Tell , Aldo, what exactly do you want to do with this?"
Aldo's arrogant expression never shifted as he spoke to Ludwig as if he were an inferior.
"You're the engineer; it is your job to design new weapons for Berengar's forces to use. Figure out how to use this compound most effectively! Make it quick, too; we have no idea how much longer King Berengar's war for independence will last."
Ludwig took a deep breath as he cald himself; he never enjoyed spending ti with Aldo; the man acted so high and mighty around him, all because he was born to a much more prestigious position; Aldo was one of the many older n in Austria who still treated the nobility as if they were superior to the common folk in every way. After Ludwig had reached a state of mind where he could deal with Aldo's taunts, he responded to the man's outrageous demands.
"I will manage to make sothing by the ti that our King returns from the battlefield, but Aldo, I will need more than just this tiny vial if my experints are going to be successful. Are you certain that those chemists of yours are up to the task to produce the amount that I will require?"
In response, Aldo rely scoffed as he held his head high, with a haughty expression on his lips.
"You can rest assured, Ludwig; my Chemists will be able to produce more than enough to satisfy your so-called experints. Just make sure you produce good results with the rcury fulminate that I will be providing you. I want Berengar to co ho and see the contributions that my departnt has made with a proper demonstration."
After saying this, Aldo did not wait for a response; he simply departed from the factory with a look of disgust on his face. Though he knew Ludwig had provided much aid to Berengar's rise to power, he could not understand why the King would promote such an uncouth man to any form of nobility.
After Aldo had departed, Ludwig sighed heavily before returning to his son, who was sitting patiently observing the conversation. He placed the rcury fulminate in a safe location before comnting on the experience.
"That guy is such a pompous ass! Never mind that... Do you have any good ideas on how to use this stuff, boy?"
Jakob thought about the matter for so ti before he was suddenly reminded of a serious complaint that his father had always ntioned regarding the existing flintlock chanism. As such, he quickly got to action and searched amidst the piles of papers stacked throughout the office until he found what he was looking for.
The young man cleared the table with a wide grin on his face and pointed at the rifle design that Ludwig had been attempting to create for so ti now, the purpose behind this rifle was to solve the issues regarding weatherproofing that the flintlock action had by nature and to increase the rate of fire of the average soldier.
"Father, the critical component of your rifle design that has been missing was a ans to ignite the paper cartridge once it sealed within the chamber, correct? Well, what if we filled a small tallic cup with the explosive Aldo had given us and encased it within the paper cartridge?
I an, we don't know how this explosive works yet, but with so experintation, we might be able to make this work!"
Ludwig was shocked; until now, he had completely given up on the needle rifle design that he was experinting with, but what his son had said was entirely feasible. With that in mind, the father and son imdiately got to work, as they would begin to revise the blueprints and experint with the explosive powder.
Though the two n had no way of knowing it, they were about to invent an essential piece of military technology that Berengar had been planning for so ti now. One that would allow Austria to remain dominant in a world where its enemies had begun to reverse engineer its current weapons.
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