Master Blacksmith Gerard stepped forward. He was the most skilled metalworker in the entire Frankish Empire. He regularly forged steel breastplates that cost one hundred silver coins each.

Gerard picked up the musket. He used a small iron ruler to measure the weapon.

"This weapon weighs ten pounds..." Gerard stated. "The base is made of carved wood, perfectly shaped to rest against a man’s shoulder to absorb kinetic force. The iron barrel is thirty-six inches long. The hole inside the barrel is round and measures exactly half an inch in diameter."

Gerard then pointed to the small metal parts near the back of the barrel.

"There is a complex mechanical lever attached to the side," Gerard explained. "The lever holds a small piece of sharp flint stone. When the user pulls this small iron trigger, a tightly coiled steel spring releases the lever. The flint strikes a piece of hardened steel, creating a spark. The spark falls directly into a small iron pan located right next to a tiny hole in the barrel."

The other forty-nine blacksmiths in the room gasped. They looked at the musket as if it had fallen from the sky.

"How can something like that exist?" a master blacksmith from Lyon asked loudly. "To make a hollow iron tube of this length, a blacksmith must take a flat sheet of hot iron and hammer it around a solid iron rod. This process naturally creates a seam down the entire length of the barrel. If we put explosive powder inside a seamed tube, the pressure will instantly break the weld."

The thirty scholars in the room began talking rapidly among themselves. They were men who read books in Latin and studied mathematics. They had always believed that the Vikings were just wild barbarians who only knew how to swing iron axes.

...Now, they were looking at a piece of machinery that was vastly superior to anything the Frankish Empire had ever produced.

Next, Master Alchemist Bernard stepped forward. Bernard was a chemist in Paris.

He picked up the leather powder horn. He poured one ounce of the black powder onto a clean piece of white paper on the table.

"This is the explosive material..." Bernard explained to the Emperor, "It is a highly precise mixture of three distinct elements. I can clearly smell the sulfur. I can see the crushed black charcoal. But the third element is the secret. It is a white crystal called saltpeter. We use saltpeter to preserve salted meat, but the Iron Kingdom is using it to accelerate the burning process of the charcoal."

Bernard rubbed his chin, looking at the black powder with deep respect.

"If we mix too much charcoal, the powder will simply burn slowly like a regular fire. If we mix too much saltpeter, the chemical reaction will be too violent, and it will shatter the iron barrel regardless of how strong the metal is. King Ragnar Ulfsson has discovered the perfect explosive ratio."

"I don’t care," Emperor Louis said loudly in the chamber. "I am establishing a new learning court right here in Paris."

"The first blacksmith who successfully forges a working iron barrel will receive a reward of five thousand silver coins. The first alchemist who replicates the black powder ratio will also receive five thousand silver coins. You will not sleep, and you will not leave this city until we have our own muskets!"

The fifty blacksmiths and the thirty scholars bowed deeply to the Emperor. Five thousand silver coins was an unimaginable amount of wealth.

They immediately picked up small iron tools and began carefully dismantling the captured musket on the table.

***

Back in the tent outside Calais, Duke Odo finished reading the letter. He rolled the paper up and placed it on the table. A joyful smile spread across his face.

Count Lothair leaned back on his bench. He let out a long sigh of relief.

"Do you hear this, Lothair?" Duke Odo laughed happily. "The Emperor is not angry with us for losing the battle. The entire capital city of Paris is currently working day and night to copy the musket! The smartest scholars and the best blacksmiths are completely focused on this single goal."

"Sigh... This is excellent news~" Count Lothair agreed. "We do not have to risk our lives charging. All we have to do is sit in our tents and wait."

"Exactly," Duke Odo said, picking up his piece of roasted pork again. "I will order them to bring us one hundred wooden carts of wheat and salted beef every week. We will keep the Vikings trapped inside the city."

Duke Odo looked out the opening of the tent. He could see the high stone walls of Calais in the distance.

"In two or three months, Emperor Louis will send us ten thousand Frankish muskets. When that day comes, we will aim our own iron tubes at the city." Duke Odo smiled.

***

April 15, 870 AD

Southern Coast, Wessex

A small boat bumped against the docks of a quiet fishing village. The boat had a single canvas sail.

Queen Ermentrude stepped out of the boat onto the dock. She was followed by her four children: Charles the Younger, Carloman, Rotrude, and Gisela. The loyal spy, Pierre, tied the rope to a post.

The journey across the English Channel had taken sixteen days. The ocean water had been rough, and the wind had blown them completely off their planned route. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"We are finally in England~" Queen Ermentrude said.

"Mother, we cannot walk to City Titan," Charles stated. "Gisela is crying. We need transport."

Pierre walked to the closest house and knocked on the door. He spoke to a local Saxon fisherman.

Pierre used twenty gold coins from the bag to purchase two brown horses and a small wooden cart.

The royal family climbed into the cart. Pierre and Charles rode the two horses. They traveled down the dirt road heading straight toward City Titan.

...

Meanwhile, inside the administrative building of City Titan, a single oil lantern provided bright light.

Louis the Stammerer stood next to the table. Hakon, the giant bodyguard, stood next to the door, holding his axe.

Leofric, the Chief Minister of City Titan, was sitting on a chair, looking at two pieces of paper.

Ragnar had given Leofric these two paper blueprints earlier that morning. Ragnar had ordered Leofric to give the blueprints to the local farmers.

"Louis, I do not understand these pictures," Leofric said, pointing at the paper. "King Ragnar said these two tools will increase our total agricultural harvest by 300% next year. How can simple iron tools do that? We already use wooden plows."