Tyranny of Steel

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 movement would cause the petri dish in his hands to blow up in his face. The substance contained within the glass was none other than Mercury 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 experimentation, 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 development due to the efforts of the Kufstein Chemistry Department. 

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 experiment 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 mercury fulminate, which Berengar himself was incapable of doing. Though Berengar had a photographic memory 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 development of chemical compounds to the men best suited to the task, and that was Aldo von Passau and his Department of Chemistry. Aldo was quite excited about this new discovery.

The mere 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 moments of awkward silence, Aldo von Passau announced the results.

"We have finally done it! We have created mercury fulminate! What we need to do now is create as much of this compound as possible so that by the time King Berengar returns from his war for independence, we may surprise him!" 

When the man's subordinates heard this, they immediately 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 men 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 mercury 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 become 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 moment, 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 immediately got out of his chair and walked over to it, where he was surprised to see the head of Berengar's chemistry department standing in his doorway with a vial that was filled with a fine white powder. 

Immediately Ludwig's cheerful expression began to sink when he saw the dapper older man gazing at him with contempt. The contrast between the two men 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 department has just finished making something 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 immediately 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 mercury 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 me, Aldo, what exactly do you want me 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 calmed himself; he never enjoyed spending time 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 men 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 something by the time that our King returns from the battlefield, but Aldo, I will need more than just this tiny vial if my experiments 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 merely 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 experiments. Just make sure you produce good results with the mercury fulminate that I will be providing you. I want Berengar to come home and see the contributions that my department 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 mercury fulminate in a safe location before commenting 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 some time before he was suddenly reminded of a serious complaint that his father had always mentioned regarding the existing flintlock mechanism. 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 some time 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 means to ignite the paper cartridge once it sealed within the chamber, correct? Well, what if we filled a small metallic cup with the explosive Aldo had given us and encased it within the paper cartridge?

I mean, we don't know how this explosive works yet, but with some experimentation, 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 experimenting with, but what his son had said was entirely feasible. With that in mind, the father and son immediately got to work, as they would begin to revise the blueprints and experiment with the explosive powder. 

Though the two men had no way of knowing it, they were about to invent an essential piece of military technology that Berengar had been planning for some time 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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