Berserk: The Prophet

.........

In the early morning, sunlight streamed through the castle's stained-glass windows, as if the thunderstorm of the previous night had never happened. Outside the window, sparrows and some rare birds were chirping and singing on the branches. It had been a long time since he had experienced such a naturally awakened morning, and Green opened his eyes.

I felt a little tightness in my chest. Just as I was about to take a deep breath, I realized there was a child lying on top of me. It was Fethus, sleeping soundly.

The view shifts to the system interface; it's already early morning, and we'll officially set off this afternoon. Trunks should be mustering his troops right now.

Although he had packed a lot of luggage and stored it in his space yesterday, he still needed to put on his armor early. Green carefully moved his body out and put on his clothes. In order not to wake Fetnas, he put the armor into his space and changed it with one click. Having a system is so convenient; he can dress himself up.

He shouldered his greatsword and luggage and left the room. The maids seemed to have tacitly agreed not to urge Green to get up early today, as if they all knew about Fetnas's visit to Ryan's room.

Green was holding his helmet and about to go downstairs for breakfast when he discovered that Seranti was already sitting on the windowsill at the end of the corridor, playing with a dagger.

Green: "......"

Seranti: "Is everything packed?"

Green: "Yes, Mr. Seranti, why are you staying in such a remote and awkward place again? Aren't you afraid of getting a cold bottom?"

Seranti: "..."

It was impossible to see Seranti's expression behind his mask, but he must have been quite displeased. He nimbly jumped down from the windowsill and strode towards Grin.

Seeing that things were not going well, Green quickly slipped downstairs and plopped down at the dining table. Hmm, a sumptuous breakfast, soft slices of cheese bread, which would be nice with honey, and a slice of freshly grilled steak, it tasted great.

“Your provisions for the journey have been prepared, young master Ryan.”

The servant who had been taking care of Green packed the provisions into a blue package and placed it on the table.

"Thanks, Uncle Pogi."

"I hope you return safely, Master Ryan."

“No problem, with Trunks around, he’ll definitely come back safely, right, Mr. Seranti?” Green chewed on a slice of bread, took a sip of milk, and looked at Seranti, who had just come downstairs, as he changed the subject.

Seranti: "..."

"You're right, hurry up and finish eating, you brat. Get to Trunks' place early. I heard that old man Casarian has prepared something good for you, developed in the alchemist's lab." Thranduil flicked Green on the back of the head and walked away.

"Hey, it hurts."

Green tried to dodge, but the area he could escape from was limited. His head was red from the blows, and he almost bit his tongue, which he was chewing. Ugh, what a vengeful guy.

.........

After the meal, they arrived at the military camp outside the castle. The knights of the Holy Dragon Knights were lined up in an orderly fashion in the training stables, all ready to go. However, because they needed to check the equipment and the horses' condition one last time, they would not depart until the afternoon. The horses were still in the stables and had not yet been brought out. The Barkley heavy lancers selected for this battle were also among them, but it was clear that by the time Green arrived, they had already finished their troop roll call, instructions, and... task assignments.

“You’ve come at the right time, Ryan.”

Trunks had just left his post and was chatting with Seranthi when he saw Green arrive and strode over to him.

"Sorry, I'm late."

"Not too late, just in time. I've already heard about what happened last night. Come with me, the old man's gift for you is in the armory."

"Huh? What is it that I wanted to hear about last night?"

"Didn't Fertness sneak into your room last night?"

"correct."

"Haha, whatever you do, don't tell Fetnas, everyone in the castle knows about this."

"Huh? What's the big deal?"

"Because everyone knows my introverted brother doesn't leave his room at night, and you two get along really well..."

“This…” Green was speechless.

"Yeah, otherwise I would have woken you up long ago. You're sleeping like a pig," Seranti complained from the side, his mouth as sharp as ever.

"Huh? You've been to my room?" Green asked, wondering if he had been that careless.

"Tch, someone like you who doesn't know how to be vigilant at all times will die without even knowing how. It's a waste of my education on you..."

Okay. We definitely need to be more vigilant.

.........

"squeak"

The armory doors were wide open, revealing rows of swords, shields, and spears, as well as leather and steel armor and full-body armor. Pence's armory was as abundant as ever.

However, Green's little gift was on the table in the very center of the armory, and it must have been put away not long ago.

"Come on, give it a try, but we need to go to the shooting range to practice." Trunks picked up the black iron device that looked like an arm guard on the table and beckoned Green to go to the shooting range first.

"it is good!"

Fortunately, the shooting range wasn't far away. Trunks squatted down on the range so that Green could extend his left arm and then fixed the metal ring under the device onto Green's forearm. Hmm, it was quite tight.

"All right."

"Holy crap, what is this? Is it a musket or cannon?"

Green took a closer look and discovered the ingenuity of this thing, but it must weigh at least ten pounds, right? However, such a large iron block does somewhat affect the operation of the left hand.

"You guessed half right, but the thing that old man specially researched can't be that simple. Hmm... it's made of top-quality black steel. Let me teach you how to fire the ammunition first."

Is it really a firearm? That's so cool! You have to understand that in the era of cold weapons, having a firearm was a qualitative leap. You have to marvel at the power of technology.

"First, load the ammunition. If you don't have gunpowder, steel balls will do, but... they're only good for shooting birds and petty thieves."

As Trunks explained, he opened the box above the hand cannon on Green's left arm, loaded it with steel balls about two centimeters in diameter, and the spring mechanism at the bottom of the box was very tight. After loading seven balls, he pressed a button in a hidden compartment on his forearm, and a box-shaped compartment opened. Trunks opened the accompanying bag, which contained a bunch of paper packets made of kraft paper. Opening the packets, he found that they were full of black powder.

This smell... is it gunpowder? The smell of saltpeter and sulfur can be detected even without ignition.

"This compartment is for replenishing gunpowder, which is used with steel balls. The hand cannon is incredibly powerful, but it can only fire a maximum of 7 bullets before needing to be reloaded. Not only is the number of bullets limited, but the weapon will also explode if it overheats. You must be careful about this and not fire bullets frequently. You must let it cool down until it doesn't feel as hot as boiling water."

"Because the side facing the arm is insulated with a special material, and it's designed for use with upper arm armor, you have to wait for it to cool down if it feels hot. Don't use it lightly, because this weapon is only used by the Demiaris family for self-defense, understand?"