"The paddlers are running!"

With the shout from the captain, I could see the wheels at the side of the boat starting to move. In just a few minutes, the ropes that connected the two boats together tensed up, yet with its bottom already pressed against the bottom of the river, it wasn"t that easy to pull the other s.h.i.+p out!

"Take care of the cannon. This will be their last chance to use it."

Reaching to the small locker embedded in the wall of my shed, I pulled out the single rifle that differed from the many others present on both of the s.h.i.+ps. With the system willing to make those firearms for me since long ago, I would be an idiot if I didn"t make sure to create at least a single perfect weapon for myself!

Kneeling down in front of the raised side of the boat, I rested the end of my barrel against the wood and took aim at the cannon. No matter what, it couldn"t be fired even once!

"Sir… I"m worried our steam horses won"t manage…"

Just as if the fate wanted to slap my captain in his face, our s.h.i.+p suddenly shook, making it hard for me to keep aim at my target… Only for a loud crack to be heard from the belly of our vessel!

A single glance at the paddlers was enough to confirm that while successful at pulling out the other s.h.i.+p from the shallow waters, it seemed like it wouldn"t be useful for anything else until repaired!

"Men, pull on the ropes yourselves! We need to get them deeper into the river!"

While the distance from the middle of the river to its sh.o.r.e wasn"t that great, it was just enough for the difference in the accuracy of my rifles and the ones possessed by bandits to show its meaning. As long as we could enter the river stream, then the river itself would carry us to safety!

"Sir… They brought another cannon!"

Pulling my eyes from the target that I observed, I saw a bunch of men pulling on the ropes and pus.h.i.+ng a small carriage with a moderately big cannon on top. 

"f.u.c.k… Keep your eyes on the new cannon, I will take care of the old one!"

Turning my eyes back to the simple scope on my rifle, it didn"t take long for the first enemy to attempt approaching the cannon with a small package in his hands.

Seeing the chance, I relaxed my hand, breathed the fresh air in and took aim.

Breathe out… Pull the finger in monotone movement, so that you won"t know when the shoot would be fired.

BOOM!

As soon as my rifle spoke out, the package in the enemy"s hands exploded in a small fireball! Those dumbf.u.c.ks actually forgot to load the cannon before bringing it out! 

Watching the result of my shoot, I relaxed my finger, allowing the trigger to return to its initial position while the loading mechanism reset the entire rifle. Maybe due to how precise the system was with its constructions, while other rifles could hold only twelve shots in their round magazines, the one that I was using could hold eighteen of them!

Most likely noticing that the majority of my soldiers focused their attention on the new threat, there were several other attempts to approach the main cannon, all promptly held back by the bullets produced by my rifle.

It was the first time when I felt so exhilarated and depressed at the same time. Whenever I pulled my finger to the back of the trigger chamber, life would be taken. While it was a life that threatened the safety of me, Elia and my people, it was a life nevertheless, one that could otherwise be used to further the development of the country!

"Sir, we are reaching a safe distance!"

Fully focused on the scope of my rifle, with the regular shockwaves shaking my body as more and more gunpowder exploded near my face whenever I would pull the trigger, I failed to realise that there was no need to be so careful anymore. Despite the cannons being easily able to shoot as far as we were away from them, the chances of a single or two shots landing perfectly at one of my s.h.i.+ps were too small to be even considered seriously!

"Good. Keep an eye on the cannons. While they shouldn"t pose any troubles now, I don"t want them to fire anyway."

Moving up from my previous position, I could finally send a calm look towards the other s.h.i.+p. As the two paddlers were drifting away towards the centre of the river, it was only a matter of time before the local current would push us north, allowing us a moment of respite.

"How is the situation on the other s.h.i.+p?"

With the shoots from the sh.o.r.e finally dying off as the chance of accurately hitting anything from that distance was too small to be worth wasting the gunpowder on it, I could, at last, a.s.sess the situation.

"Seven injured, four dead. Sadly, the messenger we attempted to pick up died as well!"

Hearing the news, I couldn"t help but click my tongue. After all this fighting, the only chance at uncovering who was behind this attack was gone. Not only I didn"t get anything out of this clash, I even lost some of my men!

While the hurdle of understanding that people died because they served me was still hard to handle, with how I wasn"t directly responsible for their deaths, it wasn"t as bad as when the faulty steam horse erupted back in the mining town.

"Get some of the unwounded sailors to swim to the other s.h.i.+p. We need to restart its steam horses as soon as possible. Even if the current can carry us to the safety if those… bandits managed to find a way to procure a cannon, I can"t really imagine them giving up after just the first clas.h.!.+"