Interlude 13. Clicking Klaus

Sighing, Klaus set aside the latest sheaf of documents and sighed. As much as he hated to concede the ground, he had to admit he's been solidly outmaneuvered out there. For now, at least until the roads are finished, lady Gillespie was completely untouchable. Of course, he still intended to pilfer every last secret she'd let slip, but insofar as rough tactics were concerned, he was explicitly ordered to maintain a strictly hands-off approach. Worse yet, the latest actions had completely fudged his expectations. Who in their right mind would just give a whole strategic reserve worth of weaponry as a gift!? Good grief, he and Alphonse had expected maybe a sword or two as a personal present to the king, not five crates of ripple steel. Worse yet, the provided pieces were spearheads and arrowheads. As in, the exact stuff one would want if they intended to seriously bolster the defenses, as opposed to expected baubles. The whole royal blacksmith was in an uproar - every single craftsman had been called in to put the proffered bits on the proper hafts and arrowshafts. Forget the castle, the whole Berlinger had been scoured for experienced fletchers to turn the arrowheads into readiness.

As of nine o'clock this evening, Kraut kingdom was in possession of a trump to pretty much any force one could possibly send against them, up and including Sultanate dragons! If needs be, they could arm the entirety of the royal garrison with ripple steel! Unbelievable. Such profligate wealth. And all it did was inspire a cold dread in Klaus - if Champagne felt confident to gift that much to Kraut, how much of a reserve did THEY had? Enough to field an army armed with ripple steel? Klaus had nightmares about Champagne knights clad in ripple steel chainmail just ripping through the Kraut defenses like wet paper.

And even worse, if that defiled devil of a woman could produce so much ripple steel, what else did she make? His spies in Champagne had been giving rather confusing reports. No major army training that he would expect, given the grand scale rearmaments Champagne was surely undertaking. No increased recruitment, either. It seemed like their western neighbor so far intended to keep things peaceful. A small relief, that. The sharp increase in trade goods, however... His latest acquisition was a carriage. Some clever soul (no prizes for guessing whom exactly) had endeavored to fit heavy steel springs between the axles and carriage itself. Which, in turn, meant those carriages could be driven at much faster speeds without breaking the goods within or making the carriage drivers take long pauses to recover from the pain in their buttocks. Royal blacksmiths took a look, clicked their tongues a lot and attempted to cast the spirals to recreate the notion. It was a disaster. Cast springs just broke instead of cushioning. They were obviously forged and tempered somehow to work as intended, but... how? To add insult to injury, the goods list offered to Alphonse even listed those very same springs, and named a cost that was actually rather affordable, even considering the hassle of bringing them all the way to southern Champagne and back up north over Kraut roads. Alphonse already placed an order for a hundred, intending to have all of his personal carriages fitted. Klaus had no doubt the merchants would be all over those. Giving the landbound merchants yet ANOTHER shot in the arm. Mercantile control was slipping out of his fingers thread by thread.

Another bit of irritation was the discovery that apparently the tar roads were exactly as simple as his spies had ferreted. The exact instructions had been given to Alphonse with much fanfare, and a hastily paved stretch of road near the castle had confirmed it - it was indeed a simplicity in itself, left undiscovered simply due to no one getting an idea to muck around with tar. Already, the kingdom was scrambling for labor as Alphonse ordered all sorts of highways to be paved. They thankfully had their own tarpits in the southern mountains, so no need to import that too. But.. gah! If only Klaus did not dismiss the process as obviously incomplete, they could have been paving as early as mid-autumn, not just starting at the onset of winter. With the speed those roads could be made, a month of difference could really be obvious.

Pouring himself a glass of schnapps, Klaus threw it back and growled. He needed new... insights. Damn it, why not? Putting his hand on a potted dandelion, he ran himself through the scrying spell, wondering what kind of oddment he would procure this time. What thunked on his table was... a cookie. A simple cookie, if one were to disregard the fact it was encrusted with some sort of brown-blackish chunks. The detection spell told him nothing. The cookie was not poisonous, the chunks were merely a thick cream made out of some tree fruit he was not familiar with, and there was no magic about that cookie. At all. A full hour later, frustrated Klaus gave up. Staring at the cookie balefully for a moment, he picked it up, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed resolutely.

Oh gods what!!? The taste that blasted his mouth was rich, sweet and entirely unfamiliar. But ever so heady and energetic that Klaus sat up straight abruptly, his tongue swishing in his mouth as he swallowed every single crumb that still remained there. So. Much. Energy! Such vigor! Oh gods, THAT must be the secret weapon Gillespie was holding back! The alchemical treats that destroyed fatigue! Gods and stars, he needed that secret NOW! Grabbing the fresh sheet of paper, Klaus started to jot things down. New orders to his spies had to be made. At all costs, they were to procure more samples of this wondrous treat. If Kraut alchemists could divine the cream's exact ingredients, why... His whole department could abolish the very idea of sleep with such a wonderful remedy. No wonders Gillespie run circles around him and his, the darn witch had no need to sleep if she had such a remedy! And Klaus would be damned if he could not secure more of that for himself and his underlings. This was of paramount, national importance! Cookies!