“Eh?”

  “That hair color….You’re a vampire- Hey!”

  In an attempt to break free from Belisari, the white hair girl tries to rotate her pistol on her hand toward Belisari. But the prince quickly recognizes the threat and responds by grabbing her wrist with his left hand and holding it tightly, causing the gun to slip out of the girl’s hand and fall to the ground:

  ”Do not do anything stupid. I just want to negotiate."

  “Then release me!”

  “Maybe later, but not yet!…anyhow…”

  The prince gazes his eyes around. People began forming a curious crowd surrounding them. Completely understandable.

  The explosion, then the appearance of a vampire individual , then there was an officer holding a weapon on the street and rushed out to suppress that vampire... All of these happening in a short time could drag many people’s attention.

  And that is not good at all, however, all of these things are enough to alert the mounted gendarmerie to come here and see what had dragged people here. Belisari is a prince, so he will not be arrested for making a fuss if they come, but he will have to reveal their identity to the policemen, which is not an option if Belisari want to keep his reputation to go outside:

  “Follow me”

  Belisari said to the girl behind him, before he picked up all the things that had fallen to the ground, stuffed them back into her backpack, then held her hand and rushed out of the crowd of people into a nearby dark alley.

  “Agh- horrible…”

  There's a foul smell in here, probably coming from some barrels of spoiled fruit. Does not matter, the prince grabbed the girl with one hand, and with the other held those barrels to block the entrance to the alley, just in time.

  Outside, the mounted gendarmeries have arrived to disperse the crowd.

  "We are safe for now"-The prince turned back to look at the girl after making sure no one was following the two. She has stopped resisting, probably too tired, which is rather strange.

  The “vampire” weaker than he thought, but it's fine because Belisari has had a one:

  “Okay, let us make a deal, if you answer all my questions, I will release your hand.”

  "No! Set me free first.”

  “Don't try to bargain-”

  “Please.”

  Using all her remaining strength, the girl clasped her hands together into a begging gesture.

  “Ugh-”

  That, combine with the fact that the vampire’s appearance as a child, the desperate look on her face, and the “please” that keep coming every ten second, the prince felt soft-hearted, so he let go and sat down on a nearby barrel to rest, but he still held his sword tightly in case of need:

  “Phew, thank you- no, I don't owe you anything to thank you.”

  “May I land a gentle hit on your head?.”

  Having said that, Belisari is not sure if he can beat the girl if she goes all rage.

  Vampires have two phases, normally their physical condition is quite average, only a little stronger than an average human. For a soldier like Belisari, beating a vampire in normal mode is fairly easy.

  However, in an emergency such as in battle, the creatures can manifest their vampiric strength and increase their combat power significantly. Once they are in rage, vampires will be far beyond ordinary people in terms of raw power, in return of a massive amount of energy.

  In other way to put it: if the girl in front of Belisari switched to rage mode, the prince would have no way to fight back alone. In all of Latila there are exactly two people stronger than vampires in combat mode, unfortunately Belisari is not one of them.

  However, fortunately, thanks to advanced weaponry, he can easily last long enough and fight loud to attract the arquebuses-armed gendarmeries nearby, from that point suppressing the vampire is an easy task. Also, if the girl actually went into rage mode, she would be the one to be blamed for making the fuss, not him, so the prince’s reputation is completely sealed in that situation.

  “Phew”

  Being set free, the "vampire" takes a long sigh of relief about the previous mess she rammed into, before reaching into her bag and rummaging through her belongings. Belisari saw this and pulled out half of his sword, ready to deal with whatever was coming...but the thing the girl pulled out, it was a bottle?

  More strangely she began pouring the water from that bottle onto the place Belisari had just grabbed, which now looked purple and red from the blood:

  "What is that?" - the prince asked curiously.

  “Uh...antiseptic...well, if I say that, you probably won’t understand...let's just consider it as pain relief, okay? By the way" - The girl put the bottle back in her backpack - "You are so rude. You said you want to negotiate, yet you approached me with aggression."

  “Yeah, sorry, I was a bit too hot-tempered.”

  Belisari scratched his head apologetically. At the same time, the girl walked over and sat down right next to the prince:

  “I guess I can forgive you. Now, would you be so kind as to let me know your name, my good sir?”

  "Belisari Flarius..." - the prince hesitated for a moment, but decided not to reveal his last name - "What about yours?"

  “Um…”

  “Hey, don’t you tell me you forgot your own name-”

  “Aurora…”-she says-”You can call me Aurora.”

  That girl calling herself Aurora finished speaking and winked, as if she were the main character revealing her secret name to a background support.

  “That your real name?”

  “Just call me Aurora.”

  “Yeah yeah okay.”

  The prince surrendered, lamenting- “Aurora, right?”

  “That's right.”

  “Okay, good”-Belisari finally calmed down

  “I have generously called you Aurora, please tell me that your parents are aristocratic vampires, that would make me very happy, but if they are just regular vampire individuals then it is also fine.”

  "Huh? What vampires and former empire?”

  “Stop joking around, Aurora- huh?”

  The second time the prince was stunned that day.

  Well...actually, vampires have, in addition to the identifying characteristic of silvery white hair, they also have red pupils, matching the color of the blood flowing under the eye because that race lacks color pigments, a factor that normally influences eye color of non-vampire. Let’s say, a vampire may have black or brown hair if that individual is very young and the iron hasn't accumulated in the hair enough to form a white silver color.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  For their eyes however, they are always red, male or female, old, young or newborn, pure blood or not.

  Aurora is different, her eyes are very beautiful, sparkling and deep. They bring a very comfortable feeling to those who look at them. In addition, her eyelashes are long and curved, a charming beauty, nothing can compare to her beautiful dark brown eyes.

  But it's dark brown, not red.

  “You...aren't a vampire?”

  “I’ve always told you I am not.”

  Then Aurora bared her teeth, white and straight, no metallic smell, no fangs. That is a terrible stereotype, as vampires here can hide their teeth if they wanted to, and they regularly eat cooked food aside from blood, so the metallic smell is not that rough.

  However, the eyes are enough to tell that she is human.

  "HUH?!"

  When looking from a distance, it is difficult to determine the color of Aurora’s eyes, so Belisari only focuses on hair color to identify vampires. Now looking closely, Belisari realizes that the girl who he thought to be a vampire turned out to be just an ordinary person, though her hair color is a bit special.

  But regardless of whatever happened, the Prince had fooled himself:

  "Damned! I wasted a whole day looking for you!”

  “It's your fault, not mine!? But why do you need vampires?”

  Aurora glanced at Belisari, the man who stood up and is standing there in shock upon the disappointing realization. She makes a guess, the clothes he was wearing... Although it was a bit messy, perhaps because it was old, the design was quite neat and easily recognizable:

  “You look like a guy from the army...if that's the case then...are you planning on recruiting vampires into the armed forces? It is said that they are much stronger than normal people when fighting.”

  “That's right, at least you have some...background knowledge. Yeah, that's obvious. You have white hair so I thought you were a vampire..."-Continuing lamenting the Archprince.

  “Oh, sorry to have disappointed you.”

  “God! Why did you deceive me-”

  Wait a minute, if Aurora wasn't a vampire, how would she defeat those thugs?

  Thinking of that, Belisari immediately stopped complaining.

  The clue lies in that black streak, Aurora must have used something explosive to repel those people, but what was it?

  There was an explosion sound like a cannon firing, then smoke rose from the black streak.

  It wasn't a gun for certain, a gun is too small, it wasn't a cannon either, cannons are too big to carry, and it wasn't a grenade, grenades mainly just burn, right? They don't create loud explosions or dark streaks on the ground…information are floating around, but connecting these dots is headaching. The more he thinks about it, the more confused Belisari is. Better ask Aurora herself:

  “Well…the shell exploded. I fired an explosive shell”

  She said she used explosive shells.

  “Explosive shell!?”

  "Exactly, shells with explosive heads are fired with this tube"

  Aurora pulled out the metal tube that was previously used to target the bandits and showed it to Belisari. Looking closely, the prince can see how exquisitely crafted this thing is, far beyond anything he has ever seen- “And what's so special about explosive shells that makes you scream?”

  There is every reason for Belisari to scream about finding explosive shells in Latila- no, Atlasia in general. They are supposed to be absent in this continent, as no nation has them aside from Milishila.

  The first explosive shell was actually created by a Vinecian merchant. After failing to sell the invention to the government, the merchant sought for a deal with the Milishilian Naval Institution, which resulted in a resounding success, for both the inventor and the Milishilians.

  Four years ago, the Milishilian Navy with their new fleet of explosive shell equipped warships, together with the Maritime Federation Navy, easily crushed the Imperial fleet in a massive naval battle near the Milishilian island of Teuto. The wooden ships burned and melted like butter against hot knives, having no chance against the shockwaves those shells blasted onto the armor of those vessels

  Following the battle, with the Elestovakian naval force entirely gone, the coalition navy then sailed to support the bombardment of Elestovakia's coastal defense and drowned countless garrison troops in explosions of those devastation shells, forcing the Elestovakians to lay down their arms.

  Needless to mention, compared to the regular blunt cannons of Elestovakia, Latila or the Federation, the Milishila Kingdom's explosive cannons have much higher destructive power and lethality, it was those shells that stopped Elestovakia's attack upon the Gaulli continent and brought victory for the Milishilians and their allies.

  Obviously, explosive shells are extremely powerful weapons, it is understandable if Milishila decided not to reveal the production method to any country, including its former ally the Federation, so there is no way the Latilians could have a chance to get a hand on that deadly war gear.

  Yet, this girl said she has explosive shells, something that the whole kingdom does not have even one, and Latila needs right now to increase the nation's military strength. Aurora has one thing that Belisari, aside from vampire, has sought desperately for:

  “Let me see it.”

  "No"

  "10 Denarii"

  Belisari threw a gold coin that was supposed to be used to buy coffee toward the girl.

  “Still no.”-Aurora stubbornly refused.

  “Then 20!”

  And the prince threw out the remaining coins.

  “I knew it.”

  Was it an illusion, but Aurora’s dark brown eyes sparkled as she stuffed two gold coins into her pocket.

  Aurora took off her backpack, reached in and took out a cylindrical object with a cone-shaped end, on which were written a few numbers that the prince can recognize (Arabic numbers), and letters (Russian) that he is unable to read.

  “Hah!”-The girl then inserted the object into the metal tube and locked it firmly. Looking at the process of reloading, Belisari guessed that the tube is the cannon barrel, and the object is the shell.

  The loading design is strikingly familiar to a regular cannon if that is really the case:

  "Did you forget to add propellant powder?" - the prince reminded, but Aurora replied:

  “They are already included.”

  The girl replied, then took the loaded cannon and went down to the end of the alley, where there is an open view toward the sea. It has close bearing to the port, but lacks ships passing by.

  Aurora looks carefully one last time, then places the cannon on her shoulder, and aims, but she does not shoot yet. Rather, she is still waiting for something.

  “Hurry up,” Belisari urged the girl, after seeing clouds starting to gather on the horizon, it is going to rain soon. The prince probably has to stay at the Voyage palace before heading home, but before that, he must see the explosive shells of Aurora. Curiosity arose, even if it was raining at this hour, he must see those shells no matter what!

  “Just take it slowly, wait until it's safe to fire so you don't accidentally hit someone.”

  Aurora replied in a relaxing voice, in contrast to the prince's restlessness.

  Gradually, the ships are getting less and less in the firing general direction:

  “Okay, the wind is clear, the angle is -5 degrees above the shoulder. Confirm firing!”

  After saying something unmeaningful , Aurora finally clicked the launch button. It doesn't look very different from the way a normal musket is fired, Belisari commented, but then he realized that after pressing the button, there was no explosion.

  The shells had not come out:

  "Hey-"

  Brrrr

  From the end of the cannon tube, a stream of red gas was released accompanied by an invisible shockwave that pushed Belisari almost to the ground, but fortunately the prince was able to regain his composure to witness the scene he paid to see.

  "God…"

  The tip of the cannon tube emitted a ray of light, the shell has just left the barrel and is rushing straight forward, aiming towards where Aurora guided it at with the launching force provided by the red flame pushed behind the cannon.

  Fluttery, the shell glides gently in the air, compressing the air layer in front of it into a dense mass visible to the naked eye, then that layer of gas burns into fire, making the shell shine like a star in the middle of the day. Looking from afar, this thing looked many times more terrifying than a cannon. Cannons do not explode while firing as fiercely as the one Belisari had just witnessed.

  Splash! Bang!

  Very quickly, the cannon shell collided into the sea surface, then exploded a few seconds later, creating a mini tsunami which attracted a number of nearby Latilian naval ships to approach the location where the explosion had just occurred.

  Hop!

  The scene is worth witness, but to avoid being detected, Aurora immediately ran away, fleeing from the scene, towards Belisari:

  "Is it great?" - the little girl asked, but the prince could not answer. He was stunned for the third time that day:

  “Hey…Lord Belisari…are you still there- oh!”

  “Do you…have more?”

  Suddenly, Belisari grabbed Aurora's shoulders with both hands, demanding - "I will take every of yours, the price you choose, okay?"

  “No, I only have four left, if you are actually going to equip it in the armed forces en masse, it would be far from enough.”

  "Damned!"

  The prince let go his hands off Aurora and turned away, muttering, his face showing anger...no, it wasn't an angry face, but the face of calculation. But it's hard to understand what Belisari is thinking right now. Pretty sure it has something to do with Aurora and her explosive shells though:

  "Can you... make more of them?" - Belisari changed the question, perhaps it was a bit unrealistic to ask a little girl to draw the detailed blueprint of a weapon, but if she could...

  “Of course, I'm an engineer, as long as I have enough materials and manpowers, I can do it.”

  "Great!"

  At this point Belisari's intention is clear:

  “It seems like you intend to hire me to help you build those ammunitions, right?”

  “Exactly, you're clever. I take back what I just said, thank God.”

  Spending a few hours looking for her is worth it, much more worth it than looking for a vampire without being sure if it can help you or not. Aurora is a much more valuable reward for all of those searching:

  “Aurora, I need you- no, I demand you to join my army as a manufacturing engineer, then I'll do whatever request you may ask for. Deal?"

  "Deal."

  Without a second of thinking, Aurora immediately accepted the prince's proposal.