Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 48 Madman
The sheriff, who rushed to Serbiati’s residence, discovered that he had made a wasted trip.

It turned out to be a misunderstanding. The young man from the Serbian family had secretly brought a woman home that night, but the rest of the family saw him and mistook him for a thief.

Although she had been through a lot, the heavy gold coins from the Major General's wife dispelled all the magistrate's resentment. The Major General's wife, with a worried expression, earnestly begged the magistrate not to spread the news of tonight's little incident.

The sheriff understood Mrs. Serbiati's concerns. Before marriage, he was already having affairs with disreputable women and even bringing them home. Respectable families in the city would not be willing to marry their daughters to such a young man.

"What an ignorant brat," the sheriff thought to himself, "to make such a beautiful lady look so worried."

Driven by a protective instinct, the sheriff patted his chest and swore on the graves of his father and grandfather that he would go back to sleep and forget everything that happened that night, and that not a single word would be uttered.

While Cosa was outside the door helping Antonio cover up his lie, Winters "invited" the woman in black back to the second-floor guest room—of course, by carrying her.

Winters put the woman in black on the bed and, worried she might be uncomfortable, found her a pillow.

The woman in black remained silent and did not struggle throughout, but stared intently at Winters with a cold look in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry about what happened earlier," Winters said to the woman in black. "I'll remove the thing from your mouth, but please don't make a sound."

The woman in black did not react.

"I take your lack of objection as agreement."

Winters showed no mercy at all. When the woman in black shouted, "I'm going to kill you," Winters grabbed a pillowcase and stuffed it into her mouth without saying a word.

Winters used brute force when stuffing it in, even shoving the black cloth the woman in black used to cover her face into it.

So when they removed the object from her mouth, the black cloth the woman in black had used to cover her face was also removed. Only then did Winters have the first opportunity to properly examine the face before him.

He originally thought the female thief was between thirty and forty years old, because she acted so decisively and ruthlessly, clearly possessing rich experience and practical skills.

But when Winters removed the black veil covering her face, he discovered that she was much younger than he had imagined, looking to be only in her early twenties, not much older than him.

With delicate features and thin lips, Winters found it hard to believe that this petite woman had just pointed a loaded revolver at him.

The woman in black, whose mouth was now free, did not shout or scream; she simply moved her stiff jaw slowly.

“You’ve actually been misunderstanding all along. You and I are not enemies.” Winters’ attitude was very sincere.

"Hmph, with me tied up like this now, that kind of talk doesn't hold much weight," the woman in black replied coldly.

“If I untie you, wouldn’t one of us die immediately?” Winters dragged a chair to the edge of the bed. “We should be able to have a proper talk first, Miss Lavoisier.”

The name clearly touched a nerve with the woman in black. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she gritted her teeth and said with red eyes, "My last name isn't Lavoisier, don't call me that!"

After the woman in black calmed down a bit, Winters asked, "So, how would you like me to address you?"

She suddenly fell silent.

"What impression do you have of the name Salomilan?"

The woman in black's eyes widened, but her pupils suddenly contracted; Winters' words had clearly surprised her greatly. She sneered, "You don't need to test me like this. It's not Salomilan, it's Salomia."

Anyone with a basic understanding of army history knows that Lavoisier is General Antoine Laurent's surname, but very few people know that Salomia is the middle name of the general's wife.

Winters knew this because, as an admirer of Antoine Laurent, he had once considered writing a biography of him.

Antoine Laurent died a very unjust death, and his contributions were so great that anyone who knows this history would want to speak out for him.

Winters was like that; he once wanted to write a biography for the general to testify to his name.

So during his years at the military academy, he read through every available public and classified file about Antoine Laurent that he could get his hands on in the archives.

The woman's behavior basically confirmed Winters's speculation. Even if she was not a descendant of Antoine Laurent, she was at least inextricably linked to him.

This explains the deep-seated hatred she displayed towards the Allied Army.

Because Antoine Laurent was sentenced to death by the Union Army Court—more precisely, the United Provinces Republic Army Military Court.

The claim that Antoine Laurent died of a headache is a euphemism for being sent to the guillotine.

Sixteen years ago, ten years after the end of the Sovereignty War, the radical faction of the United Provinces Republic came to power and seized control of the military and political power of the United Provinces.

Radicals, chanting "absolute loyalty is absolute disloyalty," launched a brutal purge within the foothills.

Because his work involved army secrets, Antoine Laurent was charged with treason and was sent to the guillotine after a secret trial, resulting in the loss of his research manuscripts.

Field Marshal Ned Smith said with grief and indignation: "A head like Antoine Laurent's only grows once in a hundred years, and yet it was just chopped off like that."

However, Marshal Ned was also in dire straits at the time and almost ended up on the guillotine as well.

"You say this notebook is your family's property, how can you prove that?" Winters took out the notebook, which was burned to only half its original size, and showed it to the woman in black before placing it on the bed.

Why should I prove anything to you?

"Because this is a priceless notebook, I hope you can prove that you are not a thief."

If Winters remembered correctly, this woman in black particularly hated the word "thief."

As expected, the woman in black instantly flew into a rage: "Who are you calling a thief? You soldiers are the thieves! You stole my father from my mother! Then you stole his research from my father! And finally, you even stole his life!" "Don't get agitated. Since you used the words 'father' and 'mother,' are you General Antoine Laurent's missing daughter?"

The woman in black snorted disdainfully.

“I am not your enemy. If you can prove your identity, I am willing to hand over this notebook to you. And this dagger as well.” Winters said seriously.

As he spoke, Winters took out the dagger from the woman in black and placed it on the bed.

It took him a great deal of effort to get the dagger back from Elizabeth.

"Should I thank you for your generosity? For generously burning my father's notes and then returning them to me?" the woman in black said with a sneer.

Winters said awkwardly, "Actually, there's still a little over half left."

"Then come closer, and I'll prove my identity to you," the woman in black said suddenly, calmly.

Winters got up and approached the bedside, but noticed the slightly excited look in the woman in black's eyes. Realizing something was wrong, he quickly backed away.

But it was too late; the woman in black leaped off the bed and charged at him.

After all, Winters was an educated gentleman and it was impossible for him to repeatedly check a woman's sensitive areas. He also failed to find the few small silver coins with sharp edges that were hidden on the woman in black.

Just now, the woman in black appeared to be talking to Winters, but in reality, she secretly took out a sharp weapon and cut the bed sheet that bound Winters' hands behind her back, waiting for Winters to lower her guard.

The woman in black grabbed a dagger and stabbed Winters in the left ribs. She appeared calm, but in reality, she hadn't escaped her hysterical state; she was merely putting on a facade.

If she wanted to get away, she could simply wait for an opportunity to be alone with him, but right now all she could think about was revenge.

However, Winters was no longer the Winters who had been on patrol that night. A newcomer to combat might stiffen with nervousness and fear, but a veteran could handle it calmly and composedly. The woman in black hadn't managed to kill Winters that night, and naturally, she wouldn't this time either.

The pillowcase he had used to gag the woman in black was still in Winters' hand. Winters used his left hand, supported by the pillowcase, to grab the woman's weapon-wielding hand. He was about to punch her hard in the face with his right hand when he stopped, and instead disarmed her with both hands.

Grabbing the blade of an opponent's sword or knife during combat is an extremely dangerous act, a last resort. Even trying to grab the opponent's wrist could easily result in grabbing the blade instead.

The dagger had no guard, so Winters grabbed his hand instead of his wrist. Luckily, there was a pillowcase underneath, otherwise, the spot where he touched the blade would have drawn blood immediately.

The woman in black refused to let go, twisting her wrist as if to slash Winters' arm. Winters, also getting angry, used wrestling techniques to throw her to the ground.

The essence of one-on-one combat is ultimately a battle between two people. The woman in black may be a very powerful assassin, but no matter how ruthless she is, she is still a woman whose strength and weight are far inferior to Winters'. Even her close-quarters combat skills are not as good as Winters'. She was instantly pinned to the ground by Winters.

"Calm down!" Winters pressed down on the black-clad woman's weapon-wielding hand with one hand and on her shoulder with the other.

“You all Alliance soldiers deserve to die.” The woman in black struggled desperately.

"What does your father's wrongful conviction have to do with me?"

"spit."

"The remaining content is also very valuable!"

The woman in black sneered, "Do you think I'm after what's written in the notebook? Magic and spellcasters are worthless to me."

Winters was utterly speechless. He realized there was no way to reason with this woman: "Then why did you take this notebook?"

"In order to reclaim my family's property."

"Shall I return this notebook to you?"

"You've already burned it!"

"Didn't you say you didn't care about the contents?"

"But you can't burn it!"

"Then what will it take to satisfy you?"

"I want it to be back to its original state."

"But the original has already been burned."

"I kill you!"

"Are you crazy?" Regardless of whether the woman in black was crazy or not, Winters was already nearly driven mad: "You! Calm! Down! For! Me!"

Winters stopped wasting words and quickly tied her up again, this time more tightly and hard than before, even making a knot that couldn't be tied.

He pushed open the door and went out, only to find Elizabeth eavesdropping at the doorway.

I wrote two different storylines... one where the woman in black is less insane, and the other where she's more insane. In the end, I chose the more insane one. This chapter wasn't written well. I still prefer writing about war, so I felt very uncomfortable writing these chapters. I need to finish this quickly so I can send Yue Dong off to fight.

Thank you to 烟云散 for the recommendation vote, and thank you to book friend 20181013204343295 for the recommendation vote. Thank you with a deep bow.

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(End of this chapter)