Maria went to retrieve her commission from the blacksmith.
Truthfully, it was several things. One was a pistol configuration flintlock, a break-action breechloader patterned after Master Gehrman's shotgun. The other was a breechloading rifle of the same design and caliber, so they could use the same bullets, and she was pleased to find they somehow HAD managed to add rifling to both. Also a large amount of brass casings– and the die for making them– meant to fit snuggly in the barrel, each with a small peg meant to lock it into the correct orientation and a small hole meant to alight with the touchhole of the gun. It was an inelegant solution, one that would not be suitable to the rapid reloading and shooting of a hunter, but it would do for trying to set it, especially since the was a large v-shaped to catch the peg and guide the cartridge in. It would be difficult but not impossible to punch out her own brass casings for future use, since if her previous life was any indicator, it would be easy to keep losing those things. She'd also had a simple hand press made for pushing bullets into the casings as well as compressing the powder, since that wasn't something you wanted to do with a hammer, a heavier press of pressing gunpowder slurry into cakes for milling, and a funnel for filling the casings with gunpowder.
Still, even as she took delivery of her commissions and paid the blacksmith his souls, with a small bonus for the speed and good work a part of her was already thinking of new designs, such as a cylinder that could hold multiple cartridges and would merely need to be rotated…
As she carried all her purchases, Maria gave it some thought, then took a detour to the leatherworker to commission a holster.
"Okay," Katarina said patiently. "Repeat after me…"
And so Maria's lessons in Ashinago continued.
That night, no sound like a tree trunk snapping in half echoed across the night, only a short, brief snap. Only one heard it and they knew it was not thunder that was a harbinger of some rain.
No rain fell, and no one expected it to.
No one also heard the self-satisfied cackling that drifted through the trees.
Maria Campbell, smelling of smoke, sneaked happily back to her dorm, cradling money well spent, the belt pouch she was wearing a little lighter.
The next day, she belatedly had a wire brush for clearing the barrel commissioned. A short one and a long one, for the rifle.
She was probably forgetting other things but it was to be expected, it had been a lifetime since she'd used guns regularly.
Rafael whistled happily as he worked, listening to the sounds of his coworkers doing… honestly, nearly anything BUT researching Magic Tools. He signed off on forms, reviewed requests and, most importantly, didn't just run off to do whatever he felt like just because he was vice-director. It was an important lesson he hoped to impart on their newbies. Sora seemed to get it, be he didn't hold out much hope for Larna. Still, he was a firming believer of doing by example, and the example he'd gotten from the old director was foisting a lot of work on the newbie, which was what he did.
Unbelievably petty? Maybe, but as all the stuff he was giving her was paperwork she'd avoided from her days when she used to be director, he felt justified in having her do all of it. It HAD been paperwork she'd been supposed to do, after all.
"Vice-director, letter for you from the academy," Laura said, leaving him an envelope from the mail room before they made their rounds.
It was a while before he got around to reading, but when he did he frantically checked the time– thankfully every department had a clock, even theirs– then sighed in relief as he saw he still had time.
"Director, I'll be clocking out for lunch early, all right?" Rafael called.
"No!" Larna said.
"Not you newbie ex-director, the actual director," Rafael said.
In the middle of the room, Director Nathan Hart was chained to his desk. This was not from any cruelty or pettiness but actual need, as the director had absolutely no sense of direction and was physically capable of getting lost in a broom closet. He'd been chosen as director both due to his seniority and because it gave him a reason to stay in one place. The chain was there just to remind him if he forgot, which he unfortunately tended to.
"Huh?" the Director said. "Oh, sure Rafael, if it's important."
"Thank you Director! I'll stay a little later to make up for it, I promise," Rafael said cheerfully, before skipping out of the department.
For a minute, they all stared after him.
"Boy's getting luuuucky," Larna said, snickering.
Everyone nodded. There were some knowing chuckles as someone turned over a blackboard, showing the current odds for the bets on Rafael's love life hidden on the other side.
After all, the department had to have their fun somehow.
"Hmm?" Katarina sound-effected as she looked around the dining hall.
"What is it, big sister?" Keith asked, giving her a curious look.
"Where's Maria?" Katarina said. "Shouldn't she be here?"
Keith blinked and looked around. Sure enough, the dining room, while containing many blondes, lacked the tricorne that their Student Council President liked to wear. "Huh, you're right. I wonder why? She doesn't eat alone in the courtyard anymore, right?"
In the woods, off the path between the ministry and the Academy, Maria and Rafael sat down on a spread cloth and had lunch, taken from the Academy dining hall.
All the food was eaten, despite them not spending all that much time eating.
Rafael made it back to the Ministry in time, a bright, silly smile on his face, one that did not fade in the face of the paperwork he had to do.
It was an hour before Sora was moved to ask, "Vice-director, why do you have sauce on your neck? And your ear? And the back of your head?"
Rafael gave him a flat look, then got up and went to the wash room.
"He got lucky," Larna declared from behind her piles of paperwork. Everyone nodded.
"Still a virgin, though," Sora said dismissively
Everyone nodded at that, too.
"All right," Lady Cavendish said patiently. "Repeat after me…"
And so Maria's lessons in Gerudosa continued.
Far became Sar, and Maria and Sophia found themselves back in Maria's estate, with Katarina and her retinue along for the ride, mostly because Katarina was there. They arrived separately, with Maria going first so she could talk to her steward and, when Katarina arrived, with Chiharu, who reported no one had tried to kill themselves that week and were doing their chores.
Maria, under Katarina's watchful gaze, managed to not mangle the words (according to Katarina) as she congratulated Chiharu on doing a good job, and that Maria was counting on her to continue to perform well.
Maria was concerned when Chiharu seemed to get flustered, but Katarina assured her she hadn't said anything wrong.
With all that out of the way and Katarina, Lord Claes and the Third Prince playing with the children, Lady Hunt teaching Shana 'how to be Mary Hunt' using Prince Alan as a volunteer partner for etiquette and dancing (Maria thought she was too young to need to know how to dance, but apparently it was never too early to learn), eventually they met with the first new employees of the Nightflower Workshop.
There were five of them, all young men from Raven's Nest who were, if not exactly unemployed, unsatisfied with their employment and had volunteered when the mayor had spread word that their lady needed men will to learn a new trade. They all shuffled nervously as Maria met them at the guard house and led them to the new manufactory building, which currently contained the large ball mill for grinding to course and eventually fine powder, and the large vessels they'd mixed the gunpowder in before. They were pottery containers of varying sizes that the Princes and Lord Claes had made by combining their magic together. Maria was probably the only one in the kingdom who could boast of owning earthenware of such prestigious lineage. In a separated storage room were containers of sulphur, saltpeter and charcoal lined the walls, placed as she'd directed when the Alchemist's Guild had delivered the materials, which also held their lofting mortars. She would have to reorganize much of this in the weeks to come. For one thing she saw the need to store the mortars in a separate building, lest they be destroyed as well if the building went up. Perhaps she could have Ghirardeli put them in the basement.
"Good afternoon," Maria said as she had them line up while Sophia watched in amusement. "You are all here because I wish to employ you and you wish to be employed. I will warn you now that this job is dangerous. The closest I can compare it to is a sawmill or carpenter's. Who has worked there? Please raise your hand."
Three of the men raised their hands.
"Do you know what happens when sawdust in the air meets fire?"
All three winced. Good.
Maria nodded in satisfaction. "This job will involve a similar level of risk," she said. "You will be handling substances that will be capable of causing a similar explosion. Because of the risk, you will of course be paid appropriately. However, you will be required to follow several rules and procedures, adhesion to which is important not just for your safety, but the safety of all around you, including the nearby children. If I find you breaking any of these rules, in the best case, you will be removed from your position. In the worst case, your own stupidity will kill you and everyone around you before I manage to hear of it." At the pale faces of some of them men, she smiled reassuringly. "As I said, this job is dangerous. Who wishes to leave?"
Despite looking nervous, none of them left.
Maria nodded. "Excellent. Let us begin."