The practical exam was conducted, with members of the student council assisting in overseeing it.
No one died.
Maria still found that amazing, despite seeing it happen twice now. Not that she particularly wanted anyone dead, but still, the nobility– her fellow nobility now, she supposed– did not particularly inspire her with confidence about their ability to survive.
And so, Lady Sophia Ascart joined in Maria's venture for the school festival, as well as put in an advance order for a firearm when Maria either began production or was willing to create one for Sophia. The scaleless young woman– as they called albino in this world– was if anything even quicker to latch on to the destructive possibilities inherent in the weapon, asking about how big the tube diameter could be made and having multiple barrels and even if the powder and bullet could be prepared in advance in some sort of container for quick loading into the barrel. The possibilities she mentioned, which Maria had been planning to introduce in future, had actually made the Third Prince pause thoughtfully, as if considering the smaller girl in a new light.
Maria once thought of Lady Ascart as the sanest, most level-headed, rational and reasonable person in Lady Claes' entourage. She now had to added 'intelligent', 'imaginative', 'bloodthirsty' and 'mildly terrifying' to that list of accolades. While Maria knew that theoretically it was possible to launch a projectile as the size of a person from a barrel the length of a building, the fact that Lady Ascart would suggest doing it so casually to 'remove bridges, castles, dragons and inconvenient gods' was… disturbing.
+ 1 Insight
Credit where it was due though, she was a hard worker who followed Maria's instructions about the handling of gunpowder exactly, and made sure to enforce them when anyone was sloppy. Maria mixed the gunpowder, both the explosive mix and the one for the colors, turning it into a slurry. Lord Claes used his golems to form the explosive powder into cakes using a golem and a press carefully made from rock with Earth Magic. Prince Alan formed the colored powder into nuggets, draining the water from them and the resultant pressed cakes of explosive powder completely before the latter was loaded to the rotating ball mill to be ground, operated by another tireless golem. The Third Prince and Sophia made the colored charges using course milled powder and the nuggets, carefully wrapping them together in paper and adding a fuse. They all wore something that looked exactly like the farming clothes Lady Claes wore.
Maria decided not to ask.
It was all insanely dangerous, a fact that Maria demonstrated by using some loose powder to show how easily it catches fire and a clay pot full of powder and the pierced piece of armor to show how messily they would die if they weren't careful. They did each stage in different rooms of the manor, with no one in direct sight of each other. It wasn't much, but Maria hadn't had time to create dedicated buildings and tools for this. She now sort of wished she had. They had Keith encase all the finished charges, powder and tools in a dome of Earth Magic to protect it from the children, and to protect the children from it, when they had to leave.
Still, it could be worse. At least they weren't mixing bone marrow ash into this. Maria wasn't sure the prototypes she had commissioned could survive gunpowder enhanced by bone marrow ash. Best not to risk it.
At the end of the day, at everyone's urging, the children would gather outside while Maria loaded the mortar with powder and a charge– a small one, with small shards instead of a big nugget– and launched it into the air, making a bloom of colored sparks.
Maria was definitely finding some place her children would see the display during the school festival, commoners barred from the Academy or not.
Between all this, they also had to practice the play that the student council would be presenting. Stupid petition.
After she made it clear that, no, Lady Claes was NOT a part of the student council, she was just Maria's means of making sure half the council showed up to work ("Wow, you actually admit it," Lady Ascart said), people stopped angling for any sort of romantic play. Honestly, why was the most popular 'romantic' play about a murder-suicide born from lack of communication and stupid planning? Yes, she was aware that that if anything happened to Rafael she would messily slaughter everyone responsible then kill herself, but still, that was not something to be romanticized! And this was definitely not the sort of thinking you wanted to encourage in the prince most likely to ascend to the throne!
Against her better judgement, she let Lady Ascart pick the play they would perform.
And this was how Maria was cast as the thief Eugene (Eugenia?), who stole the Crown of the Sun, and and became entangled with the Girl In The Tower named Rampion, who wanted to go see the lights that fly into the sky once a year, on the birthday of the Lost Princess…
"This plot seems unnecessarily complicated," Maria said, looking over the script. "Why would the toughs they met once at the bar go to rescue Eugene just because the horse asked them? How would the horse even convey such a complicated concept? And are all the songs really necessary?"
"That's how the story goes, all right?" Sophia said in exasperation. "Don't poke at the nonsensical plot points of the beloved children's tale and practice your smolder!"
Maria frowned. "My… smolder?"
"Yes! You know, the smolder, like you want to seduce someone with just your face alone! Try it."
Maria was skeptical, but tried to make such a face.
"No, no! Smolder, not constipated! Imagine you're my trying to be as attractive as my brother."
Maria tried again.
"Yes, he does look that bland. I guess it only works for him. Look, think of Rafael and the kind of face you'd make if you were inviting him to be alone with you."
Maria cringed in embarrassment, but tried.
"… okay, dial it down, I'm faithful to Katarina!"
Announcement!
The Student Council Will Be Performing
The Entanglement of Rampion, the Sun-Child
At The Occasion Of The School Festival
Cast:
Maria Campbell as The Dashing Rogue Eugene
Sophia Ascart as Rampion the Sun-Child
The Princes as The Stabbington Brothers
Mary Hunt as Mother Nashandra
Keith Claes as The Heroic Horse Ludwig.
Please Be Reminded That Katarina Claes Is Not Actually A Member of the Student Council.