Saerma snapped his arquebus forks forward, plunging the spiked bottoms into the ground as Aelesies charged forward, holding her glaive towards the back of the pole to give her better reach, attempting to close the distance.

With his lower hands, Saerma reached into leather packs at his side and threw out caltrops – causing Aelesies to jump back to avoid them. With a grin, Saerma also tossed forward two balls and shot them – which caused both to light on fire, though it was quickly evident the goal was heavy smoke.

Jurao hummed as he considered that. The gun Laurent Barrilleaux – the first Champion he'd faced as General – used had included ammunition that ignited upon impact. Jurao had noticed the same blue smoke trail on Saerma's rounds – so he had managed to recreate the rounds, and likely the balls had been a smoke bomb. Using the rounds to ignite them saved Saerma the hands needed to light them, and allowed him to get more distance. While the number of caltrops would have been easy for Aelesies to dodge, the obfuscation made the task more difficult.

A solid strategy for a ranged weapon in single combat to maintain distance and reload, but the smoke also obscured Saerma's line of sight, so there had to be more.

As anyone would expect, Aelesies appeared out of the smoke on the side, going around the caltrops to continue her charge.

Saerma released one arquebus so he could rotate the second on its fork and aim – though Jurao's eyes moved to the hand going back to one of his leather packs.

Aelesies used an eel-like movement to prevent Saerma from aiming well, crouching under the gun's barrel and swinging the moment she was in range.

Saerma's grin grew as he threw out something from his pack as he purposefully fell, and even Jurao could smell bitumen from where he was.

"Halt!" the King called.

Saerma chuckled – having fallen back to avoid being slashed, now holding a musket against Aelesies's leg.

"I can-!" Aelesies started, but stopped as she started coughing on the liquid Saerma had thrown on her. Most covered her torso and upper thighs, but some had splashed higher.

"Setting your opponent on fire is a bit extreme, Petty Prince Saerma," Jurao stated, "Though my concern was more a reaction with your smoke."

"On-" Aelesies coughed and spat as she stumbled back, unable to wipe at her face as the sticky liquid had covered much of her front. No doubt the bitumen was making her eyes water as well.

"The smoke doesn't have any special properties, but I understand your concern, Your Highness," Saerma said, getting to his hooves. Looking around, he nodded as he spotted a stone training dummy. He trotted over, taking out another liquid bomb case and tossing it into the dummy before he shot it.

As Jurao predicted, the rounds ignited the bitumen mixture – and continued to burn.

Aelesies stared, panting as she recovered her breath.

"Did you want to continue?" Saerma asked, resting his musket on his shoulder as he continued to grin.

Aelesies growled – but her eyes darted to the still burning stone dummy and down at herself before she said, "I… yield."

As she stalked off, Jurao approached Saerma and said, "That is an effective way to make… fire rounds more deadly to demons."

While the flammable rounds were more powerful than regular rounds in some ways, against thick demon skin, the ignition failed and caused less damage due to the reduction in piercing ability. While Aelesies would have likely survived the burning, it would not have been without significant scarring – especially to more sensitive areas, like her eyes.

"We've been calling them blue rounds, for the smoke trail," Saerma agreed, watching as the stone dummy exhausted its fuel and died out. He added, "And I figured you would stop me."

"Ah, that's why you asked me to moderate," the King realized. It was not an entirely unusual request, but it was less common to ask for a moderator rather than a witness.

"Was that sea fire?" Meir'ril asked, running up behind Jurao.

"Probably not the exact recipe," Saerma shrugged, "but seems to have about the same effect."

Meir'ril nodded, then hesitated before he asked, "If… you had that from the start, then why bother with the smoke?"

"Well, for one, I could have made a smoke bomb with sulfur in it – which would ignite like His Highness was worried about," Saerma said, nodding to the King before he added, "but in this case, I needed Aelesies to get in close to make sure I hit her head on. If I didn't try to stop her from closing the distance, she'd get suspicious and on her guard."

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Jurao hummed and said, "Sea fire with blue rounds still seems extreme for a non-lethal duel."

Saerma shrugged with a grin and said, "Yeah, but she won't challenge me again anytime soon. Time I spend fighting people is time I could be something more useful – so I hit hard enough that it scares most people off."

Jurao could not argue with that line of logic.

"Has my brother seen your blue rounds?" Meir'ril asked.

"I've been keeping them a secret to surprise whoever challenged me to my first duel," Saerma replied, "So no – but I did set some aside for him. Can you cast magic that prevents sound from traveling?"

Meir'ril blinked a few times, then nodded and said, "I think so? One moment."

Jurao's ears twitched as wind rose around them in a small area – the soldier Ieki stepping back as it did.

"Can you hear me?" Meir asked, looking to his mentor – signing the phrase as well.

Ieki tilted his head, then shook it.

Saerma nodded and said, "The minerals needed to create the rounds are very difficult to distill, so the quantity I have is limited. Now that I've shown my hand, I don't mind sharing the recipe and methods with the Crown – nor the recipe for our version of sea fire. Provided they will be kept secret from the public."

Jurao nodded and said, "You have my word, they will be closely guarded. What compensation do you seek."

Saerma snorted, "Originally, I thought I would try pressuring your aunt into making weapons again. Now that I've met her, I know that's a fool's errand, even if I thought you would help. Then I thought I would ask you to dismiss Feyl so I could work with him more, but since he's your best friend and your valet by choice, that would just set him against me even if you would agree to it, which I know you wouldn't."

"No," Jurao agreed.

Saerma grinned as he said, "You make my options complicated by not being a typical noble, Your Highness, even if it makes me respect you more all the same."

"Do you still need the barrier?" Meir'ril asked, breathing a little labored.

"No, thanks, kid – uh, Lord Meir'ril," Saerma said.

Meir nodded and released the barrier with clear relief.

"Do you need more time to consider compensation," Jurao asked, reaching out to steady Meir as he swayed a bit, then added, "I will not ask for the recipes until we have a proper agreement."

"Money is always an option, but it feels shortsighted when I have plenty of my own," Saerma said with a sigh, tapping his musket against his shoulder, "I know Voysh is studying with Kloy – are any of your advisors good at this kind of thing?"

"Excuse me a moment," Jurao said, and asked, "Are you alright, Meir."

"That's almost a mid-level spell," Meir'ril chuckled, waving Ieki over as he added, "Since I've been practicing Body magic already, I forgot it would hit me harder to release both. I just need to sit down for a bit."

"I'll help him to a bench, Your Highness," Ieki said.

"Thank you," Jurao said, releasing his betrothed's brother into the care of his mentor. He turned his attention back to Saerma and said, "I can recommend Hujur for advice on logistical issues, but would you wish for a mentorship as well."

"I would, Your Highness," Saerma said, running a hand through his hair as he added, "Logistics is probably the thing I'm the worst at, as far as kingship shit goes. Being a petty royal, I've usually been able to just… throw money at issues, but that doesn't work when you have to manage a city instead of personal engineering projects. The way your aunt and Feyl know how to contact people to get shit done has shown me how just throwing scales around is probably the least efficient way to do things – and as an engineer, that's really irritating to realize."

The King nodded in agreement and said, "Then I will ask Hujur if he would be willing to mentor you. Festi is also skilled at logistics as Quartermaster, but as Hujur additionally manages the castle and our ties to the city council, I believe he would be able to teach more applicable skills for a future petty king."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Saerma said, returning his musket to a hidden holster to offer the King a bow, "And I will contact you as soon as I have considered proper compensation."

Watching the petty prince go to collect his caltrops, Jurao scanned the field until he spotted Meir'ril and Ieki once more, and walked over to them.

"Is something wrong?" Meir'ril asked when he noticed the King.

"No," Jurao said, "I am simply curious about what Body magic entails – if Ieki has time."

"Of course, Your Highness," Ieki replied with a slight bow.

"It's not like he can keep teaching me at the moment," Meir said with a chuckle.

Ieki snorted with a smile, then said, "Body magic is primarily about enhancing physical performance. It's pretty straightforward, really – I mean, I know a scout that uses it to make eir hearing and eyesight better, but I mostly use it to boost my strength and stamina."

"Would you demonstrate for me," the King asked.

"Of course, Your Highness," Ieki said again – tail swaying as he took up a fighting pose and said, "If you would raise a hand?"

Jurao did – fully expecting the punches the soldier delivered.

"Now, with enhancement," Ieki said, and delivered a few punches again – both faster and stronger than before.

"Yes, I see," Jurao nodded, "That would be very useful to end a match early."

"You've spotted the downside as quickly as I expected, Your Highness," Ieki said, relaxing with a chuckle.

"Most of my training with Ieki is actually training my mundane endurance and strength," Meir'ril sighed, "That's why Beneford doesn't make me train in the mornings, since he knows Ieki is putting me through my paces."

Ieki laughed and said, "Enhancement can't replace training. Since you're still using your muscles under enhancement, you can train with it – but since you're pushing your body past its usual limits, it wears you out twice as fast. So to make the most of Body magic the way I do, you need a strong foundation of mundane conditioning."

"We only use magic in one of our three sessions a week," Meir'ril said, "Today happened to be that day, and I forgot about fatigue when I cast the wind bubble spell."

"Did Loge teach you that spell," Jurao asked.

"He did," Meir confirmed, then chuckled and said, "He said he figured it out so he could still enjoy listening to Huo'a ramble without worrying about it drawing unwanted attention in the wilderness."

"Ah, I understand his concern," Jurao said, tail swaying as he considered a trip with his betrothed to the Great Western Plains or Beastkin Realm to have a similar experience.

Meir'ril chuckled and said, "I suppose I'll see you again at the midday meal?"

"Yes, of course," Jurao replied with a nod, "I'll leave you to your training until then. Good morning."

Ieki and Meir returned the farewell, and Jurao decided to visit the Royal Tailor before heading to his office – recalling another trip he intended to take.

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