A short while later.
A scarecrow dressed in old armor was set up in the center of the courtyard.
When I appeared in the middle of the yard holding the strange jar, the attention of everyone in the castle was concentrated on me.
Servants and maids, soldiers, even Konrad and Sir Kuno.
The incomprehensible things that had gone on in the castle these past few days had been more than enough to magnify the unease about the new lord.
"They say his lordship has gone properly mad..."
"What could be inside that jar for him to act like this?"
"I heard it's black magic he got by selling his soul to the devil."
From the rumor that he had lost his mind from the shock of his father's death, to the grim gossip that he had sold his soul to the devil and was working forbidden sorcery.
I saw the many emotions swirling in their gazes.
Suspicion, unease, fear, and a very faint expectation....
This was not merely an occasion to test a new weapon.
I had to show them hope.
"This may be dangerous for all of you, so fall back at least twenty paces from me!"
At those words Sir Kuno stepped forward with a worried expression.
"My lord, if it is truly dangerous then I shall do it in your place. There is no need for my lord to step forward himself..."
"No, Sir Kuno. This is something I must do myself."
Sir Kuno seemed to realize from the look in my eyes that he could not stop me, and stepped back a pace without a word.
I lit the jar's wick myself. The oil-soaked cloth crackled and raised a flame.
I took a deep breath and hurled the burning jar at the scarecrow with all my strength.
The jar flew in a precise arc.
CRASH!
The jar struck the scarecrow squarely in the chest and shattered to pieces. The thinly made pottery broke exactly as intended.
At the same time, the black, sticky liquid splashed in every direction and clung hideously to the scarecrow's body.
And in the next moment.
FWOOOOOSH—!
Along with a glare intense enough to blind both eyes, the scarecrow was engulfed in a scorching blaze.
"Aaargh!"
"Wh-what is that!?"
Everyone gathered in the courtyard screamed and scrambled backward.
It was on a different order from ordinary fire. Searing heat pressed in as far as dozens of paces away, and instead of the sound of burning firewood came a chilling noise like boiling oil.
The flames did not simply burn; they clung to the scarecrow like a living creature and melted its shape away.
"......!!"
At that overwhelming, destructive sight everyone stood with their mouths hanging open, unable to say a word.
The first to come to his senses was Konrad, the chief attendant.
He was an old man who had spent his whole life with this house and been through every hardship there was, but he could not hide his astonishment at the sight before him.
"M-my lord... wh-what in the world is this? Is it magic that my lord commands... n-no... is it alchemy?"
Unable to take my eyes off the burning scarecrow, I spoke quietly.
"It is neither magic nor alchemy."
"Yes? Th-then what on earth..."
"It is chemistry."
A faint smile spread at the corner of my mouth.
"Well, this is only the most basic level, hardly enough to call chemistry."
Chemistry.
That was a word all too familiar to me.
In my previous life I had earned a doctorate in chemistry from KAIST and worked as a senior researcher at the laboratory of the Republic of Korea's foremost corporation.
My life had consisted of molecular formulas, chemical reactions, and data.
In this barbaric medieval world, knowledge of the future alone was the only means of survival left to me.
FWOOOSH!
The flames still showed no sign of dying. The old armor wrapped around the scarecrow glowed red-hot and then began to melt outright.
The people only stared blankly at the sight; not one of them dared open his mouth.
It was Kuno who broke that silence. The shock and fear had vanished from his face at some point.
"Heavens, good God..."
He looked less as if he were watching a burning scarecrow than as if he were watching the enemy's siege towers and gates go up in flames.
"My lord! With this new weapon alone we could drive off those Hussite bastards! No, any enemy at all! Their fortress of carts would be nothing but a woodpile before this fire!"
At Kuno's voice the frozen soldiers began to stir. A little life started to return to eyes that had been pale with the fear of defeat.
With the burning scarecrow at my back, I looked at my people gathered in the courtyard and declared.
"Sir Kuno is right."
"Ohh...!"
Across faces that had been filled with fear and doubt all this while, hope that they might live now spread slowly.
"Hear me, all of you. The Hussites will attack soon. But we no longer need to be afraid."
I pointed a finger at the melting scarecrow.
"The name of this new weapon is 'Ulrich's Wrath'. This is the new strength of Šternberk. This flame will defend our walls, and it will defend our families!"
Ulrich's Wrath.
Even to my own ear it was a somewhat childish name, but it could not be helped.
An intuitive, simple name would be the most effective thing for soldiers gripped by fear.
They would hurl 'Ulrich's Wrath' and truly take this flame for the wrath of their lord.
"Konrad."
"Yes, my lord. You have only to give the order."
"Mobilize every hand in the castle to assist in producing this new weapon. And see to it that the repair of the walls and the preparation of our defenses are complete. Check the food and water once more as well."
"I shall see it done at once."
Konrad's manner had become far more respectful than before. He was no longer dealing with a young master, but with the head of the house of Šternberk.
I gave my next order to Sir Kuno.
"Sir Kuno, assemble the surviving soldiers immediately. We must begin training on how that new weapon is to be used."
"Yes! It shall be as you command, my lord!"
Kuno answered in a booming voice. The shadow of defeat was no longer to be seen on his face.
With this I had won the trust of the people of my domain.
All that remained now was to survive the coming crisis on the strength of that trust.
***
On the way back to the workshop after finishing the test of the new weapon.
János cried out in a voice full of excitement.
"My lord! With this we can teach those Hussite bastards a lesson! We will be able to turn every one of them crawling up the wall into ashes!"
Unlike the elated János, I told him the cold truth I had not spoken to the others a moment ago.
"No. This alone is not enough."
"Yes? Not enough? How can you say that after seeing power like that!"
I calmly laid out the reality for the excited János.
"However great its power, in the end this is a weapon thrown by human hands. The range is short, so to get the full effect the enemy has to come right up beneath the wall. But with our force of barely thirty men, what happens if we let the enemy's great army get that close?"
"Ah..."
János's expression stiffened.
That was right. What use was it if one soldier with one firebomb could put down ten of the enemy? The enemy would come in dozens, hundreds of times that number.
The moment they were allowed to reach the wall, the place would be taken in an instant. The difference in numbers was simply too overwhelming.
János asked with a sour look.
"But a moment ago you said there was nothing to worry about as long as we had this new weapon. Were you lying just now?"
"When did I say it was a lie?"
"Yes...?"
I smiled confidently at my squire.
"If we cannot shoot it like an arrow, then we simply make a device to fling these jars a long way."
I opened the workshop door and stepped inside. Two men were already waiting for me within.
"Tomáš the blacksmith, my lord."
"Jakub the carpenter, my lord."
A blacksmith fidgeting because he did not know where to put his soot-stained hands, and a carpenter hurriedly brushing off sawdust.
Though they had come running headlong at their lord's summons, they seemed puzzled to have been called not to a proper study but to a shed full of such strange contraptions.
I went straight to the point.
"I have need of your skills. There is something that must be built."
"Yes, my lord. Please speak."
"I intend to build a trebuchet."
At that single word, the two craftsmen looked blankly at each other.
Their eyes were full of a discomfort that said the young lord was talking like a man who knew nothing of the world.
Tomáš the blacksmith spoke up carefully.
"Ah, my lord. Forgive me, but... a trebuchet is a siege engine used to attack a castle. Not only is it of no use whatsoever in defending one, but the manpower it takes to operate it would be far better spent loosing even one more arrow."
Jakub the carpenter added his part from beside him. He raised a more technical problem.
"That is not all, my lord. A trebuchet is not so simple a thing. It requires advanced skill to balance the enormous counterweight against the throwing arm. To speak honestly... it is far beyond my ability."
It was the reaction I had expected.
"Who asked you to build a giant monster that flings boulders?"
"...?"
"Well, just look at this."
I spread out before the puzzled craftsmen the design I had drawn myself on parchment.
The two craftsmen looked over the drawing reluctantly. And then their eyes went round.
"Th-this... this is not a trebuchet, is it?"
What was drawn on the parchment was an entirely different shape from an ordinary trebuchet.
A mangonel.
The place where the enormous counterweight should have been was empty, and instead something like a broad footboard was drawn on the opposite side.
I tapped the footboard portion of the drawing with my finger.
"This is a catapult worked by human strength rather than a counterweight. It uses the force of several soldiers leaping down from atop this footboard."
Even I did not know the complicated construction methods of a medieval catapult.
But if you had a firm grasp of the core principle, the lever, there was no need to go the long way around.
"And what we will be throwing is not boulders but this."
I lifted one of the thin ceramic jars set beside me.
"A jar...?"
In that moment, Tomáš the blacksmith's eyes snapped wide open.
Looking back and forth between the drawing and the jar, he cried out as if he had realized something.
"Indeed! If what we must throw is that light jar, then it will not need the great strength required for throwing heavy stones! There would be no trouble making the ironwork at the joints and the supports far simpler as well!"
Jakub the carpenter looked at the drawing with interest. His eyes now shone not with discomfort but with a craftsman's curiosity.
"He is right. The structure would be far simpler too. With no counterweight, balancing it would be much easier as well. At this level, we could certainly build it with our own hands."
I nodded with satisfaction.
"Good. In that case, install at least two of these atop the castle's spires within four days from now."
"F-four days, you say, for two of them?"
Bewilderment crossed the faces of the two craftsmen again.
"I will supply as much manpower as you need. And if you succeed I will heap silver on you besides. Even so, is it impossible?"
"Hmm, well, that is..."
However simple the structure, in the end it was a catapult. To build such an enormous machine, and two of them at that, within four days was an extremely unreasonable demand.
But the two men soon answered with the look of men who had made up their minds.
"We will stay up through the nights and get it done."