Chapter 28: Meeting the Empress.

As the carriage pulled up to the palace and stopped, the guards opened the door, and we dismounted. We entered the massive palace as the doors closed behind us, and I looked down the hallway to a golden door. That must be the throne room, as we walked towards it and stopped just shy of it.

"Wait, here I shall speak to the Empress and tell her that you have arrived." Said the prideful elven woman before she entered a smaller door. Her name was Yavanna IV, and from what I got, she was a seductive beauty. As the massive golden door opened, it was my time to do business. Taking a step forward, I walked inside and witnessed a beauty sitting on the throne.

I knelt as I spoke. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Empress Yavanna IV," I said as she looked down at me before she spoke.

"Raise your head, Sir John Colt. You have much for my people, it wouldn't be right to treat you like that." She said as I lifted my head, and she smiled at me. "I must thank you for helping my daughter complete her mission. I shall reward you for your kindness. What do you desire other than the deal you made with my daughter?" She said.

"I desire two things right now: the use of your library and a large supply of Crystals. The Crystals can be normal rank, I will be fine with that." I said, making her nod as she stood up from her throne and walked down the stairs while she spoke.

"Both are within my means. I hear from Trinity that you desire to make a trade deal with my Empire. May you show me what you have to offer?" She asked me as I stood up, pulling out the Martini-Henry and handing it to her. As I began to speak to her.

"As we traveled, I noticed the technology of this world was around the 9th-10th century of my home world. Meaning your armor couldn't stop a bullet, well, that's only if it was normal metal. As my knowledge of magic is severely lacking, I still believe a weapon like this would improve the Empire's army." I said while showing her how the firearm worked.

"May I look at it?" Yavanna asked as I handed it to her. "It's heavier than a bow." She said as I nodded.

"Yes, but it makes up for the distance of fire and stopping power. An arrow would only down an enemy with a fatal shot; this weapon wouldn't need a fatal shot to stop a man from fighting." I said as she began to go through the weapons while speaking.

"Trinity has told me that you can show the effects on the human body from this firearm, as you call it. Can you show us its ability?" She asked as I nodded.

"I can, for the unarmored damage. But if you want to look at the damage done to someone with armor, I would need to ask you to let me use some of the Elven armor for the test dummies." I said. She looked at me and nodded as she turned to a knight. "Please bring some of the spare soldier armor." She said the knight, and they bowed and ran off.

"Right this way, Sir Colt," Yavanna said, making me smile. "Empress, I am not used to the Sir part, as people in my world call each other by their last or first name, depending on the closeness. Please, call me Colt." I said, making her tilt her head for a moment, and smiled.

"Very well, you can just call me Yavanna as well." She said, making the snubish elve speak. "That wouldn't be appropriate, your Empress." She protested, making Yavanna chuckle.

"Melian, if you keep that up, you won't ever get to experience the touch of a man. Colt has done much for our people. Even going as far as giving us the scroll at the cost of having to go to one of the most dangerous spots in our world. To make up for it, letting him call me by my name isn't the least I can do." She said, smiling at the snobish elf who could only sigh and nod.

Melian could only nod and step back as she couldn't argue with that. "Colt, I shall lead the way to an area where we can witness your weapon," Yavanna spoke as the knight returned with the armor, and we headed to the back of the palace, stopping at an archery range. It was an archery range with about 300 meters of room, which was the standard effective range of bows.

I started walking towards the other end as Yavanna and Melian walked with me while I set up the dummies. Yavanna leaned down, looking at them. "So is this how humans look on the inside?" She asked while looking at clear dummies that had bones and fake organs inside.

"Yes, everything inside it is a fake organ or bone. Simulating the human body in my world, this way, we can see firsthand how weapons affect the body." I explained before putting the armor on the other one, and we returned to the other side.

"Ladies, please stand behind me," I said as the group of higher-ups, along with the Empress, took a place behind me, and I loaded a round, aiming at the unarmored one first and pulling the trigger. The round blew through the dummy as the women watched me unload the Martini-Henry, load another, aim at the armored one, and fire.

Storing the rifle, all the ladies this time walked behind me as we made it to the dummies. They looked at the damage of the unarmored one and started to talk among themselves before I bent down. Looking at the damage on the armor, it blew a hole right through it. I knew this would happen as the metal wasn't nearly strong enough to handle modern rounds. You would need armor from around the 14th-15th century to stop handguns. But no armor would have stopped modern rifle rounds during that time.

"What is your offer?" Yavanna asked me.

"I want 1,000 gold coins and five hundred common Crystals for the weapon, the rounds I have, and the blueprint to make both of them. Plus, a yearly payment of 500 Gold for the next ten years. This way, you ladies can make them without me having to make them. I picked the easiest one for you to make on the level of technology this world has to offer.

As the women walked away to talk among themselves, I waited. It went on for close to an hour before they returned. "We have accepted your offer, Colt." Please right this way so we can draw up the contract. Yavanna and Melian led the way to a chamber as I sat down, and Melian started to write out the contract.

I laid the blueprints, the weapon, and ammon on the table before us. I started going over how to clean it, and you need to make some oil to lubricate the parts, since I put a bottle of CLP on the desk. Telling her this was a freebie, making her chuckle as she flashed her pretty eyes, making me look away quickly.

She smiled seductively as we waited for Melian to finish the contract. As we signed it, Yavanna spoke. "Can you go get the 1,000 gold and 1,500 Crystals. Five hundred for the contract and 1,000 for the reward for helping my daughter, Melian." She asked her. Making Melian nodded as I stored the contract, and Yavanna stood up, placed it on her desk, then walked over to me and sat next to me.

This was odd, as I didn't think she would sit so close to me. She put her hand on my knee and started to speak. "I think it would be wise for the Royal family and you to be on better terms. Wouldn't you say, Colt?" She said, sliding a hand up my thigh as she kept speaking.

"I hear you know how to please a woman, but I didn't hear of you ever lying with an Elve yet. Do you find my people unattractive? Do you find me unattractive?" She said while leaning her lips closer to me as I gulped.

"Only an idiot would find you or your people unattractive," I muttered, making her smile as she leaned in and kissed me. Her hand was undoing my pants as I slid a hand into the chest part of her dress, feeling her ample tits, making her moan as she pulled her mouth away as she spoke. "Your manhood is massive. Why don't you spend the night here? So we can finalize our bonding." She whispered seductively into my ear.

"I think that would be a good idea, making our partnership stronger would be in everyone's best interests," I said before kissing her as her hand moved slowly up and down my shaft. They say sex is a political tactic just like any other, and I could tell that Yavanna is someone willing to do anything to protect her people.

The knob on the door started to move, making us pull away as Yavanna stood up, licking her lips and fixing her dress.