Book 12: Chapter 46
“Guns?”
“Yes.”
Mommy Elizabeth placed her cup of tea on the table and looked at me with a serious look. She replied, “To tell the truth, Son, I admittedly am very interested in your repeated-firing rifles. I never thought Lorana would be able to create that sort of rifle. Mommy understands that this sort of rifle will change warfare henceforward.”
“I can sell them to you… You are my mom, but I need money more, right now…”
“Hahaha.” Mom laughed, and then scrubbed my head: “Mommy understands. Family wise, you are my son and I am your mother, so we don’t need to worry about who profits and who loses. However, nation wise, you are the leader of the North, while I am the Empress of the empire. We need to discuss the welfare of our two nations. As such, don’t bring emotions into this discussion.”
Mom leaned backward into her chair. She folded her arms and spoke in a serious tone: “So, as I’m the Empress of the South, I should buy these firearms then imitate them, and then have my generals come up with new battle tactics, factoring in the weapons and train new soldiers. As your mother, nevertheless, I can’t buy your weapons.”
I picked up my cup of tea. I asked, “Why, Mom? I really need money right now. I wouldn’t sell them, otherwise.”
I actually had a rough guess as to why.
Tone still serious, Mom answered, “Because Mommy can’t be certain they won’t be used against you. We should’ve learnt a lesson from Luna’s misfortune. Son, Mommy loves you. You know that. Mommy would never do anything that would harm you, but Mommy can no longer say with absolute certainty that Mommy can keep you safe. Mommy wants to protect you, but Mommy can’t guarantee those around Mommy won’t harm you. Mommy has come to understand that your biggest threat isn’t a foreign enemy – and even less so the elves –but the people around Mommy. They are your biggest threat. Nonetheless, Mommy can’t kill them all. Consequently, Mommy can only prevent giving them an excuse to leverage against you.”