Transmigrated as a Peasant: I Conquered Magic With Science

Chapter 2

Arthur looked around his immediate surroundings. Less than three feet away was the ruined remains of the village's communal fire pit. The fire was dead, put out by the soldiers, but near the edge of the stones sat a small wooden bowl. 

Inside the bowl were "fire-salts." The villagers used them to start fires during the wet winters. The original Arthur knew they were just rocks you struck together. But the Earth Arthur instantly recognized the chemical smell and the powdery texture. 

“Potassium nitrate, sulfur, and a trace of magnesium,” Arthur realized. “Gunpowder components, mixed with raw, unrefined minerals.”

Normally, it would just create a small spark. But if he added energy to it...

Arthur lunged forward. He ignored the pain in his ribs and grabbed a handful of the gray and yellow powder from the wooden bowl. 

"Hey! The boy is up!" Jason Lee shouted, pointing a shaking finger at Arthur. "Stay down, you fool! Do you want to get us killed?"

The brutal guard who had dragged Eliana stopped at the door of the cart. He turned his heavy, helmeted head toward Arthur and laughed. It was a cruel, dark sound. 

"Look at this," the guard mocked, drawing a short, thick iron club from his belt. He walked slowly back toward Arthur. "The little rat wants to fight. I think I'll break your legs before I take your sister."

Arthur didn’t speak. He didn't have time to trade words. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and focused inward. 

He reached out to the heavy, tingling "Mana" in the air around him. He didn't try to cast a spell. Instead, he visualized the molecules of the powder in his hand. He imagined the atoms, the bonds holding them together. He took the tiny, pathetic amount of latent mana inside his own weak body and forced it into his hand.

He didn't use the mana to create fire. Fire was inefficient. He used the mana as kinetic energy. He commanded the energy to vibrate the molecules in his hand at a massive, hyper-accelerated speed. 

“Friction creates heat. Rapid expansion creates pressure,” Arthur thought coldly. 

The powder in his hand began to grow instantly, terrifyingly hot. It glowed with a faint, angry red light between his fingers. 

The guard stepped within two feet of Arthur, raising his iron club high into the air. "Die, peasant."

Arthur opened his eyes. They were completely calm, lacking any of the fear a boy should have. 

"Science," Arthur whispered. 

He threw the glowing handful of powder directly into the narrow eye-slit of the guard’s heavy iron helmet. 

The reaction was instantaneous. 

The hyper-vibrating chemicals hit the air and ignited. Because Arthur had forcefully pumped kinetic mana into the mixture, it didn't just burn. It underwent rapid thermal runaway. 

BANG!

A blinding, brilliant flash of pure white light erupted from the guard’s face. It was brighter than the sun, accompanied by a deafening crack that sounded like a lightning strike. A shockwave of heat blasted outward, knocking the mud back in a perfect circle. 

The villagers screamed and covered their eyes. Even Jason Lee dropped to the ground in terror, letting go of Clara. 

The guard didn't just fall. He shrieked in absolute, mindless agony. The chemical fire burned at thousands of degrees. The cheap iron of his helmet instantly turned glowing orange. The metal began to melt, dripping like hot wax onto his shoulders. 

The huge man dropped his club and clawed at his melting helmet, his screams sounding more like a slaughtered pig than a human. He stumbled backward, blindly thrashing around before collapsing into the mud, twitching violently as the heat cooked him alive inside his armor. 

Total silence fell over the square. The only sound was the hissing of the melted iron in the cold mud and the wet gasps of the dying guard. 

No one moved. The villagers stared in absolute shock. The remaining soldiers stood frozen, their mouths hanging open. A frail, starving sixteen-year-old boy had just instantly killed a fully armored royal guard with a handful of dirt. 

Arthur didn't waste a single second of their shock. 

He sprinted past the dying man and grabbed Eliana's hand. She was staring at him with wide, terrified eyes. 

"Come on," Arthur said gently, his voice firm and steady. He pulled her up from the mud and pushed her behind his back, putting his own body between his sister and the soldiers. 

Clara broke free from Jason, who was still cowering on the ground, and ran to her children, wrapping her thin arms around Eliana. 

Arthur stood tall. His chest heaved up and down. His right hand was severely blistered from the heat of his own attack, the skin red and angry, but he didn't care. He stared directly at the Commander. 

The Commander’s shock slowly faded, replaced by a dark, murderous rage. He stepped forward, his heavy boots squelching in the mud. He looked at the smoking, melted corpse of his guard, and then at Arthur. 

"What... what is this?" the Commander hissed, his voice shaking with fury. "You used no words of power. You drew no circles. But you wield the Aether?"

The Commander slowly reached to his waist. He grabbed the handle of his longsword and pulled it from its sheath. The sound of the steel sliding out sent shivers down the spines of the villagers. 

As the blade entered the air, glowing blue runes lit up along the center of the steel. The air around the sword grew intensely hot, distorting like a mirage in the desert. It was a true magic weapon. 

"A filthy, starving peasant... wielding the powers of the highborn?" the Commander shouted, his face twisting in disgust. He raised the glowing blade, pointing it directly at Arthur’s chest. 

"Heretic!" the Commander roared, his voice echoing across the dead village. He turned to the twenty heavily armed soldiers behind him. 

"Forget the slaves! Forget the tithe!" the Commander ordered, his eyes locked on Arthur with pure, hateful intent. "Block all the roads. Surround the perimeter. Burn this miserable village to the ground and slaughter every single rat inside it. Leave no one alive!"

The soldiers drew their weapons in unison, the sound of steel ringing in the air. 

Arthur stood perfectly still, watching the glowing magical sword. His body was frail, his hand burned, and he had no weapons. But inside his mind, the equations were already forming. The world was full of energy, and he finally knew how to use it. 

He squeezed his fists, ignoring the pain. If they wanted a war, he would give them one.