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Atalante began pacing back and forth in the room, her face filled with disbelief. "Oh my god, didn’t you two come back for a vacation?!"
"No," Hedy said, sipping her wine, adding, "And we’ve angered the Borgia family. We might end up being hunted down by them."
"Borgia—Borgia?!!"
"Also, Hedy is now my fiancée!" Leonardo suddenly remembered this key point, his eyes filled with an uncontainable smile. "What do you think of this news?"
Atalante chose to slump onto the nearby bench, muttering after a long pause, "You two have only been gone for less than a year, and yet you’ve managed to cause so much trouble…"
"So, do you want to join?" Hedy asked. "Continue being my supervisor and talk your way through things with the mercenary leaders?"
"Sure!" The young man stretched out his voice as he slouched. "It’s not like you two aren’t going to get into trouble anyway…"
——
None of this would be enough with just the few of them.
At the moment, Sforza’s stance was rather ambiguous, but he had already agreed that the Medici family would provide some auxiliary troops and support.
What Hedy wanted, and one could say, what had been on her list since she arrived in this era, was to form a mercenary army that would be completely loyal to her and sufficiently trained.
It might start with just a small team, but soon there should be a battalion, and eventually, they would be formed into a flexible and powerful legion.
The clever Atalante was tasked with gathering information at various taverns and recruitment centers, while the others helped transfer supplies to the southwest ranch.
During this interval, Da Vinci took Hedy to visit a craftsman—Mr. Fabio.
The old man had a beard so long it needed to be tied with a rope into a knot, and it was said that when he was forging iron inhis youth, he had accidentally set his beard on fire, burning his entire furry head.
He had designed several castles and fortresses and had contributed to the casting of many important components for the Milan Cathedral. He and Da Vinci had been working together for three or four years now.
When they visited him, the entire workshop was filled with the pungent smell of molten iron and charcoal, making it feel as though they were standing right next to a barbecue pit.
One of the apprentices shouted loudly, and the old man finally heard the noise, stopping his work to turn and look at them.
Mr. Fabio’s beard and eyebrows were completely white, and his Mediterranean-style head was the same. Though his eyes were a bit cloudy, his expression was still alert.
"What do you want with me? Is it another bishop saying that the payment will be delayed for a few more months?" he asked.
Da Vinci didn’t beat around the bush and replied directly, "We want to hire you."
"Hire?" The old man spat and muttered, "I've been hired by many, and none of them paid me!"
Hedy smiled but didn’t speak. She simply placed a money pouch in front of him.
Fabio paused, then bent down and untied the string, shaking it to confirm its weight—it was heavy enough to make a dull sound.
Inside, it was filled with gold coins, which gleamed even in the firelight.
His first reaction was to clutch the pouch tightly and look around at the apprentices. "What are you looking at? Get back to work!"
Once the apprentices had all withdrawn their heads, he took one coin, bit it between his teeth, and tested its authenticity.
"This is an advance," Hedy said slowly. "If you agree to cooperate, we will pay at least three times the amount for a year’s worth of work."
On the way there, Hedy had already heard Da Vinci talk about the old man’s temperament.
— He had once been a rather good-natured craftsman, skilled in both woodworking and metalworking. Unfortunately, the noble lords and princes, who were all scoundrels that liked to default on payments and break contracts, had gradually made him irritable over time.
