"The issue regarding the formulation of bleaches and pulp has been satisfactorily resolved. And with the new installation of the last chain drive, the final extra set of drying rollers are now operational. With only one remaining minor problem of the belt timing, the paper mill is functional," Arthur read from the letter, "I have written this letter to you using the first batch of rolled paper packed with an empty roll, I trust you will find it a fitting commendation to our fruitful enterprise. "
"Congratulations Cato," Arthur said, putting down the letter, "Razzi sends his compliments. "
"Of course he would," Cato grinned, "we're about to become his biggest customer. Heck, even with the profit sharing, I'll be the one giving him money!"
It went without saying that Minmay's subsidization of the mana tax education effort that required a lot of paper. Cato had plans to make all the students copy out a primer to learning magical power as a method of teaching them basic literacy. The primer itself would also serve as a way for them to teach their families and friends, spreading the impact of Landar's teachings further.
After all, these barely trained pseudo-alchemists were being taught to enchant objects by rote, not actually learning the principles of using magic. They wouldn't inherit the snobbishness and insistence on perfection of Academy trained alchemists.
"What about the other matter?" Cato asked.
"The Recordkeepers and Ironworkers objected. Strongly. "
They would do that. "Perhaps asking the guilds for further cooperation is not feasible right now," Cato sighed, "ah well, I had a dream of naming this group the faculty of a university. "
"Faculty... university..." Arthur turned over the new words in his mouth, as if tasting them.
"Once the mana tax education takes off, I would like to move to the second phase of the plan," Cato said, "for that, it requires a core group of knowledgeable people willing to teach advanced techniques. I was hoping the guilds would be willing to share their knowledge if it meant I would release mine. "
Arthur looked blank then he frowned, "I shall have to consult the Chancellor on that. This wasn't part of the agreement. "
"Consult me on what?"
The deep voice from the doorway made them look up from the dining table. Minmay was standing there, fresh off the carriage.
"Sir, you are back! How was the meeting with the king?"
"It went fine," Minmay nodded, "thank you Arthur, for managing things in my absence. So what is this about things not in the agreement?"
Cato bowed, "I believe Arthur is talking about my request to the guilds to form a university by contributing those currently working under me as the first faculty. To which I will add my own writings about whatever I know and can remember. "
"Ah, that cabinet," Minmay said, thanking a maid for bringing him bread and a bowl of soup, "you did secure it, right?"
"Landar wanted to 'upgrade' the enchanted panels with a self-destruct function," Cato said flatly, "I didn't let her. Of course. "
"I wouldn't be too sure of that if you've ever left the cabinet alone," Arthur muttered under his breath. Clearly he was still sore about the firebolt launchers he had found hidden all over Minmay's estate. There was even one in that magical glowing window belonging to Arisacrota that he had to strong arm Landar into removing.
"You want to publish those books, I think that would be a bad idea," Minmay said.
Cato and Arthur blinked at him, dumbfounded for a moment. Cato's ideas had never been outright denied, until now. "Why not? Cato asked.
"The meeting with the king," Minmay sighed, "the nobles are worried that your inventions will give too much power to the guilds. The king is worried that your work will result in another Nurren Agreement situation. "
Ah. Cato was wondering how long it would take them to notice. The spreading of inventions, the mana tax and now this controlled release of basic science from Earth would result in financial independence of the people from the nobles. And not just the merchants either. Political change would be inevitable.
"Aren't you still in control of the projects? The university cannot survive without your funding and political support. I don't think there's much cause to worry about," Cato said.
"That was what I told the king," Minmay replied, "but I know just how little control I have over these projects of yours. After all, none of us know the way to proceed without you. "
"In that case, since you are my financial and political backer, you have control over what I have the money and approval to do. The only person you have to worry about getting too much is power is me," Cato said.
"Exactly why I don't want you to publish your books, I don't want other people to start those other projects you mentioned," Minmay stated, "I'd much rather deal with just you. Besides, I would rather not throw my money away by creating competitors. I have full confidence that you can bring prosperity to Minmay by yourself. "
Well, thank you for the show of support, but I can't settle for just Minmay. Cato only nodded silently however.
"I suspect that I was not able to fully persuade the king of my ability to keep the inventions under control," Minmay said, "a close friend of mine told me that a special investigation team was dispatched from Ektal. I don't think I need to point out where that team is likely to be heading. And why the king declined to inform me of it, he hopes to catch us off guard by sending the writ together with the team itself. "
Minmay looked at Arthur and Cato, making sure they knew what he was talking about, "so please refrain from any actions that would give them cause to sending worrying reports back to Ektal. I have plans to divert their attentions with guild meetings and your university but for the time being, we need to give the king the impression that I am firmly in control of what is happening. "
Hm. Royal attention, potential guild defiance and who knew what else? Other nobles would certainly have learnt of this by now. That was certainly an explosive mixture.
One that could be put to good use.
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Cato pushed the door to Landar's workshop, trying to balance the pile of food in his arms. He caught a falling piece of bread with his chin and finally managed to nudge the door open.
"Hey, there, mind helping me a bit?" he called out. Cato couldn't see her, his head being stuck above the top piece of the tower of bread.
There was no reply even when he shuffled into the dim wooden house. Drat that Landar, she was either too absorbed or out testing her new weapons. With much difficulty, Cato managed to unload the stacks of bread and flatbreads onto the food tray. Covering the pile with an oiled paper and placing a jug each of mild ale and boiled water next to it completed the set.
"Landar, you could at least help me with this," he huffed, eyeing Landar. She was hunched over something on her desk. Cato hadn't pried into what she had been doing the past week and a half when she turned into a recluse, thinking that Landar's genius somewhere he didn't want to be and best left untouched, but this really getting too much.
"There's some cookies and choko ale that you like," he ventured a temptation.
That got her to look up. Gods, her face was terrible, black rings of sleepiness around her eyes and wild hair tucked away haphazardly with clips or behind ears. There was a sheen of sweat and oil over her face and thinned arms that said she hadn't even washed in the last few days. She was even developing pimples on her face! Then without a word, she turned back to her task.
Gods, did this woman even know what moderation meant?
"Landar!" he snapped at her suddenly, causing her to jump. She eyed him with a look of irritation in her eyes but Cato ignored it. "Get over here and eat something!" he commanded, "you ran out of food two days ago and didn't even tell me! And don't think you can get away without rest either!"
He grabbed her arm and practically dragged her over to the food table.
"... so close..." she was protesting but only feeble noises came out of her parched throat.
Cato poured a cup of water for her and helped her drink it slowly. Then he gave her a piece of bread, watching her tear into it with ravenous hunger.
Once she was a little less crazy, she glared at him.
"You disturbed me, one of my threads broke," Landar complained, "now I have to make it again. "
"Do that later," Cato said, snatching up a tablecloth and pouring some water on it before trying to rub some grime off her face, "you need a break from whatever it is you're doing-"
"No!" Landar whined, "I need to finish this! It's almost done! If you had come just half an hour later, I'd be finished!"
"You can have as many half hours later as you need," Cato explained gently, looking into her half-crazed eyes, "but if you kill yourself, you won't get to finish it. "
"But I'm so close!" Landar whined again, "just another half hour. And a bit more to repair that thread you broke. I only need to put one more thread down and it's done!"
The crazy light in her eyes was still glowing strong, and her eyes kept wandering back to the fire arrow in the corner and the mess of tiny objects on the table. Landar really wouldn't let this go until she had finished it. No, it was more like she couldn't let it go.
"All right, but you're going to eat, wash and then sleep right after that!" Cato relented, then raised an admonishing finger, "and I'm going to sit right here to make sure you do it!"
Landar nodded and sleepwalked back to the desk again, too tired to notice the obvious joke opportunity.
Cato left the shed and sat down in the chair outside. She didn't even notice him go.
What were these threads she was talking about? Well, there would be time enough to find out what she was doing after he made her rest. Perhaps he ought to get a pencil and clipboard to take some notes too. This ought to be good, if Landar was going this crazy over it.
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Cato stared at the crisscrossing lines of thread above a forest of needles poked into a heavy cloth board.
"What exactly is this, Landar?"
"Oh, you know, I was trying to make that fire arrow design I talked about last week," Landar pointed at the 'arrow' leaning against the corner of her shed. That was more like a ballista bolt than an arrow, it was nearly as tall as her and as thick as an arm. "It's really quite amazing, what you can do if you just assume you have lots of magic," Landar said, running a hand over the wooden shaft with a grin.
A disturbing grin. The evidence of her exhaustion was still all over her face and body but not a trace of it crept into her voice. At least the wildfire in her eyes had faded once she thought the project was done, replaced with a glow of proud satisfaction.
"Um, what fire arrow idea was this? I thought you said that the timing system only worked at one range?" Cato asked.
"I made the enchantment require the mage to set a specific timing before firing," Landar said, looking at Cato expectantly.
"But you did say that unless the mage understands how the spell counts time, they wouldn't be able to make such modifications on the fly? Not unless they were familiar with your spell. "
Bingo. Landar's eyes lit up as Cato asked the question she had been waiting for.
"So the first thing to do is to make the counter uniform between enchantments," Landar said, "and this is my attempt. " She waved at the pincushion with some thread woven around the needles.
Cato examined it more closely. The needles were regularly spaced across the board but there were distortions in the grid, it had been arranged by hand obviously. The rough attempt at making a square grid of six by six was clear enough. The threads were also woven together in a pattern, now that Cato saw it. No thread touched or crossed each other, and the needles on which they ended were the starts of other threads further up or down the needles.
And the whole thing faintly glowed of magic. Thread, needles and board.
"So, what does it do?" Cato asked.
"It builds a timer into the arrow enchantment," Landar grinned from ear to ear, "with this, every timer is the same timer, and can count in the same way. "
She took out a pair of fine tweezers and held up a magical string that was hanging loosely from the needle at the corner. "The timer works by slowly shaving away at the trigger block of magic here in this string, every time a pulse goes around the central circle there. It's essentially a tiny conduit in a circle, a sensor for the pulse, drain for the block and a sensor for the block," she pointed to the relevant threads, "it's a common way to make a delay timer but the size of the timing circle, the strength of the drain and the size of the trigger block all affect how long it takes to trigger, and every mage makes it differently. Not even I can make the same size of circle each time, and the error gets worse the longer times you want it to count. Anything past a few minutes is quite unreliable. "
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Landar then pointed at the needles and the board below it, "this part here then takes the above circuit and imprints it into the enchantment below. " She picked up the board and laid it on the base of the giant arrow. A stream of magic flashed through the board and into the arrow and the deed was done.
"So far, I can only make it create circuits on the surface of the enchantment and it can only do conduits and drains. I also have to connect it to the payload," Landar pointed at the main shaft where the majority of the enchantment's power resided, "But the result is I can make timers that are virtually identical! I've tested the timer with a trigger block set by the board and it works with unbelievable accuracy even out to one hour! It's accurate to within a handful of heartbeats! If a mage learns where to find the trigger and how to set the size of the trigger block, it should be quite possible to achieve good control for a battlefield weapon with some practice. "
Cato was busily writing the spew of words down. It explained a lot though, if he understood it properly.
To be honest, Cato had no idea how to validate her explanation, given that he couldn't use magic, but there was something he absolutely needed to ask.
"I never heard of anything like this board here," Cato said, "an enchanted item that can use magical power to modify other enchantments?"
"Ahahaha, yeah," Landar laughed, evidently happy Cato noticed that, "that part took me all week. Well, I had to cheat a lot too. It's actually three separate enchantments for conduits, drains and a magical power sensor. Honestly, it's not any use outside of making timers, the board enchantments only make the parts with all the other things like size and activation conditions fixed. "
"And the board takes the pattern of the enchantment from the threads on the needles?" Cato asked.
"Yeah, that's the other cheat, or should I say genius?" Landar shamelessly indulged in self-praise, "A conduit going in a circle is traditional, but... it doesn't need to be a circle. Right? I mean, it just has to start and end at the same place. So what if it's a square, like these conduit threads going round these four needles? Oh yes, there are three types of threads to tell the three parts of the board enchantment what to do. And tying the ends to the needles tells the board to connect those two parts of the pattern. And no, you can't cut the threads, I enchanted each string individually. Terrible headache that gave me. "
In other words, Landar had made something akin to an enchantment that allowed the user to enchant other objects in a precise way controlled by the patterns of threads set on the needles.
The analogy to a compiler for a programming language was obvious. Or a numerically controlled machine tool for physical parts. And in hindsight, that explained why Landar had gotten hopelessly addicted to the project. She was clearly a true mad scientist, presenting her with an analog to a programming language like this was like dangling yama jam in front of a reki.
Well, she certainly deserved to be proud of the work. Cato re-read his notes, trying to absorb the magnitude of the invention that was described messily on the paper. "Landar," he put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her seriously, "please believe me when I say that this is the most important thing you have ever made. Drop everything else you're doing and improve this. "
She blinked at his sudden intensity. "What- er, what do you want me to do?"
"Anything that improves the board. Find a way to allow the threads to control those parameters you said were preset in the board. Find a way to make more types of enchantments the board can do. Particularly, find a way to make functional components with the board, not just control patterns. Heck, it doesn't even need to be a board!"
"But I spent all week on this! You're asking me to spend even more weeks?!" Landar cried, "and there's so many other ideas I haven't tried out yet! Like the wind blade spell your stories had!"
Sorry Landar, the wind blade will probably never work. Air just doesn't work that way. Cato silently apologized. "This is really important!" Cato emphasized, still gripping her shoulders, "this board of yours is the first step to a true magical tool. It is already a prototype that can be used to manipulate other spells. Once the mana tax starts to roll in, magical tools will be the next big step. "
"Eh? But but..." Landar's eyes escaped his grasp, darting to the ever growing pile of half-baked unfinished ideas in the other corner of her workshop
How about a bribe? "I'll buy you the entire field next door," Cato said, "one huge area just for you to shoot anything you want, full power. I don't care if you burn it, pound it, glass it. Whatever. Just spend most of your time on improving the magical tool. "
Landar's eyes wandered over to the fire arrow. Too obvious. "Ooo, that's romantic. A girl might get ideas if you start buying land for her you know?" she teased him.
"Yeah I'm sure you already have ideas," Cato said dryly, "a bit of dirt that you're going to turn into a giant smoking crater though? Pardon me if I don't think that's very romantic at all. "
"All the romance I need is a pile of magic and giant fireball to turn it into!"
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Their observer arrived together with the writ, just as Minmay expected. The excuse for not announcing it seemed to be that Ektal didn't want to spread rumours too far, but judging by how fast Minmay himself got the news when it was supposed to surprise him, the royal attention they were drawing must be all over the country by now.
After the expected tour of the grounds, Minmay had tried to keep the observer busy in meetings with the local guild leaders but the man insisted on doing so.
Cato nodded at the merchant and the Ironworker discussing how to use the drying rollers, the same ones that Cato introduced for Razzi, for washing clothing. Cato didn't give much chances for it to work though. Mechanically, squeeze drying the clothing shouldn't be a problem but Cato couldn't see how it could be commercially successful. No one except nobles could pay that much money just to do laundry.
Well, not that Cato would stop him. And who knew, maybe that merchant would surprise Cato.
In the middle of the discussion about the drive chain sprocket jumping problems, the noble who had been watching them suddenly cut in from where he was sitting.
"I have heard of gears from a famous blacksmith in Inath," their observer said.
The conversation stopped and they looked at him. Um. Okay?
"Why do you use chains to move the rollers when you suffer so many problems of them coming off the sprockets? I'm sure you find gears more useful. "
Oh, he was making a suggestion! Cato was about to reply when what the noble said finally got through his head. Er. "I am sorry, sir, but we do use gears," Cato explained, "the chain is just a way to move power over longer distances. "
"But why not use gears to do that as well?"
"Because you either need a drive shaft or many gears, and chains are cheaper. " But Cato had a hunch that explaining things wasn't going to work.
"So if you did use drive shafts, wouldn't that solve your problems?"
It looked like he was either determined to derail the conversation or was just obstinately denying their insinuations that the man didn't know the least bit about what they were talking about.
"Do you even understand what the problem is?" Cato asked him, "perhaps you should refrain from commenting on topics you are unfamiliar with. " To avoid looking silly. Cato only thought about the last bit, he had learnt something from Landar's warning not to speak badly of nobles after all.
Or maybe he hadn't learnt anything at all. The noble drew himself up and, with a self-satisfied grin, declared, "and you shouldn't insult me so casually. I am Rany Rize, the third son of Chancellor Duport!"
Ah crap, so it was a trap after all, that noble was just baiting Cato. He sighed and looked over at Minmay for help. The Chancellor was looking at him too, with an amused look in his eyes. What was so funny about this situation?
"Was it an insult, my dear boy?" Minmay said, still smiling, "I only heard well-meaning advice. Perhaps a little more casually than is polite but one cannot expect commoners to reach the lofty heights of formalism such as ourselves, no? Do you wish to state your grievance more clearly?"
The merchant and the alchemist were all looking at Minmay with raised eyebrows. Belatedly, Cato realized the trap in Minmay's words. All Rany could do was grit his teeth impotently. A duel with words, this was. Round one to Minmay.
Cato sighed, he had a feeling he would be seeing a lot more of this in the near future.
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Hmm? So that was the much talked of rival Academy? It didn't look like very much. Polankal hoisted her backpack and walked across the strangely barren field.
"Oi! Look out!"
Eh?
She looked upwards as the distant figure on the other side jumped and pointed. There was a small dot... No, it was getting bigger. Wait, it's coming here?
She stepped backwards slowly. The dot expanded into a palm-sized blob and she could see the surface was wooden, then it suddenly burst into a red flower of magic. Ahh! She turned and shot back across the thin fence, the blooming heat from behind was very good encouragement.
Just what under Selna was this place?!
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It was the most mismatched bunch of people she had ever seen. If this was how Minmay did things it was a wonder those people got anything done at all!
A merchant was waving his arms around, talking rapidly while a knight, an alchemist and a noble listened and gave comments. What the merchant had to say was beyond her hearing range. Beside them was a group of knights escorting another noble, who seemed to be just observing.
Polankal had wandered into the meeting area, wondering how she was going to join this new Academy. Try to bluff that she was a merchant's daughter? She was starting to regret not running away immediately.
No, she had to do this. Even if she was just a peasant, she would have to learn to stand among nobles.
"Are you here to join us?" a woman approached her, "don't worry, if you're just here for the magic classes, it's open to all. Allow me to welcome you. "
Oh, that was easier than she expected. Then Polankal turned around and saw the waist length black hair from the woman's ponytail. A clear mark of the Tsarian summoner clans. One of the heroes of the stones?!
"I-I... yes! I'm here! To join, I mean," Polankal mentally cursed herself for stuttering, "I'm Polankal, from Taia village!"
The woman blinked and then suddenly bowed, to Polankal of all people! "I'm Landar Iris, I'm really sorry for the accident earlier, that must have been frightening. "
A true summoner! From the Iris clan! Was apologizing to her! Polankal blinked away sudden tears, aware that her clothing was far too sloppy for the majestic woman in front of her. "It's all right," Polankal muttered, wondering when the woman was going to snap and break her in half.
"No, really, it was my fault for not checking if the range was clear before testing my new weapon," Landar sighed, "well, it seems that you are all right, physically anyway. Allow me to buy you lunch, as an apology. "
"I- I wouldn't dare," Polankal cursed herself as her voice barely squeaked out.
"No, I insist," Landar said, holding out a hand, "come on, I know a nice diner. And I need an excuse to skip out on escorting this stuck up noble. "
From the woman's look, that would be the noble who was observing the discussion. But Polankal could feel her mouth hanging open. Landar had started out as the perfect image of a noblewoman but wasn't this getting too casual?! And Polankal could feel the heroic image of summoners proudly wielding their stones crumbling slowly.
Not caring about her reaction, Landar just continued ranting, "just because he has the king's backing doesn't mean he can poke his nose in everywhere and tell us what to do!"
It looked like Polankal might need to adjust her expectations.
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A/N: I understand that these last few chapters might feel a bit disjointed because I was writing off the seat of my pants. I also needed a few chapters to bridge the gap between the past arc and the present one. It would not be inaccurate to think of these as filler for a time skip / setting up the next arc, but I hope I at least managed to put in some useful detail.
The next few chapters are already planned and have actual progress, so thank you for bearing with me.