"Trade representative from Minmay here to see you, Chancellor. "
Duport nodded and waved a hand for the guard to open the door. The stick thin man bowed politely as he crossed the threshold and approached her desk with a large folder under his arm.
Duport leaned towards her advisor.
Thomas whispered in her ear, quickly summarizing the brief. "His request is a trade proposal. Primary concern is thorndown cloth and clothing. Intelligence says he's probably honest. "
She snorted to herself. It wasn't as if there was anything to spy about in the territory, not with her finances barely clinging to solvency and the citizenry too exhausted to get up to much mischief. The past month had been touch and go, barely papering over the incurred debt with some very quick diplomacy. Very stressful diplomacy. Now that the first of the Aesin irrigation projects were complete, the drain on the finances was beginning to let up.
"The light of the sun shines well on you, Chancellor," the man bowed again formally, "I am Alvan, trade representative of Minmay. There is a proposal we would like to discuss. "
She waved a hand when he paused.
"The three clothing and weavers guilds in Minmay have finally agreed to a merger. In the process, they are interested in a broad collaboration with your Thread and Weavers guild and wish your aid in setting up the meetings. They hope to move significant number of workers to your port cities to work under the guild here and your permission or better yet, blessing, will improve fortunes of both of us.
To that end, my Chancellor has convinced the Minmay Ironworkers to sell machines for the drilling of mana pumps to you and for the magic driven weaving machines for your Thread and Weavers guild. We expect that you will benefit greatly from this service. "
Duport frowned as the man drew out three sheets filled with dense words and numbers from his folder and placed them in front of her.
"You're giving us all of this? I don't understand why your guilds would want to move here," she asked him. And why Minmay would let revenue sources simply leave. Worse, selling her mana pump drilling equipment for a small markup above the price in Minmay? Unbelievable. There was an angle the other Chancellor was driving at.
The man explained smoothly, "for a long time now, the cloth guilds in Minmay have been dependent on the thorndown fuzz exported by your territory and it is clear that such low density material is simply not profitable to move long distances. With the advent of new technology, we expect that your region will become key to the production of fabrics in the long run. This is simply them moving now while they still can. "
"Asking Thread and Weavers to take in such an influx of people is not easy," Thomas said, reading the estimated numbers from one of the documents.
Alvan countered immediately, "initial talks have already begun. Since the production of the first drill heads actually. There are no guarantees but the guilds are willing to work out their differences and come to an agreement. "
"And how long will these drills take to be made? The last I heard, the Minmay Ironworkers has a one month backlog of orders. "
Again, the man had all the answers. "The backlog will be cleared in two weeks. Additionally, if Thread and Weavers reach a satisfactory agreement, one of the advantages Minmay is willing to offer is for Duport to jump the queue on the first drill head. "
"A one month-"
"In two weeks, yes," Alvan smiled as much as Thomas frowned, "Willio is expecting production to double once the new machines are familiarized. Courtesy of the magical power afforded by the mana pumps. "
Unspoken was the fact that this advantage could be Duport's too.
It was tempting, way too tempting. Minmay's man was all but throwing money in her face and she couldn't see the downside.
"Why does Minmay not simply put the spinning and weaving machines in Minmay?" Thomas asked again, "your production advantage will more than offset the transport cost and your merchants aren't paying our gate taxes. You say they want to come, why is Duport better? What does Minmay gain from developing our weaving industry?"
For the first time under fire, Alvan frowned and sighed, "it is prevailing opinion that there aren't enough people in the Minmay region to make a strong clothing industry. You have a natural advantage and the labour to do so. Rather than waste men on cheap fabric, there is more money to be made selling and replacing the machines that do so in your territory than producing the thread in Minmay. "
Chancellor Duport looked at her advisor. So that was the trick? Minmay was giving them a whole business specialty because he couldn't find the manpower to make all the stuff?
"It's more than that, the difference in the value of the goods, of machines versus clothing, means that we will always be poorer than he is. And dependent on the machines made by the Minmay Ironworkers in order to function. "
Even with the explanation, it did not rule out Duport eventually building her own machine-building ability. Over the time frame being talked about here, easily half a generation for changing the business of an entire region, there were no such thing as a guarantee that Minmay would keep his lead.
And yet, the offer to preferentially sell her machines for the development of her territory and the Thread and Weavers Guild was not one easily dismissed, no matter the future drawbacks. Such a boost to her finances, present and future, would greatly help the territory and the people in it who were uncertain of what the changes to the economy meant for them.
"Very well, leave the full proposal here and I will consider it in conjunction with the Guild," Duport gestured and the Minmay man placed half the folder on top of her already copious reading material. "You may tell your Chancellor that tentatively, we are of favourable disposition. "
Thomas gave her a Look but a nod from her postponed the query.
"We thank you for the understanding, I am sure Minmay will be greatly pleased to hear your reply," Alvan bowed and took his leave.
"Duport, you do realize that this deal only benefits Minmay, don't you?"
The Chancellor shrugged at her advisor, her slouch reappearing unconsciously now that there wasn't anyone else to see it.
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"I understand that Minmay benefits from this more than us. He will leave us the lower value business while maintaining his lead," Duport nodded, "but even the lower value business of making clothing can be valuable for us. And given our situation, you must admit that we have no hope of being on par with Minmay. Certainly not for decades. "
Thomas retorted, "even so, if you agree to let Minmay provide those machines for us instead of building our own, we will never be on par with Minmay. "
"Yes, I see that, but I believe Minmay has offered enough to make the deal advantageous to us. Look, he's even giving us a favourable deal on the new mana well drills, without something like that, Duport will be greatly outbid by the other territories! You know that all the Federation is looking to buy from them. "
From her perspective, while her advisor raised good points about the long term disadvantages of being dependent on Minmay for their industry, Duport was also aware from her financial lessons that the short term advantages were also important. Her territory was suffering a short term problem after all.
"Just why are you so suspicious of them anyway?" she asked him curiously.
Thomas frowned, "the offer is too generous. I suspect there is a hidden drawback. Chancellor Minmay is offering to help us build up our industry for a long term gain and potentially our goodwill and dependency, but the sale of the drill is the sort of concession I would expect for negotiations to settle on. Not something he would offer as a starting point. No, he is deriving some advantage from our acceptance that isn't just sales of machines. "
He thought a bit more, "not that he has any shortage of customers for industrial machines. In fact, I am seeing less and less advantage for Minmay in this deal. He won't lose money, but his profit is not great. So why?"
"Why would Minmay be interested in selling us machines? That is a good question," Duport rocked back in her chair. Minmay could sell thread spinning and weaving machines anywhere, with the surplus in food in Ektal. So why her territory specifically?
As it was, Thomas thought of an answer first. "Ah, I see," Thomas nodded, "he's linking our territories together. If our territories have regular trade on the scale he is proposing, our tax income will be greatly dependent on our relations with his territory. He wants influence on us to counter influence from Ektal. "
She looked up at her advisor, who was nodding to himself. The chancellor was about to open her mouth when there was a knock on the door. Duport gestured for her guards to open the door.
"Chancellor, there is a communication from King Ektal," the messenger handed the guard a letter who bore it to her.
What would the King want with her now? She cracked it open and scanned the single sheet of paper before handing it to Thomas.
"You were right." Duport commented.
The letter was a straightforward request to meet with an Ektal Academy representative, to discuss the possibility of offering teachers in alchemy for her peasants. Ostensibly for the production of weapons. The parallels in both requests were less than comforting, especially when they had come at the point where Duport had finally gotten a small space in her budget for development and plenty of soon-to-be ex-farmers needing useful trades.
With a sigh, Duport spun her chair away from her desk, rubbing at her weary eyes.
It looked like there was something to spy on in her territory now.
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Landar leaned in as she examined the complex traceries under the flap of skin. It was slightly nauseating to look at the trickle of blood over the exposed muscle but the alchemist reminded herself of the observations she was getting.
The doctor standing next to her had deftly avoided all major damage to the subject. Without Kupo and her practice at surgery, this whole observation would not have been possible.
"So it's not blood," Landar muttered, "the skin doesn't lose power even if its disconnected from the blood flow. "
"Having lifeforce be the same as blood would really be too easy," Kupo agreed.
"How fast can you remove the piece of skin? I'm going to try to contain it before the lifeforce can fade. "
As Landar prepared the receiving box, Kupo detached the flap of skin with a deft swipe of her scalpel and flipped it into the container. Landar closed the magically sealed box and hooked it up to the detector. They settled down to watch.
And that was how Cato found the two of them standing over a human body, smocks and gloves splattered a bloody red, watching the chart recorder ticking over.
"Hey Landar! ... Er, is everything all right?" he stopped at the door to Kupo's lab and looked a little green.
"Hey Cato! And yeah, I wouldn't say everything is all right," Landar muttered, eyes still glued to the graph. Cato had a brief moment of consternation before she continued, "it feels like we're standing on the ground looking up at Selna. We can make all the observations about lifeforce we like but they're not connected to anything we know of. That lifeforce is maybe perhaps not completely made of magic is about the only conclusion we can come to. "
The line on the graph shifted upwards slowly and Landar stuck a note to the magic density measuring equipment. "1 piece human skin, 40 grams"
Well, that was reassuring.
"Are you really taking apart a body to see how much magic it contains?" Cato asked incredulously.
"Yup!" Landar nodded, opening up another box further down the table.
"Strictly speaking, I already have a good idea of how to measure the magic in lifeforce," Landar continued, "this is more of a release speed measurement. The total quantity of magic can be be estimated by your mage in a box experiment, and measurements from a disruption magic kill corresponds to that. So the total amount is not in question. The question we're trying to investigate is why disruption magic can kill people and animals and just about any living thing, except maybe you. You see, we know that lifeforce is required for life, we also know that physical things like blood are required for life. But what is it that links these two portions of your body together? How does a physical thing break down the lifeforce? How does a magical disruption affect the physical portion of the body like the heart or lungs?
I'm trying to see here if various chemicals or reactions can speed up the breakdown of lifeforce from a piece of dead body. We already know fire does that quite well, but what exactly is it in a body that is destroyed?"
Cato let her words flow over him as she poured a cup full of a very familiar stink. Formaldehyde. A relatively new chemical, made only in experimental quantities by the University's chemical labs.
The combination of its pungent smell and metallic tang of blood twisted his stomach.
"Kupo, give me a hand. "
The healer simply grabbed a large cleaver and chopped the hand off the body. There was surprisingly little blood, easily explained by the buckets placed below the body and the splatter over the floor. But still, the two women standing in a bloodstained room cheerfully lopping off bits of fresh human was not a welcome sight.
"1 human hand, 513 grams" Landar wrote meticulously, rubbing a stray drop of blood off the corner of her note.
Cato brushed off the flecks of dried blood that splattered onto his shirt before backing away slowly.
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Landar came out of Kupo's laboratory to find Cato sitting in one of the chairs just outside in the corridor.
"Hey, are you all right?" she asked, looking him over.
"I'm fine. "
With his face in his hands, Cato wasn't looking 'fine'.
"No, not if you're like that," Landar persisted in her questioning. She was not going to let Cato avoid admitting he was not feeling well. That was her habit!
"Was that guy still alive?"
Landar blinked. How was that relevant? Cato was sheltered on his world, that much Landar could tell just from talking with him, but she expected him to be disturbed by the blood and body parts. The alchemist shrugged, that softness was part of what made him interesting after all.
She said dryly, "being shot in the head tends to be quite fatal. "
Cato shook his head. "I mean, was the man still alive before you experimented on his body?"
Oh! So that's what he was worried about.
"Minmay gave the bandit to us when I asked him. We had some destructive tests to run on lifeforce, and human ones were preferable for accuracy," she huffed, "I may have had a light episode but even when I'm crazy I wouldn't kidnap random people off the street and cut them open. I'm crazy, not murderous. "
Cato didn't respond to her attempt at levity, rubbing his face with both hands. He looked up at Landar with uncertain eyes.
"And it doesn't disturb you to experiment on people? To just kill in cold blood because you needed a warm body to test a theory on?"
What. Hm, this had to do with that culture gap with the Tsar bioengineering thing, didn't it? Landar said as much.
He just sighed again and shook his head, "this isn't... I mean, you really don't see anything wrong with experimenting on people?"
"He was a criminal, confirmed to have killed at least five merchants and guards, unknown but many incidents of theft, armed violence and general disorder. " While he wasn't the worst of the worst, it was enough that Kupo had had no qualms performing the execution. The truly bad ones Minmay had wanted to keep to make an example of.
"And that justifies you killing him outside a legal execution? Like an animal, less than human? " Cato's eyes had a strange intensity about them, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.
"What's this about?" she asked. It was a little confusing when it was her turn to run into this culture gap business, Cato had always handled it well on his side and she was sorely missing the practice now.
"It's about basic human dignity. If we can't afford that for criminals, how are we better than them?"
Still not making sense. Landar wrinkled her nose and decided to flip his argument. "It's about practicality. Where else am I going to get people to experiment on?"
Cato almost retorted but just like he always had, he took a breath and visibly restrained himself. What was that muttering? She listened carefully, he was just repeating 'different culture' to himself over and over. Huh.
"Maybe we have different ideas about what it means to be a person," the otherworlder let out a long breath, "I shouldn't judge. "
She winced. Hey, if he was still having doubts about her, he should clear them up, not swallow them. Despite appearing to settle down, his disapproval was still rolling off him like waves. She had an urge to correct him, somehow letting this issue go did not feel right to Landar.
"I'm not about to kill people who don't deserve it, not even people who might agree if we paid enough," she said, wondering why she was trying to justify basic logic to Cato, "if you say that even criminals who have discarded their humanity should be afforded this dignity, then who wouldn't be? Next you're going to tell me that we shouldn't research human lifeforce at all!"
There was a pause.
"Wait, really? You really think we shouldn't study lifeforce?" Landar could hardly believe what she was hearing. Or not hearing.
Cato recovered admirably but a little too late, "it's... all right. I won't say anything. Just continue. I'll work on the mana currency and flight projects. "
And not help her with this, he didn't have to say. "You'll at least help with analysis and theory?" she asked.
"Let me think about it first," he waved her off, shuffling down the small corridor of the research building, "I can't do this right now. Maybe later. "
Landar watched him go, feeling vaguely uncomfortable in her borrowed medical gown. Absently, she scrubbed at a bloodstain with the sleeve. Argh, why?! Just when she thought she understood Cato, he had to go do something incomprehensible like this!
"Hey, twenty third is coming in now," Kupo stuck a head out of her room, wearing a fresh gown, "you should get changed and clear out the body parts if you want- is something wrong?"
The alchemist and the doctor held a gaze for a long moment before Landar shrugged. Whatever, she would deal with Cato later. Those experiments weren't going to conduct themselves.
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The meeting in Tirien's Academy was held in a well-furnished and comfortable room. The cold of the heavy rain outside was warded off by a gently crackling fireplace, scented wood smoke mixing with the alcoholic fumes from the wine and spirits languishing in their goblets.
"We also have reports from our eyes in Minmay's forges and that bank. They are working on a new project, something big with the collaboration of everyone from the Ironworkers to the Recordkeepers. There are at least five distinct groups that seem to be building portions of it. "
There was a collective groan through the men and women in the room. By this point, strange new ideas appearing from Cato's University was getting to be a routine thing, as much as that could be routine. There were two main forms that the warning signs took, the Mad Alchemist disappearing for a week or two, or as this case was, Minmay or Cato starting a large and expensive project.
"What is he doing this time?" asked one of the mayors in the room. The voice was tired, resigned to the insane pace of change they had all seen.
They had thought the new steel furnaces and the coking method was worldchanging, flooding the market with cheap and good steel was something of a fantasy. Then came the fertilizer and irrigation practices, seed drills and steel plows. There was a phrase 'too much food' that no one had ever expected to see. Those were just the first ones that had barely time to make themselves felt. Then came guns that changed the face of warfare, the frustratingly difficult concept of standardized practice and interchangeable parts, teaching everyone alchemy and those mana wells promised greater change than anything previously seen.
Not counting minor things like bicycles, newspapers and living fire. Each of which could have been the financial basis of a strong merchant house or even a minor noble position.
"Ah, yes, there's an interesting tale there. " Heads turned to the smug voice in the corner. Many of the noses turned up in slight disgust at the non-noble but none confronted the speaker directly.
"Your prevarication is unwanted," Ektal cut the man off, "your usual teasing is not appreciated. "
"Such seriousness-"
"Draken," the king's warning was resigned, knowing that restraining the mercenary was quite impossible.
"Fine, whatever you want," the man chuckled, "I have ears in some of their inner circle. Sources tell me that they are working on flight. They seem to think they can build a machine that fly in the air like a bird or an Elka. A machine of wood, cloth and steel that Cato is quite certain will be able to travel across the entire of Ektal in a single flight. In less than a day. Enough to carry one or two people, but Cato's stories imply that the flying machines can be built as big as you like. "
He played with a thin deadly stiletto that had somehow slipped the door check, twirling it through his fingers. The spymaster smiled at the blank faces as most of the nobles failed to understand the implications, "the machines will fly faster and further than Elka. Too high for arrows to reach, too high to hope to hit with bowguns. Give the man inside living fire bombs to drop and the machines can attack anywhere with impunity and there is nothing anyone can do about it. "
With a flick of his wrist, the blade was embedded into the far wall, slicing the top off a cork on a bottle. The bottle wobbled and crashed to the floor before the servants could catch it, splashing the alcohol over the carpet. Draken sighed, as if disappointed at his own accuracy. He ignored the pale worried looks of the nobles as they began to contemplate yet another strange shift in warfare.
"If you would continue and stop vandalizing the room?" the king said.
"All right, alright! The military implications are clear. Previously, while Minmay's Guards are better armed and defended than our knights, his lone territory's advantages is offset by the difference in numbers. But this flying machine cannot be answered by numbers. Without more Elka than exist throughout the Federation or your own machines, which no doubt requires manufacturing practices no one else's smiths can match, Minmay will have a weapon that cannot be gainsaid through superior numbers and finances. Worried yet?"
Draken raised an eyebrow as the king merely stared at him. With a sigh, he continued with the analysis, "but according to the activity I am hearing, this project is so large that even Cato does not expect it to be complete any time soon. The project is still learning how to fly, building tools and conducting tests. They are still gathering knowledge and have no clear idea how to build a flying machine. "
The nobles had such an obvious look of relief that he chuckled to himself again, moving across the room to retrieve his dagger.
"We will have to stop him," exclaimed one of the nobles. The king didn't acknowledge the woman, but many turned to her and nodded as if to themselves, but still moving enough for others to see their support. "Sir, we can't let him build that!" she turned to Ektal, "Minmay will become unstoppable!"
"Bold. But it had to be said. " "A bad conclusion. " "Ruining the balance of power. "
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Once the first spoke up, the other nobles saw their chance and they added their voices in support. The king let their mutterings wash over him for a moment before raising a hand to cut them off.
"Draken, has Minmay even started building anything? I have received no reports of any projects under construction, certainly nothing like a flying machine," Ektal said to the spymaster. To the man's credit, he didn't crack a joke.
"The University is raising a new building and requesting small parts from the Ironworkers," Draken sighed, "getting details on what they are is frustratingly difficult, but no, he has not started the construction of a flying machine. "
"Wouldn't you think that a flying machine would be an exceedingly difficult project? It could take years," Ektal noted, "a few years might seem like a short period but in these times, who can say what will happen? No, enough wailing, I'd rather focus on what we can do now. "
The king turned away from Draken, unspoken was the fact that efforts made to learn the secrets of flight from Minmay would continue unabated. He regarded the nobles clustered opposite the small room, "what of our living fire production?"
"The phosphor mines in Ranra have been expanded at our urging," the spokesperson for their group stood up nervously, looking at her compatriots for support, "together with the new black oil distillation building, we have a large facility in Centra and Ektal city, with smaller refineries in Aldir region. I expect by next month, our production will outstrip Minmay. "
Living fire, being a 'simple' liquid, was one of the few successful projects in standardization. The Ironworkers were still unable to duplicate Willio's feat of interchangeable parts and production of spellcannon and new model guns was still reliant on Minmay to provide the enchanting circles in the first place. At least fire shells, enchanted ceramic bombs that held the liquid, did not have very strict tolerances if you had a generous safety margin.
"What of the accidents? We can't afford to keep burning down buildings every few weeks. "
"I developed a new process," the spokesperson suddenly gained confidence, clearly this topic was something she personally had a hand in, "with sufficient precaution, our valuable skilled personnel are not endangered. "
And the others were just peasants that didn't matter. Oh well, good enough, he supposed. Ektal nodded, "your work sets a good example. You have my permission to expand to four thousand people across Ektal and Aldir territories. I hear there are more findings of oil on our side of the border with Inath, so look into getting an oil well for ourselves too. "
She bowed happily and sat down. The other nobles in the room kept their faces carefully neutral but it was obvious they were jealous. Despite the inherent difficulty and danger of manufacturing fire shells the producers of such a potent weapon were being trusted with a lot of military power. Anyone could throw one after all.
"Where are we going to send the living fire to?" asked one of the mayors whose town held a refinery, "it's hard to get any transport for it, no merchant can be persuaded to carry the weapons, we have to hire knights to move them. I have half a warehouse of extremely dangerous bombs that I would like to get out of my town. "
They didn't blow up for no reason, but one or two accidents with a stray lamp or torch had caused... incidents. In one case, the stone warehouse had burned for hours and melted down to its foundations and everyone in that town had to be evacuated in case of Fire Rain. No one was going to forget that day.
Given the persistent rumours of instability, fire shell storages made poor neighbours.
Ektal nodded and addressed the nobles. "Chancellor Aldar is negotiating with Ranra to sell them shells produced in his territory. He has my blessings, you will have to wait until he has an agreement before moving them. I also have an agreement with Minmay, his city will supply Wendy's Fort, our and Central Territory's production will transport our shells to Fort Yang. I don't want any stockpiles to be built here in any of your towns and villages. Small sales to the knights are permissible but no more than four shells per party is allowed. "
Satisfied, the man nodded and sat back down.
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Much later, the meeting having concluded successfully, the king leaned back against his chair.
"Was that wise? Not to reassure them by denouncing Minmay?" Syphil, his primary advisor and intelligence minister asked, "you're letting Chancellor Minmay be virtually independent. "
"And what would you have me do about him?" Ektal replied lightly, "Minmay can and will refuse any chastisement or summons I give, which would force me to exert force to bring him to heel. In violation of the same peace agreement Amarante has helped brokered. Plus, even with greater forces, Minmay's equipment is inevitably better than ours, any such punitive action will be incredibly costly. "
Draken, who hadn't left along with the nobles, shrugged, "don't be so sure you'll win either. I have word of some rumours that that alchemist has found ways around magical shields, even of the huge disruption domes. "
Syphil raised an eyebrow then frowned, "guns that can ignore the barriers designed by the Hero's party? How certain are you about this rumour?"
The mercenary spy waved a smug hand at government one, "from the whispers among certain summoners' servants, it's not a gun. Or not a normal one. Something that Minmay himself banned Landar from talking about. "
Syphil and her master winced at the thought of yet another secret project by that alchemist. Then Ektal shook his head, "let's not get distracted. As I was saying, it will be difficult for me to force Minmay to do anything and trying may cause him to finally decide to declare himself ruler and break away into his own principality. He's certainly well-loved enough in his territory and has consolidated power sufficient to avoid most of the issues. "
"And you don't want to give commands you won't be sure will be obeyed. That will only undermine you worse with the rest of the nobles. "
King and minister shared a sigh at Draken's voicing of something that neither of them needed explaining.
"So, what are you going to do about it?" And of course, he expected to get more work because of the situation. Not that the spy was wrong.
"For now, nothing," the king said, "even accounting for the effect on the balance of power in our country, we are not so shortsighted as to overlook the long term benefit of Cato's University. So, if we cannot exert influence through military power as is traditional, then we shall do so by other means. "
"Ah, the dewdrop method," Syphil said.
"Indeed," Ektal nodded at her, "No doubt, Minmay will also attempt the same, after all the military calculus works in reverse just as well. "
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Amarante looked around the streets of Minmay from her perch on the carriage.
"This is an amazing city you have built here," she remarked, watching the bustling street part around the honour guard. Even a visiting queen passing through could not stop the hurry of people going to and fro. The queen turned back to Minmay and Cato sitting with her, "such life and energy that even I can feel it in here. "
Cato looked at the Chancellor, wondering what the queen was talking about. Minmay merely matched Amarante's smile and nodded for her to continue.
"Look around at the people," she gestured at a group of workers in plain coveralls. The hammer and anvil emblem on their shoulder identified them as employees of Willio's ironworking company. The group glanced up at them then continued on to their shifts with a respectful bow to the queen's procession. "Few have time to spare to see a foreign queen, their craft calls them from place to place ceaselessly. I can see that the work here never stops. Not even at night I presume. "
Cato wondered how the queen had guessed at the presence of the night shift when the very idea was foreign in all of Inath. Then he remembered that they had passed close to the foundries and she must have recognized the new street lights for what they were, despite them being quiescent during the day.
"You are correct, Queen Amarante," Minmay said respectfully, "the tempo of our industry is great and ever accelerating, in no small part due to the efforts of Cato and the University. "
"Nonsense, such accomplishment cannot be the work of one man or even one organization," the queen replied, with a touch of approval, "the various interests of finance, guilds and workers must cooperate in order to create such smooth function. Truly, it reflects well on your leadership, chancellor, to be able to bring such disparate groups together into harmony. "
"The same can be said of yourself, to raise the Federation to where it is today and managing the conflicts inevitable in the Greater Circle, those who do not understand the magnitude of that achievement do you a disservice. "
"A little humility never hurt anyone, Minmay. " Or perhaps it was good to be underestimated, Cato thought but didn't say.
Both of them seemed satisfied of that little dance of words and the queen's smile turned to Cato.
"Well then, Cato, what about your achievements?"
He twitched involuntarily, looking to Minmay and receiving a bland smile that was no help at all.
"I hope you're not expecting me to dance with words like the chancellor over here," Cato said.
Amarante raised an eyebrow for a moment then laughed, really laughed instead of the polite tittering from the earlier conversation. "I noticed," she said, "Morey tries but he can't play this game either. An interesting world you come from, to have such honesty. "
"If you picked two random people from Inath, what are the chances a noble or prominent merchant able to flatter like the best will be picked? As I understand, neither I nor Morey are politicians or even experienced in the sort of leadership you perform. "
The queen nodded, "a fair point. Then I shall speak plainly. Tell me, Cato, do you see yourself as a Hero?"
The capital letters were definitely audible. He drew a long breath, stalling to find some inoffensive words, "that depends on what you think a Hero is. My idea of such may not be the same as yours. "
"According to our stories, a Hero led the people to this world. Heroes fought on both sides of the Great War and later, after the Great Migration to lead us back to these lands. It is said that in our current time of need, a Hero will arrive to lead the people to victory over the monsters. Most stories of such victory mention a Sword forged by the First that will be instrumental in doing so. "
The same as Earth then, a legendary figure usually of great martial ability. "I very much doubt that," Cato sighed, "I was a scholar on Earth and I cannot use magic unlike Morey. If you want a warrior, I'm not it. And for all of Morey's developing leadership skill, his companions are better fighters than he is. But if you are satisfied with destroying the zombies through sufficient applied fire then I suppose I can be your Hero. "
Her look of confusion spread to Cato, he had no idea why that concept was difficult. "But what else could you be, if you intend to destroy the monsters? I assume you are intending such, of course. "
"The concept of a Hero is of a single figure of importance. In what way can I do more than any random soldier in your armies? I am from Earth and my knowledge of engineering and experimentation is what sets me apart. If you want to call me a Hero for this, then do so, it is just a title. But it won't change what I can do or will do. "
Cato watched the queen closely as he explained, in slightly fancy terms, that he was not going to conform to her idea of a story. Morey had warned him about this before and there was no telling what she might do.
The small gentle smile told him that there was nothing to worry about. Amarante sighed and looked back out at the bustling city, "so you are not the Hero I am looking for. But no matter, if you think the monsters can be beaten then that is all that really matters. "
She continued in a brighter tone, "I really should have spent more time with Morey before sending him off on his quest. I am a collector of stories and you are from a different world. Will you tell me your stories from your Earth?"
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The procession of knights and carriages rode into Minmay's manor grounds in the slow plodding walk of Rekis. Proud banners of famous parties from the Inath capital were overshadowed by the queen's own flag displayed above her carriage.
The triple column formation of Minmay's Guard marching in front and behind contrasted the colourful chaos of the Queen's. The mottled brown and grey uniforms and padded helmets were nothing like the shiny plate and shields of the knights. To say nothing of the menacing black rods of enchanted iron on the new model guns against sword and staff.
The semi-modern military fatigues seemed anachronistic to Cato, even though it was mostly the fault of his vague recollections of how soldiers worked on Earth. He still wasn't sure if adopting squad level tactics was worthwhile without automatics and without rifling, the benefit of being able to shoot small rocks from the ground was offset by the lack of any accuracy past a few tens of meters for improvised bullets.
Minmay, Aesin and Arisacrota stood front and center with the manor's servants, the Chancellor having ridden ahead. Despite the pomp of the greeting party, Queen Amarante stepped out of her carriage in her fine dress without much ceremony.
Queen of the Federation, arguably the most powerful person in all the countries stood at the foot of the short path, facing the Chancellor. A formal invitation-
"She looks fluffy. "
Cato blinked. For a moment, he didn't quite recognize the small strange girl who said that. Minmay and Aesin stared down at their daughter, blank expressions of surprise. Most of the procession within earshot froze for a heartbeat.
Arisacrota ignored the tension and pointed at the queen. "I like that dress, it's fluffy. "
Cato couldn't help it, he glanced over at the queen. True, it was kind of fluffy, with the same voluminous sleeves so preferred in the fashion before Cato's own suit concept was introduced. The frills and embroidered cuffs on her white dress made of sheer fabric stacked into opacity were the sort of high labour cost clothing that would be obscenely expensive until someone engineered sewing machines.
He shook his head, perhaps working with the University for months on end was getting too much. He was even thinking of costs in terms of labour hours.
While Cato rescued himself from being sidetracked, the Queen smiled then giggled quietly.
"You're cute too, Arisacrota," Amarante looked around and waved a hand, brushing the tension aside like so many cobwebs. The chancellor's daughter beamed at her. "Please, don't mind the protocols and just call me Amarante. "
"I will!" The young girl turned around and grinned up at her parents' conflicted faces, "see, I knew the queen would be nice!"
With that, Amarante walked up to the welcoming party, seeming to lose her regal air with every step.
"Your highness, sir, madams, lunch is ready to be served," Arthur bowed as the servants collected themselves and opened the manor's front doors.
The woman smiled and mussed Arisacrota's hair gently, "I'm sure it'll be wonderful. Shall we?"
Cato watched as Arisacrota latched onto the queen like a limpet as they went in. He glanced over at the leader of the queen's escort parties. Flowers of Arcia? Something like that. With a raised eyebrow in the queen's direction Cato asked if she was always this casual, no words needed.
The stern woman waiting for him to disembark from the carriage shrugged helplessly. Always like that.
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"Ah, you're spilling it again. "
"The strips are too slippery!"
"Hehe, you just need to be careful. See? Just like this!"
Cato and Minmay could only look on in concealed horror as the queen wiped a speck of sauce from Arisacrota's hair. The little girl perched on her lap, waving a dirty soup spoon for emphasis as she dug out a strip of paka meat from a cheesy tart.
The formal lunch Arthur had put together was now a mess. Many local food artisans had leaped at the chance to impress the queen and the orderly array of dishes to sample had taken Arisa less than ten minutes to demolish the sequence.
That the queen had joined in with the culinary sacrilege was all that kept Minmay from dragging his daughter away.
"Oh come now, I am sure Queen Amarante prefers a relaxed lunch instead of whatever stiff formal procession you've planned," Aesin nudged her husband with a plate, "you too Arthur, there is certainly enough food here to feed all the people waiting to see her. "
The chancellor shared a look with his butler and then gazed across the food covered tables.
"We'll do as the lady says," he confirmed.
Arthur nodded and rushed out of the dining hall to gather the servants. Within a few minutes, the laden tables had been moved to the edges of the room, leaving only a small table in the center for the queen and Arisacrota to sit at.
Not that they did a lot of sitting. While the first crates for the display were dragged in, Amarante led the girl around the selections, picking a morsel here and there for their plates.
She artfully steered the young girl back to the center table just as the set up was finished. Cato noted the way the queen made the action appear natural, as if it was just a coincidence that she took her seat right as the ironworkers were done.
"Queen Amarante, we are proud to present examples of our greatest works," Willio announced pompously, standing before the queen.
Cato watched her shift her posture, drawing herself up straighter in her seat. With a formal polite nod, she gestured for the owner of the largest foundry in Inath to continue.
"In the center, we have the foundation of the future! A drill head used for sinking mana wells," Willio indicated the interlocking rings of blades with a sweeping hand, "this example is the largest we have created, with each individual section created and enchanted by Minmay Ironworks. Able to support excavation forces up to ten power units per second, this is the latest development in our quest for power sources. "
Arisacrota clapped a little, eyes wide with curiousity. Come to think of it, Cato had never seen her around the foundries, even if she sometimes did turn up at the University. Well, the foundries were dangerous after all, definitely not a place where the chancellor's daughter should be risked. Amarante was more restrained but she still smiled politely.
"Over here, we have samples of our carriage spring assemblies," Willio proceeded over to the suspension devices. Cato had worked on those with the assistance from one of the new engineers, one of the few inventions that had received substantial refinements. The complex spring and lever assembly even allowed for the wheels to rotate at different speeds while remaining locked in direction.
Again, the queen displayed her polite appreciation, remaining formal but neutral.
The third set got a different reaction though. The twin rails were fast becoming recognizable all over Inath and Cato could see the queen's eyes tighten slightly. "And these are the pride of the army," Willio carried on, not noticing the queen's changed demeanor, "ten new model guns with flechette ammunition for stabilized flight. Our extensive testing and refinement have allowed trained snipers to accurately hit targets out to three hundred meters!"
What he didn't mention was the cost involved in making identical flechettes so that the guns could be ranged and the sights calibrated correctly. The cost of the hundred shot boxes was not exactly small either. To get that level of accuracy required manufacturing tolerances that Cato was sure was not available anywhere but here. Plus, the gun model was made to overcharge the darts before firing to improve shield penetration or increase the impact weight, depending on the setting lever; a level of enchantment complexity also not found outside of Landar's labs. The circle designed was one of the first products of the new compiler after all.
The queen didn't seem to appreciate the difficulty or impact of the first sniper weapon however, judging by the tightness of her mouth.
Not caring or perhaps not noticing Amarante's discomfort, Willio swept his hand over the crates again, "all of these we present as gifts to your majesty. A token of our appreciation to good neighbours. "
"Thank you, Inath appreciates your gift, I am sure they will be very useful," she said, looking slightly ill.
Minmay, hidden behind her back, seemed to notice and shooed the Ironworker with a wave and a frown. He took his cue to step down for the next group of people looking to curry some favour. The queen took the time to fuss over Arisacrota's latest spill while the crates were cleared out.
"Queen Amarante, we represent the weavers guild in Minmay and would like to gift you samples of our finest cloth..."
Cato tuned out the three weavers, whose joint presentation was the result of not agreeing which of the three origin guilds was leader. Amarante seemed much happier now that the subject had moved on from the guns. It seemed like Morey's impression was right, she did not like weapons. He shuddered to think what would have happened if Landar tried to gift her with fire shells instead of the planned magic circles and compiler blocks.
Though from the way she was now putting on a gentle smile and relaxed atmosphere, reflected in the weavers' stances, the queen was more canny than her casual appearance would suggest. She was adjusting her attitude to her audience, that did not match Morey's claim of her naivety.
An idealistic yet experienced politician? That was quite an unexpected combination, Cato mused.
He huffed and wandered off to the tables where Willio was talking to Minmay about the presentation. There was definitely a story there. But not a bad combination.
Behind him, the presentations went on.
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Landar examined the circle of bright light floating in the center of the magic test bunker. It lit up the whole bunker with a blinding white that took her eyes a moment to adjust to. The light on her skin was warm as noon sunlight, turning the large room up to a toasty afternoon heat, rather than the chill of night just outside.
From her own experiments with living fire, Landar knew just how much power was needed to heat up such a large volume.
Or perhaps she just needed to feel the huge flow of magic from the storage tank outside the walls.
"Cato, what are you doing?" she asked, peering over his shoulder, "the entire University can feel the power you're drawing here. " And the especially sensitive could feel it all the way from the city gate.
The inventor looked up from his spot at the control table. The few control knobs that were in use sat next to the chart recorders spitting out lines across a ream of paper. Three other university staff were on the next table over, with a set of instruments Landar recognized as chemistry assaying tools. They were looking at the circle of light hovering in midair over the dense magical array. Upon closer inspection, the circle wasn't a stable object, it pulsed and moved, with streamers wisping out into a fainter but larger circle around it.
Cato spoke while still watching the circle, "I'm trying to cheat. "
She could feel her questioning look cut through him.
"I've been looking over the projects the industries are working on and..." he paused for a moment, "I see a lack of any game changing discoveries. I think in some ways, the role of doing such has been given to me. Unofficially and unconsciously perhaps. "
That made no sense. The flight project was definitely game changing. The search for the plastic formula and Haber catalyst were things that would change the world just as much as the cheap steel. Landar sharpened her gaze, adding a dash of disapproval.
Cato seemed pick up on it. "Um, I'm not saying they're doing badly. I mean, they do good work. Applying theoretical foundations I remember into practical applications is definitely not easy. But after the mana well, I feel like this isn't enough. "
He ran a hand through his hair. It was getting a little long, Landar noted idly, perhaps she could make him a hair shaver? "... haven't created any advances on the same level. Landar?"
She snapped back to his voice, hiding her distraction with a quick scowl. Was he moping? Cato?! Landar sighed, "I don't see any problems with what you have been doing. What you have achieved is beyond impressive. Even if you have knowledge from your world, as you say, turning it into practical use like the public utilities system is the kind of work that underlies all the advances we have achieved. "
Cato just frowned, "still, the mana wells are an advance beyond all the others. Bashal may have his steam engines but a constant source of magic like those wells promises to change the world even more than any of my previous work. "
"So, why does it worry you?"
"Because I feel like I can't do it again," Cato sighed. Above them, the circle slowly started to cool into a less searing orange colour. He stood there watching as the assistants scurried forwards to take samples of the dust settling on the curved sections of the magical fields. "I've run through most of my immediately feasible ideas and even some that Earth hadn't ever achieved. Most either can't be done, require magic precision beyond even the circles or are simply too power hungry. Like this one, I had hopes of using raw energy to separate ores into their elements but it is simply too power hungry. "
Really? Landar looked at the spinning blob of red light again. Surrounded by very strong double walls of force in a torus shape, the glowing gas inside was spinning around and around. Outside, cooler bands were condensing into angry droplets or even powder. Heat a sample until it all turned to gas then separate components by centrifuge with magic providing a force gradient? That sort of thing was so complicated that-
She looked again and noticed the lines enchanted into the floor, their magic power almost completely overshadowed by the glare above. Yeah, she did think it would need something like a circle, although this sort of active guidance was impossible without a mage to provide inputs. So how?
Someone shook her shoulder and broke Landar out of her short fugue.
"This is crazy, you know that?" she whirled around and grinned at Cato. The slight worry on his face only got deeper but Landar would have none of it. "How did you even control the circle when you can't use magic!"
"Calm down Landar," Cato said soothingly, "breathe slowly. "
She bit her lip and nodded after a long moment. "Alright, I have it under control," Landar looked out at the circle again. How could Cato think he wasn't making progress fast enough when the evidence was right in front of him!
"I hoped to create a method for refining any substance but it takes nearly as much power as a ritual summon to separate four grams of iron ore into its elements," Cato replied wryly. Landar blinked before realizing she was still talking unconsciously, she took a few more calming breaths. "On the bright side, I manage to get some silicon and aluminum this way, but not in any useful quantity. All this effort was rather useless. "
"I don't think it's useless," Landar huffed. She didn't know what had got him into this self-deprecating mood but she would have none of it! "You expect too much from yourself. Don't you feel that reinventing the world in two and a half years is already insanely fast? If you think you aren't doing enough because you can't discover something as useful as the mana wells every six months, you are just being delusional. You can't expect to change the world so quickly, sometimes all you can do is work at it a bit at a time. "
She watched him closely but Cato just stood there blankly for a few seconds before shrugging with a faint smile, "I guess you are right. Working on improving what we have isn't that bad. "
He looked at the door she came in by and blatantly changed the subject, "so, what did you come to find me for?"
Ah! Right, that! Landar perked up and grinned, "I have a present to show you! I have made rockets!"
There was a short silence as her proclamation drew some looks from the assistants cleaning away the dust from the magic circle. Cato blinked and ran a hand across his face.
"Really, a rocket. "
She huffed, "you told me to surprise you and Kalny did pay attention to your chemistry books. He was looking for nitrate fertilizer, I was looking for an oxidiser. "
"What are you using for fuel?" Cato questioned, "you might want to test the stability first. Distilled oil or alcohol can get explosive under some conditions. "
"I tested it of course, besides, the nitrate isn't in acid form to avoid problems. As for the fuel..." Landar grinned, "I'll wager you can't guess what I used. "
She watched him think for a long while before trailing back to the failed experiment. Landar grabbed his hands to keep his attention.
"I used powdered sugar," she said triumphantly, "bet you didn't expect that. "
Cato blinked then nodded, "that... could actually work. You'll need good nitrate and probably have to re-dissolve and precipitate the mix, but yes, that sounds like it could work. "
"It does work, I've fired the mix before. Today, I wanted to show you the test firing of actual rockets. "
He sighed and smiled, "looks like you at least got something useful. "
"No more of that!" Landar snapped playfully, "come on, I've got a rocket to showoff. "
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She dragged him out to the firing range, quick gestures showing the porters which crates to take from her workshop. The night was chased away with a stern look and a bright ball of magic from Landar.
The tubular rockets in their wood cylinders were deceptively small for their deadliness. Only the size of an arm, with simple fins and a red-white banded tip marking the fire shell inside, as if the barely contained compressed magic power was not enough to identify them. Set into a rack of iron guide rails, the line of five rockets were placed almost lovingly by Landar herself.
Her finger caress on the tip of the last rocket did not go unnoticed.
Cato could feel his eye twitching. Incendiary rockets. Leave it to Landar to go straight to turning her test into a weapon.
With a resigned air, the aides set up the three racks, stringing out and cutting rolls of oiled fuses. Then with a signal, all except one of them scurried back to the line where Cato sat waiting on the bench. A good ten meters away. Landar plopped down beside Cato.
She raised one finger and nodded. The man bent down and lit the fuse before running back.
He didn't quite make it before the rocket blasted into the air with a loud whoosh and a rattle. A gout of smoke flamed out behind it as the bright spark shot into the dark sky, rising for three or four seconds. Then as the flame died, the fire shell exploded into a ball of fire, falling clumps of still burning living fire trailing light down to the ground.
A triumphant whoop beside him, Cato sat back to watch as Landar cheered her own creation. She had every right to be proud of course, making a usable device was not easy, even with the theoretical knowledge already given. With a smile, Cato watched her snatch the torch out of her assistant's hand and tie the next four fuses together.
The sequential launch was interrupted when the second to last rocket failed to leave the rack, instead tumbling to the sandy ground in a spiral of fire. Then the fire shell exploded and the last rocket melted on the rack for a short moment before exploding with a sharp report. More living fire scattered over the shallow pit and the iron rack dissolved into a hissing puddle of liquid metal.
"I'd say that went well," Landar muttered, "at least we got three out of five. "
"There's another ten waiting," Cato pointed out helpfully.
"Yeah," Landar chewed her lip and then sighed before gesturing to the remaining two padded crates. "Get those out but leave the racks. We'll mount the rockets on the ground and fire them all off at once. "
She spent a good few minutes setting up the row of red and white banded rockets under the ball of white light. Cato just watched Landar have her fun, spacing out the rockets to avoid sympathetic detonations.
Perhaps there was something to 'just' engineering feats. Rockets were a change in what could be done, a real artillery weapon or a signal flare. The lack of magic use to propel it meant that range or stabilization could be as simple as a good enchantment away. Just because the low hanging fruit were already plucked did not mean that progress could not be made. Expecting to reinvent the world every six months was a pretty insane pace, come to think of it.
Landar plopped down on the bench beside him, bouncing slightly in her spot like an eager child. She shut off the light as the fuse reached the first rocket.
"Is it... like the fireworks on Earth?" Landar asked, pausing in the middle for the loud whoosh of the launch.
Cato blinked and looked up at her. Her face under the red glare of the living fire in the sky betrayed a touch of nervousness.
Did Landar invent rocket artillery just to watch fireworks with him?
It was somehow flattering and awkward at the same time. The fireballs were far too bright compared to normal fireworks and the living fire was too insanely scary for anyone to appreciate.
But of course it made sense in Landar logic.
Cato hid a wince as the second 'firework' exploded on the ground. A splinter of wood smashed into pieces against Landar's shield, not a meter away from him. It would have missed, but still. He watched the next rocket take flight in a perfect sailing arc and decided to answer before any further explosions could interrupt.
"Thank you," he said, "I appreciate the thought. "
Landar smiled back, red shadows dancing over her eyes, "I'm sorry about the lifeforce issue. I think... we might have some cultural disagreements. But we really should talk it out. I realized that you have always been making allowances and adjusting for this world. You shouldn't be the one who always has to accommodate me. "
"I am in Inath though, I wouldn't expect the entire country to change just because I dislike something," he replied.
"Not with the world at large, of course," she said quietly, "but between the two of us, we could try to understand each other better. I can't promise to stop investigating lifeforce but ignoring your dislike of the practice is not fair to you. "
Cato turned back to watch the next rocket shoot upward, wobble a bit and explode. Another rocket later, he sighed, "yeah, there's nothing I can disagree with that. You are right, we should talk about our differences. "
"You don't sound like you want to. "
"I do want to. It's just- we're doing that overly honest thing again. We really do make for a bad couple for stories," Cato grinned, "so, when should I expect another picnic?"
Landar grinned right back, pausing dramatically to an explosion in the background, "let me check my calendar and get back to you. I might be able to find a spare lunch hour. "
"I'm the one with the schedule full of meetings," Cato huffed, "let me get back to you. "
They held their mutual gaze for another moment, feeling the vague tension slowly lift. Then she smiled and turned back to watch the last few rockets. Amazingly, he was already feeling better, before any talking had been done.
Cato was already looking forward to it.