Chapter 3: New Beginning
Kaladia City State
It has been a week since Sera Hawke arrived in this world and made a lot of headway in creating a territory for herself. An elaborate mausoleum has been created with carvings on the walls on how the wizard Narud has fallen to assassins and how Sera inherited the tower, which created another talk of the city the fact alone that a relatively powerful wizard died in their midst without as much as a noise in the past 25 years sent shivers up on the noble circle’s spine, and on how luxurious the mausoleum was crafted most of the skilled sculptors and masons were hired for the job, and now the most important is that Sera Hawke has been promoting her magical carriage.
Which is just actually a steam engine, but a pair of fire and water stone that costs 2 gold coins each could provide a the vehicle with a speed of 30/kph, the entire construction were built by the sentinels after harvesting the remains of the cargo plane back and forth where it was seen a lot by passersby. The vehicle was called steel wagon most of the parts are made of wood covered in iron plating.
With extensive campaign to market the steel wagon, Sera dressed in white frilly gown with red cape reaching up to her back welcomed the approaching Mayor wanting to talk about the people interested in the vehicle, and would talking about a big order over lunch at the 3rd floor of the tower.
“Lady Sera I have heard that you are a direct person so I will also be direct how much are you selling this steel wagon and how many can you make in a given time?’’ said the mayor.
After swallowing a piece of roasted chicken Sera replied ‘’ I haven’t decided the price yet but I can make 12 steel wagons every month provided that I have the materials”
The mayor Dalton already downing on his second roasted chicken when he said ‘’materials are not a problem here in Kaladia we have a VERY RICH iron deposit underground that is estimated by thousands of feet beneath the city’’
‘’I’m thinking perhaps 300 gold coins?” sera said casually
Hearing the reply Dalton almost choked on his third roasted chicken after hearing the opening price ‘’L-lady Sera isn’t that too expensive? Maybe we ought to bring the representatives of noble houses and merchants guild first if you don’t mind”
With some thought she said ‘’no I don’t really mind, tell them that they can even do a test drive around the city and see for themselves’’
‘’yes yes excellent idea my lady I’m sure they would be pleased with the idea’’ Dalton said as he finished his fourth roasted chicken before leaving to arrange another meeting the next day.
When Dalton was out of earshot Lydia came out of the kitchen sweating and said begrudgingly ‘’damn that fat man that was for dinner. I cant believe that he ate that much!, what would you like to eat for dinner my lady now that the marinated chickens have gone to the mayor’s belly, honestly how could he came to rule a city state’’
Sera kept quiet but she thought to herself that the more likely answer to Lydia’s question was that ‘’he wasn’t. its more probable that Dalton is only a figurehead while the real ruler of the Kaladia is hiding behind the shadows”.
‘’It was necessary Lydia let it go we were just caught unprepared, just prepare dried fish, bread, cheese and hot milk for dinner…. and marinate fifty chickens again we will have quite a gathering tomorrow’’ Sera then pulled a book from Narud’s library as Lydia cleaned the table.
The next day nobles and merchants representing their own groups and factions attended Lady Sera Hawke’s banquet, of course even Sera herself did not even know it was a banquet she thought it was just a meeting over lunch. “good thing I actually prepared a LOT otherwise this deal could have fall out”
The table is filled with roasted chicken marinated overnight and slow cooked, toasted bread with melted cheese, crispy fried chicken and ice cold fruit juice. All the while Sera wearing a scarlet dress while mingling with the guests. In the background a classic orchestra could be heard playing on the speakers surrounding the 2nd floor.
The attendees enjoyed the food a lot while relaxing to the music, it took 4 hours of idle chatter and relaxation before they manage to bring themselves the point of their attendance.
After some test runs within the noble circle and some wealthy merchants the sale of each steel wagon were approved to be 150 gold coins, but some nobles who wanted a more custom made design. the price could only go up, Sera never really cared weather the steam engine would be copied or whatever. this world has wyverns and magic, copyright isn’t exactly top priority.
While the steel wagon was a huge hit in the market, earning Sera a huge amount of wealth as orders kept piling up. all of those were nothing more but a prototype for her future designs.
As the guests left the banquet Sera was approached by Bellato and handed her a stack of parchment.
‘’are these all of it?’’ sera said as she took the papers.
While wiping the sweat on his face he then replied ‘’no my lady there are still half yet to arrive, most of them are barely literate writing takes time’’
‘’hmmm, alright then just keep me notified and remember to tell them to organize the information properly as I instructed’’ as she slowly read through the information around the city and its surroundings.
‘’yes my lady, would you need anything else?”
“no you are dismissed”
With that Bellato left the room to continue his duties of gathering information all over the city as Sera is completely focused on reading all of the information in her hand while being guarded by Banshee cloaked in the shadows.
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“just as exactly what I would expect just a bunch of rumors and idle chatter very little information that could really be useful, but the news about the Lavant army coming closer to the City State of Kaladia is going to be quite the headache. Should this city fall all of my efforts would be for nothing’’ with a heavy sigh Sera put down the stack of papers and stared at a very detailed 3D map carved in wood by Peter the full map was provided by Banshee’s recon above the sky in the past few days.
Adding to her thoughts “ the city wall is 10 meters high but the stairs are only made for regular sized people and by the time my sentinels are eligible to fight the enemies would have already breached the walls, which would put the defending force at a huge disadvantage”, for the rest of the night Sera busied herself planning countermeasures to help defend the city. In her best interest the city cannot fall when she already managed a foothold for herself.
Meanwhile in the dark shadows of night a group of cloaked individuals have gathered and are talking inside the abandoned brothel.
‘’so what do you think of this Sera Hawke? Is she a spy?, she has been gathering information allover the city and she’s not even hiding it”
After taking a sip of the wine another individual replied “she would make a lousy spy with her selling those steel wagons and overt intelligence gathering”
And then another added “yeah I was thinking about those things what did the smiths and engineers say how long until we can make our own steel wagon?”
“well.…. it wont be anytime soon that’s to be sure as our people working on it said some parts are delicate that after removing they could not put it back on and since they don’t know how the things are interconnected its very likely that it would take them about a year perhaps more”
A Lady cloaked in a luxurious robe furrowed her brows and said “ its too long. war is on our doorstep, can’t we order more than 12 pieces a month?”
Another cloaked man in the shadow replied “ Sera Hawke is an eccentric from the looks of it, she mostly keeps to herself guarded by powerful steel golems, as you said war is close to our doorstep it would be wise not to antagonize her. meanwhile the neighboring kingdoms are not willing to fully commit against Lavant Kingdom’s expansion therefore we can expect that they would be targeting us. And that is where we should put our focus on”
“regardless. I want eyes on Sera Hawke at all times even if she Is not a spy her creations would benefit us, make sure the other spies don’t get in touch with her. the last thing we want is Lavant Fielding their own steel wagons, as for other matters. refugees are coming from allover the place and are straining our supplies I want to put the steel wagons on a mission as soon as possible and strike at the back lines of Lavant Kingdom Steal from their granaries, maybe that will slow them down” said the Lady
“As you will my Lady” said a fat man cloaked in the shadows.
Next morning back at Sera Hawke’s tower, she could be seen flipping through pages of a book about golems. “hmm, it would seem that those white crystals were called control crystal literally a neutral element or rather a blank slate as much as magic goes I only have 3 remaining in my hand and 2 were severely damaged during combat back then”
As she continued reading. “each spell model can be different but could have the same effect like wizard A made fireball spell model A but wizard B making fireball spell model B, different techniques and pathways but almost having the same result… a fireball,although some spell models do actually make a big difference like spell models for wood golem,clay golem,stone golem,iron golem, steel golem. All are the same type of spell but differing in spell models”
“few days ago I had my ability to use magic checked but as I have expected I am unable to hold mana inside my body, but I cant help but feel disappointment a little bit. The good news is that the mana stones on the staff of the mages I killed during my first encounter can be used by me so in a sense I can use magic in a roundabout way…. just really expensive, but with my business of steel wagons kicking in I should have no problems about money in the foreseeable future”
There are many books about spell models in Narud’s library but the grand majority of them are too complicated for Sera Hawke to understand, it would likely take her years if not decades too learn how to cast some of the spell and would require an insurmountable amount of mana stones, even though mana stones eventually regenerate its energy overtime it can only regenerate so much before breaking down.The easier ones would be the spell models for the golems, even though there is a huge deposit of iron ore under the city in which they are using as a bargaining chip,they are severly limiting the production and outflow of iron, this is one of the key reasons the City State Of Kaladia manage to gain its autonomy despite being surrounded my numerous kingdoms. But that also shuts down the creation of iron golems for now, “with this in consideration I think I would use Quartz for my new project”
In the following days Sera focused on learning how to use the control crystals, she fashioned a pair of metallic gauntlets embedded with 2 mana stones and with it started altering 1 of the 3 remaining control crystals, Sera chose the most common and somewhat durable spell model for the golems.
As it turns out magical diagrams are almost similar to schematic diagrams back on earth but each lines of codes have more far reaching and immediate effect, Quartz have been delivered in one big bulk carried by Ashura to the 5th floor of he tower in one of the rooms is a dedicated magical blast furnace with coal the Quarts melted,molded and forged by Ashura in a humanoid form with the golem slightly tinged green from the Quartz variant.
The creation of the golem now named Medusa took more that 1 control crystal to be functional due to the complexity of the modified spell model Sera Hawke made, all 3 control crystal are now used up one inside the head and two at the chest forming its breasts.
Medusa - 4 Meters - 10 tons
Medium Armour - humanoid golem based on the old legends back on earth but human rather that snake lower half, 3 mana stones were implanted on its eyes including a third on the forehead. It has 25 snake hair reaching down its hips, the mana stone on the forehead generates magic for its movements while the eyes are used for a Haste and Slow spell models both are AOE and individual capable, while excess magic will be on reserve. Unlike the sentinels the Medusa is solid Quartz and cannot hold anyone inside, the control for Medusa have been inputted on Sera’s new magical gauntlets
The Medusa is designed to be a close combat disruptor. Like the Ashura who is designed to charge headlong into enemy lines and fight the strongest of enemies head on while being surrounded, the Medusa it to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee but even better.
After hours of inspection Sera nodded in satisfaction, it took more materials than expected but the result were quite above average for someone literally new to magic. “oh. Its already morning time really flies, now that I mentioned it I’m really starving” after a quick bath Sera headed to the kitchen and ate a hearty breakfast.
Lavant Army Encampment
Inside a grand tent surrounded by knight with armours enchanted by magic.
“now that the Rosario Army has retreated can we now talk what the hell was that thing that fell behind our army?” said by the Lavant General Draconis Rex wearing elegant but powerfully enchanted robe.
one of the wizards present said “ as I was observing the battlefield at the time I as an object that seemed to be made of metal burning and falling down from the skies I ordered some soldiers and levies to investigate but…”
“but what?”
“well.. I only caught a glimpse of it but I saw a girl commanding 6 steel golems”, The tent burst with murmurings either the girl was a powerful wizard of she has a powerful artefact that allowed her to control 6 golems at once.
“calm down, now how powerful were the steel golems? If she was controlling all 6 at the same time the golems couldn’t be that powerful…right?”
The wizard replied with dread “very powerful! Despite their nimble movements the steel golem are quite solid no taller than 4 meters, and the most worrisome part is that I could not detect any form of magical fluctuations even when she was slaughtering our own soldiers, even the stone golems were torn to pieces. Since she did not attack but rather stayed and collected some artefacts from the wreckage I decided to leave her alone and send a message to the General.… as I was in the front lines I never really given in much thought after I sent the message”
Another mage stepped forward and said “ most of the wreckage are now gone since a week ago taken by the very same steel golems…. but nobody could be seen controlling them”
“Long range manipulation!” the tent again burst in discussion.
General Draconis Rex sat in silence as the mages and wizards discussed the aspects of long range manipulation of golems. He then said “do we know where she is now?” silencing the entire crowd.
A knight captain answered “yes General! After collecting the wreckage the steel golems were followed and seen entering the City of Kaladia”
A spy dressed in commoner clothes then followed up “ in this past few days I have gathered that she is the owner of that wreckage which was in fact a flying ship….” as he said that the tent bursted in discussion again as only high ranking nobility and royal families are only the one able to own flying ships.
“SILENCE!!… please continue” the General said
The spy continued “her name is Sera Hawke and apparently she specialized in golems she also created and sold what she calls steel wagons, several days ago an attack from our granaries back at the fringe cities of our Kingdom… most grains were either stolen or destroyed and the biggest reason for their success was the steel wagon which has been said to be faster than horses and could travel day and night without rest”
The room was stunned at the revelation each of the high ranking personage inside the tent are already contemplating and planning inside their heads on how would they obtain such artefact and what to do with it.
The General grinned and said with a hint of joy in his voice “ excellent! We were already going to attack Kaladia in the next few months after getting supplies and clearing a way from other Kingdoms”
“but General we just lost several cities worth of granary we would be hard pressed to continue the attack with little supplies and that is even if we resorted in foraging and pillaging” said the spy.
“i am well aware of the concerns, I’ll send a message to the King first and then decide if we are going to attack or not”
Nobody knew in that moment in time the fate of one territory would have been sealed and become a memory in the long pages of history.