Thariel stopped by the edges of the port and scanned the people around the docking ship, she looked at the captain with apprehension.

The man was talking to Liora- most likely negotiating the price of the potions, - so Thariel didn't think that stepping in right now is a good idea, scared she'll ruin negotiation between the two and loses profit for Liora or something.

She plans on approaching the captain and ask him about something when they were done though. Like what's the situation on the frontier? Is the war going well?

She wanted to ask about the Ytallotiks as well but decided that it probably wasn't a good idea, and besides, what would the man know about the psychic squids that would be worth risking herself getting discovered by them?

Gossips and nay says? Folktales? Thariel deemed that her own knowledge when it comes to the Ytallotiks is far more accurate than everyone else's at the moment.

It will change eventually, but that won't happen for at least another year.

After a few more minutes of waiting, she saw the captain give Liora a large pouch, he had a frown while doing so.

Liora took the pouch with the complete opposite expression, she had a carefree smile on her face as she opened it and nodded in satisfaction.

Thariel decided that now was the time to head on over so she walked forward, it didn't take long for Liora to notice her coming, this was shortly followed by the merchant looking at her in surprise.

Naturally, the captain Liora is with would turn to look at Thariel as well.

"And you are?" The bearded man asked, "don't think I've seen you around here before,"

"Thariel," she introduced herself, "I'm an acquaintance of Liora,"

"The alchemist?" The captain turned to the merchant.

"Yes," Liora slowly nodded.

"I see," the man said, "you make pretty good potions lass, but you price them way too high,"

10 Gold was too high? Thariel bought some of the things she's selling for 15 Gold in Tainted Orchids! She's selling them cheaply compared to the shams back in the capital.

"Then sell them where there's a demand for them," Thariel suggested, arguing with the man didn't seem like a wise decision.

"Where there's a demand for them?" The captain asked with a smirk, Thariel knew he was just entertaining her.

"Like a battlefield or something, then fleece everyone there with a higher price, I'm sure the generals won't mind the price, let alone mercenaries or adventurers." The Damphir elaborated.

The captain barked out a powerful laugh, "I see!"

Thariel shook her head, "I'm not here to talk about my potions, I want to know the current state of the war,"

Despite all of her canon knowledge, she never knew how the plot of this particular part of the game's story played out, so it was important for her to learn everything thing she can about it.

"How long has the war been going on?" Thariel asked.

"Well, lass, if you want to know then you're gonna have to-"

"9 months," says Liora, "and Tenlor has been successfully pushing back the Martollians during that time,"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I see," Thariel nodded, "how has it been playing out?"

"You mean what's going on?" Liora asks, she answered before Thariel could reply, "well, at first we were pushing them back just fine but the Martollians started to overwhelm the army with sheer numbers,"

That checks out, the Martollian army was strong due to their large numbers and that requires a lot of logistics to fully support, it's probably only recently where they established supply lines to feed their army during the war.

"And horses?" Thariel said, cavalry was another thing the Martollians specialized in.

"Yes," agreed Liora, "and horses,"

"They have more supplies too if I remember correctly," Liora said, proving Thariel's prior guesses right. "I think that the biggest factor of the Martollians's current victories is the fact that they have a supply line that fuels their massive army,"

"If the army didn't need to worry about food then they can just continue conquering," Thariel supplied.

"Yes," it was the captain who agreed this time around, he followed his words with an irritated huff, "if the noble and royal factions get out of each other's asses and work together, we'd also be able to fight back but-"

"They want the Tenlor territory to fall, the King has enough resources to help," said Liora with a thoughtful look, "it's not a secret that the crown wants Tenlor under their banner while the nobles don't mind the family falling since they'd have one less house to worry about,"

So the situation is exactly as Thariel thought it would be.

The Damphir went into a thoughtful silence while the other two continued discussing the current state of the war, the only way for her to know more about it is if she's close to the Tenlor household.

She wasn't sure when in the timeline Virelith recruited Thariel however...

And even if she did, the butterflies she caused may have removed that event altogether.

It was better if she just gets the information all on her own instead of hoping for Virelith to recruit her and give her constant access to the frontier's dire situation.

And as luck would have it, she did have a way to reliably gather information; Liora.

The conversation about the war soon ended and everyone parted ways, Thariel kept thinking about how she could convince Liora to help her on their way back.

"By the way," Thariel started as she and the merchant entered the shop, "can you help me get information about the ongoing war? I'll pay you for it,"

"I can," nodded the woman, she gave Thariel a strange look, "but why the sudden interest?"

"I'm just concerned," Thariel rubbed her arms in discomfort, "that's all,"

"I see, I better make sure that you're well caught up with it then," Liora smiled, "you're worried that the frontier's going to fall?"

Thariel paused, she thought about her answer for a moment before giving Liora a slow nod.

"I don't think that the war will reach this place," Thariel knew it would, in canon, the Tenlor territory had been pushed back to the point of the family becoming obselete.

And if she doesn't change the outcome of the war then it'll happen here too.

Thariel couldn't do anything else besides make more potions to support the already battered army though, but every bit of help counts.

And even if she was powerful or influential enough to positively change things Thariel couldn't confidently say that she would be able to influence such a large scale war all on her own. She wasn't the main character.

Her only way of helping was her potions.

But would that be enough?

Thariel thought twice about her only option and decided that it wasn't.

... Or it could be, assuming she somehow manages to produce large quantities of potions every month.

But how would she do that?

She remembered the Dwarves designing automatons in canon and had an idea.

Her plan would probably require a lot of math and brainstorming to fully realize but it wasn't an impossibility...

Power- the only problem her previous world had in terms of creating mechs, - wasn't an issue here thanks to magic and with her modern knowledge of engineering she could plausibly design an assistant capable of making potions and increasing her production rate.

Thariel decided to at least try it out, she was 300 gold richer now and spending a small amount of it on an automaton wasn't a bad idea.

And hey, if this fails then she can always make homunculi.

"Liora," the merchant turned to her, "do you have materials used to make carriages?"

"I do," Liora nodded.

"Can I see them?" Thariel requested.

"Sure," Liora left for the back of the shop and came back carrying a sack, she dropped it below the table and began organizing its contents in front of Thariel.

Thariel inspected the items in a thoughtful manner.

The tech level of Tainted Orchids was mainly focused on three things; Medicine, Machinery, and Weaponry.

Communication was almost non-existent here, or at least long-term connections are.

There were chatroom-esque devices that 2-to-10 people can use called Parslates (or Paragraph Slates) but the internet as a whole basically didn't exist here.

Which was a good thing come to think of it.

The digital degeneracy present in the modern day was... Definitely something.

Anyhow, despite this world having technology that are sometimes way more advanced compared to that of Earth's, they weren't wide-spread.

The common villager most likely didn't even know what a Parslate was.

The only things that the common folk got access to are advanced tools, melee weapons, or the occasional farming vehicle, these are used to protect/automate food production and nothing more beyond that.

Most machines (especially immobile ones) are also guarded heavily due to the existence of metal eating monsters.

Hiring guards and soldiers to protect factories already cost merchants a lot of money so innovating automated mills for better production just wasn't a viable option.

Overall, technology here, while advanced, are only limited to the rich, the military, or those with status.

And, as luck would have it, all of these factions use carriages as a mode of transportation.

And since carriages aren't immobile the same way factories would be, monsters can't just easily consume them, thus carriages can be innovated.

This leads to the vehicles being quite advanced, not as good as Earth's cars- some of which can run as fast as 100 mph, - but are quite advanced regardless.

They still use horses sure, but that was because animal labor is cheaper than steam engines.

Oil didn't exist here on account that wood-eating bacteria existed since time immemorial so the only options people had to innovate technology was either magic or steam.

Any scholar worth their weight would naturally choose magic, which was expensive to utilize and required a lot of resources to properly implement so carriages simply aren't part of that budget.

But you know what carriages have and earth-made cars don't?

The ability to drive on uneven ground, not just flat asphalt. The car companies of earth wish their vehicles are as versatile and multi-terrain as carriages here.

With that being said, her automatons shouldn't have balanced or dexterity issues if she uses carriage parts to make them.

Springs for stability, cranks for breaks, levers, locks, and pistons were all present on the table.

Thariel picked them apart to see if they can be used by her to make an automaton and as it turns out, all of them were usable.