I am awoken by someone sitting down on my bed. I roll over with a groan. I can't open my eyes fully due to the daylight coming in through my window. Slowly my vision clears and I find to my horror it is Violet sitting on the side of my bed. She is dressed in some kind of official uniform and does not look exactly pleased. I manage to groan out,

"I didn't do it..."

I can't even find the energy to lift my head. I guess I really pushed myself too far the last two days. Violet shakes her head and she says,

"I really don't know what you've been up to, but my sour mood isn't because of you. I wanted to come by earlier but the servants told me you're asleep and I shouldn't bother you. I don't know what Dad had you doing but I kinda don't care.

I came by to tell you I'm heading out for work. I'll be gone for about an entire year. I'm a bit pissed about it too. It was fun, but we won't be able to have our daily sparring matches."

I manage to sit up and reply quickly,

"Aw shit. That sucks, but if you got something to do, you got something to do. I can't hold it against ya whatsoever. Thanks for dealing with me though. I appreciate the work we have done together."

She smiles lightly and stands up. As she stands in the door she says,

"I'm not gone forever so keep up your work, because I plan to beat the hell outta ya next time we meet."

I smile and not toward her as she gives me her normal sadistic grin and leaves my room. I remain sitting upright in my bed still tired as shit. I manage to slide my feet off the side. I look over to the corner of the room and stare at my weapons still lying on the floor. I shakily get to my feet and pick up the leather harness. I open the satchel and remove the papers I collected. Duke Hasslerouge isn't going to be home as he is at the capitol. I pull some clothes on and start walking toward his study. I stop at my door before looking back and noticing I had lost my hatchet. I frown a bit sad I left it behind, but hopefully, it doesn't come back to bite me.

I begin slowly walking down the halls until I reach the study. I enter and set the papers on his desk before leaving again. I hesitate for a moment thinking I should maybe snoop, but there are probably better uses for my time. I make it back to my room and take up my father's spear. I begin working it over in my hands, noticing it needs a little work. The leather is a little worn and has noticeable damage, the head has chips and blunted edges so I'll have to put it back into shape.

With a sigh, I take the spear in my hands, toss my harness and other weapons into a large wooden trunk in my room, and head toward the forge. I am uninterrupted in my walk, but I make sure to say good morning to every servant I pass. I am surprised that I don't feel hungry, but I assume it's because I literally killed people less than twenty-four hours ago.

The old man in the forge just grunts as I enter and I nod toward him. He simply keeps working on the weapons of the guards and doing maintenance on armor. I go to the empty workstation and begin working the billows to get the fire hot. Frontiersman steel requires much hotter flames to work than the steel of this kingdom. The sudden increase in heat causes the old man to stop his unskilled work to watch me. Once the fire is roaring and the heat is unbearable I unwrap the leather from the spear and remove the charm, setting them aside. I place the head of the spear into the fire and hold it until it turns white-hot.

I remove it quickly and using the anvil I straighten the edges and work the chips out of the edges of the bladed lower half of the head. Once that's done the spear goes right back into the flames. Once again I remove it and work it once again. I repeat this task ten times before finishing the triangular point, making it perfect for armor piercing and flesh shearing. Once the work is done I dunk the head into a bucket of cool water completing the hot part of my task.

Once the metalwork is done I take a seat and begin re-wrapping the handle, I take care to use the leather grease available to help repair the leather wrappings. I emulate the skill of my mother in creating a multicolored braid up the entire length of the spear. I finish by tying the charm on the shaft and the weapon of my father is now complete once more.

I spin the completed weapon in my hands feeling its weight once more and making sure I didn't screw anything up. The old man whistles and then says to me,

"Now that is an impressive weapon. Where did you find that boy?"

I laugh and say,

"You won't believe it, but I found it during the tasks the Duke gave me. It's the weapon my father used. I thought it was lost forever."

The old man nods and asks,

"I can tell it's an Outcast weapon... but I really gotta hand it to you all. Your working skills are just so much better than ours here. "

I nod and thank him before explaining,

"Yeah, we don't have any magic so we gotta make do."

He laughs while shaking his head before he goes back to his work. I take my father's spear and head back into my room. I place the spear against the wall next to the truck where my other gear is stored. I got fairly sweaty while in the forge so I head down to take a bath. Aelia collects some new clothes for me and I take my bath. While getting dressed I catch myself in the mirror with my shirt off. I stare at the patchwork of skin all over my body. I frown while looking at myself as my mind goes to a darker place. I manage to shake the memories out of my head and put a shirt on covering the horrorshow. I then go and get some breakfast despite my new nausea.

I find the house deserted of the family for the remaining days before the Dukes return. I guess they all have a business or are remaining in their rooms. I decide to not waste my time and start a business plan. I sit down in the study with a quill and ink with a stack of paper and decide to try and write out a plan for my future business ventures.

The problem I'm facing is what products to focus on, that is easy to commercialize. This kingdom's tech level is difficult to pinpoint. I'd say it's similar in tech to Earth's 300s AD in actual technology, but it seems to be culturally further along due to magic filling in the gaps for technological development. The Kingdom of Allrius is of what I would describe as stereotypical fantasy Europe, with elements from English, French, and German culture everywhere. So it's like the early renaissance level of culture but with the metallurgy capabilities of the Roman empire, simply put they are making early steel.

This is all a guess on my part because I'm running off of my history classes from high school and early college, and written accounts in this world. So it's mostly a guessing game on how far technology is here. Then there is the commodity market I could try to get into. The problem is these people, at least the nobles aren't ass-backward so they do have things like plumbing and soap, meaning those things are off the table too.

I could try to develop steam power, as the general idea of it and the concept is simple, but I would have to find skilled metalworkers. I don't trust my ability when it comes to creating the carefully measured parts that engines require. I could easily make a very rudimentary one, like a steam pump for working bilges or wells, but I don't know if that is required in this kingdom to try and create a market.

Gunpowder could be an option, but I'd have to figure out how to get the right type of carbon. Without the right source of carbon black powder is closer to an incendiary than it is an explosive so its usefulness is much lesser. Plus with what I've seen from fire magic and I'm guessing other magic is the same, gunpowder most likely isn't going to have as profound of an impact in warfare, or even maybe mining.

Any of my products from Earth are useless as the technology for electric vehicles and solar stuff is way off in terms of technology. Then again magic potentially makes all my products useless and completely without reason.

But maybe I don't have to commercialize the product of power. Maybe I could monopolize the power of electricity rather than try to make it a widespread invention. With electricity, I could create many types of synthesis machines, potentially I could create a Haber-Bosch reactor and create fertilizer, maybe... I think that requires aluminum... which wasn't discovered until the 1800s... I could create a simple electrolysis machine and create better iron and steel... or synthesize things like chlorine for cleaners and disinfectants... wait. I can potentially make an arc furnace. That would allow me to melt down many different types of metals and create better steel, along with that I could try and refine bauxite to get my aluminum, which I could then use to make a Haber-Bosch reactor, or really any type of chemical reactor because I'll have access to all kinds of exotic catalysts...

While this idea is great, it should be put further down the line. This is because all of this will be stupidly expensive and time-consuming, plus I would have to figure out how to prospect for bauxite... and figure out how to get all the metals I'll need. So yeah, that's not happening for a while.

I think my main issue is that I don't know enough about this world, or even this kingdom yet to figure out what's needed, and how to fill that need. Can't make a supply if there is no demand. I take a look at my notes and see the scribbled ink everywhere... then it hits me. The fucking printing press.

It's simple. Create a metal stamp of each letter in the alphabet, put it in a machine that's nothing but fairly simple gears, and after that, get a good supply of ink and in no time you have yourself a book factory. Creating cheaper books is great because it allows for more legible books and for a high quantity of books. This allows copies to exist in greater numbers furthering knowledge.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Maybe this might work. I begin writing down my plan in full detail, drawing diagrams of the potential shape and model of the machine. I am no engineer or architect, but I'll have to most likely build this thing with very little help, so any drawing I can follow is greatly appreciated.

I spend the next few days slaving away on this plan, only leaving the library to go eat, sleep or take a bath when I got a little too wild with the ink. No one bothers me during this time. I think the staff was a little worried about how hard I was working, but in the end, I created a simple plan I could potentially be proud of.

Once that's done, after all that work I realized a major issue. I would need to find buyers, and most likely would need a sponsor of some kind. Defeated once again I don't scrap the papers because it's a good idea, just maybe something to look into at a later date once I have built some form of connections... that is unfortunate. I decide to relax and read something more for entertainment. I look through the books in the library and stumble upon the books on magic. I have no idea how magic works so maybe I can find some product through magic.

I take four books that appear to be more like textbooks and encyclopedias rather than stories and sit down at one of the many desks and get to reading. Reading is still somewhat difficult for me but despite that, I am making pretty good time. What is the most important thing I learned is that magic is treated like science in this world. There are different fields, types, and definitions, much in the same way biology, chemistry, and physics are back on earth. I also note a good portion is not very well understood and is just assumed to be divine. I guess only so much can be done to study it during this time and era.

The problem is I don't know what the fuck half of the things the book is talking about. I understand the ideas it's talking about, how magic is separated into different schools of thought, but it's talking about the creation of magic circles and how the symbols within them are the key to creating a spell. The problem is I have not once seen a magical circle. Apparently every time a spell is cast it has a huge bright circle of glowing symbols that appears before and during a spell. The images in the books show it appears no matter what type of magic is being used. On the body enhancement magics, one should appear above the body and then go down to the ground before they glow and are enhanced.

I've seen Violet and all those royal knights power up but not once have I seen a single magical circle. The same with Duke Hasslerouge and the one time I saw him shoot fire, no circle. I could see the flame, and I can see the glow of the person's body when they use the body enhancements. This is really strange because I get the gist of the creation of a magic circle, it's kinda like setting up a specific circuit, each symbol creates a flow of energy and does a specific thing with the energy and from there the spell is cast in accordance with the symbols, its just I've never seen the circles in action in the way the books describe.

I keep looking into it and am startled when suddenly Zandra's voice speaks out to me,

"Why are you researching magic? It will do you no good."

I look up at her as she sits across from me. Her expression is still the same neutral one as always but I can see interest in her eyes. I reply,

"I don't know really anything about magic and I wanted to learn about it to see if I could learn to do anything useful with it."

Zandra shakes her head in disappointment and then replies,

"I guess you wouldn't know.

The ability to use magic is purely one granted to nobles. Unless either of your parents were able to use magic you have no ability to ever learn how."

I shake my head with a sigh and then ask,

"It's genetic right? I mean is passed down right?"

She nods and I cuss under my breath. It would make sense that only nobility can use magic. If it's genetic then that means families who can use magic have a direct advantage over those who don't, and it makes sense the first kings or chieftains were magic users. I then ask her,

"Why can't I see magic circles at the very least? It's bothering me that I cannot."

Zandra furrows her brow and holds out her hand. She quietly says,

"Spark."

In her hand, a small flame appears, only a few inches tall. She then asks,

"Can you see this?"

I reply,

"I can see the flame and nothing more."

She frowns and then says,

"Well... maybe since you are an Outcast. You'd have not a single person in your ancestry who would have magical ability."

I think about it and it makes some sense. Maybe the people of this kingdom and outside of the Frontiersman can see the magic circles because in the past they had a magic user in their family, but over generations, it has become so diluted the trait only appears as the ability to see magic. It's interesting, to say the least, but disappointing. I sigh and ask,

"Is there anything I can do?"

Zandra closes her hand around the flame and it extinguishes and she gets up. She walks over to a different shelf and takes down a very large and very old book. She dusts it off and sets it on the table in front of me. There are no words on the cover but the book seems important. I ask her,

"What is this book?"

She gives a slight smile and replies,

"This is a book on the ancient art of runecraft. It's long since become obsolete due to the magical enchantment of weapons, but this used to be the only way to embue anything with magical power.

It fell out of favor because of its one major constraint. It requires something called an empowered chisel or engraving tool of some kind. The art to create these empowered items has long since been lost, so I doubt you'll be able to do much with this, but at least it's something you can learn about."

I nod and say,

"Thank you. I'll look into it."

She gives the same slight smile before taking the other books off the table and returning them to the shelves. She then leaves me. That was strange, I have no clue why she would come in here just to help me. I won't complain though.

I then begin looking through the massive book of runecraft. The runes are not old Norse runes as expected, but they do look similar. The book seems to just be a guide for all the potential runic enchantments. The book also gives a small materials guide. Apparently, materials can only handle a certain number of runic enchantments or they will literally cease to exist, or explode violently. Something like steel can handle two, while a raw iron tool can only handle one. I begin taking notes on this because it might be useful in the future, and I don't want to drag out this massive book.

If I can figure out the ability to make an empowered chisel or whatever I could try and create a market for runic tools and weapons. This would be a very good product as enchanted tools and weapons require the user to put some of their own magic into the object for the enchantment to work, this means a regular person cannot use enchanted tools or weapons. Runic stuff might actually be a great thing to sell, but I have to figure out how to empower something.

I take my notes and put the book on a shelf where I will remember it for later. Just as I finish putting the book away the head butler appears. He gives me a curt bow and says to me,

"The lord of the house has just returned and has requested your audience immediately."

I nod and motion for him to lead the way. I follow the old man down the halls until I reach the study. The butler waits outside for a moment before knocking on the door lightly. I hear a conversation halt for a moment before Duke Hasslerouge says,

"Come in."

I enter the door and find the room empty except for the Duke himself. I take note of the lack of a conversation partner like I heard but decide it's really none of my business and I shouldn't worry about it. He motions for me to take a seat which I do. He sorts through the papers I had collected for him for a second before setting a wanted poster on the table. The image is of a faceless creature except for two pitch-black eyes. The creature has two horns protruding straight from the top of its head, with multicolored bands. Honestly, it looks horrifying, but not as horrifying as the reward though. I don't know exactly how much a single one of this kingdom's currency is, but seven zeros are pretty impressive. I ask knowing the answer,

"Who might that handsome devil be?"

The Duke smiles and gives a small chuckle before explaining,

"You have done all I asked of you. You have my thanks. Actually, you went above and beyond what I asked.

You managed to destroy three major strongholds of the Royalists, kill three major leaders, get me some very helpful information, and most of all you sent one hell of a message.

As you can see on the poster the kingdom believes that a demon has entered the kingdom and is doing the actions you committed. You have them scared, and I mean absolutely terrified. You did way more than I expected, you have my absolute thanks.

During my time in the capitol, it was hilarious receiving the news of what you had done. The other ministers and lords were growing more scared as my opponents lost major assets, and not only that, lost major assets in fairly brutal manners meaning that they themselves could face the same fate. You made my time there so much better. "

I smile and nod and ask,

"So when do I get what was promised to me?"

The duke gives me a devilish grin that I really do not like. He then answers,

"Well, are you a gambler? Have you heard the term, double or nothing?"

I let out a groan and the duke chuckles. He then continues,

"Well since you have, here's the deal. While the work you did was absolutely astounding, I will need you to do something else for me as well... Something very important."

I facepalm and then reply,

"What do you want to be done? Just tell me and get it over with."

He laughs and continues,

"Good man. I'm just gonna ask you to answer the questions here on these papers. Once that's done we will see exactly what I want you to do."

I groan and motion for him to hand whatever it is over. He slides a stack of paper over and I lift the blank cover page, revealing my worst nightmare. Math problems...

My initial fears are unfounded as the math in this packet is stupidly easy. Multiplication, division, and very rudimentary algebra. I would argue these math questions were for a twelve year old. Then the rest of the packet had a few other subjects. After math was history which Duke Hasslerouge helped me answer becuase I have no context for anything in this world. Then was a magical knowledge portion. Luckily I had just got done researching magic so this section was stupidly easy. The final section was about personal information. Mostly things like name, familial affliliation, and what type of mage you are. I had trouble answering this last part and Duke Hasslerouge recommeneded I put alchemist which I did.

Once the packet was all done Duke Hasslerouge collected it and dismissed me quickly without explaination. I do as I am told, and just before the door closes behind me I hear Duke Hasslerouge start a conversation with some woman who appeared out of nowhere behind me. She has long purplish-tinted hair, two black culy horns, bat wings, and a long pointed tail. I would describe her as demonic, but since this is the world of magic maybe she isn't. Then again, not my problem who Duke Hasslerouge does buisness with. I have my tasks and he owes me money. Simple as that.

The door closes and I spend the rest of my day fucking around outside, I help some of the outdoor servants who were struggling and they were very thankful for my help. After that I get clean, eat supper alone, and then head to bed. I am still caught up on getting an empowered item. I think I know just who to ask. I concentrate hard as I fall asleep and when I do I'm in that void, and before me is the horrifying visage of SIlus who is laughing his ass off.

He greets me with,

"That was a good showing boy! Keep up the good work with killing like that!"

I scoff and just get to the point,

"Alright. I wanna know where to get an empowered item for runic enchantments."

The dragon stops laughing and thinks for a while before he answers me,

"Okay... I remember how but it's difficult and this will be a long talk. So buckle up..."

By the time the explaination is finished it's morning and I wake up in my bed with a pounding headache, and a task ahead of me.