“Greetings, Princess Aishat.” I bowed deeply as the Dwarf woman strutted into the room.

She crossed her arms, frowning. “You’re Melas, are you?” Her voice had not even a hint of the Dwarvish slang accent so common in the city. “I’ve heard about you from my Father. You should be grateful that he was so generous as to grant you asylum in our country.”

“I’m very thankful to King Adilet.” I straightened, smiling at her. “It’s thanks to him that I have a place where I feel safe.”

Aishat raised a brow. “Of course. My father is a generous man. However, I am not as much.”

I paused, letting the implication sink in for a moment. “Ah.” Then I took a step back as she started past me towards Bertrand. So, she didn’t like me, did she? I’d rather not cause trouble. It was best for me to take my leave.”Bertrand—” I started, but Aisha spoke over me.

“Berty, how goes the war effort? I’ve seen the news, but I’d love to hear an update from you yourself.” She smiled, and Bertrand nodded.

“The use of the Mana Bomb sparked the shift in the war with the Puer Kingdom,” he said. “And while we have avoided using it since then, especially when retaking our territories, there are plans to utilize even more of our experimental weapons during—”

I stood to the side, listening to the pair converse about the status of the war. It sounded like the Taw Kingdom’s military was doing well, but I really wasn’t well-versed in supply lines and tactics and all that stuff. I really was just here to survive. And I felt very awkward around Aishat.

I wanted to find an exit, especially since I couldn’t just walk out and leave when the princess was here. I had to be polite and announce that I was leaving, however there was no lull in the conversation when Aishat spoke.

“...I’m just so curious about your Mana Bomb. I hear there are various different effects. Father says that there is an Ice Mana Bomb that can turn a whole battlefield into a frozen wasteland. Oh, oh, and that there is even a Gravity and Space Mana Bomb in the works.”

“They are still under development, Princess Aishat.” Bertrand’s eyes flickered. His gaze fixed on me for a bare moment. I blinked, and he continued. “We have not made much progress on creating such advanced versions of the Mana Bomb. But I assure you, you’ll see the results of more than just the base Mana Bomb soon enough.”

“Wonderful.” Aishat clapped her hands together, as if a weapon of mass destruction was something to be giddy over.

I didn’t blame the people of Taw just yet for not understanding the severity of such a powerful and large scale weapon; it would forever change the field of battle for them, reducing the number of casualties on their side. It seemed like such a positive thing for them. But that was because none of their enemies had acquired this technology just yet. The moment multiple sides of a battlefield gained access to this Mana Bomb, I was fully expecting some kind of a Cold War situation like in my world. Either that, or neither side would learn restraint and the world would effectively end.

It didn’t matter too much to me, except for one bit: the way Bertrand had looked at me for a brief moment made me wary. Was he using my research into the Dimensional Storage Box to improve his super weapon?

Bertrand waved a hand off, hobbling past the princess. “Now, I’m sure there’s much more for you and I to discuss, Princess Aishat. But Melas here is in a bit of a hurry, isn’t she?”

I nodded slowly. “Mhm. I was just here for some… documents.”

Aishta scoffed, and Bertrand pulled open a drawer stacked with paper. He handed them to me, which I accepted with a huff.

“Urk, this is heavy.”

“Do handle it with care, Ms Melas.” Bertrand patted me on the shoulder. “And don’t worry too much about their condition. There are plenty of copies left lying around.”

“Thank you.” My lips curled up. Then I hesitated as he smiled back at me. I drew towards the door, bowing at Aishat. “And it was a pleasure meeting you, Princess Aishat.”

“Can’t say it was likewise.” The Dwarf woman snorted.

I sighed, closing the door behind me.

I set down the stacks of paper Bertrand had given me onto my desk. It was a lot to read over, but there was one thing that had been bothering me about the properties of the Dimensional Storage Box. It wasn’t like a regular enchantment that just drained mana from its surroundings. It was almost self-perpetuating.

That was why it lasted even after so much time had passed. It was the magical kind of enchantment too, not the technological kind used by Dwarfs for tinkering. It had no source like a mana crystal. It functioned purely on the spell inscribed onto its surface. Yet, it persisted.

I’d need to dig more into it. But there were a lot of things for me to read through. I wanted to know how it even bent the dimensions within it to even be as it was. Unfortunately, the notations and the various terms scrawled down onto the pages were difficult for me to decipher. I needed to speak with someone who understood all these fancy jargons used by Engineers and Scientists.

I couldn’t ask Bertrand for help, since he had still been busy entertaining Princess Aishat— I didn’t know what her problem was— so I sought out someone else’s help. I left my room, heading down the corridor, past the open doors crowded with people cleaning up from the earthquake just earlier. I found myself at another section of this complex, where there were far less laboratories and more workshops instead.

This was the MTC. Or the Mana Technology Research and Development Center of Taw. It was shortened only to the relevant acronyms because it’d be too much of a mouthful to say otherwise.

I found the testing facility soon after, hearing the sounds of mechanical movement and metal striking against metal. It was filled with Dwarfs, dozens of them formed in a circle around the center. There was a right, and two Golems were dueling within it.

I stopped to watch for a moment as the Dwarfs cheered, a clamor that couldn’t drown out the sounds of the Golems fighting. They struck each other hard enough for me to wince. It was a single Gold Golem in the ring with three Steel Golems. Well, it had been in the ring with three Steel Golems. Now, there were only two left—

Clang.

“Tha’s right! Take tha ye stupid—”

Another Steel Golem fell. Then it was one-on-one. And I had to say, I was impressed. The last time I saw a Gold Golem in action, it could barely beat a single Steel Golem. The improvements they made to how it functioned was tremendous.

But I didn’t come here to spectate a battle between lifeless machines. Most of the Dwarfs here were— they weren’t Engineers who belonged to the testing facility. Some of them were janitors or chefs or even Scientists who wouldn’t usually be caught here. However, someone had been advertising a show of his Gold Golems. And that someone was the reason why I was here.

“Hey Aniyar,” I greeted the Dwarf.

He stood at the back of the crowd on an elevated platform. His arms were crossed as he watched the battle, a smile beaming across his face. He turned slightly to face me. “Melas, you’re here just in time! Come, watch this go down.”

“Actually, I’m—” I started, but there was another clash of metallic fists.

I glanced over at the ring, watching as the Gold Golem charged the last remaining Steel Golem. The Gold Golem swung its hand, as if its body was swiveling along with it, and the Steel Golem blocked it. It looked like the Gold Golem had the upper hand— it was unleashing a barrage of strikes, until the Steel Golem tripped the Gold Golem.

There was a pause. The cheerings stopped as the Steel Golem mounted the Gold Golem. Then a loud “Ooooh,” resounded throughout the crowd as the Steel Golem ripped off the Gold Golem’s head.

Aniyar’s shoulders sagged as he watched it happen. “Aww— are you serious?”

The crowd began to stream away, disappointed. Aniyar walked up to the ring as the Steel Golem was brought away. He picked up the remains of his Gold Golem, sighing.

“It shoulda won… that damned Steel Golem played dirty!”

“Doesn’t that just mean you’ll have to design your Gold Golem to be able to adapt better in battle?” I sauntered up behind him, raising a brow.

“Well, yes, but the amount of changes we’ll have to make to its inner structure is just… bah.” He waved a hand off.

I shrugged. “Why can’t you just copy the design of a Steel Golem?”

“Because it’d ruin the enchantment matrix for everything else,” Aniyar sighed. “I’ve gotta rework the entire interior mainboard for its intelligence. Goddess grace us, why does Project Gold require so much from me?”

Well, now I’d feel bad if I had to ask him for help on top of what he was going through. I placed a hand on Aniyar’s shoulder— the Dwarf Engineer glanced up at me as I smiled. “Do you need any help? I’ve got, you know, magic if it helps you with your research?”

“It’s fine, lass.” He shook his head. “Was there something you needed from me?”

“Oh.” I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. Then I pulled out a piece of paper filled with all the notations I needed to know. “I was just wondering if you could help explain all these terms to me?”

Aniyar raised a brow. “This is… oh, it’s just advanced mathematics. Multivariable calculus and its effects on the vector fields of the Dimensional Storage Box. I’m not sure if I can fully explain it to you, but I could try to describe it in layman’s terms.”

I blinked. “Wait—” I paused. They had calculus in this world? I watched as Aniyar pulled out a notepad, scribbling down equations on it.

“So, you see, when you’re in a planar—”

I recognized what he wrote as numbers down onto the piece of paper. But I didn’t understand literally everything else. Sure, I’d taken AP calculus while still in high school back on Earth. But the symbols, language, and literally everything about this world was different from Earth. My education here was limited to that of a kid and what I was taught back in Villamcreek.

The issue wasn’t a lack of understanding what Aniyar was saying, but not knowing all the right notations and the foundational knowledge needed to make sense of it all. I massaged my temples as I listened to the Dwarf Engineer’s explanation.

“Essentially, what you need to know is that this object— whatever this relates to— functions through the use of gravity and space to twist dimensions into whatever scale it wants it to be.” Aniyar scratched the back of his head. “Honestly, I’m surprised you were given access to such documents, Melas. Can you tell me what this is supposed to be about?”

“I’m not sure.” I stood up, nodding at him. “Thank you. This has been very helpful. Although, I may ask for more of your help in the future.”

“Sure thing. Just let me know.” He pursed his lips as he turned back to his broken Gold Golem. “I… I guess I’ll just go back to trying to improve my design, eh? I don’t want this project to be defunded, especially with the recent surge in support for other… more experimental projects in the MTC.”

I tilted my head to the side. He didn’t say it outright, but he was slightly upset about Bertrand’s Mana Bomb and other projects. They were taking funding and interest away from what Aniyar was doing. And the repercussions that came with using such weapons by the Taw Kingdom weighed on my mind. As well as the fact that my friend was struggling.

So, I peered at him. “Is there— are you sure there is nothing I can do to help you? I insist.”

The Dwarf Engineer paused. “Are you sure you’ll be fine?” He hesitated. “I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”

“I’m fine. I’ll just be repaying the favor.” I nodded.

“Well…”