I’m finishing up the work on the books, I need to make tons of copies so it becomes cheap to anyone, so I also had to make machines to help with making paper and mass printing.

I had an old acquaintance of mine, Horace, in charge of ‘selling’ the books around the country, but really, he’s charging almost nothing for the books. Most of the expenses have been covered by me with money the crown owed me. The price exists only for the books to not be seen as worthless.

This won’t magically allow for street urchins to become scientists, but maybe the son of the baker or the daughter of the town guard will be able to learn how to read and a few other elementary things, like calculating income and expenses and understand that Endel isn’t a very big or mighty country, but has plentiful mines.

Auntie also kept a bunch of copies as well.

I also wrote down every vague scientific concept (I call them theories in the book) I could remember, but that I don’t understand or remember fully, these ones I didn’t actually spread through the country. I don’t want my mumblings to make me seem insane or foolish.

It’s been a long time since that dance Athena tricked me into going, I went to two more since then, but at the third one I started getting bored of the superficial conversations… And a few older girls began doing stuff that borders on sexual harassment, but that’s beside the point.

“So, Lance, you’ll be fifteen soon. Have you decided on a girl to marry yet?” Asks Athena during a meal.

“No, I… Wait, I don’t want to listen to a single 23-year-old asking me that!”

“... Really? Not even the Julian sisters?” She asks, completely ignoring what I said.

The Julian sisters are of a bloodline widespread worldwide, like the giants. They are similar to normal fantasy elves, they have pointy ears, slender bodies and slowed aging, although only on appearance, they still only live as long as anyone else.

Their magic instinct is one that permanently enhances their senses, so they usually make for good scouts and that kind of thing.

“No, they’re pretty, but they’re a little bit stuck up for me.” They always act high and mighty when talking with anyone that isn’t higher status than them. It’s to the point I wonder how they remember everyone, I guess they have a good memory.

“Well, you better hurry and pick someone before mother does, and I’m pretty sure if mother doesn’t pick someone, grandmother will.”

“Yeah, right.” I answer while rolling my eyes. “If I refuse to marry someone, what are they going to do? Force me? Can they really risk me running away?” I’m pretty sure I already did more than enough for the country to be excused from this kind of thing.

“They just want you to have an heir as soon as possible, since your bloodline was born from the royal family’s… Did you hear about the tournament?”

About the what? “No, what tournament?”

“Well, you know how mom asked dad’s hand in marriage after dad won a combat sorcery tournament?” I nod. “Well, someone thought that since it worked for dad with mom, it should work for a girl with you too. So some girls started organizing a combat tournament.”

For fuck’s sake, mom and dad were already planning to marry before that tournament, dad only used the tournament to prove his combat skills to any Chevalier that might disapprove of a merchant’s son marrying mom. I face palm… Before I stand up in panic.

“… WAIT! No one promised my hand in marriage to the winner right?!”

“No, but… Her majesty turned the tournament into an official national event, all women born in Sylvian and less than 20 years old are allowed to participate, and there’s a reward for even the fifth place in both categories, high ranking commoners will also have a high chance of receiving a knight title or more…”

Man, I should really pay more attention to the royal announcements. Does she mean sorcery and martial arts when she says ‘both categories’?

“Oh… So it’s not about me anymore? At least some good has come out of this mess.”

“No, well… Since it’s now a tournament sponsored by the crown, it’s become an implied truth that the winner is the girl with the highest chance of marrying you…” She says while scratching her cheek.

“What a proper mess… Well, I’m not healing the participants in that case.” Completely ignoring my will, they deserve everything that happens… Well, maybe not if they lose limbs and-

“No! The least you could do is healing them in support!” Says Athena. Am I hearing some panic in her voice?

“… What did you do, Athena?” I ask while staring at her and keeping my face emotionless.

“Huh? What do you mean?” She’s looking everywhere but not at my eyes, suspicious. I just keep staring at her. “Err, I might have been the one to talk about mom and dad’s history…”

If that was all she wouldn’t be acting this suspicious, I narrow my eyes. “And?”

“I, uh… May also have been the one to give the idea of doing a tournament… And told the queen about it… And I might also be a referee for the tournament…”

I face palm again. “Goddamn it, Athena. Did you get drunk, again?”

“That was only once!”

I’m so done with this… But should I heal them or not? I guess I should even if only the critical ones.

…Am I a softie?

~~

While on a VIP seat overlooking the tournament arenas I work on the heads up display project, HUD for short.

It’s the second day of the martial arts category. I’m mostly ignoring the fights, someone will call me if I’m needed.

This HUD I’m working on would be a visor inspired by video games that displays information to a soldier that helps him make sense of the chaos of battle, like discerning friend from foe, showing enemy positions, current orders, that kind of thing.

The original idea was to have only a visor that displays the info and a crystal of some sort to be a mana core that determines what to display, but when I was working on receiving orders I realized I’m thinking too small, why stop on the individual?

My line of thinking is interrupted by the loud cheering from the outside and I’m starting to regret having come.

But seeing the fight cleared the regret, the fight is clearly unfair, someone skilled in magic is fighting someone who can barely use self-strengthening, if this wasn’t the martial arts category, the former would probably just burn the later to ashes.

But seeing their swordsmanship clearly shows why the fight isn’t over yet, the more magically inclined one seems to be more used to fighting monsters, where controlling the opponent’s weapon is either unnecessary or impractical, while the other one is using a style of swordsmanship clearly different from the orthodox Sylvian style.

What jumps out the most is the way she seems to control her opponent’s sword, the Sylvian style tends to avoid binding blades since that might damage the sword too much, that’s what shields are for.

The one with more mana still wins though, so I asked one of my guards to call the loser up here.

“Here she is, sir.” He says before he leaves. The girl seems tense and uncomfortable.

“Thank you for coming, miss. My name is Lance Chevalier, what should I call you?” I introduce myself politely.

“My name is Chiara. It’s nice to meetcha- *ahem!* Meet you, Sir Lance.” She corrects herself mid-speech and does a messy curtsy by lifting the corners of her tunic.

“Haha, no need to be so stiff, miss Chiara, you can speak normally.” One can tell she didn’t grow up with money just by looking at her clothes, hair and skin. She has dark brown eyes and hair, which she keeps short. “I called you to ask you about your swordsmanship, where did you learn it? From whom?”

Hearing that, her shoulders lose some tension. “Oh, that. I learned it back in Monreas, from a pirate hunter called Jacque.” Monreas, if I’m not mistaken, is a big port on the west coast, right?

“Was this pirate hunter from Sylvian?” I wonder if this swordsmanship is from another country.

“I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know. I… I only watched his classes in secret. The only time I talked to him, he only gave me a few tips…”

Oh well, that’s fine too. “I have an offer for you. Teach me what you know, and in exchange I will help you improve your magic, as well as give you food, lodgings and that kind of thing.”

She fidgets a little in hesitation. “Sir, I… I didn’t really join the tournament to become your concubine or anything of the sort, I just-”

“Don’t be stupid,” I interrupt her. “I also didn’t come here to look for a wife or lover, you silly girl, I’m here in case there’s someone critically woun-” And I’m interrupted in turn by the loud audience once again.

Speak of the devil, someone just lost an arm, how does this even happen? The weapons are blunt… “Sir Lance!” One of my guards barges in the room.

I just wave him away. “Excuse me for a moment.” I say to Chiara before jumping out of the balcony and using weaken fall to slow my descent.

I’m already used to healing this level of thing and the wounded girl already passed out, so I have time to talk to the one responsible for the wound. “What happened?” I ask the black haired girl looking over with an interested expression.

“I told her I was going to stop holding back if she didn’t surrender, but she didn’t listen.” Her tone of voice seems defensive, as in defending herself from an accusation.

“Oh well, she probably thought you were bluffing or something.” But still, you’d think there would be many stops between weak blows and limb tearing blows, I didn’t know someone could be this bad at controlling their strength.

The healing done I give a wave to the audience and a nod to Athena who’s nearby as the referee.

As I walk away the black haired competitor calls out. “Sir Lance!”

“What?”

“… Are you really marrying the winner of the tournament?”

“No way! Would YOU marry someone just because they won a tournament?”

“I don’t know…” She answers while fidgeting with her bloodied spear. “Maybe?”

I just roll my eyes in return. “Good luck.”

Back in my VIP room, I talk to Chiara again. “As I was saying, I came here to heal people critically wounded. As you may know, usually, people well trained in strengthening magic are only allowed to fight other well trained people, but that’s not the case in this tournament.” I explain. “Oh right, talking about healing, let me check you for any hidden problems.”

I don’t wait for her to answer and grab her hand and close my eyes to concentrate on the diagnosis. “Do you have any scars you want me to leave be?” I ask. Eleanor didn’t want me to heal her scars, she seems a little proud of those.

“Uh, no, I don’t.” I nod. She has a couple of bones that didn’t heal properly, various skin damages that accumulated over time and her left eye seems messed up somehow, did she get hit in the eye? Are the tournament healers slacking off?

With that done, I go back to my offer. “So, how about it, will you teach me?”

She seems dazed for a moment before she kneels and answers “Yes, sir. Please allow me to teach you.”

“What’s with the kneeling?” I ask.

“Uh, aren’t I supposed to kneel when I’m hired by a noble?”

“That’s only if swearing loyalty. Can you imagine having a shoemaker kneel every time you go hire him to make a shoe?” Nobles usually have many shoes.

“Oh…”

“Yeah…”

Well, this is Awkward…

~~

The magic and sorcery part of the tournament was more entertaining, and people got critically wounded more often, but everyone was a good sport and avoided going for the head, so no one died.

I don’t know if I can heal someone who had their brain destroyed, but I doubt it. If the damage is small it should be fine though.

I’m already fifteen, so Athena will go back home after the tournament is over.

I’m going with her even if only temporarily, I want to see Gray and Noah, who should be seven now.

Oh, right, mom and dad too, totally didn’t forget them, yep.

Right now I’m in a dinner with the current and previous queens and kings, and various military leaders, Chevalier or otherwise. The old men all have white mustaches or mutton chops and the old women all use magic to ‘dye’ their hair in fancy colors, both men and women have bodies that would make many young people green with envy.

Not me, of course, I’m developing just fine… At least my skin is better…

“We’re invading Heiron!” Says the queen out of nowhere, in her willful tone as usual.

I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that. These potatoes taste great. “Your majesty,” One of my great grand-aunts begins. “You mean to merely deliver punishment for their actions or perhaps do you mean to conquer the whole country?” She doesn’t even question our ability to succeed.

By ‘their actions’ she means both the assassination attempt when I enchanted the castle and the pirate sponsoring they have been doing for who knows how long.

While the various vehicles I made and the castle used tons of resources, the train and the cargo ships have the country’s economy more active than a happy puppy.

That together with the all-time low bandit and pirate activity due to better scouting, communication and troop-mobilization (never mind the somewhat primitive dreadnoughts), and our country has the resources, both human or otherwise, needed for putting Heiron down like a mad dog.

“Conquest will be our intention. However! Our main objective is merely their coastal lands, we shall target the rest of their lands only if the cost on our troops isn’t too high. With just the coast we will greatly decrease the pirates to our west and force traders from further inland to go through us in order to have access to the great sea.” Answers her majesty. The old people all nod in approval of the art nerd’s words.

“Your majesty, how much time do we have to prepare?” Asks a taciturn old man who’s not a Chevalier.

“It’s uncertain, but we should have more than a year. I’d like to remind you that this conversation is confidential and to not begin the conscripting of soldiers before I give the say so.”

The old people exchange looks before a Chevalier old man asks shortly “Civil war?”

“Indeed! Civil war!” Answers the queen. “Our spies have reported that a civil war for the throne is about to begin in Heiron, the kingdom is divided between the first and second prince factions. I wish for us to attack the weakened victor before he has the chance to stabilize the country, as such, there is no fixed timeframe for the war preparations.”

The previous queen (I’m not referring to them as Catherine the third and the fourth, that would be even more confusing) continues for her daughter. “As you may guess, since we won’t be conscripting and criminal activity has lowered, the main preparations, for now, will be in the logistics side of things and training the soldiers we already have.”

“That’s where you come in, Lance.” Says the current queen. “I want you to help our logistics as a consultant, so that they can better use the new vehicles, and I want you to help with the training by making golems to serve as practice opponents and building parts of fortresses for siege practice.”

Oh, so that’s why I’m here. That sounds like fun so I don’t mind doing those things even for free… But I’m not going to tell her that though. “What do I get out of it, your majesty?” When I say that, Athena nudges me with her elbow while a frown decorates her face. Everyone else on the table simply sighs.

Don’t look at me like that, you know very well my work won’t end with just some consulting and crafting, she could just have other people do that, I’m not the only one who knows how to make mana cores anymore and my construction methods are already written down in the royal castle’s library for others to learn.

She most likely is banking on me getting carried away again, she doesn’t have to pay extra if I’m the one who’s asking to do something. The worst part is that I also believe I’ll get carried away when playing around with the military, of the top of my head I’m already imagining paratrooping knights… hahaha, so anachronistic.

My delusions are interrupted by the queen’s answer. “I’m willing to allow you to access another section of forbidden knowledge.” Ha! I see right through your ploy. Most things in that forbidden library is underdeveloped and mediocre, unless you consider gruesome murder a fun pastime, of course.

I can already guess that disease magic won’t allow me to create counter-plagues like I was imagining when I first heard of it, and prayer magic is most likely merely intent-based magic rather than the control-based magic that is more widespread.

“Your majesty.” I begin my counter attack. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you also wish me to take part in the coming war, do you not?”

The art nerd narrows her eyes. “Yes…”

“And what would be the reward you were planning for that?”

“… Access to any magic secrets we acquire from Heiron…” She answers while still looking at me suspiciously. The old people in the table remain silent during this exchange while looking between me and the queen with curious expressions, aside from a few who simply don’t give a damn and don’t go back to eating simply because the queen is speaking.

As I expected, she wants to bait me with magic. Heiron probably has even less magic secrets than we do, both in quantity and depth. I shake my head in answer. “Your majesty, please answer me honestly: Have my works ever disappointed you?”

The table falls into silence for several moments before the art nerd answers. “…You use too little jewels and gold sometimes… And you refuse to get married obediently…” She answers with a somewhat apologetic expression. The first one is just your bad taste, and the second one isn’t related to work.

But I’m not going to say that out loud, this is a rare opportunity to turn one of my projects from unprofitable generosity to profitable generosity… depending on how you perceive profit of course.

“Your majesty, due to the mana cores, soon will be the dawn of a new age for our country.” I begin. “Can you imagine what would happen if I used mana cores and golems to optimize farming, mining and logging?” When I say that, even the old leaders, previously bored of listening to the absolute leader of the country trying to negotiate with the country’s spoiled little genius, start paying attention again.

Even the old royal couple has solemn faces. Most of the country’s manpower is occupied by those three jobs. “While almost everything produced in our country would become cheaper, there would also be mass unemployment. Some fools might try revolting, but the ones affected the most will be the lowest of the low, the weakest of the weakest, so they wouldn’t be much of a threat, but…”

“There would be mass migration, some would go to emptier parts of the country, others would flee the country entirely… many would resort to crime…” The current queen isn’t as dumb as her fascination for shiny things implies. “… Get to the point, Lance.” There goes her patience.

“Thankfully we have too few enchanters capable of creating mana cores to optimize the whole country in any short amount of time, even if all the current ones tried. Sadly, that also means every other aspect of our technology will also be held back by this lack of numbers and resource gathering speed.” I explain clearly. This is also the reason I don’t just make tons of magic guns for infantry, at the current state of the country I’m limited in terms of metals and enchanters… That and I don’t want to introduce sniper rifles without developing counters for them.

I continue. “Here’s my suggestion: Public Education! Make the ignorant masses educated enough to not need to rely on those three areas of work for employment and have them do other work, work that is harder for a golem to do. Help as many children as possible receive basic education so that when we gradually decrease the jobs, they will be able to simply receive more education in something else.”

I let my words sink in for a while.

“So that’s why you were writing books!” Says the old king. “You just wanted more resources to play with!” Fuck off, old man… But yeah, I need a lot of steel to make something like an aircraft carrier.

“… What does this have to do with your reward?” Asks the current queen.

“I want both what you offered and this as my reward.” I say without even a hint of shame on my face.

“Don’t you think you’re asking too much?” She asks, her eyes narrowed with suspicion once again.

“Do you really think so, your majesty? Secret knowledge is, by its very nature, limited in development. I have to make something useful out of it by myself, like I did with the mana cores and using curse magic to make the sense chambers.” In other words, the knowledge she offers isn’t worth much before I get my hands on it. “That aside, I believe the castle we stand inside at this moment is more than enough proof that I will go beyond what you ask of me, as long as it’s not against your will, of course.”

“… ‘As long as it’s not against her will’ you say… But what of the ‘country ruled by the people’ you spoke about in your letters to the writers and teachers that helped you write those books.” Says the old king, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, just like the art nerd. Athena’s eyes widen and she tenses up.

Well, shit. I only mentioned it in passing when discussing philosophy. Wait, they were spying my letters? That’s so rude.

Oh well, drastic times require drastic measures. “It is my personal opinion that monarchy is an unstable system of ruling in the long term.” I speak honestly. “It requires a single problematic ruler to bring down generations of progress and stability… However, that is not to say it has no merits at all. Having all that power in the hands of a single individual means the country’s might is united behind a single will, as long as that single will is wise and competent, the country shall prosper.”

I stand up, walk near the art nerd and kneel. I then use mind magic to open my mind to external intrusions. “Don’t poke around too much.” I say as my feeling of discomfort is pretty much broadcasted to the senses of everyone in the room.

“Well, in that case excuse m-” “Stop!” The old king begins but is stopped by the current queen, his daughter.

“Lance’s actions so far show he has the best interest of the country at heart, it is unnecessary to do this.” She says. Wow, I didn’t expect her to be so nice. “Besides, what will you do if you ruin his artistic skills by accident? It’s too risky.”

Oh, ok. Never mind then.

At least my suggestion/request was accepted in the end.

I really shouldn’t let my expectations get too high when dealing with this art nerd.