Until death?

by Andur

  I am reading a good book about this worlds industrial capacities and having a sandwich as dinner. I will need to develop some better automated machines for them. If the stuff in this book is true, they still do so much by hand and magic.

  My conclusion that this world is just starting it's technological advance in many aspects, was on the spot.

  The reason is probably the existence of magic. You can do so many things with magic, it seems that some solutions don't even come to your awareness. Why should you start to create complicated machinery if you could develop a spell, which does the work for you?

  Iris was sent to the Cygnus family to take care of her. My parents didn't like the idea to leave a minor to her own.

  Then I take a look at the map too. It is surely a problem to have such a big area in rebellion. History shows, that it is almost impossible for a country to suppress another one, if the civil population is not willing to accept it.

  And from our information, the civilians there are not on our side any more. The houses of Meltheim and Tulheim started a massive campaign of misinformation and propaganda, to bring everyone to their side.

  They claimed that the gentle princess of Stricc was forced into a marriage with the cruel prince of Tirna. It would be a shame to obey such rulers.

  It have no idea where they got that from.

  Furthermore they accused the ruling house of favouritism towards a few selected houses.

  Most of the minor Houses and Dukedoms in the northern region followed them. If willingly or not doesn't really matter that much. Those who didn't follow were struck down with overwhelming military force.

  It must have been planned for a long time.

  Practically over night, they had a third of the worlds population under their control. That's because there are many of the population centres located in the north. The population density becomes scarcer, the farther you go south.

  The reason for that lies with the worlds ecosystem, with much more unfriendly organisms in the south.

  Along with a big chunk of the population, they have access to some of best mines for rare elements. My parents already took control of every mine in our reach. Which comprises everything from the middle of the continent, down to the south.

  They have also ordered every bigger noble family to pay a visit to the crown. The military is also already on the move. By now we can almost conclude that we have two completely separated countries again.

  Together with the population centres, there is a sizeable amount of industrial capacity on the other side too. They have everything, they need. But so do we.

  “If this evolves into a civil war. It will become very ugly. A lot of innocent people are bound to die again.” -Ireth

  “But we have no other choice, than to react in some way.” -Arthur

  “Assassinate them, like they tried with us? No need to be friendly any more.” -Nicol

  “But wouldn't we make martyrs out of them. We would be tyrants, exactly what they claimed us to be.” -Ireth

  “That's sure to cause a long period of disturb and unrest under the population of the whole continent” -Arthur

  “And maybe that's what they want. If we strike them down with military force it wont be fast. And it will be messy. Maybe they hope to persuade some nobles, who are still loyal and turn them against us.” -Arthur

  “Then just do nothing and isolate them. Shut down the border and hunger them to death.”

  I interrupt the conversation and everyone turns to me.

  “But we can't starve them. They have everything they need. Resources, food, equipment, industry. Everything is there.” -Nicol

  I shrug my shoulders. “We have those things too. We need nothing from them, they need nothing from us. If your conclusion is true and they just want to provoke a fight to create even greater chaos, then we don't give them what they want.

  They threw their cards on the table and are hoping for us to do the same. But we shouldn't do it, because our cards keep changing, while we keep holding them.

  Their interferences with our development plan, by controlling the market price, were a big hindrance. Now their control in our part of the continent is gone.

  I think they made a huge mistake there. If we just sit around and concentrate to put our inventions to practical use, they will become a smaller and smaller problem by the month.

  They will never be able to follow our technological advance. On the contrary, they even refuse to follow it. So we will just keep sitting on our asses and wait for them to move.

  We just have to lean back and denounce them in the public. After all they are the ones who are not loyal. They even killed those of their own who didn't follow them. We just have to wait for everyone to realize who the real tyrant is.

  If they act first, we have a legitimate reason to beat them down with brute force. If they don't act, they will loose to us on the technological side soon.

  And if they start to advance technological by themselves, they are digging their own grave. Because the reason for their control, their power base in form of resources, will start to slip out of their hands.”

  Yeah, I am proud of my deduction. Just let the barbarians hide under their rock and wait for the day, when we come with a sledgehammer and crush them.

  I take a bite from my sandwich.

  “How long do you need to create a nasty surprise for them?” Celes asks me.

  “Not long. Something like a guided missile isn't a big problem, if I use magic. But didn't we just conclude that eliminating them now, is a bad idea?” I answer.

  “I don't want to eliminate them. I need something to crush the major arterial roads, in case the north tries something on us. It has to be fast and on command, in case they try something stupid like marching their army into our territory.” -Celes

  I think for a moment and nod. “Should be no problem. I will make some plans for a big bomb. We can mine the bigger roads with them. If they walk over it, they get sent to space.” I grin.

  “I am not happy with something like this, but I guess we have no other choice in this case.” -Arthur

  “With some time I may be able to find out who is most likely to turn on us.” -Nicol

  “I can already tell you that the houses of Rosenquarz and Andros a likely candidates.” Ireth answers that with a flat voice.

  Celes jumps up. “Huh? Sandra Andros is a nice girl. She would never betray someone. With Garbiel I am not so sure. But despite being a silent fellow, I wouldn't think he would do something like this either.”

  “I am not talking about a single person, but the household as a whole Celes.” -Ireth

  I nod. If our parents tell us, that those people are a risk, then they most likely are right. After all they are the ones who have to deal with them day and night.

  “I will instruct the house of Morden to double the efforts in information gathering. There is nothing that can detect their ability to hide in the shadows.” Katrine informs us.

  “Then I will set out with Nicosar to establish something like a new border. And to see to it that the current standstill doesn't develop into a full blown war.” -Nicol

  “This sure sucks, all our efforts for peace and over night we are suddenly on the brink of civil war. I wish I had crushed their monopoly in the beginning, when I still had the chance.” -Arthur

  A monopoly of power always sucks, I will be sure to change this in the future. After the last words are spoken, the meeting dissolves and I walk back to my room.

  I am really tired by now. This wasn't a good day, if you think about it. Well, I will have a nice sleep and tomorrow I will play the scientist.

  I lie down, but suddenly something hugs me from the side with unimaginable force? Huh? I struggle, but I can't get free! I can see nothing!? “Dis.. Dispell!”

  “Celes! Why are you in my bed again!” -Me

  “The next item on the list is to innocently sleep together! It came right after the “Get a present from Angrod” objective!”
Celes has a pleased expression on her face.

  I dug my own grave!?

  “I will call your Mom! You know what will happen!” I will have no mercy with her. Though a chalkboard-session is cruel and I wish it to no foe, but I have to protect myself here!

  “Hahaha! I have already anticipated that you would be embarrassed. So I got Tanja to record not only an invisibility spell for me, but also an area-silence-magic. Nobody can hear a single sound from this room.” Celes says proud and with a strange fire in her eyes.

  NOOOOO! I HAVE CREATED A MONSTER!!!

  29 - A mad scientist in my lab?

  It has been a few months since the rebellion started. My parents somehow managed to take control of the situation and right now there is a complete blockade on the north.

  There have been a few conflicts, but nothing serious. Just a party of scouts, running into another one. Small incidents, which aren't even worth mentioning on a continental scale.

  By now we can be pretty sure, that the Nobles of the north were hoping to draw others onto their side. But by remaining calm, we took that opportunity from them.

  My father and Nicosar are constantly travelling to keep an eye on the situation. Even though they use teleport magic, they are quite busy.

  I am in my third school year right now. That makes me nine years old. But right now it's weekend and I am inside my lab! Mwahahaha!

  Whenever I have nothing to do, I teleport into this facility inside a mountain. It is located in the north of Midpoint.

  The whole complex is a work in progress. I offered every worker on the construction side a permanent employment and a pretty good payment in exchange for their silence.

  Everything is financed through my new power plant. It's a cold fusion generator. Though a cold fusion generator would be impossible with science alone, with a little bit of magic here and there you can play a trick on nature.

  We are providing the whole city with energy. And there is even enough left for some pretty cool experiments.

  Right now my work-crew is building a particle accelerator for me. It's for one of my future projects. The materials come directly from the mountain. A part of the crew is mining everything that's needed.

  This whole facility is already a huge complex, but I have something bigger in mind. For this, I will need a big amount of space and resources.

  Mwaahahaha! Just thinking of it makes me laugh. Those suckers in the north will get a big surprise.

  I love this place! Here I can play around as much as I want. Nobody to disturb me. Most important no Celes. She sticks to me like chewing gum on a shoe.

  But here I …..

  “Deeeaaaar! Guess who it is!” Someone covers my eyes from behind.

  “Huh?” NOO! How can that be? I am sure I gave orders that nobody except me is allowed in this complex! I will massacre the security for this!

  “Celes. How did you get here?” I ask in a moody voice.

  “I copied the teleportation spell to teleport here directly. With your wristband.” -Celes

  “Um... I am pretty sure I never let you copy that spell?” I ask. Did she modify the wristband to work from a distance? No. That would be too hard to do.

  “I copied it from the wristband, you gave to our parents for cases of emergency.” -Celes

  Damn! The simple solution is also the most effective! I turn around and see Stephen behind Celes.

  “Oh. I see you have brought a visitor too?” I ask.

  “Hi, you have a nice facility here!” Stephen greets me.

  “Thanks, but it is still more like a construction site.” -Me

  Celes turns around and looks like she is searching for something. “Huh? Where is Margerie?”

  The gears in my head begin to turn slower.

  Stephen turns around too. “Hmm, strange... three corners ago, she was still behind me?”

  The gears in my head stop?

  “You two want to tell me something? Surely it is not that you brought Margerie here? Surely you don't want to tell me that a mad scientist is on the run in here? There is tons of dangerous equipment and you tell me you let Margerie from the leash here? And she is without supervision?”

  Stephen and Celes have both an expression on their faces, which says only one thing. GUILTY!

  “If it helps, Tanja ran off earlier without asking. We couldn't catch her, so we didn't really loose her per definition. She said something about a perfect infiltration training and vanished.” -Stephen

  I slap my head and walk over to a communication screen on a wall. Then I activate the communication link to the chief of security. His name is Drem Snowden and he and his team were selected by my parents.

  “Yes?” -Snowden

  “Errr, my friends paid me a visit via teleportation and two got lost in the complex. One is a happy go lucky ninja. The other is a mad scientist on the run. Could you please fetch them and bring them to the main lab?” -Me

  “....”

  “Understood. We search for a ninja and a mad scientist. Is the ninja dangerous?” -Snowden

  “No, the ninja is not. But you are allowed to stun the mad scientist, if she is close to sensitive equipment.” -Me

  “Heeey!” -Celes

  “It is for her safety too!” -Me

  Celes shoves me to the side. “No stunning! Just bring her here!”

  “Yes, princess.” -Snowden

  Snowden deactivates the line.

  Then something comes to my mind. “How did you even find me here? You were never here before!?”

  “Obviously mother gave me directions, when I copied the spell” -Celes

  I was betrayed! My parents gave everything away to her. I will never give them the keys to my inner sanctum again!

  “So we wanted to pay you a visit and see how you are doing. You are pretty hard to find out here.” -Stephen

  I sigh and sign them to follow me. “Come with me, I will show you the lab and the newest invention.”

  “Oh, cool! Have you made the ring for me Angrod!? Have You?” Celes storms in front. A week ago she asked me to create a ring-shaped device like the wristband.

  I know. It's another objective on her list. But I made it anyway. The process of miniaturisation was interesting enough by itself. So it was worth it I guess.

  “I won't kneel!” I grab a box in my pocket and shove it into her hands.

  “Oh, thank you!” She hugs me again, while I continue walking and drag her with me. Why do I get this warm feeling when she does that? It is not right! Not right I say!

  After a short walk we arrive at my main lab. Well maybe not a lab. A big dome would be a more proper term.

  I rummage through some stuff until I find what I am looking for. I take the remote control and activate an elevated big screen. It shows a bird-view from high in the air.

  “What's that?” Celes asks.

  “I used Margerie's overpowered drone technology and pepped it up for high altitude flights. Then I installed some surveillance technology like optics and infra-red.

  And then I used a little magic for the controls and to operate it from bigger distances. This drone is currently mapping the entire north.

  If I want, I can count the hairs on Sarda's head.” -Me

  “You know where Sarda is?” -Celes

  “It seems the whole bunch together with the guys from Tulhelm set up residence at Mount Seria. Hmpf. A little bit arrogant to name a mountain after a god isn't it?” -Me