We Meet Again
It's been a little over a month. His stay was extended when he managed to use the knights to protect the village. He received minor injuries, but as promised, he gained their trust.
'The future is the same, but there seem to be different details.' I'm sure now that his words are true. What I don't like is being used to achieve his goals.
I don't know what kind of person he has become, but in a short time, he has already learned to read and write, which impresses me. We have been exchanging letters every three days, and little by little, I've been understanding him better.
"Certainly, it's likely that we can join forces." I look at the papers on the table, thinking as I sign them.
I don't care about Emilia's image but having Roswaal L. Mathers as an ally is a really good temporary option. I can be the queen and help her achieve her goal. I'm still not sure about Roswaal though.
'We just have to pretend to help him, and when we get to the throne, reveal his intentions and then kill him.' The man's ruthless words are the most accurate. It might be an act of betrayal, but Roswaal L. Mathers' mere intentions are the greatest betrayal to the kingdom.
The door opens, and Felix enters with that person.
This time he seems more alive, the wind surrounding his body is dense, and it moves around him forcefully. He's strong, thinking he seemed to have no future in magic. The wind around him feels heavy.
He smiles and then bows to me.
"Good morning, Miss Crusch." His bow is perfect; it seems he really learned etiquette as he said.
I nod, and he continues to sit on the sofa. Felix looks at Marco with some discomfort, but Marco ignores him, not paying him any mind.
"How's the concrete production going?" His question makes me hand a report to Felix, for him to give to Marco.
"Pretty well," I respond dryly, without looking him in the eyes.
During all this time, he has been sending me plans and processes for creating materials. All while he started changing certain production methods with his own proposals.
His varied knowledge is not something one could acquire without a proper education, and when I see the plans and what he wants to do, I realize again that he is not from this world.
'Batch production.' Once he explained the process to be carried out, we implemented it in sword production. At Marco's insistence, we used a small factory we have in a neighbourhood city as a test.
Production undoubtedly increased, and even the quality improved.
I didn't think something so simple would make the process easier and more efficient. While before a craftsman oversaw making a sword, now one craftsman only makes the handle, another makes bladeless swords, and another sharpens them.
Each process is done with the same group, making each person focus on only one task. That led to the best handle producers doing their work quickly, as well as those who know how to sharpen and meld weapons.
Each one, in their best field, worked in the best way.
I thought it was better to produce swords in batches, but producing the pieces and then assembling them made the process much faster than expected.
"Very well, I'm telling you we can make Karsten city surpass Costuul. For that, we can expand and create factories for all kinds of things." Marco looks at me with an arrogant smile, and I accept his words. "Costuul would no longer be the one with all the industrial production; instead, it would be us. If we want to have a monopoly, we must increase our resources. I know you're well aware of this; I read a bit about the Karstens while I was with the marquis."
I have allocated all the money to gather all kinds of resources. The concrete production is being used to rebuild my city, starting with the neediest neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, the factories in Costuul will slowly be moved to that city. I always planned to do this kind of thing, but his understanding of production and industry is quite broad, which gave me the confidence to take that step.
As a campaign method, it also comes in handy.
"Nya, when did you study all that?" Felix asks, astonished, probably wondering if it's possible for a stranger to know so many things in different fields.
He really doesn't know everything about the world, but he can see patterns using connections to his world. Talking in some of his letters, I understood him better; our world could be compared to a time they lived in.
'Thousands of years of evolution… What would our world be like in a thousand years?'
The process is slow, but I can see it's going to have a huge explosion when the time is right.
The contracts have been increasing little by little, but instead of saving money, we're spending it on increasing production. Also, the production of that machine that seems to turn the world upside down.
"The steam engine is fifty percent complete," his statement fills me with joy. After all, with the explanation about the machine, I can see that everything is going to change on a large scale.
The market trend will lean towards low-cost products; our job will be to produce without causing a sharp drop in global prices. We will only decrease to a point good enough that it cannot be copied without generating significant losses.
The world will turn upside down when they realize that Costuul cannot compete in terms of cost. Although our state and Costuul are great allies, and we own factories in Costuul, I can't say we can't be the competition.
In the end, that city does not belong to me, so I clearly must prefer the state city of Karsten over Costuul. The steam engine will be a revolution of the world as it is known, competing with Costuul's machines by not needing tedious spells or many magical tools.
A machine that does not depend one hundred percent on magic. I really want to see it with my own eyes.
"I told you; the human race can do everything by itself." He smiles, and I smile back unintentionally. I cough lightly, placing my hand to cover my smile.
He's a scammer, but he's good at what he does.
Night falls, and I decide to stop working for the day and go for a walk, my thoughts drifting towards that person. I haven't seen him since the afternoon, but Felix told me he spent the whole time working in his room.
Starting today, he'll be living with us.
I walk through the mansion, wondering if the path towards the future will be the right one.
'Will I ever be able to drive a car?' I found it curious from the first time I saw it, a metal machine that moves at high speeds without needing a dragon. Although he says that years of discovery are still needed for that.
I sigh as I open the door to the garden. The moonlight mixes with the fireflies in the air. Marco told me the next step is to find Otto Suwen, but his whereabouts are still unknown.
'Someone who doesn't appear in the written future.' I extend my hand to the sky, realizing that such a destiny belongs to someone truly fortunate. Your fate is not written, so you can do whatever you want.
The garden I decided to build for relaxation, this garden he liked so much, I have kept it well-tended, though I don't really feel any beauty in what I see. The waning moon illuminates the field, and the fireflies dance among the flowers.
I keep walking, thinking about the process to take the alliance to another level. For now, it would be impossible to intervene due to the treaty between candidates. Marco is the only mediator between the two, so I decided to give him a simple position, yet one that doesn't recognize him as a member of the Karsten family.
He is the connector between both, but he doesn't truly belong to either side.
'Of course, that's just formally.' I place my hands behind my back, seeing that I'm about to reach the gazebo where I usually go to relax.
"I have to gather mana in my hand, then mix it with wind pressure." I hear his voice, catching me by surprise. I approach slowly, trying not to distract him. He remains in his own world, unaware of my presence. "Since the wind already exists, it's not possible to create it; I have to alter my environment, not create it. Air is a fluid, so I must..."
'Dedicated from day one.' I nod my head, acknowledging that he at least knows how to put in the effort. It seems he's been working on his body; it gives me some joy to see that we share the same affinity.
Without a doubt, he has worked hard, and the results in just one month are proof of his talent.
'He's a manipulator!' I shake my head, closing my eyes and letting those thoughts drift away with the wind.
I must not let myself be beguiled by someone like that; my duty is to find a way out of this future to achieve my goal. Anastasia Hoshin won't sit idly by when she sees we're creating a monopoly, along with the alliance we'll form with one of the candidates.
She will go all out, probably trying to create a recession by cutting off supplies from her merchant group. Her trade guild produces large quantities of glintstone crystals and light lagmites.
Steel is produced by the blacksmiths' guild in Lugunica, so we can only buy it for now, but the hope for its production continues for when he can adapt the production method.
We only produce iron while manufacturing large batches of weaponry. Recently, we've also been producing farming materials, fences, and other items on a large scale.
Cheap materials make people feel the need to buy and stock up, thinking it's a good opportunity.
'With the explanations I gave, he was able to adapt the ideas from his world to this one.' I press my lips together, realizing he's as much of a snake as Anastasia. I must be careful, or he'll trap me with his venom.
I slowly open my right eye, seeing a blurry silhouette quickly taking shape. With a smile, he stands close, looking at me.
"Ah!" I throw a punch directly at his face, but before I can hit him, he steps back. He stumbles slowly and looks at me with a surprised expression before falling to the ground.
"Is punching me the first thing you think of?" He starts laughing, while my heart pounds hard.
He keeps laughing, while I glare at him. I can't believe he approached like that; I couldn't even sense him. It's as if I had relaxed too much, and I can't allow that.
'Maybe it was just the fatigue from doing paperwork.'
"Do you know the penalty for harassing a duchess?" I ask, and he then looks away.
"I'm not from this world..." He scratches his cheek lightly before winking at me boldly. "Forgive me for today; it's my first day."
I sigh, wondering if he's really smart or just an idiot. 'Definitely a man.' I thought I would come to relax, and here I am, suffering with this guy in front of me.
He looks at me intently, then asks:
"Your divine blessing allows you to control the wind perfectly, right?" I nod immediately at his question, and he smiles from ear to ear.
"Fura!" Marco extends his arm and sends a gust of wind in a solitary direction, moving the grass and tree leaves. It doesn't seem very dangerous, but his control looks efficient. "How about you teach me wind magic, and I'll help you improve yours?"
A novice with a month of experience wanting to teach me magic.
"What can I learn from a novi...?"
As he begins to explain, I realize I have to swallow my words entirely. More and more, I admire the people from his world, without magical power, without many resources.
It took hundreds of years of collaboration and joint effort to get to where they are.
"Science is really amazing." I cross my arms, looking at the ball of wind in front of me. It feels heavy, and its temperature keeps rising as I try to make it smaller. "I can heat the air just by increasing the wind pressure... Although I still don't understand those particles you talk about."
If they know the laws of nature so well, then the achievements I saw make sense. That also means that if we can deeply understand how the laws of nature work here, we can achieve the same as in their world.
Marco smiles, looking me straight in the eyes.
"Well, I'll have to build a microscope to show you." He lies down on the grass, looking up at the sky and extending his hand. "A little over a month in this world..."
I still don't know anything about him, but it's not really my business. This won't lead anywhere; both he and I have different goals: He wants to escape fate to have a peaceful life, while my destiny is already sealed.
"Nya!" Felix shouts from the entrance of the gazebo, pointing at both of us. "What are Miss Crusch and Marco doing alone?"
Marco looks at Felix, smiling arrogantly.
"Courtship her, what else?" I look at Marco in surprise, but seeing his laugh and Felix's reaction, I sigh in defeat.
I definitely don't understand this man.
'He resembles you a bit, Fourier.'