The Mechanical Era

On the wooden desktop, clean of any item was held on top beforehand and was temporarily removed so that Kant could look at the detailed map of the city presented on the desktop. It featured every tiny detail that you can imagine. This particular map was very new, considering Kant had requested to do so, as he wanted it to feature the new buildings that have been added.

On the map, he can see the school building located in Middletown, as well as the factory which was much further away, near the outskirts of the place. There was also said to be a plan to build a textile factory near the area, funded by the OSAC group to take advantage of the cheap land there.

Now recently, people have been complaining to the city knight hall that the newly mechanized workshops have been producing more waste. Though thankfully, the existing city sewage system was able to handle the extra waste, it did present a problem. There were also complaints about the smog produced by the factories, which the locals claimed made an irritating smell.

Though they were a few problems, it got him thinking. If the current sewage system already has a problem in maintaining the current increase in waste from small workshops using the steam engine, how bad would it be when there are giant factories present, which might produce the same amount of waste a workshop would deliver?

Hence, that is why Kant decided to draw up an industrial zone, to separate where the people lived and where they worked. The first industrial zone would be located within the rural area where the first cement factory is present. This area would then be connected to an area called 'lower-east Middletown', where a sizable, yet economically struggling population lives.

The area had been struggling for quite some time, with an estimated population of 15,000 people. Kant wants to connect these potential workers to the industrial zone via public transport like steam trolleys, with wrought iron rails lined over. Once the sewage system has expanded to cover this area, and to handle more waste overall, it would begin to function.

To incentivize businesses to move there, he could give them sizable tax benefits, as well as restrictions on building factories in areas not considered to be industrial zones, to cripple the motivation to scale up to a factory.

Considering that there was already a factory present, with another on the way, it seemed to be perfect. He just had to make the zoning laws, expand the sewage system, and build a waste disposal facility to adequately remove waste, and he would be done.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Kant, after rolling up the map and placing it inside the drawer, allowed whoever was on the other side to enter. Arjun, followed by Silverstone, entered the room.

"Ah, Arjun. What brings you here?" Kant asks politely. Arjun did not look too pleased. He handed the letter over to Kant to read.

"You got some explaining to do," Arjun said. Silvester was holding his hands on his blade to his right, ready to draw it out. Kant took the letter and read it quietly. Though he may appear calm, he was shocked to his bone at the fact Rose possessed firearms.

After staring at the letter, reading it over and over again, he placed the letter down and looked at Arjun, who was visibly fuming.

"Hmm... I understand why you think that I could be collaborating with the opposing faction, but I guarantee you, I have nothing to do with it."

"I am not so sure about that, sire," Arjun replied.

"Well, what evidence do you have? It wouldn't be wise to convict someone of something they did not do," Kant asked.

"The inventions."

"Hmm? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean your inventions. Specifically Mercury Fulminate. I tried to find out how you managed to find out how you even came to such a conclusion. Yet, even after several days of trying, I just could not put my finger on it."

"Well..." Kant tried to lie, but he was interrupted by Arjun once again.

"Then there was that... Bessemer process. Do you honestly expect me to believe that someone like you, who never stepped inside a steel mill? NO! You... you obviously have some sort of outside help, and I know just who!

You got them from the south. They were the ones who fed you that information. Because there is no way in hell that some... teenage boy would be able to come up with such complicated devices!" Arjun ranted. Kant waited till he stopped.

"Alright then. Are you sure?" Kant asked.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "What?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Kant questioned.

"Yes. I do."

Kant was silent. His eyes tilted towards Silverster, and then back towards Arjun. He opened his drawer, grabbed a key chain with multiple keys, and stood up.

"Well, you are going to have to follow me," Kant requested. Arjun turned to Silvester, who nodded in approval. Kant took his black suit from the hang, put it out, and walked out of the room with Arjun and Silvester. They roamed among the hallways and made their way down the large palace and to the field.

"Where are we going, sire?" Silvester finally asks.

"To the storage shed, where I kept all my old stuff," Kant replied. Kant opened the door to the shed, and let the men enter first. The shed, being a little dark with no windows to allow light to enter, cast a spell to light the room.

As the light lit up, he saw many strange devices, metal or not. The room, which had been presumably left for a long time, was rather clean. Arjun turned back to Kant, who closed the door.

"I come here once in a while to clean this place. Sometimes clouds of dust collect all over the place, and I have to often use a mask to help me not cough," he said.

"But that does not matter. What you want to know, is the truth, am I right?"

"Yes. I feel like we already established that fact." Kant started to walk around the room as he explained what was happening.

"About 3 months ago, I was approached by Salvator Humat to cooperate with them to take power over the city when it was necessary. They believed that I could help uplift and help people to have better lives.

They claimed they believed that I was the perfect candidate for such. Although I accepted the deal, I did suspect something was going on in the background they were reluctant to tell me. It was a need-to-know basis.

However, I suspected that it had something to do with the war..."

"You knew?" Arjun and Silvester asked.

"Of course, I knew. I figured out your bluff thanks to the maid, and even found the sides of the conflict. Regardless, I think it has something to do with the south. Instate me as a sort of puppet. Ain't I right, Silvester?"

"Yes. That is correct," he replied. Arjun turned to face Silvester, shocked and afraid. He just realized he found himself outnumbered by Salvator Humat collaborators.

"Silvester! How could you?"

"I am sorry sir, but that is true."

"But... aren't you someone who wields magic? How could you possibly support them!?!" Arjun said. He felt as if he had been betrayed, stabbed in the back by some loyal companion. Silvester, hearing his question, answered.

"We don't really care whether you have magic or not. What we really care about are ours is and we want leaders that respect us again as human beings and start taking their jobs seriously.

My good friends and family all died thanks to their incompetence and uninterest. They blamed their failure on us. They blamed the plague on us, that we were some kind of vermin that is being eradicated from the realm for not being believers. It was why I joined them in the first place." he said rather calmly.

"Speaking of which, considering that his highness has... disappeared, we will be moving on to the next part of the plan," Silvester said.

"What plan?" Arjun asked.

"It involves the agreement to make a peace deal. Where the war will end and..." Silverstone looks at Kant.

"...Were we will be making Prince Kant into the next King." Silvester tells Arjun.

"That is ABSURD! HIM?" Arjun asks while pointing his finger at Kant.

"HE BETRAYED HIS OWN FAMILY! DO YOU EXPECT HIM TO BE A LOYAL LEADER TO YOU? TO ANYONE?" Kant slowly walks away from the two, and behind a wall.

"Yes. I do. Unlike Danial, he tries to help us. He is trying to make us prosper through his own ways. Although he may not have magic, it won't matter in the future.

I am giving you a choice. You can either stay faithful to a captured king and risk being executed, or you can join ours and live the rest of your life as a good minister. So what do you say." Arjun stayed quiet.

Kant came walking forward to his original position, with his hands behind his back.

"I think it would be best if you accept it, Arjun. For your sake, at least. Maybe shake on it." Kant suggested in his deep, monotone voice. Arjun lifts his right hand, looks at it, and reaches it out to Silvester while looking him in the face, smiling.

Silvester smiled back and grabbed his hand. Mana soon flowed through Arjun's arms, giving him more strength. He immediately tries to crush Silverstone's hand while using his free hand to take his sword.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

The light spell goes out immediately. The gunshots enter Arjun's head, causing his mana to evaporate. He loosens his grip and falls down to the floor on his left side. Silvester casts a light spell, immediately allowing him to view the minister's body. Blood was pouring out of his head, covering his entire face.

Silvester becomes distraught at the sight and breaks away from his unamused face to one of shock and discomfort at what he just saw and heard. He turned his head to face Kant.

"Wha..." his mouth shuts as he sees Kant. He was holding a percussion cap black powder revolver, similar to an 1860 Colt army Revolver, in his right hand. The same one Silverstone had helped to make. Yet, he becomes even more distraught by him. Kant's face portrayed no emotion, just a glare at Arjun's body. Kant then sighed and turned to Silverstone.

"Is your hand alright?"