Archon Otto retired to his opulent tent in the centre of the camp that night.
He had a worried frown on his face as he considered the various moves that the Whitecastle Army had made. They had demonstrated their skill by breaking through the Rici border defences, rapidly advancing through the Ancliow Forest at record speed.
In fact, had it not been for his cautiousness in assembling the army sooner than it was expected to be needed, Littlesberg might have fallen without any resistance.
Just then, the tent flap opened.
Legate Valery walked in, but this time without his signature gilded armour. Instead, he wore a loose-fitting tunic and belt.
His sheath, which usually housed an enchanted sword, was empty as no weapons were allowed in Otto's vicinity.
"Greetings, my liege." Legate Valery gave a deep bow, showing his respects he looked up, lamenting the effect of time on his old friend. Without his royal regalia, he looked like an old man, with greying hairs and wrinkles on his forehead. It was clear that, if things kept going this way, even the extended lifespan that magic bought him might be used up soon.
"Come on Valery, just call me Otto!" He was cheered up at the sight of his old friend, and walked over to his liquor cabinet.
Opening it, he took out a large bottle of fine wine.
"It isn't very cold, but since when was summer cold?" He jested while pouring it out into some wine glasses.
"My lieg- I mean, Otto, are you not worried about the upcoming battle?" Valery questioned.
Otto nodded his head. "I'm only telling you this because you're my friend, but I'm very afraid. However, if I don't show myself in the battle, I believe that this ragtag army of conscripts and Knights would disperse before the enemy even got to Littlesberg."
The Legate chuckled. "Isn't this what you appointed capable men as commanders for, my liege? Don't worry about the battle. If you make up an excuse to leave now, no one will see you as a coward."
However, Otto shook his head. "This is the nation that my father entrusted me to. I need to make sure that I am there to personally oversee us driving the enemy out of our lands."
"Come, let's talk no more about this subject. This wine was brewed by special mages from Duke Valence's household; you'll enjoy it very much, I expect"
Seeing that his liege wanted to change the subject Valery played along and took a sip. "Indeed, my liege! Its sweetness and bitterness form the perfect balance; it is pleasing to the tongue yet lighthearted and mellow!"
Otto smiled. How he wished to go back to the good old days, when the nation was stable and its enemies kept at bay.
Unfortunately, after his father died, he inherited a divided state in which the nobles, magicians, and the military all vied for power.
On top of that, he lacked much legitimacy as an Archon, as they were traditionally just territorial governors appointed by the Marlonian Empire and therefore had no strong claim to the land itself, except by right of conquest.
Right now, Legate Valery was the only man he could truly share his burden with; as a stalwart supporter and childhood friend, they deeply trusted each other.
'My friend, if only tomorrow could be as lighthearted.' He thought with a sigh.
...
Alexius was up at night in the damp tent.
"Ugh... why don't you go to bed?" Anthony groggily asked as the candlelight flickered.
"I'm busy."
"..."
Anthony was obviously unsatisfied with Alexius' answer, but didn't care enough to get up from the warm bed to prod further.
'Phew. I wish I could be as carefree as him.' Alexius wished, seeing his friend lay back down.
Even in an unfamiliar situation, he didn't see fit to suspend his work, as he knew that he needed the results as soon as possible.
'Hmm... the percussion cap should be here so that the flint can ignite it...' He put the finishing touches onto the design, before finally heaving a sigh of relief.
'All done!' Designing the musket hadn't actually taken very long, as he had already designed the flintlock pistol, which worked on similar principles.
However, he had to tailor specifications to this world, taking into consideration the cost of materials and the labour costs to make it easier to produce.
After all, the ten gold coins a month that he received from his adopted father, Rowan, back home was enough to cover the costs of three pistols.
A smoothbore flintlock musket was expected to cosr up to six or seven gold crowns each, and with his limited budget, he could only try to cut costs as much as possible.
However, with him not being an engineer, he had to rack his brains to come up with all sorts of feasible methods.
Lamenting the limited industry on this world, he continued to calculate.
'Jacob can create the black powder and ball projectiles needed to shoot with magic; the only limiting factor is the quantity of saltpeter, so it costs around 2 gold coins per 100 shots.'
'So if I wanted to create a solid armed force, it would cost around... fuck! Over 700 gold crowns, do I have to rob a bank?'
He stopped, remembering that there were no banks. Then, his brain suddenly made a leap.
'Wait... that's it! Bank... money... create a business! I need a source of income, and what better way to do that than a business?'
His face lit up as the candlelight flickered, casting shadows on his face, making his red eyes gleam ominously.
'Hah... maybe I can make simple household products... yes, yes... hah, how about an air conditioner? Maybe a lamp? A fan? A fridge? A c-'
Completely forgetting that he didn't know how to make half of those, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the candlelight went out with a fizzle, plunging the tent into pitch darkness.
'Okay, maybe my scheming can wait till tomorrow.' He thought, noticing the protests of his aching body.
...
He woke up late in the morning the next day, with the sunlight shining in brightly through the flaps in the tent.
After freshening up for a bit, he was again ready to pick up where he left off last night. 'Okay... I need a product to sell. It should preferably have a decent profit margin, while being easy to manufacture with this world's standards. Ah, and of course, simple enough for me to design.'
'Hmm...' As he brainstormed, he didn't notice the entrance to the tent opening, with Anthony trooping through.
*Plop!*
He threw himself down onto his bed while panting.
Whirling around, Alexius saw his friend back from wherever he was, breathing heavily and with his heavy tunic soaked through with sweat.
"What the hell have you been doing to get so exhausted so early?" He inquired in curiosity.
Happily obliging, Anthony answered. "I was helping the soldiers assemble wooden pikes as defences- they were so cool!" His eyes gleamed as he described his experience. "One of them even gave me this!"
He paused, holding up a small toy like it was the holy grail, demonstrating it. The toy looked like a cube, but when squeezed, it would gradually change its colour, going from red to orange to yellow and onwards, mesmerizing the viewer.
"It's nice, right?" Anthony puffed his chest out in pride.
However, opposite to him, Alexius' mind was working at full throttle. 'Wait... it seems my perception of magic has been too narrow.'
'Everyone around me has emphasized the battle-effectiveness of magic, but they've never thought about how to innovate the civil aspects of magic very much. What if I combine modern inventions such as a lamp with magic? Would that, then, be a self-powering lamp?'
He looked towards the cube that inexplicably changed colour.
'This... now this is proof that magic can be applied to everyday objects, turning them into extraordinary things. If magic can be used to change an object's colour, surely it can also be used as an alternative power source or even a tool to advance industry on this planet?'
His mind ran wild with the possibilities, but he restrained himself as he knew the limits of his ability.
'No matter how much I theorize, I need actual experience with magic to figure out how it works and how to innovate on it with a modern mindset.'
He cursed once more, lamenting the constraints which were constantly being placed on him. If only he could grow up faster, maybe he would then be able to speed up his plans?
"Alexius?" Anthony, who was puzzled by his friend's reaction to the simple toy, questioned.
"Hmm... uh?" Alexius was startled from his thoughts before turning around. Quickly realizing the awkward situation he was in, he gave a cough before rising up.
"I'm going to go walk round the camp. I'll be back soon." He quickly changed the topic. After all, a breath of fresh air would do his some good. Raising his eyebrows, Anthony replied half heartedly. "Have fun, then. But don't go too far-"
He stopped, as Alexius was nowhere to be seen.
Shaking his head, he thought, 'That guy... he really does as he pleases!'
...
The sun was high up in the sky, but clouds were gathering rapidly, cooling the air and making it more comfortable.
Alexius glanced at the men in full armour who were on duty, who probably were thanking the heavens profusely for its mercy.
As the ground was covered in shadows from time to time, he noticed several mages flying about high in the sky. They were about 100 metres up in the sky, and were very hard to spot.
He could only tell that they were humans because of the weird motions the black dots made.
'Wait- what the hell? Since when could mages fly so high?'
Alexius had heard wondrous things about magic, and great feats accomplished with it. However, he took everything with a grain of salt since he had no way of verifying any tall tales.
Furthermore, since mages of tier 4 and above were rare, he never really found out about their capabilities. Now that he was with this massive army, it seemed like his views became broader by the day.
'It seems like this trip will be a real eye-opener for me!' His enthusiasm was reignited.
Just then, a mage descended, wearing bright red mage robes. He looked troubled as he came down to the ground, just out of sight of Alexius, who decided to investigate.
'I wonder where these mages stay? Come to think of it, I've only seen where normal troops stay, not the mages.' He looked around the empty rows of tents, whose inhabitants were probably off training.
Right now, the residential area was quite deserted, so Alexius decided to take the risk. 'After all, I'm just a small boy. The worst I could get is being scolded!'
Speeding up his footsteps, he ran in the direction which the mage had descended.
The camp, which was meant to hold over 20,000 soldiers, was very sizable, with lots of space in between to train and hold exercises. Alexius avoided those areas as much as he could, avoiding looking suspicious, and keeping close to the deserted tents.
Eventually, he reached an area where the tents grew more and more luxurious as he passed, with some even having gold silk!
'Oh shit! This is probably where all the officers and mages stay. I've gone too far this time!' No sooner had he realized that than a tough voice shouted,
"Hey! You there! What're you doing here?"
Whirling around, Alexius spotted a man of average height and greying hair, with wrinkles on his face. However, his voice sounded familiar, like he had just heard it but forgot where it came from.
The man was dressed simply, leading Alexius to believe that this was just a normal old man who helped around the camp, performing menial tasks like washing the dishes or cooking.
'It's fine, I can still escape. Let's see if this old man can catch up to a boisterous youngs-' Before he could even finish the sentence in his head, the old man was upon him, holding him in a chokehold, making him cough.
Alexius wasn't even given a chance to resist. He struggled to break free, but the seemingly frail looking man's muscles were as hard as steel. He had no chance!
'Wh- what? I couldn't even catch a glimpse of him! This is like Rowan's skill, but far more effective even at long ranges!' Did the camp have such terrifying mages apart from the leadership?
Hold up, leadership? Then... thinking back to yesterday, he had a realization. 'Is this the Archon? Crap- I fucked up!' "Wait... please! I mean no... harm!"
Upon hearing that, the old looking man released his grip a little, easing the discomfort. On closer inspection, he wasn't old, it was just that there were a lot of wrinkles and white hairs on his head that gave one an impression of aging. Compared to yesterday when he was giving a speech, now that he didn't have a crown and was close to Alexius, he looked much more like your friendly old uncle.
"Speak. I feel no magic from you, but, young man, you are in serious trouble." The wrinkles deepened as his frown intensified, not showing any mercy to the young boy in front of him.
'Guh! Is this the aura created by magic that everyone talked about?' A terrifying amount of pressure enveloped him, making him quake in his shoes, and would have made him piss his pants had he not taken control of his bladder through sheer will.
"Please... *Huk!* my liege... I was just curious, that's all!" He managed to spit out those words amidst fits of coughing.
Hearing this, the old man's eyebrows rose.
"Even in this situation, you are able to recognize me? You're an intelligent young man, aren't you?"