"With this, you won't have to draw anymore." In his office, Arthur put Lance's blueprints in a leather bag. "I'll send a negotiator to trade these with Zashrend people."
Lance watched Arthur's hand move over the bag. A glowing magic circle appeared on that thing, but disappeared a few seconds later.
"Sealing magic, huh?" The engineer commented. "You are very careful, apparently."
Arthur leaned back in his chair. "Only the negotiator can open it. These are precious items, Lance. I've to be careful. These things must not reach other parties or the government."
Lance smiled. "I'm glad you treat my work well."
"Is there anything you want to say to me?" The councilor drank from his glass. This time, he sipped tea instead of alcohol.
"It's about Olivia Tyrell." Lance's tone became more serious. "Why making her stay in your family? Is it to monitor Eve?"
Arthur tapped his fingers on the table. "I can only guess. The government banned homunculus, but they let me practice it, even though they found out about it from Olivia. Do you know why?"
"Moryet is the greatest magic family in this country. They create a lot of influential spells." Lance answered. "But the last few generations have birthed many children without magic affinity. No one knows why that is. And the current generation—Eve's cousins—don't have any talent for magic. You are the last hope as the supreme head of the Moryet family."
"My wife cannot bear children, and I don't want to touch other women. That's my principle as a man." Arthur was silent for a moment. "So, the homunculus is the sole means of preserving the Moryet family bloodline."
"The kingdom does not want the Moryet family's magic lineage to disappear. So, they let you make Eve? Is that right? But they need to monitor you. Therefore, they sent Olivia."
Arthur looked into Lance's eyes, then chuckled. "You can already conclude that without my explanation, right? You have high intelligence. Why are you still asking?"
Lance's smile widened. "I just wanted to make sure."
"I see." Arthur shrugged, going back to drinking his tea. "Now it's my turn to ask, you man."
Instead of continuing his words, the council member remained silent while looking at Lance again.
"Excuse me, sir?" Lance was confused because Arthur stayed silent for a long time. "What do you want to ask me?"
"You always say that you like your job." Eve's father got up, turned around to open the window curtain. "Tell me, Lance. Just because of that, you will do anything? Just ambition?"
Yes, ambition drives Lance to do all this. But there was another factor that triggered him to be like that.
"I was serious about the possibility of an unknown threat around us." The engineer hissed. "We have to be prepared for that."
This world is different from where Lance came from. In the age of space exploration, people have identified and conquered many threats.
Although not all. Lance still heard about colonies or spaceships being destroyed by alien attacks.
That happened in a sophisticated era with advanced weaponry. Meanwhile, Lance only introduced firearms to this world recently.
"You talk as if you've seen those unknown threats before." Arthur looked at his garden through the window. His gaze fell on a predatory flower that had trapped an insect.
Silence fell upon Lance this time, but it was short. "What if I told you I have seen those threats, albeit not in person, sir?"
Arthur turned his head to the engineer. "You mean you dreamed about them?"
"What if I come from another world?" Lance smiled. "And in my home world, I have seen many threats from outer space, even though only through moving images."
It would be difficult to explain the concept of the internet and electronic screens to Arthur. So, Lance uses language that is known by this world.
"Let's say what you said is true." Arthur shrugged. "Are powered armors…. You call them mechs, right? Can the mechs in your world overcome those threats?"
"Not always." Lance stood up. He was going to talk about this just for fun, but Arthur instead gave an unexpected, serious response. "That's why we're always innovating."
"Do you know about the theory of many worlds, young man?" Arthur returned to his desk. "People ridicule that idea. We know about the underground realm, but many are skeptical about other worlds."
"If I am not mistaken." Lance smiled again. "That's your own theory, right?"
"Well, I just made that theory from my daydreams. But I find it fascinating. Unfortunately, the professors rejected my theory because they thought it was absurd. Apart from that, they also felt that it was not related to magic, so it was not suitable for use as my final assignment." The council member explained. "So, I have to change the topic."
"That's so sad. I wish I could see research on that. Maybe we can open a portal to another world and interact with the living beings there." Lance remembered his life on earth. Even though he died due to overwork there, Lance still missed some things that he couldn't find in this world.
"You read my notes about that theory in my library here, right?" Arthur checked the sun outside. "I have to go. Next time, I will discuss it with you in more detail. The point is, moving an individual to another world requires a lot of energy. Maybe only God can do it."
"You want to say that my existence here is due to divine intervention?" A small chuckle escaped Lance's mouth. "Well, I would believe that if God himself told me."
Arthur laughed. "Maybe God has a big plan to put you here."
"But what we are discussing is just speculation." Lance said. "I don't want to delay your journey any longer. I'll take my leave, sir. Thank you for this interesting chat."
Although Lance was curious about how he ended in this world, that was no longer important to him. He already has big goals in this world.