Book 2 Chapter 14: The Duke's Visit

Sam

April 1, 1787, Realm Time/July 2, Earth Time, Palermo, Sicily

Knocking on the door first to announce his arrival, Sam entered the conference room, followed by the French attaché. The space was small, but exquisite. The windows, opened to let in the breeze, gave onto the sea, which was a pleasant change. There were plates with treats and coffee everywhere on the low table. Tristan, Caterina, Eliza, Pops, Mario, and Dorian were there—in the order they were sitting around the central table, clockwise. Tristan was sulking, while Eliza was exulting, grinning with a wide smile, for whatever reason.

"Howdy!" Pops blurted, very loudly.

"Hey, Pops," Sam said. "This is Knight de Saint-Georges. Lafayette's envoy to the Protectorates."

"Your humble servant," Saint-Georges said. "It is my privilege to meet such heroes and beautiful ladies."

While the French kissed Caterina's and Eliza's hands, Sam offered handshakes, making the tour of the room.

"We have to keep it brief; I have to meet the US ambassador in an hour," Sam said, letting himself fall on a puff and taking a cookie and a cup of coffee, sipping from it with a deep sigh of satisfaction. Meanwhile, the French knight went to the window to gaze at the sea, looking engrossed in the view.

"Of course, your time is precious, Your Highness," Eliza said, sighing, fluttering her eyelashes, and putting her right hand over her heart.

"Don't go there," Sam warned.

"I hear and obey, Your Most Gracious Excellency. I only wished to express my dutiful respect."

Sam growled.

"Don't mock Samuel; it's uncouth," Tristan snapped. "His position is well deserved. If you don't have anything intelligent to say, let the ones who have do the speaking."

"Kids! How fast they grow," Eliza said. "Yesterday, he was picking his nose, groveling before me, and just look at him now."

Ignoring Eliza, Tristan gestured toward the Italian woman. "Donna Caterina has good news." There was reverence in his voice and gesture, and Sam knew on the spot he was smitten with the her. The woman reciprocated, though there were no signs of intimacy. No direct exchange of looks or smiles.

Yet. It won't take long...

"All the news I have is about the portal. Our prime minister will receive you in the evening," the young woman said. "Officially, you'll be granted a lease on the land, and you can build any facility you deem fit. The fee is one billion euros per year."

"Ugh... That's steep," Sam grimaced. That was a quarter of the Slovakian Protectorate's and a tenth of all Protectorates' Gross Domestic Product, and that was after the Outworlders had invested heavily in their development.

"Unofficially, they'll skip it if you allow them to send a team of scientists. The results and profits will be shared."

"That sounds like a good bargain," Sam said. "What's the catch?"

"Europe is way behind China and the US in tech. Italy is even worse. They'd like to test magically enhanced advanced materials and AIs."

"We might have a problem here," Sam grimaced. "Magical AIs could take over the world. Have you never heard about System apocalypses?"

"What if we stuck with advanced materials?"

Sam nodded. "That we can do. We lack scientists. Can you vet them personally?"

"Yes. And I want to be one of them," Caterina said. "My field is Systems Engineering. I make things run efficiently."

"Caterina is a Ph.D," Tristan emphasized, smiling with adoring eyes, like a puppy, which made Eliza mimic a gagging gesture.

"Great. You're welcome."

"I also would like to be tested for the awakening shot. If I test positive, I would like to take the shot here."

"You hope to level up faster?"

The woman pursed her lips. "Don't get me wrong, your idea is fantastic, but... a one percent success rate is less ideal. Your scientists, Eliza told me, couldn't figure out why. I—"

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from NovelPhoenix. Please report it.

"You figured it out?"

"I hope so. I have a theory... Pops came up with it, to be honest."

"Magic reacted only to the Chosen Ones," Pops said, taking a heroic posture, with his biceps flexed. "The Heroes."

"Or villains," Eliza said.

"The awakening shot is too strong," Caterina said. "It's designed for fast leveling and OP users with a certain... err... adventuring mindset."

"Because Magic pushes boundaries, doing the impossible possible. We're talking Quantum," Sam pointed out.

"Yes, but taking the shot on Earth could temper the nanites and allow more people access to the System. I'd like to try it. If you trust me, of course."

"I see no problems with your plan," Sam said, looking at Caterina. "Anything else?"

"I'm thinking about a comeback. The Swan Lake remake, with me in the Black Swan role, and I win. Tada..." Eliza said.

Sam sighed. Eliza was obviously in one of her typical mischievous moods that day. From the hateful stares Tristan was throwing at her, he could tell she had picked on him repeatedly before he arrived.

"Pippo, Caterina's cousin, went missing. He either had fake papers done by somebody other than me, or that Space Mage got rid of him," Mario said.

"Or they went into hiding together," Caterina said.

"That's also a possibility," Mario said. "I asked some people to keep their eyes open and end the matter if he reemerges."

"He means they'll kill him," Dorian said.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Eliza laughed.

"Sorry, teacher habits. Explaining is in my nature."

"We caught those sisters, Dragon and Zappy," Caterina said. "They went to the police, but since Mario has contacts there, they were taken into custody."

"And they stayed in custody?" Sam asked, furrowing his brow. "I've read their files. They're strong."

"Not on Earth," Eliza said. "I couldn't figure out why."

"Horrible builds, with low Arcane Power," Tristan said. "Bad teachers. They joined the rebels to be reunited. Those idiots in the Council split them. Dragon was sent on the DPS team, and Zappy in the Magic one."

"I know. I read their files. They accompanied their parents, who were in the army and died in the Second Outworlder War," Sam said. "They're sa same age as Cedric. He asked Zappy out, by the way, and she laughed at him. On the other hand, Dragon fancied him but didn't say anything because her sister would have mocked her."

"There's teenage drama in the files?" Eliza laughed.

"You can't imagine."

"Personal intel is most useful," Mario said. "Helps push the right buttons."

"The point is they are kids who grew up alone on an alien planet," Caterina said. "They deserve a second chance. I'm thinking about putting tracking bracelets on them and sending them home."

"Home where?" Eliza asked.

"Sweden. Their grandparents are still alive. I will threaten to send Tristan after them if they don't behave. They're terrified of him."

"Tristan?" Eliza scoffed. "You should have picked me. I can beat him with my eyes closed."

"You cheated!" Tristan yelled.

"What happened?" Sam sighed, knowing it would be impossible to go further without addressing that matter first.

"We had a spar, and she attacked before the signal. Everyone knows it's three, two, one, go. She stabbed me on ONE," Tristan complained. "And Mario, who was the arbiter, sided with her."

"All is fair in love and war," Mario said.

"From now on, all spars or duels will begin on Hajime," Sam declared. "Let's move on. How did the other governments react to the news that the portal's back?"

"Mixed reactions," Caterina said. "Finding out that more aliens were involved cooled their heads. Hundreds of soldiers died in the two wars and thousands of people were stranded. Modern societies are risk-averse now. They're testing Mana for new tech, like Warp drives, and would like to invest in your enchanting tech. The US ambassador said that as long as the portal is under a NATO country's umbrella, it's fine."

"Great. Anything else?"

"We asked the Turks if they wanted to help you with the situation in Crimea, and they offered a team of special forces and two surveillance drones."

"Not much..."

"They're more interested in the local politics than the seventeen hundredths of a foreign Realm. A few other countries were just notified, and they will trade tech and other things."

"It's still something," Sam said.

"I bought an ASML lithography machine," Mario said. "It will arrive in a few days, along with a crew. We used back channels and a bit of monetary persuasion. CNCs are common enough to be bought on the open market."

"Get as many as you can. Maybe we can expand enchanting to be commercially viable."

"Is it not viable yet?" Caterina asked.

"Let me put it this way: Enchanting a pot to magically boil water by hand costs about a hundred thousand dollars. Making it with our only CNC, five thousand. It's cheaper to boil water over a fire. If we get the costs down to a few hundred, a reasonably wealthy family might consider it."

"I see," Caterina said.

"So, no real problems at all?" Sam asked.

Caterina pursed her lips. "The Chinese propose a joint venture. I'm pretty sure they intend to open new portals themselves. The Japanese offered the same. The South Koreans want to send a crew to make a series with Dorian in the lead role. A fallen star's comeback, they call it. I'd advise refusing the first two, and going for the latter. Their offer is the best."

"Revealing magic to the broader public is not a good idea," Sam said.

"They'll say it's fiction. The money is good, no strings attached," Caterina insisted. "The plan is to test if using real magic can cut the costs and open a studio there."

"Like Bollywood?" Eliza asked.

"That's Indian," Dorian said. "Koreans—"

"We'll see," Sam said. "Anyway... Good job, Caterina. Keep it up."

"Thank you. I will try my best not to disappoint," the woman said.

"I have a question. How did you convince the Juggernaut to switch sides?" Eliza asked.

"Err... I don't think this is the time for stories."

"Sam won a duel against him," Pops said.

"You beat the Juggernaut? How?" Eliza asked.

Taking a second to think it through, Sam decided to keep his time-related abilities a secret for the time being. Not everyone in the room was a known factor. "I hit him with my enhanced Warp Dash and sent its energy inside his body. He vomited all over the place."

"Note to self: Don't get on Sam's bad side," Eliza said.

You managed to get on my bad side countless times when we were married...

The sudden blue mood he felt reminded Sam of the news he had to deliver.