—
Looking at the two magical contraptions, Meve asked, "So what does it do?"
"These are steam paddlers for transportation on the waterways. Powered by fire and water runestones, they can move on their own without the need for sails or oars. And this here is a rail wagonway—basically a railway system that helps horses carry heavy goods more easily."
"But because I don't want to overwork the poor horses, I made something akin to the horse itself, which never tires and can run all day without stopping. This here, I call a steam locomotive—a horse made of metal."
"However, there are concerns about Dimeritium, the large amount of Power needed to run it, and the big printing runes required to enchant these two creations. Some modifications are still needed, which I haven't figured out yet. So I plan to return to the magic academy to find these solutions."
Nodding to herself, finally seeing her son's first creations outside government-related topics, Meve smiled, noticing Gustave's eyes light up as he explained them—she could see how fond he was of these inventions. But she also knew that, because not many craftsmen possessed knowledge of Rune Magic, producing these creations quickly and cheaply would be unrealistic.
"Yet, son, you seem to have forgotten—at a production level, only you can make this. Many people who might want to invest in our kingdoms won't be able to do so if they are presented with the design. Even if they could, it wouldn't be cost-effective compared to using normal boats and wagons."
Chuckling as he looked at his mother, Gustave exclaimed, "Mother, who said I want to help the guest councils make this thing here?"
"You mean?"
"Yes, Mother. Even though I will show them in detail how to make it, it doesn't mean I want them to freely copy it without working very hard first if they want to build the same things."
Pausing, he continued, "As I said back then, Mother, we need time to make our Twin Realms into a stable country first. And because this thing here can only be made by our kingdoms, they have no choice but to use our services to reduce the cost of transporting goods if they want more coins in their coffers."
Nodding to herself, Meve said, "But you understand clearly, right? This won't make them fully invest in this endeavor, because we're the only ones who can make it, correct?"
"I know. That's why it's not only this creation that will become a staple of our income, but many things, Mother. Remember what I said about the ten points for creating prosperous kingdoms?"
"Yes, I remember. First, eliminate crime, which is still ongoing. Second, eradicate corruption, which has already been largely wiped clean. Third, build core infrastructure, something I am currently working on with Shaelmaar and the Trolls to make the job easier. Fourth, invest in education and human capital, which is already finished and just awaiting the return on investment."
"Fifth, monetize strategic resources, which is currently impossible because our land is flooded and unable to grow crops. Sixth, attract foreign capital, which is already in progress from the southern kingdoms. Seventh, form smart international alliances, helped by Calanthe, to prevent our Twin Realms from being torn apart and to keep us secure."
"Eighth, invest in innovations, which I completely trust you, my son, to handle. Ninth, build a global cultural brand, which I still can't fully define but comes naturally thanks to Dandelion's advice. And finally, master wealth distribution, which we—the House of Raven—already coordinate to support our immediate and distant relatives."
Nodding to himself, recognizing that these were the same combinations of aspects that made countries great back on Earth, he then pointed out the areas his mother needed to focus on so they would not rely solely on the transportation industry.
"Exactly, Mother. After I help you eliminate bandits from our Twin Realms with other inventions I want to show you, Lyria and Rivia can focus on areas like monetizing strategic resources. We just need to begin our relations with the Naiads to help us grow crops underwater, since we have so many empty rivers now."
Knowing from the Cintra reports about the Great Sea civilizations—where many sea nymphs live on the ocean floor, forming tribes like those of the Far North, cultivating their own crops and food, and, in the deeper regions of the sea, establishing their own territories and kingdoms just like on land—Meve gestured for her son to continue.
"Not only that, Mother. Aside from monetizing the waterways now present in Lyria and Rivia, we can also invest more in a cultural brand. Even if you don't fully understand it yet, it is crucial for reshaping our image as a so-called cursed country."
"Because what we want, Mother, is not only nobles but also common folk to visit and stay in our Twin Realms. There are many reasons I do not want only nobles, scholars, merchants, and artists. On a fundamental level, manpower itself is crucial to making kingdoms rich."
"So I suggest you focus on inviting craftsmen to build all kinds of musical instruments that I have already discussed with Dandelion, and let our artists do the rest to build the image of a tourism-driven orchestral kingdom—an orchestral kingdom where, day and night, there is always pleasant music in the streets, forming a cultural brand unique from the rest."
Remembering the night when he had improvised a performance and seen Syanna and Gascon in the distance with their respective gangs, unable to meet them because he was too focused on playing, Gustave continued.
"Not only that, Mother. To address the first point of making the kingdom great by reducing crime, the initial step we can take is to treat the dwarves and non-humans in the Rivia and Lyria ghettos with decency. I know this is difficult, but think about it. They can become our eyes and ears for spotting troublemakers, sometimes for nothing more than a single loaf of bread."
"Or better yet, give that part of the city to Syanna and Gascon, who have helped you from time to time, to minimize banditry. I know, I know this sounds ridiculous, but trust me, Mother. Crime is better controlled and guided than completely eradicated, only to resurface later in places we are unfamiliar with."
Seeing his mother still frowning, angry that injustice was not being erased outright but merely controlled, Gustave reassured her.
"If you are still unconvinced, I will write a book about criminology later so you can study at length what I mean, Mother. So don't worry. Just let Syanna and Gascon control the underworld businesses and society. I trust they can keep it at a manageable level."
Thinking about crime, Gustave could not help but recall Caldwell's son and his rebellions. If he could throw White Frost in that pig bastard's face, just like that albino baldy, he would have done so without hesitation.
But because he already lived within a fixed destiny, unlike the countless futures and pasts tied to his Elder Blood that he could manipulate before a universe was even born, his hands were tied now.
Everything connected to physical reality was far harder to change once it had already manifested, and in this case, that reality had solidified into a new universe whose timeline had already begun.
That was why, unlike O'Dimm, Gustave could not do the same to Caldwell's son and his rebellions, such as influencing the White Frost catastrophe before a universe was born and subtly guiding its trajectory until it exploded within the devil's domain through a gentle push of Quantiscience information at the right moment.
He could not manipulate events in the same way, because the wave function had already collapsed into a fixed outcome.
Although he could manipulate the futures and pasts of those not yet born so they would not suffer as he had, Gustave knew this would not change anything within the destiny he currently lived in, except through indirect influences, such as the spirits of the dead he nudged into acting upon that fate.
If there were no magic in this world, along with the spirits of the dead, Gustave knew he would likely have been slowly suffocated by the manipulations of gods and demons.
But thanks to the presence of magic, which made the Copenhagen Interpretation far more ambiguous in the face of the locality paradox Einstein described in 1935, reality instead resembled something closer to the Many-Worlds Interpretation, held together by quantum gravity to house and reconcile these paradoxes within the local physical world.
Or, in his simplified understanding drawn from his Elder Blood observations, the universe both had not yet been born and yet became reality in an instant because of entanglement. In this state, it was capable of containing the paradoxes of the Many-Worlds Interpretation, which he could then manipulate within the limits of his own knowledge of quantum mechanics.
Thus, paradoxical metaphysical creations could emerge seemingly out of thin air with a mere wave of someone's hand, and because of that, Gustave was still able to slip his way through with his magic, forcing even gods and demons to bow despite their higher existence.
After contemplating for a bit, Gustave refocused his attention on his mother. "Speaking of crime, Mother. And considering that these transportation networks need protection, I want to build many weapons. The real reason I came to you is because these inventions require the utmost secrecy, so our Twin Realms can hold an edge over the others."
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