Chapter 128: The Challenge
King Edward remained standing by the tall windows overlooking the capital.
From this height, Helmarte appeared endless.
Government ministries lined the avenues leading away from the palace. Smoke rose lazily from factory chimneys in the industrial quarter, church spires pierced the skyline, and countless rooftops stretched toward the distant river. As evening slowly approached, servants and lamplighters had already begun preparing the city’s oil lamps.
Within another hour, thousands of flames would illuminate the capital.
Thousands of candles.
Thousands of oil lamps.
Thousands of men whose entire profession existed simply to keep those lights burning.
The king watched them quietly.
Seven hundred million riels.
The number echoed in his thoughts.
It was not impossible.
The royal treasury possessed enormous reserves, and the kingdom’s tax revenues continued to grow each year thanks to expanding commerce and industry.
But spending seven hundred million riels on a technology that only one estate currently possessed...
That was another matter entirely.
Eventually, he spoke without turning around.
"Lord Ashford."
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"If this proposal reached the Royal Council tomorrow, what would happen?"
The Prime Minister did not even need to think.
"They would reject it."
King Edward nodded slowly.
"I agree."
Lord Ashford folded his hands behind his back.
"They would not reject electricity itself."
"No."
"They would reject the scale."
The king finally turned around.
"Exactly."
He looked toward Ernest.
"You must understand something, Baron Teucher."
"I do, Your Majesty."
King Edward walked back toward the conference table before sitting down once more.
"A king does not spend seven hundred million riels because something is fascinating."
"I wouldn’t expect you to."
"I spend seven hundred million because I am convinced it will strengthen the kingdom."
Ernest nodded.
"That is precisely how it should be."
The king smiled faintly.
"I had hoped you would say that."
Lord Ashford leaned forward.
"Every minister in the treasury would ask the same question."
He picked up one of Ernest’s cost estimates.
"’What proof do we possess that this investment will succeed?’"
He placed the paper back down.
"And today..."
He looked directly at Ernest.
"...I have no satisfactory answer for them."
The room fell quiet.
Not because anyone disagreed.
Because everyone understood the problem.
Engineering and finance obeyed different rules.
An engineer accepted calculated risk.
A government responsible for millions of people could not.
King Edward rested both hands on the table.
"You’ve accomplished something remarkable already."
He gestured toward Ernest.
"Soap."
Another gesture.
"Steam engines."
"The telegraph."
"And now electric lighting."
His expression remained thoughtful rather than excited.
"Every invention you’ve presented has worked."
He paused.
"But each of those projects began on a manageable scale."
Ernest remained silent.
The king continued.
"You built one workshop."
"You demonstrated one telegraph."
"You illuminated one estate."
He spread both hands across the map of Belfast.
"What you’re asking now is different."
Lord Ashford nodded.
"It is no longer an invention."
"It is national infrastructure."
"Exactly."
King Edward looked toward Ernest once more.
"I have complete confidence in your ability."
Then he added quietly,
"I am not yet convinced the kingdom is ready."
Those words carried no hostility.
Only caution.
Frankly...
Ernest agreed with them.
If he had been sitting on the throne, he would have reached exactly the same conclusion.
Seven hundred million riels represented decades of planning.
Not an impulse.
He folded the city map before speaking.
"Then perhaps we’re discussing the wrong first step."
Both the king and the Prime Minister looked up.
"What do you mean?" Lord Ashford asked.
Ernest walked back toward the blackboard and erased part of the city diagram until only one building remained.
He wrote a single word beneath it.
Oriel.
"The palace proposal assumes we immediately move from one electrified estate to an entire capital."
He shook his head.
"That is too large a leap."
King Edward leaned forward with renewed interest.
"What would you suggest instead?"
"A demonstration."
The king smiled and prompted him to continue.
"Go on."
"I intend to light up the entire gated community of Oriel. The three districts. I will light up every street with my electric lights and when it is finished, I want you to be there to see for yourself just how bright and amazing my technology truly is."
The king remained silent, allowing Ernest to continue.
"The estate is already becoming the testing ground for most of my inventions. It has the first central heating system in the kingdom, the first indoor plumbing system supplied by a water tower, and now it will become the first community illuminated entirely by electricity. Every house in Oriel will be connected to the same generating station. Every street will be lit. Every pathway, every public square, and every major building will become part of a complete electrical network."
Lord Ashford slowly leaned back.
"So rather than demonstrating a single building..."
"I’m demonstrating an entire community."
"Exactly."
Ernest walked back toward the map spread across the table and pointed toward Oriel.
"A palace proves that electricity can light rooms. An estate proves that electricity can power neighborhoods."
King Edward nodded thoughtfully.
"And if Oriel operates successfully?"
"Then we’ve answered the first question every minister will ask."
He looked directly at the king.
"Can it actually be done?"
The room became quiet again.
After several moments, Lord Ashford smiled.
"I’ll admit it, Baron. That’s a considerably stronger argument."
Ernest continued.
"The demonstration shouldn’t last a single evening either."
Both men looked at him.
"I want the system to operate continuously."
"For how long?" the king asked.
"A month."
Lord Ashford raised an eyebrow.
"A full month?"
"Yes."
Ernest folded his arms.
"Machines often perform beautifully for an hour. The true test is whether they continue performing after days of operation, after rain, after maintenance, and after ordinary people begin relying on them."
King Edward slowly smiled.
"You engineers certainly enjoy making your own lives difficult."
"We call it reliability."
That earned a quiet laugh from both the king and the Prime Minister.
Ernest smiled faintly before continuing.
"During that month, I invite Your Majesty to visit whenever you wish. Come during the afternoon. Come after sunset. Come during rain if the weather permits. Walk the streets yourself. Speak with the residents. Ask whether the lights fail. Ask whether the generators stop. Don’t rely on my reports."
Lord Ashford looked genuinely impressed.
"You want us to inspect it ourselves."
"I insist on it."
The king rested both elbows on the table.
"And if, after that month, the system performs exactly as you’ve promised?"
Ernest answered without hesitation.
"Then we stop discussing whether electricity works."
He paused for a moment before finishing.
"We begin discussing where to build the kingdom’s second power station."
King Edward stood and extended his hand once more.
"Very well, Baron Teucher."
"I shall wait."
"When Oriel shines, send word to the palace."
"I’ll come myself."
"I intend to."
Ernest accepted the king’s hand with a respectful nod.
"You have my word, Your Majesty."
As the meeting came to an end, servants opened the great doors of the royal office. Ernest gathered his drawings while Lord Ashford carefully rolled up the cost estimates that had nearly frightened the treasury before a single coin had even been spent.
Outside, evening had finally settled over Helmarte. One after another, the palace lanterns came alive as lamplighters moved through the courtyards carrying long poles tipped with small flames.
It was a familiar sight.
A beautiful sight.
But Ernest knew it would not remain the future forever.