Mage? Magic Engineer!

Feuerbach didn’t refuse Rorschach’s invitation. In fact, he gave the idea serious consideration.

It was perhaps the simplest business pitch ever. There were no presentation slides, only Rorschach’s words, but Elizabeth listened with rapt attention. In the days since she’d traveled south from Wertzburg, she had already heard of the young man’s wealth-creation miracles.

Rorschach himself didn’t care for money or the figures on a ledger; the wealth he created was always tangible productive force. Moreover, he never hoarded it all for himself. He always operated on the principle that if there was money to be made, everyone should get a piece. Even if the Royal Family wanted to invest, he would welcome them with open arms.

He was practically the Old Empire’s god of wealth.

Others might not have understood, but to Rorschach, everything was in preparation for the magic-driven upgrade of industry. He supported whatever was beneficial to this goal, and anything detrimental would be dealt with sooner or later.

For example, Bayern now had three established electoral districts, and each was filled with a motley crew of characters. In Wertzburg, you could find both the most conservative and the most progressive elements. Munich and Newren were also "battlegrounds" of tense labor-capital relations. But in any case, even if they were an ideological kaleidoscope, it was far better than being subservient to a small clique of outdated, rent-seeking parasites.

To put it bluntly, when the Nobility wanted money, they sought elegance, pleasure, and the honor and superior status that came with it. Merchants, at least at this stage, still practiced an almost ascetic-like frugality. Although they might imitate the Nobility’s refined tastes, everything they did was fundamentally about making money beget more money and making machines build more machines.

As for the laborers, they had to bid farewell to the layered system of personal servitude. The price was signing a seemingly equal contract. Their labor was just as arduous, but there was one subtle difference:

A Lord or slave owner had to care for the population under their control; in a macroeconomic sense, they were responsible for the lives, health, and deaths of their dependents. An employer, however, did not. They only needed to dismiss the ones who "broke down" and post a new recruitment notice, waiting for replacement parts to walk through the door. Entrepreneurs focused on the price of labor, not the people represented by the numbers.

As Guilds in every trade collapsed and workshops were reorganized into companies, the traditional master-apprentice relationship was completely replaced by that of employer and employee.

After a long and bitter struggle against Bayern’s artisan industries, Rorschach had finally brought about these "cruel" transformations. The establishment of the Senate was the final push, signifying that those who lived, profited, or struggled under the new system had finally gained representation in the "Kingdom" of Bayern.

As for the issue of Magic Power suppliers, Rorschach wanted to prioritize speed of construction. Just like with the telegraph system, if the goal was to spread Collectors across the continent, having the entire Magic Guild assist was naturally the fastest option. Insisting on a single party’s investment to keep all the project’s profits among his own people was inferior to bringing more collaborators into the fold and making them his own.

Meanwhile, Rorschach and the Special Zone, as the origin point of the Magic Power supply system, should act as the setters of standards. They would control the future energy giants through "invisible capital"—their accumulated technical experience, intellectual property rights, and so on. This, combined with their currently unique engineering programs and the most open education in magical knowledge, meant they would possess the richest pool of talent for the future.

Of course, they also needed a big enough fist to ensure "invisible" didn’t mean "non-existent."

The meeting of the three mages was drawing to a close. Rorschach laid out his final proposal. "So, the next step is to transform production in Munich, Wertzburg... in all of Bayern. We need to push it to catch up with the Empire and surpass Marlin. Otherwise, even if the Imperial Capital compromises on Bayern’s autonomy for now, a future power imbalance will only turn Bayern into a complete vassal of the Empire."

’But don’t you want Bayern to integrate into the Empire?’ Elizabeth was a little confused. ’This kid was the one pushing hardest for electoral reform and rejoining the Empire’s trade system. Now that he’s achieved his goal, he’s suddenly emphasizing autonomy?’

Rorschach replied with a smile, "Integrating doesn’t mean kowtowing to the Imperial Capital. Right now, the Core Area of the former Marlin Kingdom is the strongest and most populous region in the Empire. But if Bayern surpasses it, it would be in keeping with Imperial precedent for the Empire to, in turn, center itself around Bayern." ’Better to be a chicken’s head than a phoenix’s tail,’ he thought. ’Unless... you can replace the phoenix’s head.’

A properly tuned... and tested Bayern had that potential.

They had been speaking in broad strokes for a long time. Feuerbach wanted to move on to hammering out the project details, but Rorschach, who got a headache just thinking about such matters, made his excuses, claiming he had other important business to attend to.

"Trying to run?" The chief of the Tower of Secret Techniques gave a cold snort and rose from behind his desk. By then, Rorschach had already flashed to the doorway. Feuerbach cast a [Space Anchor], but he had miscalculated. The rascal was well aware of his own strengths and weaknesses; he had no intention of teleporting out. Instead, his body began to turn ethereal, planning to phase right through the door.

The "hospitable host" hastily threw up a barrier to "persuade his guest to stay." He was confident that his barrier, combined with the wards on the door, would surely convince his guest to reconsider. Unfortunately, Rorschach didn’t pause for a second. Though his body was still ethereal, he reached out and flicked his fingers twice. The two magical obstacles shattered without a sound, and even the antique marble door slab was caught in the fallout.

But the Master was no pushover. He prepared and aimed his [Reversing Beam] with maximum speed. The Ray would pass through Rorschach and strike the door, dispelling Rorschach’s ethereal state and causing him to slam hard into the now-restored stone slab.

’Even if Master Rorschach fumbled and got himself stuck in the door,’ Feuerbach thought, ’I’d just shout, "I’ll pay the medical bills! I’ll pay!"’

However, to his surprise, at the last possible moment, he was enveloped by a sudden feeling of stagnation. It wasn’t a typical Spirit or Enchantment attack; rather, it felt as if he had been briefly disconnected from the world, a minuscule discrepancy appearing between his personal flow of time and that of his surroundings.

’Damn it, I forgot about her!’ By the time Feuerbach came to his senses, it was already too late.

The delayed [Reversing Beam] struck the stone door, which had already been pulverized to dust. In the now-empty office of the chief on the top floor of the Tower of Secret Techniques, Feuerbach was left all alone.

A scented note fluttered in the air. A Gargoyle carefully retrieved it for its Tower Master. The elegant handwriting came into the Great Mage’s view:

"I, too, just remembered I have an appointment to meet a friend in Munich. I shall take my leave for today. I wish you a pleasant day at work.

"Respectfully, Elizabeth Ouyeni."

"Heh, heh..." Feuerbach let out a few dry, grim chuckles and finally resigned himself to his fate. He walked over to a mirror and began Casting. He placed his right hand against the mirror’s surface, and once the Magic was complete, he twisted his wrist and pulled... A duplicate of Feuerbach appeared. Then he repeated the process.

Four chiefs began their work. There were many of them, but there was even more work. The office was very quiet. And one thing was for certain: it was not the least bit pleasant.

...

"That was close... We were almost stuck doing his work!" Having made a high-speed exit from the Tower of Secret Techniques, Rorschach and Elizabeth took a moment to compose themselves. Then, they shared a smile and coolly went their separate ways.

Rorschach hadn’t been lying. He truly did have something very important to do: ensure the safe harvest of the grain from Kempson’s newly-reclaimed lands.

Reclaiming the land and promoting the Mechanical Bodies had taken time, so the wheat had been sown in spring. Now, as summer turned to autumn, it was finally ripe. Golden waves of wheat rippled across the fields of hope.