June 14, 1614 Central Calendar, 09:14

Runepolis, Aikon Corporation Headquarters

“With this, our agreement is concluded, I am looking forward for your future endeavors.”

“Of course.”

Inside an office in the building, Robin shook hands with the CEO of this company, the Aikon Corporation, a major manufacturer of computing devices and magic communication equipment. Earlier this month, Aikon Corporation took interest in the development of portable calculators and approached RMA. As a response, RMA sent Robin as their representative to sign a contract with the Aikon Corporation that they would receive the sales rights in exchange for a percentage of the profit to the RMA. In addition, the RMA will jointly develop a new communication device with the Aikon Corporation, which has a superior production equipment in that field. Several employees of the company have already been loaned to RMA for training, and production lines will be up and running within several weeks.

“Well then, I shall take my leave. Good day, Mr. President.” Robin said, and left the office.

After exiting the building, Robin was greeted by Meteos, who was tagging along, and a tall man with a gentlemanly appearance.

“How was it, Miss Robin?”

“It went well.” Robin answered, and turned to the man, “Grisha, take us to the harbor next.”

“What are you doing in the harbor?” The man, Grisha, asked.

“We’re going to check a new shipment of magic stones from Parpaldia today. Alright, let’s get going!”

The three walked into a car driven by Grisha and departed for the harbor.

“Magic stones from Parpaldia, huh? That’s unusual.” From the driver’s seat, Grisha commented.

The relationship between the Holy Milishial Empire and the Parpaldia Empire, the Third Civilization superpower, while not as amicable with Mu, they are not hostile to each other. However, Milishial limits trade with Parpaldia to the common trade goods, as they don’t want to be associated too much with an aggressive nation like Parpaldia. This includes trading magic stones.

He can already picture the Parpaldians bragging about how ‘the strongest superpower finally noticed the superiority of Parpaldian magic stone’. How troublesome.

This time, in order to further develop the magic torpedo, the RMA Shipbuilding Department has ordered several crates of Tears of the Wind God from Parpaldia Empire for testing. Since Parpaldian Tears of the Wind God boasts the highest quality in the known world, the RMA engineers wanted to see if using them can result in better fuel efficiency, which results in reduction of the area required for fuel and the increase of explosives for a stronger magic torpedo.

“Well, it’s for research purposes.” Meteos shrugged.

As he glanced at the boy sitting behind him from the rearview mirror, Grisha thought.

Meteos Roguerider made a name for himself in the Runepolis Magic Academy and became a talk among the staff for his recent breakthrough in the development of computer technology, and he was transferred to the school via invitation after he and his friend showed Robin a conductive magnetic radar. He is a bit bummed by the fact that his friend Robin already taken him as a future apprentice, but he doubted that Meteos would accept his offer if Grisha were to offer him apprenticeship as part of the requirements of advancing in rank to the Advanced Mage. He is a doctor and a professor of the Medicine Department, while Meteos wanted to become an engineer. Their fields are too different. Well, he had to admit, Meteos is better off with Robin. What’s more, Robin also taken two other Student Mages under her wing, where other Mages would mostly take one. Are they very talented? He’s envious.

However, this is also the same kid that invented magic torpedo, and from what he heard from his colleagues at Shipbuilding and Engineering Departments, it is a very deadly weapon. What motivated a kid like him to create something that dangerous? At the same time, Grisha was kind of scared of Meteos.

The silver-haired boy seemed to notice him staring through the mirror and asked, “What’s the matter, Professor?”

“Ah, n-no, nothing. How’s your school, Meteos?”

“Actually, it’s easy. It’s so boring, though.” He answered absentmindedly as he glanced outside.

Grisha turned at Robin seated beside him with a questioning look.

“You should see his grades. He aced every subject and even teaching other students. That’s why I often brought him as assistant. He’s even smarter than my students, I swear, and I teach college students.”

“I see…”

‘Well… at least he takes his studies seriously. And teaching other students? That’s very kind of him.’

“I heard from Robin that you’re planning to take the equivalency exam to skip high school, is that true?”

“Yeah, I wanted to be an engineer as soon as possible, but I’m not comfortable leaving Walman and Nadia behind, so I hope they’re good enough.”

‘He also cares for his friends…’

Grisha nodded, and the three of them continued their journey in silence after that.

The same day, 10:00

Runepolis Bay

Runepolis, the capital city of the Holy Milishial Empire, the strongest country in the world, is a city befitting its status as the very center of the world. Lined with skyscrapers built with magical technology, the city even shines at nighttime thanks to the usage of light magic, and the cars fueled by liquid magic stones roamed its streets. Also, the air is very clean for a metropolis, not unlike rural areas or the mountains since the magical technology used to develop the city, and the rest of the country, did not expel any waste. This is the city where the wealth of the world is gathered.

Entering the bay of the city was a sail ship flying a red flag with two black dragons spewing fire in the middle. Passing through other ships docked in the harbor, the ship proceeded to the designated place for Third Civilization ships located further up the great river.

On board the ship, a young teenager with blonde hair tied in a short ponytail was looking at the city with starry eyes. After two weeks of voyage, they finally arrived at Runepolis. He’s been a good boy, helping his father by working in the store diligently, and as his birthday present, he wanted to accompany his father to Milishial on the next voyage.

“Amazing! This is so different from Esthirant! Ooh, what are those? Horseless carriages!? And look at that building! It’s so tall! And that ship! I’m so going to brag to Elto about this!” The boy exclaimed.

As the ship finished mooring on the dock and the crew began to unload its cargo, the boy’s father called out to him.

“Kaios! Let’s go.”

“Yes, father!”

The father and son walked down the ramp towards the dock. Their clothing, which the Earthlings would notice the similarities to those worn by people in what they call “Napoleonic era”, will drawn some curious looks were this happen in their planet, “Earth”. But in Runepolis, where everyone from both civilized and outside civilization area gathers, this is a normal sight.

“Remember, stay with me. Don’t want you to get lost, will ya?”

“Of course, father.” Kaios nodded obediently.

As they headed towards the port authority building, Kaios didn’t stop gushing at the wonderful sight in front of him.

Upon reaching the building, his father told Kaios to wait in the waiting room while he went to talk with a business contact. Shrugging, he sat on a bench near the corner of the room. It was nice inside, the room was cool and brightly lit by light magic. There is a potted plant across him, and people are walking from one place to the other, minding their own business.

To his right, there is a bored-looking silver-haired teenager his age. He wears a white pinstriped dress shirt underneath a sleeveless maroon vest, black trousers, and shoes. He also wears a bolo tie with a teal gem around his neck. Kaios couldn’t tell whether his boy is a son of an aristocrat or not, everyone dresses the same way in Runepolis.

However, what caught his attention is a piece of thick metal bracelet worn on the boy’s left wrist. Sometimes, he will pull his sleeve and glance at it, then let out a sigh or muttered some incomprehensible words while looking even more bored than before. It looks elegant and very fitting on him.

Eventually, the boy turned to Kaios and raised an eyebrow at him. Uh-oh, he caught Kaios checking on him.

“Um…… I……” Kaios struggled to formulate words. “…Hi.”

“I do not talk to strangers.” The boy said flatly.

Kaios flinched. Now he’s stuck in an awkward situation. But the boy then smiled and offered his hand.

“I am Meteos. Meteos Roguerider.”

“Uh… I’m Kaios.” He replied as he shook Meteos’ hand.

“Oh. You’re from Parpaldia, aren’t you?”

“Y-yes.”

“Relax. Earlier I noticed you keep glancing at my hand. Is there something wrong?”

“No… it’s just… what is that bracelet?”

“Hm? No, this is not a bracelet. It’s a wristwatch. See?”

Meteos showed the wristwatch at Kaios. Upon closer look, there is indeed a clock strapped around his wrist. In his homeland, Parpaldia, people use large clocks mounted on walls to tell the time, and it’s practically impossible to carry around. Having a way to tell the time like wristwatch is certainly very useful, but for young Kaios, he was interested in it because it looks cool.

“Where can I get a clock like that?” Kaios asked.

“I don’t know about Parpaldia, this is a new model, so this is the only one around. I don’t think these will be sold to your country any time soon, sorry.” Meteos said apologetically.

“Ooh…”

Now Kaios was dejected. He really wanted to have one. Besides, something like that must be very expensive when it’s sold in Parpaldia. After half an hour of talking with Meteos, he learned that to make a machine as precise like that, all small parts that make up a wristwatch must be, well, precise, and uniform.

The wristwatch worn by Meteos is actually a mechanical machine built by himself for practice. Initially he wanted to create a magitech version of a digital electronic watch, but the existing magic circuits now aren’t advanced and small enough to be mounted on a wristwatch, so this will do for the moment. Besides, it’s already better in performance than Mu’s newest pocket watch.

A moment later, Kaios’ father came, followed by his business contact who is apparently Robin.

“Sorry to make you wait, we’ll now find an inn to stay.” His father said. “It’s a pleasure to have a business with you, Miss Robin.”

“Likewise, Mr. Meyer.”

After Kaios and his father left. Robin spoke to Meteos as they walked down the hallway in the opposite direction.

“Did I make you wait that long?”

“Pretty much so. I was so bored I could die.”

“Aww, don’t be like that. Besides, you look like you have a new friend.”

“Yeah, his name is Kaios. He’s quite nice for a Parpaldian.”

“Not all Parpaldian are bad guys, if only they tone down their aggression…”

“Is that so…” Meteos drawled.

Kaios, who will become the head of government for the defeated Parpaldia Empire in the future, has visited Runepolis and came into contact with Meteos.

June 22, 1614 Central Calendar

Parpaldia Empire, Esthirant

When Kaios returned to Parpaldia, the first thing he do was to check with a family friend who worked as a gunsmith, and he found out that products of each craftsman, each factory, differs from each other, with no common standard. Therefore, whenever a product broke down, they have to discard the entire thing and buy a new one. It’s a great inconvenience and a waste of money. It also means that current Parpaldian technology cannot produce even a pocket watch.

In his desire to have a wristwatch, Kaios, after comparing various similar products, came up with an idea of common standard and showed it to the family friend gunsmith. Thanks to his idea, the production and maintenance cost have been greatly reduced, and the ‘Esthirant Pattern Musket’ soon became the standard firearm for Parpaldian army.

Other artisans also came to realize the usefulness of the common standard and they began to visit Kaios. Some government officials even came and in the next Imperial Conference, the government issued a decree to standardize all kinds of products made in Parpaldia.

In the end, Kaios still can’t have a wristwatch, but at least he doesn’t need to replace his wall clock whenever it broke down.

Currently Publicly Available Information

PARPALDIA EMPIRE

A country in the southern Philades Continent and the fourth strongest country in the known world, being the largest and most powerful of the Third Civilization. An absolute monarchy and dictatorship, its foreign policy is characterized by continuous invasion of its neighboring countries and imposing unequal treaties on weaker nations. In 1614, their expansion northward is being suspended due to the fierce resistance of the northern territories, and the Parpaldia Empire is forced to engage in a series counter-insurgency campaigns.