Roxy sidles behind me and starts rubbing my head once the door behind Ivan closes. The guy has... an infuriating combination of boneheadedness and jumping to conclusions, multiplied by his willingness to translate conversation into a fistfight at a moment's notice. At times, I was sorely tempted to just let him start swinging and use it as a pretext to beat the everloving shit out of him. Thankfully, the "crush coal into diamond" trick had given him enough of a pause to at least start with shouting instead of conveying his hasty conclusions with fists. Oh well. In the end, we had settled on following - aside from money, he also gets a copperphone, so that Roxy could talk to her parents once he gets back to Kraina. He also has a bag of uncut diamonds I've crushed out of coal as a present slash bride price. He did not recognize the diamonds, but according to Roxolane, her father definitely will. That should get me some leeway. Besides, if she is remembering right, while Ivan inherited hotheadedness from his dad, his dad is also old enough to know when to crimp the attitude.
"I can't believe everyone is alright." - she mutters softly - "I mean, I have seen Petya being struck down by a saber. To think that all that came of it was a scar... gods, I'm..." Her hands start shaking, and I turn around just in time to pull her on the lap once she starts crying in earnest. Tears of relief, I think. We had some discussion about what to do if her family is not around anymore, to know they're all safe and sound now must be a mountain of worry off her shoulders. So I return the favor of stroking her head and muttering something vaguely supportive as she lets her fears drain out.
"Goodness, I'm going to be visiting families a lot." - I chuckle - "Moon Unit's and yours both cropping up in pretty much same day. Crazy coincidences, huh?" She giggles, wiping her eyes gingerly.
"I'm sure my father will approve of you." - she offers softly - "I mean, I can't even think of anyone else I'd rather be with, you know?"
I lean in and kiss her, offering - "Flatterer. I'm just lucky to be in the right place and time to get you."
___
The rest of the week passes uneventfully... Which, I have to admit, is a load off me. Now, I am quite happy with all the outcomes, but getting things sorted out was more than a little problematic, and I'm glad I can take a few days with nothing but low-key classwork and business management. The restructuring of the trading house proceeds apace, I have mostly weeded out the truly disruptive elements, and while not everyone is thrilled with my decisions, the overall mood in the former Konistan employees is cautiously optimistic. I had an oh so amusing little conversation with the receptionist girl that greeted me prior to my first meeting with Konistan, while at it. Silly bint was convinced I'm going to somehow punish her for uppity attitude. In a way, she is not wrong - I have sent her back to the office with a pamphlet on corporate ethics I would be expecting from everyone under my employ. Which, apparently, was a mercy she did not even dare counting on, if her little breakdown back in the office was of any indication. Amusingly enough, that also improved loyalty over there, mostly due to my treatment being taken as a sign that they're now under "fair but tough" ownership.
In another news, the overseer of carpenters reports to me that my leisure project had been finished, as far as their part in it was concerned. Which brings us to this bright and early Caturday morning.
___
"Girls." - I say, clapping my hands - "We have all worked valiantly through the week, and are richly deserving of some rest and relaxation." It is very much true, by the way. While me and Roxolane had wrangled the business, Lily-Anne and Moon Unit had pitched in with Rafiqa's lessons and as of yesterday, Rafiqa is a fully-accepted student of Academy. Bridgit had valiantly handled food and other domestic issues for all of us.
All of them perk up, turning their heads into my direction. "So..." - I continue - "Today, we're having a party at Gillespie manor. Lily-Anne, can you visit Ed and Selene and ask them if they want to join? Maybe grab Alistair too, if he's around. Roxy, ask the same of Rafiqa, if you please, and find out if Hiram wants to join in. Moon Unit, same with Newspaper Gals and Lemand, please. Bridgit, you and me are going to put together some treats. Everyone, tell your respective quarries that the meeting is midday at the Academy gates. We'll stroll over to the manor, it's close by, no reason to drag the carriages into this."
Everyone scampers. I have been preparing for this, and a good deal of sweets is already packed up and waiting at the manor. So we're just going to bake a dozen of different pizzas and have servants deliver them to the manor. Bridgit's face clears up once I explain that much to her, and she pouts at me for making her think I expect a full party catering on a few hours notice from scratch. I buy my way back into her good graces with some gentle flattery and kisses.
As I step out to call a servant in, I stumble on a pair I haven't seen in quite a bit. Lincoln and Cordelia. Apparently, they're at the loose ends, if their low-key bickering is of any indication. "Hello, you two." - I offer to them, as I pass by - "If you have nothing better to do, I'm having a bit of party at the manor. If you're interested, be ready at Academy gates at midday. Don't bother finding carriage, manor is within strolling distance."
Lincoln finds his wits first. "Good day, lady Gillespie." - he offers jovially - "A party, huh? Why not." Cordelia bops him on the head lightly, and continues - "We'd be glad to."
___
As it turns out, everyone decided that they have no more pressing business on this Caturday than my party. Which means there's a grand total of sixteen people not counting me. I'm somewhat tempted to try and get people to form ranks, but that would be just too silly. As it is, we reach the manor... And proceed through it into the backyard, where my surprise had been prepped for operation since early morning by a couple of my instances.
"...What is this." - Lily-Anne voices everyone's question.
I chuckle, as I trigger the mechanism throwing the door open. "Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the maiden flight of my new airship." - I tell, as I sketch a bow. Aaaand the jaws are falling open. Priceless. Functionally, it's a rigid zeppelin, and not a big one at that. Well, not a big one as far as zeppelins go. The envelope is still almost a hundred meters long and about twelve thick in the middle. The inside is pretty luxurious for something I did my best to shave every extra ounce of weight from. Metal filigree, balsa, rattan furniture... Not cheap, not by any means. But the sheer impact of it, oh yeah. Such a power trip.
My guests file into the cabin, like entranced, eyeing everything. Thankfully, with Ed's glassblowers, I was able to pull off a nice belt of windows around the cabin. The engine compartment is empty right now, actually, I'll be powering the propellers by my own magic power. In the commercial variant, there will be a double-stroke steam engine working off enriched coal. But that's in the future. Thankfully, the arrays for drawing the air out are much simpler. Feeding off the on-board hydroponic flowerbeds, the whole thing is a combo of two simple patterns repeated over and over inside the lifting envelope - the structural rigidity pattern that keeps the zeppelin in the shape, and the air removal pattern, maintaining vacuum inside the envelopes. Not hard vacuum, mind, only about 1/8 of normal air pressure. With grand total volume of envelope being slightly over six million liters, it gives me a lift of about six tons. The weight of the zeppelin, due to a lot of magic and weight-saving measures, is a little over three tons, meaning I can have about two tons of useful weight, and some reserve of lift to work the altitude. Two propeller props in the rear, some rudders and a few minor propellers in front and end for steering and tangage, and I'm all set to fly.
There are some shrieks (mainly from the Gossip trio) as I push on the buoyancy slider and the air is voided out of the envelope, complete with "stomach sinking into heels" feeling usually present in an elevator. Not something anyone other than me and Selene ever experienced, I suppose. Then, the excited murmurs, with everyone glued to the windows, watching as the city sinks below them. And a bunch of people on the streets gaping at the "impossible" sight. I gun the propellers, the rudders tilted sideways, setting the zeppelin into a slow ascending turn to fly over the Academy. Satisfied with the course, I lock the controls and turn around to face my guests.
"So... what do you think, people?" - and, OK, I'm more than a little proud of pulling this one off. I'm treated to absolutely gobsmacked faces. All sixteen of them. Oh, yeah. Fuck yeah. I'm going to treasure that sight till the end of my life. This is what awaits you, people. The march of progress that can not be stopped, can not be diverted and can not be opposed. Your future will be brighter than anything you ever imagined. Period.
Selene finally finds some words. Or, rather, word. "How!?" - she croaks, gesturing around vaguely. Ed next to her just stares at me with eyes open so wide I start worrying if there is anything in the on-board apothecary to treat excessive eye drying.
"Vacuum zeppelin." - I tell her, grinning widely - "Magic is so magic, you know." Altimeter bings a hundred fathoms, and I pull the buoyancy slider back until it stops rolling noticeably. We're suspended in the air, well above the city.
"Have fun watching the city for now." - I suggest to them - "Once the novelty wears off, we shall have dinner, alright? Does anyone want a looking glass?"
Hiram blinks at me. Works his jaw visibly. Coughs. Then starts talking - "Are we held aloft by your magical power, lady Gillespie?"
I shake head at him - "Nope. Natural laws. I'm using magic to guide them into the desired result, but it does not require of me to constantly push power into the airship. Even if I stop feeding power to the airship entirely, we're going to smoothly descend about as fast as you go when you take a lazy stroll. So don't worry. We're not going to plummet out of the sky even if I decide to take a nap."
He stares even harder. Coughs again. "...Are... you going to build more airships?" - he finally manages.
I wave my hands vaguely. "Maybe? Not anytime soon. This is my personal yacht, so to speak. It can't lift much more than us and some basic supplies. I mean, if I really tried, it might be possible to fit in another, uh.. eight to ten people, but that's it. Building bigger is possible, but will get profligately expensive pretty quickly." - I tell him - "So don't worry. It might be a fine example of magical craftsmanship at its finest, but hardly an empire-shattering creation on its own."
Ed objects feebly - "...The very idea of taking to air like this... Gods, if you weren't already infamous as the most dangerous magician in the world, that alone would cinch it."
I chuckle - "Well, if it helps you feel better, I prefer peace. I know, I know, my experiences with Sultanate are telling a different story, but... Sultanate is the only country left that considers slavery lawful. That's just plain evil."
Rafiqa suddenly claps her hands. "Well said, lady Gillespie." - she says firmly - "Well said."
And now the world is introduced to flight. Time for Alyssa to draft a whole bunch of airspace laws overnight that will be seen as more divine revelation.
She`ll hold off from that for now. Why bother if the only airship belongs to her? Of course, given that there are numerous royalty present at the inauguration flight, it`s pretty much a given Champagne and Kraut courts would be seeking contracts to have their own airships constructed.
Alyssa does a bit of an earwaggle here - she implies that the bigger the zeppelin is, the less cost-effective it is. Which is, in the situation, just not true. She owns what is essentially a luxury yacht, one that is on the low end of cost-efficiency bell curve. But the implication that both Ed and Hiram get is that heavy lift zeppelin is going to cost more then it can recover through the whole service lifetime.
Hence, based on their impressions, first thing kings would seek the airships for is as diplomatic vessels and luxury craft. No one yet is thinking about militarizing them.
Admittedly, Alyssa already has a plan for that, but she`s not going to create artillery platform zeppelin unless she`s really pushed.
@Cytotoxin Alyssa is the biggest liar. If they ever come up with a spell that can analyze the truth of the spirit of a statement, people are going to be baffled by half of what she says.
@Vorquel That kind of spell would have to rely on some form of telepathy. I`ll let you work out how wise it is to mentally connect to eldritch abomination from beyond the stars on your own.
@Cytotoxin doesn't mean someone will not try unknowingly:)
@Eirenliel For what reason? It`s already well-believed that all you need to sense lies is proficiency in light magic. Most people (aside from a few scholars) take it as a fact of life.
@Cytotoxin Telepathy for the specific purpose of advanced lie detection? Unlikely. For the purpose of stealing trade secrets? Just a matter of time.
@Cytotoxin yeah I'm not saying someone will do it or have a reason to, just that if they were to try, they wouldn't know and in for a life lesson
@Vorquel That`s already known and people have precautions against it. There`s a good reason why cultivating chrysantemums is illegal without royal permission.
@Cytotoxin so people have a reason to expect in advance that mind reading can end in more than unwelcome consequences for the reader and avoid it? Interesting
@Eirenliel Yes and no. The usual unwelcome consequences are simply being arrested, not outright have your mind shredded by contact. ^_^
@Cytotoxin ясно, спасибо ^^
@Cytotoxin I hate it when that happens. I'm minding my own business committing corporate espionage, and my mind gets shredded out of nowhere. It really ruins my morning.
@Cytotoxin Unless there can be a magic shield or something covering the whole zeppelin, i really wouldn't count on it being used as a war machine tbh. Especially for a unibody zeppelin. A single shot can doom it, and it wouldn't even need a big hole.
Regardless if it is gonna be militarialized or not, i would have many small pockets inside in expectation of a failure. At least 30 sections, preferably more. Sure, it will weight more that way, but if it gets attacked or a hole is opened somehow, only the affected pockets are taken out. The rest can keep it afloat, or at least have enough buoyancy left to have a relatively gentle crash landing. If it is a unibody, a single small hole could mean air rushing inside violently and the hole being ripped bigger till the enchantments regulating the pressure can't keep up with the intake. The whole thing rapidly plummets.
Actually, you could probably get rid of the outer skin with some creative designs and mitigate the extra weight problem somehow. Still would weight a bit more than a unibody, but not by much. If you make the pockets a perfect sphere, you can get away with less thickness to build the walls rigid enough to handle the semi vacuum. So if you optimize it, i doubt the weight difference would be too noticable. The only downside that it probably would look ugly.
Another choice would be to make shared walls between pockets, which would also work to reduce weight for the pocket design. Ofc, even if the wall is shared, it must still be thick enough to handle the near vacuum inside even without the connected pocket providing equaliziation. The plus side would be that it could still look almost like a unibody from outside. Maybe even make it look more appealing thanks to having some semi bulbous contours in the shape.
@N0xiety Single shot of what? Gunpowder weaponry is still in development.
And... while your ideas have merit, there will be an advancement soon that will change things around for how airships work in this setting. Let`s just say they`d be a preferred method of air transport for quite a while.
@Cytotoxin Umm, idk, dragons have been said to be stupid, but i can imagine them being attracted to a zeppelin flying in the air. Their stupidity might be the problem in fact lol. Wouldn't be surprised if they tried to take a bite out of it. Or well, test how well it handles dragon fire. How about other creatures? There must be other flying creatures apart from dragons right? Any flying creature bigger than a dog can be a threat.
And, aren't there like mages that can use long range bombardment magic? Or are all mages so weak that they can't even level a single house? They must have some long range spells right? For battles and castle sieges. Don't they have magical ballistas? Don't they have magical arrows? Like, do they not have anything they can send long range even with magic? Are they that behind even in warfare? How do they even deal with dragons and wyverns? They must have a way right? If they can take down dragons, they can take down a zeppelin.(Unless if it is like Skyrim where dragons just serve themselves on a golden platter by just landing and trying to bite you while crawling on the ground lol. Yay for suicidal dragons!)
@N0xiety There are. There are also known alchemical compounds that can serve as airdropped bombs with relatively little effort.
Your average mage can put out firepower on par with modern assault rifle, if not in quite that form. More gifted (a good deal of knights) tend to spec in one of the elements and can bring out some nasty wreckage, if they have access to necessary flowers.
There also exist large-scale magical installations that can be with little effort weaponized. For example, Pharos empire possesses "Rose of Winds" - a structure that allows a group of trained mages (about twenty people, give or take) influence weather on a fairly big scale. They primarily use the installation to smother down the storms in the eastern Mittelzea, but have had shown that it can also be used offensively in the past. One of the Sultans had lost an army to a targeted simoom, for example.
@Cytotoxin So, it wouldn't be impossible for them to come up with quick countermeasures against airships i would assume. Some kind of piercing long range attack. If they have people smart enough to see the war pontential and the threat it can become ofc. Or well, just let loose a dragon and let its curiosity handle the rest i guess...
@N0xiety Dragons are seriously rare and almost extinct. Only Sultanate still has any that are flight capable. They also possess the last breeding female of the species.
And yes, they WILL try dragon solution. It... doesn`t go well for them.
Also, just piercing envelope does nothing much. You need to destroy a significant enough chunk of envelope AND it`s enchantment to down zeppelin as Alyssa designed it. Otherwise, just pushing the enchantments further will permit to soft-land or even entirely get away from situation.
@Cytotoxin I see. Well, hope dragons won't be extinct, that sure would be sad. They should be among world wonders.
@N0xiety Not in this setting. Here, they`re huge scaly magpies, essentially. Rowdy magpies.
@Cytotoxin No magic materials to be gained? No value as megafauna? Though I suppose if magic comes from flowers, the most magical creature would be plant based, like a dryad or something.
@Vorquel Magic doesn't come from flowers, everyone for some reason just uses them for focus or somethin. And to channel the spell through. They don't need to, but they just do it because they think they can't do it otherwise. If i understood correctly so far that is. Not sure how there is not a single person who solved that simple issue is beyond me, but yeah...
Also, dragons do have value, at least their scales so far. A single scale seems to be able to block most magic, now imagine a tank or jet covered in it.
They must have other values too i bet. Wonder how they would fare as high end livestock, if their meat tastes good. Their leather would also probably be high end. Everything about them is high end and valuable. Their bones would probably be great building material. Especially for flying craft, as they must be hollow but strong. So lightweight but very strong probably. They might fare great as livestock indeed. Their body is a treasure. With some growth hormones and magic that speed their growth ofc.
Oh and great attraction for a Zoo, because why not. Gotta keep at least some for future generations to see.
@Cytotoxin Well if it's just the belief of truth they could get away with empathy instead of true telepathy (star trek). Though an eldritch abomination can probably have more emotional scale then humans especially if it does the same thing as speaking.
Also zeppelin... I just... one moment... can I... pats on the back good job .
@N0xiety I'll need @Cytotoxin to correct me if I'm wrong, but flowers are still a source of magic even if they aren't strictly necessary for spell casting. Otherwise the magic energy in this series is literally "clap your hands if you believe" level BS. There's no reason for all the planters for large scale magic if there isn't some correlation between flowers and magic, even if it's just that correlation is just that magic actually comes from life energy which flowering plants happen to be a good source of.
@Vorquel Well, the system is kind of messed up because as the author explains it's an otome system and those don't usually have much thought in them but so far: The flowers are not actually necessary to run the enchantments (Ie the Copper Phone) instead they are likely the fuel source for the pilots magic since the flowers are more potent than facsimile by far (Thus why she usually uses layered facsimile over and over again). honestly, I'm surprised that enchantment isn't the mainstream magic since it seems the most useful (edited)
@Vorquel As megafauna, no, outside of being WMD Sultanate likes to "subtly" threaten everyone with. As resources, yes, dragon scale is the base material for magic-repelling amulets that batal wear. Dragon meat is poisonous so no dragon burgers. Dragon claws and fangs are magically inert and are sometimes used to deal with volatile artifacts, but mostly as curios.
Flowers are FOCI. All magic is done by gathering the aether around you and shaping it. The degree to which you can manipulate aether defines how good you are as a mage. This is a trainable ability, anyone can become a proficient mage with enough time and perseverance. It`s also injurable ability - it is possible to cripple yourself in a way that hampers your use of magic. Primary ways to do that all have to do with brain damage in one way or another.
@N0xiety Flowers are also best focus available DUE to widespread belief that they are. In a way, this setting has somewhat subtler mechanics of ork WAAAGH - magic works like it works because everyone believes that`s how it should work.
Alyssa is taking advantage of this by not being particularly covert about what she does. As she establishes herself as memetic badass, the collective belief enables her to be even more.
@MidnightNetiZen Airship was planned as early as chapter 30, actually. Which is one of the reasons I was annoyed with your insistence I had something against vertical movement.
Actually, no. Flowers are a superlative power conduit, and more energy-hungry enchantments and devices tend to consume cut flowers like fuel. OR, are built up and INTO pretty massive flowerbeds. For example, the printing press Alyssa constructed for Newspaper Gals is attached to a tiered flowerbed 1x8 touse, which means roughly 2x16 meters. There`s a reason why they needed to procure a building with backspace to install printing press in.
Copperphones don`t need flowers, but they slowly consume copper. Moreover, metal-powered enchantments have pretty harsh upper level on how much energy they can throughput. Longevity is very good, but copperphone is pretty much the maximum metal-fueled enchantment can do.
@Cytotoxin *opens mouth* *closes mouth* *dog whines* nope this is a trap beside you said it not me. Not gonna open that can o' worms again.
@Cytotoxin inb4 the Americas-analogue is discovered, and we learn dragons were in no threat of going extinct. Make them feathery like Quetzalcoatl.
@0xFFF1 That`s a different kind of beastie.
@Cytotoxin
No one yet is thinking about militarizing them.
So, just like aircraft pre-WWI in our reality?
@CardcaptorRLH85 So-so.
Alyssa has very good idea on how to make war blimps happen, and she is not going to make it easy for anyone else to figure out. In a way, she will be the opposite of Lewis in that regard.