Michael

Michael smiled as he watched Mira listen to Farel excitedly as he showed her around in the forge complex. They had started their tour only a little while ago, and Michael had decided to start in the south-east with the forge complex before working their way around the city until they reached the government district in the south-west.

"And this one is for flattening metal. It gets a much smoother and even surface. It also helps that you don't need an entire group of people hammering for a few hours," Farel explained while showing her a massive drop hammer. "You wanna see it in action?"

"Oh, yes. You can't show me something like this and then not demonstrate," Mira replied with a wide grin.

"I like this girl, lad," Farel said to Michael and slapped him on the arm.

"Me too," Michael said and returned his attention to the reports he was holding. The forge's output was steadily increasing, with the employed smiths getting more training and more and more apprentices starting every month or two. It was especially nice that the number of already trained smiths who were reeducated to work with blacksteel and other magical metals was rising steadily.

Just in the last couple of months, magical weapon sales had gone through the roof, as many of the kingdom's nobility joined the rush to get their knights armed with weapons made out of magic materials.

While most of what they sold couldn't be considered artifacts, due to the fact that they weren't enchanted but rather just made out of mostly blacksteel, no one really cared as long as the weapon could stand up to the full power of an augmenter.

Michael knew that they would have to lower their prices at some point with the mine in Regia that had apparently found a big vein of something called cindrel, a magical metal that, while not as durable as blacksteel, was much more mana conductive and still durable enough to allow an augmenter to swing it without worry.

There was a little problem with that metal, though; it resonated well with fire mana and was quite forgiving to being heated in a normal way, which, of course, made it very hard for any mundane smith to work with. Zen had sent Michael a letter about it, asking for advice from his dwarven smiths.

It was quite the experience having both his trademaster and steward shout at him in exasperation when he chose to help out the king. Michael was aware that enabling competition wasn't good for business, but he refused to gatekeep knowledge that could improve the entirety of the kingdom. That didn't mean that he didn't negotiate some small breaks in tariffs for importing into the capital; that fact seemed to soothe his financial advisor's fury at least somewhat.

The infernal boom of the drop hammer drew Michael away from the reports back to Mira, who was pressing her hands on her ears while shouting, "Did you see that? That was so fucking cool."

"Your Highness! Please mind your language!" Julie exclaimed in a shocked manner.

"Sorry," Mira said, mellowing down. "I got caught up in the moment."

"Don't apologize, girl. This is fucking cool, no other way to say it," Farel announced before breaking out in maniacal laughter, completely ignoring the daggers Julie was throwing at him with her gaze.

Mira grinned again, and Michael couldn't help but join. "And this stuff is just mundane engineering. Wait until you see what the arcane workshop has to offer."

"Hush, lad. Don't spoil the surprise for the lady," Farel wagged a finger at him disapprovingly.

"Sorry," Michael laughed. "I am gonna go back to the reports, go on."

They continued their tour through the complex, and Mira's eyes had basically become stars as she watched one wonder of engineering and artificing after the next. It warmed Michael's heart when they reached the arcane workshop and the smiths started showing her their work and explaining them with great enthusiasm.

"She is a real bundle of enthusiasm. Say, do you think she would be interested in starting an apprenticeship here?" Farel commented jokingly as he stepped next to Michael, while Mira was occupied with browsing the smiths' works.

"I think she would love to try, but I fear, poor Julie would get a heart attack if Mira picked up a hammer. A daughter of nobility through and through," Michael replied while mirroring the dwarf's smile.

"How are your apprentice artificers coming along? I think we are going to need them soon if other parties start filling the market with magical weaponry. Not to mention the price we could probably get for even small artifact trinkets, I hear that even apprentice work coming out of Garekha is selling for high prices."

Farel nodded slightly. "They are getting there. Artificing is a difficult and dangerous craft, but some of the more diligent of my students are starting on smaller functional artifacts. Nothing fancy yet, but I am sure that magical handwarmers will sell quite well until the winter ends."

"Depends on how cheaply you can make them. We are buying what monster cores the adventurers can gather, but our demand drives up the price," Michael noted. He knew that the artificer apprentices were a very worthwhile investment, and he didn't regret a single Levi he had poured into that project, but the truth was that they were very expensive.

Learning artificing was working with, at a minimum, monster cores, if not more magical resources. An apprentice would never be able to build something that could draw atmospheric mana, so a powersource was needed. Making the core detachable, like Michael suggested, so that they could only use the core to power their creations to see if everything worked, had sadly also been shot down by Farel.

"Do you want them to blow themselves up because of faulty contact points?" Farel had asked him, and that was that.

He didn't regret the investment, but he at least made an effort to keep it in reasonable bounds, if only because he didn't want Lord Oligan to complain, or at least be able to make the argument that he had tried.

The steward's motivation to prove himself valuable hadn't waned since the purge, but he certainly was returning to his grumpier ways of caring for the bottom line.

"It's not gonna be something a farmer will be able to afford, that's for certain," Farel admitted.

"Getting any revenue out of them will at least spare me the look of disapproval from Lord Oligan," Michael shrugged.

"Aye. He came visiting once to see what we were spending your money on. I never thought that anyone would be able to match the amount of disapproval my nan was able to put into a single glance, but I will be damned if I didn't feel like a little beardling while explaining why we needed so many water wheels." The shudder that went down Farel gave the entire thing a kind of hilarious note.

"How about that other project?" Michael asked and got serious.

Farel's eyes gleamed as he thought about it. "Lad, you really dropped something on me with that one. Things are going slowly. I am being hampered by missing a pure mana affinity. This thing is fiendishly complex and works purely on pure mana, which I simply lack the deeper knowledge of."

"What about Rayakan? She was part of this project, right?" Michael asked.

"Aye. And she is the only reason I am getting anywhere at more than a cave grub's pace, but she knows next to nothing about artificing. She can move the mana in experiments or try to explain the intrinsic workings of how pure mana works, but it is a slow process. Not helped by the fact that the woman is really busy. Can't really blame her, honestly. I have my hands full with my own boys."

Michael pondered that problem for a while. He had very competent people, but so many things for them to do that it was getting difficult. "I understand. What do you need?"

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Farel tapped on the head of his hammer while he thought. "Time mostly. Not only mine, but Rayakan's as well. With Kiran gone, she is being swamped at the academy. We already talked about courses for the younger apprentices with the right talent to try at some affinities, but I think that will take a couple of years."

"Okay, I will talk with Rayakan and see if I can lighten her load a little. I don't want you to stress yourself with it right now. It is an important project, but this foundry and your apprentices have priority. Once we have more people on a level to work with artifacts of this level, then things will pick up," Michael said.

Farel laughed loudly and shook his head. "You are misunderstanding, lad. I am not stressed because I have too much work. I am stressed because it excites me so and I can't figure it out. It is good stress, but it is going to be slow going while I work the problem. I am not gonna ask where you got a tome with ancient secrets that even the dwarves have forgotten, but it really got me excited, that much, I can tell you."

Michael smiled at the dwarf. He understood the lure of a problem that was persistently elusive to one's grasp. He himself had lost himself in solving those more than once.

Mira came over a few minutes later. "This was really cool. Thank you for the tour, Master Farel."

"Ah, no worries, milady. Was happy to show our gem around to someone who shares some of my excitement."

She then turned to Michael with expectant eyes. "So, where are we going next?"

They skipped the warehouse and workshop district that sat in the eastern part of the city, just above the foundry. It was purposefully built around the dwarven road, as it was called nowadays, leading east toward Garekha.

There just wasn't much interesting to see there, so Michael brought Mira to the adjacent merchant district, facing north-east.

"What are they doing?" Mira asked as they walked across the main city market, relatively close to the core of the city. Stalls were being erected everywhere, and even a small stage was built. Workers were hanging lanterns and other decorations on the surrounding buildings to make everything look festive.

"It's preparation for the winter market, a tradition we nabbed from the Rangda, but don't tell anyone. It is focused on entertainment, hot drinks, sweets, and food.

"Winter is bleak and weighs heavily on many people. This market is supposed to give the people something positive, to strengthen the community, and be something to look forward to," Michael explained while nodding at merchants they came past.

"It's nice. I hope we can attend, too," Mira replied.

"Of course. I would hate to miss it. It will be open most of next week, so we should be able to find the time," Michael assured her.

They didn't linger long in the merchant district. Winter was never kind to their stock variety, and the open markets were deserted, with trade slowing due to the weather. They would return for the winter market in a couple of days.

The residential parts of the city had generally weaseled their way into any opening Michael's city planners allowed them to. The primary districts were concentrated in the center of the city, with the old town and the new city districts blending into each other.

Michael was aware that the pace of immigration and expansion would quickly outgrow the space in the center of the city, and then they would start expanding to the belt around the ring of specialized districts.

They wandered the residential areas as they headed toward the academy district. Michael had suggested taking the carriage due to to cold. It didn't affect him much due to his mana, but Mira didn't have remotely enough to burn that constantly.

Mira had refused that suggestion. She wanted to see the city and how it had changed. She had sent Julie ahead with the carriage, though, no reason to torture the poor girl.

"What is that building?" Mira asked as they strolled down a street. There were a lot of children playing in the front yard, packed in clothing.

"An orphanage. There are a lot of those lately. Some are the surviving children of the purge, and many more are kids who made it to Reen when their parents didn't. We don't ask where our immigrants come from, but it is obvious for many that their previous masters didn't give them permission," Michael explained after following her gaze.

"I see," Mira replied and continued watching them play for a few moments. "What are you going to do with them?"

"What do you mean?" Michael asked.

"Like, do you have a plan for the orphans, or are you just gonna let them exist?"

"Uhm. They are gonna go to school like any child has to in this city. Reading, writing, and basic math. And once they are old enough, they can look for work," Michael explained, not quite sure if that was what Mira was looking for.

"Ah, okay."

"Something is bugging you. I can feel it," Michael said.

"I have an idea about that, but I am not sure if you would want to hear it," she admitted after some hesitation.

Michael looked at her inquisitively and then said firmly, "I absolutely want to hear it. If you have something you want to tell me, I will always be interested."

Mira smiled at him, and for a moment, Michael felt hot. "You know I visited some orphanages in the capital. They were a project of some noble ladies who felt bad for the children, supported by the church. It was nice of them to donate money, clothes, and stuff, but when talking to the priest at one of them, he told me that over half of the kids would become criminals before they turned eighteen.

"He said that they had little choice. At eighteen, they had to be kicked out of the orphanage, and without a family, they had little chance. No family connections to secure them an apprenticeship, no family business to join, or other workplaces where the family could vouch for them. Just a no-name orphan that no one wants. They have no advantages in life, so most of them either go into crime or take the lowest jobs available."

Mira looked at the children as they played, and Michael waited until she continued.

"It was quite sad. The noble ladies tried to help them out of pity or because they wanted to seem generous, or whatever other reason, but they never did the one thing that these kids needed. Give them a chance at a better life."

The moment he had understood the problem he hadn't been aware of, Michael was already starting to compile ideas about how to do exactly that in his head. He didn't say anything, though; this was Mira's idea, so he wanted to hear her solution.

"What should they have done instead?"

"Be the support structure. And that is what I think you could also do. These children have few chances, maybe more here, where the need for labor is rising much more rapidly, but that will slow at some point, too. You could train them for jobs, or have programs to get orphans into apprenticeships. You have that big foundry, for example. Master Farel said they are taking loads of apprentices. If you put some work into these kids, then I am sure you will find that you will gain so much more than you had to invest."

The fire of passion in Mira intrigued Michael. She seemed to have had this idea for a long time, but he had never heard her mention it or other kinds of reforms, as it certainly could be counted as such, from her.

Michael fell silent while he thought about everything they could do to make such a project a boon for the county. It took a while until he noticed Mira fidgeting in front of him.

"Sorry if it is a stupid idea. I just thought it was a pity to have all those kids fall into poverty or crime just because they had no one."

Michael took her gloved hand and made sure that she looked him in the eyes, as he smiled. "Never apologize for your ideas. Not everything is workable, but it is always worth thinking it through and sharing it with like-minded friends. They might see things you haven't or simply agree with you. I, for my part, think this idea of yours is fabulous.

"I talked with Geron about what being an orphan is like, and he told me that the worst thing was that he felt useless and alone. I thought that organizing them into orphanages rather than just having them run around might solve that problem, but I might not have thought it far enough.

"We can train them to become administrators, or clerks, or builders, or even get them into the army at a young age to start training. There are so many different positions we need filled, and the orphans need a purpose. It doesn't matter if they decide not to work for the state once they are done with their education, even though I think many of them will gladly take the guaranteed work."

Mira beamed as Michael expanded on her idea and quickly threw in her own thoughts, "You could have them try out different professions while they are still young to see what interests them. Everyone is better with work they enjoy or at least don't hate."

"Good idea. Aptitude tests could also be good. We will have to get them through some basic education first anyway. Children shouldn't have to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives anyway." Michael caught her suggestion, added his own take on it, and returned it to her.

They continued working on the idea for a couple of minutes until Michael suddenly fell silent and inspected Mira.

She looked back at him with a curious expression. "What is it?"

"I have been wondering. Why did you never suggest the idea to Zen? It sounds like something worthwhile even for the royal capital," Michael asked.

Mira thought about that for a while before finally replying. "I don't think he would listen. I am just his little sister, what do I know of the economy, orphans, and reforms?"

"I think you are giving Zen too little credit. I was just a dumb child when I started spewing my ideas to my father. Granted, I am kind of an odd case, but I think if you do it right, Zen would listen to you," Michael tried to encourage her

"Maybe. I am just not sure if I even have the courage to approach him with stuff like this," Mira admitted.

"I know what you mean. If I might suggest something?" Michael asked, not wanting to push his thoughts on her. She eagerly motioned him to continue, so he did. "Start with small stuff to build confidence, not just your own confidence, but also the confidence of other people in you. If you successfully suggest a few things that prove valuable and are easy to implement, then people will trust you more with the big suggestions later."

Mira nodded slowly; she seemed unsure, but Michael could see her determination rising. "I think I can do that."

"Good. But first, I want to hear if you have more of those ideas. I would love to steal a few more things coming out of that beautiful head of yours," Michael said, the words coming out before he fully realized what he had said.

Fortunately for him, Mira didn't seem to notice. She was too excited about having someone to listen to her rambling about different things she noticed or would change.

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