Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 116 - 113: Establishing the Valuva High Master

Karon hadn’t come from a Grammar School, nor was he a professional wordsmith. There were two reasons he could frequent the royal court in his youth: first, Karon had inherited his father’s watchmaking craft, and second, His Majesty Charles XVI was obsessed with the art of watchmaking.

But he had also inherited his father’s fierce abhorrence of evil, a negative quality within the Royal Palace—His Majesty disliked those who exposed the magnificent halls as a den of filth. Fortunately, Karon was meticulous enough not to speak bluntly. Instead, he channeled his youthful indignation and sharp-wittedness into his pen, carving them onto paper, which became one play after another.

It was in the Royal Palace that Karon met and befriended the theater director. The director discovered that this young craftsman was also a promising talent with a pen, and offered him earnest advice and guidance. After several revisions, the play "Edmund and Catherine" was staged and, sure enough, became a resounding success.

However, the theater director’s casual mention of "watchmaker" moments ago had stung him. The more this proud young man scorned the various goings-on of the Royal Palace, the more ashamed he felt of his time there as a "watchmaker," days that were akin to being Charles XVI’s Jester.

Valon was responsible for introducing the guests he had brought, while the theater director introduced the playwright, the composer, and the actors.

To Rorschach’s surprise, the actress playing Catherine was a "Minstrel." Just as the Nobility had mastered techniques to induce group ether resonance, a "Minstrel" could also move the audience... and the Ether... with their song and performance, although the effect was very faint. The stronger versions of this Magic were often categorized under the Enchantment and Illusion Systems.

As the Great Mage, Kano was the first to offer some pleasantries. "Your performance was absolutely brilliant! The script and music were impeccable!" However, knowing his mentor, Rorschach was well aware that Kano rarely attended the opera. ’Aside from his research and his food, he prefers to play cards at most social gatherings.’

The theater director hadn’t expected Karon to chime in. "The Mage is a very crucial role. If it weren’t for the advice of Mr. Nekker and the theater director, the first draft of the script had Catherine rallying and leading everyone in the port who had been harmed by the nobleman and opposed his rule to storm the castle and rescue Edmund, right when the nobleman returned to the dungeon to execute him."

"That would have been far too intense, a bit over the top, wouldn’t you say? To get it on stage and let as many people as possible see this excellent opera, it had to be toned down appropriately." The theater director had a wealth of experience in gauging what was acceptable, far more than some reckless youth.

Valon agreed. "It was a good change. The expressions on the faces of the Priest and the Guard Captain in the box today were priceless, but there wasn’t much they could say about it."

Karon nodded. "Yes, I’m grateful for the guidance of the director and the Minister of Finance. Having the Mage join the story and teach the protagonist Teleportation Magic to escape prison was a great idea. Still, sometimes I can’t help but wonder... if it had followed the original script, but still included the Mage character, which side would the Mage have taken to be both realistic and dramatically effective?"

As he said this, Karon stared intently at Pascal—or rather, at the man he knew by the more familiar name of "Thor." "Sleepyhead" Thor, one of the core members of the underground club.

Pascal didn’t answer. Instead, a youth in a Purple Robe spoke up. "I liked the lawyer’s question in the third act: the question of who truly conquered whom. According to your play’s setup, isn’t the old mage a Wise Man? A Wise Man, of course, sides with the victor."

Finally, Kano corrected the young playwright with a smile. "Perhaps we needn’t be so literal when it comes to opera, but as it happens, I am an expert in this area, so I must point out a mistake:

"It’s impossible for the protagonist to learn Teleportation Magic in such a short amount of time. One must be at least a Middle Level Mage to master it. It would be more reasonable to have the Mage give him a Scroll. Oh, and a charged one at that."

"But this is the stage! It’s a comedy! The audience needs miracles and surprises," Karon argued, though it was more of a weak defense. Subconsciously, he had never even considered that possibility; he wanted Edmund to be able to learn Magic himself.

"Yes, yes. You write the miracles for the stage; we’ll take care of performing them in reality." With that, the Great Mage ended his conversation with the playwright, Karon.

...

That evening, the banquet felt more like a ceremony. Besides Kano and the others from the Tower of Stars, the Guard Captain and the Priest had also reappeared.

Rorschach scanned the hall and saw some familiar faces: Mr. Pierre with his wife and nephew, Antoine, as well as Count Granor and his family. There were many others who shared the same air as Pierre, the kind of people one could immediately identify as veterans of the cutthroat world of commerce.

These bosses were all patrons. With them as witnesses, Valon announced the funds raised from today’s performance, the donation amounts from the various Major Trading Companies, and declared that the next five performances would all be charity shows, with ticket proceeds handled the same as today’s...

"The 57,200 Lang raised so far, along with all subsequent donations and ticket sales, will be dedicated to the educational endeavors of the Saint Vallova Kingdom! The first and foremost of which is the establishment of the Valuvanan Higher Normal College! To the Kingdom! To His Majesty!" A toast should have begun with a cup raised in praise of the Divine Spirit, but with so many Mages and business owners from companies under the Magic Guild present, Valon skipped it, right in front of the Priest.

The Priest paid it no mind. Everyone raised their glasses, then broke into fervent applause.

’Looks like my proposal is really moving forward!’ Rorschach felt a sense of pride and, for once, clapped along with genuine sincerity at such an occasion.

"Look at you, all smug," Kano said disdainfully. He rolled his eyes at Rorschach and took a sip of his purple sparkling water—the beverages for this banquet were also supplied by "Hercules."

As everyone watched, Valon announced the plan for the new school. This included the fact that the Prince was selling his city residence at a low price—his exact words were, "a price so low it’s negligible compared to the market value"—as well as the curriculum and faculty composition.

"The Church will dispatch outstanding Priests from the Monastery to teach. They can serve as instructors for grammar, history, philosophy, astronomy, and natural history." In his address, Monseigneur Joseph made this promise to the donors. The subject was originally "theology," but at the insistence and direction of Dipresy, the Priest said "philosophy" instead.

Even so, the Church’s promise to teach "astronomy" clearly offended Kano. In his own speech, he was openly confrontational: "As everyone knows, the Tower of Stars’ achievements in astronomy are unparalleled. At the same time, we will dispatch our senior Apprentices and young instructors to teach at the college in rotation, bringing with them courses in arithmetic, geometry, and simple, non-magical alchemy."

When he mentioned senior Apprentices and young instructors, Kano’s gaze swept over Pascal and Rorschach. ’It seems,’ Rorschach thought, ’that in both worlds I’ve experienced, "young instructors" are the ones who get moved wherever they’re needed.’

The most surprising speaker was the Guard Captain, who also went on stage to say a few words. His language was somewhat coarse compared to the previous three speakers, but the gist of it was that His Majesty would bestow upon the school courses in engineering and physical education.

Amid thunderous applause, Valon announced that the distribution of the first batch of enrollment slots would be revealed after all the charity performances were concluded.

Just like with today’s performance, admission tickets—whether for the theater or the school—could be distributed based on how much money one put forth. This was the issue that most concerned all the trading company bosses sitting there.

Finally, as people were leaving their seats, Valon summoned two men. One carried a large box, and the other a tripod. Once it was set up, Rorschach recognized it at a glance as a primitive camera: a large, square black box behind a lens.

The last part of the day’s events was a large group photograph of all the attending bosses. However, none of the Mages, the Priest, or the Guard Captain took part in the picture. Only Valon stood in the very center. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"The latest converted result from the Alchemy Department. It can record an image on a silver-plated copper plate," Snow said smugly. Once this technology was industrialized, it would be another major source of income.

"Does the whole process take a long time?" Rorschach asked. He remembered that early cameras required a long exposure time.

"How did you know? It takes about half an hour. Originally, we were supposed to use iron frames to hold people still, but with so many people in a group photo, I’ll have to handle it myself..." Snow was a little surprised by Rorschach’s question. He then shouted to the bosses, "Gentlemen, are you ready?"

After getting an affirmative, he began Casting—[Group Human Immobilization Technique]!