Ragequitting

Savine spent all her free time in the libraries, searching for historical records. To her surprise, she found none. There was only a mention of how the Duchies were first formed, about how the First Sovereign conquered the Wisdom Tree and split his most powerful and trusted retainers to rule over smaller duchies. In the beginning there were 30 duchies, but after the civil war, the number fell to 21.

Two days later, Dred came to visit her, and the two talked about what they'll say to the duke. The next afternoon, she was called to the duke's audience chamber by a hurried, wronged-looking knight squire.

When she arrived, she saw that Eliseline and the bishop were already there, both staring at a certain giant speaking to the duke and a complicated-looking piece of machinery being operated by two men.

It was basically just a pedal system attached to a saw. Someone had to sit on the pedal and row, and the saw would repeatedly move forwards and backwards. It was an inferior version of the mana motor, but one could argue that this one would be much more popular, since it didn't need a mage to recharge it.

But it looked complicated as hell from the outside. First of all, the pedal system used a metal roller chain, which was terribly difficult to forge if one didn't know how to. Of course, Savine provided the slums with the blueprints and molds for the roller chain, but she was still surprised they managed to create on in only two days.

The duke noticed Savine and glared at her with cold eyes.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, gesturing at the device.

"What might you mean, your highness?"

"This device, why did you give it to the slums?"

Savine walked over to the device, circled it once and cocked her head.

"But this is the first time I'm seeing this device?"

"Don't play dumb. Who else but you who can think of such creations?"

"I… Well, I see now that you have two misunderstandings about me. First of all, I'm not the one who thought of such things. It is God who taught them to me. And secondly, it's not like these inventions are things that only God can make. Give the world a couple hundred years and these mana motors would pop out by themselves. Someone curious enough would think of them. Such as these men here."

"Don't talk sophistry with me, Savine. Tell me why you're teaching your secrets to the slums."

Savine shook her head. "I see you have no faith in your own subjects. How can that be? As a duke, you must trust your own people as your own people put their faith in you. These honest men come to you to showcase their work and you're already trying to poach it as mine, a noble's work? Forgive me for speaking my mind, but there's a limit to shamelessness, your highness."

A vein popped on the duke's forehead at Savine's mention of shamelessness.

"Besides, why are you acting as if this is a bad thing?" Savine asked. "We can simply bring this tool with us to the Head Temple and showcase it with the mana motors. A manual alternative to them. Something that even the common men could create and use. It's not like us mages can always go visit these craftsmen and supply them with mana. I'm sure the Head Temple will love them."

"No."

"What do you mean, no, your highness?" Savine sighed. "Just what is wrong with you today?"

"No one here's unfamiliar with the situation, so I'll speak openly. In exchange for giving us this tool of theirs, the slums ask for their demands to be approved."

"So what?" Savine sighed. "Approve them."

"You have no right to speak on this matter."

"Why not? I'm only commenting on a problem of our duchy. I daresay I'm representing a lot of our duchy's population as well. The residents of the slums, of course, will want their legitimacy, but even the people on your side of the city are wondering why you're so adamant about segregating the residents of the slums? They don't really see eye to eye with you, but are afraid to mention it out loud."

The people in the room looked nervous. Especially Dred and the other two craftsmen he brought. All their life, nobles, especially dukes, were people that required absolute subservience. But here was a priest who dared to speak to him as if he was nothing.

"I, Savine Lorelei, as an Honorary Count's daughter, shall swallow my fears and represent them. Why? Why must you grasp at the people you've already lost, as if you're some miserly old man refusing to let go of his sons and daughters? The slums, quite a derogatory term if I do say so myself, is already independent. They're already living their demands. They're already walking their own path, a new and exciting path, never seen in the world… and all they want is your approval."

The duke's nostrils flared, but he kept his calm and spoke resolutely.

"You have no right to ask me such questions."

Savine sighed, disappointment leaking from her breath.

She really was disappointed. The duke had learned how to deal with Savine. He just needed to be firm in his denials and not lose his cool. Without any ammo, Savine couldn't shoot back at him.

But of course, he was a hundred years too early to play these games with her.

"In that case, I can only bring these people from the slums to the Head Temple myself," she said.

"What?"

Finally, there was a reaction.

"Since you're not going to help them, then I shall do it in your stead. I'll ask the temple to protect these people by selling their products under their name. Just like what you all are about to do. Don't look at me like that. It won't be that hard. Really, it's not a problem for me.

"Hire a few carriages and travel to the Sovereign's City. Oh. I've always wanted to use the teleportation circles of the Great Duchies. I heard they're pretty expensive, but it's not like I lack the resources. I mean, what's the point of all this money if you don't use it, right?

"Ah, if I do that, I guess we'll have to go our separate ways. I'll have a good long 'private' talk with a Cardinal there as well. I'm sure he'll be surprised about my stories, and sure, at first he may… not know how to feel about me. But who doesn't love useful things? I'm sure he'll have his own thoughts eventually."

The duke's face contorted into something ugly, his air of a Prince Charming shattered into nothingness.

He had no hands to play against Savine.

The threat was threefold.

1st, Savine fully had the rights and the ability to support whoever she wanted.

2nd, Savine could reach the Head Temple by herself and at that point, it would be a longshot if she would even leave the productions rights of the mana motors to the duke. She could easily sell the mana motors as a creation of the slums and the Church would only be obligated to protect the slums and not the duchy.

3rd, Savine herself was an immeasurable asset. It wasn't impossible for some Cardinal there to want her for himself.

Savine was not someone who threatened people lightly. The type of person to wave only one thing above others heads, and be done with it. If she wanted to do it, she made sure to be as thorough as possible. To leave no way for the opposition to fight back.

Really, it was a problem. When pushed so far, when put in a situation where they were at an absolute disadvantage, they tended to snap.

'Looking at him, he looks like he's about to snap,' Savine thought. 'Well, there's nothing else he could do.'

Yes, the duke had no hands to play. But he could still destroy the board they were playing on.

A mass of air gathered at where Savine and Dred were standing. The supernatural immediately felt something wrong and jumped away. But the explosion never happened.

Savine held her Vasa high in the air and smiled defiantly at the duke.

She hoped he would regain her calm, but the duke's eyes went red.

All around Savine, the air thickened, signaling her complete eradication. She felt 20 explosions all around her. It was a high-handed attempt, but such things were meaningless in front of Savine.

In a battle between mages, it wasn't the one with the larger mana pool that won. It was the one who knew more and experienced more.

Savine did not mess with the duke gathering air around her and instead took control over the masses of air herself. Of course, though the air around her was under her control, they were still around her. A single spark of fire could ignite all of them.

The duke was resolute. At the center of each mass of air, mana gathered to turn itself into fire. But those manas were never allowed to change. All of the duke's spells fumbled. They were forced to fumble under Savine's will.

If she could create metal out of thin air, then she could definitely turn the same air into something that couldn't burn. Even if Lucius willed a great fireball into the room, it would never set Savine's orbs of air on fire.

'But please don't try to overpower me,' Savine hoped. If the Duke tried something similar to Eliseline, using his vast amount of mana to create a spell that was too large for Savine to disassemble, 'Then I would have to attack you seriously.'

****