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Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Fifty
🕑 Added 2024-10-26 22:58:16 +0000 UTCWilliam sighed as the crystal orb on his desk returned to its usual blue hue.
“She’s going to make you pay for that,” Xera opined from over his shoulder.
The count of Redwater county just shrugged. “I’ve little doubt. Still, needs must. As tempting as it might be to slink back to the academy rather than stay here and ‘face the music’.”
And it was quite tempting.
The instructor he’d just been talking to hadn’t seemed all that surprised by his request to take a ‘sick day’. He imagined she’d already fielded a few similar calls that morning, the vast majority of which would be from servants covering for hungover young noble scions who had partied just a little too hard on the weekend.
It wasn’t an unusual story. Still, it was behavior the academy attempted to curtail. Hence why the instructor’s final words on how he would ‘make up the time lost’ sounded so ominous. Because he had little doubt of their authenticity. The time he’d lost would be recouped somewhere else during the week and it would be done at a time that was as inconvenient to him as possible.
He didn’t spend long lingering on the joys the coming week would bring though, not when the reason for his decision to linger at his territory beyond the weekend chose to make herself known.
“Got a set of lungs on her,” Xera opined quietly as a series of muffled invectives issued forth from beyond the wooden doors.
William nodded. “Aunt Karla typically doesn’t yell much, but when she does…”
Another shout issued forth, this one with a tone of finality, just before the doors to his office burst open, the woman in question striding inside with an imperious expression on her face.
For a moment William was tempted to point out that she needn’t have bothered with the yelling or her grand entrance, given that the guards had been instructed to give her free access to his office in advance. Indeed, he was reasonably certain the only reason his aunt didn’t know that was because she’d started shouting before said guards could speak and finished her tirade by bum rushing the entrance.
“What the fuck did you do last night, William?” Karla spat, red in the face. “Why the fuck did I wake up to find my night clothes covered in red paint and Olivia weeping at my side.”
“Well, in order, because last night at dinner you were dosed with a slow release sleeping draught. Then, after you went to bed, you were summarily dragged from your room and tossed into a puddle of red paint. As for Olivia, the reason for the aforementioned actions was that they set the stage for Olivia’s fake ‘kidnapping’. Which in turn, served as a striking prelude to a rather important talk.”
He saw the slap coming. He’d been dealt enough of them over the years that the motions were familiar to him. Never from Aunt Karla though.
He didn’t dodge.
He didn’t need to.
Because Xera was already moving, her hand came up to catch his aunt’s wrist in an iron grip.
“Don’t.”
It was a single word, but it held weight as the wood elf stared into his aunt’s surprise expression. Because whatever the former navy woman’s feelings on what he’d asked her to do the night before, he was still her lord.
And a woman had just attempted to strike him right in front of her.
Of course, it took but a moment for his aunt’s surprised expression to morph into a snarl. “Unhand me right now!”
“I will.” Xera’s tone was unyielding. “As soon as I believe you are no longer a threat to my liege lord.”
In that moment, William was glad he’d instructed Xera to keep her kraken scale cuirass on, or rather arrive with it, for this confrontation. Because without it had a feeling the sparks currently flying between the two women would have quickly become far more literal.
“He’s my law-son,” Karla spat back.
Though whether that insinuated she wasn’t a threat to him or had a right to strike him at her discretion was a little fuzzy.
Maybe a little of both?
Still, it proved a good segway into the point he wanted to make both last night and now.
“True, but I’m also her liege lord and the lord of the territory in which you dwell. Not the rebellious teenager you seem to think I still am.”
It was clear what she wanted to spit back in response to that, but as she finally pulled loose her wrist from the wood elf holding it, she instead chose to take a different tact.
“Is that so? If that’s the case, what should I see your actions last night as? An ill-conceived prank from a teenage boy towards his family? Or the criminal actions of a lord towards his noble guests? Because either way, I’ve half a mind to fly Olivia and myself back to the Ashford estate.”
“How about the disciplinary actions of a warden to two rebellious prisoners under his care?” he said slowly. “Because while you both certainly have the right to leave my estate, your right to continue breathing once you do becomes a lot more fuzzy.”
Karla paled as Xera grinned.
Which made sense. For all that she was working for him now, the wood elf was a royal navy woman. Indeed, she’d only agreed to take part in the fake kidnapping once he explained a few details of why Olivia was staying on his estate. Thereafter, she’d gotten a bit more enthusiastic about the plan.
“Make no mistake, just as kidnapping Olivia served as a prelude to the conversation I had with her about the realities of your little conspiracy and her current place in the world, last night’s events also served equally as a prelude to this conversation with you.”
He sat forward. “My sister is a fourteen year old girl. You and my mother made her the lynchpin of a grand conspiracy to overthrow the crown! You made her a target. You put her in danger. And apparently, at no point did any of you sit down with her and explain the dangers of what your grand scheme entailed. Or the consequences of what would happen if it all went to shit. Which, I will note, it has.”
That was what he’d talked about with Olivia last night. He’d made her aware of the fact that this wasn’t a game. How much danger she was in. And how much danger she would have been in regardless of his actions. Because even if he was the one originally slated to marry into the Blackstones, Olivia was the lynchpin to the whole scheme.
If the Queen found out about her parentage at any point prior to the coup and put two and two together… Well, the kidnapping he’d just faked would have paled in comparison to what a team of invisible assassins could and would do.
Truthfully, he had no idea how much of his point Olivia had actually absorbed, between kicking his shins, but hopefully he’d dissuaded her from doing anything… foolish in the near future.
Like trying to escape.
Because he wouldn’t put it past Yelena to use that as an excuse to tie up a loose end.
The very thought of it made his blood boil as he leaned forward. “To that end, you have no idea the lengths I’ve gone to and the enemies I’ve made to keep her and yourselves from suffering the consequences of you and my mother’s idiocy.”
He enjoyed the way she flinched. Because while he might not have enjoyed last night’s conversation, there was a catharsis in this. Sure, Karla might have been the fun aunt and likely the one least involved in the conspiracy – but she was still an adult woman and had been involved.
“So I will reiterate what I said politely when I spoke to my mother. Stop spying. Stop scheming. Stop rebelling. And for god’s sake, don’t try to run.”
His aunt stood in silence for a few seconds, her expression complicated, before she spoke.
“What enemies?”
He cocked his head, confused that that would be what she’d honed in on.
“The queen for one,” he said offhandedly. “The secret behind the Kraken Slayer was her price to stay her hand when she was made aware of Olivia’s parentage and your plans.”
“The Kraken Slayer… how…” Karla choked.
Nearby, he noted the way Xera raised an eyebrow, which made sense given this was news to her too.
“The Kraken Slayer was my invention,” he said. “Alone. And the secret behind it was a valuable bargaining tool for me. Until I was forced to give it up.”
“I… how?”
He made a so-so gesture. “The Flashbang. Spell-bolt. Basically just byproducts of the Kraken Slayer. And that’s all I’ll say on the topic for both our sakes.”
He could see her mulling over his words, not entirely sure he was telling the truth but unable to say he was lying either.
“Ultimately though that’s irrelevant,” he continued. “Consider this me laying down the law. I’m not your law-son here. I’m not another noble hosting you. I’m both your warden and only protector. My estate is the prison you’ve created for yourselves until such time that someone other than Olivia inherits the Summerfield title. Don’t cause any more trouble for me or yourselves.”
Finally, his aunt had had enough. “Trouble? There wouldn’t be any trouble or danger if you’d just married the Blackstone girl. Hell, with the secret of the Kraken Slayer the war would have been all-but won already!”
He scoffed. “Well, it’s good to know the insanity in Olivia is not entirely of her own making. Because you seem to be under this illusion that your plan was the safest route for our family. And perhaps it would have been, if everything went perfectly.” He gestured about the room. “The fact that you’re standing there and I’m sitting here is proof things never go perfectly. And what happened last night was a very real possibility regardless of my own actions. The Queen is not a fool. Sure, she was taken off-guard by her enemys’ willingness to team up against her to preserve the slave trade, but she is not without intelligence assets of her own.”
Again, he made a mental note of the fact that the Blackstones hadn’t informed his family of the existence of Yelena’s invisible guards. And he was still sure the Blackstones knew of them.
So the question was why they were keeping that detail so close to the chest?
“I… understand,” Karla grunted. “I’m not happy about any of this. Not even close, but I understand what you’re trying to say. There’ll be no trouble from me while I’m here. Nor from Olivia.”
“Good. You’re dismissed,” he said without preamble.
Karla made it halfway to his door before he spoke again, the words slipping out of him. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I made my point the way I did. I just… needed to hammer home that Olivia needs to stay out of trouble. Yelena’s just looking for an excuse to take her off the board.”
Karla paused, eying him.
“I guess I’m sorry we pushed you this far. At least, in general. Last night was a step too far. Especially when a conversation would have done more than enough.”
Her bit said, the woman left. Willaim stared after her.
“I don’t disagree, you know,” Xela opined, tone disinterested, as if she were talking about the weather. “I mean, I did as you asked because I’ve got little sympathy for traitors, but… given you supposedly love that girl… Well, when those other girls called you drama-king, they weren’t kidding.”
“I get it. I get it. I took things too far,” he muttered to the room at large.
And now he was left wondering… why? Why did he… not just talk to Olivia?
‘Because he needed to make his point heard’, was the almost instant rejoinder.
…Except, he could have done that without all these theatrics.
Slowly, his mind circled back to Marline and her words, yet even as he had the thought, he struggled not to dismiss it. Indeed, it was almost unnaturally hard not to do so.
And that clinched it.
Fuck, he thought. The harrowing really is affecting me.
Resisting the urge to slam his head on his desk, he spoke. “I… think I should try and make it up to her. Olivia. I mean, I still stand by my reasoning, but you’re right… this was all a bit much?”
Xela laughed. “The fact you sound unsure about that is concerning. Yes, this was insane.”
Well, double fuck.
What to do though?
Food. The idea jumped into his head without prompting. He’d make her something nice. Something new. Maybe something South American? Or French?
“Should I ask for a carriage back to the capital?” Xera asked as he stood up. “The Instructors will probably still give you the void for missing the morning, but it won’t be so bad if you manage to arrive for the afternoon.”
“No,” he said as he moved out from behind his desk. “I’m heading to the kitchen.”
Of all the things Xera might have expected him to say, that clearly wasn’t on the list as she cocked her head. “The kitchen?”
“Yeah, I…” he started to say as he reached for the door.
Then paused as he realized he didn’t actually didn’t know where the kitchen was beyond generalities. He knew which wing of the estate it was in, but he’d never actually gone in there.
“Huh?” he said.
Actually, when was the last time he’d done any cooking? Once upon a time he’d done it pretty much every day. Now he couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d stepped into a kitchen.
Not since killing Al'Hundra... or at least thereabouts...
“Huh…” he said again. “That’s interesting.”
--------------------
Tala resisted the urge to scowl as she followed her mother into the captain’s cabin. “This goes beyond our own ambitions and concerns Lindholm as a whole. We should inform the crown of the submersible capability of the orc craft we’ve recovered. Not least of all because there is still one ship still unaccounted for.”
Contrary to the rest of the ship, which was little more than bare steel devoid of decoration, Elanore Blackstone’s cabin was a riot of colors. Captured banners, swords and trophies of all sorts decorated the walls, while rich purple carpeting dominated the floor.
“One ship is not a threat,” the Blackstone duchess dismissed as she moved to sit behind her desk. “Not even to those soft southerners.”
Personally, Tala begged to differ. Ignoring the threat it presented to coastal villages, she could well imagine the damage a single broadside from the vessel might do if it chose to surface right inside a city’s bay. Oh sure, it likely wouldn’t get off more than a salvo or two, but that would still leave a lot of innocent lives lost that could have otherwise been safeguarded with just a few words in the right ears.
The notion was made worse by the fact that such an attack would be entirely in character for the beasts. A final act of spite against their betters before being consigned to oblivion where they belonged.
Indeed, with each passing day with no sighting of the vessel above or below the waves – as limited as their ability to search the latter was – the more she feared that was their plan.
Still, that wasn’t her primary reason for wanting to alert the other houses of Lindhom of this new ship type.
“Perhaps not, but if orcs can come up with a concept like this, so can the elves,” Tala argued.
That comment made her mother pause, the older woman pausing her writing to think it over.
“Assuming our coastal defenses were unaware of the capability, I suppose it’s possible it might give the knife-ears a way of making landfall without us engaging them over the water like last time.”
“Exactly!” Tala said. “We can scarcely settle the score with Yelena if half of the south falls to an invasion fleet before we’re ready to act.”
Elanor took a breath, considering her words before she spoke. “That is a risk, but a small one. Had the elves a means of avoiding Kraken attack prior to now, we’d have surely seen them use it against each other.”
That was a point. Indeed, Tala knew that both her mother and the crown had a number of informants overseas whose only job was to report on any new weapon developments created in the two race’s constant blood war.
“More to the point, this new type of vessel represents a clear opportunity for us. This is a new dynamic in warfare. Amphibious combat. And if properly applied, it might allow us to end our war with the Queen more cleanly than we had earlier hoped.”
Tala frowned. “Do we truly have the need? With the Summerfield duchy on our side-”
Elanor shook her head. “Not too long ago I received news from our informant in the palace. The Ashfields have turned on us. Yelena is aware of the half-breed’s true ancestry and she has since been hidden away somewhere. Assuming she isn’t dead.”
Not for the first time, Tala felt the old urge to curse the Ashfield name. They’d been little more than an impediment from start to last.
“Do you think it was William?” she asked.
Elanor shrugged. “Your former fiancé? It’s possible. There’s no denying he is the Queen’s creature and he might have overheard something.”
Tala fought viciously to keep her temper under control. “Still, I knew he was a traitor to his family and race, but to sell out his own sister?”
Tala had exchanged more than a few letters with the half elf and it was clear she adored her older sibling. So much so that Tala had allowed herself some small excitement at the thought of meeting him herself, despite his clear antipathy to their match.
After all, if the man could apparently forgive the girl who’d displaced him as heir, then surely Tala herself could overcome whatever issue had apparently come between her and the boy she’d never met.
And we know how that went, she thought resignedly. Clearly the boy was biding his time to remove his sibling and Olivia had never truly known him.
The thought brought a small pang to her chest before she wrestled it down.
“So, with Olivia off the board we’re back to a conventional war rather than the semi-bloodless coup we were hoping for,” Tala muttered.
“Exactly, a war that not only invites the risk of elven invasion – submersible craft or not – but also our ‘allies’ getting ideas,” Elanor said coolly.
Which Tala understood.
The alliance between them and House New Haven had always been an uneasy one, borne more of a mutual distaste for the crown’s overreach into their affairs than any true solidarity.
Indeed, as staunch elven supremacists, the fact that the duchess of New Haven chose to approach them had been a surprise to all of Blackstone.
“There’s every possibility that once the Royal Fleet and the South are defeated,” Elanor continued. “New Haven will turn on us by rallying the now pacified elven southern houses to their cause.”
The plan did, after all, call for the Blackstone fleet to tangle with the Royal Navy, while the New Haven marine and air fleets looped south.
It was the strategically correct choice given the fact that New Haven had access to a much larger transport fleet for their marines, but that still meant that Blackstone would be tangling with the more difficult target.
Oh, they’d win of course, but that would still leave them in a poor position in the event House New Haven had ambitions beyond just preserving their trade lanes.
“Do you ever grow tired of this scheming?” Tala asked. “Our greatest allies might well be our greatest enemies in time, while the crown, our actual enemy, needs to be preserved as an ally against our other enemies across the sea.”
“Oh, you have no idea girl,” Elanor laughed, the fleet admiral giving way for just a moment to her mother beneath.
“Yet we keep scheming all the same.”
“For the good of our race,” Elanor said. “Never forget that. Would that the Queen had her way, it’d be but a few years before everything we and our ancestors have fought for would be rendered moot. Orcs living amongst us, defiling our men. Multiplying beyond control. The Royal Navy even more rife with treacherous greenskins just waiting to turn their cannons on us and ours. And us, shackled by the law and powerless to stop any of it.”
Elanor shook her head. “No. Yelena forced our hand with these reforms.”
Sighing, she turned back to her writing. “Which is why we’ll keep the orc’s capabilities silent for now. At least as best we can. Just as I have spies in the South, it’s all but guaranteed the Queen has spies in the North. So we need to move fast before the secret inevitably leaps. We’ll both repair the ships and convert another squadron to be outfitted similarly. And through them we’ll hopefully be able to bring the coming war to a swift end.”
“And if the Crown discovers we knew about this new ship type and confronts us about it?” Tala asked.
Elanor snorted. “We’ll claim we considered it beneath their notice. What’s she going to do, declare war on us? If Yelena had confidence she could do that and win, she’d have done it by now.”
Tala didn’t argue. Even with new ships being put into service as a result of the newly harvested mithril cores they had access to, it would be years yet before the crown enough hulls combat ready to make victory against the North a guarantee.
“At least now we don’t have to wait for the half-breed to come of age,” Elanor muttered.
And once more, Tala felt a pang. Half-breed or not, Olivia had clearly taken after her human side more than that of the elf. She’d… liked her, after a fashion.
Once more, the low simmering hatred she had for William Redwater threatened to flare up. Once more she forced it down before speaking. “Nor arrange for the reclusive Summerfield duchess to have an accident when the girl did.”
“No, I suppose not,” Elanor said. “And the last six months have done much to recover our reputation in the eyes of the fence sitters after your… loss last year. Our crushing of the orc resistance at long last has certainly helped on that front.”
Tala grinned. “How long do you think it’ll be before we can move?”
Elanor hummed. “Between refitting our new ships and bringing a few of the houses that got cold feet back into the fold? Another year? Maybe less?”
Tala grinned, and as she did she hoped Olivia was smiling up at them from the Void. For though her death had made the coming conflict more difficult than it might otherwise have been, it had also brought victory one step closer.
And Tala fully intended to reap a bloody vengeance in the half-elf’s name.
Starting with the man who had ultimately caused her demise.
William Redwater.
…Though she knew it wouldn’t be easy. She’d underestimated the cad once and paid for it. Why, she’d bet that even now he was cooking up some manner of nefariousness…
-------------------
Team Seven was more than a little surprised to find their team leader present when they tiredly tromped back into their dorm.
And not just present, he was cooking.
Both surprising because William didn’t cook, and because the dorms weren’t really suited to it. The small kitchenette they had was basically only suitable for warming up a bowl of stew and little else.
Yet there William was, a few different items on the go as he stirred something frankly delicious smelling around in a small pot.
“William?” Verity asked as she unslung her flight gear. “The Instructor said you were sick?”
“Or hungover,” Olzenya added as she curiously peered at the small collection of other items that had been piled onto the table.
“Something like that,” the boy in question said as he pulled something off his singular stove. “Fortunately, it let me come to a few realizations.”
“Realizations that lead to you cooking?” Marline asked as she poked at some kind of… fluorescent jellyfish like thing. “God it's been ages since you've made anything."
“I know right?” the boy said with a wide lopsided smile. “It’s been a while.”
“You don’t seem rusty,” the dark elf pointed out.
He favored his teammate with a look. “Ah, some things you never forget.”
For some reason, those words seemed to make a look of realization come over the dark elf as she once more gazed at the smorgasbord of food. Personally, Bonnlyn wasn’t too interested in figuring out why. All she wanted to do was dig her fork into a nearby stack of… something with rice.
“That’s… good?” Marline said.
William shrugged. “I’ve found it relaxes me. Lets me take my mind off… other things.”
Once more there was that queer look of realization. “Oh, then that is good.”
The boy just smiled. “Now, some of this is for Griffith and some is for the Whitehall twins, but there’s plenty for my team.”
None of the girls could move fast enough to sit down, barely waiting before tucking in.
“Oh, also, Verity?” William continued a moment later.
The girl in question glanced up in alarm, some kind of frosting already smeared across her lips. “Sorry! Was I not supposed to eat that bit!?”
“No, nothing like that. I’m glad you like it.” William smiled. “No, I was just going to ask how you’d feel if I bought your family’s contracts? Or yours, specifically? Then had them come live on my land. I’ve already got a patch of land set aside. To own in perpetuity.”
He paused, a complicated expression coming over his face. “Truth be told, I was going to just… do it without saying anything, but it occurred to me it’d probably be better to ask.”
Silence fell across the room, the sound of all chewing stopping instantly.
But for a small sound.
A low squealing that seemed to be emanating from a certain green skinned young woman.
Comments
Lurkemancer
I was specifically talking about William's turn from slacking rebel into someone that suddenly started pumping out new ways of magic, acing everything the academy threw at him (killing the fuckmothering God-Kraken in a replicable way). That sudden shift was a surprise even to his mother and Tala herself was also not unaware that William had some issues beforehand.
Househut21
A thought on Harrowing: Most of the written knowledge about harrowing probably comes from elves. As it has been mentioned before in the story Elves have a long view of history. If harrowing causes someone to go insane "in a short period of time", a human may interpret that as a year or a few months, for an elf it could be 10-20 years. William could just be checking off the boxes of the symptoms of Harrowing as it follows it's normal progression while thinking he's some kind of outlier or immune since he didn't go crazy years ago.
MarakEvans
Hype
Blue Fishcake
Beta readers have it :D
Conrad34xdsa
You still got 4 more hours left if you want to technically get the Friday release
Spintool
Oh, I fucking hate when people say “ 3 quarters past 9” or something similar like that. If you do that in California, people are gonna think you’re some stuck up Nobler than thou prick or European
Drunk Pop-Tart
Reminds me how over here in french when we say it's 5h45, we say 6hr minus a fourth. Which always confused me as a kid.
Trevayne
This is possible, more so for Tala than his mother. His mother has been familiar with his rebelliousness for the last ten years. If her discipline was going to cause a harrowing, why after he arrives at the academy and not before? Tala had never met him and had never really corresponded with him. IIRC he sent one reply saying he wasn't going to marry her and ignored the rest of her messages. She might think her efforts contributed to his harrowing, but his mother should know better. After all, she sent him to Blickland trying to get him to obey. She knows his behavior hasn't changed that much, she is just chagrined that it is now in public as opposed to being a family secret.
Andrew Lechner
Oh. Don't hear that phrasing often.
Trevayne
This is probably another minor example of how the US and the rest of the Anglosphere are countries separated by a common language. I haven't heard turned 7 used to describe nearing 7 pm, usually here it means someone has had a birthday and is now 7 years old. Thanks for keeping us informed on the expected date for the next chapter.
Blue Fishcake
Seven o'clock? I didn't think it was that strange a phrase :D
Andrew Lechner
What in the world does "turned seven" mean?
John
happy birthday
22junk
You’ve got 17 hours to be punctual by my clock.
Oreo-belt25
so close
Blue Fishcake
Just turned seven and I'm calling it for the evening :D Should be Saturday again.
Lurkemancer
"Clearly it is not seen as significant." That is due to the common shard having the ability to immediately gain altitude upon detaching from the carrier. WW2 planes lack that capacity; They'd actually have to dive, stabilize and then start gaining altitude. That is a massive difference that, for the average shard pilot would be an immediate deal breaker. "That can be a big advantage if the carrier is surprised" Even with just a basic set of lookouts (some troops with Mk-1 eyeballs), a carrier would hardly ever be surprised.
Lurkemancer
Lindholm already has some elf supremacist issues. The Solites are the same, but turned up a few notches. For the Solites, the notion of non-elven nobility likely is as offensive as free orcs are to the Blackstones; Thus I find it unlikely that the Blackstones would consider Solite rule acceptable. Granted, they might end up chancing it, assuming they learn of William's capabilities and end up trying to secure some truce with him.
Lurkemancer
After thinking a bit I get the feeling that the notion that William is harrowed will get out sooner or later, even if it is more a hushed secret than some publictopic. Sooner is likely. And I get the feeling that, should such happen, both William's mother and Tala would quickly arrive at the conclusion that their attempt at knocking sense into William was what prompted him to chose something quite so drastic; As in, them throwing William into military service spooked him too much, resulting in the boy resorting to something that no sane person would willingly pick for himself. After all, that lines up perfectly with a radical shift in William's behaviour. Said revelation happening before Tala's next encounter with William would likely add some real spice to such a scene.
Trevayne
I think William is being optimistic about when he can introduce things. As the saying goes, the enemy gets a vote too. He might want to keep the idea of chemical propellants for his future arguments with the Queen about democracy, but first they have to win the civil war. His current innovations might not be enough, especially if the Solites commit in the middle of it. I agree it is reminiscent of the cannon-carronade debate, with the difference that carronade armed ships normally carried about the same amount of ammunition. Here, a ship armed with spellcannons will rarely have the same ammunition load as an aether-cannon ship (technically it might have the same number of projectiles, but an aether cannon can fire shells until it runs out of shells, since the aether supply from the core is effectively infinite). The other difficulty is that as the range increases, so does the difficulty of the fire control problem. It would compound the issue of a decreased number of shots if the guns had a harder time hitting their targets at the increased range of a spellcannon.
Conrad34xdsa
I don’t necessarily disagree with your assessment. My point is that this would be something that can supplement chase guns or the upper deck guns. More importantly, this is something that William can create without needing to give them the idea of using the black powder to propel the ammo. He is saving that for when the time is right. On the topic, this reminds me of the whole Cannon vs. Carronade debate back during the age of sail. Carronades are cut down Cannons which means for a equivalent caliber, the Carronade can be lighter which means you can have more of them, you can fit them to ships that could not have that caliber if it was a Cannon. The main problem was range as with the short barrel you get a lower velocity and that leads to shorter range. This is not a problem in close quarters broadsides but if the engagement is fought at range then a all Carronade ship would be shot to pieces by ships with a relatively smaller caliber but greater ranged Cannons. This happened with the Essex vs. two Royal navy ships that had a mix of Cannons and Carronades whereas the Essex had I believe a all 32 pounder armament. I bring this up as now the Navy can have the debate for a longer range but limited ammo Spell Cannon vs. shorter range but more ammo. This would tip the balance for the other southern Ducal houses as they are less equipped than the Royal and northern houses. They are still using wooden hull ships but they could not retrofit the ships in time and they probably wouldn’t be inclined to do so. If instead they are given a cheaper alternative in the form of replacing their current armament with Spell Cannons, they can not only fight at safer ranges where armor matters less. They can now take the Aither that the old armament used up and divert it to the speed and maneuverability of the ships. Plus they can lighten the ships by removing excess tanks and piping. The cheap and merchant counties might not care about adding armor to their ship but if they can increase the speed of their ship which can get to market quicker without shirking their responsibilities as a levy and being called to the mast for removing their armament to do it. They would make the jump. And this would be another source of revenue for William and as I’m sure he would be more than happy to license the production to the crown for a share of the profits.
Trevayne
I agree that he couldn't get anywhere with his family, but he is a count in his own right now. The Queen may not always agree with him, but even she listens to his arguments now. I expect it will be easier for him to talk first because he now gets listened to.
13ry4n
I'm of mixed mind of the whole 'just talk to them' strategy thing, because it seems like he did actually try that and the only thing that got any sort of results was drastic action.
Trevayne
It could help, but it depends if this can be used to supplement aethercannons or replace them. Consider a ship that mounts 20 aethercannons. If they can add 10 spell cannons on top of those, everything is good. If, on the other hand, they have to replace 10 aethercannons to mount 10 spellcannons, things get more interesting. The ship starts out with more long-range firepower, but I expect a spell cannon would need a fullsized or at best a half sized spell slot (I doubt a 1/5 sized slot that works for a spellbolt gun would work for a spellcannon). So a typical craftsmage with two full sized spellslots would have either 2 or 4 shots for the spellcannon. Assuming the airship carriers an extra 20 craftsmage gunner personnel, it has 4-8 long-range shots per spellcannon, and then it runs out of ammunition for them. Now it has effectively half the armament it used to have so it is now at a disadvantage compared to other ships of its class. The other problem with this is that AFIAK, mages are not exactly underemployed. Putting 20 craftsmages on an airship takes them away from their production activities. Spellcannons may be worth doing, but they do have their downsides as well. Regular chemical propellants work much better.
Trevayne
A covert rescue might be possible, but would probably get Olivia killed. The Queen would be really pissed off at both William and Olivia. I don't think she really likes ordering the death of a 14-year-old, and if William hadn't goofed and let her get away it would not have been necessary. William will be incandescent with rage because he told her this would get her killed and now it looks like it is happening.
Conrad34xdsa
If she lets them know she is alive and willing to continue the Summerfield Scuffle, they might pull a covert rescue and then have her marry into the Blackstones and start said Scuffle.
Conrad34xdsa
I have a possible solution that William might come up with as a quick short term solution to the force parody problem. Plus it doubles as a way to make up for causing the Queen grief. Spell Cannons, If you can engage an enemy at 3x the distance the enemy can fire back, you can damage a portion of the fleet before the battle starts. They would need to crew Plebeian mages to work as “Spell-Monkeys” to provide the magic required for the cannons to operate without depriving the regular mage-knights the spell-slots they need to defend the crew. This would also have the added benefit of being a secret (mostly). Since it could be manufacture discreetly and could be installed on ships with minimal modification necessary. The bigger question is why isn’t the Blackstones making this invention? It might be a loophole around the spell bolt as it’s a cannon and not a small portable weapon.
MarakEvans
Hmm... seems we are diverging. The Blackstones are a subset of a larger set of the "Queen's enemies." For example, Solites and Lunites. Detecting the invisible with more mundane methods may be critical to identifying hostility. To be clear, some infiltration is always to be expected, non-royals are also expected. Even without regard to invisibility.
Trevayne
I don't really think it is William battling with George. I think his difficulty with and insistence on getting his point across is due to his family denying everything he has requested for the last ten-plus years. In fairness to his family, it is not that surprising that they blew him off and expected that he would forget about it and get with the Ashfield program. A couple of years later, they might have figured out that William is more stubborn than any child they have ever heard of, but I really doubt a ruling countess was going to back down and go along with her child's wishes. Instead, she doubled down and sent William in as a Royal cadet so he could not build his own team before he arrived. Thinking about it, the scene I would find amusing is assuming William's side wins and defeats the Blackstones, the New Havens, and the Solites, I could easily see William getting the New Haven Duchy. Then he goes over to his mother and tells her "If you had listened to me, the family might well have had two duchies (New Haven and Summerfield). Oh well, I guess you chose poorly". His mother, if Bluefishcake wants to throw her a bone, could respond with "Assuming you were in my place. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you would have bet the entire future of our family on the plans of an 8-year-old child?"
Trevayne
It would certainly help his mental issues if there were people he could talk freely with. The problem is that he has been keeping his secrets for a very long time. He also expects that he will be killed or imprisoned if they get out. Even with a geas, his teammates could be tortured into revealing his secrets. The torturers wouldn't care that it cost his teammates their magic. Also, even if they weren't captured and tortured, all it needs is one failure of vigilance and an eavesdropper learns things they shouldn't. I expect the geas terms would include never discussing his secrets outside a secure room like an alchemist lab that they have swept for invisible intruders and/or magical bugs.
Trevayne
Agreed, although I expect he will need to caution Verity that his ribs are not as strong as those of an orc. I expect they will all want to hug him and thank him. They just need to be careful to not break him.
Trevayne
Not quite. His family has been ignoring his protests since they sent him to the academy and he has cooked on multiple occasions since then. I don't think he has cooked since he made paella after killing Al' Hundra. I think William's mental issues are mainly from the treatment he received from his family, especially his mother, Countess Ashfield. Although thinking about it, she was probably treating him like a normal child. There was no way for her to know that he was mentally in his late 70s. William even realizes this in one of their conversations thinking that normal parents don't have to deal with their offspring coming up with and carrying out plans that take years to happen. In short, I expect William's issues are mainly from the way his family treated him. Complications from the harrowing didn't help, but I doubt they were the root cause. One way to try to think about the causes is to use a counterfactual. If, for example, the Ashfields had been abolitionists and dedicated supporters of the Queen, would he have had the same upbringing? I doubt it very much. He would not have had to protest his family's actions because they would have been on the same side. He certainly wouldn't have spent years being disciplined.
Bas van Lissum
I really love seeing william/george battleling with eachother in his mind. The way its written with "...because HE had to get his point across." As if his toughts are not his own, and seeing how his actions are objectively batshit-insane-dramaking stuff, where normally in fiction such actions are "heroic" or "a solid plan". I love this main character.
MaybeASquid
I wonder if the harrowing affects Gilliam depending on his mood, that it reads his subconscious and plays off it. He used to cook and use other implanted memories before his family ignored his protests about the marriage to Tala
Dancingrage
It's for planes that fly conventionally, not the ones that use mythril core and such. Core here only adds a bit of ballast and power to the guns...until he finalizes a proper percussion cap for ammo.
Trevayne
What I think would be really funny is if the war starts and the Northern Duchies think they are winning so New Haven stabs Blackstone in the back. Tala is commanding an outnumbered group of Blackstone ships and is saved by William's forces under his command. I hope this world has magical dentistry because I think Tala's teeth grinding might fracture her jaw. It would be even more amusing if she was taken prisoner and informed that uppity human nobles like the Blackstones will no longer be tolerated and she will be a New Haven slave. The teeth grinding after a rescue by William from that would probably be hard enough to convert the carbon in her dental plaque to diamond. The chef's kiss version would be if Tala was fleeing with her mother when they get captured and William rescued both of them. The pressure from the duchess' teethgrinding might convert her fillings into miniature black holes. For an extra special touch to all versions, bonus points if William tells Verity to free them and she is the one who breaks their chains. Blackstones freed from slavery by an orc. That would either really help adjust their attitudes or cause their heads to explode.
Trevayne
The thing is every other shard pilot uses shard bays and accepts the loss of altitude. Clearly it is not seen as significant. I think they will wind up using the flight deck for takeoffs, but not because of altitude concerns. I expect it is easier to move shards from a hangar to the flight deck than it is to move them to individual shard bays for launch. The big advantage of individual bays is that all the shards in bays can launch at once. That can be a big advantage if the carrier is surprised. For that matter, they might consider using launch tubes, where shards can launch directly from the hangar deck via the tube. It would be another way to get shares in the air faster.
9 o’clock
I would really like if we were to finally meet Verity family
Lurkemancer
That, however, goes against common practices that actually make sense no matter the world you're in. Altitude is a massive advantage. While during peacetime launching from an aircraft could be done by dropping the planes and letting them pick up speed that way, during wartime, the altitude lost to that process could and often would be detrimental. Why give away a potential altitude advantage when you could just spend a few weeks training your pilots to properly take off and land, after all.
Oneofmanynames385
I cannot wait for the moment Tala realizes just how far William is planning ahead…and for the fact she thought so poorly of him that she actually thought he would kill his own sister. SMH
Trevayne
They don't really need the extra speed as much. The big difference between launching from an airship carrier and a wet navy carrier is that an aircraft launched from a wet navy carrier only has a hundred feet or so to fall and must get to flight speed immediately. One launched from an airship carrier probably has several thousand feet to fall and get up to flight speed relatively slowly. That is why they could probably launch an internal combustion-powered shard from a shard bay like a regular shard. It just falls out of the bay in a dive and accelerates to flight speed. It can't land like a regular shard though, because an IC shard can't hover.
Trevayne
Yes, in particular, the Blackstones are going to have to make a decision at some point. Once they find out their "ally" is backed by the Solites, they can either back the crown and accept the end of slavery in order to keep Lindholm independent or they can remain opposed to the crown and hope that they are still in charge of their duchy under their new New Haven Solite governors, assuming they aren't just slaves alongside the orcs.
Trevayne
It is possible, but I think unlikely. It would confirm to the Blackwoods that Olivia is still alive and that perhaps their plans for the Summerfield duchy can be resurrected. Maybe if they find out that the Blackstones definitely know she is still alive and are no longer interested, or if the Summerfield succession happens and the new Duchess is known?
Jacob
Actually, I wonder if William might still let his sister maintain her correspondence with Tala (monitoring said communications of course, likely sharing that info with the queen to keep her from suspecting anything untoward by keeping her in the loop)
Zed Fox
I think there's common ground they can find, especially once she learns that Olivia is alive and well
Borisoff72
You said it, they can't hover, so they have to build up much more speed to take off. (Although launching from an airship gives you much more room for error). Will there be a pneumatic catapult system? It might not be needed. As for landing, you have to train the crew and pilots to use the hooks.
Hunter
Ok thank god it was just a ploy!… also… I’m feeling like he should come clean to his team-mates and make them swear a geass to never tell anyone he hasn’t already told and given them permission to reveal.
Lanze
awww I was optimistic about a gender-bent "enemies to lovers" scenario but Tala really HATES him huh. Is it too much to hope for Tala and William stuck behind enemy lines, they must work together to survive and find common ground and they slowly realize they work REALLY well as a team! finally they make it to an inn but oh no theres only one room and oh no it has only one bed!
Isak Mark
@Trevayne sort of, they aren't considered subject in the same sense as knights, and the peasantry for example. Each has a divine mandate to rule, unlike for example the Chinese system where there is only one son of heaven. They have inherent rights to negotiate and act unlike others. For example him taking his sister in is his inherent right, the queen can't interfere between the house of Ashfield and Redwater unless she revels the treason Ashfield has committed against her rule. He is well within his station to take his sister as a negotiated hostage. I think you are thinking about someone who has sworn fealty. Unlike a vassal and suzerain who has duties towards each other. Once you have sworn fealty you bend under their rule absolutely.
Trevayne
Assuming the conversation between Tala and her mother is happening at the same time as William's other conversations, it suggests that either the Blackstones are not watching Redwater, or they don't have fast communications with the watcher. The Duchess tells Tala that Olivia has disappeared and the Ashfields have broken with them. She thinks Olivia is imprisoned or dead. I think it is safe to assume that any Blackstone spy watching Redwater would report Olivia's arrival as fast as they could. I expect William is trying to keep his sister's presence a secret, but without actually locking her up, that will be hard. He can probably get his people not to tell anyone outside Redwater, but it would be a gossip topic inside his county. Any decent spy in Redwater should be able to figure it out and tell the Duchess. If she doesn't find out that suggests she doesn't have spies watching William. That is not unreasonable, since she has a lot of targets for her spies.
Trevayne
What is the big deal about a flat top takeoff and landing? Most airships carry shards and launch them from bays and land them the same way. Airships operating shards is routine. The purpose of adding a flattop is to let internal combustion shards land on the airship, since without mithril cores they can't hover and thus can't land in shard bays. They could launch from them, but can't land in them.
Trevayne
Vassals are subjects, just special ones in that they have their own subjects. William has never denied that the Queen is his monarch and that he is her subject. He has just insisted that the people in his county are loyal to him and through him to the Queen.
Trevayne
The taboo against harrowing is there because most of the harrowed are clearly mad. William is unusual in that he is a high-functioning harrowed who can convincingly imitate a normal person. I agree that George has some destructive tendencies, but I think that is from growing up and having most of his wishes and ideas refused or ignored. Children can get over this, but William was an adult masquerading as a child so it hit him harder.
Trevayne
Generating the ping is the easy part. Hearing and interpreting the echo is harder. I wonder if it would be easier to come up with a magic detector that picks up significant concentrations of raw aether. That could detect both conventional and submersible airships.
Trevayne
He knows that the Blackstones must have defenses against invisible agents because the Duchess of Blackstone is still alive. He speculates that the Blackstones may have their own invisible agents, but doesn't have any hard evidence that they exist yet.
MarakEvans
Agreed. Which is why I alluded to one cause of multiple outcomes.
MarakEvans
Agreed. But his opsec is probably above average by information age standards. And I doubt that he hasn't considered the possibility that the Queen's enemies also have some "invisibility potion" equivalent.
Borisoff72
If you can magically generate lighting, I imagine that a magical generated ping wouldn't be that hard.
Trevayne
Pretty sure William and George agree that killing the Queen's agents at this point is counterproductive. While the Queen may be the next opponent after the slavers, she is a key ally against the slavers.
Trevayne
It would be fairly easy. Just come up with a depth sensitive fuse, which given William's knowledge is fairly straightforward. After all, it is WW1 tech. Fully agree that detection is a bigger problem. I wonder if William could come up with a aether sonar or hydrophone.
Trevayne
I doubt William harrowed more than once. AFAIK harrowing as a child is highly unusual. I expect in this world childhood harrowing is one of the things that causes children to die. Surviving more than one would be like winning the lottery.
Borisoff72
It's more than that, there's destructive quality in George that either comes from George himself or from the Fae. The latter is more likely, as it's said they crave the emotional experience of humans like a crack addict. Solving problems with dramatic force and violence, rather than subtle reason is SOP for them. It's probably why the taboo against harrowing is there in the first place.
Brandon
I can't wait to see William demonstrate a carrier takeoff and landing for Xela and the instructor cadre
MarakEvans
Aye, it's possible. But General Electric makes things spin fast... to do laundry... or go BRRRRRRRRT
MarakEvans
*tsk* Since William and George are playing Red Team and Blue Team... I'm guessing some would be infiltrates are already thrown into the void. Eventually, the "invisible" ones would smear themselves inside or against some contraption the boy and man had installed. Naturally, such a contraption will come to the attention of the Queen's watchers.
Vlad Cold
Hm. I wonder how difficult it would be to transform 'kraken slayers' into 'submersible slayers' depth charges. However, the first problem would be to detect them...
Prometheus
Wait, if William's cooking and his... violent cooking... compete for dominance in his behavior, then they might not be from the same harrowing? Or maybe "cooking knowledge" is something that resonates with William rather than George? Did William harrow multiple times?
Pwntatochip
"Only a true god would deny his divinity" verity better not go full lorgar.
22junk
Book 1’s finale had the fae watching William work in his dream “with something a mortal mind might have called eagerness.” Maybe he wants chaos for some grander plan, maybe he doesn’t care why as long as William continues making pacts and whatever benefits that provides the fae, or maybe it’s just a facet of its personality that it finds his shenanigans interesting. Even if it’s too alien to relate to it must be intelligent; it responded to the name Puck and referred to William as Contractor. It’d be cool to get another look at Puck. I’m guessing this whole thing from William’s initial Harrowing has been a Death Note situation. “I’m bored. How about I download miraculous war machines from another world and a contentious personality into this baby?”
MaybeASquid
I'm starting to think Blue is leaving Tala open to eventually reform and make the true racial zealot her mother
Lurkemancer
Considering the situation between the guards and him, he'd probably either hunt them down with his usual detection methods in private and have a chat with them. And William, being essentially the highest authority on his own lands can easily create a situation where he's in private with someone.
SmallTownBo
Looks like nuclear weaponry is off the menu! Glad Karla isn't dead, although we need a chapter with Olivia already! And it's nice to see Tala isn't so cold hearted. Seeing Olivia is not only alive, but being protected by William, maybe she could still be an ally.
Trevayne
I wonder if Verity is aware that Marline's house has sworn to aid William for the next three generations. If so, I wonder if she will pledge her family's service for four generations?
Trevayne
Yes, but unlike normal, he has to ensure they are in the room. Most times, he suspects their presence and chases them out. Here, he needs them present. I suspect he writes a note and leaves it on his desk while he gets Xela. He probably tells them to flip the note upside down to confirm their presence. He needs to know that they know what he is doing. He also needs to do this without tipping off Xela that the Queen has invisible spies watching him.
Lurkemancer
To be fair, BFC averages over 1 cliffhanger per chapter; Not all of them will end up being masterstrokes of writing.
Wolf_Senpai
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE. Please :3
Luke Payne
He explained to Xera, and the agents would know as they would be in the room.
The Fire Piper
Aw... the end made me tear up! Thank you Blue!
Jacob
I'm waiting to hear the reactions when he introduces tacos to this world.
Trevayne
Possible, but unlikely. If the Fae wanted more wars, they would be easy enough to arrange. This is a feudal society. Wars are relatively common. If anything, William is likely to lead to a spike in wars and then a decrease because the enemies of Lindholm will be nervous about fighting it given the new tech displayed.
BittCo
i was just going off how wills first choice is always the most dramatic one that generates the most emotion, and how that only really benefits the fae.
Trevayne
William's drama king tendencies might be mitigated by his County. I expect a fair portion of his issues with just asking and talking to people and getting their agreement through discussion comes from his upbringing. His mother wanted things her way and didn't care. William has begun to realize there are other methods by just talking with Team 7. He explains to them and tries to justify things like how he got them into extra training sessions in the first place and gave the team a break because Bonnlyn was reaching her breaking point. Now that he is a count, people, especially those in his county can not dismiss his words. Given that, the habits developed from his mother dismissing all of his arguments should start to recede into the past.
Oreo-belt25
I don't think the Fae are Sapient in the same way we are. If they could scheme like that, there's alot of other things they could do first
BittCo
what are the chances the fae are trying to use william to recreate the world wars or some kind of social upheaval so that they can feed on the societal trauma it causes.
SpecterJedi
I vote war
Trevayne
I know this whole story seems to be headed towards a war, but I think it still could be avoided. If William or one of the Queen's agents finds out about the deal between New Haven and the Solite Empress. The Queen can then offer Blackstone a choice, ending slavery and staying part of an independent Lindholm or keeping slavery and maybe winding up as slaves of the elves alongside the orcs. If the Duchess wants to take her chances, Tala might seize the opportunity to switch sides.
Lurkemancer
Personally, I'd prefer if Marline offered to take a geas only for William to refuse. Mostly because what I think William needs is someone he trusts. And a geas is just a poor fascimile of that. But yes, that discussion would be extremely fun to watch. Especially because a frazzled Marline on the edge of sanity gazing upon the works of William is funny. It's the cherry on top.
Trevayne
I don't think there is a "dark passenger". There is just George playing William and not being able to tell the truth about his situation to anybody and staying in character for 16+ years. It is also because he hasn't been able to get his family to see things his way for ten-plus years. Granted, part of that is because he has been deliberately acting up to aggravate his family. His first choice is being a drama king and forcing people to follow his choices because his family has been blowing him off and ignoring his choices for a decade. Conversations have never worked for him. He assembles his arguments and they are ignored or overruled. He could have pointed out to Karla that while yes, a conversation might have worked, it would have been the first time in over a decade that it did. That is why he ignored the option.
22junk
Can a monarch not legally order a lord on matters concerning the whole nation?
22junk
His goals almost entirely concern the fate of others; calling him just straight evil is too much. I’m no psychologist, but I’ve read that psychopaths are on a scale rather than just a yes or no answer. Based on his willingness to manipulate people he loves I’d say he’s perhaps a bit further along than average. Whether that’s a result of the Harrowing, a part of George’s personality, or harboring secrets from everyone for technically most of his actual life I couldn’t say. Hopefully Marline will get more comfortable with calling him out on his BS.
Trevayne
Another name issue is that the Duchess of Blackstone was Eleanor Blackstone in chapter 25 on Royal Road. In this chapter she is introduced as Elanore Blackstone. "Contrary to the rest of the ship, which was little more than bare steel devoid of decoration, Elanore Blackstone’s cabin" All the subsequent mentions in the chapter are of Elanor Blackstone. Edit: The twins should be Whitemorrow, not Whitehall unless he knows a second set of twins. The boy just smiled. “Now, some of this is for Griffith and some is for the Whitehall twins, but there’s plenty for my team.”
Trevayne
Err, no. He has considered the fate of others. In fact, he thinks his actions may well result in his own death as well as the deaths of others. He just thinks ending slavery on Lindholm is more important. I think he would be happy to end slavery without any deaths, but he doesn't think it is feasible. Edit: He is definitely considering the fates of others. He just values the fates of the enslaved above the fates of the enslavers.
Folly Industries
Agreeing with the the others, I could see tala either being a good foil or being turned by the sister perhaps. Either way she's interesting
ChaosAndBunnies
Given that Marline's aunts are on the estate, any non-invisible kidnappers would probably be dead before they made it through the door. That girl comes from a family of terminators.
ChaosAndBunnies
The harrow was to give him the complete knowledge of George Statfield, even if it was because baby William screwed up saying his dad's name, that was what he asked for and the Fae follow requests to the letter. We also know that it's impossible to forget harrowed knowledge, or for it to degrade. It's static. William remembers every event, thought, and feeling that ever occurred in George's life better than we remember our own. He probably would've gone insane if he wasn't so young when he did it, since there'd be a less plastic identity to conflict with it. That's what happens when you harrow a person, I guess. These are all things that have been individually stated over the course of the story. As for my own theorizing, I'm imagining that the static nature of what encompasses George has become the baseline for what William is, and it causes all of his thoughts and actions to drift into alignment with George even when he actively resists them. Like trying to be nice to someone while someone else is repeatedly whispering "punch them" into your ear. I don't doubt that there's room in William's mind to develop more 'him' beyond the harrowed memories, but it's always going to be at a disadvantage against the immovable glacier that is George Statfield in his mental harddrive, and would probably be the only thing to go if he developed Alzheimer's. On another note, we don't know that George was a soldier in WWII. We know that he served in some military force, was a pilot, and died at 80. He has perfect memory of all sorts of weapons, aircraft, and other things, from a Roman Pilum to a Fat Man, but could very well include futuristic weapons too, so the fact that he's using things from WWI-II era in a low-tech setting where it wouldn't make sense to start churning out modern weapons probably shouldn't be treated as confirmation for anything.
Isak Mark
The main character is evil. He doesn't care about the fate of others so long as his goals are reached.
Borisoff72
Christ, I'm going to bet this world doesn't have good shrinks for him to see about this either. To be fair, 80% of the ones on our world are quacks.
Isak Mark
I think the drugging and kidnapping isn't caused by the harrowing. It's due to William being forced to hide almost everything about himself for almost 2 decades. It's extreme and he doesn't realize that
Borisoff72
"Indeed, it was almost unnaturally hard not to do so." If this story never reveals what little William asked the Fae I'm going to be sofa king pissed. His " dark passenger" trying to get force a direct armed confrontation with the Blackstones makes some sense. However, what in God's name would push it to come up with the fake kidnapping scheme? It doesn't even use knowledge gained from harrowing (slipping people roofies doesn't count).
Isak Mark
Unrelated to this chapter. One thing that has been bugging me, this story seems to be using medieval european aristocracy as its base. The queen regarding William as a subject but not as a vassal is out of sorts. He is a lord of his own county not a subject.
Trevayne
Thinking some more about the kidnapping, I wonder if William explained things to the Queen's agents beforehand. Things could have gotten really awkward if they intervened. In the worst case, the agents could have tried to shoot Olivia thinking she was being kidnapped by the Blackstones.
Trevayne
Agreed. I think Marline would be an excellent person to talk to, especially since she already has one geas about keeping some of his secrets. He could ask her for another geas about keeping the secrets he will tell her, and after the geas is in p!ace, he can tell her about George and explain. He should probably do it in an alchemy lab after throwing in a grenade to guarantee there are no invisible spies. I think it would be a fascinating conversation.
Isak Mark
I really liked this chapter. It shows how his unwillingness to trust others isn't inherently due to his harrowing but a learned trait from having to keep his true identity from others.
Bradiation
Wait, is it explicitly said "that he at some point used said planes", because I'm pretty blue said at one point that he remembers anything George ever read. So I take that to mean that at some point George either just read the Wikipedia page of the F4U-Corsair (and thus also inherited all knowledge of the inner workings of the aircraft, as can be inferred from when Blue mentioned that George knows all details about every weapon ever), or at some point he saw the Corsairs blueprints. Also, am I the only one that thought George was an engineer before he died? Is this just a complete false memory on my end?
Trevayne
Harrowing might be affecting his actions, but I think it is a minor issue compared to his inability to trust anyone in his family for his entire life. He has effectively been a deep cover agent playing the role of William Redwater/Ashfield and has never had the opportunity to tell the truth to anyone. For that matter, I expect part of his problem with just talking to people is that his last sixteen years with his family has convinced him that nobody ever listens. This has probably reinforced his tendency to act and present people with a fait accompli rather than just talking to them and trying to persuade them. He could have replied to Aunt Karla's comment by saying something like "Sorry, but the last 16 years with the Countess refusing to listen left me with a distrust of simple conversations accomplishing anything with my family".
Borisoff72
He had Xela talk at first, probably.
Trevayne
I do think there is an interesting possibility in the future. At some point, their New Haven allies are going to turn on them. Elanor and Tala are even anticipating it. What they aren't anticipating is that New Haven will be allied with the Solites. Once they find out, they will have a choice. Are they more loyal to the idea of an independent Lindholm or do they hate the orcs so much they will go under the Solites just to keep the right to enslave orcs.
Lurkemancer
Here's hoping that the next chapter will include Marline getting to find out some details and act as William's post-harrowing therapist for a while. I mean, if he's going to start trusting people, the person who has damn near sworn a blood oath to you is one of the better places to start. Oh, and I'm very much hoping for Tala to eventually try and leak the info about the subs herself, because the notion of civilians taking the brunt of her mother's schemes sits poorly with her, only to end up with a very awkward 90 minute conversation on various topics with William, ending up with a very weird mix of emotions towards him by the end of things. And maybe a casual few hours of just chatting with Olivia. Because a Tala heel-face turn would be neat.
Blue Fishcake
Will go in and fix. That particular error always seems to slip through :D
Lurkemancer
Xela is an obvious one, as it's mentioned directly. And probably the pair of guards assigned to Olivia.
Melody Mae
Hopefully not. I appreciate the characters and all but William is functionally, like, a middle aged man. That sort of predatory action wouldn't be pleasant to read, especially because the teenagers really do feel like teenagers. It would be one thing if they didn't, and it was just some arbitrary number, but William is very clearance an entirely different world than them and that sort of difference would be... gross.
Lawrence Christian
Yeah if Tala can break herself out of the racism and conditioning, there could be a genuinely decent person under there. Maybe even an ally, somewhere down the line. Wouldn't that be a trip?
Lurkemancer
A few things: First, there's nothing wrong with examining the merits of both sides of a proposition. Second, George having been a WW2 soldier is merely speculation; However, all we really know is that he at some point used said planes. Entirely possible that some history enthusiast born in 2545 decided to rebuild one and had some fun with his mates shooting rounds at each other. All it really does is put George's birth date to "after 1900". Third, I recall William musing on how he remembers most of his life - Including that he "already has a mother" beyond the one with his current biological link. Finally, there is genuine merit to the point that William's issues aren't just his harrowing. Playing the spy games for a decade does mess people up, after all.
BelligerentGnu
And all of this doesn't even mention the physical abuse and bigotry.
Marius Petrauskas
great stuff, thx.
Trevayne
Fully agree and I am also glad that it was a fake kidnapping. I am curious though about just who he got to "kidnap" his sister. Presumably a few of the Redwater guards, which is why Olivia thought she recognized something about their accents.
David Giles
It's the standard fascist playbook, the enemy is simultaneously an existential threat while being inferior in every way.
Duncan Sharp
There's a lot of swapping back and forth between "Xera" and "Xela"
Harrison F
Yeah I mean, he is familiar with computers and wikipedia if I recall
Trevayne
I agree with the first part more than the second. The harrowing maybe a factor, but most of it is that he has effectively been a deep cover intelligence agent with zero support for all but the first two years of his entire life. He has been living a lie since he woke up in a toddler's body. He mentioned that he might well have gone nuts years ago if he couldn't distract himself learning how magic works in this new world.
Morpheus
True and fair enough. But since 'WWII pilot' is a perfectly reasonable inference and rule-of-cool definitely favors it over the other options, I'm going with that till contradicted.
Trevayne
Yes, she is, and it may well get even worse. I can just see William telling her that she should not worship him because he is human and can make mistakes. She will respond that his telling her that makes her even more inclined to respect him. They will both be right.
Trevayne
His mind's eye is using a pc as his preferred interface so that means 1980s or later. Back in chapter 1 he mentioned memories as a pilot. Several have interpreted this as a WW2 pilot, but while he could have been a WW2 pilot, he could just as easily have been a postwar military pilot or a commercial pilot or even a general aviation (Cessna or Piper Cub) pilot.
Gjim
William needs some sort of advisor before he does his... shenanigans. It does make for an entertaining read. He also needs a drama lama, as it would be a fitting mount for a drama king.
Duncan Sharp
Yeah, generally? Over the top. With Olivia specifically? Girl was waiting to pull some mischief with unforeseen consequences.
Morpheus
His mind's eye armory thing includes the Fat Man, so its WWII or later.
Morpheus
I'm also glad the kidnapping was fake. That would have cause so much plot to happen when so much OTHER plot hasn't happened. He haven't met any of the princesses, we haven't met Verity's family, we've only sorta barely met Marlene's family, has he even been formally coronated as a lord yet? that was a thing they had put off, the sister act with the twins is just getting going, SO MUCH PLOT TO HAPPEN!!!
Admiralthrawnbar
We don't even know if he was a WWII soldier. Hell, technically the soldier part itself is more of an educated guess and hasn't been outright stated AFAIK
Mark
I cannot recommend potato - bread replacements enough. Take hash browns and cook em in a waffle maker. Slab of meat between them and you’ve got a celiac friendly burger.
Morpheus
Honestly I'm not 100% sure how much of his difficulty in trusting others, and considering their viewpoints, is even the Harrow at all, even if he now thinks it is. Ever since he was 'Functionally' 8-years old. He's been effectively operating as his own agent against his own family, never able to fully trust his 'mom' and needing to constantly hide his plans from them. Harrow or no harrow that's GOING to affect his psychology. He acts like he's above it all. Like he's playing a part because he's really 80ish years old and this is all just a transient thing. his mom not really begin his mom and all. I call BULLSHIT on his own interpretation of himself. I don't care how much experience he effectively has having been born with someone else's memories. You don't live with people for 20 odd years, hide your entire identity from them that whole time, and your plans from them for 2/3rds of that. and expect it to NOT affect your thought process. He's lived most of his whole second lifetime so far in a state of only being able to trust himself. That's going to affect him. He's trained himself for over a decade to rely on himself only, so no shit his instinct is to disregard Marlene's words, no wonder it takes effort to make himself think differently. Non of that requires 'tHe HaRrOw' to explain, he could just have serious, but mundane, trust issues stemming from how he's lived this life so far; and now needs to learn to finally let a certain dark elf in. Heck since the harrow seems focused on "tech that involves explosions" and adjacent memories. Does he even remember George's childhood? or death? neither have been mentioned I don't think. His harrow could be limited to the time period between the first time George picked up something that goes boom until the last time he put such a thing down. There could even be long periods of George's life missing, like if he took a vacation / honeymoon and didn't blow something up, that bit of time might just NOT be included. Heck WAS George married? did he have parents? kids? we know basically nothing about the guy other than 'WWII soldier' and that makes me wonder if WILLIAM knows anything else about him either. Maybe he thinks that's all George was. That could be why he defaults to the most violent of solutions and thinks they are the obvious most logical answers, because his 'George' backup is not all of George, just the soldier parts. I know at this point I'm kinda arguing in favor of the harrow causing his behavior when I argued the opposite a minute ago but... it could be both. Fully mundane trust issues from his childhood coupled with a war fixation caused by the 'George' backup being incomplete; leads to myopic death seeker behavior that he needs to break before it ends him.
Trevayne
It is a telling comment on William's behavior in that his entire team is struck silent in astonishment at the idea that William would ask a person before just doing something that affects them. Granted, Verify isn't struck silent, but that is because of the magnitude of the gift and that William is asking her.
Lurkemancer
Damn. And here I was, thinking you simply were "doing research" for any potential continuation for Sexy Sect Babes... Namely, by spending too much time playing Factorio.
Trevayne
I agree that the Blackstones are continuing to underestimate the orcs. I also think they need to work on their technical intelligence. They figured out that the captured airships were converted to submersible airships. However, they apparently haven't identified the screamers. They also don't realize that these airship-subs have had their gun ports sealed so they have no offensive armament aside from their wyverns and marines.
MaybeASquid
I can't wait for the academy to react to the Corsair s that are coming
Matt Bradock
The folly of dehumanizing your enemy or scapegoat is the inevitable underestimation of them. If they are inferior, they can't possibly come up with something you didn't think about, right?
Blue Fishcake
I recalled that too and just made a few small edits to said scene :D Thanks for pointing it out though. As the author, I sometimes struggle to remember what I've written, what I wrote and removed, and what I thought about writing :D
Ryno Botha
On that note will the book after this also be steam punk ?
Black Rabbit 07
Simple conversation < CIA scared straight
Blue Fishcake
I recalled that too and just made a few small edits to said scene :D
Trevayne
Another good chapter, thankfully not ending on another cliffhanger. I did wonder about this part. "Actually, when was the last time he’d done any cooking? Once upon a time he’d done it pretty much every day. Now he couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d stepped into a kitchen. Not since he’d gotten started on creating weapons to beat Tala." I am pretty sure he cooked paella just after killing Al'Hundra. He said something about having a hankering for seafood and Marline nearly choked. I thought he had started to work on the weapons against Tala by then. He certainly had the flash-bang and I thought he was already testing the spell-bolt rifle.
Admiralthrawnbar
Good luck with that, I have a friend with Celiac's and it's not a fun disease to have, though obviously it's far better knowing about it and knowing what to avoid
Trevayne
Agreed. The last sentence was a bit of misdirection. Olivia should have immediately recognized his voice. Even if they haven't had their conversation., she had heard him talk that afternoon.
Morpheus
** “Realizations that lead to you cooking?” Marline asked as she poked at some kind of… fluorescent jellyfish like thing. “I know you said you could cook, but I didn’t really… “Believe me?” the boy said with a wide lopsided smile. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. It’s been a while.” ** He's cooked for them before. Bonlynn even jokingly asked him to marry her after she ate it.
Admiralthrawnbar
I can't believe you gave us that cliffhanger last chapter only to open with it all being faked. I will never trust again
mraanonymous
I love the chapter. Are you sure you’re not gonna do any lemons between William and his team?
Andrew
Thank you!
Oreo-belt25
huh, there goes my bet that the kidnapping was by a third party. And yay for Tala redemption arc. She's definitely a good person, perhaps an antagonist but not a villain Also, score +1 for the theory that the harrowing did more to affect William than just basic psychology. Though, truthfully, I'm glad. William's lack of flaws was the main reason I didn't like him as much as Jack Johenson. He's been too much of a Gary Sue so far. Jack was out for his own gain but through it, discovered what it means to be a leader. William hasn't had much in the way of character arcs or themes yet.
MillionLittleE
Basically all but confirmed he is harrowed to his teammate
Baron Von Mott
Called it! I knew that "kidnapping" wasn't all it seemed to be! 😂 Meanwhile William is getting his thoughts back under control, his teammates acting as valuable emotional anchors to keep him from going full "harrowed psychopath". And of course, the Blackstones are scheming away as usual... I am getting really interested in where this sub-plot (no pun intended) about the orc resistance is going to end up...
Carlos Torres
So George must have been a Jason Borne style CIA asset to think the first option must be the most efficient extreme option. I personally don't think he was wrong to do go to these lengths. These "hey this is overdramatic don't you think" comments are kind of annoying in the sense that a lot of innocent people would have died because of these peoples plans so a measured proportionate response kind of gets thrown out the window.
22junk
William needs to start running every decision by Marline before he isolates his family, friends, or entire nations more than he has. Also, it shows just how deep in their mental rut the Blackstones are that they find out the orcs have revolutionized core based vehicles but don’t consider they may have also invented something like the Screamer. Obviously they must have been avoiding Krakens somehow, but it’s like they can’t credit them any intelligence unless the proof is slapping them in the face.
Lawrence Christian
God he really is a dramatic man, isn't he? It's good to see him slowly start to listen to the people around him though. Poor Verity's gonna be even more smitten now...
Jake the L
Saw the reddit notification and began a one-man DDOS attack on patreon trying to load the new chapter
Papa Pepperoni
Was basically staring at my phone waiting for notification... Was willing to pull an all nighter
Divinor
100% disagree with Xela - the theatrics were absolutely necessary. There is no way Olivia would have understood with a simple conversation. Maybe over a prolonged period of time, but time is not exactly an abundant resource right now.
Blue Fishcake
Sorry this one was a bit late. Been to the docs and now I'm getting a CT scan and a blood test to see if I've got Celiac. Which would be interesting. Either way, my new GP is perplexed I haven't already been tested for it. On a brighter note, we're now in our final third of Steampunk book two :D Officially my longest book to date.
