Sorry for the delay, but a shit ton of assessment (2 large essays and 1 team project) came up and I had to dedicate effort to those. Then I felt burnt out for a while. But I am back!
I also had a conversation with a certain person via private messaging. I asked what he/she thought about Astramille using unethical (if not borderline criminal and psychopathic) means to get home.
This was the response:
Moralities be f***, if I were in his place I will do everything to go home, even if a few bodies have to drop. Why? Because we know how Kenkou Cross' work works. In the end, it is always a happy ending for the majority.
So I am here to ask for a favour. Tell me if you like how Astramille starting to use Machiavellian means to get home? Is consorting with the Noscrims and maybe the Inquisition going too far? After all I did promise that Astramille would screw over the Order and maybe the monarchy, so is this breaking that promise?
Then and again, Inquisitor Astramille leading a bunch of soldiers with semi-modern weapons into battle sounds pretty fucking awesome.
The Fairy Kingdom
As Astramille left the manor, escorted by the knight, Wilmarina watched from her bedroom window. The hero had returned while Astramille and her father were talking. She overheard from the priest and the knight that Astramille had come to visit.
Shocked doesn't even begin to describe how Wilmarina felt, given how their last meeting on the town square. She was even more surprised that Astramille had managed to turn the conversation around. According to the maid Azura, the high priest even offered high quality tea from the Mist Continent and biscuits. Azura even said she heard the high priest laugh.
Wilmarina initially felt relieved. Astramille is truly remarkable for changing her father's perception of himself. She recalled the times when the high priest fumed with rage at his disrespect.
But what Azura said next froze her heart.
"I heard Astramille saying by the time he was done with Elt, the peasant boy will be no more, or something like that. I have heard rumors about that man and his parents from the older servants. No wonder the master is pleased."
Wilmarina quickly retreated to her room. After successfully holding in her tears, she discovered her sadness turning into rage. Why should this stranger interfere with her life? Did he not claim to come from a more enlightened society that frowned upon separating lovers? Is he a hypocrite like her father and the Order?
Her hands clenched into fists. Astramille better not be serious about doing away with Elt. Otherwise, Astramille will be dead before he knew what hit him.
Wilmarina glared at Astramille from her window. She will be wary of him from now on.
The Monster Girl Encyclopedia universe doesn't just contain Heaven and the human world. A myriad of other dimensions exist as well, among them the Fairy Realms. Created by Titania's with magical power rivaling the gods, they are home to a variety of fairies. Entering a fairy realm is difficult as it requires fairies to dance a "fairy circle" to teleport someone there.
Unfortunately, fairies are not the best at border security, having the tendency to bring back anyone they believe is a good playmate. This can range from humans to monsters like pixies and members of the Sabbath. Thus, the fairy realms are becoming demon realms at disturbing speeds.
Of course that did not apply to all fairy realms. The fairies are so fun obsessed and borderline drugged with happiness due to kesaran parasan pollen filling the skies.
This fairy realm is different. A lack of kesaran parasans meant that while the fairy residents of this realm were happy, they weren't in a drug-induced happiness. These fairies can also think about things other than games and fun.
Other than the lack of living hallucinogenic drug dispensers, the world was remarkably similar to other fairy realms. Beautiful natural scenery stretched to the horizon. Some regions possessed massive forests while others were large grasslands. Towns of mushroom houses and tree houses are scattered throughout the realm, inhabited by the various fairies and other animals. A castle stood in the distance, its architecture remarkably similar to Victorian-era England. That is the castle the titania of this dimension lives in.
A figure of a curvy, busty woman sat in a large room, behind a wooden desk. She looked to be in her early 20s. Her long waist length hair is straw colored, while her eyes are blue. She is draped in sparkling translucent robes. A pair of large butterfly wings adorned her back. She is a titania, fairy queens that ruled over the multitude of fairy realms. Her name is Aine and she is perhaps the only titania that exhibits definite anti-monster sentiment. After all, she saw how other fairy realms fell to demonic corruption and swore it would never happen to her world. Thus Aine maintained ties with order nations, selling fairy powder and sweets in exchange for knowledge and technology. The architecture of her castle reflected her particularly close ties with Sax-Juton nations.
Right now, she is examining a disassembled firearm, part of which are scattered on her table. The weapon was purchased from an inquisitor in the Sax-Juton kingdom of Brenlon, evident in the Old English script. Long before the Order unified the continent under a single banner, Gothian and Sax-Juton peoples had a feud that lasted almost as long as the one between elves and dwarfs. Superior metallurgy allowed Gothians to make better swords and armor, but the Sax-Juton use of longbows and crossbows were equally devastating.
The Sax-Jutons were the first to acquire gunpowder, given their close proximity to the warring nations of the Mist Continent. Fortunately, by that time the Order has unified the fighting forces of the continent and the Gothians did not have to face Sax-Juton cannons. Although gunpowder use has spread to other Order nations, firearms are most common in Sax-Juton nations, especially Welsple.
The titania then began putting the parts together with dexterity one would expect from a trained musket trooper. If Astramille was present, he would be shocked. As a gun nut and military otaku, he would recognize the weapon as a modern rifle.
Of course, the gun as only a muzzle loading musket. The only difference was that powder ignition as done via a tiny gemstone that contained fire magic. The trigger assembly activated the gem, which would ignite the powder. Such weapons are called gemlocks, which can only be used by those who possess some magic potential. Matchlocks and flintlocks were more common.
The sound of footsteps distracted the titania from her task.
"I am back, my queen," said Stella as she entered the room.
"Well, I must say," Aine sounded surprised, "I wasn't expecting this. You don't come back as often as the other Leanan Sidhes."
"Sorry," Stella grinned before stopping in front of Aine's desk, "but I have received a job that I can't complete without some help."
"So that is why you came back," Aine said with mock disappointment, "oh well, what is it?"
Stella put the papers on Aine's desk, "A man said he wanted drawings in this book replicated and printed onto paper of this quality."
"Oh?" Aine picked up the papers, "This is some fine paper. Not even the Mist continent nations could make this."
She flipped through the pages, "Hmm, Sax-Juton language. These look like images of some mechanical implement."
After a few more pages, she frowned, "But this is nothing like the stuff the Sax-Jutons have. Its way more sophisticated. And tools it lists as necessary are not known to exist in this world."
"Of course not," Stella replied, "this man, called Astramille, came from another world, where there are no monsters or gods. Humans and animals there do not have souls. Astramille didn't tell me this himself, of course, but I did a little snooping around. General Merse told me about him. She was drunk as hell at the time."
"Huh," Aine nodded, "so uhh, he wanted the drawings replicated on paper of this quality, right? Well, it is going to take the combined magic of several fairies. I may even have to take part in this project personally."
She paused for a bit before continuing, "But before we do, I would like someone to have the entire document, images and text, copied onto another book. This is so we can return the original papers to the owner. And so that we can try and duplicate this ourselves or pass this to our allies."
"But," Stella frowned, "Merse said Astramille himself said it was impossible for what he called 'modern gunpowder weapons' to be built in this world. It required an entire industry base."
"Well," Aine smiled, "he only saw Lescatie. As good as that place is for making heroes, it ain't the best place to get an accurate view of technology. I always thought it was largely a backward shithole, ran by ultra conservative maniacs."
She looked at the paper again, "Besides, what we lack in these so-called 'electric power tools', we can make up in magic and Sax-Juton steam and magitec. And if chemical substances are needed, we can use magic and alchemy to make suitable substitutes."
Stella nodded, "Well then, I will quickly duplicate this document."
"Not quickly," Aine said as she handed it back to her, "but in great detail."
Stella nodded in acknowledgement before leaving.
The Leanne Sidhe entered a large cathedral like structure. Like the castle, it is built to human scale. Aine's realm contained quite a few buildings suitable for humans. The real difference was that they were heavily influenced by Sax-Juton architecture, though Gothian and Gaulberian influences could also be seen.
The interior of the building was beautifully furnished. Polished floorboards of Lescatie Oak and carpet imported from Talaram covered the ground. Stained glass windows, with a Gothian art style, adorned the walls.
Stella continued her walk until she pushed open a door. Inside the room, vast rows of shelves reached to the high ceiling, each one crammed full of books. Some of the books were for humans while others are tiny, for the fairies. The room was like the Lescatie Library, but kept in much better condition. Lots of fairies can be seen. Most of them were in their smaller forms, though a couple of Leanne Sidhes were in human size as well. Also visible were male humans dressed in clerical outfits.
"Hey girls," Stella grinned, "look who is back?"
The Leanne Sidhes looked up, as did a few fairies.
"Whoa, Stella," said a fairy, swooping down upon her glittering wings and stopping in front of Stella's face, "it isn't often that you come back. How have you been?"
"Yeah," said a Leanne Sidhe, in human size, "Lescatie is not the kind of place you want to stay in for too long. Unless you live in the dazzling central district."
"Busy," Stella laughed, "but don't worry, I brought back some goodies."
She showed everyone the booklet, "I ran into a man who was summoned to this world or something. And he brought this thing with him."
"Hmm, 'A Guide to Drilling, Reaming and Broaching a Bolt Action Receiver at Home'," the Leanne Sidhe said, "so it is a guide to crafting something."
"Oh," Stella raised an eyebrow, "you understand, Celeste?"
Celeste, like Stella, worked as a librarian. But while Stella worked for the Order in Lescatie, Celeste worked for Welsple and reported directly to the monarchy. Like Stella, Celeste looked like she was in her early twenties. But she is ancient, almost as old as Queen Aine. Both were from the era of the previous Demon Lord, which contributed to their distrust of monsters. Her orange hair is shoulder length and rather wild for a fairy. She is dressed in a long white coat with two rows of golden buttons. Under that she wore a black vest, white shirt and an ornamental tie/ribbon hybrid. Dark grey trousers and knee high boots give her a more no-nonsense kind of look.
"Indeed," Celeste replied, "drilling, reaming and broaching all refer to crafting processes. Welsple machinists would understand. So the man has instructions for making sophisticated machines."
"Really?" Stella asked, "Because I read the first five pages and it is all about law stuff and whether making this firearm is legal and some story about how the writer got interested in making guns at home after visiting a funeral."
Now Celeste seemed confused, "What? That's, kind of…screwed up?"
Just then something flew through the air and hit Celeste in the back of her head. It made a distinct crack sound before falling to the ground and shattering.
"Quiet," said a fairy who fitted the old fashioned teacher steretype, fluttering in the air and holding chalks that looked ridiculously huge in her hands, "this is a library. You want to talk? Go outside."
"Tee hee," Stella poked her tongue out, "we're going now."
Stella and Celeste quickly transformed into their fairy size forms and fluttered out.
"Damn, kids," the fairy said, "it's finally quiet."
The two Leanne Sidhes flew out of the library, Stella holding the booklet that was bigger than herself and probably heavier. Hell, a booklet does not have more than a hundred pages. Fairies, by virtue of their small size, could lift things that are heavier than themselves. Call it the square cube law roided up by magic.
Another difference between Stella and Celeste could be seen. Stella and most other fairies have wings like a butterfly. Celeste was a part of the minority with wings of other insects. Hers in particular was that of the dragonfly.
"So," Stella said, "where next?"
"Eh, come to the printing houses," Celeste replied, "you said you wanted those papers reproduced, right?"
The two then fluttered over to another building. This one is vastly different. Unlike the other buildings which have Order Continent influences, this one looked Chinese, or Mist Continent influenced. Despite the Mist Continent being called "uncivilized", quite a few revolutionary inventions came out of the continent. Gunpowder, double piston flamethrowers, porcelain, silk and moveable type printing.
It is only natural that the building would be influenced by Mist Continent architecture, for it is the printing building. A three storey building with Oriental style roof, it contains many printing presses. As Stella and Celeste entered, the sight of all the machines entered their eyes. Fairies fluttered about, talking to each other. The duo transformed back into human size
"What is that?" Stella was particularly surprised at one.
"That is the latest invention from Malum," Celeste said, "we just got it a week ago and we just put the parts together two days ago. It is Bishop Derrick Acton's rotary printing press. I'm telling you, the Sax-Jutons don't make swords and armor like Gothians or heroes like the Gaulberians, but damn, they produce all sorts of clever mechanical devices."
Indeed, the rotary printing press was an invention of the enlightenment era, the late 18th or early 19th century. Certainly not something one would expect in a medieval type fantasy world. But neither were quasi-modern firearms or spring driven pocket watches.
"So," Celeste asked Stella, "what of the papers?"
"Ah yes," Stella said, handing the rather thick booklet to her, "a guide to making something called a 'Bolt Action Receiver', whatever that is."
Celeste flipped through the pages until she reach the end of the booklet, where a bolt action rifle is displayed. While the receiver and bolt ensemble is of the Mosin-Nagant design, the rest of the rifle resembles a more modern design with a synthetic body.
"So," Celeste said, "this appears to be a musket of sorts. It lacks a serpentine, so it is an internal ignition musket."
"I read through the booklet," Stella replied, "it only told us how to make the receiver. Don't know what it is, because I have never heard of a gun part called a receiver."
"Same here," Celeste shook her head, "I am familiar with guns, but the end product shown here…never seen it before."
"Who cares?" Stella shrugged, "Queen Aine gave us orders. Copy the entire document onto another medium. Then I want only the images copied onto paper the same quality as this document."
Celeste's eyes nearly popped out of her head, "Are you for real? This is some damned good paper. I have never seen any quite like it."
"I know," Stella smiled, "Queen Aine said she will partake in this project herself."
"By the way," Celeste said, "make a few copies of the document. I want copies dispatched to various guilds, workshops and monasteries."
"Alrighty," Stella grinned, "let's do this."