Chapter 22: Setting up
Elior Forest: 20:00 hrs. 07/09/1538
Emilia had cried all day feeling incredibly sad by the little boy's fate. Subaru tried to cheer her up but failed pathetically since she wanted to be alone. He was slightly mad at Morton for not appearing sooner, but what could have Morton done? The boy was done for long before coming to the "hospital" according to Morton. Subaru was told by Rem to let Emilia digest what had happened since the loss of a patient is tough to accept especially the first one, so he decided to find out what killed the boy instead. He was going to find Morton and ask him what he thought about it.
20:25 hrs.
Subaru found Morton and asked him he knew what disease had killed the boy. Morton was still quite shook by what had happened, but pulled himself together like he had done many times before.
Morton: "An unknown disease, the parents gave me permission to inspect the body."
Subaru: "Did…you find…uh…anything?"
The medic took a deep breath.
Morton: "Something…I've only seen in old men."
Subaru: "So…do we have some indication as to what he got?"
Morton: "Give me a goddamn break…I don't feel too good now…lets go out to walk."
20:40 hrs.
Morton always had a difficult time every time a child patient died, the worst part other than the lost potential was having to tell every child's parents and deal with the look they gave him, sometimes it was incredible sadness but more often than not it was disgust and anger. Why? Because they usually thought he didn't do enough to save their sons or daughters. Today had been especially tough he had for the first time given up on a child patient and actually took him out. But there was nothing he could have done better, it was already to late for the boy after all.
Subaru: "So…are you going to be this silent all night?"
Morton: "You seem impatient."
Subaru: "I am, the disease that killed the boy could come after all of us…and I don't want to go out like that…"
Morton: "Me neither…so I started disassembling what was left of the boy…"
Subaru: "I'm going to throw up if you say it like that."
Morton: "Ok…I took a look at his…what was left of his guts and found something that I only find in some old people, but for some reason they don't last long enough to start spitting out their guts."
Subaru: "What did you find?"
Morton: "Some odd bulges, like ulcers but not quite. He had many on the would be walls of his stomach and intestines, a few in the lungs, but the largest concentration and size was in the stomach."
Subaru: "Sound an awful lot like cancer."
Morton: "So you also have a name for this disease?"
Subaru: "I think so, but it's odd that it affects such a small child."
Morton: "I was thinking so to, it usually affects old people and not all of them."
Subaru: "Then there is no point in worrying to much about it."
Morton: "What?! What do you mean?! Did you see how much he endured?!"
Subaru: "Only Emilia-tan saw that!"
Morton fell silent, this was another thing that had him very uncomfortable.
Morton: "I…I feel terribly sorry for letting Emilia-sama witness what she did…"
Subaru: "I'll let you off easy this time. It wasn't your fault…you had no way of knowing."
Morton: "Thank you Subaru. But why do you say that we don't have to worry about this disease?"
Subaru: "Because it's pointless. We have no way of treating it."
Morton: "So we just die?"
Subaru: "It's also noncontagious, one cannot acquire it."
Morton: "So how did the boy get it?"
Subaru: "I don't know the specifics, but a body is composed of small, tiny blocks that replicate every so often when they are too old or broken to maintain functions."
Morton: "I don't get what you are going at, but I'll believe you with the blocks."
Subaru: "You'll see. Anyway, sometimes this replication process goes wrong and the new block just starts making more and more of itself disregarding its original function and the rest of the body."
Morton: "And the bulges are clusters of wild blocks?"
Subaru: "You've got it…Eh? Why are you so sad?"
Morton: "It's just that I was hoping that it would have been in some way my fault…or that I could do something next time it happens"
Subaru: "I'm so sorry, but there are limits to what we can do."
(I'm sorry for those that thought it was the black serpent, but I won't be writing anything regarding that until Arc 7 is finished, since I believe that Subaru will take it out along with cappella in arc 7. I hope I'm wrong btw.)
Elior Forest: 08:00 hrs. 08/09/1538
Emilia told everyone at breakfast that she wanted to leave the village to prepare the formal inauguration of the train station in the Capitol, eighter at Macragge or the Capitol itself. In reality she wanted to go far from a place that now brought her such a grim reminder at least for now.
To this decision Subaru had no objections since the amount of new typhoid fever cases had plummeted since they cleaned the hot springs and he felt that he could monitor the situation from afar. No one else had objections so they packed everything to leave asap.
Macragge: 11:20 hrs. 08/09/1538
For now, the Emilia camp would be staying in Macragge. Subaru and Beatrice were managing the construction of a train factory with what he called an "assembly line", so far it was the biggest and most complex factory both technically and logistically requiring a fairly large variety of raw materials and manufactured parts from other factories. Garfield was having a fun time talking and sharing stories with the security forces. While Rem & Ram wandered about trying to sort out their sister relationship and kill time. Emilia was wondering on how to deal with a few of the most "difficult" lords Roswaal warner her of once she arrived at the Capitol, while also planning for the inauguration. Emilia had also been told by Roswaal to try to implement a sufficiently good governing structure for the rapidly expanding town that now reached 35.000 people and was expected to grow even faster with the inauguration of the train station.
15:40 hrs.
Subaru was surprised when Rem told him that she and Ram took a slow-moving train that ran through the streets to get to and from the town center. 'A trolley car? Did Ivan not tell me?' thought Subaru who went out to find Ivan only to have him say that it was William who came up with the idea. It was a somewhat welcomed surprise, the only issue being that William made five of them which could have made about three locomotives that where in relative short supply due to the increase demand of goods and raw material from the factories since they had to now supply all the towns and villages next to the railways.
Once Subaru found William, he told him to please stop making more trolleys and just focus on making new locomotives and carts until the train factory was done. After that Subaru decided to take a walk through the town with Beatrice and maybe Emilia.
16:10 hrs.
Subaru found Emilia reading the book he gave her and asked her if she wanted to go walking with him and Beatrice. Much to his surprise she said she wasn't in the mood now, but maybe the next day it would be possible. Subaru was very much awed by her answer and decided to ask more only to see her get sad, so he gave her a hug.
Emilia was surprised when she received the hug and even more so when Subaru asked her if she was alright. To which she started to sob ever so slightly. "I'm probably still sad about the fate of that boy…" she said. Beatrice patted Emilia on the back trying to comfort her and asked her if she wanted to talk about it. Emilia still said no and sent Beatrice and Subaru on her way. 'I'll be all right it just that it's…unfortunate…and sad.' She thought while looking at Subaru and Beatrice walking down the street.
16:21 hrs.
Subaru and Beatrice where on an almost empty tram admiring the enormous growth of the town until Subaru noticed something odd.
Subaru: "It is just me or does the air like…stink?"
Beatrice: "It does, probably because the dragon manure and urine is just piling up on the streets in fact."
Subaru: "What?! It does?! Who would do something like that?!"
Beatrice: "Since you don't know I'll enlighten you I guess."
Subaru: "You're the best Beako!"
Beatrice: "In general large town and cities have a dedicated force of cleaners that roam the streets cleaning any manure as soon as it touches the floor, and the wealthiest cities have a sewer system that takes the urine and manure away in fact."
Subaru: "I-I hadn't noticed that before. Does the Capitol also have that?"
Beatrice: "It does. Now, I wonder why the mayor of this town hasn't started to make a sewer or hasn't hired someone to clean the manure?"
Subaru: "We should pay him a visit to see what's up."
Beatrice: "Now?"
Subaru: "I don't see why not."
They continue to travel on the trolley to the town center where the mayor should be.
16:38 hrs.
They finally arrive at the town center and after a few minutes of asking and searching they find the mayor not in his office but in a warehouse. Once they enter the see its well-lit and empty except for a few chairs and tables. The mayor is sitting down apparently tired and the duo approach him.
Mayor: "Sir Subaru, Great Spirit Beatrice, what brings you here today."
Beatrice: "We have questions about your management of the town."
Subaru looks at one of the tables, it has a map of the town scaled to fit the table with lines drawn across it.
Subaru: "What's this?"
Mayor: "Oh, that's the project that currently got me so burnt up."
Beatrice: "How so I wonder?"
Mayor: "You see we are trying to implement a sewer system, but no one here knows how to do so other that the general outline."
Subaru: "Have you called experts?"
Mayor: "We have tried but they all seem to be preoccupied elsewhere."
Beatrice: "That very unfortunate, anyway we came here to ask why you guys haven't hired anyone to clean the dragon manure from the streets. It's disgusting I suppose."
Mayor: "We have hired a fair amount of people. But there are just too many Dragons and the designated manure dumps are too far away. If we can implement a sewer system, we could keep the streets clean by having all the cleaners just dump the manure into the sewer instead of having to haul it outside the city."
Subaru: "So it boils down to making a sewer?"
Mayor: "Yes, but then again we don't have the technical know-how."
Subaru: "Maybe I can do something about it but don't get your hopes up yet."
Beatrice: "Another thing on the to do list in fact."
The duo left the mayor to rest and kept on walking around the town and discussing on how a sewer could be built.
17:00 hrs.
The two where now walking through a residential area, making their way back by foot. Subaru was surprised to see unoccupied houses and noticed that so far, he hadn't seen any tents set up.
Subaru: "So the housing issue is sorted?"
Beatrice: "What do you mean I suppose?"
Subaru: "That we can take that off from our to do list."
Beatrice just now noticed that the houses they were passing were unoccupied.
Beatrice: "That is…unexpected, it seems like we don't have to do everything in fact."
18:00 hrs.
Subaru and Beatrice arrived at the whalers HQ and where surprised upon entering to hear music. They followed the music to the dining room where everyone was waiting for them since it was time to eat. They greeted everyone, the music was exclusively instrumental and quite grandiose, so Subaru wanted to know what he was hearing.
Subaru: "What are we listening to and where is the artist?"
Emilia: "This music was Ivan's idea, he thought it would help the mood and there are no artists."
Subaru: "What? Then how are we hearing it?"
Ivan: "It's from the…commuter?"
Subaru: "Oh, the computer, what's the name of this song?"
Ivan: "Computer…I'm ashamed to say so, but I don't know the name of the song since I can't read the language the computer uses, I stumbled on the song by accident."
Subaru: "Then I will take a look at it later."
After finishing dinner Subaru rushed to the computer to see what Ivan had played. The computer was in the kitchen connected to the alternator that was connected to a steam engine and on the screen, Subaru read "The British Grenadiers".
Subaru: "We have been listening to a song called 'The British Grenadiers' all this time."
Emilia spat the tea she was drinking surprising everyone.
Emilia: "I read about a British Empire having grenadiers in their army! Is this somehow related?"
Subaru: "I don't know the backstory behind this song, but I guess so."
Emilia: "How you do not know?"
Subaru: "I haven't read anything related to them in the books so far."
Emilia: "Oh…I wish I could read them to."
Subaru: "It's too much of a hassle to learn to read in another language just for a handful of books."
Emilia: "I know, and we also have more important concerns."
Emilia pouted in slight annoyance accepting a harsh truth.
Subaru: "EMT!"
20:00 hrs.
Emilia had called Subaru to her room to discuss some important details of the inauguration.
Subaru: "May I pass?"
Emilia: "Yes, here take a seat."
Subaru: "So have how will we do the inauguration?"
Emilia: "I was thinking at 15:00 hrs. the 15th of this month since there will be more people. I also made a list of things we will have to take to the capitol with us if we are to bribe some of the merchant nobles into supporting the train and any further projects."
Subaru takes a quick look at the paper Emilia handed him.
Subaru: "It seems doable, anything else?"
Emilia: "I would also like the British Grenadiers song and maybe others to play in the event."
Subaru: "So we are going to make it something like a festival?"
Emilia: "Can we?"
Subaru: "Maybe…we could have to delay the inauguration if we can't scrape enough trains for it though."
Emilia: "Then it shall be delayed, but it must happen before my audience."
Subaru: "Have you received notice as to when it will be."
Emilia: "Not yet. Oh, before I forget, we will also need a train to move some of the most important merchants to show them how awesome the train is."
Subaru: "That can also be done, but they shouldn't come all the way to Macragge, maybe only until some town where the railway passes."
Emilia: "Why? Is anything wrong with Macragge?"
Subaru: "It's currently in desperate need of a sewer…so make of that what you will."
Emilia: "Oh…Can we help in any way?"
Subaru: "Unless Ivan knows how to make one me and Beako concluded that it cannot be done without someone experienced in making sewers."
Emilia: "I see. Then how about taking the Merchants all the way to Priestella?"
Subaru: "I don't think the railway or station in Priestella will be in place by then and the voyage could be too long. Since it's only to show off we should just take them to the closest town to the Capitol, that way we can also make more than one voyage."
Emilia: "Hmmm…seems good to me…also Subaru I want to ask another question."
Subaru: "Anything Emilia-tan."
Emilia: "What if the lack of sewers makes people sick like in the forest?"
Subaru: "I'm worried about the same thing, but maybe we can draw the attention from someone with the required expertise in the Capitol."
Emilia: "Yeah. Then we better delay the inauguration as little as possible."
Subaru: "Before I forget I have to find Ivan. See you tomorrow Emilia-tan."
Emilia: "Good night, Subaru."
20:40 hrs.
Subaru finally found Ivan, who was in his workshop working on what seemed to be a small combine harvester. Ivan was glad that Subaru didn't forget the important report he sent him a few days earlier and showed Subaru his breakthrough.
Subaru: "So…a coil and a magnet…and moving the magnet through the coil we get electricity…"
Ivan: "Yes boss, but like I said I do not know if its alternating or direct current."
Subaru: "Hmm…if the difference is that in an alternating current the direction of energy flow is reversed in regular intervals…I think this may be alternating current."
Ivan: "I don't know, I don't see much difference in the amount of light emanating from the bulb."
Subaru: "That odd…could you show me?"
Ivan: "Very well."
Ivan started the engine that pushed the magnet back and forth within the coil and after a few moments the bulb started to emanate light. Just like Ivan said, no difference was visible when the magnet changed direction. Subaru told Ivan to stop the engine and so he did, the light bulb started to slowly shine less as it lost heat.
Subaru: "Looking at this, I still think we have alternating current."
Ivan: "Because it doesn't get enough time to cool down between cycles?"
Subaru: "Yeah…if we could get the magnets on a wheel…"
Ivan: "Then how do we wrap the coils around the magnets if they are in a wheel boss?"
Subaru: "I don't…actually…we could maybe take the cover off of the alternator Ana leased us…"
Ivan: "And risk breaking an ancient relic?"
Subaru: "If we just take a look, we should be ok."
The two leave the workshop to find the alternator that was in the kitchen, they take the cover off and Ivan takes a good look for 10 minutes following the wires, after which he starts to draw what he saw in his notebook. Subaru mean while got a few appas and was munching on them.
Ivan: "Boss, give me a week and I will have another one of these ready."
Subaru: "We don't need one that exactly like this one, something that just works is good enough."
Ivan: "But aren't we making this to power the metias Anastasia gave you?"
Subaru: "No, they are for communications. A way to send letters instantaneously and not at the speed of the fastest dragon."
Ivan: "So this electricity can send a letter that would take weeks to arrive in a second?"
Subaru: "Maybe less. The continent isn't big enough to have lag I think."
With that the two went on separate ways, one to the workshop and one to his room.
Capitol: 11:00 hrs. 11/09/1538
Emilia had arrived at the capitol with a group of workers from the company to start preparing the inauguration. She was eager to bring Subaru with her, but he said that he had to work on a new invention and stayed at Macragge. Rem & Ram where with her to help in the preparation but Rem wanted to walk around the capitol to which Ram strongly opposed.
Ram & Ram were helping to unload the train and Emilia was starting to decorate and organize furniture.
11:40 hrs.
Emilia stopped what she was doing and told Ram that she was leaving for a few hours to negotiate with a certain noble.
Macragge: 12:00 hrs. 11/09/1538
Subaru had spent the past days working along with William and Ivan in the workshop to make a fully functioning generator, not alternator for Subaru thought he needed direct current for his machine to connect the world. Subaru had also spent his time changing the design of the machine from his book to better suit his needs.
The train factory was also functioning and was producing one train every 2 day with the workers expected to learn how to use the new machinery to ramp up production to 3 trains a day by the end of the month and eventually to 5.
Beatrice was also occupied since someone had to plot the place to lay the new railways but was constantly frustrated by the inaccurate maps.
The mayor could only hire even more people to clear the manure from the streets but couldn't find anyway to clean the urine and some streets still smelled like shit.
Capitol: 14:00 hrs. 11/09/1538
Emilia had finally arrived at the Manor. She was well greeted and taken to an office where Crusch would attend her.
Emilia: "Oh, Crusch I'm sorry I took so long, I got lost."
Crusch: "Greetings Emilia, don't worry, even I couldn't remember where my cousin's manor was. I'm sorry it couldn't be the one we usually use, it's under repairs."
Emilia: "Well, Subaru sends this letter with the conditions for your treatment."
Emilia handed the envelope to Crusch who held a surprisingly bright smile.
Crusch: "About time he thought of something, I hope he is more ambitious this time. The dragon blood is hindering my bargaining power quite significantly so it should be worth quite a bit."
Emilia: "I assure you he is more ambitious this time."
Crusch: "…As long as it's doable…"
Emilia winked an eye.
Emilia: "I assure you it is."
Crusch had finally opened to envelope and started to read the letter first with an optimistic smile thinking that Emilia was bluffing. After reading Subaru's "I'm so sorry that I just now got more ambitious" her smile started to tone down and died out by the end of the letter.
Crusch: "He can't ask for so much! Can you make him ask for less?"
Emilia: "I could if I wanted to, but more importantly you didn't read the back of the letter."
Crusch silently turned the paper around to see the "Post Data: This is the final price, no bargaining. I'm absolutely disgusted by the idea of serfdom."
Crusch: "He actually believes he is a hero now?"
Emilia: "He realized a while back in Vollachia I think."
Crusch: "And you also believe he is a hero?"
Emilia: "I don't believe he is a hero…I know he is."
Crusch: "Still I can't just free 150.000 serfs just to take the dragon blood out of me."
Emilia: "Do even have an option?"
Crusch: "Felix has found ways to combat the pain."
Emilia: "Then what about your status as a candidate? Wouldn't it be bad for you to still be sick?"
Crusch: "It is, I sometimes doubt I can even make it anymore…"
Emilia: "What? Then why don't you free your serfs to get Subaru's treatment?"
Crusch: "We need them, they make excellent farmers and most of my family's wealth come from the farms."
Emilia: "Uhh…Crusch…your…"
Crusch: "What is it?"
Emilia: "Uhh…Are you feeling well? Your neck is…"
Crusch: "Oh, that…don't worry it doesn't hurt, not anymore."
She was referring to a black vein in her neck that started to pulsate.
Emilia: "Should I go find Felix?"
Crusch: "Please."
Emilia went out find Felix and as soon as she closed the door Crusch fell on her chair struggling against the need to scratch her thorax, eventually her vision started to blur and get dark until she her a familiar voice, she knew to who it belonged to but could not understand what he said. 'Maybe losing a third of out serfs is worth getting rid of this…' She thought before losing consciousness.
(Sorry for the delay, the current political turmoil and polarization in my country is a bitch, hope you guys are having it better.)