Chapter 15: A Fruitful Reunion

Subaru, Beatrice and Patrasche had finally arrived at the mansion after a few days of travel. They had to take a detour to not arrive a day to early so all suspicion on Anastasia's and Julius's side was kept at a minimum.

Julius in particular was interested in the book about the great war from Subaru's world since he enjoyed reading about history and his world offered few wars other than proxies and civil ones. Anastasia on the other hand wishes to see the electric power metia functioning to find any commercial opportunity, but first she wanted to clear a doubt she had.

Anastasia: "Say Subaru, what exactly did you do in your vacations in the west?"

Subaru: "The typical thing people do in a vacation, I guess. I went to a cotton carnival in a small town. Nothing wild or dangerous other than mabeast or bandits being a possibility on the road, but I didn't see any.

Anastasia: "That's weird…I have heard rumors about a large metal snake wandering in the lands to the west where you were."

Emilia: "What? Subaru you aren't hunting it are you?"

Emilia genuinely did not connect Anastasia's description with the train.

Subaru: "What? No, I am not hunting any metal snake…Fine you got me, I'm just gathering information about it, but I couldn't find anything concrete..."

Julius: "This could mean that a new type of mabeast has appeared. According to our contacts its big and constantly exhales smoke so is probable that it can breathe fire."

Anastasia: "Let's just hope it's not a new great calamity replacing the ones Subaru killed."

Emilia: "Maybe we should make a coalition with Crusch to go take it down before it does anything drastic."

Anastasia: "It's better to talk about the possibility of a coalition later we are here to discuss another matter regarding the stuff I leased."

Emilia: "We will talk about you doing dangerous stuff without telling me later Subaru."

Subaru: "As you wish Emilia-tan. Anastasia, like I said I translated and deciphered the books on my free time, so I currently have the first few chapters of the book about the great war with me."

Julius was visibly happy, but Anastasia seemed a bit let down.

Anastasia: "Why did you translate the book of the great war before the one of machines?"

Subaru: "Uh…well it's the most fun of the books and I did not actually study to much about the great war myself in my world."

Anastasia: "You can be so…unprofitable sometimes Natsuki…how about the metias? Did you find anything in them?"

Subaru: "Since I don't have access to electricity, I won't dare to use them until we can secure a reliable source of it."

Anastasia: "Now that I brought one, I wish to see you use them. Can you do it now?"

Subaru: "Yes I can, just let me unpack everything."

Subaru started to unpack his bag, spreading the books about the table and leaving his progress on the great war book temptingly close to Julius. He then took out the laptop, the phone and the chargers.

Subaru: "First I have to explain a few things, this part here…" He points to the black box with letters in the middle of the computer charger. "…I don't know its name, but I do know that it makes voltage conversion, so we don't have to worry as much about that. Also…"

Julius: "What is voltage conversion?"

Subaru: "Hm…I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it's basically the power of the electricity, if it's too much the cables would probably burn and the metias would be suffer damage that we can't fix, so this part here can downscale the voltage to prevent any damage coming to the metia. Any questions?"

There is only silence since everyone is trying to understand what exactly Subaru is talking about

Subaru: "Good. So, because of this I don't want to charge the smaller metia directly, we will connect it to the bigger metia so it can draw power from there."

Julius: "Ok…"

Subaru: "We also need to have the machine generating an alternating electrical current between some 50 to 80 hertz."

Emilia: "Hertz?"

Anastasia: "Why 50 to 80?"

Julius: "Alternating electrical current?"

Subaru: "This is going to be tough…Emilia-tan, hertz are a unit of measurement, they measure how many times in one second something happens."

Emilia: "So it's going to need something to happen between 50 to 80 times a second?"

Subaru: "Yes, now Anastasia that is because the box on the charger says it can work between those frequencies. Finally, Julius alternating current is…think that electricity is like a river, this river is alternating because it reverses its direction 50 to 80 times every second, the other type of electric current that I am aware of is a direct current where the river flows steady and in the same direction forever. Any questions?"

The group was just silent, stunned by the information Subaru gave them.

Subaru: "Let's get going then."

Anastasia: "Going where?"

Subaru: "To the electric generating machine maybe?"

Anastasia: "Yes…let's go."

The group go to the stables where the electric machine is, but before entering Anastasia told Subaru that the machine had some weird markings that he could maybe read, but most importantly, it was one of the relics left behind by 'Hoshin of the Wilderness' so he would have to be careful not to break anything.

The group then entered the room and Subaru immediately saw it, it was a modern-day alternator modified to be hand cranked, it said on the side 'Mitsubishi', 'Probably from a car. Did he get isekaied with his car?' Thought Subaru. He then got closer to read the smaller letters '240V 60Hz'.

Subaru: "I can read this, assuming 240V is 240 volt and 60Hz is 60 hertz we could be capable of connecting it already."

Anastasia: "Not yet, this letter left by Hoshin himself regarding this relic says that the amount of Hz depends on how fast the thing is going."

Subaru: "Well…I don't know what would happen if we connected the metias at a frequency lower than 50 hertz…I also don't think it's good to do so. If someone is spinning it with all their strength, will it hit a limit in speed?"

Anastasia: "I don't know personally, but accounts say there is a limit to how fast it can spin."

Subaru: "Then the limit is probably the 60 hertz it says on the side."

Anastasia: "So we spin it a maximum speed to charge the metias then."

Subaru: "Let me turn the metias on so we can see in real time if they are charging…" Subaru turned on the laptop and then tried to turn on the phone. "This is weird…the phone isn't turning on, I'm sure I turned it off with some battery left."

Anastasia: "So you b-broke it?"

Anastasia was half scared and half mad at the prospect of losing possible monetizable information.

Subaru: "Let's not jump to conclusions maybe it just ran out of electricity, the laptop is ready, I say we can start spinning the alternator."

Anastasia: "Alternator?"

Subaru: "It's written here 'Alternator'."

Emilia: "If we have to use all our strength, I think I should spin the lever."

Julius: "If you excuse me Emilia-sama I believe as I knight it is my duty to make such physical works."

Subaru: "You are not the only knight here Julius."

Julius: "Yet I am the strongest knight here."

Subaru: "Fine I give up, you do it."

Subaru then connected the PC charger to the computer and the phone to the computer. He was surprised when the phone turned on to show it was charging, so his worst worries of the phone breaking got dismissed. He then picked up one of the two wires coming out of the alternator and connected it to one of the side pins of the plug. (This plug is the standard 3 pined plug used in Chile, google it if you wish to see it.) Then he connected a wire to the pin in the middle and to a metal rod that was touching the ground.

Julius: "Why are you not connecting the wire to the last pin Subaru?"

Subaru: "Because we first need the alternator to go at top speed to not beak anything."

(The setup of the alternator is something like the one in this video: watch?v=tp_VI6ujKHE but Hoshin had more time to make gears and shifts to make a hand cranked system reliable.)

Julius then started to spin the hand crank, for a brief moment he felt no resistance but then he had a lot of resistance and got serious. A few seconds later Julius said he hit the speed limit of the mechanism and Subaru slightly worried connected the last cable to the last pin. He heard a brief crackling sound but as soon as it dissipated the computer made a soft "Beep" and Subaru could see it was charging.

Subaru: "Yes, I can't believe it actually works!"

Emilia: "So what now?"

Anastasia: "We scour the metia for any and all useful information and applications!"

Subaru: "Julius we are going to need you to keep this up for a few hours till the battery is full. Don't stop spinning without telling us or you can burn the charger."

Julius was breathing slightly heavily, even using mana reinforcement he could only keep this up for a few minutes.

Julius: "I can keep this up for a few minutes, but I'll tell you when I can go any further."

Subaru: "Good…now let's check what more this computer has…"

Anastasia: "So you have checked the knowledge this has before?"

Subaru: "Yes, in your installation in the capitol."

Emilia: "Is there anything interesting? I don't understand anything and its boring."

Subaru: "Let's look for videos, that should be fun…if this guy had any at all."

Emilia: "What are videos Subaru?"

Subaru: "You will love it once you see it, it's kind of hard to explain it."

Subaru was searching folder after folder after finding the videos folder empty. Until he found a video titled "Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Official Music Video)" and set it to play.

Emilia: "What? Are they trapped inside of the metia?"

Anastasia: "Doesn't seem like it…though it reminds me of the metia Subaru had."

Subaru: "Your right Ana, but the metia I had could only take one picture at a time. The one they used to film this video took some 30 or 60 pictures every second and now we are watching the pictures in order at the same speed giving the impression of a moving picture."

Anastasia: "But we also have sound be it weak it's still sound."

Subaru: "I don't know how to explain that."

The music then starts and everyone just listens to it, except Julius who is focused on keeping the alternator running. Once it ends Anastasia is the first to break the silence.

Anastasia: "The guys did seem like they would use the mukt."

Subaru: "The what?"

Anastasia: "The mukt, it was slightly different from the ones I've seen, but is some type of mukt."

Subaru: "What exactly are you talking about?"

Anastasia: "Near the end after 'The sand of Arabia calling' they start to hand them out."

Subaru put the part Anastasia talked about and they watched the guitar solo. Once the "mukt" appeared Anastasia told Subaru to stop it.

Subaru: "So you have muskets in this world? Why don't you use them more?"

Subaru was slightly confused and scared of the possibility of modern weapons already existing.

Anastasia: "They are called mukt here, but I believe we are talking of the same thing."

Emilia: "What is a mukt or musket?"

Anastasia: "A simple metal tube that spits out a metal ball at great speed."

Subaru: "But why are they not more widespread? Like in the army?"

Anastasia: "They are loud and all, but they take a hellish long time to reload and are very inaccurate. Bows are just better, they are more accurate, fire faster and are stealthy."

Subaru: "If these mukt are so useless then where have you seen them?"

Anastasia: "Since they are loud and make a lot of smoke, they are usually used in important ceremonies in Kararagi. Like the death of an important city leader or something among those lines."

Julius: "Guys I can't…keep this up…much longer."

Subaru immediately disconnects the computer charger and Julius seeing this let's go of the hand crank.

Emilia: "I think I have and ideal solution."

Emilia summons an ice Subaru and has him operate the hand crank reaching the top speed in a few seconds.

Emilia: "I can keep this up for a few hours before my mana is dry. Now we can all look at the metias together."

Subaru: "Julius I think we will enjoy this video 'Underappreciated Historical Armors: BRIGANDINE, and Steel-Mastery review'. Do you know what a brigandine is? Because I don't"

Julius: "Never heard of it, and what's a video?"

Subaru: "You'll see."

Subaru puts the video and all of the presents pay close attention at first. Emilia soon loses interest and finds it boring, in contrast to Anastasia who sees a commercial opportunity in the fabrication of a new type of armor that could be more effective than those fielded currently by the armies of the world, so she was constantly taking notes. On the other hand, Julius was stunned by the video and along side Subaru watched with curiosity.

Once the video ended. The group decided to go and eat lunch, disconnected everything and dispersed. Before lunch Emilia called Subaru out to talk. She was really concerned about Subaru following this new metal mabeast, so Subaru explained that Anastasia and Julius were referring to the train, but that for now it would be best to convince them that it was a mabeast.

At lunch Beatrice appeared to accompany them, she said she was occupied doing something but didn't give any mayor details. Lunch ended without any incidents and Anastasia, Julius, Emilia and Subaru went to Emilia's office to discuss the threat of the new mabeast.

Julius: "So the rumors that have reach us just say that it's a big metal snake like creature that constantly exhales smoke but hasn't been seen attacking or in general caring about anyone."

Emilia: "Are we sure it's a snake?"

Anastasia: "Actually, taking into account the sudden increase in fabric exports from the region I believe it may be some type of worm that's fertilizing all the grounds nearby."

Subaru: "Don't you have any informants in the region?"

Anastasia: "Since we are currently allies, we haven't deployed any spies within the Mathers Domain only listeners that catch rumors."

Subaru: "The people I talked to that saw the thing said that it apparently had many body segments each one about the size of a merchants carriage."

Julius: "That also coincides with our reports."

Emilia: "And how big is it then?"

Julius: "Our reports say it has about 6 to 15 body parts."

Subaru: "So no one has counted them yet?"

Anastasia: "Based on that it's safe to assume we have more than one mabeast, but I don't know if it's best to kill them."

Emilia: "What do you mean?"

Anastasia: "All I'm saying is that since it's not hostile and it apparently increased the fabric output of the region it might be better the just let it be."

Subaru: "Then we don't plan anything?"

Anastasia: "I would like to plan a scouting mission to get more information of this unexpected foe, for that I think the Iron Fang should be enough. Then for the actual killing if we decide to kill it, we will coordinate with Crusch and ask for your permission to make the operation."

Emilia: "And why not go kill it with us?"

Anastasia: "You will be kept as a last resort if we can't kill it or deem the worm too dangerous for only us."

Subaru: "It seems like you would like us out of it but its fine for me, one job less."

Emilia: "I wouldn't like to know any of you got harmed at hands of that mabeast if I could have helped…but I will respect your wish."

Everyone accepted Anastasia's plan and dispersed before going to look at the metias once again. Once Julius was in private with his lady, he asked something.

Julius: "Anastasia-sama why don't you wish to have the help of the Emilia camp in the probable subjugation of this worm mabeast?"

Anastasia: "Huh…Julius we are competing for the throne, don't you remember?"

Julius: "Yes, but that doesn't mean we can't accept their help."

Anastasia: "Indeed, but currently Emilia has just too much advantage over all of the other candidates."

Julius: "Yes, they gained a great deal of prestige by avoiding the outbreak of war and getting the backup from Vincent himself. Albeit Vincent wields less power now than a year ago."

Anastasia: "So we have to gain prestige for our camp and this worm could tip the balance a little bit in our favor."

Julius: "Well…considering we still have a bit more than a year left all the hype of this intervention in Vollachia will probably die out by then."

Anastasia: "Not if Subaru continues to make more heroic deeds…and even less if it's made public that Emilia has Volcanica as her pet…"

Julius: "Don't be so depressed my lady, you still have lots of exploits neither Subaru nor Emilia can match."

Anastasia: "Like what? Buying votes?"

Julius: "Your huge capability in regard to managing the economy is unmatched by anyone."

Anastasia: "Your actually right about that one. But we still don't live up to Emilia and Subaru's reputation."

Julius: "We don't need to beat them in their fields of experience, we have to defeat them in our fields of experience."

Anastasia: "Your right, after all Emilia is better as a warrior like the Sword Saint than a king, Subaru better as a general than her knight and I am better as a king in the end."

After that the two headed to the stables where the metias, alternator, Emilia and Subaru were. They focused this time on the smaller metia that for the most part only served for entertainment purposes like playing music and playing a few games, but it could also take pictures and record videos. No commercial use was found by Anastasia this time, but she still found the metias impressive. She had decided to lease the alternator to Subaru for five months so that he could send her letters detailing the information found in the metias. After the five months she would decide if she should or should not lease him the alternator for more time.

Subaru: "Before I forget, I am finding the books very fun to read, so I wondered if I could buy them from you, I will still send you translations like the one I brought now, but I would like to be the owner of at least the great war book."

Anastasia was deep in her thoughts not knowing if Subaru was seriously finding them fun and if the books have anything worth commercial value. 'If I sell them while still getting access to the information within them, I at least have a guarantee to make some money. I can't do anything with the books if I don't have Subaru after all…and he doesn't seem to be scheming anything…'

Anastasia: "Fine it will be one holy coin each." 'If he says yes, he is scheming something.' She thought.

Subaru: "W-what? Forget it, how about one gold coin for each one?"

Anastasia: "Just one lonely holy coin for all of them and it my last offer." 'He is not scheming anything after all.' She thought.

Subaru: "Can't it be any lower?"

Anastasia: "No."

Subaru: "Fine, just let me get a holy coin from my room."

The group kept looking at the metias for two more days, Subaru was pretty much the guide and made sure that Anastasia and Julius didn't see anything to modern. Subaru also really enjoyed Julius's reactions when reading about the Great War and had fun explaining to him that the war had actually happened in his world much to the horror of Julius.

After that Subaru, Beatrice and Patrasche left back for Macragge.