A Technological Revolution in Halkeginia
Chapter 2
Hello, thank you all for continuing to read this story. I'm hoping this fic will be a more lighthearted one compared to my other popular fics. I know I've said this before, but I hope that this fic will become popular and will continue to entertain you.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Louise awoke the next morning as a soft light shone through her curtains and soothing music began to play. Getting up and stretching, she looked around…and realized with a start that there were several small metal creatures floating around, cleaning things up around her room with rays that vaporized dust and dirt.
"What's going on?" she murmured, "Am I still dreaming?"
"Ah, you're awake," said Kazi from a corner of the room, causing the girl to jump with a start and turn to see the Inventor sitting at her makeup table with a glass filled with a milky pink liquid.
"Right," said Louise as the memories of the previous day began to come back to her, "you're the familiar that I summoned."
"Indeed," said Kazi, "though I personally prefer the term, 'inventor.'"
"I see," said Louise skeptically.
"Here," he said as he handed the glass he was holding to the pinkette, "drink this."
"What is it?" asked Louise as she glanced down at the milky liquid in the glass she now held.
"It's a Nutrient Supplement," said Kazi.
"Why would I need to take one of those?" asked Louise, "I'm perfectly healthy."
"As a matter of fact you aren't actually," said Kazi, "I noticed you are rather small for your age and did a medical scan while you were sleeping. Your body is missing several key vitamins that would help you fight off infections and disease, probably due to the fact that your people have yet to discover such things. Nonetheless, this supplement should help things. Just take one in the morning and one before you go to bed every day."
Louise made a face but drank down the milky liquid, being fairly surprised at the fruity taste it had, "It tastes like strawberries."
"Of course," said Kazi as he took back the glass and put it on the counter, "Why would people take their nutritional supplement if it tastes terrible? I'll be leaving so you can get changed."
He then tossed a metal bracelet onto her bed, "If you need anything, press the button on that and I'll know."
"Wait," said Louise, "who are you? You have all sorts of strange devices and claim that they're not magical?"
"I believe I told you last night," said the man with a cocky smile, "I'm Kazi Carter. Genius Inventor, CEO and Founder of Zenith Industries, creator of several revolutionary inventions, and all around prodigy in several different fields."
With that, the genius inventor turned and left the room, wanting to follow up on some potential opportunities that he had seen.
xXsceneXx
Kazi's exploration led him to the academy's kitchens where he found the staff hard at work preparing the morning meal for the students.
"Greetings," said Kazi as he walked in.
"Ah, Mister Carter," said the head chef, "I wanted to thank you for the equipment you provided us last night."
"Oh," said Kazi with a smile, "like I said last night, it was no trouble."
While Louise had been sleeping, the genius inventor had decided to explore the castle to better familiarize himself with the layout of the Academy, and he had had an interesting interaction with some of the staff.
xXflashbackXx
"This castle sure is big," mused Kazi as he walked through the hallway, glancing at a holographic screen projected from a scanner he was using to create a virtual map of the building.
As he walked, he was so involved with looking at the scanner, that he didn't see a maid walking down the hallway carrying a large load of clean linens, causing them to collide, knocking the girl and her load to the ground.
"Oww," moaned the girl, "what hit me?"
"Sorry about that miss," said Kazi as he helped the girl to her feet, "I guess I was caught up in my work."
"I don't recognize you from the members of the staff," said the maid.
"Oh, I was summoned here by Louise," said Kazi, "I don't work here. Kazi Carter, genius inventor, a pleasure to meet you."
"I'm Siesta," said the maid as she picked up the now dirty sheets, "You're an inventor? What kinds of things have you created?"
"Well for one," said Kazi, "I came up with a much more efficient way of cleaning laundry than what I'm sure you're using now. I could show you?"
"Please do," said Siesta, "the laundry room is this way."
Siesta led Kazi through the halls until they reached a room in the lower levels that had steam coming out from under the wooden door.
"Here we are," said Siesta as she pushed the door open, revealing a room where women were hard at work scrubbing clothes with washboards and soap.
"Dear lord," sighed Kazi, "what, is it the dark ages in here?"
The inventor pulled his remote out of a pocket and pressed several buttons, causing a larger version of the purifier he had used to clean Louise's clothes to rise up out of a glowing circle that appeared on the ground.
"Was that magic?" exclaimed Siesta as the rest of the workers gaped at the newcomer, "You're a noble!"
"No," said Kazi, "my home gave up on Oligarchies years ago and switched to a democratic republic. I'm just a traveling inventor, scientist, and businessman."
"But what is this strange device?" asked one of the women.
"It's a standard Mk VI Fabric Purifier," said Kazi, "good for cleaning large loads of clothes and sheets in minutes."
"How did you make it appear like that?" asked Siesta as she poked the device to make sure it was real.
"There's a very long winded and sciency explanation as to how I opened up a bridge between a pocket sub-dimension and this room, but I'll save it for later," said Kazi, "let's just go with, 'I have a device that makes doors from my lab to here.' Let me show you how it works."
xXflashback endXx
After showing the maids how to operate the Purifier, Siesta had, upon Kazi's request, shown the inventor to the kitchens, where he quickly ingratiated himself among the kitchen staff by providing them with Plasma Cookers and Ion Heaters for cooking food, along with a Culinary Stasis unit to preserve food, all for free, as long as they act as a showcase for his products, displaying his tech for future selling.
"It was no trouble," said Kazi with a smile, "how are things going for all of you?"
"Excellent! Now that we've gotten used to the new equipment, we've had a lot more time on our hands, as opposed to us having to rush to finish all our tasks before the next meal, " said the head chef, who's name was Marteau.
"So what are your plans now?" asked Kazi as he looked over the busy staff.
"Well," said Marteau, "we finished the food for the upcoming meal, so we wanted to get a head start on setting up for the off time the students are getting to bond with their familiars."
"Sounds exciting," said Kazi, "mind if I watch?"
"After all you've done for us," laughed Marteau, "we'll even prepare you a snack."
"Great," said Kazi with a smile, his green eyes seeming to glow.
xXsceneXx
As the genius inventor watched the staff work, setting up and serving the students, he had to admit that, while he loved the advances of technology, there was always something to be said for good old fashioned hard work. The staff was quick and efficient as they set things up and served the students, impressing the scientist/inventor at their skill.
However, the good feeling was not going to last very long.
Trouble started when Kazi noticed with his enhanced optics, that a purple vial had fallen from the pocket of a blond student that was wooing a brown haired girl that was feeding him forkfuls of soufflé. Deciding to be a Good Samaritan, Kazi got up from where he had been sitting and enjoying some rather pleasant tea, and walked over to return the bottle.
"I believe this is yours," said Kazi as he placed the bottle on the table, but the blond male ignored the scientist, causing a tic-mark to form on the man's forehead.
"Oi!" he snapped, causing the teens at the table to turn to him, "when somebody tries to do you a service, it's usually polite to say thank you. Now, here's your bloody bottle. You can go back to your flirting now."
"Th-that's not mine!" stammered the boy nervously.
"Sure it is," sighed Kazi as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "it fell out of your pocket like three seconds ago."
"Oh," said one of the students sitting with the blond, "I recognize that! That's one of Montmorency's personal perfumes! It has the distinct purple color her self made blends have."
"I…but…" stammered the blond as the girl he was with began to tear up.
"I knew it!" she cried, "You're with Miss Montmorency!"
"Katie…" began the boy as he tried to calm her.
"LIAR!" yelled the girl as she slapped the blond, knocking him to the ground and leaving an angry red mark on his cheek in the shape of a hand.
As the brunette stormed off, a blond girl with her hair done in tight ringlets walked up with her eyes hidden in shadow.
"Guiche," said the girl dangerously, "who was that girl and why did you deny ownership of the perfume I gave you?"
"M-M-M-Mon-Mon," stammered Guiche, "this is…she was…"
*WHAM*
Having just decked her two-timing boyfriend with a spectacular right cross, Montmorency turned and stormed off, leaving the blond with a black eye in addition to the red handprint on his cheek.
"Those girls do not know the meaning of a rose," sniffed Guiche as he stood and tried to save face.
"Rose: any of a genus (Rosa of the family Rosacea, the rose family) of usually prickly shrubs with pinnate leaves and showy flowers having five petals in the wild state but being often double or partly double under cultivation," quoted Kazi with a smirk, "I think those girls were quite aware of this."
"You!" growled Guiche before pointing his rose-wand at the inventor, causing him to stop as he made his way back to his seat, "You are the cause of this! If you had not foolhardily returned that bottle, those girls would not have been hurt."
"Hate to break it to you," deadpanned Kazi as he turned to face Guiche with a flat look, "but those girls were hurt because you cheated on both of them."
"You think to mock your betters?" growled the blond, "A duel should teach you to mind your tongue."
"A duel?" mused Kazi as the students around them gasped.
"Guiche," said a student, "you know duels between nobles are forbidden!"
"Do not worry," said the blond fop, "I recognize him. He is the commoner that Louise the Zero summoned yesterday. Therefore a duel is perfectly fine."
"Am I correct to assume that you are challenging me?" asked Kazi as he pretended to inspect his fingernails.
"That is correct, commoner," said Guiche, "do you accept?"
"Why not?" said Kazi with a grin, "Name the time and place kiddo."
"You're not much older than me," pointed out Guiche.
"Never judge age by appearance," said Kazi with a smirk, "now, when and where?"
"Vestri Court in one hour," said Guiche.
"I assume you'll be using the hour to cover up the evidence that two girls kicked your arse for cheating?" smirked Kazi, causing Guiche to sputter and storm off amidst the laughter of his peers.
"Now then," mused the scientist as he tapped a button on a device strapped to his wrist, causing a holographic screen to appear, "maybe Louise can tell me where to find, Vestri Court?"
To be continued…
