This is a Youjo Senki Fan Fiction Only.
Well, that was an experience I was not going to forget anytime soon, both Tanya and Victoriya fighting over little old me, and Tanya spent most of the night explaining things to Victoriya, which seems to calm her down a little bit. If I didn't know Aphrodite as well as I did now, I could honestly claim that being a follower of her and a worshipper of her faith had turned Victoriya either rabid or insane.
We were supposed to return to the capital to be given orders, but somehow instead the transport vehicles were ordered to take us all to the Imperial Palace, that is a place that some high-ranking officers had only seen in paintings, and they were driving us there, for some reason I had this horrible feeling about this. For some reason, Dr. Schugel was ordered to come with us, which neither he nor I are happy about.
It is bad, he constantly complained that he was losing precious research time, I wanted to tell him that this is absolute bullshit and all he wants is to waste more time doing research on things, I already gave him information about how to make these things. I gave him detailed schematics, hundreds of pages of research notes, and even a detailed explanation of how these things work, but much like I expected, it goes one ear and outcomes the other.
"Look you can tell me things till you are blue in the face, but there is no way a nobody like you have more knowledge than a brilliant scientist blessed by God, sure you are a Captain but to me, you are no better than another dumb bottom of the barrel grunt. Now shut up, I need to think about the acceptance speech I will give since it is clear that the Emperor wishes to reward me for my amazing work and improvement of the computation gem. Don't worry, your name and that of that she-devil will be added as a footnote when someone mentions my divine accomplishments!"
I for one didn't want to have to sit in the same compartment with the man that nearly got me and Tanya killed and I was sourly tempted to simply open a window and gently lean ever so in the direction of the idiot causing him to fall out of the window and with how fast the train was going and where it was it would mean an almost assured death for the loud primadonna. Seeing me Tanya began to laugh and shake her head pretty much telling me that was not a good idea, so I tried to keep myself calm as the fool kept singing about the praises he no doubt will receive and the reward the Emperor would give him for doing so much for the Empire, going as far as saying that he and Tanya should be grateful to even be present for this.
He was clenching his fist so hard on the seat handle that he looked like he was ready to tear the compartment apart with his bare hands, and that surprised the other soldiers, he usually was a lot more calm and collected, but then they suddenly remembered who the man talking was, and where did these two Captains come from, suddenly they understood and felt a lot of pity for them.
The palace looked like something that would make other royal palaces look like a simple home, the walls were decorated with pictures, paintings, and many displays of the prowess and achievements of the Imperial Family, the clear pride they felt for the Empire, and how much they valued and loved their nation. As they were guided through the palace they each saw a picture of somehow Karl knew only from descriptions, it was his father, but for some strange reason he never expected him to be among the family portraits, he was supposedly an illegitimate son, one that was never recognized, yet he was portrayed as one of the children of the Emperor dressed in full dress military uniform, that of a high ranking officer.
Tanya asked him what the hell was going on, as far as she remembers he told her that he found out his father was an unwanted, illegitimate son of the Emperor, and that he died as a drunk living no better than a beggar, yet these pictures said otherwise, they painted a picture that contradicts everything that he told her, so again she asked him, what the hell is the truth or is this propaganda?
Karl looked at her as they stood waiting for the doors to the throne to open, "Look Tanya everything that I told you, I learned from the sisters at the orphanage, I am as shocked as you are, my father was supposedly a bastard that the Emperor didn't even acknowledge him being either his son or him being born at all, but I have seen over a dozen paintings, photos and portraits telling me that everything I knew was wrong, so trust me I am also freaking the hell out."
Doctor Schugel was also freaking out seeing a strange family resemblance between Karl and several men in the pictures that adorned the walls, this must be a prank, a practical joke, there is no way Karl is related to the Imperial Family, there is no fucking way this is true because if it is, it means he has spent every moment he has ever talked with him insulting a member of the Imperial family, and in most cases that was as good as committing suicide both professionally and personally.
The Emperor was seated on a golden throne that was decorated like it had the legs of a dragon, and the hand rests were decorated by two massive crystals which both Tanya and Karl realized were operational gems. This means the throne could in fact be used to cast spells, which also means that it must have features and do things to allow the Emperor to fight and even defend himself should the palace be invaded.
As soon as they were in front of the throne, all three of them kneeled in front of it, offering their greetings and reverence to the Emperor, but that was cut short by the hearing as someone got up to his feet and walked towards them. Karl was worried about what could all this mean, and was quite confused, why would the sisters in the orphanage lie to him? As he was trying to understand what was true and what had been a lie, someone grabbed him and pulled him only to feel himself being hugged by a rather strong man.
"Karl, I am so happy to see that you are safe and sound, I been hearing stories of an officer that they called Radiant Gold, so I had him investigated, and I was shocked to find that you the very officer who had impressed me so much, is none other than my precious grandson, one that has been missing ever since the day you had been kidnaped, your father searched all over the Fatherland to find you, but tragically my son died when enemies from another country invaded our nation. You actually avenged him when you fought those enemies in the Rhie Theather."
That is when he was finally free from that bone-crushing hug he looked at the Emperor, "Your majesty, I was informed that my father was a noble and that my father was never even recognized as a noble since he was born from a one night to stand that his father had with his mother, I believe you are mistaken, how can I be your grandson?"
The Emperor laughed as he took hold of Karl's hand and had him walk back to the throne, "You are mistaken, grandson, yes, your father was born when I had an affair with the daughter of one of our nation's main merchant families, but it is nonsense that I would consider him illegitimate, or not recognize him, he grew up in this palace as you would have, had you not been kidnaped on the day you were born. If you think you are not my grandson, then let me prove it to you, sit on the throne and send your magic through it, if you are right you will know almost immediately."
Karl couldn't very well disobey the Emperor so he did as instructed, and as soon as he sat down on the throne, and sent his magic through the two gems, a light began to glow on both of his hands and as his hands rested on the gems a sigil appeared in the air and that being the imperial emblem, as it fell down the emblem began to spread all over the clothes Karl was wearing tearing them apart as they were reconstructed, and soon he too was dressed in the same military uniform as one of the men in the portraits that adorned the halls.
"The throne recognized you and even decided to change your uniform to something appropriate to a member of the Imperial Family, the sigil was our family sigil, had you not been a member of my family, grandson, that sigil would have burned you to ashes for daring to sit on that throne, so you see, it is not I who am mistaken, but you. I also heard the trouble you've been having with getting people to recognize your ingenious ideas, so I called for you and what I once considered our top scientist to come and tell me your ideas on how to improve the technology of our nation."
I decided to tell him of ways to improve everything from street lighting to plumbing, sanitation, and even the treatment of sewage and waste, everything from public transportation, to go into airwave communications, and even to the point of education reform and health improvements, such as medical techniques and procedures that could save thousands of lives.
It was things I knew from my life before this one and things I studied, to make things even better I also told them I had ways to improve metal forging, building down to improved building materials, and even recycling metals, all these I had tried to tell people about, and people just called it either fantasy, stupid crazy nonsense, or stuff only an insane person could dream of.
"When I first was sent to Officers training, I wanted to improve the operational gems we used, I kept risking my life by having my gem overload after so many spells, so I tried my best to think of improving it using my own knowledge to do so, I proposed a design to improve the current model, that somehow got to Dr. Schugel, who I imagine promptly ignored it as garbage as many others have done."
"I was sent along with Tanya to be basically guinea pigs for his new gem model, but the thing was even worse than the one we currently use, it was just trying to force the gem to do the work of three gems, and at a faster rate, so the gem overloaded that much more quickly and because of the build-up happening so fast, the explosion would have ended up killing anyone who tested it, but instead of accepting his mistake, he simply said all failures were caused by human error, every report he blamed the person testing it, and called it perfect."
Dr. Schugel was now sweating bullets from the glare of the Emperor and every single Imperial Guard. "Had a miracle not happened, both Tanya and I would have died and there wouldn't be enough of both of us to bury in a matchbox. We were informed that these gems would only work for us, so Dr. Shugel is still trying to copy their design of them and create a mass-production model. But every attempt for me to tell him how to do that had been him telling me I am no better than a grunt or a peon, and that I should keep my mouth shut and leave scientific innovations to geniuses like him, so even if I want to help improve the lives of our citizens I can't, because guys like him, will not listen!"
Dr. Schugel had enough and stood up walking towards me, "Look Karl, I told you, your designs do have merits, they are infantile, simply not the level of quality I would expect, but they do have merit and I would take your notes and use them to improve the computational gem, I told you that." Tanya was quick to mention that his exact words were he would take the notes, improve upon them, and once the designs and research were finished he would claim that it was his work, and both she and Karl would be lucky to be mentioned as a minor contribution in the footnotes because that is what Karl and she deserve to be nothing more than footnotes in his glorious achievements.
The Emperor was now furious, as he walked closer to the Doctor, he had to take a deep breath just to calm down and keep himself from breaking this man's neck like a twig. "So it is as I heard from our agents in the Intelligence Division, I finally found my long lost grandson, and you in your stupidity, nearly got him killed, on several of your blasted gem tests, do you know why you are kept in that private and secluded lab Doctor Schugel?"
The Doctor looked at the Emperor and said that it was because his research was amazing and he was kept there to keep the designs and research secrets secure? The lab is kept due to the possible threat of spies stealing imperial secrets which is true, but he is also kept there because there he causes the least amount of damage to the Empire, whenever his experiments blow up. "Doctor Schugel you have been blessed by having a person whose wisdom could revolutionize our very understanding of technology and science in several fields, but instead of recognizing him as the blessing he is, and accepting his help in making our Empire one of the most advanced nations in the world, you ridicule him, insult him, and try to kill him."
The Emperor looked at Karl and people could see how proud he was of his grandson, and then glared at the Doctor who nearly killed him. "Very well, Doctor you are delusional if you think I called you here to receive a medal or some kind of reward, you are lucky that I don't have you executed for trying to repeatedly kill my grandson, so instead, I am going to tell you what will happen, from this moment on, till the day you die, you will work for my grandson, and you will assist him in his efforts to improve and advance our Empire's knowledge and technology. He does not report to you, however, do report to Karl from now on, or I can throw you in a deep dark cell lock you up and throw away the key, so what shall it be?"
Dr. Schugel hated to admit it but after being forced to listen to the many, many improvements he had tried to talk with him about, he realized that these improvements could in fact save a countless number of citizen lives, improve their standards of living, make preservation of food and other essential materials no longer be a problem, reduction in wasted food and other materials, and thus could, in theory, increase the lifespans and survival rate of all the people in the Empire. He quickly dropped to his knees begging for forgiveness and saying that he lives for the Empire and will do anything that is required to help the Empire become the most prosperous and advanced nation in the world.
The Emperor walked up and helped Tanya stand closer to Karl, "And there is no need to be shy, you are practically my granddaughter-in-law, so no need to be shy, since it was you two who finally managed to improve that doomed project, I shall have both of you receive a promotion, to Major, after you finally finish writing all your designs and improvements, then you shall be able to return to the capital, where I hear Karl and you are trying to make a battalion to deal with invasions and other threats in a speedy and precise fashion. Since Karl will be one of the officers in charge of it, I shall make certain that this new experimental battalion is properly equipped, I will not have anyone risk the life of Karl or his blushing bride ever again!"
That must have been quite shocking for Adelheid, not knowing that the person he was talking so harshly and even insulting had been actually a member of the imperial family, but the way he spoke to me and Tanya didn't leave me any desire to be merciful to him, he more than deserves this if not for me and Tanya, for the way he talked about all those that died all due to his inability to accept his own errors and try to remedy his own mistakes.
"Sir, may I ask, how is it that Karl went missing and how is it that you found out about this, I am simply curious as to how is it that it took nearly two decades for anyone to recognize a missing member of the imperial family." I don't know who this person was but he apparently was a high-ranking general in the Imperial army, he almost reminded me of one of the instructors back at Officer training.
"That is a bit embarrassing, an enemy nation sent a young woman to be a nurse for my son's wife, after she had a very difficult time during the birth of their son, on the day that he was born, a few hours in fact after he was born, this lady took my grandson from his crib in the middle of the night, and disappeared, we couldn't find her anywhere, no matter how much we searched, we later caught a spy and thanks to some rather aggressive interrogation and torture, we found out the truth, the enemy nation wished for the Imperial family to fall into such depression that we would fail to act when that nation invaded our borders."
The Emperor looked furious when he said the last part, "And these bastards failed to realize that we were not depressed, we were as furious as a den of dragons after someone dared to mess with their young, we defeated the invaders and the last survivor told us they left the child they took somewhere for it to die, he was not even worth keeping as a hostage, since the Empire does not negotiate with kidnappers. I learned that the general area where the kidnapper escaped was in fact where there was an orphanage for orphans that was operated and maintained by nuns. Learning about Karl after he gained his second name, I kept a close eye on the activities of this young man, and sure enough, I found out this was my long-lost grandson."
I couldn't help but wonder how did he keep an eye on me this entire time, it was not like he had someone keeping an eye on me, to which the man I knew now as my grandfather began to laugh, "Don't look at me like that grandson, did you ever not wonder why was Victoriya so often where you were, well she was the one that was sending me reports about you this entire time, after all, you two been engaged to marry for quite some time now, in fact, her mother and yours arrange your engagement even before you two were born. They were old friends and they promised if your mother had a son and her friend had a daughter that the two would marry. I could never understand her, but she wouldn't do that without having a good reason."
I definitely thought that I was cursed, but now the fact that Victoriya was always looking out for me, and the way she reacted when we met her again in that accursed lab makes more sense, honestly, I thought that she wanted to kill Tanya, and knowing this actually makes more sense. The way her mother was treating me, now at least I know the reason, and what is worse this lady was in fact the friend of my mother. "I wonder if my mother is still alive, I know my father is dead, but what has happened to my mother?"
My grandfather began to laugh and told me that my mother sort of became so furious that she actually became one of the Empire's most deadly snipers, it didn't matter what they gave her, a pistol, a rifle, or even a bow and arrow, if she could shoot it at something or someone she could kill it with a single shot from amazing distances, the one getting shot had no clue where she was or how she managed that long of a shot, but it didn't matter since she never misses and her target never survives. "Well at least I now know why the hell Karl here is so much into being the sniper of our unit, and why he prefers long-range attacks, honestly if she has something like that monocle of his, I don't doubt that she is deadly."
I was more interested in finding out what will happen to me and Tanya from this moment on, "As you may not know, our family has fought as the defenders of the Empire in every single war that has happened in every single generation, come to think of it, we had a war every twenty years. I honestly think that the gods themselves are causing this to happen." That is when Tanya told him that they are indeed doing that, this war and every other was caused or influenced by a war that is happening between different pantheons, each fighting each other for dominance. The only way to achieve true peace is somehow they could get all the pantheons to stop their fighting and accept each other.
Grandfather began to ask how in the world does she even know that, it took him over ten years to figure that out, and he never told anyone because they would use that as an excuse to overthrow his rule by declaring him insane. "How do I know, we are both recognized as children of Zeus, and when the monstrosity that idiot over there strapped to our chests was about to blow, Zeus summoned us to Olympus where they managed to repair the malfunction of the operational gems and explain to us the current situation in our world and the cause of this and many of the other wars. A deity grows in power depending on how many followers or believers worship that deity, and so this war is to eliminate other religions so they can establish themselves as the only religion and thus keep all that faith for themselves. Only by establishing a way for people to believe that everyone is free to worship whoever they decide can we even have a hope to have lasting peace."
I know this but I am still wondering how will my life change now, will our superiors treat us with kid gloves, or will things go back to the way they were, I know for instance that specialized fast strike battalion we both were thinking of making is now a reality, and once we get back to headquarters we will more than like be forced to start the soldier selection and training of said unit, Tanya does not like being in combat, and I can't help it, I happen to enjoy it, to be able to eliminate the enemies of the fatherland, what joy.
"As I told you, you both shall receive a promotion, and to make matters better for you, you two will be allowed to send me letters or come and visit me whenever you want, before you say anything against this, Karl, you are my grandson, and you should feel free to come and see me if you need advice, need help or you simply want to spend some time with your grandfather, who knows, you might even get to spend some time with your mother, I am certain that your mother will want to know the type of man you grew up into."