To fully reform the mentality of Hestia, Ezra wanted her to be as curious as possible. His plan was to slowly indoctrinate her through his cla.s.ses during Helio. It was a given that he should be as subtle as possible. Another n.o.ble on his side was a great advantage especially a princess of the empire.
With the way things were going with the bank Ezra wanted to build primary to university education in Bren as soon as possible. He wanted the capital of Fulmen to be a hub for knowledge much like Athens was to ancient Greeks. With the spread of knowledge especially about the plights of the commoners. He believed that commoners gaining the knowledge could help each other and thus boost the overall welfare of Rex Imperia.
However, with change comes resistance, especially from powers that be. Ezra disliked the notion of war. He knew that depending on the situation especially if a revolt would occur, civil unrest would spread through the kingdom with the things he was going to implement which could ultimately result in civil war. Ezra was not sure that he could slowly make Rex Imperia more egalitarian through knowledge alone. He knows for that to happen he also must structure an army to defend his ideals.
With the technologies he might introduce in the future he could build a better military reinforced by maximizing manpower and not a standing army selected from the populace with magic. However, if he did this abruptly it would definitely be noticed by neighbouring fiefdoms and his plans could be uprooted before they even bloom. Currently, Bren"s troops were the typical knights and squires. He did not dare propose any military reform because he knew how fast Reitz could implement his proposals especially if he saw wisdom in them and this might lead to unwanted consequences.
Ezra had structured his industrialization in the subtlest way, that is why he chose agriculture research first. This was one of the more practical uses for science if this brought about less hunger and the common folk actually benefitted from it then people would be interested in change.
Hestia"s eyes lingered at the effervescent concoction.
"Let"s go to the other parts of the building and leave Anton to his tasks for now." Ezra beckoned.
Anton bowed as the party left. Ezra tasked him with training the three lab a.s.sistants. He told Anton that in two years" time he would build a whole advisory department around the chemical lab and he wanted him to do administrative tasks and let the younger generation run the actual chemical experiment and research.
Ezra hadn"t located any oil yet, but there were reports of a few pitch pits near Bren, so far most of Anton"s work was largely successful over the years he had successfully synthesized a lot of key compounds. It was great news, however, the blueprints for ma.s.s production that Ezra had drawn over the years had yet to be implemented and his research on mechanical systems and where to implement them were still ongoing. This was the main force that would drive the revolution.
"Ezra, I loved the tiles on your chemical lab." Hestia tried to start a conversation." Where did you mine them? I don"t know any mines that produce white granite such as those."
"Oh, they are not mined, princess. They are made," he grinned.
"What do you mean?"
"They are what you call ceramics. They have a similar process with gla.s.s making. You use a kiln to purify impurities in the sand." Ceramics were actually one of the exports he considered if ever he made his own chamber of commerce but he couldn"t gauge demand for such a product that was unknown.
"I"d love to use them on the manor I would build in Fulmen."
Ezra chuckled. He imagined the manor looking like an oversized lavatory since the tiles he used were small squares that resembled those that were used in public lavatories.
"Uhm, sure Princess, I"ll give you a thousand pieces for your manor for free. However, I advise you to seek my mother"s aid in designing your manor."
"Very well," Hestia beamed.
This was positive outcome, if the princess used the creamic tiles for her manor then he could gauge the actual aesthetic value and price for the new product.
The party made their way up to the stairwell. Upon reaching the next floor, Hestia was surprised that no one actually met and greeted them.
They approached a huge oaken double door that was towering. Rycharde and Evered opened the room. Hestia was shocked. This floor was the most s.p.a.cious floor, half of it actually overarched up to the roof. There were so many contraptions that she didn"t understand. There was a towering structure made of metal before her and in the middle of the room there was also a metal pillar that had metallic rings on them and was topped of with a metallic sphere.
"What are these?"
"They are used for different things I don"t have the time to explain everything in detail to you today," Ezra said rea.s.suringly.
"There are so many contraptions and machines here, but why are there no stewards in this floor, Ezra?" Hestia asked.
"Well, uhh … " Ezra bit his lip to think for a bit.
Hestia tilted up her head curious at Ezra"s response.
"Well, it"s because this is my personal lab."
"Whwhat do you mean?" she followed up as her voice quivered slightly. She was astonished and didn"t want to fully imagine the implications of such a claim. She had seen too many things that were too impossible for a seven-year-old.
Ezra didn"t respond this time. He knew he shouldn"t have revealed it to her. Instead, he redirected his response.
"Princess, I have prepared something for you to see." Ezra nodded at Rycharde. The two guards beside him stood back.
Rycharde went to the far left and pulled a lever. After a few seconds, a hulking ma.s.s of metal started to move. Hestia"s eyes immediately darted toward it.
There was a metal arm attached to what looked like a wheel. The metal bar attached to the wheel moved with as it turned. She didn"t understand that it was actually the metal bar that moved the wheel but from her perspective, it was the inverse. She stared at the contraption for a while it was bobbing along furiously howling as steam was gushing out of some of the protrusions of the metal contraption.
The howling turned to a roar, Hestia couldn"t help but condense her magic instinctively. She looked at Ezra and party and she noticed that they had relaxed faces. Although she couldn"t help but look at Ezra"s two young guards puff up their chest. They couldn"t hide their pride. Which perplexed her it didn"t seem anything to be proud about.
Suddenly she felt something in the air.
"Don"t worry princess, this is all part of the demonstration. It might feel a little weird. There might be a tingling sensation you will feel in the air around us," Ezra told her loudly as the noise from the contraption reverberated in the air.
There was really something peculiar in the atmosphere. Hestia felt it in her skin ever so slightly. She was perplexed to feel the tiny hairs on her skin stand on end. It was quite odd. Suddenly the hairs on her head was standing on end as well.
She didn"t have enough time to inspect her self as she heard a slow crackling.
Zzzt, zzt zzt.
She was shocked to see a few meters across the room, the metallic pillar she saw was emitting white streaks of light buzzing and crackling as if malevolently slicing the air.
Her face soured as she immediately tried to cast a spell. But then her eyes darted on the faces of Ezra and his guard. They were not in the least worried so she withdrew her magic.
She focused on the buzzing and noticed that the pillar seemed to actually shoot out lighting. The noise from the pillar overshadowed the loud howling of the metal device that was still rotating.
"WOAH!!!" she blurted out, her shrill cry pierced. Even Erela was perturbed.
The lighting lasted for a few seconds and Ezra once again nodded to Rycharde.
The noise slowly died down.
"What do you think princess?" Ezra smiled lightly.
"I , I," She was lost for words. She could not believe it. This boy before her actually captured lightning! She couldn"t handle this. Emotions swirled around her as her vision gradually dimmed.