Adriana stepped into the chaotic lab, her eyes scanning the cluttered space. Lloyd, the eccentric scientist, was perched on a ladder, tinkering with some contraption. He looked to his left, caught sight of Adriana, unconsciously shifting his position and losing his balance, tumbling into a pile of books.
Adriana smiled awkwardly, trying to stifle a laugh. "Hello, Lloyd. I see you're... busy."
Lloyd struggled to extricate himself from the pile of books, his face flushed. "Ah, Lady Adriana! Welcome! I was just... uh... making a few adjustments to a project of mine."
Hiera, Lloyd's long-suffering assistant, appeared at Adriana's side, exasperation etched on her face. "How many times am I going to have to clean up the mess you make, Lloyd? Now look."
Hiera squatted down, beginning to gather the scattered books and parchments that now littered the floor. Adriana watched, thinking to herself how invaluable Hiera had become to their new science division. She had proven to be an unlikely asset, bringing her knowledge of goblin extraction techniques and information on Mystium itself to the table since the goblins arguably knew more about it than they did. It was surprising to learn that she had been instrumental in developing some of the goblins' Mystium extraction methods, despite being overlooked by her own people. Adriana glanced around and saw a few goblins walking around and tinkering with machines. Their alliance with the Gwaltch had seen quite a few of them enter the city under the order of their king, who was under the order of Sasha, in order to assist as well as atone for their attack by sharing their knowledge. So far things were going smoothly, though the people were still reluctant to associate with them.
"It'll take a while, but everything will work out in the end."
Adriana's gaze drifted to Lloyd, who was still struggling to get up from the floor. Hiera ignored his outstretched hand, walking away with a stack of books. Lloyd called out to her, but she didn't respond.
Laughter echoed from the corner of the room. Speaking of the Goblin King... Adriana turned to see Kamau, the goblin king, lounging on a sofa with one leg crossed over the other, reading a book. He was chuckling to himself and turned to lie on his belly. He reached out to pick a handful of nuts from a bowl on a nearby table, deposited them in his mouth, and chewed while turning over the next page. The normally bored and disinterested royal was clearly entertained, his eyes gleaming with interest. He chuckled again, nearly choking and beating his chest.
"Good afternoon, your grace," Adriana greeted with a bow. Kamau, however, didn't show any reaction.
"Hey, Uncle," Hiera called out to him, drawing his attention to Adriana's presence.
"Ah, Adriana! Good morning. Or is it afternoon?" He thought for a moment. "Well, it doesn't matter. And you don't have to address me as such. I am basically your subordinate," Kamau said with a laugh.
Adriana understood that, but why did he call her so casually and without honorifics? Aside from her relatives, Kojo and the others, everyone addressed her formally. She didn't have anything against it, but it just felt weird.
Kamau laughed again, waving the book in the air, drawing her attention. "I'm reading about the absurd antics of Sakata Gintoki. This guy is hilarious!"
Adriana smiled, walking over to Kamau. "I'm glad you're enjoying it. Kojo gave those to Lloyd, didn't he?"
Kamau nodded, still grinning. "Yes, he did." Kojo had remade, what did he call them? Manga? Manhwa? Webtoons? Well, he'd called them something, Adriana thought with a shrug. He even made some novels for her to read, and she found them quite interesting. Anyway, he used his threads to make pages and compiled them into books, using ink to transcribe the information and given them to Lloyd so that he'd loosen up and relax once in a while. Lloyd didn't see the need, so Kojo showed him a panel with a mech suit and jokingly told Lloyd that he should use them as reference material to create new technology. Of course, Lloyd took that personally and had been studying them intently, trying to recreate some of the technology.
But Kamau was just reading for fun.
Lloyd, now back on his feet, strode over to them, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Ah, Kamau, you're reading about the Beniza***** arc! That's one of my favorites! The way they use the******** and the******* with the ******* to ********* and then*******—"
Kamau interrupted, his voice rising in argument. "No, no, no! The best part is when Gintoki and Shin********* use the ******** and ******** the ********* to***********—"
Hiera stormed over, her face stern. "What is wrong with you two?! Can't you see there's a noble here?"
"Well, technically you're a noble as well, and I'm a King, so....."
Hiera glared at them, causing both Lloyd and Kamau to shudder.
"Sorry," they said, apologizing in unison. They exchanged a sheepish glance before Hiera cleared her throat and nodded towards Adriana, prompting Lloyd to get to the real reason he called Adriana over.
"Ah, yes! Lady Adriana, I've been working on something new. Please follow me," he said, leading the way.
Adriana tilted her head curiously and followed.
As they walked away, Kamau called out, "Hey, Lloyd! Don't blow anything up again, okay?"
"Don't worry, I'll try to keep the explosions to a minimum."
"Try," he said under his breath.
Adriana smiled, following Lloyd into the depths of his chaotic lab, wondering what new invention he had cooked up.
Lloyd led Adriana and Hiera into a room filled with an astonishing array of different colored Mystium crystals that floated on various pedestals. Each one unique in shape and size, some were attached to machines while others floated alone. These were advanced weapons, their intricate mechanisms a testament to Lloyd's ingenuity.
"Welcome to my little project," Lloyd said, his eyes shining with pride. "I know you have quite a busy schedule, but hear me out. As you can see, I've been busy. The damage to the city has been cleared, leaving just a few finishing touches. I worked with Ovid and Heinz on the construction, strengthening the buildings to withstand future attacks."
Adriana nodded, her gaze sweeping across the room.
"Things seem to be going smoothly for now. But what about the next time we're attacked? What if our enemies are stronger?" Lloyd asked.
"As a regular human who can't use magic, I'd love to study the phenomena caused by such battles. But I wouldn't want our lab to be destroyed in the process. No, I'd lose too much data. I predict that our foes will only grow stronger from here on out."
As they walked deeper into the room, they came to stand before a large object, five meters tall, that was covered with a cloth. "What makes you think our enemies will grow stronger, Lloyd?" Adriana asked.
"It's simple, really. You send an underling to perform a task, and they fail. What do you do? You send someone more competent. If they fail, you send someone even better, and if they fail, you send someone better still until you feel the need to intervene. It's a matter of escalating power. That's what I would have done, and so I assume that others are equally like-minded."
Adriana nodded, understanding his logic.
"So, in order to preserve my data...," Lloyd cleared his throat, changing his words mid-sentence. "I mean, to protect the city, as I said, I've been working on a little something new."
With a flourish, Lloyd pulled off the cloth, revealing a large, translucent Mystium shard of a silver color. Three rings surrounded the shard, pulsing with a soft, blue light. They had circuit lines etched into them and seemed to change hues as one observed. Adriana stepped forward, her hand reaching out to touch the smooth, glassy surface.
Lloyd's eyes lit up with excitement.
"I call it the Solar Crystal. I got the idea when I saw Kojo demarcate the border with Adonis. You see, Mystium is the crystallization of energy, and it takes on the attributes of various elements depending on where it's formed. This shard is to be fired into space, mimicking Kojo's 'Solar Extinction' spell by absorbing sunlight. When I'm done, it could, in theory, send a blast of energy through the planet, destabilizing the planet's core at its full power."
Adriana remained silent as she looked at it.
"I'm working on a new branch of research called Crystal Engineering," Lloyd continued. "This is a branch where we don't just create tools to harness the power of the Mystium Crystals but program the crystals, the energy itself. Though we're still far from perfection, and that would take time, but with this technology, we can harness the power of Mystium to create new, innovative solutions. But I'm far from done with this project. While I'm still building, I'd like you to talk it over with the others to get their approval for me to launch it."
Adriana's expression was unreadable as she gazed at the Solar Crystal. Lloyd waited for her response, but she remained silent. Finally, she spoke up.
"It's alright, Lloyd. I understand. I'll bring the matter up before my father and the others."
Without another word, Adriana turned and left the lab, leaving Lloyd staring after her in confusion. Hiera yelled at him to stop ogling Adriana and get back to work.
Lloyd blinked, tearing his gaze away from the door. He looked at the Solar Crystal one last time before following Hiera out of the room. As they left, a faint blue glow of Arcana emanated from the spot on the crystal that Adriana had touched, unnoticed by Lloyd and Hiera.