Eminence in Technomancy c7

Marcus prepared four wooden swords.

When girls saw the swords, they looked confused.

“My Lord— it only has a blade on one side.” Alpha pointed out.

“Indeed. It's the style of swordsmanship I practised.” He handed over the wooden weapons to them.

“Let's start.” He started showing the stances.

“There are three stances that you should be aware of.” He started to explain.

“Wind, the wind is quick strokes and stabs. Rock is heavy swings and meant to break through defences, and Water is wide swings and meant to deliver overwhelming power. Like the ocean waves, slamming and retreating.”

“...I see… but what is with the blade?” Claire asked him, as she had never seen such a weapon before.

“It reminds me of those Eastern weapons.” She exclaimed while inspecting the blade.

“That's precisely what it is. This world arrangement is similar to my original world. Maybe some sort of echo? Well, it doesn't matter.

We will start with practice swings.”

His elf girls swiftly started to follow his commands. Claire followed as well, but she was one or two seconds late. Unlike his other three followers, part of her always has some sort of questions.

But Alpha, Beta and Gamma don't question anything. They simply know that there is nothing better than learning from him.

Claire quickly realised that Alpha and Beta are good! Like they are absurdly talented. Such a competitive situation was good, in a way. She wanted it!

But Gamma?

“Your nose is bleeding.” The red-eyed girl commented.

“...”

The girl stood up and cleaned up her nose.

“It appears you are a natural klutz.” Marcus walked over to Gamma. It only has been a few minutes, but the blue-haired elf dropped on her stomach several times already.

“...Ugh…I am sorry!”

“It's okay, don't apologise; there are other ways to fight. You don't need to wield a sword.” The Grand Alchemist helped her to stand up.

He then looked at the trio, who were practising.

“For now, I want you all to get the hang of the stances. Once that is finished, we can return to practice.”

“...W-What do you mean by that?” Claire was having a bad feeling about this.

“A hundred swings of each stance.”

“...B-But.” The red-eyed girl complained but realised that the silver and blonde elves were already doing it!

‘These girls are mad!’

“...Fine.”

‘It appears I have underestimated you all!’

As the trio were practising, Marcus took Gamma back to the living room.

“I am going to test you on something. I have a hunch feeling about it.”

“...Um…okay…” The blue-haired elf girl was feeling nervous.

“How good are you with money?” He randomly asked her.

“...I…”

Sure enough, Marcus asked a couple of money-based questions one would have in a test.

“...My oh my… aren't you just interesting.” The Iron Wolf smiled upon hearing all of that.

“I might have you as head of our company, which will work as a front.”

“...I-If this is what you want! I won't disappoint you!” Gamma was pleased that her Lord was pleased with her!

“It's alright. You don't need to be this on edge.” He patted her head, which was an overkill. Her ears turned red as her eyes started to spin.

~~~

Training continued for Claire. She was busier than ever before. She thought her training regime was good.

But then she got introduced to Marcus. That Alchemist is just torturing her!

She wanted to complain but she couldn't! There was no energy!

But this was just muscle pain; on top of that, it was Alpha’s theory time.

Who would have thought she would need maths, biology, physics, and other things just to learn alchemy?

Claire could feel it! Her brain is turning into a mush.

However, she forgot all about that when she saw that Marcus was taking measurements of Gamma; he would make armour for her.

When she saw that her complaints had died, That's right! All that suffering and blistering hands made her forget why she was doing this.

The future Baroness won't disappoint! She will impress.

“Why do you want me to do that?” Claire pouted at him when she heard his request.

“Because I want you to be a Perfect Baroness; if your family knights see that you are seriously taking your duties, they will come to you to reveal any sort of information they pick up while on patrols.

We want residents of your lands to be on the lookout for anything interesting or curious.”

“...Oh…”

For a moment, she thought that he wanted to send her off. But this was making so much sense.

“The more greatness you show, the more they want to rely on you. By nature, people don't want to deal with issues, so they look for ‘guidance’ from their betters or some sort of higher power.”

“...I-I see.” Claire realised that she was in that boat.

“I will do it.”

“Good. Impress me, and I might give you an armour.”

“!!!”

“I will!”

After that, Claire left the hideout.

Alpha witnessed the interaction between those two; she smiled for a bit. She saw how the black-haired girl’s attitude was slowly mellowing down.

“It's a genius move to enlist the work of the entire land ruled by Claire’s family.”

“Information is one of the most important tools in this world. The Cult is using it. We can use it too.

The only difference is that we have one thing that they don't have.”

“...Technomancy?”

“Precisely. I will be developing several tools for easier communication. I want you to continue training while I develop our technomancy.” He instructed her while returning to his work.

“As you wish.” With a nod, Alpha went to continue training.

After recovering Gamma, the cult changed their routes. It is evident that they put a massive amount of emphasis on these ‘possessed’ people.

Almost as if they are food for them. Marcus might have ‘joked’, but it is becoming more evident that it's not a joke but a high possibility.

With a test plan in motion, the Grand Alchemist returned to work on his technomancy foundations.

With the Matter Convertor and Assembly lines done, he finally focused on making tools to build his computer.

For that, he built the workbenches he intended to make before. But with Claire and Gamma’s induction, he had to delay.

Now, he can return to this.

First was the shape; he turned liquid mana into quite a thin block. This block will be the future motherboard. With the shape done, he used an array of magic carving tools to carve in runic letters and meaning itself.

As always, the process was long and quite monotonous.

But this is for the sake of the foundation of his technomancy. Even if Marcus is redoing this as he did before, he is trying out a few ideas he never had a chance to add.

Not that he had time to get annoyed by the monotony.

He has three elves, which are like curious cats who want his attention.

And then, of course, there is Claire, who also wants to be guided.

“What is it?” The Grand Alchemist lifted his head and looked away from the motherboard he was working on.

“What should I do now? Baldy easily handed over the reins of the Barony to me. As ridiculous as it sounds.”

“Baldy?”

“My father.” She scoffed while saying that.

“He is more than happy with less work.” She said that while crossing her arms.

“Start with disguising and covering your true intentions. Your goal is to know what the cult is doing in your lands. For that, people have to tell things to you.

How to do that? Simple, use alternatives. If you want to keep your land clean from bandits, make your knights report everything to you.

Make them keep track of who is moving in and leaving your towns.

If they, for example, tell you that there was a caravan from church passing by, you can say to us.”

“...Oh…I see! I need to cover my intentions with several legitimate things!” Claire looked happy with this.

“Indeed. This way, you establish your rule. Let everyone know you are dealing with bandits, thugs and other low lives. People will praise you and see you as a great future leader.

No one will ever think that you are a terrible noble. It will help you in the capital with royals as well. They will see you as a great prospect to join the knight order.”

She nodded a couple of times when she heard that! His idea was fantastic! Marcus figured out this so quickly!

While Claire was in awe, his three elves had stars in their eyes.

Even Gamma joined this club after learning how many things Marcus knew about money and money-making practices.

“Next is food security and security in general. These two are essential to keep your regular citizens secure.”

He continued to explain.

“Content people are easier to sway to your side. Remember that at critical times, people will recall what good you did to them.”

“...I understand.”

“Good girl. Now you can return to your training.” He patted her black hair.

“...”

Claire, at that moment, felt that she was rooted to the floor.

The three elves looked at this with wide-open mouths. It only lasted for a second as they started to feel jealous!

“...I-I understand!”

The red-eyed girl swiftly left the workshop; she was fast and had a large smirk on her lips.

She never thought getting patted would be this great!

“What?” Marcus looked at the trio with a questioning look.

“C-Can you pat me too!?” Alpha swiftly walked over to his side.

“M-Me too!” Beta followed after the blonde. The blue-haired one did the same.

“I want it too, as well!”

“...Fine.” The Grand Alchemist caved in.

“However, if you want more, I need to see that progress.” He reminded them about training.

All three looked at him with fiery looks.

He might have unleashed something wild, but honestly, he doesn't care.

After that, Marcus continued to instruct Claire and work on that PC. Apart from that, he finished with Gamma’s suit.

Unlike other suits, Gamma is not good at close range because of how klutz she is.

So, instead, he altered a few things and made her more of a range and artillery.

After pondering, he added a rune caster to her armour gloves.

However, his new creation got the attention of his elves.

“My Lord, you saying with this we can use spells!?” Alpha looked at Gamma’s gloves. The blonde can see more runes on the palms and the projector at the centre of the palm.

“It's like third-rate foci. We need an AI for more powerful spell casting.

I mean, sure, you can cast spells, but it takes time.”

“...This… I thought spellweaving is a long lost art!” Beta said with wide eyes.

“Hmm, what do you mean?” Marcus looked at the trio in front of him.

“Using magic, as you described, is lost art, alongside artificer, alchemy, and potions.” Beta explained.

“The only way and growing art of using magic is alongside the sword; it's the Kingdom of Midgar thing.”

Marcus had a pondering look when he heard that.

‘The cult, no doubt. They are hoarding everything, like a monopoly on things.

But this is reckless, yet I understand this is how it ended with me.’

It's funny how Marcus understands where this is coming from. He was and is no different. He hoards his stuff, too.

“Fine, in that case, ladies, I will teach you elemental magic through runemancy, especially you, Gamma; you have the reserves for a great fighter but lack agility. In that case, I simply teach you how to fly. “

“Yes!”

“It will be an honour!”

“My thanks!”

The trio started to gush around the idea of learning to cast spells!

Then, a few days later, Claire came to visit; she looked smug.

“I got something for you, My Lord.” The black-haired future Baroness started to explain.

“There is a caravan with a possessed passing through West Road.” She said with a smile. The tactics she was taught have finally paid off.