SHREWEDER THAN THOU

The sun had begun to set, casting a warm orange glow over the room. Adriana and Duke Mikael had been talking for hours, going back and forth in a delicate dance of words and persuasion. Despite her best efforts, Adriana could sense that her uncle was still not convinced.

The duke leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he asked,

"Adriana, you've done well so far and I must say you almost had me convinced. But you're working under the assumption that this is the ideal situation and let me take advantage of this to give you advice. There's never an ideal situation. You whole presentation is centered around the notuon that my endorsement will smooth over any internal disagreement that may arise. Now,let's say the other dukes don't listen to me. Let's say they antagonize both of us. What then?"

Adriana's smile faltered, and she felt a pressure building in her chest. She had been so focused on convincing her uncle that she had forgotten about this simple, yet crucial, aspect. It really was the small things that were the easiest to overlook.

"I...I was going to get to that, Uncle," she stammered, scolding herself internally and trying to regain her composure.

'Ha! She's stumbling already. I knew she was hiding something. Now the castle she's built off of word olayy and loopholes is collapsing.'

Duke Mikael's inner thoughts were a blur of skepticism and doubt, and Adriana could sense the doubt filling his mind. He has already started pointing out the various mistakes in her arguement .She knew that she had to think fast, to come up with a convincing answer before her uncle's doubts coused him to pass an unfavorable judgment.

"I...I, sorry Duke Mikael. I know that if that's the case then the king would have to be brought in and of course a decision would be made against our favor." she said, her voice steady. "But I do know that we can't let fear of the unknown probability hold us back. We have to be willing to take risks, to adapt and evolve in order to succeed."

'Not bad, Adriana. But it's not enough. I need concrete answers, not vague platitudes.'

" There you go again assuming that the ideal situation will manifest itself. Things won't always go your way. This discussion for example,your assumed that is have given in by now and yet here I sit still unconvinced."

Adriana could sense her uncle's disappointment, but she refused to give up.

"This kingdom is more of a federation than a democracy with each province being seperate yet unified under the rule of the king and as such we need to work together to help bring prosperity." Duke Mikael said.

Adriana had to surpress the urge to ask him

"Hey,if that's how things truly worked then why are all of you selfish bastards shun my father and Ekron?"

They had even become divided among themselves focusing on themselves and bringing about their prosperity,their progression. And all for what, jealousy about her father, thier own older brother? This whole things shouldn't even be an issue. Fortifications would only make their land more secure but no. These bastards would bicker like children all to get the opportunity to get Kojo in their own territory and try to Leach off him the way they leached and used each other. Unity? Don't make me laugh.

Adriana determined that even if talks broke down and the inevitable council of the Dukes was called she would do eveyin her power....

" Whatever it takes,I won't let them take Kojo away from me."

All these were her real thoughts,the true Adriana who wasn't bound by courtesy or grooming. Within her she was like a storm of water and lightning.

But outwardly she just sat there with a smile, a mask of friendliness to hide the turbulence. Just like always.

"Well I doubt it'll get to that extent." She thought calming herself.

"Under normal circumstances, I'd be done for the moment this man gave room for doubt and thought my words as invalid," she said, her inner voice dripping with confidence.

"But you can't convince a judge without evidence."

Just then, the door burst open, and Lloyd strode in, carrying a large sheet that had been rolled up.

" I'm sorry. Actually, no, I'm not but for the sake of the Duke I'm sorry that I'm late and all other pleasantries." He said dismissively waving his hand.

Behind him, Heira followed, carrying a large stack of papers.

Act 3

On stage, several things could be happening at the same time and yet the characters within yet remained oblivious to these happening. Only the audience could perceive all these from thier third person perspective and Adriana having become the Transcendent Observer could now perceive the phenomena known as

Multi-Location Staging

Allowing her so observe all locations she'd set as a stage.

She'd already foreseen that lip service wouldn't be enough to convince her uncle. So she's called Lloyd over and used this aspect of her enlightenment to keep tabs on his location while steering the conversation up until the right moment which was at this point.

" Guess this kinda makes me omniscient." Adriana thought with a chuckle.

" I wonder how far this new perception can take me." She wondered out loud as Lloyd was arguing with the Duke about due protocols and the unscientific nature of greeting. She wondered if she could use this to peep at what Kojo was doing

Adriana brushed off that thought her face slightly red.

" I know words alone won't be able to convince you. But then even if things go sideways and it's only the two provinces against the rest,you stand to gain still.Lloyd?"

The scientist walked toward and spread the large sheet on the table between the Duke and the Lady.

Duke Mikael raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued despite himself.

' What is this?'

He leaned forward to glance at the sheet.

Lloyd cleared his throat, launching into a enthusiastic explanation of the various modern concepts they planned to apply. "You see, Duke Mikael, we're going to be using a combination of arcane energy and Mystium, crystalized arcana shards, to power our innovations , innovations that will change the way tasks are performed and send us into that future. For example, we've developed a system for generating alternating current, which will allow us to transmit power over long distances with greater efficiency."

As he spoke, Lloyd began to pull out sheets of paper from the pile Heira was carrying, ignoring the look of annoyance on the ogre's face.

"You see, by using Mystium to amplify the arcane energy, we can create a stable and consistent power source. And with our calculations, we've determined that we can use this system to power a wide range of applications, from lighting to machinery."

The Duke listened silently, his expression unreadable but one could see he was confused about the information being dumped on him. Lloyd continued, undeterred.

"We've also developed a system for generating steam power using Fire attribute Mystium. This will allow us to build a train,a sort of locomotive vehicle that can travel long distances without the need for manual labor or horses."

Lloyd pulled out a large sheet of paper, unrolling it to reveal a detailed diagram of the train.

"As you can see, the train will be powered by a Fire attribute Mystium crystal, which will heat up water to generate steam to power the locomotive. This will not only allow for faster travel times, but also reduce the cost of transportation and increase the efficiency of our supply chain."

The Duke's eyes scanned the diagram, his expression still neutral. Lloyd continued, pulling out more sheets of paper and launching into a detailed explanation of the calculations and methods he had used to develop the system.

Final Act

' This all seems pretty innovative and I can see a lot of effort into this research,not that I can understand what he's talking about.'

Adriana held her breath.

'This is reckless, sharing something like this so casually. But then again, my province would have no way of replicating it. I suppose it's worth the risk.'

The Duke didn't voice these out and remained silent, allowing Lloyd to continue his explanation.

Finally, after several minutes of listening, the Duke spoke up.

"Lloyd ,was it?, can you build a railway line linking our two provinces?"

Adriana nodded, a smile spreading across her face.

"Yes, we can do that."

The Duke sighed, his expression thoughtful. "Then we should do so, so that we can share resources... although the cost will be divided by..."

Adriana cut him off, her voice firm.

"We'll do it...only if you agree to stand by us, just in case."

The Duke was silent for several moments, his eyes locked on Adriana's face. Finally, he nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. "You have my word."

Adriana's smile grew wider, and she turned to Lloyd.

"Excellent. Lloyd, please handle the rest."

Lloyd looked confused, stammering as

"Uh, yes, of course... I'll just....uh... get started on that right away..."

' Crafty girl. I never expected to meet someone as cunning as me. She was controlling the flow of this "discussion" from the very start. I don't dislike her for it though."

Adriana could feel a hint of warmth from his voice. She smiled walked out of the room and headed home.