Machinist of Mana

My father, who spent so little time around me or dealing with me at all came through quite well. He ordered a number machines for me, powered by mana, that I could use. The ones from the school that were so convenient were very expensive, and useful for some purposes, but not for all of them. Sure, if you put in all the math and directions perfectly they worked exactly as advertised, but for more complicated mechanisms that required small changes here and there they were hardly helpful. If you needed even the most minor change then you'd have to put everything in again, for each iteration.

A few days after mother had been so angry the housekeeper took me down to the basement, where boxes and crates were being unloaded.

“Your father got these for you, said you'd left him a list and he did what he could,” she told me.

“Is he occupied?” I asked, having hoped he would be the one to show me his acquisitions.

“I'm unsure my lord, should I inquire?”

“No, it's fine.” Honestly this was more than I'd expected, and as things were being unloaded I began to look around.

There were a number of lathes, drills, presses, and hand-tools, some from a list of supplies I'd given him, some that seemed to have been added in on his own prerogative. Much of it was useful, but much was very specialist, parts someone had sold him, likely secondhand, that would be of no real use to me. Still though, it showed that he was at least trying, and trying was really the first and most important step.

With almost everyone I knew mad at me, and telling me so frequently, it would be good to have somewhere to retreat to and let the heat cool down. I was in trouble still, and even Lucas wasn't fully free of repercussions, as he'd gone beyond what he was supposed to be doing. We were still communicating through letters now and then. Letters were an important thing in our culture, with post being a several times a day thing if you were in the city.

As soon as the porters had unloaded everything I began to unpack it properly. There really was no way for someone else to set up your shop and with my strength moving even heavy machinery wasn't much of a chore. Sure, some of it was a bit awkward, but that was a minor inconvenience to me as I pulled the pieces to where I thought they belonged most.

Standard sized plates and rods were placed into proper stacks, racks lined with tools, and machines put in the proper section. It took the better part of the day and as I finished up I looked over my work and realized it. Without thinking I'd set this room up almost exactly like my shop back home on earth. Sure, there was no radio, no garage door to open out to the sky, and the 3d printers were missing, but the layout, the way things were placed, it was all the same.

For the first time in a long time I felt a wave of nostalgia, of friends and family lost, and I felt tears blooming and quickly wiped them away. Though I accepted this life, my old one was never gone, the people I'd known, either in person or online, the grandmother I'd wanted to go and see before my transference; I supposed she was probably dead now, though with how time here seemed to be a bit weird perhaps not.

Did I miss my previous life? Some days, but I didn't regret this one. I'd been given a chance so few could dream of, a second chance to live, to grow up, to love, to care for people close to me. I'd been given a magnificent family, one both privileged and who cared for my well being, something not all could say. How could I be anything but grateful? No, I didn't regret my coming to this world, even if the memories of my previous one still tinged from time to time.

As I sat and thought on things Kaylee bounced down into the basement workroom from the stairs, hair bobbing under the little hairpiece all maids wore around here.

“Lord Percival, dinner will be ready soon.”

“Thank you Kaylee, I'll be on my way shortly.”

There was also my little half-sister, who needed my help. Was she happy as she was? Would she prefer to be accepted for the sibling she most certainly should have the place of? I didn't know, I didn't know her nearly well enough, and sadly, learning would be difficult. From the inside I knew my family wanted me to keep away from her, since we'd been close as children, and from the outside it was hardly appropriate for a young man to have a female personal servant so close to his own age. The world wouldn't know of our relation, at least not for now, but one day I'd find a way some way to see that she got everything she deserved.

When I made it upstairs I found that I was the last to arrive in the dining room. My parents and maternal grandparents were here, grandmother looked peeved, as always, and even grandfather still frowned at me. They'd both already read me the riot act when mother had told them of my escapades, perhaps thinking that her father, one of my closest confidantes would have had a better time disciplining me than she had. I was still quite unrepentant though, even if I' done things I knew displeased her, there were more important things than keeping my mother happy.

“I'm glad you finally deigned to join us Percival,” grandmother said coolly.

“And I'm quite glad to see you as well grandmother, how are things?”

“Well, though have you checked your mail recently?”

“Not since this morning, I was setting my workroom up.” Grandpa perked up a bit only to sit back as she sent him a glare. She'd made it clear that for the time being he wasn't to speak about 'our toys' with me.

“I'll save you some time here son. Why has his Grace the duke sent you what appears to be an invitation?” mother asked. “How does he even know your name?”

“We met recently and he must want me to come to some event. Did seem like a fine fellow to me.”

Food was brought out as glares intensified. Everyone, even the staff knew that I was in the doghouse, but arguing in front of them was uncouth. When they finally left us though my kin leaned forward.

“When was this!?” mother spat, “And why didn't you tell me? Did he approve of your nonsense personally? That hardly seems right.”

“No, before that, you really should have listened to grandfather better rather than trying to throttle him. I met him, though I've been forbidden from going into the details of it.”

“Forbidden? By whom exactly?” grandmother interjected.

“Royal decree.” That bombshell stopped all of them dead in their tracks, for there were precious few that could issue one of those, and none were known to be near us.

“Go and get that letter right now,” grandmother snapped.

“Leaving the table, in the middle of dinner?” I asked innocently.

“Now,” several voices told me in a most displeased tone.

I did as I was bid and popped the seal as I walked, skimming over the contents. I rather liked the letter writing culture, but at times it was quite tiring, particularly when dealing with individuals of particularly high status. It seemed the thing to do was simply to write as flowery and long as a message as possible, rather than getting to the bleeding point.

“I've been invited to a dinner,” I told them as I returned. “Myself and a companion are invited to...”

“Well, you're going,” my female relatives told me with a sigh. This was too big an event for me to skip on.