I Reincarnated As A Minor Villainess and I Survived Past My Death Scene

Arc I, Chapter 5

Good transportation and infrastructure were important elements to any prosperous society. If I wanted to give the citizens of the Yuy province a good life, I'd need to improve their ability to transport their goods and themselves.

It was with this in mind that I came ready with rolls upon rolls of parchment, all scrawled with the detailed structure and intended uses of Sanc's first ever steam engine.

So, after a few days into our undercover – to Hilde's vast annoyance and the guards' amusement – tour of Taketoyo, I asked to meet with some engineers.

"Engineers..." Hilde echoed in bafflement, like I'd asked her to let me interview a polar bear for their opinion on global warming. "It won't be difficult to meet with them, so long as I tell them your true identity, but if you want something developed – the Duke took the best of them with him on his expedition."

That didn't really matter, as I'd already "developed" the technology myself by studying my ass off for the engineering and thermodynamics Master's degree I held. I just needed some people who could actually understand what my self-published instruction guide meant and implement it. At this point in time, engineering was a branch of development mostly concentrated on the development of weapons, so they weren't likely to develop steam power for commercial use until much later – which is why I'd decided to give it a kickstart.

"That's fine, I actually want to run a few ideas by them and see if it looks good," I said instead, because explaining the ins-and-outs of steam power to Hilde was not in my schedule for the day.

"Ideas?" Hilde tilted her head in confusion.

I smiled at her. "I'm so excited to meet with the engineering experts of our domain!"

Hilde set the appointment and snuck a bottle of wine into her room later that night.

---

"This-- This is incredible, Your Grace!"

I tried my damnedest to look very humbly surprised, smiling airily at the handful of engineers peering through my steam engine schematics. "I'm so happy to hear that! So it really is feasible?"

"It's more than just feasible! We could make a working prototype by the end of the next fortnight!" the lead engineer, Sir Markus, gushed excitedly. "These schematics are so detailed, it's like you've already crafted them yourself!"

"You flatter me," I replied, remembering long and horrifying hours spent in undergraduate study.

"Sir, this one can be used to siphon out water!"

"Why didn't we ever think to use a cylinder with a piston?"

"If it generates enough continuous power, we could use it for more than just pumping the water out of the mines..."

"Oh, this one uses two cylinders?! It looks like that would save on fuel costs."

I let their excited discussions wash over me and valiantly tried not to look traumatized by how close this was starting to sound like my undergraduate study groups. This ended up with me staring at Hilde, who was gawking at the schematics. I knew for a fact she wouldn't be able to understand them completely, but I guess the engineers' babble was enough for her to glean what was going on. She turned that gaping stare on me incredulously.

I immediately turned away.

"So I think we should call it a steam engine," I informed the lead engineer.

"The Yuy steam engine!" one of the engineers crowed.

What? Oh, right, I was Duo Maxwell-Yuy.