The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a blessing for the human race.

  For millions of years, people lived in fear—of nature, of hunger, of disease, of not knowing what tomorrow would bring. And yet now, barely two centuries since the spark of industry was ignited, we can feed billions, cure plagues that had stalked us for millennia, bend nature to our will, and provide living conditions that make the greatest kings of history look like squalid peasants.

  It was this miracle of progress and industry that captivated me ever since a school trip to a factory near my village.

  Most of classmates found it boring, but I—I was irrevocably fascinated by the symphony of machinery that played out before me. The sharp hissing of blanchers, the steady thumps of hydraulic seamers, the unrelenting march of conveyor belts that in a minute carried more food than one person could eat in a lifetime... It was the moment I realised I didn't want to live the simple farming life I'd been born into.

  Instead, I wanted to become an engineer and contribute my own piece to the mosaic of modern civilisation.

  From that day forward, I spent every spare moment studying. I read machine manuals during class, jury-rigged farm equipment in between field work, and dissembled old engines late into the night. It all paid off as by the time I graduated high school and finished my mandatory army training, I was accepted into one of the best technical colleges in the country. And five years later, after many, many sleepless nights, I was finally on the verge of achieving my dreams. Only the defence of my thesis separated me from graduating and taking up exciting R&D position I had lined up.

  It was time to finally begin working towards improving and developing the world around me.

  Or at least so I thought.

  ***

  It happened as I was waiting to present my thesis.

  I was sitting in a drab hallway, glancing at the carved wooden door of the lecture hall.

  Any minute now, someone would call my name and I would enter to present the last several months of work to dozens of professors.

  I was never the one to get nervous at a challenge, but now, my heart was pounding in my chest. I clutched my hands, my nails digging into my sweating palms.

  It was so stupid—I knew I had it all to a tee, but still I couldn't help but feel anxious.

  Should I go over it one more time? Should I have done more measurements? Did I cite all the papers correctly?

  Countless questions and second-guesses swarmed my mind.

  Maybe I should say I got sick and would do it tomorrow once I—?

  "Please come in, we are ready for you," thankfully, a deep voice called from inside and disrupted the anxious thoughts in mind.

  Finally!

  This was it.

  Let's do this!

  I breathed a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second...

  ***

  Someone was tugging at my sleeve.

  "Young Lord, wake up. We are almost there," an old, refined voice called out to me.

  Mmm, just give me a moment, old man...

  I wriggled a bit in the soft seat before finally feeling ready to exhale and get up.

  "Lord Karl!" the stern voice grew sharper, more insistent.

  Buh. as a lord, I should be able to sleep as much as I—wait a minute...!

  My eyes flew open and I shot upright.

  Something was very wrong.

  Instead of the drab grey wall of the hallway, I opened my eyes inside a richly decorated carriage. The rows of chairs, the carved door to the lecture hall, the notice board—it was all gone! In their place, I could see velvet cushions, polished wood, and bright, embroidered curtains. And even more bizarrely, across from me sat a bald, bearded, wrinkled old man dressed like a wizard out of some movie or video game.

  I tried to recall if I'd ever seen this grandpa before. To my surprise, his identity popped into my mind as if I had always known him. He was Adalbert, my father's castellan.

  But that couldn't be right. My dad was a farmer, not a lord. I didn't know any Adalbert!

  Except... I had. The memories were there, sitting in my mind like an old movie I vaguely remember: growing up in an opulent palace, feasting with nobles, learning to fight with swords... However, my other memories were still there too: the university, my thesis, the apartment I shared with three other engineering students, my mother's voice on the phone asking when I'd visit.

  At first I thought I was in some kind of strange dream, but the memories were far too detailed. So was the world around me. I tried the cliché method of pinching my cheek, but when I opened my eyes again, nothing changed.

  "W-what is going on...?"

  My mind raced with many theories, from time travel to reincarnation. But in the end, the only conclusion I could reach was that I had somehow found myself in another body and in another world.

  "Are you well, Young Lord?" Adalbert asked, leaning forward.

  "Eeh—?"

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  "Don't tell me Your Lordship has the wine-sickness again..." he sighed, rubbing his forehead.

  Wine-sickness...? I guess he means a hangover? I'd never been drunk in my life, but the previous owner of the body seemed to have been quite a chronic drinker.

  "N-no, I just... slept wrong..."

  Telling someone about having just arrived from another world would make me seem even more crazy so I avoided the topic for now.

  "Well, it is not my place to judge Your Lordship," Adalbert shrugged, turning to gaze out the window. "Though you might want to take things more seriously for once, given what's at stake, Lord Karl."

  "What's at st—?" Before I could finish, the answer surfaced in my mind.

  The stakes he referred to were no less than my life!

  You see, Karl's mother, had given birth to not one heir, but three at the same time. And now near his death, his father the Duke of Austmark, gave each of the three an ultimatum: prove worthy of inheriting the duchy or be quietly executed to prevent a success crisis. He then assigned each a small domain at the opposite ends of the Empire and gave them three years to prove their worth. And while the other brothers hadn't been given particularly prosperous domains either—an impoverish trading town and a neglected agricultural region—Karl was given the objectively worst domain—a small frontier village called Rand.

  Now, given how Karl was a fickle slouch, they no doubt didn't want him to do too much damage by mismanagement. But it also meant he, and now I, had little chance of keeping my head.

  I am in big trouble!

  ***

  With nothing better to do, I spent the next several hours reviewing the memories of this Prince Karl Ludwig von Austmark whose shoes I was now quite literally standing in. I was hoping to find something, anything helpful to my current predicament. Unfortunately for me, Karl's sheltered life of partying had left massive gaps in knowledge. He cared little for things like the kingdom's economy, foreign policy, current technologies, and trade routes. No matter how much his tutors tried to cram things into his head, he'd just wash it all out with liquor and replace it with useless information such as body measurements of the palace maids.

  In the end, I could only glean the basics about this world.

  The prince lived in a world resembling the Dark Ages. Nobles ruled over masses of illiterate serfs, and technology was stuck somewhere in the early Middle Ages. For most people, life was dirty, cruel, and short, with none of the comforts of modern civilization.

  In many ways, it reminded me of my own world's past.

  But there were also things one couldn't find in history books back on Earth.

  For starters, two suns shone in this world's sky instead of one. The people called them Aet and Ish, and they formed the center of this world's religion. They also caused the seasons to be very strange—there were two summers and two winters, one mild and one harsher. During the second winter, there were even several days where the two suns fully eclipsed each other, resulting in total darkness during which all peoples would feast and pray to call back the daylight.

  Secondly, humans weren't the only ones living under the two suns. The world also had so-called beastmen—humans with distinctly animal characteristics, some even more animal than human. The story was that they were humans who long ago bred with animals, an act for which they were stigmatized as tainted in most human realms. They were a very rare sight in the Empire, present mostly as circus attractions or exotic slaves for rich nobles, but it was said they had their own society in the untamed lands at the far edges of the continent.

  Finally, there was one more difference between this world and Earth.

  Magic.

  Magic!

  Unlike the tricksters, charlatans, and shamans claiming supernatural powers back on Earth, in this world there existed genuine magic. If studied and controlled, it allowed people to conjure fire, soothe wounds, and even soar through the skies.

  Or well... not all people.

  The magic of this world belonged entirely to the nobles. It was a mark of divine blood held over the commoners and used to keep them in line. Occasionally, a commoner capable of conjuring magic would be found too, but those were forced to attend the Magic Academy and later become servants to the nobles or the priests.

  People were taught it was for protection.

  If one did not learn to control magic within the system devised by the Empire's Magic Academy, it was said their magic would eventually control them. They would lose the ability to shape magic and were instead granted a single unpredictable power. Some powers were harmless, like speaking with animals or conjuring flowers, but others could be far more dangerous—making flesh rot with a touch or influecing the minds of those around them. Because of this, Hollows, as they were called, were usually executed whenever found or even suspected of possessing aberrant magic.

  Now, how much of this was true, I didn't know. Karl wasn't really the one to pay attention during his tutoring nor did he ever witness a Hollow near him. To me, it seemed that it was much more about the nobles maintaining their monopoly on magic than it was about keeping people safe.

  And magic wasn't the only thing that was tightly controlled. Technological development was, as well.

  It wasn't as explicit, but someone from modern times could easily see that restricted education for commoners, tight guild controls, and royal laws that stifled innovation all combined to create a system designed to uphold the status quo as firmly as possible. After all, the power to conjure fire is much less impressive if one can do the same with a lighter. Or a musket aimed at an unpopular noble's head.

  After pondering all this, I quickly realized I rather disliked both the magic and society of this world. It stood in opposition to everything I believed in: meritocracy, freedom of innovation, technological development, and the advancement of civilization.

  Funnily enough, Karl hated magic too, albeit not out of personal conviction, but instead out of simple jealousy. He himself had zero magical talent. This made him the family embarrassment and was probably among the reasons he was sent to the worst possible domain for this contest. It was also why he drowned himself in women and alcohol to escape his feelings of inadequacy.

  Drowning in hedonism was also his plan for the succession contest. He planned to squander the development money he got on partying right up until the axe fell on his neck. He already resigned before even stepping into the carriage.

  I couldn't afford that luxury.

  Somewhere out there, I had a thesis to defend. I had a job offer waiting. I had family. I had a life. And the only way back to it—assuming there was a way back—required resources I didn't have. Money. Influence. Magic, probably. And most importantly, I needed to stay alive however long it took to find a way back.

  There was really only one choice: to win this contest.

  And honestly, the more I thought about it, the more excited I became despite my grim situation.

  Because unlike Karl who was an incompetent drunkard, I had an ace up my sleeve greater than any other: the might of modern, industrialised civilisation!

  Yes, no matter how capable or driven the other two brothers might be, they were still people of their time. They lived in a world stuck in the Dark Ages.

  Meanwhile, I carried with me the torch of the 21st century. A combined might of a society thousand years more advanced than theirs.

  I doubted they could out-do that.

  And it wasn't just them. I let myself dream and imagined how if I played my cards right, no one in this whole world would be my equal.

  Once I win this contest and gain control of the duchy, I could use its authority and resources not only to find a way home, but also to bring about the light of modern civilisation to every corner of the continent. To illuminate this whole dark and filthy world with the fire of progress and industry.

  The mere thought of it made my heart race and a maniacal smile spread on my face.

  Perhaps it was the reason I found myself in this world in the first place. There were plenty of people capable of advancing science and society on Earth and here I was the only one.

  So, who cares for magic?

  Who cares for petty nobles?

  Standing on the shoulders of giants like Newton, Watt, Bessemer, Haber, Tesla, and countless others—how could anyone hope to rival me?!