The political turmoil in the Austrian Empire rapidly solidified into a declaration of open hostility against Daemon. Driven by the mounting humiliation of the failed manhunt and the escalating demands of the Imperial Council, Duke Steiner, with the grudging approval of Chancellor Altdorf, placed a massive and unprecedented bounty on Daemon's head: thirty pounds of gold, payable for his capture, dead or alive. The official decree focused entirely on Daemon, viewing the other fifty students as negligible liabilities; it was only Daemon who possessed the intellectual secrets—the means of producing the M-1 explosives and the knowledge of non-magical flight—that the Empire truly coveted. This exorbitant bounty, widely publicized across every city and mercenary guild, immediately alerted every ambitious mercenary, independent mage, and bounty hunter across the European continent. The price itself was a political statement, screaming the value of the knowledge the Empire had lost.
While the German Empire was desperately attempting to reclaim its lost asset, Daemon's precarious sanctuary in Romania faced its own internal, Ottoman-based threat. Vizier Umar Ya'radua, the high-ranking official charged with overseeing the entire province of Romania for the Sultan, arrived at Pasha Musa's mining town. His visit was ostensibly a routine inspection of the province's output and financial ledgers, a necessary bureaucratic formality in the vast Sultanate. However, the Vizier had also come to personally confirm persistent whispers of a new, terrifying weapon being wielded by the Pasha's previously unremarkable forces—rumors that were gaining credibility through border skirmishes and reports of unusual explosions, all fueled by the Pasha's increasingly confident and politically aggressive demeanor in recent correspondences regarding the M-1 stockpile.
Pasha Musa received the Vizier with the utmost ceremony, disguising his immense anxiety beneath layers of Ottoman formality and luxurious displays. He had carefully kept the full scope of Angel Corp's activities secret, presenting the M-1 as a simple chemical breakthrough acquired from a foreign source, and he knew the flying machine would be his key to advancing his own position. He had prepared meticulously to leverage the airship as a tool for personal promotion, not a means of exposure.
It was during the tense, formal meeting between the Pasha and the Vizier that the prepared demonstration took place. A low, unfamiliar, continuous roar signaled the imminent arrival of an airship, and within moments, the vessel settled gently into the palace compound, its massive bulk contrasting sharply with the traditional Islamic architecture. It was the very airship Daemon had reluctantly gifted the Pasha weeks earlier, now utterly transformed. Pasha Musa had spared absolutely no expense, sinking a substantial sum of his newly acquired wealth—much of it from the M-1 sale—into renovating the crude, functional machine to reflect his extravagant taste and to amplify its perceived political value. The exterior remained the same engineered hull, but the interior had been converted into a mobile palace: the Spartan seating had been replaced with deep, cushioned velvet seats and plush pillows; the functional control panels were flanked by small tables made out of expensive inlaid oak; and the windows were draped with curtains stitched with shimmering gold thread. The entire cabin screamed wealth, political power, and extravagance, successfully masking Daemon's pragmatic, utilitarian design.
More importantly, the Pasha's local engineers, meticulously following the limited, precise instructions Daemon had provided for the simple engine repair, had managed to make one functional improvement. By realizing that the violent shuddering was primarily caused by operating the crude engines at high stress, they discovered that as long as the speed was kept within the narrow band of 45 and 50 kilometers per hour, the constant, irritating vibration of the crude engines was significantly reduced. This allowed for a surprisingly smooth, quiet landing, vastly improving the ship's practical utility for high-ranking officials.
Vizier Ya'radua, emerging from the palace to view the spectacle, was instantly and profoundly fascinated by the sight of a vehicle that defied gravity without the use of visible, complex Aetheric runes or the tell-tale visual distortion of high-level elemental magic. He circled the airship, running his hands over the velvet seats, completely captivated by the smooth, low-speed operation and the lack of a visible magical source.
"Pasha Musa," the Vizier demanded, his voice dropping the formality of the inspection and filled with an almost childish wonder. "What marvel is this? I have seen the arrogant Imperial air mages, but this… this is silent, contained, and speaks of immense wealth! Where did this machine originate? Whose genius is responsible for this craft that defies the laws of gravity so cleanly?" The Vizier's gaze was sharp, seeking an immediate, simple explanation for this advanced technology.
Pasha Musa seized the opportunity, launching into his carefully prepared fabrication with practiced ease. "Vizier, it is a magnificent foreign magical artifact! We acquired it through a complex, highly secure trade from an anonymous Northern merchant who deals in the forbidden arts. It is powered by a sealed Aetheric mechanism of ancient design, requiring only our continuous supply of a unique chemical catalyst to operate." He successfully channeled the Vizier's wonder towards the mystical and the secretive, leveraging the common Imperial belief that any technology that could not be explained must be "ancient" or "forbidden."
He expertly directed the focus away from the true source (Daemon, the living, dangerous inventor) and onto the scarce supply (the fuel and the M-1). "It is a weapon, Vizier, not for war, but for intelligence and the Sultan's prestige. It represents a level of Aetheric engineering that surpasses the arrogant Germans. Its true value, however, is that it relies entirely on the new, powerful chemical compound we now produce here in Romania to fly and to defend our borders. The secret lies entirely in the fuel supply and the explosives."
The Vizier, utterly convinced that the airship was a rare, imported magical technology that could not be replicated locally, was now focused entirely on the M-1 explosives and the chemical catalyst (the biodiesel), seeing them as the keys to controlling this new technology. The Pasha had successfully used the impressive hardware to distract from the sensitive truth, ensuring that the living inventor, Daemon, whose secrets remained safely locked away within the concealed industrial hub of Angel Corp, was still officially unknown to the Ottoman high command.