Hugo

Hugo is an inhabitant of the town of Zeiss.

He's a long-time orbal engineer at the Zeiss Central Factory and is usually found working in the design room on the factory's 3rd floor.

Hugo's in charge of one of Central Factory's most important projects: the development of a new orbal engine for the airship Arseille. It's a project that's been plagued with staffing issues for quite some time. Professor Russell was initially meant to head the project from start to finish, but he left the project to work on something else after he finished calibrating the main energy orbment, causing progress to grind to a halt.

Hugo then contacted Clive in Ruan for a position on the project, but Clive turned down the offer because he felt he had to stay in Ruan to keep looking after his little brother. Around the time Estelle and Joshua arrive in Zeiss, Hugo is desperately looking for people to fill the vacancies in his team.

Believing that the team, which mostly consists of people who've been at the factory for a very long time, could use a fresh point of view, Hugo starts looking through the applications the various engineers submitted when they came to work at the factory and his eye falls on Louise, who's working on orbal weaponry, but whose original application mentioned an interest in orbal engines. Scheduling a quick meeting with Louise's superior, he brings up the prospect of a transfer and Karl, knowing that Louise is unhappy with her current work designing and improving orbal weaponry, greenlights the transfer, causing Hugo to approach the factory chief in order to make preliminary arrangements.

Later that day, he's seen having a meeting with Rutherford of the Orbalship Corporation to discuss the progress of the engine project and while he admits the project is having it rough, he maintains that they just need someone with a fresh look on things to get things started again. Hugo's still in a meeting when the Intelligence Division floods the building with smoke in order to cover their attempt to retrieve the black orbment and kidnap Professor Russell. After the smoke has cleared and work has resumed, Hugo summons Louise to the lobby and offers her a position on the engine project, which she accepts.

Louise's input, centered around making maximum use of the engine's existing capacities instead of merely focussing on increasing its raw output, proves to be just what the project needs and by the time Estelle and Joshua set out for Grancel, the engine project has regained its full momentum, to Hugo's great relief.

During his meeting with Rutherford, Hugo is briefly questioned by Estelle, Joshua and Tita while the three of them are looking for the person who took confiscated cigarettes from the medical cabinet in the infirmary, seeing that he's an avid smoker. Antoine the cat, who witnessed the theft, shows no reaction to Hugo, however, so the bracers cross him off the list of suspects and let him resume his meeting.

Relations
Eventually becomes the superior of Louise after she joins the engine project