Chapter 1113 – #264_Research Fruits(4) – DeepL
#1107
1.
Linnaeus visits Xiu with a packed lunch, obviously to fulfill his current duties.
With Xiu’s promotion to Earl, Linnaeus is now a fully-fledged Gehenna citizen.
Eloa was the head of the Department of Magical Warfare, but Eloa needed to be nursed back to health, so Linnaeus, the deputy head of the department, was more likely to lead the actual classes.
However, the Department of Magical Warfare has a more extensive curriculum preparation process than other departments.
That’s because it wasn’t on the list of classes for the pilot semester, and it was still going to be a hands-on class in the regular semester.
The point of magical combat was to prepare students to defend themselves in a chaotic world.
What’s the point of practicing magic in theory?
If you can’t use it in practice, it’s just a theory.
Therefore, Linnaeus put himself in the position of an ancestor who had to go out to the fields with a freshly packed bag.
Using her culinary skills to the fullest, she packed a lunch for Xiu and, as a bonus, for the researchers who were also on the vigil.
The latter was probably a good thing.
I probably did it a couple times out of politeness.
“This fluffy egg roll…! It must be made with ground shrimp meat!”
“This melt-in-your-mouth…. Sake-braised monkfish liver?”
If it’s a compliment, it’s probably good.
I don’t have any pride or ego because I just followed the recipe and handled the ingredients.
“How can your wife cook so well?”
“This is what I look like!”
However, when the researchers referred to Rinne as the president’s wife, wife, wife, and wife, it tickled my heart.
She works 10 hours a day on her cooking just to hear such praise.
“Is it good enough for Nangun?”
“Ms. Lin’s cooking is always the best. Aren’t you getting better and better?”
“…Not exactly. Take your time, it’s good.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Rinne sits down next to Xiu, who is eating with his ears perked up like a desert fox, and wipes the corner of his mouth.
“Ha, sweeten it….”
“Ma’am, I was really scared at first, but I can see you’re hooked. He seems so harmless.”
“Isn’t that the ideal newlywed life?”
For a sword witch, it was a feat of high risk, comparable to the natural disasters that came with the title of sword demon.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Nang-kun.”
“It’s okay.”
But the way Linnaeus lightly kissed Xiu’s cheek after the meal was over, and then fled to Janval, was far from dangerous.
Just looking at her from afar made his romantic sugar level rise sweetly.
“Come on, let’s start again.”
“Yes!”
The meal didn’t last long.
The meal lasted only 30 minutes, and as soon as we finished, we were back to work without a break.
In the research wing, which had once again become a stifling battlefield, Xiu focused on organizing his materials.
In fact, this wasn’t just research for her.
As a witch rises in the hierarchy, the amount of research she has to do increases dramatically.
It was like climbing over a thick wall and finding a flat area in front of you.
After the last battle, Xiu crossed the 23rd level.
With the help of the lotus flower and subconscious doping, he was able to fight and defeat Lydia, who was temporarily at the 24th rank.
His mind is full of inspiration and small realizations that he hadn’t noticed before.
This project, then, was as much about laying the groundwork for the Hesed Society as it was a chance for him to tame his rampaging insights.
“Huh?”
At that moment, inspiration like a bolt of lightning struck me, shooting from my head to my spine.
The researchers stare at Xiu, who makes no sound when he’s concentrating, as he lets out a one-word exclamation.
But it doesn’t matter.
Right now, Xiu’s mind is on the gate.
An artifact that can control the overflow of the homunculus, obtained by entering the Ark held by the Witch of Creation.
It is also impossible to direct the homunculus’ localized activity.
You cannot give the homunculus detailed commands.
You can only control how active the homunculus is.
The asymmetrical weapon’s ability to induce “flooding” or shut it down completely made it a revolutionary major for Xiu, but otherwise it was a complete bust.
He had been working on it individually, but hadn’t seen much success.
This led to worries about the future.
Xiu had put the homunculus into a semi-permanent hibernation through a gate, effectively erasing it from existence.
In truth, Xiu doesn’t really care.
In the long run, he could be considered a hero for saving tens of millions of lives, as he saved humans from being eaten by monsters somewhere in the world.
But not so for the witches.
To varying degrees, Gehenna has its share of witches, so-called orthodox witches.
I mean, just look at Duke Erelim and the Society for Truth and Revelation.
‘Is the homunculus yours?
“No! Then what am I supposed to do for a living?
“The relics of the Witch of Creation within it? The research? The eggs of Gnosis? The artifacts? You’re going to keep those precious things trapped in a dimensional rift forever?
“Flooding is a bit of a misnomer, but…. Can’t we just let them do their thing in moderation?
That’s why these complaints are being raised.
Since the flooding was an impactful event and Xiu was the one who controlled it, he hasn’t had to face public opinion until now.
But these grievances will continue to grow unless we address them, and one day they will show up as a problem that needs to be solved.
But.
Let’s connect the dots between your newfound dimensional magic and your armor.
Homunculi all share the same trait.
They can travel between dimensions and hide themselves perfectly in untraceable subspace.
If you use the data you’ve gained from studying the Gate and the Ascended Dimensional Magic formula….
This will work.
An item that works.
At that moment, an explosion of ideas fired through his synapses.
With terrifying speed, Xiu began to transcribe his trance-like thoughts onto the ground.
The paper crackled and whined, and the pen flickered with ink.
The researcher who came to inspect the work was terrified, and he vomited out a whole bunch of fleeing ears.
2.
“Ugh….”
“I can see the end of this now….”
Ten days have passed since the restoration project of ‘Moon’.
The researchers from the Department of Historical and Military Foundations of the Hessian Society for the Promotion and Development of History have been working on the project without fail.
Even the president’s crazy plan, which at first made them wonder, “Does this make sense?” was realistic in the grand scheme of things.
At this rate, they might actually finish the study in a few days.
“You’re really amazing, Mr. President.”
“A genius, a genius.”
“Rather than a genius, isn’t he more of a monster…?”
“No wonder he has tinnitus.”
Again, the researchers’ task was to color and carve the puzzle piece by piece.
He sees hundreds of pieces and orchestrates them as a whole, a subject that even with the witch’s superior insight would be too much for him to handle.
Now the researchers couldn’t even guess where he was looking.
Awe trumps feelings of relative deprivation or jealousy.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have a big announcement.”
Having earned everyone’s respect and admiration, Xiu cleared his throat.
“I would like to extend the deadline for the door restoration project by two weeks.”
At that moment, a collective gasp went through the lab.
At the pace they were going, they were close to completion, but the two-week extension could be interpreted in both good and bad ways.
The first good interpretation is this.
“Ah, finally, the president has learned about the human mind….”
“He must be giving us a break because we seem to be working too hard!”
“I will serve you forever, Mr. President, loyalty… black and white.”
“He means don’t be too impatient, take it easy on the finishing touches, but don’t make any mistakes!”
Witches with a strong optimistic streak took it this way.
On the other hand, a bad interpretation would be
“Huh? I thought it was going well, did something go wrong?”
“Oh, no…. Isn’t this a situation where we’re going to have to start from scratch because we’ve broken a key theory?”
“Yeah, no matter how much of a genius you are, there’s no way you could have gotten all this done in such a short amount of time. I understand.”
The witches, who could judge reality soberly, accepted this.
However, their premonitions were quickly overturned when they saw the look on Xiu’s face.
A look of delight and pride.
Yeah, that’s the look you get when you give someone a gift.
“Thanks to your hard work, the project is nearing completion, and the mockups are running smoothly at this point.”
“Then why the deadline extension?”
Daphne had been told since she was a child that she had a sixth sense.
Maybe that’s why she asked, her voice trembling as if she sensed tragedy.
“Because, as you know, this project will go down as a great achievement for Gehenna, and not just for me, but for your hard work and the research capabilities of the Hessian Department of Fundamentals.”
“Amyo!”
“With a track record like that, you should have a free pass to any lab or conference!”
“It was hell at first, but once I got through it, I think I can do it again.”
Xiu nodded approvingly at the morale-boosted researchers.
“That’s a good attitude. Where I’m from, we have a saying: ‘You can’t forge iron without forging steel.’”
Xiu pulled out the project plan he’d been twisting to hide from the group.
“So I’ve prepared it. New project ‘Gate’!”
Xiu immediately connected the idea to practice.
“Mr. Homunculus dried up as the gate stopped the flooding. The idea of the Gate project is simple. Track the location of the homunculus through the gate. Create an artifact that creates a gate that can force the homunculus out of hibernation.”
“…….”
“In other words, we’ll sell the Hessian Society the exclusive right to hunt the homunculus, and since there’s a lot of overlap with the restoration work we’re already doing, it’ll be great to do it in parallel, and it’ll be much more impactful, so the goal is a joint presentation in two weeks.”
But already, the researchers’ ears had fallen silent.
The proposal they received was not much different from the Moon restoration project in terms of research volume.
“We’re almost done here….”
“I have one more project….”
“Lazy…!”
With four days to go until the end of the project.
Another big project bomb was dropped on the researchers’ heads.
