Chapter 256 – Chapter 256 ― Summer Day, Day Before the Storm (2)
Episode 256 ― Summer day, day before the storm (2)
“… Machine.”
Roan repeated the word as if he were unfamiliar with it.
Here on the Moira continent, there are two types of machines that can be called machines.
One is as simple as a waterwheel or a wagon wheel, in fact closer to a device than a machine by modern standards.
The other one is a machine made of so-called magic tools, in which simple magic is fixed to tools by inserting mana stones.
Countries that specialize in this technology, such as Artela, and some wizards, such as Count Bertellia, use magic tools to create various machines, but the structure of the machines is different from that of the world they originally lived in.
“Is he a wizard?”
“I am an ‘engineer’.”
Roan’s eyes widened slightly.
It’s a word you wouldn’t expect to hear in the game world. It’s mechanical engineering.
Of course, there are no engineering colleges or ballrooms here.
“Why did such a scholar leave humans and come to his demons?”
Then Diobe hesitated.
“Yeah…”
Instead, Yanas, who had a chubby face, answered in a blunt voice like his expression.
“Your Majesty seems to have a lot of money.”
“Hmm?”
“I know that he bought wheat from Arteala, and seeing that he has enough money to accept humans and start farming, he said that the situation of the king of demons would be much better than that of the king of Merde.”
It’s true, but where did you hear such a story? Diobe continued.
“They want to make a device that does not use magic stones and is driven purely by physical force. So that even people who do not use magical powers can use it.”
The situation was understood.
“… So you’re looking for a sponsor with money. If you make something without magic tools or magic stones, the efficiency is low and the cost is high. It would have been hard to find anyone who would invest in such an obscure thing.”
“That’s right.”
The three in the conference room agreed with Roan’s interpretation. It has to be. Because these people don’t know how far a pure machine can go.
There are already enough magic tools to build something similar to a roller coaster. You wouldn’t think that you could use machines to make things like computers, rockets, and trains.
“Astor powder absorbs mana. It doesn’t go well with the magic tools that ordinary people think of. However, if that scholar makes a machine that does not use mana, wouldn’t it be easier to farm on land that uses astor powder to make use of intellectual power?”
Then Shikvienna raised a question.
“I don’t know what a machine that doesn’t use magical powers would be useful for. After all, isn’t there a limit to the complexity of objects operated by manpower or magical powers?”
Okay.
This must be the question that people normally think about in this world right now. And it seems that the engineer couldn’t stand it among those humans and found a new supporter.
You might make a lot of unexpectedly interesting things.
“Machines could do the work of dozens. If you design well, that is. Bring him back to me later. I want to talk.”
“Yes… All right.”
Although they agreed, the three of them still ended the meeting with expressions that they did not understand.
After all, it is something they have never actually seen or even imagined, so they have no choice but to show such an ambiguous attitude.
Even if it’s not to the same level as modern civilization, like a tractor or sprinkler, at least if you can make something that can replace a beast or a cow, the production might increase significantly.
Roan returned to his office, sorting out his thoughts about the machine.
“Are you back, Your Majesty?”
The chief secretary greeted Roan.
“The Lord of the Northern Baekryung hasn’t arrived yet.”
“I get it.”
The upcoming schedule is mainly about talking with Urtellia rather than the Count.
The most important thing is to find Anmut and Fiora.
While Anmut and Urtellia were in Spros, they communicated through magic orbs. The magic orb was carried by Anmut while tracking down the artifact with Fiora.
However, it turns out that Merde’s court mage Shulaner, who was supposed to be carrying the artifact, was hiding inside the palace.
Eventually, with the disappearance of Anmut and Fiora, the search for relics in Merde ceased.
The emperor’s complexion darkened as he pondered over the past few weeks.
The sight outside the castle, which stretched out the window of the office, which had been desolate before, but now greener than before, was comforting at least, but the heavy heart did not easily get better.
According to Rumbe, who assists the Dark Duke at Swin Lake, the Grand Duke also rarely left the castle after Roan’s visit.
The whereabouts of the artifacts became a mystery when they were informed that neither had ever moved to the border nor had any cargo coming from the border to Swin.
“How… That can be like this I wouldn’t know if it was only Anmut, but Fiora…”
The sigh I had been holding back leaked out again.
Fiora is stronger than Roan.
But what if the Dark Prince or the Court Wizard knew that Roan was after him and was after the artifact? What if you already had a well-prepared trap?
A groaning sound came from the tightly closed teeth.
Maybe he really drove Fiora and Anmut to death. The fear of losing them through poor judgment kept Roan awake.
“… Your majesty.”
When he suddenly came to his senses, the Count and Urtellia had called Roan several times with worried faces.
“Your Majesty, what were you thinking so deeply about?”
“Greetings after a long time, Your Majesty.”
Count Bertellia’s voice was calm.
Both she and Urtellia knew what Roan was thinking about.
“… I feel bad for leaving you guys like this.”
There was no way that both of them were unaware of Roan’s words, but the Count accepted the emperor’s words with a grin.
“What are you talking about! Still, it’s much better than the past when I didn’t even know if I was alive or dead. How glad I am that my brother is a decent adult doing his job!”
“It’s too overprotective for something like that. I barely stopped him from saying that he would attach four knights.”
I can imagine.
No matter how much she lived as a mercenary, there would be no sisters to see her sister wandering around alone, which she had found after many years.
“So you two agreed?”
“Yes.”
Yurteria puffed out her cheeks, but there was no real resentment in her expression.
“By the way, Your Majesty, I still haven’t contacted you separately…”
“Does not exist.”
Seeing Urtellia’s face sinking coldly, the Count also put on a pensive expression.
Count Bertellia isn’t exactly sure what we’re looking for, but she knows that it has something to do with the ‘stench’ she had tipped off to the previous emperor, and that the grand duke might find it.
And that in the process, people close to the Emperor and people close to Urtellia had disappeared.
“Surely, Anmut, you must be in trouble because you broke that magic ball somewhere. I can’t imagine them getting hurt by someone.”
Urtellia said in a spirited voice. It’s as if she’s trying to forget the bad thoughts that have popped into her head.
“Things like that happen, too. I hope you are right.”
Traveling overland, whether in Basel or Sprouse, takes over two weeks each way to the border under the Dark Forest. If you lose the communication magic orb as soon as you track it and keep moving, there is a possibility…
Roan bit his lip.
I wanted to believe that.
“What is the news about Swin-ho that His Majesty received?”
Yurteria understood Roan’s expression and asked her question. The complicated mind should be forgotten with another story.
“There is something called a monster disease in Swin.”
Roan began to explain to them both.
The story of a demon that is said to be sealed in the desert and affects the Eastern Yellow Spirit and the Southern Dark Spirit.
And the story of the stench that the traces of the devil’s power felt.
The two wizards already knew the story that the devil was sealed in the east, but they were quite surprised that the myth of the distant past, which they did not even know about, was still affecting them.
And the two were even more surprised when they heard that the emperor could cure diseases affected by that unknown aura.
“Therefore… I don’t know if that really happened or not, but anyway, it’s a proven fact that Your Majesty’s holy magic is a sure way to resist the power of the East, right?”
“Hmm.”
“And the thing your Majesty is pursuing had something to do with the powers of the East too?”
“I think so.”
Nodding, Roan held up the letter on the desk. It was a letter from Rumbe prepared to discuss with the two magically-savvy sisters when they arrived.
“This is a call from Swin Lake. I thought the Grand Duke would either leave Swin or send someone he trusted to the border to receive that thing, what I call a relic, but he said there was no such move. And there is more news.”
“Tell me that too.”
The Count saw Urtellia at work for the first time.
Urtellia as a mercenary who naturally exchanges stories with the emperor. The Count’s eyes were filled with pride as he watched the scene.
“It is about the monster disease that I asked separately before. I heard that it was an endemic disease, but it was 14 years ago that people began to have such symptoms.
It started with the lady-in-waiting at the castle of Lord Swinho.”
“A disease caused by the influence of the devil’s power comes from her handmaiden…”
Not only Urtellia, but also the Count began to show interest in Roan’s words, their eyes twinkling.
Wizards, after all, are like beings who can’t live beyond their curiosity. Especially if it’s a cat beast.
“At that time, the number of patients increased, and it was said that it was quiet for a while and then became popular again. Most of the patients were aristocrats or officials rather than commoners. The last time Swinho was noisy was four years ago.”
“Four years ago, are you at war?”
“To be exact, it was about half a year after the war started. At that time, many knights, including the Grand Duke of Darkness, were out on the battlefield, so he said that he had a hard time catching up. But the strange thing is, they say that patients with this monster disease have appeared on the battlefield as well.”
The two wizards looked at each other.
“And these days, they say that monster disease is rampant again. Jim, too, witnessed the outbreak of the disease at Swin. That’s how he found out he could cure the monster disease.”
“The power flowing in from the east will be constant unless the seal is cracked! The sealing magic is supposed to keep a certain amount of power. Then, in the end, I think what creates the singularity is stimulation from the outside!”
“Your Majesty thinks one of them might be a relic?”
Roan replied affirmatively to the Count and Urtellia’s question.
“Yes. I think it’s suspicious enough.”
“Well, actually, the best thing would be to secretly meet some of the Grand Duke’s closest people. Too bad! Shall we give it a try at the previous meeting?”
Her puppet magic is the best in the country, but it’s hard for her to go to Swin Lake, opposite her Evirzio, as she rules the Northern Baekryung in the first place and interrogate someone. She is even more so because she is a great lord, not an ordinary nobleman.
“I would not recommend it. Very few nobles attend the meeting, and if you use magic there, it will be easier to spot. The risk to be taken is great.”
“Uhm… If His Majesty says so.”
The Count shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, but his affinity subtly rose by 1 to +66. Urtellia looked at Count Bertellia’s reaction and gave a subtle smile.
“We are still watching to see if items presumed to be relics are brought in from the castle. I asked the forest fairies for the border near the dark forest.”
“Come to think of it, the guild also contacted me.”
Urtellia rustled and took out her report from her bag.
