Chapter 1: Preparing for Innovation (part 5)

In addition to his outrageous inventions, he had also produced accurate

anatomical drawings of the human body. In an era when the Christian church had

held great influence, he had purchased dead bodies and cut them up in ways that

might have been seen as blasphemous by the church, all in order to learn about the

structure of the human body. If these anatomical drawings had spread, they would

no doubt have led to great advances in medicine. However, he'd sealed them away

for a long time, fearing the power of the church, and so he'd been unable to

contribute to medical science.

"Those sorts of people are said by later generations to have been 'born before

their time,'" I said. "However, what if the ruler of the time saw such a person for

what they were, protected them, and gave them an important position? Then, what

if, not just the person in power, but the people as a whole, could be led to recognize

them for what they were? Don't you think that could lead to a major advance?"

"You mean, make the times adjust to the person who's ahead of them?" asked

Liscia.

"Precisely!" I said. "Though I didn't expect you to get it on the first try."

"I haven't been hanging around with you for half a year for nothing, you know,"

Liscia said with a laugh, but then quickly took on a pensive look. "But, by that

reasoning, shouldn't you be the one to lead, Souma? The technological level of your

world was far ahead of this one, wasn't it?"

"Well, I can understand why you'd say that, but... Yeah, no, I can't," I said.

"Why not?"

"It's because my world isn't further down the path that this one will eventually

follow."

My former world had no magic.

I had felt that this world's technology was all over the place because of the

existence of magic before, but that was one way that this world moved forward.

Some pieces of technology, like the jewels for the Jewel Voice Broadcast, were

already superior to the technology in the other world. This world was probably

going to continue along a different path from my own.

"If I butt in when I shouldn't, there's a risk that I might end up delaying

development," I said. "That's why I think it's best if this world's progress is driven

mainly by its own people."

"I understand what you're thinking." That was what she said, but Liscia's face

didn't look satisfied with my explanation at all. If anything, she looked both angry

and sad.

While I was wondering what was up, Liscia took my hand and squeezed it tight.

"I understand what you're thinking, Souma. Still, there are parts of it that I can't

accept."

"...Such as?" I asked.

"The part about 'this world's people!' You belong to this country now, too,

Souma!" Liscia pulled my hand and placed it against her cheek. "My father was the

one to tear you away from your old world, so I, as his daughter, may not be the one

to say this, but... What you said just now, it made me feel incredibly sad."

"Oh, um... sorry," I said.

"Please, don't ever divide yourself from us again." With misty tears forming in

Liscia's eyes, she seemed unbearably lovely to me.

"Okay... I won't say it again." I took the hand she wasn't holding and went to place

it on her other cheek.

"Heyyyyy, Your Majestyyyyy," Genia called from outside. "Hurry uuuuup."

Suddenly pulled out of our own little world, Liscia and I looked at one another,

and laughed in awkward embarrassment.

Genia led us in front of the medium-sized area that had been divided off.

Yes, the divider was big enough that I had to look up at it, but more than

anything, I was curious what was behind the massive divider that was separating off

half of this space. It looked to be over twenty meters high. Wasn't she going to let me

see what's behind that one?

As I was thinking that, Genia raised her hands aloft and said, "Come forth, golem."

The moment after she did, the earth swelled up in a spot where the ground was

exposed. Eventually, two giants, each around three meters tall, appeared. Those

earthen giants began to lumber forward.

"Is this your magic, Genia?" I asked.

"Yep," she said. "My magic is to create golems from earth and to manipulate them.

They can't do any delicate work, but they've got power. I get a lot of use out of them

when it comes to carrying things."

"Manipulating mud dolls..." I mused. "That's a lot like my own ability, huh. Is it a

dark-type?"

"No. It's earth-type," she said. "Because I can only manipulate earth. Being able to

move them around like dolls probably falls under gravity manipulation. Besides, the

four major categories and light and dark are just something people came up with to

make it easier to understand. I don't think of them as being strict limitations."

"What am I even supposed to believe in anymore...?" I murmured.

Ever since I'd come here, my understanding of this world kept being constantly

shaken. When it came to phenomena that were unknown to people on Earth, if this

world's people said something was obvious, I had assumed it must be; but now I was

being told that wasn't necessarily the case. It wasn't a known unknown, but an

unknown unknown. From here on out, I might have to approach every phenomenon

from a position of doubt.

"Well, setting that aside, this here is what I wanted you to see," Genia said,

indicating something. The golems took down the divider that was covering it.

When we saw what came out from inside, both Liscia and I were dumbstruck by

the utter incomprehensibility of it. Before our eyes, there was an object that looked

like it was the size of a two story building. If I were to describe it in the easiest way

to understand...

"A ridiculously huge D*son fan?" I burst out.

"Hm? What's that?" Genia asked.

"Ah, never mind... Just talking to myself."

No, still, the only thing I could see it as was a gigantic Dy*on fan.

As far as the silhouette went, the torso was like a kokeshi; one of those short,

wooden Japanese dolls with no arms, but the head was a big ring. It wasn't clear at a

glance what it might be used for, and the way it just looked like some sort of art

object was the same. It did concern me that just the portion in contact with the

ground was firmly fixed in place, though...

I asked Genia, "What is this thing?"

"It's 'Little Susumu Mark V.'"

What a lame name! I thought. ...Wait, Mark V?!

"What, then there are another four of these things?!" I burst out.

"That?! After seeing this thing, that's what gets your attention?!" Liscia exclaimed.

As she watched our surprised reactions, Genia smiled with satisfaction. "Well,

you know, with all the getting blown away, and exploding, and other stuff, Little

Susumu Marks I-IV are now no more."

"It's that dangerous?!" I cried.

"The Mark V is fine," she assured me. "This one... is the finished product."

Having said that, Genia launched into an explanation of the Little Susumu Mark V.

"I suspect you're already aware, but the large ships in this world are either

powered by the wind or tugged by sea dragons, right? This Little Susumu Mark V is a

replacement for those sea dragons, you see. When attached to the keel, one of these

devices can drive the vessel forward with power equivalent to a sea dragon."

"...Ah! You mean, it's a propulsion system!" I cried.

Like a screw propeller, or a motor, huh?

When I said that, Genia smiled and laid a hand on Little Susumu Mark V's torso

section. "The thing about this machine is, it can suck in whatever is in front of the

ring, then force it out through the back. When it operates in the sea, it takes in sea

water and expels it out the rear. That water pressure will create enough propulsion

to move an iron warship." In other words, it was like there was an invisible propeller

in the empty space in the middle of that ring.

"Hm? If it sucks in whatever's in front of it, what would happen if you used it here

and now?" I asked.

"You're very perceptive, I see," she said. "On land, it can suck in air and expel it

out the rear. Let's try an experiment, shall we?"

Genia had the golems prepare a large sheet. Then, with us standing back at a

distance of around twenty meters, the golems held it up between them like a movie

screen.

"Now, observers, the Little Susumu Mark V will suck in air from our side, then

expel it out the other side. Witness its power for yourselves."

"Ah! Genia, hold on a...!" Ludwin hurriedly tried to stop her, but Genia didn't care.

"And click," she said in a singsong tone, then pressed some sort of switch. In an

instant...

Bowahhhhh!

There was a sudden loud noise as a sudden gust of wind blew us away.

"Whoa?!" I exclaimed.

"Eek!" Liscia cried.

"Bwah!" Genia laughed.

"Not agaaaaain!" Ludwin wailed.

The sudden and powerful blast of wind threw us all against the wall.

Wait... Th-This wind, it's too strong! I screamed in my mind. The wind pressure

had me pinned to the wall and I couldn't move at all. It looked like Liscia and Genia

were in the same boat.

Until Ludwin crawled toward the machine with great difficulty, pressing the

same switch to stop it, we were pinned against the wall like a bunch of insect

specimens. When we were finally released from that wind, Genia laughed, "Ahaha..."

and put on a dry smile.

"Whoops, sorry. Looks like I had the front and back mixed up. Because I gave it a

highly efficient form, with all waste removed, it's hard to tell the front from the

back."

"If you know that, then take precautions..." I muttered.

"I said I'm sorry, sire," she said unashamedly. "Anyway, I think you see how

powerful this Little Susumu Mark V is now, yes?"

"...I literally experienced it firsthand." I said that sarcastically, but it really was an

incredible machine.

If it hadn't been firmly affixed to the floor, the machine itself might have been

blown away. Ah... was that why Marks I-IV had blown up or been blown away? While

I was figuring out that strange little detail, Genia launched into an enthusiastic

explanation of how the system worked.

"This ring segment is made of a special metal, and it has a modified version of an

enchantment for deflecting energy carved into it. This enchantment was based on a

failed version of the enchantment for nullifying magic that the Empire's Magic

Armor Corps uses, you see.

"Originally, it was an enchantment for deflecting magic. Deflecting it was good

enough for the Magic Armor Corps themselves, but the other troops behind them

were still taking damage, so they discontinued researching it. That failed

enchantment caught my attention.

"If it was able to deflect magic, I thought it must be exerting some influence on

the way magicium worked. They say that magicium exists in both the atmosphere

and in our water. That being the case, if I could apply a direction to it, maybe I could

create something that would suck it in and blow it out. If I could concentrate the

power from expelling it, maybe I could create a propulsion system... Well, that was

the idea.

"That's because moving the magicium in the air and water is the same as moving

the air and water themselves. And so, I put a modified version of that enchantment

into a metal ring, and that's how I completed the Little Susumu Mark V, which sucks

in magicium and blows it back out when you run energy through it!"

I was dumbfounded.