Chapter 1: Preparing for Innovation (part 6)

Genia was very articulate in her explanation, but the moment she started talking

about enchantment magic, it went beyond my ability to judge whether what she said

was true or false. Though, given the experiment went exactly the way Genia was

saying, I figured she was correct... probably.

"Did you understand that, Liscia?" I asked.

"Not even the teensiest tiniest bit of it."

It seemed it was a difficult subject for people from this world, too.

Realizing we hadn't been able to follow her explanation at all, Genia forced

herself to smile and shrug. "Well, like I was saying before, so long as you understand

that one of these devices can do the same work as one sea dragon, that's good

enough."

The man who had been clutching his head in his hands up, Ludwin, now spoke

up. "But isn't this thing kind of useless, then? I mean, you spent considerable

resources just to build this one device, didn't you?"

"Yeah... Well, it was easily enough to maintain ten sea dragons for a period of ten

years..." Genia said.

"If it only does the work of one, then that's a huge loss, isn't it?" Ludwin asked.

"Besides, unlike sea dragons, it can't make tight turns."

"Wh-What are you saying, Luu?! Can't you see what this invention will bring?!"

Genia cried.

"What it will bring?" Ludwin asked.

Ludwin seemed confused, but I had to agree with Genia on this point.

"She's right. It really is an incredible invention, Ludwin."

"Y-You, too, sire?" he asked.

"Just think," I said. "If one of these can do the work of a sea dragon, then, applying

some simple math, ten of them could do the work of ten sea dragons, right?"

"I suppose...?"

As Ludwin didn't seem to get my point, I explained it in a way that would be

easier for him to understand. "Well, can you actually bind ten sea dragons to

something? I thought even a two-dragon setup like our battleship, the Albert, was

unusual?"

"Well... Yes, that's right. Even if you could bind ten sea dragons to something, it

would be impossible to make them all follow the same order. Even in other

countries, I think three is probably the limit."

"In other words, even its use were limited to ships, with this machine, we would

be able to move ships that were more massive than any before. For instance...

imagine a cargo ship with five of these installed. It would revolutionize shipping."

It would allow the shipping of large amounts of freight at once, you see. The

reason I had wanted to absorb Amidonia was because more than half of this

country's border was with the sea. The new city we were constructing as a focal

point for shipping was nearing completion, too, so being able to strengthen our

maritime shipping capacity would be huge.

"Th-That makes a lot of sense..." Ludwin stuttered. It looked like Ludwin

understood just how incredible this invention was now.

I asked Genia, "You said something about running energy through it before, right?

What's the power source?"

Since coming to this world, I hadn't seen a single electrical generator, or even so

much as a steam engine. Would the energy source for something mechanical like this

be magic, like I was expecting?

"Well, sire, I've installed these inside it." Genia pulled some sort of lump from her

lab coat pocket and passed it to me. Though it fit in the palm of my hand, the jet

black crystal cube was heavier than it looked. (It felt similar to holding a weight.)

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a type of crystal commonly called curse ore."

"Did you say curse ore?!" Liscia burst out.

"You know what that is, Liscia?!" I asked in the same tone.

"You didn't have to say it like that..." she murmured. "In this world, we also use

magic to mine ore. Water magic for digging, earth magic for reinforcing tunnels,

wind magic for supplying air, and fire magic for melting down metals. But when

we're near a vein of curse ore, for whatever reason, we lose the ability to use magic.

What's more, if we try to force ourselves to use it..."

Liscia made a gesture where she quickly opened her closed fist, and said "Boom."

"It explodes?!" I cried. "Aren't explosions inside a mine really dangerous?"

"It's a real source of frustration for the miners," Liscia said. "If they're digging a

mine and they strike a vein of this stuff, they can't dig any further, after all. In this

world, we think of magic as the blessing of the gods and spirits, so this ore that

makes magic unusable is a cursed rock that can't accept their blessings. Basically,

that's why we call it curse ore. The troublesome thing is, it's commonly found

underground in Elfrieden," Liscia added with an air of self-mockery.

The Elfrieden Kingdom was a country with little mineral wealth to begin with.

Because of its mostly level terrain, it was possible to get a decent amount of iron, but

gold and other such precious metals weren't common here. If there were large

amounts of curse ore thrown into the mix, too, then that would make the process of

mining itself difficult. There sure were a lot of things I had yet to learn...

As I was thinking that, Genia wore a bold smile. "This ore is cursed? You

shouldn't say such silly things, princess. If anything, you could say this country has

been blessed by the gods to have so much of this ore buried underground!"

Genia waved her arms with an exaggerated reaction.

"It's because we look at it through the veil of mystery that we come up with

childish ideas like it being cursed. Curse ore isn't rendering magic unusable. It's

absorbing the energy from it. Think about that. If we can't use magic near curse ore,

and if we do, it explodes, where did you think that explosive energy came from? Isn't

it more natural to think that, because it's absorbing the energy from magic, it

explodes when it overcomes its tolerance threshold?"

Hrm... So, basically, curse ore was like a chargeable battery that had been

absorbing the energy from magic? Then, if it was overcharged, it would explode.

...What was this feeling of restlessness? Were we, right now, witnessing

something incredible? Something big enough that it might change the world?

Then Genia said something incredible. "So, I've succeeded in extracting the

energy from curse ore once it's absorbed magical energy. That's what I use to power

this device."

"Wha?!" I yelped.

Her words sent a chill down my spine. If that was true, it really was like a battery!

There was still a lot I couldn't understand just yet, but I could understand just

how incredible the secret of curse ore was, and how incredible the woman who'd

discovered it was. This was a world without electricity, or even steam engines. If we

could acquire a technology for storing energy before any other country, this country

would make great strides forward. In fact, it was a big enough deal that even

growing more powerful than the Empire wouldn't be just a dream.

Then, at the same time, the danger of this power occurred to me.

First, there were the superstitions surrounding curse ore. If people discovered

we were researching curse ore, which hadn't received the blessings of the gods, in

this superstitious world, people might grow distrustful of us.

If it were only within the country, I might be able to enlighten the people with

time, but I was sure to make an enemy of theocracies like the Orthodox Papal State

of Lunaria. For a nation ruled by religious doctrine, anything that might undermine a

part of their dogma (even if it was of superstitious variety) would lead to a decline in

their authority. They could never accept it.

Furthermore, if they learned a land without much in the way of faith had a

technology like this, they were sure to demand we hand it over. From what Liscia

was just saying, it seemed there was a considerable amount of curse ore in this

country, too. If we weren't careful, the neighboring countries might invade us for our

resources.

It was looking like I could form a secret alliance with the Empire, and the threat

posed by Amidonia had finally been removed; but if that sort of situation arose, this

country would be wiped off the map. While this technology had the potential to

make us the greatest power on the continent, it also had the hidden risk of

destroying this country utterly.

I stumbled. "What am I gonna do...?"

"H-Hold on, Souma?! What's wrong?!" Liscia cried out, supporting me.

"...Sorry," I said. "I was imagining something high risk, high return, and I started

to not feel so good."

"Imagining something?" Liscia asked.

I explained my imaginings to Liscia and the others. As they listened, Liscia and

Ludwin's faces went pale. They must have felt the same fear as I did.

However, Genia was the only one who seemed unperturbed. "What's there to

worry about? We just need to finish the research before the other countries can start

targeting us, then grow so strong they can't say a word against us."

"...You're overly optimistic about it, but I guess it's the only way, huh," I said.

"Still, we need to proceed with absolute secrecy on this..."

In which case, custody of Genia was going to be an issue. At this point, she was as

vital to the welfare of this country as Tomoe. I couldn't let her run off to another

country, or to be kidnapped, and I wanted to leave her in the hands of someone I

could trust. She seemed wholly devoted to her studies, but she was still in her early

twenties; a young woman in her prime. I wanted to avoid a situation where some

noble realized her importance and tried to make a move on her.

—In that case...

I waved to Liscia and whispered in her ear what I was thinking. Then, after I had

her opinion on it, I turned to the handsome Captain of the Royal Guard who was

looking at me dubiously.

"...Hey, Ludwin," I said.

"Yes? What is it, sire?" he asked.

"Tell me, do you love Genia?"

Ludwin was clearly shaken. "Wh-What's this, out of nowhere?! Sire!"

"It's important," I said, giving the flustered Ludwin a serious answer. "Depending

on how you feel about Genia... and how Genia feels about you, I'll need to change

how I handle things here."

Genia was a very important person to this country now. If possible, I wanted her

to marry someone close to me, so she would put down deep roots in this country.

That was why... if Ludwin was prepared to do it, all the better; but if not, I would

have to come up with other plans.

Before I'd proposed this idea, I had whispered:

"Hey, Liscia. I'm thinking I should have Genia marry Ludwin. As a woman

yourself, do you think Genia likes him?"

"...It's a 60% chance, I'd say," she'd whispered back. "She probably does."

"That's not a very clear answer," I'd whispered. "Why so uncertain?"

"Girls are hard to read. But I don't think you need to worry, you know? Genia's a

daughter of the nobility. If the king commands it, she won't refuse."

"You may be right, but... I don't want to force anyone if I don't have to."

"...I see. Well, how do you think Sir Ludwin would feel about it?" she'd whispered.

"I'd say it's like a 99% chance he loves her."

"You sound awfully certain of that."

"Guys are easy to read when it comes to this stuff," I'd whispered.

All that stuff we'd whispered back and forth had been a secret.

Now, perhaps Ludwin realized I was serious, because his lips were pursed. He

must have been wondering how best to answer.

At that point, the other involved party tilted her head to the side and asked, "Am I

going to be Luu's wife?" She said it in such a relaxed tone that you wouldn't have

assumed it was a decision affecting her.

"Would it upset you marrying Ludwin, Genia?" I asked.

"Nah. It wouldn't upset me at all." Genia said it so clearly and easily that it was

almost a letdown. "I'm a woman, after all. I was thinking I'd like to get together with

someone eventually, and I was also thinking I'd like that somebody to be Luu.

Though, with Luu being as popular with the ladies as he is, I was fine with waiting

until he found a proper wife and then having him take me as his third wife or so."Ludwin's eyes went wide at Genia's confession, but Liscia seemed to have found

some point in it to sympathize with because she was nodding emphatically.

[MISTERLP]: don't be like that, girl