kscans

Chapter 160 - Chapter 1: Part 2 - The First Objective

"That's rather abstract. And a bit underwhelming. Can you be more specific?"

"I believe the strength of magic isn't just a simple scale of strong versus weak. It's not just about quantity, but also an element I'm calling wavelength."

"That's also known as the density of magic," Fulsy added.

The magic-sensing paper was monochrome. The strength of magic simply appeared as density. But...

"Yes, magic does have that element. You're talking about color, aren't you? What of it?" Maytyl said.

Just as I expected. Now, I just need to confirm if the principle behind those colors is what I think it is.

"First, I want you to see this."

I took out something I had prepared beforehand. It was a crystal cut into a triangular prism. A prism. Since I can't handle magic myself, I have no choice but to explain using things that I can see.

I received a magnifying glass from Fulsy, and from Noel, a plate of Sorcery Gold with a thin slit cut into it, which I had asked for in advance.

I opened the west-facing window to let in the light. This world's rotation is the same as Earth's, huh. Or maybe I just think of the direction the sun rises as 'east'.

Using the magnifying glass, I focused the gathered light onto the slit, narrowing the beam before passing it through the prism. The light emerging from the prism created a seven-colored rainbow on a white stone slate.

"Light that appears white at a glance is actually made up of a combination of many different colors of light, like this. It separates based on the different refractive indices of the crystal for each wavelength. This is a property of the wave known as light."

After explaining this much, I realized my audience wasn't following. They were all staring blankly.

"Again, you just casually drop some knowledge no one's ever heard of," Noel said.

"You've seen a rainbow, right? It's the same principle. That's also created when light is refracted and separated by water vapor in the air, like a mist."

"That's what I mean, please don't explain the origin of rainbows so casually," Noel said.

"The crucial part comes next. The spectrum... this rainbow pattern... differs depending on the source of the light. Conversely, by examining this spectrum, we can understand the properties of the thing emitting it."

"You're trying to say that magic is the same," Maytyl said, her expression turning serious.

Yes, the Empire should be more advanced when it comes to the color of magic.

I looked at the edge of the rainbow created by the prism, next to the color violet. It's invisible to the human eye, but this is where ultraviolet light exists. In other words, it's light that humans cannot perceive but has higher energy than the visible light they can. For example, insects that gather nectar can see ultraviolet light, allowing them to see patterns on flowers that are invisible to humans.

"Of course, it will require verification. But if we could analyze such patterns, the amount of information we could gain from observing magic veins would increase dramatically."

In short, a spectrum analysis of magic. This was my proposal. Maytyl thought for a long moment before speaking.

"I have something to confirm. Since you possess no magic, you should only be able to see the light that appears as an indirect manifestation of magic, not the magic itself. You shouldn't be able to perceive the color of magic like we can. Even we can't perceive it as clearly as the rainbow you just made. And yet, you speak of something beyond the colors. What is your basis for this?"

Her quick understanding is a great help. Well, explaining that all things in this world are waves... is probably a bit much. I don't have the knowledge to explain it myself, anyway.

"I definitely can't see it. But I have two reasons for thinking this way. Both of them come from observing the Empire's movements."

"Oh...?"

"One is the slime mold... the Castle-Eating Worm that the Empire spread throughout the kingdom. Those worms were drawn to the magic emitted by the lumber brought from the Empire. I suspect they recognize the magic wavelength pattern of their homeland, like the scent of home, so to speak. In other words, miasma, which is a jumble of different kinds of magic, has regional differences in which color components are stronger. Am I wrong?"

"...We say that those worms decide where they're going based on the nature of magic, the color of the miasma. You are correct about that," Maytyl said, nodding cautiously.

"The other is the special magic crystal the Empire was using. It's not just that its magic is strong, but that it stores a concentrated form of a specific color of magic, isn't it? Something that normal magic-sensing can't fully capture."

This was information from the Director. It registers on measuring devices, but is difficult for mages to perceive.

"That's right. With the kingdom's technology, you might only be able to determine its strength. We learned of it using a material that reacts to magic from a specific magical source. We call that magic crystal 'Crimson'."

So it's like a substance that only reacts to ultraviolet light. Is it called Crimson because it's denser than normal magic? Even with light, there are phenomena where wavelength is more important than the total amount of energy. A famous example is Einstein's Nobel Prize-winning work explaining the photoelectric effect.

No matter how many weak photons, red light, you hit a metal with, you can't knock out any electrons. But if you hit it with even a few strong photons, ultraviolet light, electrons are ejected. That's because in the microscopic world, when photons and electrons collide, it's a one-to-one relationship.

"...You're being awfully straightforward. What happened to our information exchange?"

Maytyl's knowledge was just what I'd hoped for, but for her to state it so plainly was almost unsettling.

"Because... there seems... to be no point... in hiding it. But an exchange is an exchange. You'll have to tell me what you know about the magic veins, too."

"I understand. We'll tell you how we investigated the Empire's long-term magic vein fluctuations."

I glanced at Fulsy.

"That's it, that's what I want to know. I was honestly horrified when the kingdom showed us patterns of magic veins from ancient times that even we didn't know about. It was like you could see right through the Empire's efforts to build up its power. How did you do that?"

"Director, if you would."

I nodded to the Director. Fulsy took out the magic-sensing paper and a tree-ring sample. It was the rest of the sample he had set aside during the slime mold monster incident. Under Fulsy's hand, the magic pattern of the tree rings was projected onto the magic-sensing paper.

"To think a record was left in the trees... How about that. So we're the ones who went out of our way to teach you, is that it?"

"Just bad luck," I said.

"This is definitely not luck. You have a theoretical basis for every single explanation."

At Maytyl's words, Fulsy and Noel nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad you're convinced. Then let's get back to specifics."

What we had been doing until now was creating a simple graph with time on the horizontal axis and the strength of magic on the vertical axis. What I wanted to know from now on was the spectrum of magic at each of those points in time. For that, we would need new technology.

"What I want everyone to work on is a device to measure the strength of magic for each wavelength, for each color. I think that's a decent first objective, don't you?"

"The first objective...? What you're talking about is nothing less than elucidating the fundamental properties of magic..." Maytyl said, her expression one of bewilderment.

"Is that not enough? Magic vein fluctuation is, in essence, the fluctuation of magic. To understand it, I thought we'd need an analysis based on a more detailed understanding."

Whether in magic or sorcery, application took precedence over fundamentals. Even on Earth, the idea that pure scientific principles could be directly linked to technology and commerce didn't become widespread until the 19th century at best. That was likely why Fulsy's measurement techniques hadn't received much attention until now.

"It's the opposite. This is a completely new method for analyzing magic, the very foundation of sorcery. I nearly forgot about that outrageous magic circuit you showed us in Kurtheite!" Maytyl shook her head vigorously.

"...She's not as used to him as we are," Fulsy muttered.

"...I feel a little sorry for her. Though it feels hollow for me to say it, since I'm caught up in this too," said Noel.

It was good that the atmosphere had relaxed a little at my expense.

I possess a system of scientific knowledge that doesn't exist here. I'm merely applying concepts that someone in my original world came up with. My actual specs are probably the lowest of anyone here.

Leonard had a troubled look on his face. His pen had been starting and stopping repeatedly for a while now. Alfina was diligently taking notes. That was her outstanding virtue. Whether it was honey or carriages, she always tried to properly understand knowledge that was completely foreign to a princess. I couldn't count the number of times that had helped me.

"But the idea that 'the components of magic can be separated' based on the principle of magical density is still just a hypothesis, isn't it?" said Maytyl, having regained her composure.

"You're absolutely right. We have to verify if we can separate the components of magic, just as I did with light just now."

"What do you need?"

"A material that refracts magic."

I held up the prism. Magic was special in many ways. It passed right through glass, so prisms and lenses were useless. We had actually found something among the magic catalysts that seemed to have that property, but the effect vanished once it was extracted.

"I have an idea. The materials from the dragon subjugated in the kingdom, are the eyes still intact?"

"We are not accustomed to handling them. They should be untouched," Fulsy replied.

"Have them prepared. I'll give instructions on how to process the surface to match the measuring device we'll actually be building. ...I wonder if we have enough materials. The luggage I could bring here was severely restricted, you know," Maytyl said resentfully.

There was no way the kingdom would let the Empire's greatest Magus bring in whatever she wanted. And the Empire probably felt the same way.

"Well, I'll say this was more than I expected for a start," Maytyl said, but she smiled with satisfaction.

"Right, while we're at it, tell me about that special magic crystal, Crimson. Where can I get it?"

"Too bad. That's not the kind of information I can just give you 'on the side'. Regarding that... let's see, I'll tell you in exchange for the recipe for that magic catalyst of yours."

"I think we've provided a fair bit of information already."

"Oh? What I heard was just a hypothesis, wasn't it? I'm helping you prove it, so I'd say the balance is perfectly fair."

Information about a vital resource wouldn't come easily, I supposed. Well, I had gotten the information I needed for the time being.

I watched Fulsy gleefully peppering Maytyl with questions about the dragon materials, and Noel watching them nervously from behind.

I had wondered how this would go, but I think I could call it a fine start.