kscans

Chapter 168 - Episode 6: Beginning the Verification of the Magic Spectrum

Kacha... A fork clinked against a plate. Looking at the seat across from me, Maytyl was sipping green tea in front of an empty plate.

"Are you done already?" I asked Maytyl, who had set down her chopsticks after only two slices. If she was already tired of it, that would be a problem. Given its popularity with the Imperial people, I had even considered making it a specialty of the new city.

"It's still delicious, as always. But the crucial experiment is about to begin, isn't it? I don't want to get sleepy halfway through." Maytyl looked at the Yokan with a lingering gaze.

Come to think of it, in my previous life, at university, I had a classmate who wouldn't eat lunch because it made him lose focus in the afternoon. He certainly had much better concentration than I did. Perhaps Maytyl's reason is similar. Well, it's probably healthier than consuming large amounts of sweets. While Japanese sweets are said to be healthy, their nutritional balance is skewed compared to Western sweets. Besides, if I were to make a beautiful Imperial Princess gain weight, it could become a diplomatic issue.

Well, she is taking this so seriously. When we succeed, I will reward her amply with ice cream.

◇◇

On the table, blocks with regularly spaced holes were arranged. One might call it an optical bench, though what we would pass through it was magic. It was painted black, perhaps to make it easier to see.

Apparently, it was made by a blacksmith in the Royal Capital, introduced by Bowgan, using a Magic Gold die. Since it was made of brass, it reportedly caused less trouble than steel. Its weight also made it suitable for experiments where vibrations were a concern.

"It's certainly rational to an irritating degree," Noel said, as she meticulously attached experiment parts one after another. A metal rod with a ring was inserted into the leftmost hole. A Magic Crystal was fitted into the ring, essentially acting as a light source. In a slightly separate hole, a Magic Gold slit attached to a rod of the same size was placed. In the next hole, a transparent triangular prism was set.

So this is the Dragon Crystal that acts as a prism. It looks no different from ordinary crystal.

Finally, a plate was inserted spanning two holes, and Magic-sensing Paper was stretched across it. The preparations for the magic wavelength spectrum analysis experiment were complete. Now, I felt a little anxious. After all, I had put them through all this trouble based on my vague knowledge of optics. I hoped it would work out.

Once the experiment began, there was nothing for me to do. Noel was apparently in charge of drawing magic from the Magic Crystal.

"I'll begin." As Noel drew magic from the Magic Crystal, light, or rather, what appeared to me to be an indirect phenomenon, was generated. The light, narrowed by the slit, was drawn into the Dragon Crystal prism. Then, it created a white reactivity on the Magic-sensing Paper.

As expected, it was far faster than analyzing tree rings or colonies. However, the result differed from my predictions.

"It only looks like a line," I said.

"Indeed," Noel replied.

The light visible to me was spread by the Dragon Crystal prism. Since it was a transparent substance, light would naturally refract. The problem was the magic, which should have passed through the bottom in the same way. While the Magic-sensing Paper was faintly illuminated in a rectangle about five centimeters wide, only the central part reacted. It was less than five millimeters wide, more of a line than a rectangle.

Just by looking at this, it was clear that the nature of light and magic differed. However, the slit was less than one millimeter, so it did not seem to be entirely undiffracted.

"There's no way I failed just by drawing out the magic," Noel explained, responding to my gaze. I wasn't doubting her. If I were to doubt anyone, it would be myself for trying to apply optical experiments directly to magic.

"What will you do?" Maytyl asked me. There was no accusation in her voice, but her probing eyes pierced me.

"Since it's spreading, in a way, increasing the distance would be..." I regretted giving a vague answer, cornered by her gaze. While the reactive width of the magic had indeed spread, the boundaries were blurred.

Maytyl's gaze on me sharpened slightly, as if to say, "Don't hold back." Honestly, when it comes to magic itself, my knowledge from my previous life doesn't cover it.

"There are probably three possibilities..." I gathered what little knowledge I had and thought. One, that magic is fundamentally different from what I knew it to be. In other words, it is not a wave. However, given the results so far, that possibility is low. After all, the idea that all existence is a wave is a principle of principles, so to speak, a meta-principle. If I were to discard that and rethink the world with a new idea, it would require a flash of insight on par with Einstein's. I am utterly incapable of that.

Second, magic wavelengths have far stronger rectilinear propagation than light wavelengths. A dragon's eye is an array of countless cellular-level sensors. Perhaps different photoreceptor cells react to different wavelengths. It might be that the resolution is insufficient for monochrome Magic-sensing Paper and the human eye to distinguish.

Third, the magic emanating from the Magic Crystal is originally a single wavelength, or one component is overwhelmingly strong. It is coming from a crystal. Rather than having various wavelengths mixed like sunlight, it might be reacting in a line spectrum, like the light from burning gas.

"As for countermeasures, perhaps extending the exposure time to see if less prominent wavelength components appear, or something like that..."

"Wait, if your current hypothesis is correct, then using Crimson should cause reactivity in a different position, shouldn't it?" Maytyl said.

"I see. That would be quicker."

The Magic Crystal was replaced with Crimson. The plate with the Magic-sensing Paper was shifted by lifting the rod. The handling of the Crimson Magic Crystal was left to Maytyl. Both Fulsy and Noel seemed unaccustomed to it.

"The time until reactivity is much shorter, but it's still just a line, isn't it?" Fulsy said, looking at the two reactivities aligned vertically. It appeared to be only a single line in almost the same position. The positions might be slightly different, but with the precision of this experiment, it was impossible to say for sure.

"How about combining several Dragon Crystals?" Fulsy suggested. This old man, who had made his hobby his job, had apparently been experimenting with light using the prism he had taken from me. He claimed it was to check the performance of the optical bench, but he had been trying various things, like combining prisms in opposite directions to convert a rainbow back into white light. I already felt like he had outmaneuvered me. Soon, he might discover gravity by watching an apple fall from a tree.

"I see."

To illustrate, separating light by refractive index is similar to throwing iron balls rolling at different speeds into a curve. Balls running in parallel will scatter in different directions after the curve. This is because their susceptibility to bending differs depending on their speed.

Incidentally, the speed of all light is constant at the speed of light, its mass is zero, and it is the same. However, its wavelength shortens according to the energy it possesses. That wavelength affects the refractive index, so the way it bends changes with its kinetic energy, just the same.

In the case of a triangular prism, it is like making the light turn two curves, once when entering and once when exiting. So, doing that twice in a row would mean making it turn four curves.

"I can do that much processing right away," Noel said.

The Dragon Prism, which originally had ample length, was cut. By adding blocks, the optical path was extended, and two prisms were arranged between the Magic Crystal and the Magic-sensing Paper. This regular flexibility was the strength of this setup.

"It really slows down, doesn't it?"

A wider band of light than before struck the Magic-sensing Paper. There seemed to be a lot of loss from passing through multiple Dragon Crystals. The reactivity speed was much slower than before. As time slowly ticked by, the black Magic-sensing Paper gradually whitened.

"Gokku." I heard someone swallow. I, too, was drawn to stare at the paper. The reactivity that appeared was...

"Look, it's quite different from before, isn't it?"

The three-centimeter-wide reactivity seemed to have subtle variations in shade. With a generous eye, it looked like three blurry bands. There was a slight, but noticeable, wider gap between the first and second bands. The second and third bands were almost touching.

"These shades do look a bit like that rainbow," Maytyl said.

"Yes, indeed. It's certainly a phenomenon we haven't recognized before."

Maytyl's eyes were glued to the Magic-sensing Paper. From her excitement, it was clear that the properties of magic, unknown not only magically but also sorcerously, had indeed revealed themselves.

"Is this what you were talking about?" Maytyl's eyes, fixed on me, were serious. They reminded me of my former professor's gaze when he read a sensational paper in my previous life.

"I can only say 'probably'," I answered.

"Really?"

I gave an ambiguous answer. To be honest, it was a little different from my image. Crystals are fundamentally pure substances. From the modern knowledge that formed its basis, I would have expected something a bit sharper. But even that knowledge might have been based on images after advanced processing.

However, on closer inspection, the top, bottom, left, and right sides of the rectangular reactivity were also blurred. It was similar to when I simply increased the distance and failed. The blur was probably due to passing through two prisms.

As expected, when the number of Dragon Crystal prisms was increased to three, the wave pattern became indistinguishable. We returned to two and adjusted the angles and distances in various ways, but the result of a blurry wave ultimately remained unchanged.

◇◇

"Oh, come on. I was so close to seeing something!"

Maytyl's indignation did not cease even as we walked down the first-floor corridor towards the entrance. Just as she thought something had clicked, it was apparently extinguished by Leonard's announcement of curfew.

Her anger was directed at me for stopping the experiment, likely due to her supervisor being present. It was unreasonable.

"Couldn't you be a little more flexible?"

"That's why I need you to understand my position a little better... Hey, what's wrong!"

Maytyl, whom I had turned to, suddenly swayed. I hurriedly supported her.

"You're so excited you almost tripped over nothing. When you walk, you should look ahead..." I tried to warn her, but then noticed Maytyl's complexion. Being from the North, she was pale, but now she looked even more bloodless.

"N-nothing, really."

"Are you feeling unwell, perhaps? Anemia?"

"Hold on, that's not something you should ask." Noel took Maytyl from me. "Something I shouldn't ask, anemia..." Ah, right, a girl's... It felt like I'd just stepped on a landmine and realized it in the same instant. Meaning, there was nothing I could do.

"If she's feeling unwell, did you tell her not to push herself?" After confirming Maytyl had gotten into the carriage, I cautiously asked Noel. Noel nodded silently.

"As expected of a colleague."

"C-colleague, no. Well, yes, I suppose I'm like a reliable comrade who goes along with your recklessness."

Isn't "comrade" an even closer relationship than "colleague"?

"I'll be careful too, just in case."

"Please do."

Well, I couldn't handle magic, so I just watched the latter half of the experiment. The least I could do was prepare for the next one by doing some preliminary research.

"Director." I called out to Fulsy, who was about to go upstairs, carrying a stack of Magic-sensing Paper. It was time for him to show off his librarian skills for once.