kscans

Chapter 196 - Episode 11: First Half, Legacy Code

I had come to the Anti-Monster Knight Order's training grounds with Maytyl and the others. Even with the change in the commander's position, the unpretentious and robust atmosphere seemed unchanged. If there was any change, it was perhaps the silver-edged kingdom flag proudly displayed beside the unit's banner.

"It's been a while since I felt this. ...Ricardo-san, prepare yourself!!"

Maytyl, holding a golden tube, pointed its tip at me.

"Maytyl-denka. Depending on your attitude towards your senior, I might not be able to cooperate, you know..."

Mia said dispassionately to Maytyl.

"J-just kidding. See?"

Maytyl, flustered, opened the hand that had been gripping the sorcery staff. Her palm was covered in IG-1.

"It's fine if it's me, but don't you dare do the same thing to the Crown Prince-denka."

"Oh, so it's fine if it's Ricardo-san."

Maytyl burst into a smile, as if she found something amusing.

"Senpai completely believed that was a joke just now, didn't he? While I haven't been able to show my face here much, he's really gotten quite..."

"...How are the preparations on your end?"

I averted my gaze from Mia, who was glaring at me.

"............They're ready. Here you go, Denka."

Noel handed over a silver, hexagonal object. Made of sorcery silver, it had a hole the same size as a sorcery staff. Inside, there were glass vials containing two types of magic catalyst solutions, and an indentation for a Magic Crystal. This was an attachment for a sorcery staff, which we called a cartridge. Maytyl connected it to the back of the sorcery staff.

A kacha sound was heard, and light connected from the simple geometric patterns engraved on the cartridge's surface to the complex patterns on the sorcery staff.

"Are the preparations complete?"

Prince Craig arrived with Fulsy, accompanied by a large group of over twenty knights. The armor of the Anti-Monster Knight Order and the First Knight Order were mixed amongst them. These were individuals who had shown even a slight aptitude for using sorcery staffs. Of course, it was incomplete. According to Prince Craig, they could barely activate it, not even enough to serve as a flint.

"You've arrived then. Well then, let's begin testing the prototype."

Maytyl pointed the tip of her staff at the prepared target.

Maytyl aimed the sorcery staff towards the target. A kiiin ringing sound filled the air, and the surrounding temperature noticeably dropped. The sorcery staff was selecting ambient gas molecules, concentrating only those with high energy. It felt slightly stronger than when I saw it last in Kurtheite...

Hyun! ............Gah, gaaaaan!!

A sorcery gold armor, a hundred meters away, was blasted back. The smoking armor tumbled with a garagara sound. The wide-eyed knights, startled when the armor stopped, instantly surrounded their lord. Maytyl, seeing this, shrugged her shoulders and lowered the tip of her staff.

"The power has only slightly increased, but the magic power required has been halved, and the activation time significantly reduced. With practice, the range can be extended a bit more. It's an astonishing effect."

Maytyl said this while removing the smoking cartridge.

"More importantly..."

She was nigi nigi-ing her hands, probably confirming that the Magic Seal carved into her hand was no longer necessary.

"I thank you for your cooperation, Maytyl-denka."

Prince Craig approached, showing no signs of fear.

"Oh dear. If Ricardo-san and the others were on my side, I could do anything with just my own forces to the kingdom."

Without a care for the hardening gazes of the knights around Prince Craig, Maytyl spoke her mind.

"Hahaha. If that were the case, I would probably be a prisoner by now."

"Exactly."

Stop it, only the two of you seem to be having fun. Everyone else, including me, is enduring the tension. Mia barely shows any emotion, but Noel is having a hard time.

"The sorcery staff itself is unchanged, which means this is the secret, isn't it?"

"Y-yes. Since it's made of sorcery silver, it can be produced relatively efficiently using sorcery gold molds."

Noel explained the cartridge, her face pale. It was typical of her to try and push all the credit onto Fulsy, Maytyl, and Mia. It was a completely futile effort. At this point, Noel was the most indispensable person for its production.

"With Noel here, the future of the kingdom's sorcery is secure. I'll be counting on you, future Chief Court Sorcerer-dono."

"H-h-! ............Such overly generous words are undeserved... for me."

I wanted to tell him not to tease her so much, but even so, it was an underestimation. The Screaming Flame's fundamental technology, the manipulation of air molecule entropy, had terrifying applicability.

"Oh, this is amazing." "It flew, look!"

Like children who had just received their first toy guns, the knights were test-firing the sorcery staffs. Compared to Maytyl, they were still unreliable, but they were starting to look the part.

"As Marquis Tembelg feared, we cannot take all the individuals who could serve as a trump card for the Great Calamity's monster countermeasures. Half is probably the best we can do."

Prince Craig said.

"And the Crown Prince-denka himself will be venturing into monster territory with such a small number?"

"What, Ricardo-san will be accompanying us. Things will work out somehow. At least it's better than sitting back and waiting for the monster horde."

"I have no objection to the latter part."

I intend to make further improvements based on the data from this test firing. I glanced at Maytyl and the others.

"Hmm. By the way, there's one crucial problem remaining..."

Prince Craig made a rare, hesitant expression. A problem? Well, problems were piling up, but for Prince Craig to make such a serious face...

"Regarding this matter, what did Alfina-san say?"

"Huh?"

I was caught off guard.

"....W-well, Alfina-sama is likely busy with pilgrimage preparations."

I instinctively looked away.

"............This is merely a general observation, mind you. But for a knight heading to the battlefield, a conversation with their partner before deployment is said to be extremely important."

Prince Craig said. I suppose that's true. At least, it wouldn't be comparable to a calamity or a Heyleight. Of course, it is important to me, but...

"I-I'll do my best."

"Mm. As the commander of this unit, I have given you my advice."

I managed to respond that way. ...Wait, he's acting as if he's done something incredibly significant. Isn't your own marriage problem the most important thing, Crown Prince?

◇◇

"So, you see. By linking the Magic Seals here and here..."

"In that case, we synchronize the circuits and make them loop here."

"Wait, why would that happen? Or rather..."

"A circuit is merely a connection of elements, meaning... and... are linked by lines. Their relationship, abstractly..."

"............If that's possible, it would be amazing. There's a possibility we could break through the limits of sorcerers' control, which have existed until now..."

"Um, to achieve that, the precision of the circuit..."

We returned to the lab. Maytyl, Mia, and Noel were discussing in front of the cartridge and sorcery staff. Maytyl claimed that further improvements should be possible.

The three's conversation was already beyond my comprehension. Probably, Maytyl was explaining the specific operations of the circuit, Mia was interpreting it mathematically (topologically), and Maytyl was proposing improvements. ...Noel, who needed to consider the actual manufacturing of the circuits, was getting a stomachache.

"What exactly are Magic Seals in the first place? I sort of understand lines and switches, but what are these characters or patterns that make up most of it? How is something as bizarrely complex as manipulating gas molecules actually achieved, anyway...?"

I asked the three of them. The diagrams spread out before me were densely covered with patterns resembling Sanskrit characters.

It was a mechanism performing the absurd feat of manipulating the entropy of air molecules. It was a technology that could create anything, from air conditioners and engines to refrigerators.

If the users themselves didn't fully understand it, I had always wondered how it had been developed.

"............" "............" "I don't understand the intent of your question."

The two fell silent. Maytyl said.

"There's no 'intent' to it, I just don't understand it at all, so I'm asking you to explain it. I think you know this, but I can't use magic power."

I said.

"...That's right."

Noel said, as if suddenly remembering.

"That's true, everything from wavelength measurement to magic catalysts started with Ricardo-san's preparations."

Maytyl also sighed. Then, she pointed to the enlarged diagram spread out on the desk.

"These patterns. Magic Seals weren't invented by humans. Originally, they are patterns found on the bodies of various magical beasts."

In other words, patterns that magical beasts, living by using magic power, created through evolution. For example, are humans connecting these patterns, like the manipulation of air molecules, by referencing their effects? In a sense, it's a biomimicry technology.

"Especially this Magic Seal, which forms the core technique of the Screaming Flame, has patterns similar to various magical beasts. For example, the wings of a Heyleight."

Maytyl pointed to a spiral-like pattern.

"Ah, I see. A gliding Heyleight would possess a magic power circuit for manipulating air currents, wouldn't it...?"

If it could sort high-density air beneath its wings and low-density air above them, a Heyleight could easily ascend. This is the same principle that aircraft achieve with the shape of their wings.

"....Say, really...? Oh well. By the way, the patterns carved into the reins used to control Horse-Dragons, originally belong to a parasitic magical beast found on Horse-Dragons."

Maytyl drew a diagram of a creature resembling a copepod clinging to a fish. It was a creature with two spring-like protrusions. "I see..."

"So, humans arranged the Magic Seals originating from magical beasts, each with its own effect, as a program... or a circuit, to create this?"

In programming terms, it's like having a function library where only the effects are known, and then calling upon those functions. Naturally, the contents of the functions are a black box.

Is it like inputting on/off commands and parameters using lines and switches? Just thinking about it gives me a headache. Sorcerers can probably sense the flow of magic power intuitively to some extent, but don't the circuits get tangled?

"In that case, the more complex it gets, the harder it must be for the designers, right? It must become spaghetti code."

"Spaghetti code?"

"You know, like those brown soba noodles, don't the circuits get tangled, and the designers' minds get tangled along with them?"

"You put that well. So, is there a way to solve it?"

Maytyl asked me with a serious expression. She spoke as if it were a given that I would know something.

Even in my previous world, as programs grew in size, the code became so complex that it was beyond the comprehension of the programmers, not just the computers. Therefore, the problem became making the programmers understand the program, rather than the computer chips.

For that reason, programs were structured to be understandable by humans. Functionization was one such method. So, what's next...?

"The concept of Object-Oriented programming might be useful."

"Object-Oriented programming?"

"Ah, u-uh, I'm not too confident about this myself. It's a way to manage these functions... or patterns, and the parameters input into them, as a set... Yes, it's like managing them by combining parts."

Now, how should I explain it? When I first heard about it in my previous life, I imagined an RPG game program.