kscans

Chapter 211 - Episode 9: The Frozen Record

"One, two, three, four…"

Magnifying glass in hand, I counted the stripes on the glacial varved clay. One year was represented by a wide, dark band and a narrow, light band, together measuring about five millimeters. That meant fifty centimeters was a century. The sample of glacial varved clay was over eight meters long, so that was roughly sixteen hundred years of data. No, considering the layers would be compressed the further back I went, it could be closer to two thousand years.

What's more, there were no major disturbances in the stripes. The environment must have been exceptionally stable.

"It contains a considerable amount of magic. It feels more concentrated than the tree rings," Maytyl said as she peeled a sheet of magic-sensing paper from the sample she had test-drilled. She held it out, and I could see a faint pattern on its surface.

"Does that mean we can measure it directly?"

"Yes, the problem is whether we can accurately capture the purple wavelength. We won’t know until we try. This is exciting, isn’t it?"

"I can’t say I don’t understand the feeling, but…"

"I know. The future of humanity is at stake, after all."

Maytyl and I took hold of the sample’s ends and set it on the platform next to the Eylon. The platform had a crank-like handle. Turning it would advance the sample little by little, using the principle of a screw.

Maytyl began the measurement. I used an hourglass to advance the sample at regular intervals.

The results started appearing on the magic-sensing board. Within the light and dark layers, the narrow winter layer contained less magic, which served as a convenient marker. It was going well. I turned the crank and flipped the hourglass.

Even with a sample rich in magic, the measurement process took time. I was quickly learning that measuring long-term samples was a mind-numbingly tedious task.

I didn’t know how much of the record remained within the glacier, but I wanted to measure at least two meters, a full four hundred years.

"The wavelengths below red are ambiguous. We should probably focus on the crimson wavelength, which only appears occasionally," Maytyl said, reading the data.

"…No purple so far, huh."

That meant the Magic Vent on the flying dragon mountain didn't constantly emit purple magic. To find out when the purple magic we directly measured at the mountain's base first appeared, we would have to wait for the results from the tree rings. Crenne was in charge of that, by the way.

"The breaks in the core are going to be tricky. The measurements will inevitably be skewed there."

"Yeah. Still, this purple magic really isn’t showing up…"

We had already measured over three hundred and fifty years. Considering the few decades that had not yet reached the lake, we should have been approaching the four-hundred-year mark. Surely the whole four-hundred-year span wasn’t trapped in the glacier.

No, there was also the possibility that the historical record of four hundred years ago wasn’t accurate. The great calamity happened at least four hundred years ago. I tried to reason with my growing anxiety.

We advanced another ten centimeters or so. Maytyl’s head shot up.

"…It’s here. There’s no mistake."

I looked at the magic-sensing board. A thick band had suddenly appeared. It was in the position corresponding to purple magic. We nodded to each other and continued the measurement. The band for purple magic was recorded across stripes spanning two, no, about three years. Then, it vanished as if it had never been there.

"…In terms of stripes, that’s about three hundred and eighty years ago."

"If you account for the years that haven’t melted out of the glacier, that’s about right."

"Let’s measure up to five hundred, then we can align it with the tree ring data."

We continued for another fifty centimeters before pausing. Our magic-sensing boards were a finite resource.

"At this rate, it seems like the crimson magic will be the most suitable for aligning the data."

"Yeah… Hmm."

We stared at the results, deep in thought. Compared to the purple magic, which had appeared only once for a few short years in five hundred years, the crimson magic looked like a scattered barcode.

"What should we do while we wait for Crenne’s results?" Maytyl asked, leaning against me.

"R-Right. How about we experiment with the negative magic crystals? We could ask Princess Lisabet if she has any left…"

"Negative magic crystals. Ah, there was something about those, wasn’t there."

"Hey, I have no proof at all. What I know about magic is extremely limited, so don’t get your hopes up."

I made sure to temper her expectations.

"Oh, my. After seeing this data, it’s a bit late for that. I heard from Noel and Fulsy that you’ve been saying we needed long-term, detailed magic stream information for a long time now."

Maytyl peered into my face, waving the magic-sensing board she held.

"Well, the importance of long-term, detailed records is universal, isn’t it?" I said in a fluster. Just then, the door opened.

"Your Highness. The tree ring measurement is complete. As expected… What on earth are you two doing?"

Crenne entered the room at a brisk pace, her eyes fixed on Maytyl and me. Maytyl clicked her tongue softly and moved away from me.

"Well, there is no purple magic present in the tree rings of the wood used in the city ruins. Just as we predicted," Maytyl said, looking at the first sheet of data Crenne presented. It was from the materials we had them gather while we were fighting the magic insects on the flying dragon mountain. Apparently, they had their own troubles down below, since many of the trees were rotten or burned. Even among the timber that remained intact, few were suitable samples.

Crenne had managed to analyze about fifty years of data.

"Let’s assume the purple magic that appears around the three hundred and eightieth mark on the glacial varved clay is the moment the city was destroyed in the great calamity. Naturally, the timber used in the city would have been felled before then. If we assume the wood was felled twenty years prior, we should be looking at the fifty-year record from the four-hundredth mark and…"

"Right around here. …No, that’s not it. Then much, much further back…"

"Found it. From four hundred and thirteen on the glacial varved clay. The pattern of the crimson magic matches," Crenne said.

Maytyl and I confirmed it. The crimson magic pattern was indeed a match.

"That settles it. Four hundred years ago, likely during the great calamity, purple magic suddenly appeared."

"Yeah, that means a unique magic stream event occurred that hadn't happened for at least seventy years before or for the three hundred and eighty years after."

It was reasonable to assume the cause of the great calamity four hundred years ago was the appearance of purple magic. And from what we were seeing at the flying dragon mountain and the Blood Mountains, the same thing was happening again now.

The hypothesis had been verified. The result was what we expected, but seeing it laid out like this…

"...Terrifying."

Crenne murmured the word.

"I know. An event that happens once every five hundred years at least. At this rate, I’d have to believe it even if they told me it was a swarm of dragons…"

"That’s not it. What’s terrifying is… It’s nothing."

Crenne hastily averted her gaze from me.

…Well, it’s not like I could have ever gotten this result on my own. I only remembered what varves were because, by sheer chance, Lake Suigetsu was in the country I was born in during my past life…

"I suppose it is a bit unnerving to be seen through so completely. But you saw it too, didn’t you, Crenne? Ricardo’s actions during that battle with the magic insects were far from those of a master strategist."

Maytyl said, disparaging my self-preservation skills. Hey, I had a reasonable chance of success with that plan. Besides, if I hadn't done that, I would have died too.

"That is… true…"

"Now, what about the data from the newer tree rings?" Maytyl changed the subject. The purple magic from the flying dragon mountain, when that had started appearing was also a key question. Four hundred years ago, its appearance had continued for about three years.

"...Here it is. The purple magic started appearing one year ago."

Maytyl produced another sheet of results. It was the data from the tree rings I had cored at the glacial lake. This one also covered a period of about fifty years. The missing link was filled.

"Alright, let’s organize this."

I arranged the crimson and purple bands from the tree rings and glacial varved clay in chronological order.

Tree Ring Purple : || -------------------------------------- -
Tree Ring Crimson : |||| ------------------------------------| | -

Glacial Varved Clay Purple : --------- ||
Glacial Varved Clay Crimson : --------- | | || | |

Present -400 years
Combined Purple Magic : || ||

The data clearly showed two occurrences of purple magic, one in the present and one four hundred years ago.

"That confirms it," Maytyl said.

"Yeah."

All that was left was for the scars on the ruins to match the images from Alfina’s prophecy to complete the verification of our hypothesis. It was unsettling to have our worst predictions confirmed, but this gave us the foundation we needed to consider countermeasures.

That said, all it confirmed was that the situation was the same as four hundred years ago. I stared intently at the records of the magic streams from the two time periods. …Wait a minute.

"…"

"What is it, Ricardo?"

"…It’s just a small question."

I pointed to the "crimson" magic from the present and from four hundred years ago. In recent years, the crimson magic had appeared several years before the purple, almost like a leading indicator. Four hundred years ago, however, the two were nearly simultaneous. It was a minor difference, if you wanted to call it that.

Crimson magic did appear sporadically, though infrequently, so it might have just been a coincidence that they overlapped.

"Let’s analyze the glacial varved clay a little further into the past."

I proposed it just to be safe. In any case, we had to extract as much data as possible from such a valuable sample. Maytyl and Crenne took turns, silently continuing the measurement. I methodically turned the crank and flipped the hourglass. The process was repeated so many times it became a blur.

Six hundred years ago, seven hundred years ago. As expected, no purple magic appeared.

"Ah, purple is showing up eight hundred years ago too."

"It’s cyclical. Does something happen every four hundred years?"

"It seems so. Interesting. …………Wait, no. How long does this go on?"

"…………"

A heavy silence descended upon the room. Not just Maytyl and Crenne, who were conducting the measurements, but even I, who was only shifting the platform, had sweat beading on my forehead. Eventually, the sample reached the end of its track.

Before our eyes lay two thousand years of history. Faced with the overwhelming fluctuations of magic over such a long span of time, I swallowed hard.

"…The hypothesis that the next disaster will be a great calamity on the same scale as four hundred years ago. That was wrong."

I had to admit it. Maytyl shook her head.

"…Rather, it was a mistake to call the event four hundred years ago a great calamity, wasn’t it?"

Faced with data that any sorcery researcher would drool over, Maytyl had lost her usual spirit.

"...Terrifying."

Crenne whispered, as if she could no longer bear it. Her eyes, of course, were not on me, but on the desperate results displayed on the line of magic-sensing boards.