kscans

Chapter 233 - Episode 24: First Half, The Sages in My Brain

"I really wish you had rested for at least one more day."

Alfina looked at me with concern. We stood before the stairs in a hallway of the lab's old building. Three days had passed since my collapse, and I was finally returning to work.

"Well, I've had more than enough rest," I said.

I thought back on those three days, while being nursed? by Alfina. We spent the time going over a sort of work handover. Incidentally, the whole "say ahh" thing happened only that once. After all, Mia had heard I was awake and rushed over right after I got home, witnessing the entire scene.

I was actually fine by the next day. But with Alfina and Mia forming a united front, there was nothing I could do. The two of them discussed how to organize and divide my work. It was one thing at first, but by the end, they were apologizing to each other. It was the "we're sorry we couldn't properly manage our useless boss" sort of apology.

To say it was awkward would be an understatement.

"You too, Alfina. Please don't push yourself too hard."

"I know. And you, Ricardo, if you feel even the slightest bit tired..."

We looked at each other. I had grown quite used to calling her Alfina. I was still not used to the looks Claudia and Luiza gave me, though.

"Well, this is my way."

"Right."

Feeling a pull of reluctance, I watched Alfina ascend the stairs. Then I turned and headed for my own room on the first floor to fulfill my duties.

Honestly, my anxiety had not vanished. But I had accepted that my judgment had been clouded, and I had resolved to trust Alfina in the truest sense. Or rather, I was made to realize it was the only thing I could do. I still questioned whether I was qualified to be her partner, but all I could do now was try my best.

◇◇

"You're finally back."

"You just came to visit me," I said to Maytyl, who was getting things ready in the room.

"That's her territory. Still, it was refreshing to see you, the very picture of audacity, behaving so meekly. Could it be that when you two are alone..."

Incidentally, Maytyl was the one Alfina was most wary of.

"That was me being prudent as a sick person, or something. You're late, Noel."

I deflected by turning to Noel, who had just entered. But Noel just looked at me with a tired expression.

"How is anyone supposed to get by when you two are doing that in the middle of the hallway."

Noel's words reminded me of my exchange with Alfina just moments ago. The staircase was near the connecting corridor for the new and old buildings.

"I wonder what kind of exchange it was."

"Oh, you know, they were just staring into each other's eyes..."

"Let's hurry and begin. We don't have time."

Noel started to act out a reenactment with gestures. I cut her off, stating the facts concisely and quickly.

"Fine, it's true we don't have time. Let's get started."

"We need to create at least a rough draft before the reinforcements from the Empire arrive."

The two of them nodded, though reluctantly. Crenne was scheduled to come from the Empire. Her main purpose was to help us efficiently mass-produce the new model of sorcery staff, something we knew would be incredible even if we did not know what it was yet.

Preparations for the future construction of Central Garden city, under the guise of a rear support base, had apparently already begun on the kingdom's side of the River of Hope in the form of material stockpiling.

Was it about two months until spring? In reality, all we could do was pray the Magic Insect invasion would be delayed.

"Have you tried the idea of miniaturizing the battering ram and launching it, Noel."

Noel brought over a small, tube-like object.

"It's incredible that you could make a prototype this fast. But this is going to be difficult."

Maytyl and Noel placed the small tube and a tiny, cone-shaped projectile on the table for me.

Our idea was a form of sorcery that involved shrinking that battering ram and firing it. A sort of miniature missile, or a gun. Though it was a long shot, I thought my knowledge of guns from my past life might be useful. Still, from the looks of this, it was more like a blowgun.

"The original is a rotation-based sorcery. Trying to launch it creates a lot of waste."

"Hey, don't point that at me."

I covered my face with both hands. But the metal bullet that feebly popped out of the small tube simply fell to the ground a few centimeters away.

Making something rotate is one thing, but launching it is entirely different. We did not know how we should change the sorcerous script. And thinking about remotely controlling it to some degree after launch, like with the Spiralflame, was just hopeless.

Maytyl and Noel explained. There were no good options.

"Assuming our research progresses without any future trouble. Then maybe, just maybe, it might be ready by summer. Of course, we'll need you to provide a miracle or two, Ricardo."

"Even then, I think its power would be less than the current Spiralflame, and it would consume more magic."

The prognosis from these two rare experts in sorcery was grim.

"So that's the limit even using a sorcerous script that's already been fundamentally researched. What about other candidates. Maybe the lightning attack the Magic Insects use."

"We don't even know the magic seal for that. We recorded the one on that larva's back, but the lightning itself was coming up from its belly too, right. We didn't find anything that looked like a seal there."

"I think it's probably something like a reinforcement of the nerves, or the muscles connected to them."

The larva I saw on Tuvil Mountain seemed to have its electricity-generating organs arranged in a series, one for each body segment. I recall electric eels being something like that, too.

"Nerves?"

"Basically, they're circuits within the body. The brain is a collection of those nerves. It sends and receives information with the rest of the body from there."

"Hyan. Wha, what are you doing all of a sudden. I'm telling Alfina-sama."

Noel glared at me after I poked the back of her hand.

"I wouldn't tell on you."

Maytyl gave me a meaningful look.

"No, that was just for the explanation. Um, the place I poked you was the back of your hand, right, Noel. But the part that registered it as being poked was your head, your brain."

"I think I sort of get it."

I traced a line from my palm up to my head with my fingertip to explain.

"So, you're saying a tiny bit of lightning is already flowing through a living creature's body. Like how magic flows through a magic circuit."

"Exactly. The lightning attack is likely an application of that."

In fact, there was one other thing that could not be explained otherwise. The transmission speed of an insect's nerves is less than a tenth of ours as mammals. That is sufficient because their bodies are small. Conversely, a creature that large should be a textbook case of a witless giant.

But that insect monster was fast. In that sense as well, it was highly likely that not only its spiracles and exoskeleton, but its nervous system was also enhanced with magic. In other words, the magical reinforcement of its nerves secondarily gave rise to that lightning attack. I believe that is the evolutionary order.

Besides, as the image from the crystal's prophecy showed, magic interacts with the nerves of humans who have an aptitude for it. The switching of sorcery circuits is also an interaction with human consciousness. One could even think of it as a kind of interference between information processing circuits. Circuits have fundamental properties as circuits, and those properties do not depend on what they are made of.

"It might be worth considering since it could lead to a countermeasure against the lightning attacks. But considering the time we have, it's even more hopeless than the tiny battering ram."

Maytyl said. I could only nod. We did not have time to start from basic research. We continued to examine the patterns of monsters Maytyl knew, but we found nothing promising.

It was pathetic, especially since Alfina was letting me focus entirely on this. Yet, it was true that my mind felt more at ease than before. My brain was no longer just a storage device for things I must not forget. It now had the capacity to think.

"Maytyl, Noel, you two keep examining the sorcerous scripts. I'm going to try approaching this from the magic catalyst side."

I will stuff my head with information. And then, I will think until I reach my limit. Of course, a talentless person like me will not be able to find the answer. That is why I will count on my brain to produce an answer on its own.

The little people living in my brain should be wiser than I am.

There is just one problem. These little sages are hedonists who cannot grasp practical matters. Things like money, power, and time.