kscans

Chapter 249 - Epilogue: First Half, Central Garden

The early summer sun shone down on the stone veranda. I walked slowly to its edge. Located right outside the door of my third floor office, it was spacious enough to host a party. I am still not fond of that kind of event, but the view spreading out before my eyes was not bad.

"Three years already. It’s really taken shape."

It had been a long time since the Magic Insect attacks from the Blood Mountains became sporadic. The front line has now been pushed back all the way to the ruined city, and the Magic Insects rarely even approach this town anymore.

Apparently, hitting them with everything we had in the first year made a huge difference. Furthermore, as we accumulated observational records from the radar and gained more experience, we became able to predict attacks from small or medium sized swarms with a degree of probability.

Of course, we could not let our guard down. I looked at the castle wall, which was at the same height as me. I could see a group of people patrolling it. The knight in the lead was likely Fabius. No, I should probably call him His Excellency, Count Fabius, commander of the Central Garden Garrison. His back was straight, and his stride was vigorous, not at all like that of an old man.

Approaching Fabius from the opposite direction was Leonard. He was in charge of the municipal government, the newly independent Viscount Grynisias from the ducal house. He, Fabius, and Luiza, who had become the head of the Viscount Aldehyd family and was active in negotiations with the Empire, were the three people who formally managed this city under the direct control of the royal family.

To put it bluntly, Fabius represented the knight orders, Leonard the Chancellor's Office, and Luiza was the overseer from Bertold. Well, for an overseer, she was quite flexible, which was a great help. The city's focus had shifted to its commercial activities, after all.

Of the three gates built into the city walls, the south gate, which connected to the river port, was busy with cargo like grain being brought in from the great river. At the north gate on the opposite side, Horse-Dragon carriages from the Empire were bringing in heavy materials like minerals.

Where both of these routes converged was the warehouse district, which boasted the largest area in the city. The main street leading to the warehouses was lined with the Central Garden branches of Kenwell, Dalgan, Tritt, Belmini, and others. The heirs of these now great and established trading companies had all gathered here to serve as branch managers. Incidentally, Plural had set up shop even further on, across from the convention hall built to embrace the city's central square, the Forum.

They all said they intended to make this place their main headquarters someday. No one understood the value and role of this place better than they did, but I feared the friction it would cause with the Royal Capital. I was counting on my old man, who was at the Vinder Company headquarters in the Royal Capital.

It was vital to add value to this city by making sure its failure would mean a great loss for many people. To that end, we had the second and third largest facilities in the city.

One was the convention hall in front of Plural. It was the nerve center of this city, whose main product was information. It would serve as a hub for rapidly disseminating information by hosting business negotiations and events like the carriage exhibition we held in the Royal Capital.

The other was the University, a research and educational institution. A massive antenna, aimed at the ground, was installed in the center of its campus. Fulsy served as its president, traveling between the Royal Capital and here every six months. It accepted students on a rotating basis from both the Empire and the Kingdom's Royal Academy. This was the future center of magical studies. Incidentally, we call it magical studies because we can't quite call it magic or sorcery.

Fulsy was currently writing a book on measuring magic power. He said it was a humble job that suited him. I had a feeling that in the future, this book would be hailed as the foundation for all progress in magical studies, and that the unit of magic power would be named the "Fulsy".

Noel was also one of the university's part time professors, so she came here often. She insisted she was a full time professor here and a part time court magician. It seemed she had become quite well known, so I was hoping she would organize something like an academic conference next.

And then there was the building I was in right now, which was finally about to get started. The futures market.

I tore my eyes away from the scene with a sense of reluctance. I could hear the shrill voices of two women coming from the direction of my office. It seemed the two of them had run into each other.

When I entered the chairman's office of the futures market preparatory committee, on the top floor of the fourth largest building in this city, I found two women facing off with my desk between them. One was Mia, the successor to the Vinder Company, her black hair cut to shoulder length. Vinder controlled honey and sugar, products that never failed to charm people. Through Natalie and Plural, its effect on women in particular was significant, and in that sense, its influence was enormous.

She was also the fixer for this city's hidden gem, its culinary scene.

What's more, she was the chief accountant for Central Garden, Inc. whose members accounted for over thirty percent of the city’s commercial activity, and she participated as an advisor in the city's administration as well. Of course, she was also indispensable to the design of this futures market. Some whispered that she was the city’s most powerful person in the shadows.

She was at least more important than me. Or rather, she was the person I most wanted to stay on the right side of.

The other woman was the Imperial Princess with bright purple hair. She was a visiting professor at the university and also the Imperial consul for Central Garden. For this city, a relay point between the Kingdom and the Empire, she was someone we absolutely could not afford to neglect.

By any measure, she was more important than me. She was an absolutely essential talent in both international relations and magical studies.

"I am sorry, but I must ask you to refrain, Mia. Ricardo is having dinner with me today."

"Princess Maytyl, you had dinner with Senpai yesterday. Please consolidate your meetings to one day."

"Oh, yesterday was in my capacity as Imperial consul. Today is as a university professor. It is work, so it cannot be helped. Besides, you are no longer in a position to be clinging to Ricardo as his secretary, are you."

"I have something to ask Senpai in his capacity as a Vinder executive. Incidentally, as a mere executive director, Senpai is my subordinate, so to speak."

The fact that these two were fighting was a recurring headache for me. It had been particularly bad this past week. The gazes of both women stabbed into me as I stood frozen in the doorway.

"Ricardo. My matter takes priority, doesn't it. After all, we are talking about the very source of the world's magic power, the core of this world."

Maytyl pressed closer to me. She was probably referring to the measurements being taken at the university, directed toward the ground. Since magic power originates from the ground, it stands to reason that its ultimate source is the planet's core.

Between this planet's core and its surface, there is a layer corresponding to the mantle that is resistant to magic power. The convection or structure of this layer influences the quality and quantity of magic power that reaches the surface. This, combined with the topography of the mountain ranges, determines the activity of the magic veins. The results from the university's antenna, installed to measure downwards, suggested this hypothesis was plausible.

The problem was the ancient dragon eyes. We had not been able to verify this yet, but since no magic wavelength capable of replenishing purple magic power on the surface had been observed, it was possible that the ancient dragon eyes received magic particles directly from the planet's core. It was a form of teleportation for magic particles.

And among the ancient dragon eyes, the Crystal of Prophecy was special.

The locations where disasters occur are determined by fluctuations in the magic veins. Since this planet's core is the source of magic power, it is conceivable that it could somehow trigger fluctuations in magic power, or react to fluctuations on the surface. In other words, its ability to indicate the location of future disasters was still relatively easy to understand.

The problem was the prophetic images. An image showing specific damage would normally be considered a prediction of the future. But considering the facts we had learned about magic power so far, I thought that was a bit of a stretch.

In that case, we had to assume those images were created by humans. My own speculation was that the crystal's magic power created a kind of hyperlink for information.

In other words, a link of magic power, with the crystal as a medium, is formed between a person at the site of the disaster and the user of the Crystal of Prophecy. Through that link, the problem consciousness of the priestess, for example, that a disaster will occur, is combined with the scenes witnessed by the people on site. As a result, an image of the disaster emerges.

This meant the prophetic images were created within Alfina's mind. They were not visions of the future, but products of imagination, where scenes of people at the location of a magic vein fluctuation suffering a disaster are constructed. This would be consistent with the fact that the prophecies only showed places with people, and that the locations were limited to the Kingdom. However, it was not an explanation that could be applied to every prophecy.

Well, now that the Crystal of Prophecy was broken, the truth was lost. There was also the possibility of genuine future prediction involving unknown magic particles that exceed the speed of light, where the arrow of time, the increase of entropy, is reversed.

Well, the research will continue. At the very least, I want to be able to figure out where the magic veins will next show a major fluctuation.

"Maytyl's discussion would be more efficient in a setting with the director and Noel. I will of course attend as well. Now then, Senpai. I came today to discuss Vinder's successor."

"You’re the successor, Mia. I’m just a regular director, a back-bencher at that."

"A back-bencher? This is about what comes after me. Normally, it would be my child, but don't you think that would create all sorts of difficulties?"

I understood what she was trying to say. The Vinder Company was central to Central Garden. If an unsuitable partner were to gain influence through Mia's marriage, it could affect the fate of this newborn city.

Of course, there was no way I could let Mia go to an unsuitable partner. Anyone after Vinder's wealth or position was out of the question.

"Wait a moment. That sounds like a personal matter. More importantly, Ricardo, I want to ask you about the mechanisms of the world itself. Your boiled egg theory from before."

"The development of this place is important for your research too, Maytyl. For that reason, Senpai, you and I need to discuss the future of Vinder."

The two of them closed in on me at once. They were both being really pushy today.

"Hey, if you two don’t quiet down a little."

Uwaaah, uwaaah.

Just as I tried to stop them, a high pitched cry came from the next room. See, I told you so.