Translator Corner
Minasan oideyasu. This is Yukkuri demasu!
Ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ！
DISCLAIMER: There is noguarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I waswrong.
Author:
Dozeumaru(どぜう丸)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan
Editor:
So-Chintzy
Enlightenment Arc
Chapter 3: The Core of CoReform E
Ginya led us in front of amedium-sized part.i.tion screen. Actually, this part.i.tion screen was so big thatyou needed to look up to see the top of it, but then again, I was more curiousabout the huge tent that occupied half of this room……. Would she let me seewhat was inside it? Just as I wasthinking about this……
「Comeout, Golem.」(Ginya)
Ginya said these words and then,from a part of the floor, that was exposed bare ground, the soil rose up and beforelong, it turned into a pair of 3 meter tall giant humanoid figures. Those soil giantswalked clumsily. Yeah, they surely looked like clay puppet golems.
「Isthat Ginya’s magic?」 (Souma)
「Un. My magic is tocreate and manipulate golems from the soil. It can’t do difficult tasks, but ithas power. It’s really handy to move things.」(Ginya)
「Manipulatingclay dolls…… It’s similar to my ability. Is it Dark Attribute?」(Souma)
「 No,it"s Earth Attribute. Since it can’t manipulate things other than the earth.Manipulating dolls also can be categorized as gravity manipulation. I thinkthat the categorization of the four major attributes, along with the light anddarkness attributes, is just something that had been created subjectively, sopeople could understand it easily/ I believe that in reality, the categorizationisn’t that strict.」(Ginya)
「 Sothey really do believe in just about anything……」(Souma)
Ever since I came to this world, myview of this world kept swaying. Even though it was an unknown mysteriousphenomenon from an Earthling’s point of view, for the people of this world, itwas something normal. I had thought that this was normal, but actually this couldbe said as not necessarily normal. One must know one’s ignorance in order toknow about the unknown. From now on, there might be the need for me to questioneverything.
「Well,rather than that, this is the thing that I wanted you to see.」 (Ginya)
Ginya said that and the golems beganto remove the part.i.tion screen. The object that we saw behind that part.i.tionwall made Liscia and I freeze in surprise. It was a really "incomprehensiblething". What appeared in front of us was an object that was about the sizeof a two-storied building. If I had to describe its shape in an easy tounderstand way, then it would be:
「Aridiculously big Dyson Fan?」 (Souma)
「Hmm?What’s that?」(Liscia)
「Ah,no…… It’s nothing.」(Souma)
Well, I could only see it as ahuge Dyson Fan. Just from its silhouette, the main body was shaped like a shortkokeshi[1],but the top part was shaped like a ring. From a glance, its purpose was unknownand it also looked like some kind of abstract art sculpture. However, I wascurious as to why only the base part was firmly fixed into the floor…… I then askedGinya.
「Whatis th-……」 (Souma)
「It’s『Susumu-kun(Mr Go Forward) · Mark V』.」[2] (Ginya)
What a lame name! …… Wait, MarkV!?
「Sothere are four more like this!?」(Souma)
「Wh-whyare you paying attention to that!?」(Liscia)
Although Liscia retorted, Ginya waslaughing loudly.
「Well,the previous models were either blown away or exploded, so all the ones up untilMark V have died.」 (Ginya)
「Isit such a dangerous object!?」(Souma)
「MarkV is alright. This is…… the finished product.」(Ginya)
After she mentioned that, Ginyabegan to explain 『Susumu-kun · Mark V』.
「Ithink you already know this, but the large ships in this world are moved eitherby harnessing wind power with sails or by being drawn by a huge thala.s.saur, right?This 『Susumu-kun · Mark V 』 is an object that can replace that huge thala.s.saur. Oneobject has a force comparable to a large thala.s.saur, so if you attach this tothe bottom of the ship, it is possible to propel it.」 (Ginya)
「……!You mean a propulsion device!」 (Souma)
“Just like a screw or a motor!”,when she heard my remark, Ginya placed her hand on 『Susumu-kun· Mark V』’s body with a smile.
「Thismachine can inhale things that are in the s.p.a.ce in front of the ring and then expelthem to out behind it. If you operate this in the sea, then it will inhale theseawater and expel it out from behind. This water pressure has enough propulsionforce to move an iron warship.」 (Ginya)
So that means, there wassomething like a screw in the middle of the ring’s empty s.p.a.ce.
「Hmm?If it inhales thing in front of it, then what will happen if we use it rightnow?」 (Souma)
「Oh, asharp one. On land, it will inhale the air and then expel it. Shall we have anexperiment?」(Ginya)
After she said that, Ginya orderedthe golems to prepare a huge cloth. And then, at a position 20 meters away fromus, the two golems stood up and spread the cloth like a movie screen.
「Let"sexperiment to see how strong its power is. 『Susumu-kunMark V』 will inhale the air from our side and expel it towardsthat side. Please witness its power!」 (Ginya)
「Oh, waita mo-……」 (Ludwin)
It seemed that Ludwin was tryingto stop her in a hurry, but Ginya didn’t care and 「press♪」. Shethen pushed something like a switch, and at the next moment,
BOWAAAAAAAA------! !
With that loud noise, “we”got blown away by the sudden gust of wind.
「Whoaaa!?」 (Souma)
「Kyaa!」 (Liscia)
「Ubya‼」 (Ginya)
「Againnnnn!」(Ludwin)
Shaken by the sudden wind, with a*don*, our backs. .h.i.t the wall. C-canthis be said as a kabedon?[3]……Or rather, the wind pressure made me stick to the wall and I couldn’t move anypart of my body at all! Liscia and Ginya were in the same situation. Until Ludwincrawled to approach the machine and pushed the same switch to stop it, we werestuck to the wall like insect specimens.
After being released, Ginya madea dry laugh.
「Ahaha……Sorry, sorry. It seems that I have made a mistake in recognizing whichdirection it was facing. Since I made its form as minimalist as possible to notwaste any material, it has the drawback that it is difficult to tell which wayit’s pointing at.」(Ginya)
「 If you already noticed this, then fix it already…… 」 (Souma)
Or rather, if the front was thisstrong, then wouldn’t if we stood in the back, we would have gotten sucked intothe machine and then expelled forward? Isn’t that a ‘human cannon’? How scary!
「Sosorry, Your Majesty. In any case, do you understand the power of this 『Susumu-kun· Mark V 』?」(Ginya)
「…… Literally,with my own body.」(Souma)
I sarcastically said so, but it wascertainly an amazing device. If it wasn’t fixed firmly to the floor, the deviceitself might have been blown aw-…… Ah so, perhaps that’s why all the ones untilMark Ⅳ had exploded or were"blown away"? When I comprehended that curious tidbit, Ginya was inhigh spirits and explained about the mechanisms of this device.
「Thisring part is made from a special metal inscribed with modified energy warding enchantments.It has an interesting history, this enchantment was originally a failed productbased on the 『Magic Negating Enchantment』used by the Imperial Magic Armored Corps. Since the 『MagicWarding Enchantment』 only could ward off magic and couldn’t stop themagic, even if the Magic Armor Corps were fine, the soldiers in the rear lines wouldstill be damaged, so that research was discontinued.
I then noticed this failed enchantment.If it can ward off magic, then surely it must interfere with the movement ofmana. Then, since there is mana in the air and water, if we could give it a direction,then we can make something to inhale and expel it out. If we could compressthat expelling power, then couldn’t we create a propulsion device? …… Or so Ithought.
To move the mana in the air andwater is almost synonymous with moving the air and water itself. And then, aftermaking so that device will inhale mana and expel it if the modified enchantmentinscribed into the metal ring was provided with energy, and thus, this 『Susumu-kun· Mark V』 was completed.」 (Ginya)
「 ……」(Souma)
Ginya fluently explained it, but sinceshe mentioned enchantment magic, I couldn’t judge the veracity of her explanation.Oh well, since the experiment happened like Ginya had explained, what she saidwas correct……. perhaps.
「Do youunderstand it, Liscia?」(Ginya)
「Notat all.」(Liscia)
It appears that this is difficultto understand even for the people of this world. Ginya then smiled wryly.
「Wellit’s enough if you can understand what I had said before, that one unit of thiscould work like one thala.s.saur.」(Ginya)
「…… But,isn’t this thing is unnecessary?」(Ludwin)
The one who asked this was Ludwin,who was greatly confused.
「Firstof all, in order to make one of this, don’t you need quite a lot of money?」 (Ludwin)
「Un ...... Yeah, atleast enough to care for ten thala.s.saurs for ten years……」(Ginya)
「Then,if one unit only could do one thala.s.saur’s share of work, isn’t this just agreat waste of money? Furthermore, it looks like this can’t make tight turns likethe thala.s.saur can.」 (Ludwin)
「 Wh-what are you saying, Lu-nii! Don’t you understandwhat this invention will bring?」(Ginya)
「 Bring? 」(Ludwin)
Ludwin tilted his neck inconfusion, but I was of the same opinion with Ginya in this matter.
「Indeed,this is a great invention. Ludwin.」(Souma)
「YourMajesty, too?」(Ludwin)
「Tryto think about it, if one unit has the same power as one thala.s.saur, then with asimple calculation, if we could gather ten units, then they could give a powerequal to ten thala.s.saurs, right?」(Souma)
「!?That is certainly……」 (Ludwin)
Ludwin didn’t seem to really understandthis invention, so I explained it in an easy to understand manner.
「Wellthen, is it possible in reality to harness ten thala.s.saurs? Isn’t the case ofthe battleship Alberto being drawn by two thala.s.saurs already a rare case?」(Souma)
「Thatis .... Yes, indeed, that’s true. Even if we harnessed ten thala.s.saurs, it isimpossible for all of them to abide to the same order. Even in the whole world,people can only harness three at best?」(Ludwin)
「Inother words, even if the turning radius of the ship is limited, this device isable to move even larger ships than the present. For example…… Ah, that’sright. Let’s try to construct a cargo ship with five of these installed on it.There will be a revolution in the goods’ logistics.」 (Souma)
It would be possible to transporta lot of goods on the sea at the same time. More than half of this country"sborder faces the ocean. The construction of a new city as a hub for goods distributionhad also reached the final stage, and it would have a great impact if it could strengthenour maritime transportation capacity.
「I-Isee……」(Ludwin)
Finally, it seemed that Ludwinfinally comprehended the amazingness of this invention. I then asked Ginya.
「Yousaid about sending energy a while ago, right? This is an amazing invention, butwhat kind of the power source does it use?」(Souma)
Since I came to this world, notto mention electricity, I had never even seen a single steam engine. A form of energythat could move such a large mechanical device, was it magic power as Iexpected?
「Thepower source is built in, Your Majesty.」(Ginya)
Ginya said this as she took out alump-like thing from her white coat pocket and handed it to me. It was palm-sized,but it felt a bit heavier than its appearance suggested (like when holding afishing sinker), and looked like a pure black cuboid crystal.
「Thisis?」(Souma)
「A crystalthat is commonly called as a 『Curse Ore』.」 (Ginya)
「Youmean that Curse Ore?」(Liscia)
When Liscia heard Ginya’s answer,she demonstrated a noticeably strong reaction to it.
「Youknow about this, Lisden!?」[4](Souma)
「Whoare you calling Lisden? …… In this world, we also use magic for mining ores. Themines are dug with Water Magic, the tunnels are hardened with Earth Magic, the staleair is exchanged with Wind Magic, and the metals are dissolved with Fire Magic.However, magic couldn’t be used in the area surrounding these Curse Ores forsome reason. Furthermore, if you keep using magic, then……」 (Liscia)
Liscia made a gesture of bringingher hands together and then rapidly opening them while saying, 「Boom」.
「Explosion!?Isn’t an explosion in a mine really bad?」(Souma)
「Enoughto make the miners weep. If they dug a mine and then struck upon this ore, theycouldn’t dig further anymore. In this world, magic is thought of as a blessing fromthe G.o.ds and Spirits, so this ore that makes magic unusable is a "cursed stone"that doesn’t receive the blessings from the G.o.ds and Spirits…… hence why this iscalled a Curse Ore. What more troublesome, is that it can be taken in largeamounts from underneath Elfrieden Kingdom’s land.」(Liscia)
Liscia said this self-deprecatingly.In the first place, Elfrieden Kingdom was a country with poor mineralresources, but it looks like it wasn’t only due to its featureless terrain. Sothere are still a lot of things that I don’t know…… While I was thinking aboutsuch things, Ginya made a daring smile.
「CursedOre? Don’t say such a foolish thing. Rather, the fact that there are tons ofthis ore buried underground, this country can be said as truly blessed by theG.o.ds! 」(Ginya)
Ginya said with an exaggeratedreaction.
「Ifwe see it without the veil of mystery of it, calling it cursed is a stupidstory. The Curse Ore doesn’t make it so that magic can’t be used, but it insteadabsorbs that energy. Try to think about it. You can’t use magic near the CurseOre, and if you try to use it anyway, it will explode. Where did that explosionenergy come from? Wouldn’t you naturally think: “because the ore absorbed themagic energy, if it pa.s.sed its tolerance levels, it will explode”?」(Ginya)
Umm…… So in other words, theCurse Ore is like a rechargeable battery and absorbs magic energy. Then if itis charged too much, it will explode…… Why I feel an uneasiness? I guessed thatperhaps this was because we were seeing such an unimaginable thing right now. Particularly,something that could completely undermine the order of things in this world.
And then Ginya made an outrageousremark.
「And soI succeeded in extracting the absorbed magic energy from the Curse Ore and thenusing it as a power source for this device.」 (Ginya)
「Wha-!?」 (Souma)
With just that one sentence, itsent a chill down my spine. If this was true, then it was really similar to arechargeable battery! Although there were many things that I still couldn’tunderstand, but I realized the importance of the Curse Ore and Ginya who uncoveredthat secret. For this world that had neither electricity nor steam engines, ifwe could acquire a technology that could "store energy" ahead of the othercountries, this country will make a great leap forward. Then being able to "surpa.s.sthe Empire” would no longer be a dream.
But, at the same time, I felt thedanger of this technology. First of all, the Curse Ore was wrapped in superst.i.tions.If they knew about the research on the Cursed Ore that doesn’t receive theblessing from the G.o.ds, the people of this superst.i.tion-infested world might endup to harboring distrust towards us. If it was only domestic, then depending onthe citizens’ enlightenment in the future, we could do something about it.However, for example, a religious state like the Lunaria Orthodox Empire would surelyturn into our enemy. For a country ruled by the religious doctrine, somethingthat destroys that doctrine, (even if it was just the superst.i.tions surroundingit), would mean the decline of their authority and power. They surely wouldn’tallow this to happen.
Also, even for a country with lowlevel of faith, if they knew about our possession of this technology, theywould certainly say 「hand over it」. From Liscia’s words, the Curse Ore itself seems tobe buried in substantial amounts underneath this country. In the worst case, allthe neighboring countries might commence a resource war. Even though I was finallyable to create a secret alliance with the Empire and got rid of the Amidonianthreat, this country will be destroyed if such a situation happens. While thistechnology had the potential to make this country be the number one country onthis continent, it also had the danger of ruining this country completely.
「Ugh……」(Souma)
「H-hey,Souma!? What happened!?」(Liscia)
I staggered and then Lisciasupported me.
「…… Sorry.I felt unwell with my high risk, high return imagination.」 (Souma)
「Imagination?」(Liscia)
I then talked to Liscia and theother two about what I had thought just now. Liscia and Ludwin’s faces went pale.Just like me, they felt the same dread. However, only Ginya didn’t show anyconcern at all.
「Why areyou so worried about that? Isn’t it fine if you completely research it beforebeing targeted by another country and then become strong enough, so that othercountries couldn’t interfere?」(Ginya)
「……That’s too optimistic, but there is no other way than that. Even so, for thismatter, there is a need to make progress in absolute secrecy……」(Souma)
If that was the case, what becamethe biggest problem was Ginya"s personality. She was now this country’s top importantfigure like Tomoe-chan. Even in the unlikely event that the imagined scenarios happened,we needed to prevent her from escaping or from being kidnapped by anothercountry, And so, I wanted to entrust her with trustworthy people inside thecountry. The person herself seems to have a one-track mind of researching, butshe is still a woman in her mid-twenties. I wanted to avoid the situation whereshe was being courted by a n.o.bleman who knew her importance.
――― So, it came tothis. I looked at the ikemen Royal Knights Commander.
「……Hey, Ludwin?」 (Souma)
「Yes? What is it, Your Majesty?」(Ludwin)
「Doyou like Ginya?」 (Souma)
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
Souma’s imagined scenario reminded me of theso called “Resource Curse” and the fact that most modern global conflict werepartly ‘fueled’ by the necessity for modern countries to secure enough resourcefor their industrial and war machines.
NEXT: MECHAG.o.dZILLA!