Chapter 15
“Thanks to that flashlight… we were able to wipe out several pure-blooded vampires. A few escaped, though.”
Akion could not understand what he had just heard.
In other words,
“The incandescent bulb absorbed holy power and burned the vampires, you say…?”
“You must be bewildered. Yes, that is correct. Saint Akion’s incandescent bulb set the holy power ablaze, incinerating the pure-blooded vampires with sacred light.”
His incandescent bulb had absorbed holy power instead of mana and lit up,
and that light had completely burned up vampires vulnerable to holy power and sunlight.
“Unfortunately, the filament inside burned out right afterward, so it could no longer be used… but that was enough. The few remaining ones lost their will to fight and fled.”
The Saintess looked as though she had received salvation from God, her eyes sparkling as she even prepared to offer up a prayer.
“Saintess. If you don’t mind, may I take a look at that incandescent bulb?”
“Of course, Saint Akion.”
From Akion’s perspective as an engineering student, it made no sense at all.
He had heard that, although holy power might resemble mana, its nature was so different that the two were considered separate things.
But holy power had not merely functioned similarly to mana—it had emitted light as powerful as sunlight, enough to burn vampires?
‘That makes no sense.’
Unlike the sun, an incandescent bulb did not emit ultraviolet rays. The wavelengths of the light it produced were different.
Then did an incandescent bulb lit by holy power emit ultraviolet rays?
But that would conflict with other theories.
Yet it had already made no sense that mana was electricity with the properties of both direct and alternating current.
Akion stopped thinking.
If he went any further, he would turn into a mad mathematician trying to solve the Riemann hypothesis. Anyway.
“Hehe, if you need it for your research, please ask the brother who brought you here. He is the owner of the flashlight.”
“Ah, could he possibly be…?”
Akion then heard that the large paladin who had brought him was the one who had made the flashlight.
He had wanted to meet the man himself anyway, so he considered it a stroke of luck.
And just as he was about to satisfy his curiosity as an engineer,
“So, Saint Akion.”
- Squeeze.
The Saintess took Akion’s hand.
It was tightly wrapped in bandages stained with blood, and he could not properly curl any of his fingers except his thumb….
- Squeeeze….
“Thank you so much. I heard that incandescent bulb was one of those you generously provided not only to the residents but also to the monastery.”
“Ah, yes.”
He had merely said, ‘It must be dark, so shall I install them all?’ and ended up distributing incandescent bulbs to the monastery as well.
Akion had never expected it to come back to him on this scale.
“I also know that the production cost of those incandescent bulbs is no small matter. To give something so expensive away entirely free, even if you are an Enersis….”
And the Saintess’s sparkling, deeply moved expression was terribly burdensome.
Akion wanted to pull his hand free, but
- Squee-eze!
The Saintess was far too strong.
Though she was injured, she was six or seven times stronger than Akion…!
“I hear the flashlight was also designed by Saint Akion? Because you did not want the guards and paladins on patrol to suffer… The knowledge and grace you bestowed saved our expeditionary force.”
Now she was more like eight or nine times stronger.
Fearing that his hand bones might break, Akion hurriedly pulled his hand away.
“That is not the case, Saintess.”
Then he immediately began to explain.
He had not intentionally helped the Saintess, so he wondered whether it was really all right for her to be this grateful.
“Wasn’t all this the result of the steadfast will and convictions of that paladin and all of you?”
“But it would have been impossible without Saint Akion’s incandescent bulb and flashlight blueprint.”
More importantly, that paladin had apparently seen the blueprint and immediately copied it.
Akion felt a little annoyed.
Not so much offended as…
“Is that so? Then may I ask one favor?”
“Anything.”
“I would like to hire that paladin in my workshop. He understood it the instant he saw the blueprint, so I find him quite desirable.”
It was because he envied the Saintess.
He understood the entire structure the instant he saw the blueprint and made a copy? He would be perfect as a workshop slave.
“Ahahaha!”
It was a joke with the nuance of, ‘Can’t you give him to me?’
Of course, the Saintess caught on immediately as well.
“I was only joking.”
“Haaah, what a mischievous joke. Still, it has been a long time since I laughed this much.”
Akion brushed it off, thinking the Saintess had a strange sense of humor. Anyway.
“Then, Saint Akion. Would you tell me your wish?”
The Saintess intended to repay his grace somehow.
No matter how much he modestly denied it, without his flashlight—and, indeed, his incandescent bulb—the expedition would have ended in a massacre.
Not only had he given them such things freely, he had even taken the initiative to show them the flashlight blueprint and ask for their opinions out of consideration for those on patrol.
“We have received your grace, and we must repay it.”
Of course, she also had the thought of putting a small debt on a noble young master of such fine character.
Although the Saintess had only recently become an adult and was still young, she was also a seasoned political operator.
All the brothers and sisters who believed in the Heavenly Lord served others, but whenever they discussed how to serve and where to allocate the budget, political maneuvering ran rampant.
“Saintess.”
She had endured years in such a place and managed to hold on to her position as Saintess.
Having intended to draw Akion in by using dozens of such reasons, she said,
“I have no need of it.”
“Pardon?”
Akion turned her down.
*
The Saintess saw Akion off as he departed in the carriage.
“Saintess. Are you all right?”
The bishop of the Ridasid Diocese, worried about her, followed her outside the monastery.
She had participated in the battle as well and been slashed deeply in several places.
Even though holy healing had regenerated her wounds, it had consumed much of her stamina, so standing must have been difficult.
“Bishop.”
“Yes, Saintess.”
“I fear I may have held misguided thoughts all this time.”
“What?”
She was staring at the carriage, her eyes wet with melancholy.
“Why… would he refuse?”
“Because he truly has no need of it.”
It was because of the words Akion had left behind when he rose from his seat moments earlier.
“As the youngest master of an affluent family, I live without lacking anything.”
“Saint Akion. I apologize for bringing up politics, but this matter might perhaps help you with your countship.”
Normally, a young master of a noble house would have at least a little ambition regarding the succession of his title, but
“I have no need of that either.”
“Why?”
“Because I already live without wanting for anything. Is that not a life far more blessed than that of orphans in the back alleys?”
He had then asked her, ‘Rather, please take in the talented children living in Ridasid’s slums.’
“He had been covering his eyes so he could give as much as possible to the unfortunate.”
It was a modest wish, considering that he had been asked to name one.
Moreover, he wanted them to take in talented children and raise them as clergy.
That would actually be an even greater help to the diocese.
Seeing such an Akion, the Saintess felt ashamed.
“What do you mean…?”
“Bishop. Who are those we ought to care for?”
Because of the limited budget, they selected the poor overflowing from the capital, giving aid to some and turning their backs on others….
She felt deeply ashamed of herself.
“The people gasping from hunger, denied an education, and tormented by demons.”
“Then are those who beg in that slum to scrape by each day also among those people?”
“Those who do not even do that and squander tax money—”
Though such things were normally considered ordinary.
Akion had intended to give all his inventions… even to such people.
“Is that the will of the Heavenly Lord?”
“……I cannot say for certain.”
“You think the same, Bishop.”
Had she, like Akion, wanted to provide them with an opportunity?
The disabled, most criminals who had grown up as uneducated orphans, drug addicts.
Had she practiced generosity to help them stand on their feet again?
Had she turned them away, claiming that the budget was insufficient?
“Bishop.”
“Yes, Saintess.”
“From now on, submit reports on Enersis’s movements. And….”
Watching the carriage disappear beyond the main road, the Saintess smiled benevolently, more warmly than ever before.
“You submitted a plan to employ the poor to the Papal See to rehabilitate those vagrants, did you not? I will formally propose that matter to His Holiness the Pope.”
“Y-you really will?!”
“Yes.”
Leaving the delighted bishop behind, the Saintess walked back into the monastery.
She had received teachings from an unexpected place, from an unexpected person.
Of course, Akion had not intended it; she alone had gone around figuring it all out.
“When I return, I should also discuss the incandescent bulbs.”
Because of that, she would be busy for a while… but the Saintess was more motivated than ever.
*
“Akion, are you all right─!!”
“Gueck.”
The next day, the Tower Master, having heard that Akion had been dragged away(?) by the Saintess, stormed in.
Akion, pinned beneath the Tower Master and stripped down so she could examine him,
“How dare you, how dare you do this to me, the great dragon…!”
“Does stripping me and molesting me make that fact disappear? Now, hands down!”
“Gnnngh…!”
He made the Tower Master, who had unintentionally(?) molested him, stand facing the wall with her hands raised.
As if this had become familiar by now, Goldie swept the floor while snickering.
“Tower Master.”
“Hmph.”
“What happened with that?”
“Hmph!”
In the meantime, Akion asked about the subcontracting he had given to the Mage Tower’s forge.
But the Tower Master, sulking in a decidedly undragonlike manner, refused to answer.
“Tower Master. The seat beside me feels empty; please sit down.”
“Ahem. You’re finally developing some tact.”
“You’re such an easy dragon─ Waaah! I’m sowwy! So don’t pinch Goldie’s cheeks anymoreee─!!”
Of course, the instant Akion soothed her, she came running and plopped down beside him.
Naturally, Goldie was dragged along with her, her cheeks still being pinched.
“So, is that finished?”
“Mm. Just as you asked.”
Then the Tower Master slipped a hand into her cleavage.
Apparently, the entrance to her storage magic was located there; according to Akion, that was currently fashionable among noble-born female mages.
Of course, he had heard that from Goldie, and the Tower Master had heard it from Goldie as well. The irony was not lost on him. Anyway.
- Pop!
“Here it is, a solid rivet. I made it using the mold press produced through the tooling transfer you gave me.”
“Waaah, my cheeks huuur….”
A ductile metal pin commonly used in Akion’s world.
A nail for joining thin sheets together: a rivet.
Specifically, a solid rivet, the kind used in aircraft as well.
Why was this needed…?
“But why is this needed?”
“Honestly, it’s difficult to make the pressure tank shape I showed you as one piece in a mold, isn’t it?”
“Mm. Right. That’s why we said we’d bend a broad sheet of iron into a cylindrical shape.”
“Then we need this to join the cover to the cylindrical sheet.”
Because it could be used for pressure tanks and a wide range of engineering products.
Press-mold pressing and the electric screwdriver had also been developed for the same reason.
As it happened, the electric screwdriver would also be needed alongside the rivets when making the pressure tank.
“Because its holding power is incredible.”
If it was heated and hammered from both sides, the rivet would flatten and clamp the two sheets tightly together.
It would also neatly seal the holes drilled with the screwdriver. It was reliable enough to be used in aircraft, too.
And above all, with winter approaching…
“It’ll also be useful when making the boiler pressure tank.”
“Boil…er?”
“What’s that, Young Master?”
It would also be essential when making the pressure tank for a boiler.
“There is one. Something that gets blazing hot.”
“W-what! You lecherous brat! So you enjoyed it when you were molested earlier…!”
“Young Master’s a pervert!”
“Do both of you have nothing but lewd demons in your heads?”
An electric heater he could make right away.
And a hot-water boiler on top of that.
Akion planned to spend this winter in warmth.