Chapter 21
“There are all sorts of delicious things to eat in the capital.”
Akion wanted to cry.
Even when the Tower Master tried to comfort him with, ‘Let’s go eat something yummy~!’, he simply wanted to sob even harder.
“That’s right! Young Master, did you know Montblanche in Ridasid is a branch? The main store is in the capital, you know? So later, come visit the main store with me─.”
“Goldie. Haven’t you been gaining weight lately?”
“Tower Master!!”
Even when Goldie tried to cheer him up by offering the delicious cream puffs from the main store, he just wanted to bawl his eyes out.
“I want to do engineering….”
“This is serious….”
He simply wanted to hole up comfortably in his lab and tighten tiny machine screws.
He had sent a letter asking whether they could give him the land beside the Ridasid parish for the bathhouse because he wanted that small, peaceful everyday life.
“Young Master! How can a person hole up and do nothing but research for months without going outside!”
“I’ve already done research like that!!”
“That’s why your body is so scrawny! Look! Those skinny arms!”
Of course, it was Goldie scolding introvert Akion. How could anyone live without ever basking in the sunlight?
She was more than just Akion’s attendant; she was afraid that the man who gave so much to everyone might one day simply collapse.
If that happened, she would surely be held responsible… but in truth, she was more afraid that something might happen to Akion.
“Tower Master, please say something too!”
Worried, she called on the Tower Master for help, but
“Hmm? Isn’t it all right to stay home for about a year?”
“Waaah! Master!”
“Huh?!”
She betrayed Goldie!
The puppy trembled with betrayal.
“Tower Master, how could you…!”
“Hmm? Why, it’s only a year. We dragons can sleep deeply for a moment and find ten years have passed.”
“Ah…….”
So she was just an old lady whose sense of time was completely broken.
Goldie’s inexplicable jealousy melted away, and she comforted the Tower Master with eyes full of pity.
“It’s understandable. Goldie understands.”
“Why are you suddenly comforting me? Something about this feels unpleasant.”
Fortunately, the Tower Master failed to catch on this time, and merely struggled to interpret Goldie’s words.
“Whew, anyway. This will be your first time visiting the capital, Akion. How do you feel?”
Having ultimately failed to decipher her, the Tower Master spoke first.
“It’s my second time going to the capital.”
“You went straight back last time because of your research.”
“You awful man.”
“Why am I an awful man…? Still, I more or less understand what you mean.”
This trip to the capital was nothing like the rushed same-day visit last time.
An entire week!
The Saint of the Holy See had personally invited and summoned him, and two days had even been set aside for official events.
In other words, escape was impossible, and Akion, a social animal, had no choice but to be dragged along obediently.
Of course, nothing bad was happening, and he might even get to tour the capital in his free time, but….
“It’s absolutely freaking awful.”
“You little brat.”
“Ghk.”
It was bad enough to make him choose his words terribly.
All he enjoyed was researching, and when he wasn’t researching, rolling around in his room and smelling the flowers that drifted up from the mansion’s garden!
Today, Akion hated the Saint for dragging out such a voluntarily self-isolated hikikomori.
- Neighhh!!
- Clatter!
“We’ve arrived!”
As if to soothe his feelings, the carriage window opened just as the coachman called out.
“Wooooow….”
“Hehe, it’s truly come a long way compared with a thousand years ago.”
A colossal wall, roughly as tall as a twenty-story apartment building, greeted them.
“Welcome to Drakir, the capital of the Khalid Empire!”
The Khalid Empire, which had unified half the continent of Ilias.
Beneath the towering walls rising against the sunset, dazzling city gates welcomed the visitors from Enersis.
*
When Akion came to the capital to negotiate with House Yurintsev,
it had been evening.
Although torches had brightly illuminated the area, there had been no time to see it properly,
and he had hurried back as soon as the negotiations ended, so he had not been able to sightsee.
“Wow…….”
Only now did Akion understand why people of the empire had to visit Drakir, the capital, before they died.
“Is that Rococo mixed in too?”
“It’s really beautiful, isn’t it? Ridasid is beautiful too, of course, but compared to the capital, it has to take a step back.”
The moment he entered after the inspection at the city gates was over, Akion was overwhelmed by the countless, vividly varied architectural styles.
Early Renaissance and High Renaissance, along with Baroque, Rococo, and more….
A spectacular gathering of every architectural style from Europe’s early modern period.
Since Akion had been holed up in a lab all his life, even in his previous life, his eyes shone all the brighter.
“Akion. Surely you aren’t versed in architecture too?”
“You need architectural knowledge to lay out a large bathhouse, don’t you?”
Architectural engineering is engineering too.
He had steered the conversation elsewhere, but in truth, Akion was quite excited.
The capital was so magnificent and beautiful that even he wanted to put research aside for a while and look around.
“While I’m at it, I should also look into patterns and fashions for when we build the bathhouse….”
“Wow! Then we’re going sightseeing together, with Goldie and the Tower Master?! It’s a promise!”
“Oh-ho. You want me to accompany you as well? Insolent brat. I shall gladly indulge you.”
He had found it bothersome when Goldie suggested going sightseeing together, but he withdrew that objection.
With scenery this spectacular, following them around for a little while seemed perfectly fine.
“But… heh heh, I know you’re both excited, but the sun will be setting soon, so let us find our lodging first.”
“Ahem.”
“Whiiine.”
But work came first.
The three of them took a carriage to the lodging the Holy See had reserved in advance.
*
The next day,
“May the grace of the Heavenly Lord be with you.”
“You’re the one from back then….”
The one who greeted Akion at the Holy See’s main entrance was the enormous holy knight who had taken him to the monastery that time.
He was apparently from the Ridasid parish and had converted an incandescent bulb into a flashlight.
Why was he here at the capital’s Holy See?
“Things worked out well this time, and I was transferred to the main headquarters! It’s all thanks to the incandescent bulb Young Master Akion created!”
“Isn’t it thanks to all of you for putting it to such good use back then?”
“You’re still so humble!”
Since the Saint Death Beam, his talent as a researcher had been recognized, and he now lived as a researcher affiliated with the Holy See.
Akion felt a little regret when he heard that.
“It’s a real shame you belong to the Church, Sir.”
“Ha ha! It would be the greatest honor if you accepted me as a researcher in your workshop! But I’ve already entrusted my body to the Heavenly Lord, so… please understand?”
Dexterity and comprehension good enough to understand a blueprint at a glance and even produce a replica?
He regretted losing a talent who could optimize engineering.
“Oh my! I’ve kept you here talking about myself, and it’s gotten late! I’ll escort you to the Saint!”
Thus guided, Akion continued walking.
“Wow…….”
“This is the Holy See’s main headquarters, with a history older than the empire itself.”
“It has existed longer than even I have. They say the Heavenly Lord built it personally.”
Countless murals adorned the inside of the lofty ceiling, and history was recorded on each and every pillar.
They said every one of those depicted a turning point in history….
“What’s that?”
“That is the Anti-Dragon.”
Below it was a bare pillar bearing a scene of the Golden Dragon and an angel of the Heavenly Lord cutting down a red dragon.
“It was the rebellion led by House Helladion. They joined hands with demons and rose in rebellion at that time….”
The Tower Master, who had naturally experienced that era, explained, and Akion knew the rest quite well from history.
After the civil war ended, everyone with Helladion blood was sentenced to death.
Their descendants, too, without exception.
Perhaps it was because of that that executions in the empire fell sharply.
Because the emperor ordered that criminals be shown a measure of mercy.
“Let’s go. If we finish our business quickly, we can return sooner, can’t we?”
However, the Tower Master’s expression was grim.
Akion wondered what might have happened to the Tower Master in connection with this matter… but for now, he kept it to himself and continued walking.
“From here on, only Brother Akion may enter.”
“All right. Goldie, could I ask you to look after the Tower Master?”
“Leave it to me! I’ll show her around!”
And when they had gone deep inside, much as they had at the Ridasid parish, a young nun greeted Akion.
How many minutes had he walked after following her…?
“The Saint usually stays there.”
Akion spotted a small cabin.
It was a rough cabin for a Saint to live in. Clearly, rough hands had worked on the place….
- Click, creak….
“You’ve come.”
A silver-haired woman with one eye covered welcomed him.
“Uh….”
“Ah, this must be the first time you’ve seen me like this, Brother.”
Come to think of it, the first time Akion had seen the nun, she had been wrapped tightly in bandages from head to toe, so he could not see her true appearance.
But who would have expected such a mysterious beauty to be hidden beneath them….
“I’m glad your treatment has progressed.”
“Thank you for worrying about me, Brother Akion.”
So why had this beautiful woman gone to the trouble of calling Akion all the way to a cabin in the capital?
- Slurp.
As he drank the warm tea served for his reception, Akion waited for the Saint to speak.
“This tea tastes good.”
“It’s Kenzel tea from the Erki region in the east. Its clean floral fragrance is its charm, don’t you think?”
Akion had only one reason for coming here.
To see a beautiful Saint?
No. To obtain the wide, soccer-field-sized plot beside the Ridasid parish.
- Click.
“Saint. I’m in quite a hurry, so I think we should get straight to the point. I hope you’ll understand.”
“Oh my. Are you truly that busy?”
“Yes.”
Of course, Akion slightly regretted it.
He could see the Saint’s brow stiffen the moment he brought it up.
His sharp eye, honed by a wicked professor, told him that the Saint had taken issue with something.
What had displeased her?
Because he had cut off what she wanted to say?
Or because he had not continued catching up with her?
He did not know, but Akion had already taken the plunge.
“Yes. It’s for public hygiene.”
“Public… hygiene?”
The reason he had come all the way to the Holy See in the capital this time was public hygiene, the first step toward preventing terrible infectious diseases such as COVID and the Black Death.
“I’ll explain.”
If he failed to lay the groundwork now, it would be difficult to deal with the pandemic that would break out someday.
Moreover, Akion was not confident that he would definitely survive that pandemic.
“To put the conclusion first, it’s to prevent infectious diseases.”
“……Could you tell me more?”
House Enersis was wealthy and received plenty of donations, so they had priests assigned to them, but there were bound to be limits.
What if Delford, Count Enersis, collapsed?
Or even the head butler?
How inconvenient would daily life become if Goldie fell ill?
And the Tower Master… could that dragon even get sick?
Anyway, Akion decided to conceal those personal motives and ask for the vacant land beside the Ridasid parish on the grounds that he wanted to look after the common people.
“I see….”
He explained it to the Saint with the polished presentation skills he had even put to use during his master’s defense,
“So there were so many sick people because of that?”
“Yes. It wasn’t divine punishment; poor hygiene caused rats to run rampant, and they spread disease.”
“Brother Akion, can you be certain of that?”
In the Middle Ages, everyone apparently believed epidemics were divine punishment.
But could something like that really be avoided simply by maintaining decent hygiene?
The Saint looked at Akion with all traces of a smile gone from her eyes,
“Yes.”
Akion, whose silver hair resembled hers, returned her gaze full of conviction.
“This alone should secure the common people’s basic health. And I have an additional plan….”
“Put a grocery store inside and sell things at a discount to bathhouse users only…?”
At the same time, the Saint realized that his concept of public hygiene did not end with simply washing.
To increase the number of bathhouse users, he would establish a shop offering various groceries at a discount exclusively to users.
He would also stock it with large quantities of eggs and other things commoners rarely had access to, drawing them in further.
On the surface, it looked like the sales tactic of a merchant obsessed with money, but beneath that, she sensed a kindness hidden within it,
“Pfft.”
The Saint laughed before she knew it.
“Saint?”
“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking that you’re truly a blessed and kind person, Brother Akion.”
“I don’t think this is anything worthy of praise….”
When was the last time she had seen a young man this humble?
In truth, her life, despite being around Akion’s age, had been battered from one place to another and festered with wounds, but….
“All right, Brother. I’ll lend you my support. I’ll propose it under my name at the next meeting of the church leadership.”
“Thank you, Saint!”
Hearing this man’s dreamlike goal made her heart flutter, as though it really could be realized.
“Then I suppose it’s time to tell you my condition?”
Akion stared blankly at the documents she held out.
They were titled….
“‘Request for Cooperation in Mass-Producing and Deploying the Evil-Slaying Light’? What does this mean….”
“Remember the flash I told you about, the one that burned all the vampires?”
It was called the Saint Death Beam.
It had been so shocking that Akion remembered it as the Saint Death Beam.
But mass-produce it?
“The Pope was extremely pleased when he reviewed the report on the vampire subjugation, and he wanted a device that could irradiate targets with this holy light whenever he wished.”
“Uh…….”
The Holy See’s researchers, including the returning Saint, had begun researching incandescent bulbs.
Their experiments had shown that this holy incandescent light was effective against every creature vulnerable to holy power.
“And how should I put it… the holy knights who took part in the operation kept bragging about it, hehe. I think everyone wants to hang one over their shoulder and keep shining it all the time.”
“Then they could shine holy light even while moving….”
“Yes! Exactly!”
After hearing the whole story,
he fell into thought.
- Whaaaat a fooooool!!! German science is the best in the wooorld──!!!!
A strange colonel from some bizarre manga had come to mind.
Of course, Akion had no intention of refusing.
“If it’s useful for beating the hell out of those damned demon scraps, I have to lend a hand. Can I meet the researchers right now?”
“Ah…! I’ll never forget your grace, Brother! Though ‘scraps’—what insulting language, if a monster heard it! I’ll be sure to tell the holy knights!”
He needed to obtain the land too, but actually bringing something like this into existence in this world sounded quite interesting.
He could build a holy version of a UV irradiation device with his own hands?
‘How could I possibly resist!!!’
The draft repeated the final line; the duplicate was removed, and “main headquarters” was used for 본단 for accuracy.