Chapter 53
“The Young Master might faint again if he hears this…?”
What good would worrying do?
The maids immediately sought out Goldie and showed her the mana-infused maid uniforms,
and even from a mage’s perspective, it was a bewildering situation… Goldie was at a loss.
“I see… Ahem. In any case, Goldie. You’re a fifth-circle mage, aren’t you? Could you analyze the condition of the clothes or something?”
“Hmm… From what Goldie can tell, it doesn’t seem like mana simply seeped into the clothes.”
To Goldie’s eyes, it looked as though a kind of spiderweb had formed in the washed maid uniforms.
If Akion saw this, he would have thought of a spiderweb network,
“A mana circuit…?”
“Good heavens. It really does look like one.”
“Mama, Tower Master?! When did you get here…?!”
To a mage whose mana-sensing ability had improved enough to see it with the naked eye,
in other words, to Goldie or the Tower Master, it looked like the mana circuits inside a person’s body.
“Why hide something this interesting? Let me see it, too.”
“Does it look like a mana circuit to you too, Tower Master?”
“Mm-hmm. It looks just like the mana circuits within a human body. But its form isn’t fixed, so it seems it will soon evaporate.”
The Tower Master had bought snacks to feed Akion and Goldie.
She had approached because she spotted Goldie among a group of maids, only to encounter a rather interesting situation.
After hearing the rest of the explanation, she nodded as if she understood.
“Did you put the laundry in with hands that had touched a mana stone?”
“Ah, yes. Yes! That’s right! How did you know?”
“You all learned this, I presume. That mana stones have the unusual property of storing mana.”
It was very basic information from introductory magic textbooks.
The material contained in mana stones had the unusual property of storing mana.
When the mana within a mana stone escaped, the mana stone turned into ordinary stone powder. It also supposedly became slightly lighter.
“I have even seen stone powder restored to mana-stone powder before. It was an abandoned line of research, however, because its efficiency was poor….”
Of course, if Akion had heard that it had become lighter, he would have said, “Isn’t that radioactive decay?! Akkiyaaak!!”
But the Tower Master had never heard that mana damaged the structure of the human body.
In other words, mana was safe.
Unless one had none at all or so much that it caused problems.
“It seems that powder acted as a kind of mana circle, seeping into various parts of the fabric and imitating mana circuits. It served both as small hubs where mana gathered and as points connecting the lines to one another.”
“As expected of you, Tower Master…!”
In any case, mystery solved!
The maids had their curiosity satisfied, while the Tower Master rediscovered an old field of research and reminisced. It was a win-win.
“However, it has no practical use. It seems likely to evaporate soon.”
The Tower Master was left with a lingering sense of disappointment.
In this world, mana was usually used for combat.
Consequently, most magical research focused on combat, and if this was all the efficiency it produced, it would be useless in battle.
“Um, Tower Master.”
“Hmm?”
“The maid uniform you’re holding… It’s been a week since it was washed.”
“……Hmm?”
But if this much remained after a whole week, that changed things.
“It remained like this even after being left alone for a week?”
“Yes. At first, there was so much that even our youngest maid, who has weak mana detection, was the first to notice it.”
“R-Right! It felt like I was holding a mana stone made of clothing!”
And even without any special maintenance, this much remained…?
Something stirred in the Tower Master’s heart.
‘Should I refrain from researching this?’
It was the “madness of the mage” that had been quiet lately because of Akion.
“Ahem. Let us first examine how the washing machine works. We need to see how it differs from the demonstration in Akion’s workshop.”
“Ah, yes!”
“You have a pile of laundry, don’t you? Go fetch it quickly!!”
And the maid here possessed that madness as well.
All the Enersis attendants were mages, after all.
That meant she was 0.1 Akion.
*
This small-scale research was conducted in secret from Akion.
Thus, the first question.
Q1. If they had done the laundry with hands dusted in mana-stone powder, what would happen if they washed it in water with mana-stone powder dissolved in it?
“It doesn’t work.”
“Hmm. Just as I thought.”
Failure!
The powder had only dirtied the clothes; they had not taken on the properties of mana circuits.
Then it was time to add the next control variable.
Q1-2. Then what if they did the laundry while infusing it with mana?
- Ssssss….
“Oh, wow! Some mana has settled into it, even if only a little!”
“As expected, it forms when infused with more than a certain amount of mana.”
Partial success!
Compared to what came out of the washing machine, it was only a small amount, but mana had entered clothes that had contained none before.
The mana-stone powder had dissolved into them as well.
Q2. Then was the washing machine’s water special?
- Whirrrrr~!
The Tower Master, Goldie, and the surrounding maids stared intently at the washing machine as it ran.
As a result,
“The excess mana left over from the motor is mixing into the water.”
“So it is a kind of magic-water vortex. Hmm, fascinating…!”
They confirmed that the motor’s excess mana had dissolved into the water inside the washing tub.
And Goldie, who had been watching the form of the mana rising from the motor….
“Goldie, this feels familiar.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“Just a moment. I’ll go get Lady Aisirel!”
As if she had discovered something, she brought Aisirel over.
Aisirel, who had been dragged over without warning and was grumbling, soon said,
“……Why is the power of the spiral here?”
“Goldie was right after all!!”
She felt dizzy at sensing in the washing machine the spiral power she had once felt from her biological father.
It was faint, but unmistakably the same spiral power Arctic Volkov had displayed.
“Since it is connected to the power of life, has a mana circuit been engraved here?!”
“Good heavens… Young Master, what on earth have you made?”
“It’s Young Master Akion, isn’t it? Goldie already gave up!”
“Aha!”
They all more or less accepted that this was another case of Akion ‘doing an Akion,’ and at the same time began to grow excited over this new magi-engineering discovery.
“Th-Then….”
Q3. What happens if mana-stone powder is added to the detergent?
The detergent mentioned here was a mixture of powdered soap and soapwort.
The natural surfactant Akion had insisted they use.
Eventually, after putting clothes that had received no special treatment into the washing machine and running it, then waiting a day…..
“Heavenly Lord, have mercy.”
The Tower Master received the fluffy, dry laundry and was so horrified that she called upon the Heavenly Lord for the first time in a while.
- Shaaa…….”
“A mana circuit really has taken root in it…!”
“Grrrrr….”
“Huh?! G-Goldie! Breathe! Breathe!”
They had engraved an actual magic circuit into an inorganic material, not merely a magic circle.
And it had been engraved simply by doing the laundry.
*
“Under no circumstances—not ever—can we tell Akion!”
And the Tower Master urged everyone, from the maids to Goldie and Aisirel,
to keep their mouths firmly shut.
“Why?”
Among them, Goldie, who wasn’t exactly oblivious… but was simply too curious about the reason, raised her hand.
“First, Akion will froth at the mouth if he hears about this.”
“True. At first I thought the Young Master was just pretending, but I never expected him to faint….”
“An alchemist being shocked by his own magi-engineering abilities. How ironic.”
The last time Akion collapsed frothing at the mouth while shouting “Perpetual-motion machine!!,” he was so badly shocked he couldn’t even breathe.
How startled everyone around him had been then. To revive Akion, the Tower Master had carried him on her back and sprinted all the way to the clinic.
“So it is a secret. If only for Akion’s health…!”
“But Tower Master, Goldie doesn’t think that’s the whole reason!”
“Hmph. Sharp little thing.”
And the second reason, which was actually the Tower Master’s true motive.
“Don’t you want to research it? Engraving magic circles onto clothes and the like.”
“Hnnngh…!!”
Her researcher's greed as a mage.
If they told Akion, he would push the research aside with a “Get rid of it!!”
The Tower Master, Goldie, and all the maids were terribly, terribly disappointed by that.
They all agreed that this absolutely had to remain a secret.
“I shall tell the count to set aside a separate laboratory in the estate. You can all come by in your free time and—”
“Then I’ll procure high-quality mana-stone powder!”
“I’ll bring maid uniforms for the experiments….”
This was follow-up research being conducted without the workshop master’s permission.
In a lab, it might have earned them a thorough scolding, but….
“I shall take full responsibility. Proceed!”
“Tower Masteeer…!!”
Not even Akion could stop a mage’s madness.
The Tower Master’s madness, at that.
Even Akion would be forced to concede defeat. Though he would definitely get very angry!
“H-Honestly, I think it’s the Young Master’s fault….”
“How are we supposed to resist after seeing this?!”
But to them… this was Akion’s fault.
Akion had not only tempted them with irresistible scientific knowledge,
he had churned out artifact-grade magical tools one after another, stirring up the research urges of the maids, Goldie, and the Tower Master!
The mages considered themselves innocent.
* * *
A few weeks later.
“Goldie.”
“Yesh?”
Akion had been feeling a little hurt lately.
“The maids seem to be acting a little distant with me these days… Am I imagining it?”
It was because the Enersis maids who had always greeted him were acting awkwardly.
They used to greet him and make small talk whenever they saw him, but these days, the moment they spotted him, they hurried to greet him and run away.
- Flinch!
Of course, Goldie and the Tower Master knew why.
They had not separately reported the washing machine’s usefulness to Akion, and were conducting research among the maids on their own.
They were being careful in case anyone accidentally let it slip, but somehow that had led to less small talk.
“It’s because the Young Master is too amazing. You’re shining so brightly that they’re having trouble even talking to you!”
“Do not feel too hurt. If it bothers you that much, Goldie and I can— Ahem, Goldie can give the maids a hint, and that should solve it.”
“R-Right! Goldie will tell them all about it! Hehe!”
The Tower Master almost misspoke.
Goldie was startled out of her wits when she heard that.
“I’d appreciate that. I’m always indebted to you two.”
“Hehe… It’s nothing.”
“Heh, hehe… Compared to the knowledge you have given us, it is but a speck of dust.”
Fortunately, Akion was distracted, having recently focused on developing cotton-related machinery.
“Then Goldie will go back to work now….”
“I shall also take my leave for a bit—”
“Wait.”
- Stomp!
Or had he?
Goldie and the Tower Master looked at each other when Akion suddenly told them to stop.
‘Did he find out?!’
‘Akion can be surprisingly perceptive, but…!’
As the two communicated with their eyes, Akion kept his eyes fixed on the desk and said,
“By any chance….”
Since he seemed suspicious, Goldie and the Tower Master felt cold sweat pouring down them.
Just as they were nervously wondering whether they had been found out….
“Is this some kind of secret party? In that case, I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.”
“Ah! Ahem! Goldie will get going first!”
“Ahem, thank you. I shall take my leave as well.”
Since Akion had come to his own misunderstanding, both of them were relieved.
They could only be grateful for his occasional obliviousness.
- Tiptoe, tiptoe!
Thus, Goldie and the Tower Master carefully made their way to somewhere in the estate….
- Whack! Wham!
They entered a room from which noises burst out that Akion would have called “The sound of gunshots?”
Inside….
- Whack!
“Oof…! That hurt a little.”
“As expected, impact absorption is essential. Is there room to engrave it next to the hardening magic circle…?”
There was a maid unfazed by the stone bullets of the earth magic ‘Stone Piercing.’
More specifically, it was the maid uniform that was unfazed.
- Poke, poke, poke!
- Smack! Smack!
“How about a sword?”
“I can feel the impact, but I can endure it.”
- Wham!
“Ugh, Lady Aisirel…! That hurts…!”
“Oh, sorry. Still, it didn’t cut you.”
Since Aisirel was holding back, she had swung with aura roughly at the level of a novice Sword Expert.
The maid uniform blocked it without a scratch, emitting a soft blue glow.
“Hehehe, in clothes like these, we’ll be safe wherever we go…!”
“If we just protect the exposed areas like the head and neck, no one will get hurt, right?”
“Then what if we engrave defensive magic circles into the collar and cuffs? They’ll unfold automatically and block attacks!”
The maid researchers had followed the snowball rolling and rolling from Akion’s washing machine all the way to this point.
Honestly, it was hard to deny that things had gotten a bit—too—big because the Tower Master had said, “I’ll take responsibility!”
“I want to show this to the Young Master as soon as possible…!”
“He won’t collapse frothing at the mouth again… right? We made such wonderful protective clothing! Since we’re here, let’s modify all the maid uniforms and show him!”
“Gasp! Then maybe they’ll hire us as regular researchers in the workshop…?! Ehehe!”
After passing through Akion’s washing machine and undergoing their modifications, the maid uniforms in their hands had become bulletproof, swordproof maid uniforms.
Anyway, it was all good!