Chapter 8
“Haven’t you left work yet?”
A certain floor of Ridasid Mage Tower.
A mage was speaking to his colleague.
“Ah, I was just going to leave after finishing this.”
“Heh heh, you’re still full of enthusiasm.”
Both men were nearing forty, and their passion had been cooling—but one day, it suddenly flared up again.
“Aren’t you the more motivated one? Just a few months ago, you were as sluggish as an old goblin.”
“Ahem! How dare you speak so rudely to your elder!”
“We’re colleagues, and we’re barely any different in age! Heh heh!”
The incandescent bulb.
An artifact-worthy magical product made through alchemy, which they had once regarded as nothing more than a means of making potions and assisting magic.
“Let’s see. Hmm, are you disassembling and reassembling that motor thing again?”
“Indeed. To understand the principle, you have to reassemble it dozens of times.”
It was astonishing that it had been made through alchemy, which they had neglected—but in truth, it was a creation that exploited seemingly ordinary natural phenomena to their utmost.
Since magic, too, had begun as a field of study seeking to imitate nature, everyone’s thirst for discovery had exploded over this new alchemy.
“Hmm. As I thought. This is related to the force with which a magnet attracts iron.”
“Did you reach the same conclusion? Then what about this shaft with a single gap?”
“I think it cuts off that force at certain moments, preserving the tendency to rotate.”
“Aha! You mean the tendency of an object that has moved once to keep moving!”
Laws were hidden in what everyone had taken for granted, and Akion-made magical tools had honed them to the utmost efficiency.
“As expected, an Enersis is an Enersis. To restore lost magi-engineering on his own….”
“That young master everyone pointed at as an ignorant fool was a genius! As a resident of Enersis County, my pride is swelling grandly.”
Akion himself vehemently denied it, but the mages of Ridasid Mage Tower called him a “magi-engineer.”
His workshop mass-produced artifact-grade magical tools as if it were simply copying them.
And whenever they tried to reproduce them elsewhere, they failed across the board because of the utterly incomprehensible scientific theories involved.
Then the mages who went to Enersis to ask about them were dragged away by Akion, whose mouth was practically watering.
Regarding the last matter, the two mages were reminded of the professor who had encouraged them to attend graduate school back in their academy days.
In other words, they shuddered.
“Now that we’ve finished reassembling it, shall we be off?”
“Let’s.”
- Click.
Having switched off Akion’s desk lamp, they left the mage tower and wandered the streets.
“Try a chicken skewer!”
“We’ve stuffed plenty of ham between the bread. Give it a try!”
Beneath the brilliantly lit streetlights, the street vendors everyone said were all the rage these days were calling out to passersby.
“Isn’t it truly amazing? Just lighting up the night created an entirely new culture.”
It had been only a month since the streetlights were installed.
Who could have imagined that the walk home from work would become this enjoyable?
People lured in by the vendors bought snacks and chattered noisily, while parents held their children’s hands beneath the bright streetlights and searched for their next treat.
Tipsy citizens sang an Enersis hymn with their arms around one another, their melody and rhythm a complete mess.
Even the peacekeepers carrying flashlights instead of torches joined in, stopping them with laughter.
“Hmm. It’s peaceful. More than ever.”
“Perhaps this is the sort of scene old Count Enersis—the first Count Elena—had wished for. Heh heh!”
To them, magic had been a way to kill monsters efficiently.
A way to cull the monsters born from the remnants of the demons─the beings that had once driven the continent of Iliass to the brink of destruction.
Fatigue seeped into the older mage’s voice.
More than victory on a bloody battlefield… what they needed more desperately was this peaceful, prosperous daily life.
For someone who had been growing weary, this small peace was precious.
“No. You’re wrong.”
“Good heavens. What do you mean?”
However, the slightly younger mage who had been listening shook his head and contradicted his elder.
“If it were us, we’d definitely use it to slaughter monsters. It would make more money. But Young Master Akion gave everyone a comfortable life, even if it meant giving up his own share.”
“Heh heh. Is that so….”
If he had been his old self, he might have let those words go in one ear, thinking they were nonsense.
But when he listened to what the children nearby were saying….
“The people from Young Master Akion’s workshop said they’re coming to install an incandescent bulb in our house!”
“Wow! Your house was next? I’m jealous!”
“There’s no reason to be jealous. The young master said he’d install one in anyone’s home if they’re residents of the county!”
Akion was not only using the profits from incandescent bulb sales to install streetlights; he was also installing incandescent bulbs free of charge in every resident’s home throughout the county.
Any noble worth their title would normally hoard away the fortune they had earned like a mountain, then flaunt their wealth and power at lavish banquets.
Of course, there were nobles worthy of being called benevolent rulers, but….
“If it’s Young Master Akion, that makes sense.”
“Right? Heh heh!”
Akion was the only person who had caused such upheaval in the best possible sense.
That was why the two mages could understand the residents’ feelings.
“By the way. Didn’t the Tower Master sign a contract with Young Master Akion?”
“Ah, I heard that too. From what I hear─”
That was the end of the Akion hymn.
The two began discussing the mage tower’s latest open secret.
“I heard the Tower Master has fallen for Young Master Akion.”
“Hmph, that’s absurd. A dragon falling for a mortal human?”
That was the rumor that the Tower Master had fallen head over heels for Akion.
*
The subject of that rumor, Akion, was….
- Whirrr!
“Da-dait, dait-dait.”
As always, he remained holed up in his workshop, researching, researching, and researching some more.
He appeared to be concentrating without a care for the rumor that the Tower Master had fallen for him, but….
“Akion.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“Stop singing that strange song and explain this ‘Newton’s cradle’ to me once more.”
In truth, it was impossible for him to ignore the rumor, since the Tower Master had been residing in his workshop twenty-four hours a day.
“If you get off my bed.”
And, of all things, she was wearing a dizzyingly revealing dress!
The last time he had met the Tower Master, she had been wearing a uniform, but this time he had no idea where he was supposed to look.
“Akion, your father reviewed the contract terms beforehand.”
Akion recalled what his biological father, Delford, had said when he signed the contract.
“I didn’t see anything particularly disadvantageous to you.”
“Since you reviewed it beforehand… I suppose there’s no need for me to examine it any further.”
He should have examined it then. Especially since the other party was a dragon, he should never have let his guard down!
Akion was filled with regret.
And the Tower Master….
“When the workplace and sleeping quarters occupy the same space, research efficiency declines. Therefore, under the contract, to improve your research efficiency, I shall confiscate your bed─”
“You need to get down first, so I can explain.”
“So that’s what you meant.”
- Click, click.
She had enjoyed invading Akion’s workshop by exploiting the contract… quite a lot.
Of course, this evening dress had been her idea as well.
Seduction by beauty was, after all, an excellent strategy for a beauty.
“Young men are, as a rule, unable to keep their heads around a woman’s body. If you give a man the chance to admire the Tower Master’s beautiful body, he’ll be helpless, playing right into the Tower Master’s hands!”
“Indeed.”
She had simply recalled the advice of a female life-form that had once drooled over her. In any case.
The Tower Master needed the vast store of knowledge in Akion’s head to break through the stagnation of the magical system.
But someone like Akion was unlikely to compromise his principles.
“Now, explain it once more.”
Touching the realm of instinct would be the most effective strategy.
- Press~!
The Tower Master had no ulterior motives whatsoever; she was only doing this for that purpose.
But seeing Akion pretend to be unfazed while his eyes trembled wildly in confusion….
- Thump!
The peculiar exhilaration she had never felt once in her two-thousand-year life tickled her dragon heart.
- Thump! Thump…!
Of course, the Tower Master dismissed it as the satisfaction of watching an inferior being submit.
“Ultimately, if there is no energy loss due to friction and elasticity─”
- Squeeze~!
“Ahem.”
Of course, the emotion she dismissed as satisfaction was, in fact, an emotion she was experiencing for the first time in her dragon life.
The Tower Master was feeling… better than she had expected.
“Akion. You’ve stopped explaining. My thirst for knowledge has not yet been satisfied. Quickly.”
- Sway~!
His gaze followed her.
The handsome young man kept glancing at her face and then up and down her body, flustered and unsure what to do.
“Continue.”
- Sway, sway~!
Left, right, left, right.
He tried not to look as much as possible… but it was a man’s instinct.
“Explain.”
- Squeeze, squeeze~!
Watching Akion, unable to close his mouth as he wrestled with his inner turmoil, the Tower Master felt exhilarated as he gradually succumbed.
She did not know what to call it, but showing him this side of herself was so enjoyable… so thrilling.
“Tower Master.”
“Hmm. Why do you call me?”
And Akion stared at her figure, as though he had steeled himself.
“Your gaze is burning, Akion. Surely you’re excited by the sight of my body?”
Even an Enersis was still human.
The Tower Master thought her seduction had succeeded.
“If you become my disciple, you can enjoy it by my side every day. Now, do you feel inclined to become my disciple─”
“Why would I get excited looking at an old lady who’s two thousand years old?”
“What?”
But contrary to her expectations, Akion once again voiced his honest opinion, and—
“Even if you wear revealing clothes, you don’t seem capable of acting your age, so please stop. You keep asking questions, and I can’t concentrate on my research at all!”
- Crack!
For the first time in her dragon life, she had wounded a woman’s heart.
*
“Young Master. The Tower Master’s complexion looked frightening… What happened? She grabbed me and asked me a whole bunch of questions….”
After the Tower Master finally returned to the mage tower,
Pale-faced, Goldie came to the workshop and asked what had happened.
“What did she ask?”
“She asked about the dress styles young ladies wear these days and where the boutiques that carry them are.”
“……I may have been too harsh.”
Akion decided he would apologize when the Tower Master returned.