Chapter 92
We followed behind Rongo-sensei. He must have been eager to discuss the improvements, because he was walking incredibly fast.
I was walking at the very back, but I felt as though I would be left behind unless I broke into a jog. How was he this fast when he was such an elderly teacher!?
Since we were walking so quickly, we soon reached the research building and were shown to a classroom. The Magic Item Research Club's classroom seemed to be at the very end of the second floor.
Knock, knock.
"It's Rongo. I'm coming in."
"Come in~"
Rongo-sensei entered the classroom. We were told to wait in the hallway for a little while, so we stayed there.
"It's unusual for you to come here, Sensei. What happened?"
"Did you think of a new magic item?"
"No. Today, I've brought some students who will be joining this club."
"What!? New students are joining!?"
"That's wonderful! We were worried that the club would have no students once we graduated."
I could hear them talking. I felt bad thinking how shocked they'd be when the other three entered...
"Everyone, come on in."
Just as I was thinking that, Rongo-sensei returned to the hallway and said those words.
"Let me introduce them. These are the four students who will be joining the Magic Item Research Club."
"Huh...?"
The two upperclassmen stood frozen, their mouths hanging open in surprise.
"I'm Stephan Laslasia."
"I'm Martine Laslasia."
"I'm Lucien Townsend."
"I'm Leon. It's a pleasure to meet you."
After we introduced ourselves, the two upperclassmen bowed deeply and hurriedly introduced themselves.
"I-it's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Miguel Vanel, third son of House Vanel, a viscount."
"It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Loïc Leduck, second son of House Leduck, a baron."
"This is the Royal Academy. You don't need to be so formal."
"Y-yes, sir."
The two of them were so painfully deferential that I almost felt sorry for them. Well, with these three showing up, this was bound to happen.
"Be sure to get along with one another from now on."
Rongo-sensei, was that really all you were going to say!? The two of them looked absolutely stunned. Being told to get along had to leave them at a loss.
"Please choose any seat you'd like. Leon, over here."
"Yes."
Rongo-sensei really wanted to start researching as soon as possible. Just as I'd thought when we first met, this man was a complete magic-item fanatic.
When I followed Rongo-sensei to a large table, everyone else followed me as well. There were enough chairs for everyone, so I supposed it was fine.
"Sit here. Will all of you be researching together as well? If so, use those chairs."
"We'd be honored to join you."
"Rongo-sensei, what should we do?"
"Miguel and Loïc, you may continue your own research. However, it would also be educational for you to observe us here."
"Understood. Then we'd be honored to join you too."
We all sat around the large, square table. I was seated beside Rongo-sensei.
"Leon, could you tell me again what kind of improvement you're considering?"
"Yes. I think it's inconvenient that magic items require you to remove the magic stone every time. I'd like to improve that somehow. Take a light orb, for example. When you want to turn off the light, it won't go out unless you remove the magic stone. I'd like to make it possible to turn the light on and off while leaving the magic stone in place. It would be even better if you could operate it from a distance. For example, wouldn't it be convenient if you could operate a light orb on the ceiling from the entrance to the room?"
"That's a wonderful idea! Magic items are already very convenient, so few people have thought about making them even more convenient. If you can make this a reality, it will be incredible!"
Was that really so? He had said that magic items had only existed for a relatively short time. Maybe research into them hadn't progressed very far yet.
"So, do you have any ideas about how to make that possible?"
"I don't have a definite plan yet, but... I'm considering placing some kind of material between the magic stone and magic iron and making it movable, or making the magic stone itself movable remotely. I've been thinking about various possibilities."
I didn't have a clear, this-is-it idea either. If I put some kind of material between them, removing it would activate the magic, but I had no idea how to put it back.
The only way I could think of to move the magic stone remotely was to attach something like a rod to it so that I could remove it from a distance.
Hmm, that couldn't really be called convenient...
When I thought about switches in Japan, the first thing that came to mind was electricity. But how did that work again?
If I remember correctly... electricity flows through iron, so you turn it on and off by separating and connecting the path with a switch, right?
...No! I don't remember at all!
I should have paid more attention in science class. Anyway, even though I didn't know the details, an electric switch was that seesaw-like thing, right?
For example, I could place a support made of ordinary iron on a magic-iron plate, then place a plate made of ordinary iron on top of it. If I attached a magic stone to the underside of the right side and something with the same weight as a magic stone to the underside of the left side, then pressing the right side would activate the magic, while pressing the left side would turn it off, like a seesaw.
Wait, in the first place, magic stones are fitted into magic iron, but would the magic activate if I simply made the magic stone touch it without fitting it in?
"Rongo-sensei, magic activates when a magic stone is fitted into magic iron, but will it activate if I simply touch the magic stone to the magic iron?"
"Hmm? It activates normally. We only make it possible to fit the magic stone in because that's more convenient. Magic stones are round, after all, so this keeps them from rolling away."
"I see."
In that case, the seesaw-shaped switch I'd just thought of would be easy to make...
However, even if I added that function, I would still have to go all the way up to the ceiling. The effort would be no different from simply removing the magic stone...
...Huh? Wait a second.
Magic can manifest away from the magic stone, right? It worked with fire magic and wind magic, so it should work with healing magic too, right?
Then couldn't a light orb create a ball of light away from the magic stone!?
Wait, why hadn't I realized that before? I'd somehow thought of a light orb as being the same as a lightbulb, so it had never occurred to me that I could abandon the assumption that the magic stone itself had to glow.
If we could create a light orb away from the magic stone, then we could install the switch function I had just imagined in the corner of the room. Just like in Japan, we could turn the light on and off by pressing a switch!?
Actually, did we even need a switch function anymore? We could prepare a magic-iron box and an ordinary box, then turn the light on and off simply by moving the magic stone between them.
Hmm, but then the magic stone could get lost, and moving it back and forth would take effort. If we could properly create a switch function, it would still be more convenient to have one.
"Leon, what's wrong? You've been looking surprised and lost in thought for a while now."
When Rongo-sensei said that, I realized that I was in the research club's classroom.
I looked around and saw that everyone was watching me. Oh no, I'd been thinking too deeply...