Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Star Fall (24)
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****
Splash, splash.
Cluck, cluuuck!
Flutter, flutter!
“H-How is it?”
“This is... an approach I’ve never even considered once. Astonishing... truly astonishing!”
When I announced that I’d found a way to solve the airship’s balance issue, Roman shot out from the pile of junk like an arrow and was now circling the floor with me, observing the soul jar that had been my hand.
The way it pecked at the dirt with its head or curled its pinky and thumb to flap like wings—anyone could see it was just like a chicken, that soul jar.
“Using black magic to extract an animal’s soul and leveraging its senses...”
“That’s right! Honestly, I don’t know the exact principles behind black magic, but we’ve confirmed that this cockatrice soul is keeping its head perfectly steady, right? What if we sync that sense with the airship’s magic circuits?”
I didn’t know the detailed principles or processes. What mattered was the result. Take death knights—even they were monsters created by shoving a dead knight’s soul into a fine body prepared by some skilled black mage, and they swung black mana auras just like they did in life. The cockatrice soul acting like a chicken inside my “former right hand” was the same—some behavioral principle imprinted on the soul? Something like that, so I figured it had solid potential.
“Magic circuits that react to behavior... No, it’d lose balance and crash during any delay. Sensory synchronization... soul lifespan... sustainability... That lecture on soul forms by the invited mage during tower research... Data. We need clearer data for research!”
He bolted upright!
“Professor! Didn’t we still have one live-captured cockatrice left?”
“Huh? Oh, y-yeah?”
“Then we can use it roughly! Mind if I borrow this?”
Off he dashed!
My words must’ve sounded like permission to blow the soul jar on experiments, because the instant I spoke, Roman snatched it up and bolted.
Thud!
“Whoa! Hey, careful! This is expensive desert nation craftsmanship—”
Whack!
“I’m swamped here, what’re you—Roman? Hey! Watch where you’re going!”
A moment later, amid parts scattered like a kid’s toys dumped on the floor, sparks began flying as a mana welder connected circuits.
As I leaned in for a closer look, someone grabbed my collar and yanked me back.
“Shh! Just leave him be. Interrupt him when he’s like that, and he’ll blow up like a volcano!”
“Hm? And who are you?”
“Jeez, come over here first!”
The one gripping my collar was a petite girl. Dressed in merchant garb with a hefty pack on her back. She dragged me behind a cart, then peeked out from between trade goods to watch Roman.
“Lucilla Aedran. Call me Lucille.”
“I... see. Lucille? Are you here with your parents from the caravan—”
“I may look small, but I’m of working age, a full-fledged Gold Guide recognized by the caravan master himself, tagging along on the Leila trade route, and mentor to our youngest, Roman Gacia Manson the apprentice merchant!”
“Uh...”
“No need to be shocked. Everyone asks, so it’s just muscle memory.”
She answered before I could even speak. Well, “working age” meant adult by our standards, so she must be over nineteen despite appearances. Anyway, Lucille gave off a sharp, no-nonsense vibe. Unlike the other merchants who’d kept their distance after seeing my combat style, she nimbly climbed a pile of crates and whispered right in my ear.
“Hero, you said you’re Roman’s friend?”
“Y-Yeah...?”
Snap!
“Ow!”
“Then stick by him when he’s struggling! How can you just leave him till he turns into that?”
“Turns into that? He looks brighter than last time—”
Snap!
“Gah! What the—!”
“A church hero who can’t read his one friend’s heart! How’s that bright? He’s faking it!”
Busted.
The girl glanced at Roman, who was wrestling with mana circuits and bellowing for Notum and Aldrich, then laid into me fiercely.
“Roman Gacia Manson! Man-son! Don’t you know what that name means? Noble! A noble from the one-and-only mage house in Lordric North, the prestigious Manson family! A guy like that scraping by in gambling dens, botching thefts he’s never even tried before! Obviously something huge happened in between! A friend would spot that right away! His one and only friend!”
“No, we’re not that close—”
“Save excuses emptier than a coin pouch for the mirror! What kind of hero leaves a lonely guy like that wandering the streets alone! He got disowned by his family! Bastard son enduring every humiliation, no talent for magic so clinging to dumb tinkerer tricks goblins mess with, called a family disgrace!”
“What? What’s that mean? Disowned? The Mansons kicked him out?”
I’d been tuning out her cute merchant rant, but this was news to me. Lucille shot me a pitiful look—like “What’ve you been doing these past days?”—then pointed at Roman, who was frustrating the two soul mages.
“Roman Gacia Manson. Third son of the Manson house. Bastard born to family head Gilder Gacia Manson and maid Odette Soirin. Weak position in the family. Awakened mana early but stalled at second circle due to lack of talent. Gilder handed him off to mage acquaintance Isaac Mandalius, who used experimental ‘training’ to let Roman cast what looked like third-circle spells.”
“You... investigated all that?”
“Even with caravan master’s okay, we can’t just take in anyone. Fed him drinks, and it all poured out.”
I had no idea. Roman had that backstory. Truth be told, he was a hero unit where that stuff didn’t matter much. Unlike others needing delicate bonds and ongoing relations, Roman was the easiest recruit—just fund his research. After hiring, he holed up in his lab while the player roamed outside, checking results only. No player bothered with his personal woes.
Whiiiir—
Then came the hum of mana circuits I’d heard buzzing in my ears every night these past days.
“It’s... it’s up!”
“No shaking at all! Perfectly stable!”
“S-Success! Finally! I did it!”
Unlike the past few days, Roman’s airship was gliding smoothly through the sky like an albatross crossing the ocean.
Roman, grinning ear to ear, looked around and spotted me and Lucille hiding behind the cart. He waved, fiddling with the small box in his arms.
Whiiiir—
Model Airship No. 3, linked to the box by silver thread, crossed the sky gracefully and landed in my palm.
“Professor! Did you see! I succeeded! For real! I made an airship!”
Roman’s face beamed with joy. But Lucille watching him looked heartbroken.
“Hero, that airship. Check the nameplate under the prow. Read what it says?”
Following her lead, I felt a metal plate on the wooden hull.
“Model Airship... 723?”
“Smart, huh, hero? Even for a bastard, nobles don’t get kicked out lightly. Know why?”
Swoosh—
The professor traced the nameplate with a fingertip. Smooth edges, but rough inside. Gold leaf remnants on the border suggested it was once a fancy plate highlighting “Model Airship No. 1.” Unlike this battered 723rd, scraped and re-engraved hundreds of times till the gold flaked off.
Mage tower collapse. Roman left adrift. Airship 723. Disownment. It all pointed to one truth.
“He went back to the family for research funds. Built 723 pricey model airships, each guzzling a fistful of small magic stones and wind stones. Even a mage house with resources and cash wouldn’t just fund a bastard like that without strings. He traded something... for it. Kept failing till the funds dried up and they booted him.”
And yet he’d called it “Model Airship No. 3” to me and Ottoman.
A magitech engineer who’d abandoned water magic paths, unveiling his first research fruit before a friend he’d led into water magic and an old water mage he’d revered as mentor in the tower. When all that led to 723 failures and a toy that couldn’t fly a minute. What raced through his mind shaving off the first two digits to say 723? Inferiority? Shame?
No clue. Because Roman smiled through it all, unchanged.
“Hahaha! Lucille and you, chatting about that? Just that?”
Roman approached, taking the model from my conflicted hand with a bright grin.
“It’s not ‘just’ that...”
“I know! Heavy stuff! Thinking of Mother still fills me with guilt. Locked in some dim castle corner her whole life, waiting alone for a father who never returned. I should’ve taken care of her. Instead, I forfeited inheritance rights! Even that gentle, frail mother scolded me this time! ‘How’ll you eat now?’ she said! Hahaha! My brothers loved that!”
Forfeiting inheritance and rights. For a useless family bastard, that was his last tie to being a Manson. In exchange for funds, he severed all family bonds.
Disowned nobles can never set foot in their lands again. Roman smiled with eyes dripping longing—he’d never see his mother again.
“So that’s what she meant.”
I got Lucille’s “till he turns into that.” More smiles than last time, weirdly brighter personality. It was Roman’s psychological defense. Like someone after trauma or loss pumping themselves up with “I’m fine!”
Each stroke scraping a number off the model chipped away frustration and fear in his chest. He laughed to fight 723 solo failures till the gold wore off. That smile stuck to his face like skin.
Lost everything in failure, booted to wander streets, facing harsh life he’d never known as a noble-born—and he didn’t quit. Laughing madly as gambler, petty thief, caravan hand, making it here.
“Hey, Roman...”
“Hahaha! Don’t make that face! Water under the bridge! Picking at old scabs just makes ‘em fester. No need to dwell! Look!”
Creak, screeek! Scraaape!
Roman pulled a chisel from one of dozens of pockets on his shabby clothes, slashed over the worn nameplate mirroring his life, and engraved a new one.
[Prototype Airship No. 1]
“There, what’s it say?”
“...”
“This chatterbox went mute? Come on! Read it!”
“Prototype Airship No. 1.”
“Hahahahaha! Haha! Yes! Not a model! Tiny, flies only in a magitech’s influence with this soul balancer, but it’s a real airship! Success! Success! SUCCESS!!! Hahahahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha!”
No tears fell, but the professor felt that laugh spoke all his emotions. Lucille clutching his sleeve, Ottoman too. Aldrich nearby, caravan folk—all sniffling or looking away at the sky.
“Hahahahaha! Hahaha! Uhahahaha!”
The class “Inventor,” pinned only on era-forged geniuses.
Roman wasn’t a genius. He just never quit. Faced endless setbacks to achievements anyone’d call genius, never bending his will.
“Hahaha! Success! I finally succeeded! Me! Hahahahaha!!”
Roman Gacia Manson was that kind of man.
****
Celebrating under the circling airship heralding his birth with caravan folk, Roman suddenly approached me demanding a name.
“A name! Give it a name!”
“Name? For what?”
“This grand invention, the ‘Soul Balance Controller via Black Magic,’ obviously! No denying it! You birthed this tech, so name it! Even a prototype, first inventions always hold value! Engrave its name here!”
“No need to make a big deal of naming... You do it—”
“Now!”
I considered dumping it on him, but his sparkling expectant eyes made it impossible. After some thought, the professor took the mana engraver Roman offered and carved the device’s name atop the circuit-filled box.
[Chicken Sensor]
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: Chew! Dude!
- professor: Sorry. Best I got.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: In a world where concepts reshape reality, a magitech device named Chicken Sensor?! Spitting on a finished invention!
“Chicken Sensor... Chicken Sensor! Intuitive, great name! Thanks, friend! Your Chicken Sensor let me achieve my dream!”
- professor: See! He likes it!
- Nutria Pass: Likes my ass. Cough up my感動!
- Highway Nacho Man: What, a sensor for finding chicken? Starving teen?
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: No wonder that talented guy’s never dated. Sense smaller than a booger!
- Take a Look: Uuu! Change it! Now! Just let Gacha Man handle it!
Damn. Thought it was solid. Too bad, as a streamer, can’t ignore the peanut gallery.
“We can rename it, right? Hey, Roman! That Chicken Sensor, just...”
Fwoooosh!
As I grumbled to let him name it himself, light suddenly burst from Roman’s body. Amid the soft glow, he beamed as water magic mana—once abandoned—danced between his fingers.
“Yes. Now I get it. I had an inferiority complex about magic. Couldn’t match my brothers, so I wanted to prove my worth to the family via magitech, a whole different field. Why didn’t I see? Magitech is a branch of magecraft. Magic and magitech... humanity’s two legs forward. Master both without dividing them. That’s magitech. Finally... I see a bit.”
Ding-! Ding ding ding ding!
[Info Update: A Moment in History! Congratulations! You’ve had a profoundly positive impact on one of the pivotal moments defining this era!]
“H-Huh...?”
Light surged wildly from Roman, system alerts blaring like a jackpot slot machine. A moment in history. And that light. That’s...
“A mage’s... enlightenment?”
Ding-!
[Info Update: Hero Unit ‘Roman Gacia Manson’ has found his calling and grasped its essence! - A new magical school, ‘Magitech Engineer,’ debuts in the world! The world will greet these novel mages with curiosity, sometimes rivalry and rage! Grow them wisely! Currently, the one true magitech engineer worldwide is solely Roman Gacia Manson!]
[Great Invention! Witnessed the birth of ‘Prototype Airship’ with ‘Chicken Sensor’! - The ill-fated genius who never yielded to adversity inherited your inspiration ‘Chicken Sensor’ to finally craft the ‘Prototype Airship.’ A key technological leap that could elevate humanity, and ‘’’’your name is etched in history.’’’’]
“Wha-wha, wha! Whaaaa!!!”
No way. First time seeing that legendary message myself! No freaking way! No waaay!!!!
- Deer Drug Please: Reverse sweep exploded! Quenjang! Knew you had it, Gacha Man!
- Jokasss: Yo! Airships in 3-world! Fuck, now GG gets mecha buffs!
- Goldman SUCKS: Impossible! The guy I hyped kept failing!
- Holy: Uncle didn’t have a Chicken Sensor!
- Deer Drug Please: Lmao high schooler wrecked wasteland’s top rich kid joint kekeke
Double-checked chat—1st, 2nd channels all exploding. Yeah, the message I knew.
- Heung An Mandu: Pls just clear safely! Ex-air ace here! Shove a plane, glider even in 4-world, I’m ranker easy!
- Speed Wagon: Embargo this pls. Airship info sells big.
Dunno, can’t hear! Nothing!
Grab!
“You mad bastard Roman! You really did it!!!”
“Hahaha! All thanks to you—Gack! L-Let go! C-Can’t... breathe!!!”
No, can’t let go! You don’t get how huge this is!
“Uhahaha! You saved the world! Roman! Hear me? You saved like 20% of it!”
“Guh! L-Let... go! I’ll... die...!”
“Let him go, boss! He’ll die!”
“Guy’s bipolar confirmed! Notum! Do something!”
“Gwok. Smiley man explode.”
Couldn’t believe my eyes. That curt system hammered it home as crucial.
’’’’Your name is etched in history.’’’’
This message? Official system decree that this event’s impact carries to the next world post-clear!
Think it’s no biggie? It’s the first in-game appearance. Means the system’s hinting at next-world carryover. GG’s freakishly precise system admitting my clear odds—to some degree.
GG’s system, dumping debuffs to crush players, finally concedes [Player professor] took a step toward ‘World 3 Clear’! This pinnacle AI since Homo sapiens says “This fucker might actually clear?!!!”
“Thanks, Roman Gacha Man! For not quitting! Thank you!”
“Haha—cough! Ha... ha! Obvious! I’m magitech engineer Roman Gacia Manson! Unlike concept magic, magitech: grasp mana, anyone inherits it! An engineer’s failure? Just footprints for successors! No despair in that! Ha! Hahahahaha!”
Back to his usual self, Roman scooped the mana-drained airship.
Zzzzt-!
Eyes closed, savoring the moment with a deep breath, he unhesitatingly brought down the welder. Bold stroke left just “1” gleaming clear.
Roman was smiling.
****