62
Chapter 62
"Can it be used for things other than alchemy?"
"Exactly. Elsarium is a critical resource in Magical Engineering as well. Because of that, back in the day, Elia and Evankel would fight as if they were trying to kill each other whenever a mine containing Elsarium was discovered."
Weren't the Seven Stars close to one another?
They even shared knowledge, yet they were ready to kill each other over a single mineral...
"How is it used in Magical Engineering?"
"The possibilities are endless, just like in alchemy, but for now, we should use it as an energy source."
"As an energy source? You mean it can be used to power the laboratory? How efficient is it?"
Even if I couldn't go every day, I'd visit Evankel's Laboratory whenever I could to replenish the Magic Power, but according to Ark, I hadn't even filled 1% yet.
"One ton of refined Elsarium can replace the annual power output of a single reactor in the current Emergency Power System."
"You said twenty years before, right? So you're saying if I mine one ton, I can cut that time in half?"
"Are you stupid? I said one ton equals one year. To cut twenty years in half, you'd need ten tons. Of course, once the system is partially restored, we'll deploy repair robots to fix the plant, so it'll be faster than ten years."
I got excited for a moment because Ark said he could do anything once the lab was operational, but then a wave of hopelessness hit me.
Ten tons is 10,000 kg.
And he specifically said refined Elsarium, not raw ore...
On average, one ton of gold ore yields only 5g of gold.
Since that's only 1g per 200kg, you need a whopping two hundred tons to get 1kg.
Of course, in the case of iron ore, you can make one ton of iron ingots from 1.6 tons of ore.
Even if I could refine it like iron, that's still 16 tons.
Could I really mine all that by myself?
And the refining?
For that matter, is there even 16 tons buried here?
"What are you thinking about?"
I explained the problems I had been worrying about to Ark one by one.
"Why worry about pointless things? Let's just go to the lab for now."
We arrived at Evankel's Laboratory using the Warp Device.
After telling me to follow him, Ark strode ahead and stopped after passing through about twelve rooms.
"Where are we now?"
"This is Evankel's vault. It should be around here somewhere..."
He looked around and shouted, "Found it!" before bringing over a silver sphere the size of my fist and a transparent sphere.
"What are these?"
"I mentioned earlier that Evankel and Elia fought like cats and dogs over Elsarium, right?"
I nodded.
"It wasn't like that from the start. When a mine was found, they mined it together, with each person keeping what they dug up."
"And then?"
"They agreed to use the same number of workers and split the shifts between day and night, but Elia used alchemy to create golems during her time to mine far more, effectively stabbing Evankel in the back."
...That's just too much.
"Evankel has quite a personality herself; do you think she just took it lying down?"
Then again, Ark had spent nearly a month struggling just to solve the puzzle to get in here.
According to Ark, he only solved it because it was him; if any other Magical Engineer besides Evankel had tried, it would have taken another ten years.
"To teach Elia a lesson, she created this Elsarium Assimilation and Storage."
"Assimilation and Storage?"
"Simply put, you can think of the Assimilation as an Absorption Device and the Storage as a repository."
An Absorption Device and a repository?
"How does it absorb it?"
"Seeing is believing. It'll be faster to just go and try it yourself."
We returned to the site of the mine.
"Pour your Magic Power into the Assimilation."
I did as I was told, but it consumed a significant amount of Magic Power.
"How long do I have to keep doing this?"
It didn't feel like it was sucking the energy out the way the laboratory converter does, but the feeling that it would never end was similar.
Since I was told the color needed to change, I poured in my Magic Power, even releasing Ark's materialization to do so.
Just as I felt I only had about 10% left, the silver sphere finally glowed red.
"@!@#$!#@@*&!"
Accompanied by an incomprehensible voice, the sphere vanished into the pit at a speed almost too fast for the eye to follow.
'Ark? What did you just say?'
'I said I've secured the minimum operating energy to proceed with the Elsarium absorption. Now you can just sit back and watch the Storage.'
Looking at the transparent sphere, red dust-like particles began to float.
'Is this the Elsarium?'
'The Storage and Assimilation share the same Subspace. It's an application of Triple Dimensional Magic, and from the X-axis to the Z-axis...'
'Uh... huh? What are you talking about?'
'My bad. Basically, whatever the Assimilation sucks up gets piled into the Storage.'
'You could have just said that from the start.'
He could easily explain it, but I think he's just doing this to show off how smart he is.
I sat there for an hour, waiting while recovering my Magic Power.
When the red sand in the Storage was about one-tenth full, the Assimilation returned.
Ark told me that all the Elsarium in this area had been mined.
'Convenient, right?'
'It is, but the amount is way too small.'
Looking at the amount in the Storage, it didn't even look like a hundred grams; I felt it barely reached fifty.
'This is actually a lot. It's already gone through the refining process.'
So the refining happens automatically.
Still, fifty grams seems far too little.
'You mentioned there were other candidate sites, right? Let's go there too.'
There was indeed Elsarium at the other two candidate sites.
After completing the mining at both locations in the same manner, the Storage was about half full.
Roughly 250 grams.
To think I only got this much after mining for nearly four hours.
Isn't this efficiency just garbage?
He said ten tons would cut the time in half, so at this rate, I'd be lucky to shave off an hour or two.
Of course, since pouring all my Magic Power into the converter only saves about twenty seconds, an hour or two is significant, but the efficiency is still terrible.
'This is absolutely incredible.'
Unlike me, Ark was completely thrilled.
'What's so incredible? It'll only cut the time by an hour or two.'
'What are you talking about? With this amount, we can shave off at least five years. Since we can also activate the repair robots to restore the reactor, we might even cut it by seven years.'
At least five years, maybe seven?
'What are you saying? You told me at first that one ton equals one year.'
'Now who's the one talking nonsense? One Storage holds ten tons, and you filled it halfway.'
This is five tons?
'Did I not explain this? The Storage has multiple layers of Lightweighting Magic to reduce volume and weight. It may not look like much, but that's easily five tons.'
* * *
"Imperial Princess, let's call it a day. Time is up, and I believe Bio is waiting for you below."
"Yes. Thank you for your hard work today."
I greeted Roy and took my robe out of the Subspace to put it on.
When I took the Magic Elevator down, Bio was waiting for me.
"Did your lesson go well?"
He is always polite to me, but he's usually expressionless; today, however, he seemed to be smiling slightly.
"Yes. Did something good happen today, Bio?"
"Ah, not particularly. But isn't today the start of the weekend? Let's head out."
It is the weekend, but tomorrow is Monday.
He seemed to have another reason, but he didn't appear inclined to share it.
"I'm glad I can sleep in until tomorrow, too."
Since Saturdays and Sundays start early, they finish at 7 PM, five hours earlier than weekdays.
"Isn't it a bit tedious for you to come every single day of the week?"
"I'm doing this because I want to. There's not much time left, so I have to work harder."
Soon it'll be the final evaluations, and then winter break. The next semester will be my last...
I haven't set an exact date, but I said I'd duel in January, so there really isn't much time left.
"It's not good to overdo it."
"I'll be fine."
As we talked and walked, we soon arrived at the safehouse.
"Shall we head straight in?"
"Yes."
As I interlaced my fingers with Bio's hand, the view shifted along with a blue light.
"Then I'll be going now. Thank you for your hard work today."
"Thank you."
After Bio left, I knocked on the door a couple of times, and Shine entered.
Now that Shine knew about Bio's Artifact, she could have waited inside, but she said she'd guard the door until I arrived, just in case.
"Imperial Princess, you worked hard today as well."
"Not at all. Shine, isn't it exhausting to keep standing outside like that? Just come inside."
"I... I'm comfortable like this."
"How is standing around comfortable?"
Could it be that?
"Is it because you don't want to run into Bio?"
I thought we'd grown a bit closer lately...
"N-no, it's not that."
"Bio is a good person. Even though it's a hassle, he helps me every time, even on weekends. Our first meeting was just a mistake on our part."
She remained silent.
Does she really dislike Bio that much?
"Shine, if you keep acting like this, it makes things awkward for me."
"T-that's because, actually, yesterday..."
"Yesterday? You went out to handle some family business. Did something happen?"
Now that I think about it, Shine had been acting strange since I returned from training yesterday.
Her face was so red that I thought she had a cold, but she said she didn't.
She's usually quite talkative and we always chat before bed, but yesterday she lay down saying she wanted to sleep early.
And then she tossed and turned all night.
"It's nothing."
"I don't think it's nothing. What's going on? If it's something I can help with, I will."
Shine didn't answer in the end and left, saying she was going to drop off the laundry.
She always said she was on my side and that we had no secrets...
She clearly has something on her mind, but it's frustrating and disappointing that she won't tell me.
Shine returned a while later, but I intentionally didn't say anything or even look at her.
While I was working on my overdue assignments, I felt someone's presence behind me.
"Imperial Princess? Are you perhaps upset?"
Is she really asking because she doesn't know?
She's being so irritating.
"I'm not."
"...You are upset."
"How could I not be? You told me you didn't have any secrets from me, Shine. So why do you keep hiding things lately?"
"What did I hide... I have always treated the Imperial Princess with a sincere heart..."
"Then tell me what happened when you went to the Duke's estate yesterday."
She looked incredibly flustered.
"Did I not tell you that my father summoned me?"
"That's why I'm asking why he called you. You've been moping around like you have something on your mind since you got back, and it's making me worried."
"...I will be more careful in the future."
"I'm not telling you to be careful; I'm telling you to talk to me. You always tell me to lean on you, so why won't you accept my help?"
"...It's really such a trivial matter...."
I know better than anyone that Shine isn't the type to fret over something trivial.
"You can't even tell me the trivial things? And you talk about sincerity...."
I stopped mid-sentence, realizing I might have gone too far.
"...My father introduced me to a man."
"A... man?"
I was shocked as this was something I hadn't considered at all.
"I thought you were the next Duke. Is he planning to pass the title to your brother instead?"
Perhaps it was because she became my escort knight despite the Duke's opposition...
"It's not that, but since I'm at a certain age and have been too immersed in swordsmanship, he thought it would be good to have a matrilocal son-in-law with a lot of knowledge and experience, so he called me to introduce someone."
"I feel a bit sorry for you, but I think the Duke is being strange. What do you mean 'at a certain age'? You're only four years older than me."
"Nobles often get engaged in their late teens or even before birth, and many marry by twenty. I'm twenty-three, so I'm not exactly young."
...I knew Shine couldn't stay by my side forever, but marriage...
"So, did you meet him?"
"Yes. My father explained things as he left...."
"How was he?"
The Duke treasures Shine, so he wouldn't have brought someone strange, but Shine's standards are incredibly high.
Most people wouldn't even have caught her eye...
"Well...."
"He was disappointing, right?"
I hope Shine meets someone wonderful and lives happily ever after, but I don't want her to leave too soon...
I was going to tell the Duke not to do such things the next time I saw him, but Shine's face turned red.
"The first impression was a bit poor, but he was much better than I expected...."
"You've fallen for him, haven't you?"
"N-no! Who would ever like someone like that...!"
She desperately denied it, waving her hands, but a scholar who taught me at the Imperial Palace once said...
Strong denial is actually an admission.
* * *
I finally felt like I could breathe after dropping off the Imperial Princess and lying down after a shower.
Yesterday was dinner with the Duke, and today was spent running between the Intelligence Agency, the lab, and the mine; it was exhausting.
It didn't feel like a weekend, but I couldn't stop smiling because I was so happy.
'Are you really that happy?'
How could I not be?
I took five tons of Elsarium to the lab and converted it all into energy.
I also activated the reactor recovery robots, and since the purity was higher than expected, he said we could potentially reduce the twenty-year wait to eight years.
Not only did I shorten the time, but Elsarium was originally what those Vicious Exile bastards—my archnemeses—were after.
It felt incredibly satisfying, like I'd dealt a blow to them.
The investigation into the Adolph Merchant Group has also begun, so information should come out soon.
But there's something else that makes me even happier.
Thanks to the Elsarium, it's charged up to nearly 25%, and what was it called again?
The main system?
Ark explained it, but the terminology was too difficult, so I forgot.
Anyway, I discovered the exact coordinates of one of the Seven Stars' ruins.