Chapter 10 - I Made My Half-Sister a Slave. A Lab Slave.
I Made My Half-Sister a Slave. A Lab Slave.
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 10
“How did you do it?”
Archion had performed a "Water Style" jutsu worthy of a real man in a place devoid of magic.
After sending away the nearby lords clamoring for a supply of pumps, and the Magic Tower mages drooling and charging in claiming, ‘Since the Tower Master resides in the workshop, that place is also the Magic Tower!’—
“I’m asking you, how did you use water magic?”
“I didn't use it.”
A certain magic-omnipresence believer barged into the workshop. It was Hermione Enersis, his half-sister.
“That’s impossible. Do you think you can create such a powerful stream of water without magic?”
“Sister, alchemy is also magic.”
“Liar.”
Archion recalled 17 years of memories he had shoved into a corner of his mind.
Hermione Enersis. Nineteen years old this year. A first-year student in the Academy’s Magic Department. She entered as the top student and was a genius of water and ice magic, the pride of the Blue Magic Tower.
“You, who can't even understand magic, couldn't possibly understand alchemy.”
The third of the three children born to Lucretia. A magic-omnipresence believer who thought everything was possible with magic.
She was also the woman who tormented Archion the most among the three siblings. To name just one incident, when Archion was ten, she locked him in the family warehouse and hid the key so no one could find him.
“But Sister. I achieved it, and you are simply refusing to believe it.”
“Hah…?”
Archion was found only after three days had passed. And Hermione had sneered at his wretched state.
Archion still remembered it vividly.
“Archion Enersis. Are you out of your mind?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
Even though he was reflecting on it as a third party now that he had awakened his memories of reincarnation, Archion’s displeasure hadn't vanished.
Wooooong!
“I heard Father is coddling you, but it seems you’ve forgotten just how big the difference is between you and me.”
Just like in the past, she tried to create a large water bubble to cover his head. It was a method Hermione frequently used when bullying Archion.
Of course, Hermione was a woman who knew where to draw the line.
Archion had clearly given up his succession to the Earldom. And yet he was favored by the Count? That meant there was something to him, and she had enough cunning not to cross that line.
“Should I educate you like in the old days? Just tell me who helped you.”
However, she was certain Archion had received help from someone. In other words, she was a young lady who still devoutly believed in the theory of Archion’s incompetence.
“Sigh. Sister, please.”
“I’m the one begging you. Stop lying. Tell me who helped you.”
Perhaps that was why she still believed she was superior, just like when she tormented him in the past.
This aspect of his sister was truly unpleasant to Archion. Even after growing older, to think a sister would try to intimidate him by bringing up the times she used to bully him.
“So tell me honestly. Archion. What kind of trick did you pull for a talentless hack like you to use water magic?”
Archion let out a deep sigh and rolled up his sleeves.
“Sister.”
“Huh?”
And with all his might—
Smack! Crash!
He slapped Hermione across the face.
No matter how great a mage she was, without physical reinforcement magic, she was just a normal person. She tumbled from her chair onto the floor.
“Uh…?”
Suddenly finding herself sprawled on the workshop floor, Hermione was bewildered. Touching her burning cheek, she tried to process what had just happened.
I mean, the youngest brother she had ignored and looked down on….
“Sister. Have you still not fixed that nasty temper of yours, jealous since the old days?”
“You, you…!”
“If you thought I would endure your insults like in the past… you miscalculated, Sister.”
He slapped the cheek of Hermione, who was destined to become an Archmage?
Wooooooong!!!
The front of the workshop instantly fluctuated with mana. Archion and Hermione’s hair fluttered wildly.
“You.”
The fraudulent mana output granted by the Enersis bloodline. A mana storm was sucked into Hermione, and ice spears bloomed all around her.
“Can I take this as a request for a duel?”
“Think whatever you want. Didn't you do the same in the past?”
Seeing exactly four spears, she must have recalled the time she tied Archion’s limbs and beat him.
Mulling over that deduction, Archion let out a leisurely sigh.
“More importantly, Sister.”
“Yeah. Speak. I am merciful, so I’ll listen to your last words before I freeze your vocal cords.”
The reason he, who couldn't even use magic, stood up to his sister was because he had someone to rely on.
“There is someone who has been watching this situation from the start.”
“Huh?”
From the beginning until now, the Tower Master, who cherished Archion, had been glaring at his sister.
Crash!
“Kyaaaaah!!”
The four ice spears shattered into pieces, and Hermione was grabbed by the scruff of her neck.
“L-let go of me!”
Hermione tried to resist, but every time she pulled up mana, it was forcibly suppressed. An existence that could control even an opponent's mana! could such a being exist?
“Who is this wench? Daring to attack my disciple.”
It existed. A monster called a Dragon, known as the Lidasid Tower Master. Seeing the Tower Master’s dragon horns, the blood drained from Hermione’s face.
“She’s my half-sister. And when did I become your disciple, Tower Master?”
“It is a predestined event, so you are my disciple.”
By the way, how long did he have to tolerate the Tower Master’s stubbornness? Hearing it every day, Archion was starting to find it cute.
“I watched from the beginning, but I will ask again. What is the reason for your quarrel with your sister?”
“She told me to ‘crawl on my own if I can't use magic,’ so I slapped her.”
“Oh. Archion. To think the gentle you would show such a temper.”
“I’ve shown it to you a few times as well, Tower Master. Anyway, I was bullied for 17 years; I’m allowed this much physical retaliation, right?”
The Tower Master had heard from Goldie about Archion’s circumstances. Seventeen years was short for a Dragon, but she knew that the power of karma worked strongly even in just one year.
“I see. Archion.”
“Yes.”
“Would you consider becoming my disciple in exchange for me taking care of your sister?”
So, in exchange for "taking care" of his sister, perhaps she could accept Archion as a disciple?
Seeing the Tower Master seriously considering it, Archion noticed and let out a deep sigh.
“Forget it. Seeing her like that makes me feel stupid for even dealing with her.”
“Hmm. I thought you hated her.”
“No, Tower Master. Look at her. Look at the state my foolish sister is in right now.”
“Mm?”
Actually, there was another reason for his sigh.
Drip, drip… splash.
Hermione, held in her hand, was foaming at the mouth, and slightly yellow liquid was trickling down from under her dress. Furthermore, people from the workshop had gathered around, drawn by the commotion.
“Mm. I must have unknowingly leaked some killing intent.”
“Well, it’s done. Let’s call someone to clean this up. How much was deodorizing magic again….”
For Archion, well, it was quite satisfying in its own way.
Two days later.
Thump!
“W-what is it!”
“Did something explode? Did an alchemy material burst?!”
At the massive boom echoing inside the workshop, the artisans murmured as they tried to grasp the situation.
“Teach me.”
The culprit was Hermione Enersis. It was the sound of her slamming her head onto the workshop floor.
Fainting immediately from the Tower Master’s killing intent, peeing herself, and then locking herself away for a day in shame after being washed by servants while unconscious—that prideful sister.
“Teach me Magic Engineering too.”
“I understand your desperation, Third Sister.”
She had crawled back into the workshop! Of course, this time she was in a lowly posture. She asked him to teach her engineering… but why did she have to call it "Magic Engineering," geez!
Archion sighed and squatted down in front of her.
“However, I have no desire to show you any kindness whatsoever.”
“Ugh….”
Even if he recalled his past life memories, would 17 years of hatred vanish instantly? That was why Archion had slapped his sister. Just because he gained a third-party perspective didn't mean the emotions of hatred would be filtered out.
However!!
“Y-yeah. I’ll do whatever you tell me to! So please, teach me that Magic Engineering too!”
“Not Magic Engineering, Engineering.”
A single sentence lingered in the ears of Archion, who had corrected her!!
‘I’ll do whatever you tell me to!’
“But, haha. You said you’d do whatever I say?”
How sweet that one sentence was! Archion understood the feelings of a wicked professor.
‘Professor, you must have felt like this when I said I’d present using your doctoral thesis and that I was interested in the lab.’
He shouldn't become like that human… but to Archion, his half-sister’s request for grad school admission (in other words, a slave declaration) was truly ecstatic.
In exchange for 17 years of hatred, he could receive a research slave he could work for a lifetime? For this price, he could bury his ill feelings.
“Haha, since you are so passionate, Sister, I should also soften my heart. Welcome, research slave—no, undergraduate student of the Department of Magic Engineering!”
“H-huh? So that means… you accept me?”
“Of course! 17 years of bad blood? If it’s someone who will research the same discipline, I can set it aside for a while!”
And so, Hermione dived into his clutches of her own accord.
“T-thank you. I tormented you so much, yet you accept me like this….”
She was simply happy as a mage that Archion had accepted her.
“This part, the pressure is high here.”
Hermione Enersis’s talent was water and ice magic, but upon checking, Archion found she had an even better quality.
“It is a problem with the discharge section after all… Should I give this more curve?”
“If you do that, we’ll have to redesign the external framework.”
“Better than fatigue failure. Sister. What about here? Compared to that spot earlier?”
“Yeah, it’s about two-thirds here.”
It was her overwhelming fluid recognition ability.
What this meant was that she could feel the flow of water entirely. Where it pooled, where the water pressure was strong, and even where it eddied. Everything!
Archion was overjoyed to have gained a fluid simulation program.
“I will explain Bernoulli's Principle.”
Of course, this wasn't free. She said she’d do anything… but he couldn't just whip a slave and expect results.
“It’s a fundamental principle of fluid dynamics. You can think of it as the fluid version of the Law of Conservation of Energy I taught you a few days ago. The Bernoulli equation is derived from the Navier-Stokes equations using vector calculus—”
“Wow….”
He bestowed fluid dynamics knowledge upon her. Before that, he had also crammed basic scientific knowledge into her.
Numerous established laws poured from Archion’s mouth, and although Hermione was busy transcribing them, she was enjoying it immensely.
“Archion, how do you know all of this?”
Because all of this fit perfectly with the magic theory she knew!
The moment she understood these natural laws, Hermione felt as if her eyes had been opened. Her past self felt like a blind person.
“Because I’m a genius.”
“Tch. Show-off.”
Of course, this knowledge was the sum of data researched by countless scientists. Archion was merely remembering it based on his past life.
‘Please forgive me just once. Seniors.’
Archion apologized inwardly to his scientist predecessors.
“Ahem. So that was it.”
“Goldie doesn't really understand this, could you explain it to me?”
Beside them, the Tower Master and Goldie were listening together. He had sent both of them home… but they had snuck into Archion’s lecture and were shamelessly eavesdropping.
“Why are you two listening, Goldie and Tower Master?”
“Goldie serves the Young Master!”
“I am a sponsor.”
“Geez.”
Both gave their own reasons. Archion burst into a hollow laugh.
Still, having people who loved engineering like this, that fact felt quite Archion-like.
“That’s it for today.”
“Ah?! No! Teach me more!” “I also agree! Why stop here!” “Eeeeh! Young Master! Tell us more!”
“All three of you, summarize what you learned today.”
Of course, the fact that Hermione had become his lab slave made him the happiest.
Early autumn. One week before Hermione returned to the Academy after her two-month vacation.
Rumble, rumble!
On one side of the Enersis mansion, in a once-empty lot, a turbine pump was installed. Archion’s workshop was in that lot.
Wooooong….Swoooooosh!
Water was drawn from the river through pipes connected to the mansion, and the turbine pump sent it up to the roof of the workshop building. The clean water transported this way was stacked layer by layer in a water tank treated for preservation and moisture proofing.
Click!Swoosh~!
The accumulated water flowed into necessary places within the workshop.
Click.
When Archion turned off the faucet, it stopped coming out.
“Phew.”
One of his grand projects started with the development of the turbine pump—the introduction of modern plumbing facilities.
After countless guild artisans and Hermione poured out their suffering….
“This is a bathroom.”
It was installed in his workshop first as a trial.