Chapter 59

In hindsight, my flight with Margarete had been a walk in the park. She might have been a novice pilot, but that was a short hop of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠barely twenty kilometers, wasn't it? At first, I felt reassured having a veteran pilot who had survived the rough skies of Greece by my side. But a plane was still a plane. As the travel distance grew longer, all sorts of variables in the sky became a problem. To make matters worse, veteran pilots usually possessed the heart of a wild beast that rivaled Margarete's.

"The clouds are pitch black. Wouldn't it be better to rest here for today?"

"How could the sky block a man's path! Representative Stahl, get in. Let's go."

"What?! Are you insane?"

"You aren't afraid of the bullets of nationalist revolutionary rioters, so why do you fear the sky?"

Regardless of the weather, the plane took to the skies. Whether it rained or thundered, the pilot actually enjoyed the situation, gleefully performing aerobatics.

"Yee-haw! Who can stop Wilhelm, the Kaiser of the Skies, who shot down thirteen hot air balloons? Come at me, thunder! Come at me, Jesus!"

"Aaaargh!"

And so, after many twists and turns, we arrived in Stockholm.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..."

During my first flight, I had jumped up and down in excitement, making a fuss about surviving. But after spending thirteen days in a sky-high hell, I didn't even have the energy for that. It felt like riding the Wolmido Viking ship ride for over a thousand kilometers. At least the Wolmido Viking had safety restraints, and there was a chance of survival if you fell. Of course, there were parachutes, but the altitude was often too low, or there wasn't even enough time to deploy them, meaning the probability of dying on impact was extremely high. In other words, since falling meant instant death, this was far more vicious than any amusement park ride.

At least I'm lucky. I have about three days to rest...

I canceled all my schedules and buried myself in a plush hotel bed, nursing my exhausted mind and body until the day of the Nobel Prize acceptance speech. I couldn't help it. It was as if I had developed aviation PTSD. Every time I stepped on solid ground, I felt so overwhelmed with emotion that tears threatened to well up.

The 1911 Nobel Prize Ceremony.

Just before the ceremony, there was a gathering for the Nobel laureates in the scientific fields. Since the hottest scientists of the era were gathered in one place, wasn't it only natural for masters of the martial world to want to discuss swordsmanship upon crossing paths?

Still, there probably won't be anyone legendary enough to appear in children's biography books, like Einstein, Marie Curie, or Niels Bohr this year. That's a bit of a shame.

Thinking so, I headed toward the luxurious waiting room of the concert hall where the ceremony was being held.

I scrutinized the face and name of the Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine who had arrived first and was waiting. The recipient was Allvar Gullstrand of Sweden. He was awarded the prize as an ophthalmologist who had clearly elucidated the dioptrics of the eye, but unfortunately, he was someone I didn't know well. In fact, there weren't many Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine that I actually knew. Perhaps only Dr. Karl Landsteiner, who used to travel around treating syphilis with me, and Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin? And of course, the duo of Watson and Crick, the discoverers of the double-helix structure of DNA who frequently appear in biology textbooks.

"Nice to meet you. I am Marx Stahl, here on behalf of Chairman Karl Wittgenstein, this year's Nobel laureate in Chemistry."

"My goodness, if it isn't Representative Stahl!"

This man was undoubtedly a great researcher in his own right. Yet, he bowed his head deeply, like the leader of the Martial Alliance encountering a legendary, retired sword emperor.

"It is an honor to meet the great scientist who discovered not only penicillin but also the method for ammonia nitrogen fixation."

"You flatter me. It is merely my own regret that, due to my lack of medical knowledge, I am not well-acquainted with your esteemed research."

"I have read and reread your papers, Representative. While the refraction of the eye is a study known only to ophthalmologists, there is no one who does not know of your work!"

"I-Is that so?"

"Indeed! You are the savior of humanity."

Ah, I shouldn't do this. I couldn't stop the corners of my mouth from twitching upward, my cheekbones trembling violently.

"Pfft, hehehe... You flatter me too much. Hehehe, it was merely a coincidental discovery, hahahaha!"

"..."

Dr. Gullstrand stared at me with an incredibly bizarre look, but I simply couldn't suppress this cheap, petty laughter. Mired in politics and war, I had forgotten this feeling for a while. This was exactly what I had looked forward to when I first discovered penicillin!

Dr. Gullstrand, seemingly unable to tolerate my frivolous laughter any longer, quickly changed the subject.

"To be frank, you should have been the one receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Not to mention the Chemistry Prize. Of course, Chairman Wittgenstein's contribution is immense, and the public does refer to nitrogen fixation as the Stahl-Wittgenstein process, but..."

Once I provided the guidelines for nitrogen fixation and mass production, I had washed my hands of chemical research. At most, I had only developed tear gas. Therefore, the fact that the yield of ammonia kept increasing and production exploded when combined with steel technology was entirely Chairman Wittgenstein's achievement.

Still...

Chronologically speaking, shouldn't I have received it first? Suddenly, my mood soured. Thanks to that, I was able to stop my creepy grin. I agreed with Dr. Gullstrand's sentiment.

"Indeed. I wonder what on earth the Nobel Committee was thinking."

"I was curious about that as well, so I actually asked them."

"And what did they say?"

"They said that Representative Stahl is truly a saint and a great man. They said you are someone who even rejected the honor of the Nobel Prize to dedicate yourself to human peace."

"..."

Those bastards on the Nobel Committee, should I seriously kill them? They must be incredibly salty because I rejected the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Anyone could see they were taking a passive-aggressive jab at me. Unlike in the twenty-first century, the history of the Nobel Prize at this point in time wasn't very long. With its legitimacy still slightly lacking, I had gone and rejected the Nobel Peace Prize—the very award that best represented the motto of the Nobel Prize. It was only natural for them to be deeply offended. They probably gave me the Peace Prize because they genuinely believed it was the most valuable award. And since I was young with my whole life ahead of me, I might have been pushed down the priority list compared to other heavyweights, older scientists. Still, even so! I could never forgive the committee for not giving me the Chemistry or Physiology or Medicine prizes. Weren't the Swedes destined to collaborate with the Nazis thirty years from now anyway? If a revolution ever breaks out in Sweden, they can blame the Nobel Committee.

As I was chatting about this and that with Dr. Gullstrand, the Nobel laureate in Physics finally walked in. Who would it be this year? The person who opened the door and entered was a sturdy-looking woman with curly hair.

"Marie... Madame Marie Curie? You are the recipient of the Physics Prize?"

"Yes. Somehow, I have been blessed with the honor of winning the same prize twice."

Wait a minute. Come to think of it, Marie Curie was originally supposed to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for her work on radium. But it had changed to the Physics Prize. Somehow, history had been altered, and Chairman Wittgenstein was receiving the Chemistry Prize this year. Consequently, Marie Curie was suddenly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her achievement in isolating metallic radium. This was possible because the boundary between chemistry and physics was quite blurry.

Marie Curie, Marie Curie... As the greatest radiation researcher of this era, recruiting her could benefit us in one way or another. She could help develop the atomic bomb, an absolute necessity for any superpower. Or, since she was Polish, we could use her influence to torment Russia by stirring things up in Poland. The more famous Polish figures there were, the more of a headache it would be for Russia. I decided to do Marie Curie a favor in advance to prepare for that future.

"Are you not the one who discovered radium and proved the existence of radiation? Your achievements, Madame Curie, will change the world."

"You flatter me. More importantly, I have a real sample of radium here. Would you like to see it? I carry it around as a lucky charm."

"...Pardon?"

Marie Curie rummaged through her bag and pulled out a glowing, fingernail-sized pebble.

Holy shit, get that away from me!

The moment that pebble appeared, I hastily took three steps back.

Of course, getting exposed to a tiny bit of radiation like that wouldn't turn me into the Hulk caught in a gamma-ray burst or a ghoul from Fallout. People still live in Fukushima, after all. But still... it was unsettling. It was a radioactive rock, for crying out loud! When I recoiled in shock, Marie Curie looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Representative Stahl? You are reacting as if you have just laid eyes on some deadly poison."

"Ah, I do not mean to be rude... but I believe radium is dangerous. No, it is definitely dangerous. It will harm the human body."

"Excuse me? Why on earth would you say that?"

I pulled out a sheet of paper. Where should I even begin explaining? Had DNA been discovered yet?

"Do you know the true nature of that mysterious energy emanating from radium?"

"Why, is it not the energy released when an unstable atomic nucleus decays? And Einstein has already proven that this energy consists of particles."

It was a simple concept. A heavy atom meant that multiple particles were clumped together. Having too many things clumped together inherently meant instability. Therefore, over time, the atom would break apart and decay. As the atom decayed, it emitted certain particles as byproducts. That was radiation.

"Then you must also know the properties of that radiation."

"Of course. According to discoveries made by other physicists after my research, it interacts with its surroundings and ionizes them."

"What do you think happens when particles smaller than an atom thoroughly penetrate living cells? I cannot say for certain, but I am positive it will not have a good effect."

That radiation would pass through cells, altering them. The altered cells wouldn't trigger mutations granting super strength or immortality; the vast majority would simply die. There was no way it was good for one's health. Marie Curie furrowed her brow at my words, which seemed to disparage her research.

"Is this a fact proven by experimental results?"

"No. However, try raising guinea pigs alongside polonium, uranium, and radium. Try feeding it to them directly, rubbing it on their skin... It would also be wise to expose living cells to radiation. At any rate, please conduct an experiment and contact our research institute in Vienna."

Having her research questioned, Marie Curie did not hide her displeasure. Of course, she was a scientist. Since a hypothesis had been proposed, she would know the truth as soon as she tested it.

"If your hypothesis is correct, are you saying I have received a Nobel Prize for creating a deadly poison?"

"Please do not look at it so negatively. Ammonia is a fertilizer, but it is also an explosive, is it not? Once you finish your experiments, please be sure ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to contact Vienna. It is no lie that your research will change the world."

From X-ray scans to all kinds of medical examinations, nuclear power generation, and even radiocarbon dating in archaeology—radiation would be used for all of it. What if Marie Curie didn't contact me by the time the war ended? Well, what else could I do? I'd just have to run the experiments and publish the papers myself. Since research on radioactivity was only just beginning, it was a bit early to dabble in it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Still, if Austria was to become a global superpower leading the world, we had to be able to wield the Authority of the Atom, didn't we?

There was just one concern. What if, by spreading the dangers of radiation too quickly, I accidentally prompted Serbian insurgents to invent radioactive tea a hundred years ahead of schedule? When Putin fed radioactive tea to his political rivals, it was an overt threat. But at this point in history, if someone brewed radioactive tea and presented it as a lovely gift, there wouldn't even be a shred of evidence pointing to poisoning.

After that awkward encounter with Marie Curie, the time for the Nobel Prize ceremony finally drew near. Following a tedious opening ceremony by the King of Sweden and the Nobel Committee, the presentation of medals, prize money, and acceptance speeches for each category began.

Following a round of applause, I stood before the crowd to deliver the speech. Standing there, I felt a sudden wave of worry about what to say. But wasn't the current me a politician and a revolutionary before a scientist? I should stir up some political drama and give the Nobel Committee a hard time. This is the price they pay for not giving me the Nobel Prize in Chemistry!