Hydroelectric Generator (2)
The Bladewyn family's Iron Cliff Territory sat adjacent to the Valces Mountain Range.
As a result, the land around it was thick with mountains. The smaller peaks were one thing, but the ridges that joined the Valces Mountain Range still held countless unexplored stretches.
Which was why strokes of luck like this occasionally came along.
He had built a research lab along a river on the chance that a waterfall might be somewhere nearby. It turned out to be far closer than expected.
"It's not as big as I thought—but that's perfect."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. We'll put a waterwheel-style turbine here and attach a motor that converts the motion into electricity."
"And that alone will truly produce electricity?"
"Yes. It turns the water's potential energy into the energy of rotation. And that energy, in turn, becomes electrical energy."
There were any number of turbine designs for a situation like this, but the Pelton wheel was the best fit.
When the head was high and the pressure strong—as with a waterfall—circular, cup-like buckets on the blades absorbed the water's impact with ruthless efficiency.
A method that could convert nearly all of the water's mechanical energy into kinetic energy.
"What on earth are you saying? Energy in a position? And what is rotational kinetic energy supposed to be?"
"This world is full of invisible laws. Energy is no different. The energy something holds changes with its position. Rotation works the same way. Explaining it properly gets complicated, but simply put—what an object can do changes depending on where it is…"
He had meant to skim past it, but Andersen had done enough for him that he explained as carefully as he could.
The deeper you went, the more tangled and interdependent everything became.
For now he kept it to the simple version even a child could follow.
"Oh-ho! So that's it! Why didn't I think of that? Even this pebble hits with a different force if it falls from above my head instead of from my waist."
Andersen's face grew serious.
He closed his eyes, sank into thought, then suddenly dropped into a lotus seat on the ground.
…What? I've never seen anyone do that.
Speaking to him suddenly felt awkward.
The air around him shifted and a faint wind began to stir; approaching felt like a bad idea. Robon sat on a rock and let his own thoughts run.
Back in the modern world I couldn't just commandeer a natural waterfall, but here I can. That's the good part. The problems, though…
First, the cost. Building a hydroelectric generator of this size would devour research funds.
He would have to pour every last coin of the bulk sales revenue from Robon-001 into it.
Second, he also needed capacitors. Proper electrical efficiency required storage for the power.
That would cost plenty as well.
Third, maintenance.
The Valces Mountain Range crawled with monsters and beasts. Magical beasts had been showing up more often lately; if any of them wrecked the generator he had worked so hard to build…
"Haa…"
Just thinking about it pulled a sigh out of him.
Maybe he should ask his father to station soldiers here.
Still, the promise was real: finish this, and the foundation for a full-scale mechanized city would be in place.
Large factory grounds nearby, equipment after equipment developed, rising into the industrial city that led the continent…!
"I found it."
"Huh? What all of a sudden—are you finished meditating?"
Moments earlier the atmosphere around him had said do not approach. Now he was a kindly uncle again.
"It isn't meditation. I'm organizing an enlightenment."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"No."
"Fine. But what did you find?"
Andersen grinned.
Blue energy rose and floated above his palm.
"Didn't you say you needed magnetism?"
"I did."
He drew small iron fragments from his robes, tossed them into the air, and blue mana rippled outward in every direction.
At the same moment the iron pieces hung suspended and began to circle him.
No way…?
"…This is."
"A magnetic field. My circle has returned."
"Whoa—seriously? How did that just happen?"
"A moment ago, hearing Research Director Robon's explanation of energy, I grasped the laws of nature and the principles of the world—"
"Enough! This isn't the time! We're going to the lab right now!"
Come to think of it, who cared that his circle was back? What mattered was that money could be saved!
"…You were the one who asked."
"Whatever—as long as it works! Hahaha!"
The central city of Iron Cliff Territory—Iron Hall.
Lately a small wave of fashion had begun to stir through its streets.
"Ahh! This water tastes incredible!"
A blacksmith on Iron Street gulped from a cup and let out a cry of pure satisfaction.
"Water all tastes the same. What are you on about?"
The colleague beside him snorted and tipped back a beer.
"You don't remember Munk was laid up for days after gulping down any old water when he got thirsty?"
"You old-fashioned fools."
Gulp—gulp—
"Ahh…!"
The blacksmith roughly wiped his mouth and set the cup down.
"Technology's advanced. We can drink clean water freely these days. The taste doesn't even compare! That fishy smell is completely gone!"
"Nonsense! Where would something like that even exist?"
"Idiot. That's why everything you make turns out half-baked."
"What? Ha! Hand it over! Let me have a sip!"
"Not for free. One sip for a beer tonight."
"Who do you take for a sucker? Get lost! I don't need it!"
"Heh heh… Just kidding, you hot-tempered bastard. Here. Drink."
Grinning, he passed the cup. His colleague took a careful sip.
"Huh?"
His eyes went wide. He took another, still puzzled.
"No need to look so shocked."
His Adam's apple bobbed, and his pupils shook with it.
"Damn. It really doesn't smell."
"Right? Give it back."
The first blacksmith snatched the cup again and smirked.
"What is this?"
"Three beers."
"Three is too much!!"
"Want to make it four?"
"Three! Cheapskate! So tell me!"
The blacksmith pulled a long cylinder from his belt and shook it.
"This is the portable water purifier Young Master Robon made! Dummy."
"Portable water purifier?"
"Means it makes the water clean. Stop hammering iron all day and hammer that thick head of yours once in a while."
"Shut up. Anyway—Young Master Robon made this?"
"Yeah. Put any water in and it comes out clean like this. Smell vanishes too."
"Incredible piece of work. Magic? Tsk. I don't have money for something like that. Barely enough to feed my family."
"Five silvers."
"What?"
"You can buy one for five silvers. Head to Bladewyn Castle."
"Does that make any sense? Something like this for only five silvers?"
"Apparently it isn't magic."
"No way."
"I heard it from one of the Bladewyn people while I was delivering goods. Young Master Robon made it, so I bought one out of curiosity. Best decision I ever made!"
"I'll grab one next time I go for a delivery."
"Might be too late. There weren't many left when I bought mine."
"What? Damn it! I'm going right now."
Robon-001—the portable purifier Robon had first made for Gain and the Bladewyn soldiers.
He had the mechanics of RMEL build them as a way of teaching the technique.
The method was not especially difficult; with enough materials they could produce them without trouble.
The finished units were handed out one by one to those nearby. Once everyone in the Bladewyn mansion had one, they began selling them to the people of the town.
"What's going on? Why are so many territory folk showing up?"
Wendy looked at the long line of residents stretching from the mansion's front gate and asked the butler, Lefry.
"They have come to purchase the Robon-001 that Young Master Robon made."
"Ah, that thing? This many people for that? Can't they just drink water as it is?"
"Young Lady Wendy may not realize. Ordinary territory folk do not easily obtain clean water from upstream, nor water purified by magic."
"Oh. Is that so? Then I understand. Big brother's purifier water does taste good."
"Our own mansion has been continuously purifying water through the portable units Young Master Robon produced."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yes."
Wendy peered curiously through the window at the residents' faces.
Every person walking away with a portable purifier in hand wore a bright, blooming smile.
"Oh…"
"Praise for Young Master Robon is spreading quickly among the people. The old image of a wastrel is vanishing almost overnight."
"He's still a wastrel—just a reformed one?"
"Even so, he has improved."
"Hehe. It's more fun than before. I like it."
Meanwhile, Robon was deep in new research at the laboratory.
"So I simply create a magnetic field here?"
"Yes."
Insert an iron rod into a carefully wound copper solenoid, wind it tightly, place the whole thing in a small box, and apply a magnetic field. That was all.
"Expose a ferromagnetic material to a strong magnetic field and the field aligns the magnetic dipoles inside the substance. Those alignments remain—and it becomes a magnet."
"Hmm… Where exactly did you acquire such knowledge?"
"I read it in a book."
"I would like to see that book myself."
"If the chance comes later."
Andersen nodded, poured mana into the box, and formed the field.
A magnetic field strong enough to float iron fragments in midair.
A few seconds would be more than enough.
"Done."
"Is that truly all it takes?"
"Yes."
With the solenoid present, magnetization would proceed even faster.
He brought an iron scrap to the small rod—click—and it stuck fast.
Excellent.
The experiment was sufficient. Now it was time to build the generator in earnest.
Ordinarily he would have needed permanent magnets—neodymium or ferrite—but there was no way to produce them here.
So he would make electromagnets instead. The external current they required could be supplied by mana stones; carve mana circuits and feed the current that way.
Mana-stone consumption would be negligible next to the electricity the generator would produce.
"Hehehe…"
"…Why are you laughing like that?"
If it was built exactly to his design, expected output would exceed 220 kW. That much power could cover the entire daily consumption of every household in Iron Hall even after light bulbs were installed in all of them.
Later, when household demand rose, it might be another story—but for now it was more than enough.
It was time to start making light bulbs.
At last the moment had come to drive out this miserable darkness.
"Advisor, what do you usually do at night?"
"At night? Don't people ordinarily sleep?"
"Before sleeping."
"I research magic or read books."
"How, when it's dark?"
"I light a candle. Sometimes I use magic to brighten the room."
"What if you could freely turn on bright light even at night—for very little money?"
"Light, you say? Hmm. If that were possible, would it not be like a dream? Do not many people have to go home and do nothing once the sun sets? The world itself would change."
"Heh heh… Right?"
"Moreover, night is a terrifying thing to humans. Does darkness not steal the human world away? Simply by creating light, night would no longer be a frightening presence. And the one who creates that light would receive the praise of the entire world."
I was already sick of everyone clocking out the moment night falls. Finally I can work overtime!
Robon was simply overjoyed that research hours would lengthen. He assumed everyone else would feel the same.
Leaving on time is a luxury in a developing country.
The people of Bladewyn Territory would soon learn the truth.
That light could be more terrifying than darkness.