Portable Water Purifier (2)
Clatter, jolt!
The Black Terrahole tore across ground littered with rocks and rubble. Behind the wheel sat Ted; in the passenger seat, Grand Duke Alvin Victoria Mardin was having the time of his life.
"This is fantastic! What a thrill!"
"Impressive, isn't it? My son built this."
"Truly remarkable. To think that scatterbrained boy would make a discovery like this."
The Black Terrahole, which had been racing through the grand ducal castle's rear grounds, gradually eased off the speed.
"When you open it up on a proper road, it's several times more exhilarating than this."
"I simply must try that next time. This place is a bit cramped for something like this."
The castle grounds were vast enough to house several buildings on their own, yet he still looked around his own estate with open dissatisfaction.
"Thinking of expanding, then?"
"Hardly. Can you imagine the earful I'd get from my administrator?"
"Hahaha! He is a bit particular, that one."
"If he were only a bit particular, I wouldn't even bring it up. Hah!"
"Ahem!"
As if on cue, the administrator who had been waiting outside announced his presence with a thunderous cough.
"…How long have you been standing there?"
"For quite some time before Your Grace arrived."
"Ahem… I see."
The Grand Duke scratched his head sheepishly and looked away.
"The reason I'm so careful with the purse strings is precisely because of Your Grace's reckless funding of Vulkan—!"
"Vali, look at this! Look at the extraordinary thing Vulkan has produced!"
"I'm well aware of the Black Terrahole. But the maintenance costs are enormous, its cargo capacity is poor relative to its speed, and the ride comfort is only marginally better than a carriage—wait, wh-what are you doing?"
"Try it first, then talk."
Seizing the moment, Grand Duke Alvin bundled the administrator into the back seat.
"I don't need to ride it. I've already seen it."
"This is different from the one you saw. Ted, take us around one more time."
"But the craftsmen from Vulkan should be arriving shortly, shouldn't they?"
"What are they going to say if I'm a little late? After all the investment I've poured into them, and Bladewyn's third son still outdid them!"
Ted scratched his head. He couldn't decide whether to feel proud or uneasy. Watching the Grand Duke carry on like this, he worried that Vulkan's fiercely competitive artisans might take a dislike to the Bladewyn name.
"I'll just get ou—"
"Drive on."
"Yes, sir."
The Black Terrahole set off once more, circling the castle grounds at a leisurely pace. The moment the wheels began to roll, the administrator's expression changed.
"…How much shock-absorption magic did you pack into this? At this rate, the mana stone consumption must be monstr—"
"Not at all. This is a technology called suspension."
"Sus… what?"
"Suspension. Haha. You wouldn't know it. It's a technique my son invented."
Ted's quiet parental bragging drew a snort of amusement from Grand Duke Alvin and left the administrator's eyes bulging.
"So this doesn't consume mana at all?"
"That's right. But watch this."
Thump!
"Even over this uneven stone path, you feel only a slight rocking. On a carriage, a road like this would have you cracking your skull on the ceiling, wouldn't it? Hahaha! On a properly paved highway, you wouldn't even notice the motion."
"Extraordin…ary. This is… whew…"
The administrator's eyes went wide and began to gleam.
"This… if handled right, we could rake in a fortu—"
"Hold on. Looks like the people from Vulkan have arrived."
Figures from Vulkan were filing in through the castle's main gate. They, too, caught sight of the Black Terrahole and stopped short.
"Well now. The Black Terrahole seems to be collecting more passengers by the minute. Ted—doesn't it fill you with pride, watching your son's achievement become so widely known?"
"……Yes."
Ted's answer came slowly; his gaze had locked onto someone in particular.
A woman with blue hair in a white shirt. Looking thoroughly furious, she fixed her eyes on Ted.
"Ted!!"
"Tch."
She strode over, only belatedly spotting Grand Duke Alvin, and hurriedly bowed her head.
"I present myself before Your Grace."
"As fiery as ever, I see."
"My apologies. I just ran into someone I haven't wanted to see in a long time…"
"Must you air your family grievances in front of me, Sophia Bladewyn?"
She flinched and swallowed hard.
"I beg your pardon, Your Grace."
"Enough. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let it pass."
"Thank you."
"Still the same old sister, I see."
"……Ted. I've heard something I can hardly believe."
Grand Duke Alvin climbed down from the passenger seat, took her by the shoulder, and steered her into the vacant spot.
"Your… Grace?"
"Vali, you get out as well. I've already ridden twice—that's plenty. I'll wait inside. The four of you, take a cozy little turn around the grounds."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Administrator Vali stepped down after the Grand Duke. Sienna, Hendor, and Sophia, who'd been more or less shoved into the Black Terrahole, were already busy examining every inch of it.
"Let's go."
VROOOOOM!
The rough snarl of the exhaust made Hendor and Sophia jump first. The unexpectedly sharp acceleration made them gasp second. And the dramatically reduced shake of the chassis left them thunderstruck third.
But what stunned them most of all was the instrument panel in front of the wheel: the Mana Fuel (MF) gauge wasn't dropping.
"What kind of… trick is this?"
"There's no trick."
"That gorgeous exhaust note! And the MF consumption has been cut this low, yet the ride is still this stable?!"
Hendor shot to his feet in pure delight.
"That's dangerous, Father!"
"Hwahaha! I'm fine! Floor it! I want to see what this beast can do at full throttle!!"
"What are you talking about? Have you forgotten this is the grand ducal castle? Hendor?"
"Ah. Right."
He sat back down, looking sheepish.
"This isn't shock-absorption magic. If it were, there wouldn't be even this much vibration—and never mind the MF cost. What on earth did you do?"
"Suspension."
"What? Suspension? What's that?"
Ted turned his head with a victorious smile.
"You abandoned the family to study magitech engineering, and you don't even know that?"
"…I've never heard of such a thing in my life."
"You've still got a long way to go. Robon stayed home and still managed to invent it just fine."
"Ha. You're seriously telling me that good-for-nothing brat modified this? You expect me to believe that?"
"Heh heh—so Robon Bladewyn was shut up in his room researching magitech all this time?!"
"That's right."
"I don't believe it. That wastrel knows a technique even I don't? And from the Bladewyn house, of all places—people who know nothing but the sword—you're saying someone like that came out? You're just teasing me—"
Screeeech!!
Ted Bladewyn slammed the vehicle to a halt, his face hardening as he fixed her with a cold stare.
"Don't insult the Bladewyn name. And do I look like I have that kind of free time? You think I'd stage all this just to mess with you?"
He killed the engine, stepped out, and called over the knights standing by.
"See that no one lays a finger on this vehicle. Not even if my own son shows up."
"Yes, sir!!"
"I trust no one will dare touch my property inside the Grand Duke's castle."
This was no longer a matter of mere courtesy toward a guest; the honor of Grand Duke Alvin Victoria Mardin himself was on the line. The knights hurriedly surrounded the car, sealing the Black Terrahole off from the three visitors.
"What a shame. I was hoping to take a closer look."
"Cold-blooded bastard."
"Such a pity…"
None of the three dared cause a scene inside the grand ducal castle, so they withdrew without further protest.
"Anyway, people from Robel's side are here as well, so let's head up. Sienna, you head back to Vulkan."
"Yeees."
Even as they entered the building, neither pair of eyes left the Black Terrahole.
"Whew… this mana stuff is harder than I thought."
Robon Bladewyn's workshop was buried under stacks of books.
If I'm going to live in this world, I need to understand it properly first, don't I?
Even if he wanted to invent or build something, he first had to know what existed here that didn't in his old world, what was missing, where to find things, and whether they could be obtained at all.
Principles and Construction of Magitech Engines
The Link Between Ancient History and Magitech Engineering
Culture of the Tesreia Era
A Continental Explorer's Southern Expedition
Magitech Weapons: Truth or Fiction
What Is Mana?
There was no shortage of titles, but a striking number of them were connected to the ancient city of Tesreia. After reading a few, it became clear that the magitech engineering flourishing in this world was, in essence, the inheritance of Tesreia.
"Fascinating. So magitech engineering already existed even further back than this age?"
More astonishing still was the fact that modern magitech couldn't even begin to match the achievements of that earlier era. That much was obvious from one particular volume:
The continents of the past held far more mountains, seas, and rivers than today. The south, in particular, was choked with colossal mountain ranges. Yet what of the south now? Centered on the Stens Coalition, it has become a hub of commerce and trade. The chief reason lies in the southern terrain itself: mostly flatlands, few mountains, and open access to the sea. And that is because, in the age of Tesreia, wars between the Titans shattered every mountain range to rubble.
"Titans are that powerful?"
Titans are broadly divided into five ranks: Transcendence, Calamity, National, Hero, and Normal. A single Transcendence-class Titan is said to be capable of reshaping the land and erasing a nation. Tesreia possessed five Transcendence-class Titans, and when those machines took the field, the entire continent was transformed beyond recognition.
The author's name was Fanfarona—which, roughly translated, meant "Windbag." What kind of writer named themselves Windbag?
"So chances are this is just a novel…"
Still, other books were full of traces suggesting Tesreia's magitech far surpassed the present age: their way of life, the weapons they used, the existence of Titans, and more.
Where there's smoke, there's fire. The more he read, the more certain things simply became obvious.
If I can get my hands on books from the ancient empire, that might be worth it.
It was nothing like modern engineering. The core of magitech, after all, was the use of mana as an energy source.
"This is fun… too much fun. Heh heh heh. I kept wondering why I ended up in Robon Bladewyn's body. Was it for this?"
Just reading was enough to make him lose track of time. Learning the history and present state of this world was its own reward, and ideas for the things he would create next kept sparking to life until his whole body felt hot with excitement.
What fascinated him most of all was the boundless potential of mana as an energy source—and just how broken magic really was. Magic's versatility and limits shifted sharply with a mage's skill, but even so, the sheer range of what it could do was staggering.
"You can generate magnetism with it, too?"
The single greatest inconvenience since arriving in this world had been the absence of electricity. He could produce it temporarily, but permanent generation was impossible. Even the manor barely used electricity; most lighting came from open flame.
His workshop was no different. He was reading by oil lamp and candlelight right now, and the reek of oil plus the weak, flickering glow were exhausting him to no end.
"If I'm lucky, I might even be able to build a generator."
He scrawled a rough design on a sheet of paper and bolted outside.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
He went straight to the annex mage's quarters and pounded on the door.
Creeeak—
The door opened to reveal Saint, eyes half-lidded with sleep.
"Young Master Robon? What brings you at this hour? Yaaawn…"
"Sorry for waking you. Can you use magnetic magic?"
"Pardon? Magnetic magic, all of a sudden?"
"There's something I want to build, and I need magnetic magic for it!"
"I can't."
"…You can't?"
If you can't, just say so from the start. Why draw it out and get my hopes up?
"I can't, specifically."
"…Meaning?"
"A sixth-circle mage might be able to. I'm only fourth-circle."
"Where am I supposed to find a sixth-circle mage?"
"There should be some in the principality capital, shouldn't there?"
"The capital?"
"Yes. Yaaawn…"
"Thanks!"
He didn't fully understand what sixth-circle or fourth-circle meant, but if he went to the capital, he could meet one. He hurried back to his room, packed his things, and climbed into bed.
He would leave for the capital first thing in the morning.
When Father gets back, I'll ask to borrow the Black Terrahole. If that doesn't work, I'll just have to ride a horse.
With that resolve, he waited for morning.
The next morning, his father returned—with guests in tow.
VROOOOOM! Screeeech—!
The Black Terrahole pulled into the manor's central garden in all its glory. Robon, too impatient to wait, ran up to his father as he stepped down from the vehicle.
"Father, you're back? There's something I wanted to ask—"
That was when a woman he had never seen before frowned at him.
"Hey. You finally see your aunt after all this time and you don't even say hello?"
"…Aunt?"