Chapter 5
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 5: It's the Theory of Relativity, Isn't It?
After Yveline went back, I headed to the deepest part of the Central Library.
Rummaging through books about Hierarchy Magic, I pondered the word Ascension.
The ultimate state pursued by mages in this world.
'What if I apply my physics knowledge to high-hierarchy magic?'
Right now, lacking mana, I barely twisted a 0th Hierarchy Fireball into plasma.
But what if I physically optimize huge magic of the 4th or 5th Hierarchy?
What if I mix the principle of nuclear fission with 5th Hierarchy Summoning Magic that ignores the Law of Conservation of Mass?
Whew, just imagining it gives me goosebumps.
It wouldn't be magic but closer to a strategic nuclear weapon.
Maybe the reason science in this world hasn't developed is that someone already did such things and destroyed the world once.
"......No, let's stop. That's something to use only when I want to resign."
Even though this world is inside a romance fantasy novel I used to read, I have no intention of suddenly changing the genre to post-apocalypse.
I was about to close the book but stopped.
Suddenly, the word Space brushes through my mind.
The relationship between time and space revealed by Einstein.
Theory of Relativity.
If I apply that elegant formula, where gravity determines the curvature of space, to magic.
Couldn't I obtain something beyond modern physics?
'Seems fun?'
Curiosity is a chronic disease and a fatal poison for graduate students.
Without realizing it, I started writing down Field Equations in my notebook.
"The left side is the geometric structure of space, the right side is the mana energy density distribution......."
With my rat's tail amount of mana, I cannot create huge mass.
But what if I compress the density of mana close to infinity?
If I create a singularity at the level of a point particle and fold space, the story changes.
The creation of a so-called Wormhole.
The hypothetical technology called teleportation might be realized at these fingertips.
I gathered mana at my fingertips.
My entire body's mana circuits creak and scream.
A precise formula that does not allow even a 0.01% calculation error.
I poured mana and twisted a point in space.
Chijijik—!
In an instant, the air in the library converged to one point as if sucked into a vacuum cleaner.
"Uh......?"
Space crumples like paper.
The feeling is strange.
Why is blackness with nothing in sight rushing in?
The coordinates I set were clearly on the fluffy sofa in the lab......
It seems the constant in the formula slightly misaligned with the mana constant of this world.
"Fuck, I couldn't even resi......!"
My scream disappeared into the blackout before it even finished.
When I came to my senses, I was standing in a strange space filled entirely with gray.
A dimension of void where the boundary between sky and earth is vague and physical laws seem to be missing.
A spooky chill hit my bones.
'Oh shit. I need to go back immediately.'
It's spooky and chilly, feeling like a ghost will pop out right now and tear up my thesis.
Especially, I hate occult things.
Just as I was about to reverse calculate the coordinates and return.
From beyond the darkness, the sound of metal clashing was heard.
Clang, clang—.
'Fuck! What is it, did something really come?'
I decided not to believe in unscientific fear in my life!
My heart beat as if it would pop out of my mouth.
I put a small amount of mana in my hand with the thought of shoving a plasma ball or something.
Instinctively, I slowly turned my head in the direction the sound came from.
"......?"
There was a woman sitting on the floor bound by huge chains.
Long black hair half-covered her face, but the red eyes shining through were deeper and darker than the space of void.
She is staring at me without movement as if she has been a part of this place for a very long time.
There was a woman sitting on the floor bound by huge chains.
Her long black hair coming down to her waist was unkempt and tangled, half-covering her face.
The clothes she wore were worn out enough to be called rags.
"......Who are you. To step into this gap of void with a human body. And with such a crude coordinate fixing method at that."
That is what I want to ask.
No, common sensically, does it make sense for a person to be in this space of nothingness?
I swallowed dry saliva and stepped back.
'I've never heard of such an existence in the novel.'
A person trapped in chains in a place like this cannot be normal.
If not an escaped prisoner, then a crazy woman, or if not that, maybe a witch sealed while trying to destroy the world?
Instinct is warning me.
That woman is dangerous.
Very much so.
It means there is not a single grain of good in getting involved.
Running away is the best policy here.
"Ah, I apologize. I took the wrong path. I won't disturb you, so please continue resting. I will be going now."
Bow—
After politely bowing and giving a courteous greeting, I turned my body without lingering attachment.
"Wait!"
The woman shouted urgently.
As she moved her body, the chains screamed loudly.
She cleared her voice again and set the mood.
The surrounding space trembles as if responding to her mana.
"Wait, boy! I feel an extraordinary talent in you. Do you desire power? Absolute authority to put the world under your feet! This body can open that path for you!"
Looking at it, it's a typical scene of a fortuitous encounter in a mass-produced fantasy novel.
A normal protagonist would kneel here and ask to be accepted as a disciple.
Unfortunately, I was a graduate student in my past life.
'There is no free lunch in the world. And great power must come with great responsibility.'
Didn't I see clearly with my two eyes how much our neighbor, Peter Parker, suffered?
I am firm.
I don't want to get involved in weird things for no reason.
"No, not at all. If I get power, only work increases. I just want to live lightly working 4 days a week. I decline things like absolute power because it's tiring."
"......What?"
The woman's eyes widen.
While she was blankly staring, I mercilessly turned my body and started calculating return coordinates.
"Hey! Hey! Don't go! Hey!!! Wait a minute!"
The woman who was talking about absolute power just a moment ago crawled on the floor, clanging her chains.
"Please! Just once! I've been alone here for over 1000 years!"
A desperate scream where dignity cannot be found even if you wash your eyes and look.
"I was so glad to see you that I just set the mood a bit! Don't go, please! I was wrong! This big sister was wrong!"
She teared up as if she would grab onto my pant leg.
"I feel like I'm going to die of boredom! No one comes or goes here, and mana is overflowing but there is no one to talk to! I will grant everything you want, no, just let me talk at least! Please just stay by my side a bit!"
"......Excuse me. First, please calm down a bit."
"Ohh! You answered! You answered!"
The woman hit the floor, overwhelmed with emotion.
The chains shook loudly.
Perhaps afraid that I would leave, she hurriedly continued speaking.
"You. Are you truly human? Ah, I am truly glad so I am doing this! I won't force absurd power or anything, let's just chat! Hmm? I beg you like this!"
I stopped with an awkward expression.
I thought she was a legendary sage or witch, but it seems she is just a lonely hikikomori big sister who is terribly lonely.
If she talked to the wall alone for 1,000 years, it would be fortunate if she didn't go crazy.
She doesn't seem like a particularly dangerous person, so I sighed and stopped.
"......Excuse me, your name is?"
"This body's name is Eleanor Aeterna! Once, my fame was widespread throughout the Empire. You must have clearly heard of it!"
Eleanor Aeterna.
I busily searched through my head.
From the setting book of the romance fantasy novel I read in my past life to the Hierarchy Magic books I scanned in the library.
'......Who is Eleanor?'
But there was no such name anywhere.
I put my hand on my head.
"No. It's the first time I've heard it. What do you do?"
"......Do you mean I was truly forgotten?"
The woman's face became sullen in an instant.
"This Eleanor who crossed the threshold of the 10th Hierarchy and transcended the world?! You rascal, how can you be so carefree with this body in front of you!"
At the words '10th Hierarchy Mage', I furrowed my brow.
If it's the 10th Hierarchy, isn't that the state of Ascension that mages crave so much?
"Look here, you. If it's the 10th Hierarchy, it means you ascended. Then are you enjoying a vacation here after becoming a god or something?"
"I did ascend! Fuck! Isn't that why this body is stuck here in this pitiful state!"
My mind goes distant at the sudden curse word.
The way her resentment bursts out right after trying to set a dignified tone in a historical drama tone is unusual.
I heard the final goal of all mages is Ascension.
But the person who actually ascended is stuck in the void bound by chains, unable to go anywhere.
"That means."
"Yes. Do you get the feeling now?"
"So bondage shame play was the final goal of mages? I didn't know the taste of Imperial mages was this hardcore. As expected, the truth is profound."
At my serious question, Eleanor shouted, trembling her body enough to break the chains.
"What obscene nonsense are you blabbering! Could that be possible! I was scammed! I was deceived! I was hit hard in the back of the head by that bastard called truth!"
She banged the floor in anger.
Looking at the shape, it was certain.
She definitely got scammed big time.
I also was once deceived by a professor's words saying 'If you come to our lab, I'll give you a full scholarship'.
I feel a strange sense of kinship as it looks similar to that shitty feeling I felt when I stepped into graduate school.
"What scam? Isn't it the Ascension you guys wanted so much? You said it's casting off mortality."
At my question, Eleanor gave a fishy smile and stared at me through her tangled hair.
"Yes, Ascension. It is called the state of escaping human limitations and becoming one with the truth of the world."
Her voice became low.
"However, the reality is, boy. To maintain the comfortable greenhouse called this world, someone has to block the dimensional storm raging outside with their whole body."
"......Don't tell me."
"The name is grandiose, but in reality, it means it's no different from a Human Breakwater."