The Dragon That Drinks Uranium (6)
The Dragon That Drinks Uranium (6)
Jormungand's eyes shone gold.
She, too, was of the Gold-Eye Tribe, like me. However, the pupils themselves were vertical slits, the kind seen only in reptiles or cats.
That was proof she belonged to the Dragon Tribe.
"Is your vision impaired?"
"Why are you suddenly asking me that?"
"The direction you are looking is slightly off."
Jormungand tilted her head in response to the sound of my breathing or footsteps. The center of her gaze still couldn't fix itself, shifting from moment to moment.
"Pardon me."
She closed her eyes again.
"Then shall I listen? To what business brings a compatriot to me."
Compatriot was an expression the Gold-Eye Tribe used to refer to each other. Because their numbers were few, they had generalized this pronoun to strengthen their bond.
In other words, Jormungand, despite being blind, had known from the very beginning that I was of the Gold-Eye Tribe.
When I thought about it, it was something that could be deduced quickly enough.
[Current area radiation level: 4.11 sieverts per hour.]
No other race's body could withstand this level of mana radiation waves. Only I and my compatriots could stand on two feet in this place.
After looking around, I soon broached my business.
"There is something I wish to obtain from you."
"Oh? What is it?"
I had come here for one reason.
"Highly enriched uranium."
Jormungand's shoulders flinched momentarily at my answer. She looked flustered enough that her face contorted.
"From whom did you hear of it?"
It was a secret that almost no one besides her knew. Having laid bare such a fact before her eyes, it was only natural for her to take a guarded stance.
It was a reaction I had expected regardless. Having already received a model answer from a hometown friend, I recited my prepared words without a change in my expression, undaunted by Jormungand's pressing.
"I heard a folktale from the beastfolk. I merely figured it out after mulling it over."
The Dragon Tribe was also a type of beastfolk. Moreover, the Dragon Tribe was a benevolent race that loved kindred tribes, including their own.
Just by indicating in this way that I wasn't hostile toward the beastfolk, Jormungand's regard toward me improved considerably.
"Interesting."
Perhaps my answer was decent enough, as Jormungand smiled, lifting the corners of her mouth with a satisfied expression.
Was this what Vermel had called "favorability farming"? At any rate, it seemed I had navigated it well.
"I would like to know how you figured it out."
"To be honest, I wasn't certain until I arrived here."
"Really?"
It was time to gradually take the lead in the conversation.
I began to walk around the area. She couldn't see it with her eyes, but she would be able to infer from the sound where I was headed.
The lair where Jormungand dwelled possessed a structure in which a water channel circulated once around the spot where the dragon lay. Fresh water with a silvery tint formed a vortex and trickled around the lair.
"Looking around this cave, I can see several interesting structures. The water channel is connected across two points, and right above, there is a device that vents steam. What about over there? I hear the sound of something turning. Could it be a turbine running?"
Beyond that, components with topologically equivalent structures caught the eye. Their appearance didn't differ much from the equipment I had seen and heard about once in a nuclear engineering class.
Looking at this overall structure, I was certain.
"This place is a nuclear reactor."
"...Clever."
"But it is difficult to assert everything from this level of structure alone."
Where I stood now was right in front of the water channel. I scooped up some of the fresh water trickling through the furrow with my hand.
I then put a Mana Cigarette between my lips. I had to wait for the mainstream smoke to circulate through my system and permeate my entire body.
There was no particular reason I was doing this even though I could use magic with the Hardcover Book.
"Hoo."
Cigarettes were nice.
"Pardon me."
I took out a Beginner Scroll from my hip bag and thrust it into the water sloshing in my hand.
[Beginner Water Magic ─ Partial Freezing]
—Crackle.
I placed the water that had phase-transitioned into ice back into the water channel. Plop—the ice fragment, now returned to its original place, received positive buoyancy and bobbed up to the surface.
"It is light water."
"Yes, it is ordinary water that anyone would drink. Is that strange?"
"If you had used heavy water, you would have caught me quite off guard."
In nuclear engineering, distinguishing between light water and heavy water was important. The type of nuclear fuel used varied depending on which water was employed as a moderator to run the nuclear plant.
"For light water reactors that use light water, low-enriched uranium concentrated to 2 to 5 percent is used as nuclear fuel."
"So?"
"It all checks out, but there are no facilities that look like control rods or an enrichment device. Though it would be difficult to install such equipment in a cave of this size to begin with."
"......."
"Well, the fuel used in a light water reactor is obvious."
When I turned my head, there was the sound of the hem of a robe brushing. At that small sound, Jormungand inclined her ear and slowly opened her closed eyes.
"......."
Silence followed.
But it didn't last long.
"...A remarkable one, aren't you. You predicted that far just from the structure of this cave?"
Jormungand rested her chin on her hand and raised the corners of her mouth. She had an expression as if she were deep in thought, chewing something over.
"You—could you be a relative of White Night?"
"White Night?"
"Never mind. If you don't know, it's fine."
Come to think of it, I had been so busy with various things that I had forgotten to ask Vermel whether Aether had any relatives.
Oh well. If there were any, there were. If not, then not.
In any case, the Gold-Eye Tribe was a rare species. Even in the capital with its large population, there had been no one besides me. Much less was there any chance of one appearing in a territory in such a remote frontier.
"Well, since it has come to this, let me show you something."
While I was lost in thought, Jormungand picked up a Pitchblende Magic Stone that had been lying nearby and crushed it finely in her hand. The Magic Stone, crumbling feebly, soon turned into powder. Finally, she placed the powder in a gourd-like bowl and mixed it well with fresh water.
The gruel had taken on an iron-gray color. It didn't look particularly appetizing. Jormungand drank the water down without hesitation, sip by sip.
[Wow, a dragon drinking radioactive contaminated water.]
The sight didn't feel frivolous or absurd. Rather, it was a sight that inspired awe.
It was as if she were performing a tea ceremony. The Dragon Tribe seemed to possess a power that lent grace to whatever action they performed.
After sending the liquid undergoing alpha decay into her steely stomach, Jormungand soon after took a Mana Cigarette from her bosom and put it in her mouth.
"I hear our comrades have been making and selling Mana Cigarettes these days. I was told these are quite expensive cigarettes, and they seem to be worth the price. The mana is denser, so every time I take a drag, my engine room feels refreshed."
"Are the makers beastfolk, by any chance?"
"I don't know that much. I haven't visited a Magic Tower or such places. I only heard that the Gold-Eye Tribe makes them and the beastfolk distribute them."
Mana Cigarettes manufactured by the Gold-Eye Tribe who lived in contact with magic beasts, and distributed by beastfolk. Something was odd.
"Now, it is done. Behold."
[An immense mana wave is detected.]
Bringing both hands together, Jormungand wove the dark silver powder in a posture like working a loom.
There was no separate Transmutation Formation in operation. She had embedded every stroke of the Transmutation Formation needed to construct an object into her own body.
It was a technique that further advanced the Chantless Transmutation I had learned last semester. A technique of this level was impossible to use unless one was an Archmage of Professor Herlein's caliber.
—Ssssshhh.
What she transmuted was a small, grayish-white disc. The trimmed edges were so precise as to be beautiful, but there was no time to sit and admire it.
"This is highly enriched uranium. With my current ability, 92 percent is the limit."
"That's enough. More importantly, how many kilograms does it come to?"
"Can you not tell by looking? I suspect it is no more than 100 grams at most."
Insufficient. This amount was nowhere near enough.
"I would like to request at least several hundred kilograms."
"Huh, you have no small amount of greed."
Still, it couldn't be helped.
[Currently researching technology: Teller-Ulam Design]
[This design is divided into a total of five stages. The first stage is obtaining highly enriched uranium in excess of a certain amount (≥660.1 kg), in order to achieve critical mass for use in experiments and actual combat.]
To induce a meaningful nuclear reaction, the mass of assembled uranium had to be considerably large. Uranium that was not gathered into a single mass was useless no matter how highly enriched.
"Well, it doesn't matter. As long as I have time, I can produce even that amount."
Fwoosh—she tossed the disc toward me. Catching the refined uranium with my bare hands, I realized once again that I was not human.
Just how much exposure I was racking up that day.
"In exchange, there is a condition. You are aware of that, I trust?"
"Yes."
It was about time to make the contract.
The so-called give-and-take.
I had received first, so now it was my turn to give.
"In all my years living as a dragon, I have witnessed the suffering of my fellow beastfolk beyond counting. That is what this concerns."
Jormungand, the Radiation Dragon.
A monster who had once laid waste to half the world alongside the Demon King. Yet her true purpose had been the salvation of the oppressed beastfolk.
Having lived through long ages, her love for her kin ran deep and her thinking was gentle. Therefore, the contract she was about to propose would surely omit many details.
"What I ask of you is one thing. On behalf of this blind one, I would have you look after our beastfolk well this summer."
Just like this. Once again, the prediction proved correct.
"......."
Normally, entering into such an agreement made one party into a patsy.
The exact period of performance—what month and day until when, which region of the beastfolk, how many should be looked after, and what standard constituted looking after well.
"Is there a problem?"
She seemed to have no intention of specifying any of it.
Minute and strict procedures were meaningless before the Dragon Tribe. What they valued in a contract was, above all, voluntary fulfillment based on trust.
At this rate, I would have to look after the beastfolk until she was satisfied. Only then could I obtain as much enriched uranium as I needed.
Yes. If things had gone as they normally would.
"I accept."
On my side, I had an elf who carried around a strategy guide. I had known every last detail of what conditions this dragon sought for the beastfolk's care before I even set foot here.
"Unlike other compatriots, you are refreshingly straightforward—I like that. Or are you simply responding shrewdly depending on who you are dealing with?"
"I have heard that the Dragon Tribe values honor and trust. Is it not more important with what heart one helps, rather than how much one helps?"
"Interesting. I like that attitude."
"Then, I shall take my leave for today."
—Thud.
It had been a short time, but I couldn't deny that it had been fruitful. Having closed the deal, I trudged down the mountain slope with my fortuitous encounter from the Radiation Dragon.
Before I knew it, the sun was peeking over the mountain ridge.
It was dawn.
"Ah."
I was screwed.
It looked like I'd be taking a hit from Rote.