Chapter 81

"Hmm? Why is that?"

On this day, I was twisting my neck in the Emerald Room.

"Excuse me, Lady Asha. I have a bit of a consultation... What's wrong?"

Wearrel, who had entered the room, asked me, who was twisting my neck in front of three flasks.

Herkov, who was in the room with me, indicated his helplessness with a gesture.

Ikt had gone to open the door and returned with Wearrel, who was aware of the situation.

"Trying to recreate the Sefirot Sefira? Did you encounter any problems?"

Ikt, who had seen the process halfway, responded, as Herkov, who had been watching the entire time, explained.

"It's completely impossible. The mist in one of them has completely disappeared."

One of the three flasks was empty.

The other two still contained a faint, unidentified smoke or mist.

The Sefira, which had started speaking as a result of decomposing air in a science experiment, had done so about four or five years ago.

Incidentally, one of the remaining two was fixed upside down with equipment.

However, the mist lingered in the round part of the flask, raising new questions about whether gravity was not working or if it had buoyancy.

The only certain thing was that it did not speak like the former Sefira.

"Lady Asha, why three again?"

"I thought if Terry and the others had them, they could detect enemies in advance."

Sefira was the only one and usually stayed around me, or wandered out of curiosity.

Sometimes she observed the younger ones, but she herself sought exploration.

That's why I thought it would be good to have a dedicated intelligent entity to protect the younger ones.

"Wouldn't it be risky if they found out? Children might slip and say something."

"In that case, I'll just station them without telling them. If it's known that I can create invisible, undetectable entities, it would raise suspicion."

Wearrel's concern was addressed by Ikt, who intended to use them for unauthorized stalking.

I felt bad about it, but everyone I consulted said it would cause trouble.

After all, unlike me, the legitimate sons, Terry and the others, had solid multiple protections.

Ignoring that and sending the alchemical product Sefira would be like saying you can't trust them.

The cathedral incident was due to enemies infiltrating inside the solid defenses.

That's why I was particularly cautious, and ignoring it to place a similar entity to Sefira would be like provoking a fight.

"It ended up failing. There's no reaction at all, even when I talk to them. Do they need more time? I tried to recreate the conditions as closely as possible."

The spherical, glowing Sefira circled the flasks and then stopped above the one on the stand.

"If we just observe the progress, two are unnecessary. I request permission for direct analysis."

"Sefira can't tell from the outside. Yeah, sure."

Sefira had been scanning for a long time and was very interested.

Even after all that, her curiosity was still unsatisfied.

I opened the mouth of the flask Sefira was on.

The mist rose to the mouth as if it had been blown by the wind.

As if waiting for it, Sefira rode into the open mouth of the flask, and the mist was quickly absorbed and disappeared.

"......What!? Did you eat it?"

My attendants were also surprised by my shock.

The Sefira, who was reacting weakly, showed no response.

Worried, I called out to her as her light dimmed.

"Sefira, how are you?"

"It is just something that exists, without a defined self. I can assert that it cannot provide any experience value beyond learning from the master."

"Experience value. You mean if it had a chance to establish a self, it could become like you?"

"The unknown remains unchanged. It is unclear whether it can develop a strong desire to learn like me or if it can develop a will to obey the master."

"First, it's unclear whether it can become an intelligent entity, and if it does, whether it will be obedient. And the effort to raise it. I thought it would help protect Terry and the others, but it seems it's not a problem that can be solved quickly."

Sefira took years to become what she is now.

Moreover, it's not clear what triggers the development of an intelligent entity, and even Sefira doesn't know.

"Yeah, then let's just observe. The safety of Terry and the others will still have to be monitored through the Strategus Marquis."

However, it seems the Strategus Marquis is also in a difficult situation.

Corrupt officials and their associates, who have suffered from the dismantling of the Criminal Guild, are attacking the Strategus Marquis, who is leading the effort.

Duke Lukaios also supports the dismantling of the Criminal Guild, so the situation hasn't become critical, but the mental fatigue is heavy, according to the information from Reven.

Yeah, that's fine.

"So, Wearrel? What did you want to consult with me?"

"Ah, yes. Actually, as a result of my personal research, I have created this."

Wearrel put down the box he was carrying.

When he opened the lid, two crystal orbs were wrapped in cotton to prevent damage.

Somehow, a magic array was engraved inside the crystals, forming a square box.

"Provisionally called the Magic Transmission Device. By channeling magic power through the magical circuit embedded inside, it can transmit the voice of the person holding the other crystal while the magic power is flowing."

Wearrel's explanation—could this be a telephone?

And it's wireless, too?

I was stunned, and Herkov was also amazed.

"That's amazing. How far can it transmit?"

"It is indeed impressive. It can transmit as far as Lukisaria. However, this is possible thanks to the knowledge Lady Asha provided about the small lightning lamp and sound. Of course, there are still issues."

Wearrel, who had heard me discussing the properties of sound with Sefira during hide-and-seek, had developed this idea and brought it to form.

The existing issues include high magic power consumption, the need for the same type of magic power, the requirement to use wind magic, poor sound quality, and the need to pre-arrange a time to communicate.

"I couldn't improve it further. I thought Lady Asha might have some ideas to solve these issues."

"That's amazing. Even with the issues, it's still impressive that it can transmit at all."

Honestly, I thought it would take much longer to create something like a telephone, but using magic, it could be done so quickly.

Graham Bell would be surprised.

"Transmission and reception are working. The wind attribute is necessary for sound and propagation. The same type of magic power means that the crystals need to use a wavelength that can be identified individually. It might be better to send a signal first to stabilize it. In that case, typing would be more reliable."

"Please elaborate."

It seems Sefira was also interested.

However, Morse code or email wouldn't work.

I thought of something similar and recalled the Golden Room.

"It's like a piano. If you press here or activate it, it produces the same sound or character. Limiting the function first to stabilize it might be a good idea. Ideally, I'd like to make it so you can manually input into the crystal. That way, we can exclude the need for specific attributes or magic power quality. We can focus on the circuit for the crystals to communicate, making it more reliable."

As I explained my thoughts, Sefira, who had stopped speaking, began proposing a circuit to make my idea possible.

I wrote down Sefira's proposals on paper.

I also suggested some alchemical tools I could think of.

"I remember there was a record of creating something like a tuning fork to harmonize magic power. It was used to amplify magic power in alchemy to stabilize and double it. I think it could be used here. And the essence I'm thinking of for attribute assignment. If we can do this, we can start with the wind attribute already assigned to the Magic Transmission Device."

Thinking about it made me excited.

As Wearrel said, considering the structure of the small lightning lamp, it seems possible to achieve this by combining magic and alchemy.

Magic lacks durability, but alchemy can compensate for that.

"Combining all of this might be difficult, but if we balance the circuits in the crystals, even if voice transmission is challenging, we can reliably transmit a single word, right?"

It's still far from the convenience of the previous life, and it can't be called an email or even a letter.

This is just an idea.

"Ah, but I don't have many friends, so even if I make this, I don't have many uses for it."

"No, no, no, why are you trying to use it as a substitute for letters? This is a great invention?"

"Lord Herkov, that's probably Lady Asha's purity."

"This would have a huge demand as a military supply, wouldn't it?"

Ikt said something ominous, but it seems the others share the same opinion.

Compared to what Wearrel created, it's more practical and a bit too much, so it might be shelved.

It seems I proposed a weapon that could control information warfare.

Regular update

Next: Tea Party with the Younger Ones 4