Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 169: Counting and Breaks

"And this device... Does it have any function beyond storing energy?"

"No, it’s just a simple power bank," Damien replied. The model was chosen for its simplicity and capacity.

Sebas seemed deep in thought, holding the power bank in his hands. Damien found it unusual to see Sebas so contemplative.

"Would it be acceptable if the energy stored in this device runs out and it ends up being damaged afterward? Of course, I will compensate you accordingly," Sebas asked.

Damien blinked in surprise. That sounded ominous. Was Sebas planning to take it apart?

If it were the smartphone, Damien would prefer to keep it just in case, but for the mobile battery, he didn’t mind. After some thought, he nodded.

"I see. May I borrow it for a while?" Sebas continued.

"Yes, of course," Damien replied. Sebas wasn’t the type to mishandle things, so Damien had no issue with it.

After receiving permission, Sebas walked over to Theo, who was working at her desk, and began speaking to him in hushed tones.

Are they discussing something they didn’t want Damien to hear? He wondered if Sebas had thought of a way to recharge the battery. If so, Damien would be thrilled. Not only was the smartphone incredibly useful even without signal reception, but it also contained photos and videos from Earth. Being able to keep using it indefinitely would be amazing—truly amazing.

With a small sense of hope, Damien returned to his task, pulling out another document from the pile.

...

"Phew, that should do it for today," Damien muttered, looking at the third pile he had completed. A sense of accomplishment filled him.

It was almost dinnertime, so it seemed like a good stopping point. He was starting to feel a little bit drained. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Thinking about how Theo and the others had been doing this kind of work every day, Damien felt a newfound respect for them. Even with the smartphone making things easier for him, the effort was still exhausting. He now understood why Theo and his team always looked so worn out.

Since handing over the mobile battery, Theo and Sebas had been in deep discussion about it, both of them wearing serious expressions.

At one point, they had called Damien over and asked him to explain the smartphone’s functions. He went over everything that worked without signal reception: the spreadsheet app, the camera, video recording, and audio recording features. Theo had been incredibly excited.

When Damien demonstrated the camera by taking a picture of Theo and Sebas standing together, even Sebas seemed startled. At least neither of them appeared as ghostly figures in the photo, Damien thought with relief.

After that, the discussions grew even more intense. Eventually, other people—ones Damien didn’t recognize—were called in. The situation was clearly becoming a big deal.

Of course, given that the smartphone was a culmination of Earth’s technological ingenuity, it wasn’t surprising that they were so fascinated. The fact that Damien was using less than half its potential due to the lack of signal now seemed all the more impressive. He hadn’t appreciated it enough back on Earth.

If they figured out a way to solve the battery issue, Damien would be overjoyed. It would allow him to be more useful to Theo.

Or perhaps it would be even more helpful to teach someone smarter how to make full use of the device. Either way, as long as Theo benefited, Damien would be satisfied.

As he sipped the tea Sebas had left for him alongside some snacks, Damien let his thoughts drift.

But the meeting didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. The number of unfamiliar faces had grown to four, and they were completely different from the ones who had joined earlier.

Damien’s stomach growled. It seemed like dinner would be delayed for quite a while.

With a sigh, he grabbed another sheet from the fourth pile and got back to work.

...

Several days had passed since Damien started assisting Theo.

After the initial days, Theo had prohibited him from using his smartphone. Theo had explained that there would be more complex calculations later and requested Damien to save the phone’s battery for that task. For now, Theo insisted Damien handle the simple calculations manually.

Damien had agreed easily, but it turned out to be much more challenging than he expected.

Though the formulas Theo needed weren’t particularly difficult, Damien managed to put them together while double-checking his work. The real ordeal was the seemingly endless addition tasks.

He never realized just how exhausting it could be to repeatedly add numbers by hand. Thinking back to how he had initially breezed through it using the spreadsheet app, he wanted to go back in time and punch his overly confident self.

To make things worse, Damien didn’t even know how to use an abacus, so he had no choice but to rely on traditional written calculations. His head felt like it might explode from the monotony.

"Someone... please... give me a calculator..." he groaned.

"Damien, I left today’s batch on the table!" Theo’s cheerful voice reached his ears as Damien lay half-asleep in bed, his sleep schedule thoroughly wrecked.

Another day in the numerical abyss was about to begin.

...

Ever since starting his work with Theo, Damien had made it a habit to take a walk around the mansion during his post-lunch break. He had realized on the third day that if he didn’t take a break, the numbers would start blurring together, making it impossible to concentrate.

On this particular day, Damien strolled to the backyard to watch the Dragonewts’ training session.

"Seven! Eight! Nine! One hundred and thirty!" the voices of Thalatha, Arba’a, Sitta, and Tis’a rang out as they practiced their weapon swings.

Ithnan, who wasn’t participating in the drills, stood behind Damien as his bodyguard.

The day after the doctor had declared them fit to resume activity, the four younger Dragonewts had immediately resumed training. Ithnan, however, had been assigned to stay by Damien’s side to protect him.