The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 94: The Golden-Eyed And The Humans (3)

Chapter 94: The Golden-Eyed And The Humans (3)

Traditionally, magitek used the mana stone obtained from nature or Beasts as is.

It wasn’t that there weren’t any attempts to dissect it, but most studies failed or had very limited success.

However, with Count Saliere inventing a new machine a year ago, a new potential in materials-magitek began to sprout.

The refiner.

As per its name, it was a device that refined pitchblende stone and converted it into light yellow powder. By inventing this machine, Cromwell Saliere demonstrated that the stone was more effective when refined rather than using it as is.

While further studies needed to be done to figure out which industry the refined powder could be applied to, it wouldn’t be long until the time came when it’d be widely used.

Cromwell entrusted this applied research to Lotte, because he believed that his daughter was an unprecedented genius in the history of their family.

That was why Lotte knew what this machine was.

“Why is this here....”

The family’s secret had been revealed to an outsider in a completely unintended way.

“Oho, doesn’t this look interesting.”

Akasha stroked her chin with intrigue and strode up to the refiner. She acted so quickly that there was no time to stop her.

Mere seconds passed. Akasha realized the identity of the refiner at once.

“It’s a machine that makes pitchblende stone into powder, no?”

“H-how did you....”

“My sister tried to make something similar before.”

At Akasha’s bombshell-like remark, Lotte’s mouth dropped open as wide as a bowl, her expression one of disbelief.

This machine had taken her father a decade of research to make, but not only did it get caught, her friend had already made one a long time ago?

“Why are you so surprised? My sister was known as a genius even amongst our kind.”

It was a widely known fact that the Golden-Eyed’s intelligence surpassed the other races, so someone who was called a genius even amongst them had to be extraordinary.

Well, it was spilled milk. Lotte calmly gauged Akasha’s expression, finding that there didn’t seem to be much besides interest regarding her father’s invention.

She somehow had to change the subject and take control of the conversation. Lotte carefully opened her mouth.

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“Your sister made something like this? When and where?”

“She worked on it right up until we separated. It’s been a few years, I think?”

From what Lotte knew, she and Aether were similar in age. For her who’d just celebrated her coming-of-age, a few years was certainly not a small amount of time.

That meant she at least had to have created such a device by herself around the age of fifteen.

No matter how much a genius she was, that was impossible. Lotte soon took it as Akasha lying to her.

“But she couldn’t bear to finish it. Must have had doubts or something as she was making this kind of thing.”

“Why, what was she making it for?”

“It’s nothing, just because.”

Akasha crossed her arms and turned her back, like she had no business to know. Her tone was gentler compared to when she refused to tell her name, but... it was refusal nonetheless. It was suspicious.

“Why?”

“You’d get hurt if you knew.”

As expected, she knew something.

Lotte pulled out the erotic literature that Akasha had placed and tossed it elsewhere. The book landed on another shelf with a tap and at the same time, the bookshelf in front of them shifted back to its original place.

With her father’s invention exposed, she had to do something. The magic which began being developed by the Saliere family must be completed in the hands of Saliere.

With that thought, the girl ruminated the past and–

“The Teller-Ulam design.”

Out of nowhere, she said those words to Akasha’s face. To see if she’d know this as well.

“Do you know what it is? Your sister told me.”

Her face became quite the sight.

**Her sister created many weapons as the technical advisor.

Every process of the weapon development was a secret. Because her sister had been the sole person in charge of all developments of new weapons, there were many things that even her younger twin Akasha wasn’t privy to. She wasn’t as smart as her sister in the first place.

“The Teller-Ulam design. Do you know what it is? Your sister told me.”

And so when Lotte said that, a chill ran down her spine.

She didn’t know what the Teller-Ulam design was. Who were Teller and Ulam, anyway?

The crucial thing was that her sister had told her something.

Basically, having the word [design] the end meant that it was a weapons project considered important by her sister.

It couldn’t be–had she stolen military secrets?

Akasha recalled the refiner from a little while ago.

─ Pitchblende, scientific name is uraninite. We can refine this and make it into a bomb.

What her sister had told her before losing her memories.

It seemed to be related to that [Teller-Ulam design] thing or whatsit. Otherwise, the girl wouldn’t have brought it up right after they’d seen the refiner.

She was trying to sound her out. How funny.

Her thoughts reached this far within a few milliseconds. The brains of the Golden-Eyed worked incomparably faster than a human’s.

Akasha put on a shocked face on purpose.

“S-she told you about that?”

Although she wasn’t as good at acting as Rosemary... she was still a humanoid Beast who was undercover. Expressing false emotions was a piece of cake.

“It’s an Innate Magic that my sister was trying to make in secret  a while back....... Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. She must trust you a lot if she told you.”

“You know it?”

“Yeah, of course.”

It was a lie, but Akasha pretended to shrug helplessly and kept going.

“It’s magic using the pitchblende stone to design an extremely powerful bomb; that’s the Teller-Ulam design.”

She’d just spouted whatever but it wasn’t unreasonable. Wasn’t it normal to infer that based on the context?

Rather, Lotte was the one looking startled. Her complexion went pale.

Huh. Was that the answer?

It wasn’t going too badly. Akasha continued to weave lies, pushing Lotte.

“But really, she told you what she was going to research and present by herself? She isn’t someone to do that unless she really likes that person.”

“Huh? Right....”

“Why, wasn’t that the case with Flare or whatever, the magic that the Duchess Hasfeldt family had been researching? My sister happened to be researching something similar at the time. She barely told me anything before then.”

Akasha saw Duchess Klais Hasfeldt in Lotte Saliere. She should prepare to be stabbed in the back like this if she’s working on a secret magic.

If she doubted her sister over and over again and that soured their relationship, then wouldn’t it be beneficial to the Demon Army no matter what happened afterwards?

“Mm, anyway, I won’t ask. I don’t want to cause trouble for my sister’s friend, the person who helped me.”

With a grin, she put a finger to her lips. Lotte’s face was a sight to behold.

Alright, with this, the humiliation she’d suffered a few days ago was no more.

**That evening, Akasha helped the maids prepare dinner despite the Saliere family’s protests.

“This really isn’t necessary....”

“I’m in your care. At least let me do it for today.”

At a glance, it seemed like a considerate remark.

Akasha helped with the cooking normally, then when the maids weren’t looking, she pulled out a corked bottle containing white powder from inside her clothes.

“I think it needs more seasoning.”

After removing the cork with a pop, she shook the white powder into the boiling pot and stirred it with the ladle.

Appetizing dishes were set along the wide tablecloth. The ingredients used to make them were cheap enough to be bought by commoners, but they seemed luxurious due to being made by experienced chefs.

The more extravagant nobles didn’t even touch this, apparently. Recalling what Rosemary had said, Akasha inwardly snorted and lifted her fork.

“Aren’t you having soup, Aether?”

“I’m alright today.”

The meals of the Count Saliere family were simple and short for nobles. The situation outside was bleak, so how could they use expensive ingredients simply because they had higher status?

“Thank you for the meal.”

Akasha appreciated this aspect, at least. Nodding, she grabbed her cutlery and stood from her seat.

On this day, the members of the Saliere household went to bed an hour earlier than usual because they felt unusually tired.

It was the same for Lotte. As soon as she confirmed that Akasha was deeply asleep, she passed out.

Akashe counted exactly to 600 then got up. She went to Lotte and tapped her on the cheek.

“Hey, are you sleeping?”

She actually didn’t need to ask, because she could confirm with her sensor the delta waves emanating from Lotte’s mind. That meant she was fast asleep.

“Alright.”

Closing the door quietly, she left the room.

After discovering the refiner belonging to the Saliere family earlier today, Akasha was sure that there had to be something else in the mansion.

Tok, tap, tok. The floor made these sounds with each step but no one jumped out with suspicion.

“That sleeping powder works well.”

Hoping for something useful, Akasha tried almost every door. As expected of a Marquis’ mansion, it took over an hour to explore the large, complicated house.

As she did, she arrived at a storage room off in the corner. It was locked with a spell but it wasn’t that difficult so she unraveled it easily and went inside.

The inside was particularly dark, but Akash had infrared sensors so she could comb through the place without turning on the lights.

“Oh?”

A large object that came up to her chest was blocking her. It seemed to be iron when she ran her hand over it.

“Wait, this is....”

A tokamak.