Chapter 45

I Married the Dragon I Killed

Chapter 45: Commoner Specimen

Commoner Specimen
Chapter 45. Commoner Specimen

— I’m thinking of confiscating all the rings.
The morning in the Grand Duke’s territory began with Ruri’s grumbling.
She approached with a look of displeasure.
For Ferda, who was eating breakfast, it was a bewildering situation.
— Is that so?
So Ferda replied dismissively.
— The workshops that Ferda-nim brought don’t listen to a word I say. Is it really that hard not to spill a single drop of blood in this castle?
— I wouldn’t know.
— Fine, let’s say they can spill some. But those bastards don’t even clean up what they spilled themselves and just leave.
— Is that so?
— If they feared the dragon, they’d at least correct their habits, don’t you think?
— Do as you wish.
Ruri’s chattering mouth stopped.
She looked up and stared at Ferda with a pout.
— Ferda-nim is the worst.
— Is that so?
— Even right now, at this very moment, you’re giving half-hearted answers.
— I see.
— Are you acting like this just because I gave you a scrub once?
With pettiness.
She said it very quietly so it wouldn’t be heard, but Ferda heard it.
It would be a lie to say he didn’t hold a grudge since that day.
Since he had already gotten his revenge, this time he decided to answer sincerely.
— Refining mana stones is originally a job that takes a lot of time. Research isn’t something done quickly, right?
— Ferda-nim reached the 3rd Circle so quickly, so can you understand something like that?
— I practiced looking from the perspective of an ordinary person.
The old Ferda wouldn’t have understood.
But the current Ferda, who knows the old Ferda, could look down with a bit of condescension at the perspective of ordinary people by recalling what he felt while rapidly breaking through the circles.
— I see.
This time Ruri responded dismissively.
— So postpone that punishment a bit longer as well. Soon I will bring good news, and then—.
— Euhahaha! Euhahahahaha!
Before Ferda could finish speaking, the laughter of a madman echoed through Castle Valdrova.
That sound was drawing near.
— Euhahaha! Finally! I finally did it! I no longer have to bake these damn mana stones! Euhahaha!
That madman was Vernel Marquis.
Matted hair, half-discarded robe.
Ferda and Ruri’s eyes fixed on the spot where he passed by.
Ferda sipped his tea and spoke.
— Speaking of the devil… it seems the results are out.
The time had finally come to test why he had brought Vernel.
After running like a madman, Vernel did nothing but sleep from then on.
He performed life-shortening work, reducing his sleep time for the research on mana stone refinement.
When he presented himself before Ferda, he did so with a neat appearance.
— I thought it might work today, and it really did. Hahaha!
— Will you explain a bit now?
— Ah, yes! Of course. This is how it works…….
Vernel began to explain something enthusiastically.
He rambled on explaining the research content for a full hour, and placed a final period on the densely filled blackboard.
— Did you understand what I said?
Ferda, having listened to all that explanation, said this.
— Did you do it?
— I, of course I did it all. I have organized it to a certain extent, and I tried to explain it as simply as possible, which is why I spoke like that…….
— Mmm.
Ferda thought.
“It seems my head isn’t that good.”
That reaching the position of Archmage was purely through effort.
Listening to Vernel’s story, he couldn’t understand what he was saying at all.
Around the 30-minute mark, he thought he had seen some universe, went blank briefly, then came to his senses when the final period was placed.
Ferda looked at the assistant researchers.
Their eyes were bright and alert.
Eyes that a researcher could never have.
“It seems no one understood.”
They were fellows Stefan Pascal had sent, saying they were reasonably smart.
If he were an outstanding merchant, he would have chosen the best of the best to send for technology acquisition.
“Then, the problem of technology leakage won’t exist for the time being.”
Ferda thought positively.
Anyway, as long as he understands it and can show it, it’s fine, right?
— Show me what it is.
— Yes!
He brought one from among the numerous magical devices.
It was an object called a mana fixer.
If you imbue mana, it fixes a specific area of mana in the air along with fifth-tier binding magic.
— If you place a monster corpse here, and stimulate it with a bit of lightning magic…….
Mana gushed out from the dead corpse.
Useless mana, rough in texture, welled up like pollutants and floated in the air.
— And then, if you heat this to a certain temperature, compress it, and cool it like this……!
Burning with fire, compressing, cooling……
After a complex process, a crystal emitting pure white smoke appeared.
It was a stone that glowed faintly blue.
— This is the mana stone!
Vernel pulled out the result with an ambitious voice.
It emitted a dim light like a magic crystal infused with mana.
It was a wonderful moment, but Ferda was not particularly moved.
“Murky.”
An object that Ferda had already seen in the future.
Yet unlike then, the color was pale, and a rather coarse feeling emanated from it.
Just in case, Ferda asked Vernel.
— What is the efficiency?
— Uh…… that is…….
Vernel, who had been spouting indecipherable knowledge fluently, got stuck right there with a dry thud.
— Vernel Marquis.
— Y-yes!
— Didn’t I ask you? I asked how much efficiency is obtained.
— T-that is…….
Vernel broke out in a cold sweat and answered with difficulty.
— It consumes the mana value of 7 mana stones to make 1.
— Then the efficiency would be 14.2%.
— Rounded up it’s 14.3%. And from there as well…….
It seems there is more left.
That remaining part didn’t look good either, as he hesitated and faltered.
— There is mana that leaks while the mana stone’s own capacity is increased…… so you have to see it as dropping by another half…….
Which means you need 14 mana stones to obtain the efficiency of one original stone.
— Approximately 7% then.
— Including the first one it’s 7.1%… Gulp, I’m sorry.
Vernel pointed it out tactlessly and thought to himself.
“Ah, I’m finished.”
“My research ends here, I suppose.”
“Better to hire a mage, where would you use something with 7.1% efficiency?”
Sentencing himself to death internally, he was going through the 5 stages of grief.
Ferda, who had remained silent for a while looking at the mana stone, opened his mouth.
— Regarding the efficiency.
— Yes.
— Can you increase it more?
— Y-yes…?
— I asked if you can increase the efficiency further.
From the moment he brought Vernel Marquis, he thought.
If this bastard simply didn’t give up, he had no intention of letting it end in failure.
Vernel nodded at that question.
— O-of course. It is possible. I will definitely make it happen.
— Good.
Ferda rose from his seat.
— Then, continue researching.
Vernel looked at him, blinking.
Just when he thought that was the end, Ferda added.
— I will gather the people who need to hear this story. Until then, organize the research content and the demonstration once more. Understood?
— Y-yes!
Leaving those words, Ferda walked out.
He believed in this research about which not even he himself was certain.
So he had no choice but to do his best.
Unlike Vernel, who trembled with such anxiety, Ferda’s thoughts were different.
“He used it perfectly.”
Ferda knows.
Magitech develops somehow.
And he roughly knew how arduous that development process was.
Even when Vernel introduced it, sneers circulated.
“Who would use something like that? What use is it? It lacks dignity,” they said things like that.
But how did it turn out later?
“Mages use magitech the most.”
Because it provides convenience on an entirely different dimension compared to magic circles that calculate and use.
The era of monopolizing the mysteries held by magic comes to an end.
For Ferda, who knew that day, there were plenty of reasons to believe in Vernel.
Ten days passed and a VIP paid a visit.
The Old Lord, Count Consillus, and the branch manager of the Pascal Trading Company, Stefan Pascal.
Vernel gave a demonstration and provided a supplementary explanation before them, just as he had done for Ferda.
Having had ten days to organize himself, it was better than when he first explained it to Ferda.
Even so, the content was difficult.
— Hooh, I see.
— I see. It was good content.
Ferda observed their reactions in silence, then asked them.
— Did you really understand? I couldn’t understand either, so speak honestly.
Only then did the two confess the truth.
Their voices lacked soul, and that was fitting.
— Hehehe, I’m sorry. It has become a habit to play along. This old man is a layman in that field.
— Me too, I didn’t want to look like I didn’t know…
As expected, both were only pretending to know.
Only Vernel, who thought he had summarized it more simply, found himself in a difficult situation.
— Even so, from what I know, it seems the conclusion is that the efficiency is not high. Is that correct?
— That is correct.
— Mmm, truly an ambiguous object.
Count Consillus stroked his beard and muttered, and a cold sweat ran down Vernel.
Stefan tried to highlight the positive aspects against Consillus’s negative stance.
— From an economic aspect, it doesn’t seem immediately good either, but still, isn’t it a good object in the sense that it can supply mana?
— Ah, that is a part I explained… it is not an object that can supply mana to mages. It cannot recover or charge like potions or elixirs.
— Ah, then it’s a bit ambiguous… It succeeds, but the efficiency is not that high…
Stefan, who was trying to defend it, also stepped back.
Both gave answers close to negative.
Stefan’s back grew damp with sweat.
That was something Ferda had also anticipated.
— Don’t think about efficiency right now. In any case, that is something our chief technician will handle later.
Ferda had already anticipated it.
Revealing it at a point where negative sounds would be heard—he showed it to these two for a different reason.
— I want to hear what to do first through this object.
— What do you want to discuss specifically?
Ferda lifted the mana stone Vernel had made and spoke.
— Literally, a power source for innovative objects that do what mages can do in their place. Think of the work that required mages, and the work that is surprisingly trivial for mages.
What was needed were ideas.
Count Consillus and Stefan were people immersed in their respective fields.
At Ferda’s words, Count Consillus spoke first.
— If mages can be imitated through that object… Does that mean the deficient frontline infantry can also be supplemented with mages?
He was an old soldier to the bone, raised in a count’s household.
So the first thing he thought of was a replaceable element against the threats of the Far East.
— It’s possible. If processed into weapons, wielding magic is no chore.
He told them the name it would one day be called.
— Magitech Infantry.
— Hooh… Magitech Infantry.
Light seemed to shine in Count Consillus’s eyes.
Mages were beings that demonstrated efficiency in almost any situation.
Among them, they displayed the greatest efficiency especially against monsters.
The Far East was a land with more monsters than beasts.
A region more desperate than any other.
Yet regarding the front lines, it was no different from an exile for mages.
The only mage with decent skill and motivation was Thesalos Walcher.
— Good. Just filling the mage gap provides hope. If efficiency is resolved, processing it into weapons first would be best.
Count Consillus showed motivation.
Befitting an Old Lord who could not bear to see the sacrifices of the infantry, he seemed to want to push that direction quickly.
Then Stefan objected.
— Count Consillus’s opinion is also correct. If infantry can freely become mages, it will help. But, isn’t transport also important?
— Transport, you say?
— Yes. The most important element of the battlefield is always supplies. Even if firepower is outstanding, if supplies become a problem immediately, doesn’t it become useless?
— That is also true. But many monsters are dying in the Far East right now. If we focus on manufacturing using those monsters here, that difficult problem can be postponed for later.
Count Consillus and Stefan did not yield an inch, emphasizing the importance of what each wanted.
“As expected, asking these two was the right decision.”
Just from this exchange, one could see what they demanded and what the problems were.
Stefan wanted to reduce the costs he felt in transportation immediately, and Consillus wanted to increase the survival rate of the soldiers in the Far East territory.
There were definitive reasons why neither backed down.
— Since the two of us cannot reach a conclusion, it seems right for the Regent of the Grand Duke to decide on this matter.
— Yes. Coincidentally, I thought the same.
The arrow fell upon Ferda.
— I think it would be better to entrust it to the chief researcher, who is responsible for all the development.
— Huh?
And Ferda shot that arrow straight at Vernel.
— Me?
Vernel put on a blank expression and stood dazed.
However, according to Ferda’s words, his decision was expected, and Vernel had no choice but to choose.
— Uh, then I…
Vernel is a pacifist.
He was a man who wanted to make things immediately beneficial to people rather than weapons.
Vernel carefully laid out what he was thinking.
— I, I still think making weapons first would be better…
— As expected.
— Of course weapons are also important, but think a bit more. I am the one in charge of the monster supply.
The victor chuckled, hehe, the loser attempted a second persuasion.
— At first I also thought developing the other side was right. But… upon seeing the territory Count Consillus rules, it was a bit different.
When he visited Count Consillus’s territory, it was when he hovered between life and death due to mana overload.
He saw the people of the county, and saw their pain and sorrow from losing their families.
— First, we must manufacture weapons and block the monsters trying to destroy our foundation.
— He grunted with resignation… Understood. If you put it that way…
Stefan finally yielded.
The priority was postponed, but in any case Stefan would also get what he wanted.
— So now we are proceeding with weapon development together. Since we were also researching monster characteristics, we will be able to bring good news.
— Hehehe, work hard. Your research will become the light of our Far East.
An atmosphere closing warmly like that.
— Right, speaking of those weapons…
Ferda started as if all was going well.
— Are those weapons also going to be as difficult as you explained?
— Huh? Uh… I don’t know about that, probably… wouldn’t it be like that?
— That turned out well.
Ferda already knows.
Vernel Marquis.
The first invention he made was extremely complex and difficult.
He implements complex things to create miracles, but he doesn’t know the importance of simplicity.
— It turns out I have a really good specimen for you.
— Uh… specimen, you say?
— That’s right, a specimen. Come in!
At Ferda’s shout, a man waiting outside entered.
They were startled the moment they saw him.
He wore armor and was performing drill movements.
When the left foot moved, the left hand also rose; when the right foot moved, the right hand rose.
There was a man walking in, proudly displaying that clumsy drill as if it were exemplary instruction.
Vernel felt a chill the moment he saw him.
— Malcolm of Peach Hill! I have come answering the call!
— Good, it’s good that you came. You have work to do.
— Speak!
With his hand over his chest, he looked like a passionate young man.
It was not a very pleasant sight.
— How much is two times two?
— Easy! It is four.
— Good. Then, how much is seven times six?
He answered easily this time as well.
— It is thirteen!
— Good job.
— Haha, excessive praise!
Malcolm had a proud expression, but the people around felt a chill.
“Where did they get a guy like this?” those faces said.
Ferda patted Vernel on the shoulder and said this.
— Make it simple enough for this friend to understand and use it.
— Huh?
— I believe you can do that.
— …Huh?
Vernel felt his mind go blank.

I Married the Dragon I Killed