WM V4C0715

Chapter 0715 Associate Researcher at the Royal Alchemy Workshop

Translator: Jay_Forestieri

Editor: Tseirp

 

Ryo, having returned to the Royal Capital, was dropped off at the Royal Alchemy Workshop.

 

“L-Lord Duke Rondo!”

“Sorry, sir guard, I came to see Kenneth.”

“A-ah… Chief Researcher-dono has just gone out, but…”

“What?”

At the guard’s words, Ryo slumped.

 

But he recovered almost immediately.

“Then I’ll just have to transcribe the magic formula for the ‘magic nullification cylinder’.”

The alchemy tool for nullifying magic had apparently been given that name on its own…

Of course, in Ryo’s mind, it was simply a name he had made up.

 

 

“Huh? Ryo-san?”

“Oh, Radden, perfect timing!”

When Ryo, having entered the workshop, poked his head into Kenneth’s laboratory, there was Radden, the deputy chief, standing there.

 

“Could you show me the alchemical tool for nullifying magic, the cylinder-shaped one, just for a bit? I’m qualified to see it, right?”

“Yes, of course. Since Ryo-san is registered here as a researcher.”

That was right, Ryo was also a researcher at the Royal Alchemy Workshop.

 

Strictly speaking, he was an associate researcher, but… details like that did not matter!

 

Radden brought three tools from the back.

The magic nullification cylinder.

The concealment bracelet.

The fusion magic brooch.

Maybe these three were meant to be considered a set.

 

“I probably do not need to say this, but using them is prohibited.”

“Yep, of course I know that. I’m just going to copy the magic formula a little.”

“Copy?”

Radden tilted his head at Ryo’s words.

 

It seemed the word ‘copy’ did not get across.

‘Transcribe’ would have, though.

 

 

Just like with the ‘coffin’, he transcribed each magic formula using water attribute magic.

He went ahead and transcribed all three.

The bracelet and the brooch were also made by Cardinal Sacharias.

If one were to decipher his alchemist way of thinking, the more things to compare, the better.

 

“Heh heh heh, with this, I’m one step closer to the truth of the world.”

“The truth of the world…?”

“Oh, no, please ignore that.”

 

Leaving Radden, who was still tilting his head in confusion, behind him, Ryo left the Royal Alchemy Workshop.

 

 

His next destination was the Royal Castle.

As a place to conduct alchemy research, the Royal Castle was one of the best places there was.

The Royal Castle library housed a wealth of books related to alchemy.

What was more, Ryo, as the Premier Duke, could even enter the forbidden archive and read the treasured books stored there!

 

Wonderful!

 

What was more, the Royal Castle even had sofas that were perfect for reading the books borrowed there.

In the same room, some big shot was signing paperwork, though…

 

 

“Ah, Ryo. You finally came back.”

After borrowing about three books related to alchemy from the Western Countries and entering the king’s office, the room’s owner spoke to him.

 

“You were worried because I hadn’t appeared for a while, weren’t you?”

“No… you went to Rune city with Sera, right?”

“How did you know that?”

“We received reports about it.”

“What a surveillance society!”

 

Ryo was terrified of a world where he was constantly being watched.

 

“If the Premier Duke and the First Knight use the royal carriage to go Rune City, isn’t it only natural that a report would come in?”

Abel shrugged, saying it was obvious.

 

“My freedom of movement…”

“You are free to move. Reports just come in. That is what it means to be in a high position.”

“I cannot understand people who want to be in an important position.”

“You’re always being watched, reported on, and gossiped about. That’s all there is to it.”

“I can’t relax like this. I want to be a duke like an ordinary person…”

“Give it up.”

Abel said that while laughing at Ryo’s words.

 

The king, who could be said to stand at the very top and be constantly watched by everyone.

Seeing Abel handle such a position so effortlessly, Ryo admired him from the bottom of his heart.

 

“Abel, please keep doing your best as king. I’m rooting for you.”

“S-Sure?”

Abel did not really seem to understand.

 

But then it seemed he remembered something.

 

“I said this before, but we’re departing for Whitnash tomorrow.”

“Oh, right, you did mention that. Then I have to hurry and finish reading these by tomorrow.”

Ryo said that and lightly patted the three books he had brought from the Royal Castle library.

 

“Alchemy? You’re really passionate about it, huh.”

“Passionate? I’m just doing it because it’s fun, that’s all.”

“Ah, that’s the best way.”

“It’s the same as you signing paperwork like crazy, Abel.”

“Yeah… I know it’s an important role, but it is definitely not fun.”

Being king was apparently tough.

 

And yet…

 

“Abel, I’d like some coffee. If there’s cake too, then today I’ll have Mont Blanc.”

“…Why are you telling me?”

“This is the king’s office, right? So the owner is Abel, right? If I went and ordered on my own, that would be bad, wouldn’t it?”

“You’re saying something that sounds reasonable at first glance… but mistaking the king’s office for a place to drink coffee is, in the first place, a huge error.”

“If you get hung up on tiny details, you’ll never become king.”

“I’m already king, you know.”

 

In the end, cake and coffee for two were delivered.

 

 

 

The next day.

Centered around the carriage carrying His Majesty the King and the Premier Duke, a group escorted by the First Guard Regiment and the Royal Knights set out from the Royal Capital and headed for the port city of Whitnash.

 

Inside the carriage as well, as expected, His Majesty the King was reading documents and signing them.

In another carriage, a pile of documents waiting for signatures had been prepared.

Even so, compared to before, it was dramatically less.

 

By the way, the Premier Duke riding with him was, as expected, reading too… but not documents. He was reading an ice slab.

Magic formulas were written there, and… ordinary people would have had no clue what he was looking at.

Even the Premier Duke still had no clue.

But under a firm resolve to someday understand it… that did not seem to be the case.

 

Rather, he looked happy.

 

He looked like he was having fun.

 

“Ryo, you look like you’re having fun.”

“Hm? Do I?”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Exactly right. I don’t understand it at all, but it’s fun.”

Ryo answered with a carefree expression.

 

Things one likes are fun even if one does not understand them.

No, rather, perhaps because one does not understand them, they feel fun.

 

When something one does not understand blocks the way ahead.

Do one get irritated, or do one get excited… Ryo even thought that difference might be the boundary separating things one does not like from things one likes.

 

“The peak of alchemy is very far away, after all. No matter how much I study, I still cannot see it at all.”

“And that’s fun?”

“Yes. Because, until I die, I can grow as much as I want, right? No matter what it is, it’s fun when you can feel your own growth, isn’t it? And if it’s something you like, even more so, right? You can keep doing that for the rest of your life, you know?”

“When you put it like that, that’s true.”

Ryo made his case passionately, and Abel nodded along.

 

If he replaced it with swords, Abel could understand it too.

 

Feeling one’s own growth… perhaps that was one of the greatest motivations a person could have.

 

 

“What Ryo is looking at is that magic nullification thing, right?”

“No, what I’m looking at right now is the ‘coffin’.”

“…Coffin?”

It made absolutely no sense to Abel.

 

Naturally, it didn’t.

Ryo had not explained anything.

 

“Come on, do you not know? The box beside Djinn Merlin-san?”

“I’ve been briefed. I heard it always follows behind Merlin-dono, so I just assumed it was something like Ryo’s <Dolly>. Since he’s a Djinn and all, I figured there would be all kinds of things. What is it, exactly? What’s inside?”

“That thing is the ‘coffin’. Inside it is a Fallen… angel-like thing.”

“Yeah, I don’t really understand.”

“Well, to put it simply, it’s a being of energy that was not supposed to exist in this world, incarnated into flesh… Hmm, how should I explain this?”

“Anyway, it’s something that was not originally in this world. That’s enough.”

Abel forced himself to accept it.

 

“That ‘coffin’ is a box for capturing… sealing away beings like that, and I slightly rewrote the magic formula.”

“I see.”

“The original magic formula was made in large part by that angel-like person inside the box, and then taught to Cardinal Sacharias of the Western Church.”

“I see?”

“So there are magic formulas written there concerning all kinds of things that people in this world still cannot understand… things like the truth of the world. Even Kenneth could not understand part of it. But that is only natural. It is not Kenneth’s ability that is the problem. It is simply not easy to get closer to the truth of the world.”

“Hmm… still, I don’t understand.”

“Figured as much.”

Ryo could tell from Abel’s expression that he had not understood from partway through.

 

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

 

“Someday, when I reveal the truth of the world, I’ll tell you too, Abel.”

“Is that so? I look forward to it.”

“It might take about five hundred years, though.”

“I’ll probably be dead by then…”

 

 

The pursuit of truth is not easy.

 

 

“By the way, how many days are we staying in Whitnash?”

“One night.”

“…Huh?”

“We arrive in the morning, handle the ceremony and such, and plan to depart the next morning.”

“We’re spending two days traveling there and another two days coming back, and the stay is only one night?”

“Yeah. That’s just how a king’s visit is. The longer the stay, the greater the burden on those receiving us. Security and all that.”

“Ah…”

Ryo nodded, grimacing.

 

If anything happened to the king while he was staying there, it would be a huge problem.

As long as the king was there, not only the local security officer but also the lord and the magistrate would never be able to relax.

 

“But compared to the old days, things have improved, right?”

“The old days? What do you mean by improved?”

“Before we were sent to the Eastern Countries. Abel, you went on inspections to the northern regions and stuff, but even that was only possible after an enormous amount of schedule coordination, right? This time, it wasn’t nearly as difficult to arrange, was it not?”

“That’s true. It’s because, during the time we were gone, the Kingdom government’s approval process and lines of responsibility were redistributed. That’s why I have fewer approval documents this time too.”

“And even so, that still fills one carriage.”

“Just one carriage.”

Abel answered with a shrug.

 

There was no point in saying anything to someone whose senses had gone numb.

So Ryo changed the subject.

 

“I heard Sera became the First Knight.”

“When we were away, yes, by Queen Rihya’s authority. ‘Commander of the Kingdom’s Entire Knight Order, and First Knight’… a position that no one had held since King Richard. Apparently she was persuaded into taking it to keep the neighboring countries… to put it plainly, the Empire and the Union in check.”

“That’s why she can use that thing, the royal carriage, freely?”

“It’s needed for trips between the Royal Capital and the Western Forest.”

“I want one too.”

“No way. Give it up.”

“…That’s what I thought.”

 

Just as expected.

He knew Abel would say that, anyway…

 

“Sera’s position is special.”

“Position?”

“Commander of the Kingdom’s Entire Knight Order and First Knight, that one.”

“Oh, really?”

“She has command authority over every knight order tied to the royal family. In wartime, she is even granted command authority over the territorial knight orders of each noble house.”

“What the…”

Ryo was shocked by the sheer enormity of the command authority.

 

Because that meant…

“Isn’t that stronger than Abel as king? You don’t even have command authority over the territorial knight orders, do you?”

“Yeah, I don’t. Even if only in wartime, she’s legally granted command authority that large… that’s what it means to be Commander-in-chief of the Kingdom’s Entire Knight Order and First Knight. That’s why no one had ever held it for hundreds of years since King Richard… no one could hold it.”

“To put Sera in such a position…”

“When I asked, it seemed it was Rihya’s idea. Of course, Marquis Heinlein supported it too, and we got permission from Father as well, although he still could not get back on his feet at the time.”

Abel shrugged.

 

Of course, as king, Abel could strip that position away.

However, he had no intention of doing anything like that at all.

 

“The relationship between the Western Forest and the Kingdom government has never been bad. But there has never been a time when the two were this close either. Well, the final step happened because we got sent away.”

“True.”

“To put it bluntly, it’s a difficult position for an ordinary Kingdom citizen, or even a Kingdom noble, to take. That’s why I think having an elf in Sera’s position is, in a sense, ideal.”

“I see.”

Ryo nodded at Abel’s explanation.

 

Indeed, there was no one more suitable than Sera.

 

“If it were anyone other than Sera, there would only be one person who could take it.”

“Is there? Someone like that?”

“Yeah. But that person is already the Premier Duke.”

“You mean…”

“That’s right, Ryo.”

Abel said it flatly, looking right at Ryo’s face as Ryo grimaced hard.

 

“I refuse.”

“I figured you would.”

When he heard that Sera had become the First Knight, he had thought it sounded cool, but the more he heard, the more it became clear that it was an utterly troublesome position.

 

If Ryo had such a position, peace would never come to him.

 

“At night, assassins would come one after another, the constant fear of poisoning would be there, evil clutches creeping in from every shadow… I wouldn’t have enough lives to survive it all.”

“I don’t think it’s that extreme. It’s not like you’d be royalty or anything.”

 

 

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