A Maiden’s Unwanted Heroic Epic

Chapter 218: Facilities

***Arc 9 One Who Sent Off, Chapter 218 Facilities***

A year has passed since the War of the Five Great Powers――in that time, three facilities have been built in the royal capital.

Alberan Magic Research Institute, Albeneria Military Academy, and Albeneria Arsenal.

The Magical Research Institute focused on collaborative research of magical crystals, with individual research being the main component.

The Albeneria Military Academy provided guidance on tactics, strategy, and leadership from retired military personnel.

The Albeneria Workshop primarily focused on mass-producing magical machines with Alberinea’s formula.

While there were similar things to those at that time, none were as clearly defined as these.

Krische Christand was the director of the Alberan Institute of Magic and the head of the Albeneria Arsenal, and the Albeneria Military School, first director was Assistant Marshal Eluga Faren.

"...So, from now on, let's all get along with the research. Krische've already read the documents that were sent. Now, as a form of self-introduction, Krische'll request presentations on individual research topics here."

There were "mysteriously" several vacant estates in the first-class city of the royal capital.

These were the residences of deceased great noble families, victims of assassination.

The Magic Research Institute was built by majorly renovating one of the mansions, and the surrounding area was heavily guarded.

Especially today, as Queen Kreschenta was coming to inspect the opening of the facility, everyone was tense.

And there was a different sense of tension among the magician sitting in front of the long desk.

On the stage, there was Alberinea, who had silver hair that could be described as a young girl, wearing a black cloak and dress――and Her Majesty the Queen, who had gold hair that sparkled red and a white dress that could be said to be a color variation of that.

They couldn’t hide their surprise at the appearance of the top of this great country and its equivalent.

Most who researched magic were basically the second and third sons of nobles, those who were away from military affairs and politics and shut themselves in their laboratories, and who were ignorant of the world.

Many people saw the faces of the Queen and Alberinea for the first time, and many wondered if these girls could really understand their advanced research.

"Hmm, right. Well, then let’s start with someone named Ramil. Krische couldn't quite understand what was written in the document you sent me."

“Y-yes.”

A thin, aged man with glasses who had studied magical crystals for thirty years, stood up in a hurry.

Participants were informed in advance that their research would be shared and that they would be rewarded for sharing their research results, and they agreed to do so.

However, they still doubted whether the two could really give a fair evaluation.

Alberinea was said to have created a weapon using a magic crystal during the last war.

However, no matter how one looked at her, she was still a child.

Their suspicions were strengthened by her statement that she could not understand the contents of the document.

It would be good if other magicians were to know their abilities and the quality of their research――at the very least, the "research presentation" here would no doubt lead to a power relationship later on.

Even if those two could not understand it, they would surely be able to understand it to some extent by seeing the reaction of other magicians.

It's not like they did this begrudgingly anyway.

“I am Till Ramil. The main purpose of my research is to metamorphose magic crystals――to change them from their stone form into any desired shape.”

“...metamorphosis"

"Yes. Excuse me for a moment."

Till took out a magic crystal slightly smaller than his fist from his bag.

Transparent blue――it was a highly pure crystal.

The formula had been engraved in advance.

He had spent several decades researching magic crystals.

Although he was a little nervous, he would never make a mistake.

Till quietly breathed in and inserted his magic power into the magic crystal.

The change was immediate――the stone-like crystal swells, glows, and transforms into a blue rod as thick as an index finger.

‘Ohh’, murmurs of admiration filled the surroundings.

At that moment, Til couldn't help but smile inwardly.

Transmutation of magic crystals――Research on this subject had been written down in books, but there was no mention of anyone who successfully did it.

At least in this field, Till as a magician was a researcher at the cutting edge.

Some of the magicians had a frustrated look on their faces, they were probably conducting similar research.

Convinced that he had made the first move, he continued.

"Currently, it is limited to simple shapes, but as research progresses, it will be possible to change shapes in a wider variety of ways. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including decoration."

"Oh... that's an interesting idea. It could also be used for Jaragasha."

Saying this, Krische called out Elvena to the black-haired servant who was waiting behind the queen and beckoned her.

Elvena seemed to understand her intentions and handed a magic crystal from a basket she held.

“Hmm.”

――What is she going to do?

Both Till and the magicians had doubts, but Krische ignored them and poured magical power into the magic crystal.

Most magicians have doubts.

Only a handful of magicians, including Till, understood what it meant.

She was inserting pouring magic power.

What danced inside the magic crystal were countless lines.

――She was engraving a magic formula on the magic crystal.

"Something like this"

And in the next moment, the magic crystal changed into a thread and danced on her finger.

“...Huh?”

Till thirty years of research, the results were left far behind.

Involuntarily, Till makes a stupid sound, his eyes widen, and his mouth hangs open as he freezes.

The threads seemed to be alive, drawing various shapes, dancing around Krische and Kreschenta.

Two or three branches split in the middle.

The magic crystal thread changed its body freely, as if forgetting its hardness.

Krische then created a small magic crystal knife, placed it on the desk on the podium, and smiled.

“Kreschenta, Krische think it’s a very good idea. It looks like it could be used for Jaragasha right away.”

"That's right. Ramil-sama, I will give you a reward for your individual research results later. Though unfortunately, it will not be a target for future joint research...”

Looking a little troubled.

The beautiful young queen traced her lips with her fingertips as she picked up her small magic crystal knife and looked at the magic formula engraved on it with her violet eyes.

Till, who was standing stiffly, couldn't believe what had happened in front of him, rubbed the corner of his eyes and stared at the small knife that Kreschenta was looking at.

The culmination of Till's research was completed in just the time it took to blink twice.

"H-ha. Ah, thank you for your graciousness..."

He lowered his head. Trembling.

The dimension was too different.

Till didn’t think of himself as inferior to others.

Rather, he thought he was a magician with an extremely brilliant mind.

It was uncertain if people like him would be able to perfect it over the next few decades.

Yet the girl in front of him completed it with just one look.

The girl in front of him was something that could not even be described in words such as genius.

"As you can see Onee-sama is like. Don't get too discouraged and take it easy. It's not that you're incompetent, your research and ideas are wonderful."

“Yes...”

“In this place, we value ideas above all else. The others too please don’t be afraid... We will proceed to divide into groups for research later, but for now, let's finish this. If you are researching two or three things, it would be helpful if you could let us know all about them. Of course, we will evaluate what needs to be evaluated and take it into consideration when forming groups.”

As Kreschenta said, what they were looking for was ideas.

As long as they had ideas, Krische and Kreschenta could handle the rest.

What Krische and Kreschenta lacked was creativity and time.

As was the case with Bery's tongue, for example, things that would take time even for Krische and Kreschenta, and things that had a low priority, they would have the magician do them.

That is the purpose of the Institute of Magic Research, and they did not expect anything else from them.

A presentation for Krische, and research processing like administrative processing.

The 30 or so magicians present here were ‘tools’ gathered for that purpose.

The research institute was not a research facility for magicians.

It was for Krische, through and through.

It would be something like giving a fountain pen Krische instead of a quill pen.

“Onee-sama, if there is no one else you would like to hear particularly, shall we start from the beginning.”

"Right, that way would be better"

――Alberan's leap starts from here.

Kreschenta smiled happily.

After leaving the institute, they were on their way to meet up with Selene.

Inside the carriage sitting on Krische’s lap, Kreschenta asked cheerfully,

“Onee-sama, what about the factory?”

The small Kreschenta was now 14.

Her body had grown considerably, and her height was not that different from Krische’s, but her fixed position was still there.

Elvena was used to it, and she no longer cared about the state of the two of them, as she opened a book about magic crystals in the swaying carriage.

“As Krische said before, there was a bit of a shortage of iron, so we need to wait until that is resolved.”

Krische said troubledly.

The Albeneria Arsenal was built in the western part of the royal capital, close to the blacksmith district.

The arsenal, which housed the storage of Jarea Geshaa and Baumje-Ira, workshops for the craft squad, and workshops for blacksmiths, had numerous pulleys attached, and the interior was covered with countless tracks for trolley rails.

Compared to before, work efficiency had improved dramatically, and there were already over 100 Jaleia Gashea.

The facility, with an expansion in mind, had taken a large site, eventually able to store thousands of Jarea Geshea, but there was one problem.

The pace of iron production could not keep up with the production of Jarea Geshea.

Alberan has abundant ore resources, and there was no major problem with the number of iron ore itself, but the problem was the iron-making process that removes impurities from the ore and converts it into iron.

Charcoal and iron ore were thrown into a furnace made of bricks covered with clay, and air was pumped in from the outside to make the furnace burn well and reach a high temperature.

“The alchemy book had some explanations of how it works, but it doesn’t have a clear principle…it seems like it hasn’t been properly researched yet.”

Although it was written that charcoal could make iron hard or soft, it did not explain how such changes actually occurred.

If you understand the logic, you will be able to improve efficiency.

However, it was not easy to find out the logic.

“Shall we invite a steel worker?”

"Hmm, that's right. Maybe if they do it in front of Krische, Krische'll learn something."

There was also what could be called a small blacksmith shop in Kalka, where Krische lived, but it wasn't like they made anything from the raw material iron ore.

Naturally, she had no recollection of ever having seen a blacksmith at work, let alone visiting the site of iron manufacturing, and above all, Krische was ignorant.

There were books with detailed diagrams, but diagrams were only diagrams.

To begin with Krische lacked the abstract imagination, and the knowledge she could gain from such books would be extremely difficult for her to understand.

“Nagal said that we should take another look at Jaragasha’s armor, so Krische thinks that’s what we’ll do for a while. It’s not like humans are the ones who will be wearing it, we might be able to reduce iron consumption a little more.”

The armor of Jarea Gashea was crude to begin with.

However, there was an excessive focus on imitating human armor.

The torso could be slimmer, and some important areas could be revised.

Some of the armor, including the arms and legs, may be better made of leather.

“There are a lot of things to do there too huh…”

As she was thinking about this, Kreschenta looked at Krische with a happy smile on her face.

Changing her posture as she straddled Krische’s thigh and tilted her head, she pressed her soft cherry-colored lips against Krische’s.

"……What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just glad that Onee-sama is thinking about various things."

Elvena caught it out of the corner of her eye while reading her book, but she didn't react except for a slight blush on her cheeks.

Aesthetic and somewhat decadent, the Christand family was a world cut off from the outside world.

It would be impossible to be a servant of Christand if she was surprised by each and every sense of discomfort that occurred.

“Compared to before, we work together a lot more now.”

"Hmm...It was busy last year and the year before that. Bery said that it's important to have some free time at work, so this is probably what she meant."

"...The only thing I don't like about Onee-sama right now is that when Onee-sama opens her mouth, Argan-sama's name comes out."

Kreschenta squinted her eyes in dissatisfaction, and Krische said troubledly.

“…What Krische doesn’t like about Kreschenta is that she’s not honest.”

“I am honest with Onee-sama.”

“Krische would like for Kreschenta to be honest with Bery to

Krische pinched Kreschenta's soft cheeks with both of her hands and played with them.

‘Please stop it’ Kreschenta said, grabbing Krische’s hand and sighing.

“Anyway, Gertz Wiring――Selene-sama is quite enthusiastic about it, isn't she?”

Kreschenta deftly turned.

She leaned against Krische, her delicate shoulders supporting her head, appearing lax.

One of the generals who sided with the Royal Prince during the civil war――a man who surrendered to the Krische in Dragon's Maw.

Selene had visited him several times and had repeatedly asked him to work as an instructor at the military school, but had been turned down, but there had been a change of mind yesterday.

It seems that he told Selene that he wanted to meet Alberinea and then decide what to do next.

“Hmm...it seems like the main reason is that she wants a teacher who knows actual combat. Besides, being strong and being good at teaching are two completely different things...Even Kreschenta is bad at teaching things to others, right?”

“It’s not that I’m bad at it, it’s that I don’t like having to explain things over and over again to idiots.”

As if wanting to convey that she's different from her sister, Kreschenta, with her head resting on Krische, pouted her soft pink lips.

Krische smiled and replied, "That's right."

“It would be great if everyone was as smart as Skeleton, but in reality that's not the case...The purpose of military academies is to turn stupid people into a bit stupid people.''

Raising the lowest level.

That was the primary purpose of military school.

This program aims to raise the level of military understanding among commanders by educating and sharing general military common sense that everyone can understand from experience.

As her older sister, Krische held up her finger as if teaching a child.

“For example, Krische can explain to people who can understand it, but Krische is not good at making people who don't understand understand. However, in military school, it is important to make people who cannot understand understand, so considering the purpose, Krische is not suited to it... In fact, the person who becomes the teacher should be someone who is a bit stupid... hmm? Well, what Krische wants to say is..."

"...I understand what Onee-sama wants to say, so there's no need to force yourself to say anything more."

The only person who can make an idiot who can't understand something is someone who used to be an idiot who can't understand it.

That's probably what she wanted to say.

It was not that she could explain to those who can understand, but that she explained it to those who can understand her.

Although she is an outstanding older sister in many ways, her conversation skills are at a very low level――Kreschenta had no expectations of her in this respect.

Kreschenta looked at her sister exasperated and ended the conversation by saying, ‘well whatever’, and she stretched out slightly.

At the same time, the carriage stopped. They had arrived at the meeting place.

It was the second building of the military school, located next to the training grounds outside the royal capital.

"I guess Selene-sama's role is in that kind of inefficient place. She likes things that are troublesome."

When Crescenta said so,

"...I can hear you, Kreschenta."

The door of the carriage opened with a voice, and a golden-haired person entered.

Selene looked really unhappy and pulled on Kreschenta’s cheek.

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