11
Translator: Blushy
Editor: delishnoodles
“… So, it’s like that?”
I gasped. I was alone in a small private room in the rocking ship. I thought about the meaning of the magic circle in front of me for a long time and when I realised its meaning, I felt a shock of joy run through my body.
Then, a knock sounded at the door.
“Hey, we’re almost there.”
It was Giedt.
He opened the door before I even said it was alright and raised his eyebrow when he saw me.
I was lying on the floor on my back with only my legs hooked onto the bed; a position I don’t think I should be in. Too bad for you. I’m not wearing a skirt.
“What are you doing?”
“Giedt, you’re lucky!”
“What?!”
I was allowed to copy the magic circle engraved in his prosthetic eye and I have spent the past two weeks deciphering it while we were travelling.
And it all made sense just now.
“This is amazing. I’ve never seen a magic circle like this. Look.”
Wanting to tell someone about my excitement, I held up a piece of paper with the magic circle drawn on it in front of Giedt, who seemed annoyed, and made him listen to me talk.
“Your prosthetic eye has multiple magic circles engraved on it. The only advantage of how the magic stone was processed is that it can activate multiple spells at the same time, and that ability is being used to its fullest. And, you know what? What’s amazing is that it recreates the mechanism of seeing by having these multiple magic circles work together.”
“… I see.”
“There are four types of optic nerves, those that detect light and those that detect red, blue and green and the magic circles represent all those nerves. They convert light into electrical signals and transmit them to the brain. The person who created this is a genius. They know about magic, and they also know that our senses are communicated through electrical signals. You said that you could see behind you, but you can only see shapes and distance, right? And it’s not like you can see behind you all the time.”
“Hmm? Oh, what? I can see when I click my tongue.”
“I knew it. There was a magic circle with an activation condition. Maybe that magic generates ultrasonic waves. You’re doing the same thing as bats.”
“I had no idea.”
I had brought it up, but it was hard to explain it to him.
All this talk about frequencies and neurotransmission was beyond the level of knowledge of this world.
How in the world did the mage engineer who Giedt met learn of all these things? Or is Traus Kingdom just behind in technology?
“Anyway, it’s all complex magic put together in an extremely simplified formula and each magic circle is so highly effective which allows you to even detect light through the eye patch. You met the greatest mage engineer. The magic stone that was used for your prosthetic eye is also a top-quality stone that is purer than normal magic stones. It’s probably worth several million Beles.”
“I-it’s that expensive?”
Giedt only responded when I mentioned how much it cost, but it isn’t just the magic stone that’s valuable.
The magic circle engraved on the magic stone must have taken a lot of effort to develop, and yet it was virtuous of this person to give it to a boy who they didn’t know.
“You were really lucky.”
I really want to meet that person as a mage engineer.
But Giedt was being evasive, then he scratched his head.
“What? What’s wrong.”
“… I’ve been meaning to bring this up for a while but stop calling me ‘you’. It’s kind of annoying.”
That has nothing to do with what I’ve been talking about. What the hell is so annoying about it?
“Then what should I call you?”
“Just call me by my name.”
Even though you call me ‘you’ too.
“You say that, but I don’t think you’ve ever called me by my name. Did you forget what my name is?”
“Don’t make others out to be stupid.”
“Then call me by my name.”
Giedt opened his mouth to form the first sound but stopped and didn’t utter anything.
“… I don’t have time to mess around with you. Enough of this and get ready.”
He’s embarrassed.
Does being a soldier make him unaccustomed to women since he’s surrounded by men?
I watched him as he left. I’ll be careful about how I address him.
I quickly packed my luggage which was spread out over the two-week boat trip, and we soon arrived at the port. We’re going to use horse drawn carriages now.
I was told that it would take 10 days to get to El Valley.
I saw several plumes of black smoke rising to the sky in the distance.
The exhaust must have come from the smelter at the foot of the mountain.
Apparently, silver and iron could also be extracted from Bisca Mountain which ran along the border between Galesh Kingdom and Traus Kingdom.
El Valley, the mining city which is located at the foot of the mountains, was not surrounded by ramparts like other towns and many people who work in the mines live there. There are small villages outside the city that are involved in agriculture.
The first village where the outbreak happened was confirmed to be Kikus. Kikus has now been completely sealed off and any cases that appear from elsewhere are brought to that village.
They were probably trying to prevent the spread of the disease by keeping everyone infected in the same place.
Rille-nee will be taking care of the patients in Kikus.
“Be careful.”
I gave her one last reminder in front of the village which was surrounded by a wooden fence.
There was a village on the way to El Valley, and this was where Rille-nee and the rest of the medical team would separate from the group.
I had been ordered to stay away from the village and go directly to El Valley without stopping, but I got on my knees and begged Platoon Commander Gwen to let me see Rille-nee for a short while.
But I couldn’t give her any good advice since I didn’t know much about sanitary practices and illnesses. Rille-nee was probably better educated than me in that area now.
Sorry but my specialty is plants and the environment. My regrets for not having studied extensively are endless but I can only do what I can do.
“You be careful too, Aime. People get sick in the city as well.”
“I know. I’m going to do some research in El Valley. Don’t work too hard, Rille-nee. That’s the only thing I’m worried about.”
“I should be the one saying that to you Aime.”
Rille-nee was smiling at me like always even at times like this.
I looked at the entrance of the village and saw two soldiers standing at the gate, like at the gates at the royal palace, and there was a huge torch burning, perhaps as a means of disinfecting.
I couldn’t see what was happening inside the village from where I was standing but I did see a man reaching out his hand through a gap in the gate which was made of wood and rope. He was telling the soldiers that he wasn’t sick but was shooed away by them.
Some people might have gotten stuck in the village when it went into lockdown.
Rille-nee won’t be able to get out of the village once she enters.
I caught her boss, who was making his way to the village and said what I had to say.
“Jed-san, please take good care of Rille-nee. I’m counting on you.”
“Shut up, don’t touch me! Why do I have to take care of the assistant?”
Jed-san brushed away my hand in irritation.
Are other people pestering him too? But his attitude made me want to say this, “You should say ‘leave it to me’ even if it’s a lie.”
“I don’t say things just to make people feel better.”
“That’s very noble of you!”
“Aime?”
I was going to taunt him but Rille-nee stopped me.
Yeah, there’s no point in shouting here. Let’s calm down.
“Oh yeah, Rille-nee, try not to eat any of the food or drink the water in the village. That’s all I want to say.”
“Wha? ―― Oh, I see. I remember diseases can be transferred through food. Ok, I’ll be careful.”
“Thank you.”
I forced myself to smile at the end since I didn’t want to look all worried.
But as I left Rille-nee and returned to the carriage, I was still worried.
“Say, can’t I go to that village too!?”
I knew the answer, but I couldn’t resist asking.
Sure enough, Giedt sighed.
“You need some time away from your sister.”
I would never do that even if I was dead.