Novel Bin Vol. 1 - Ch. 76 - BBQ (3)
"It’s been a crazy day today so far, who knew someone would drop that kind of bombshell, then even if I’m asked by my family, I can\'t afford to let them hear anything. So, that\'s how it is. Let\'s go with Allen’s style— grill them by ourselves."
"So be it. But I don\'t really mind anyone hearing about me though."
Leo said nonchalantly, though it was anything but calming for me.
"Right, of course not for you, Mr Prince, but it\'s definitely a problem for me. No, seriously, why the hell are you being dull-headed in this aspect? For god\'s sake, use your common sense."
"Hahaha. Maybe it\'s your lack of common sense that has rubbed on me."
Alright, this man was a lost cause... Even my corporate experience was far more than his entire life, and he has the nerve to say I lack common sense...
Why didn\'t others listen to me? He definitely received a heavy blow to his head.
"What bullshit, I dare say no one has more common sense than me!"
I immediately retorted, but for some reason, everyone, except my elder sister, gave me a lifeless look. Oh great, these guys are definitely lost causes.
Afterward, we all started feasting on the absurdly delicious BBQ that the Dragoon family\'s chef had set up while engaging in chitter-chatter.
Fey, my sister, and Furie-senpai were busy discussing magic tools. The topic of their conversation happened to be the automatic cleaning magical tool \'Runpo\' that I proposed the design of.
"Amazing. It sure is quite an interesting design. Not even Rose or I can guarantee to make it. You have thoroughly surprised me. You know, not everyone would be able to create so many types of magic tools in just four months since enrollment, even if they have the financial strength of the Dragoon family as their support." (Furie)
"I bet you’ll become an astounding Artificer, Fey-chan! I\'m not good at cleaning, so if you can sell me one that would be a reaaaally great help~"
Oh? It seemed like Fey\'s talent had surprised even the other two.
"Of course. In fact, please use it by any means. I really would love to have your feedback as a fellow Artificer. But goodness, Allen\'s uncommon ideas had been piling up so much that I even had one of the Dragoon family\'s development departments relocated to the Royal Capital. I really want to open his head and see what the heck it\'s filled with."
"Yay~! Thank you, Fey-chan!"
Still, I\'m surprised at how chummy they’ve become with my older sister. I heard their excited \'ga-ga\' coming from the 2nd floor. I wonder what they were talking about?… But it\'s them you know, I don\'t have the guts to open that Pandora’s box.
I just put my previous life’s knowledge to use and had Fey build all the magical tools that came into my mind.
Pretty much all the magical tools — whether it be daily-purpose tools like for cleaning or dishwashing (for Sora), or necessary ones for the Hill Road, Magic Club, Geography Club, and the others — were developed by her.
Though I only paid her for the materials. ‘It would take an extremely huge sum to pay even for one if all the development and other costs were taken into account using market price\' were her words.
In the end, we created one more club, the Magic Tool Research Club, spearheaded by Fey. As for whatever my idea fee was, I had it simply converted to materials I needed for my personal use. Though even that was exchanged for actual items.
The Magic Tool Research Club was also quite popular, receiving many application requests. There were only three members in it for now, however. Fey apparently turned all the others down on the pretext that they wouldn\'t be able to contribute anything and that she didn’t have the time to train them.
Well, It wasn\'t my circus to handle as long as I had my tools, so whatever.
"But I guess you can also say Allen\'s ideas tickled my Artificer\'s spirit as well, and I couldn\'t help but juggle them out. Are you also developing any magical tool following his idea, Esteemed Sister?"
Fey asked, to which elder sister shook her head and turned to stare at me.
"I barely talked about magical tools with him. I thought these talks would bore him out, but after hearing all these interesting ideas, I regret not doing it back then."
I guess the ideas were truly novel for them. Perhaps it was because all of them were based on my knowledge of electrical appliances or novels and manga from Earth. Besides, I had awakened just a few months before the entrance exam. There wouldn’t have been any result even if she had talked with me back then. The only time ‘awakened’ me had talked with her was before the exam, and that too for only a couple of days, so there was no time either.
"I\'m also quite looking forward to the research you\'re tackling, elder sister. This is definitely something I think I need the most. I hadn\'t wanted to distract you from your research with some half-baked stuff, so I didn\'t talk about it."
What she had been researching, a communication magical tool, has yet to appear in this world.
In stricter terms, a short-distance communication tool was possible as long as one coughed up enough money in a restricted space like the premises of the Royal Academy. However, there hasn\'t been a single radio communication magical tool, maybe since they had yet to discover radio waves, and my knowledge of it was obviously limited as someone coming from the era of smartphones.
Well, her reason for developing it couldn\'t be any dumber. Like, it was all because she wanted to have a way to contact me no matter the distance. But it truly would be a revolutionary discovery if she managed to develop it.
"Oh, a research Esteemed Sister is tackling? If I\'m not breaching my boundary, would it be alright to ask what it is? Honestly, I\'m quite curious after not seeing the result of any of the fundamental research that you used to frequently publish back at the Dragoon\'s Aristocratic School."
"Err... Truth be told, my professor has forbidden me from talking about it. But mayyyybe, since you\'re Allen-kun\'s friend, I guess that\'s not a problem. And Fey-chan is quite talented, so I can have your help as well.
I\'m currently trying to come up with a magical tool that can let me talk with someone in a faraway place. Something like using the mana properties present in the air to transmit my voice. I\'m working really really hard to somehow talk with Allen-kun every day even when he\'s at the Royal Academy, but can\'t do that with that peeping-prevention magic tool in the way. It\'s truly a pickle~"
Fey was immediately gobsmacked hearing elder sister\'s research. She must have realized how much of a ground-breaking deal it was.
"......Just asking, even if that magic tool hadn\'t been in the way, it still shouldn\'t be possible, right?"
"Huh? Umm… I can do that much of course. I only need to quietly set up a relay base to bypass the peeping-prevention magic tools of houses around there. It\'s just that the Academy\'s security is so stupidly strict that I’m stuck. Do you have any good ideas to bypass that?"
Fey was completely frozen after hearing that. Instead, Furie-senpai asked elder sister,
"Rose… This is my first time hearing about it as well, but do you know what you’ve just created?"
"Ah, I\'m really sorry. I didn\'t want to but my professor imposed that I shouldn\'t talk about it...
But you know what else? He came up to me with a letter from some pompous person and started ordering me around like— \'Halt your research this instant if you can only carve out this circuit on a magic base since it needs extremely controlled mana output and just mass produced the current version. It\'s an order from higher-ups!\' and started pestering me.
I mean, I also don\'t like breaching peeping-prevention magical tools without any reason, but asking me to mass-produce a half-baked prototype that only I can make is too much! He\'s an absolute failure as an Artificer!"
Said my elder sister, simmering with anger.
Fey shook her head and turned toward Leo.
"......Nope, Our Dragoon family didn\'t get even the slightest wind about it. Your confession had really surprised me, but it makes sense if the Zatsingers have caught wind of it."
"...It\'s news to me as well. Also, my proposal to Roselia-senpai has no connection with my family\'s politics."
Leo\'s gaze alternated between Fey and my sister as he denied her claim with a serious expression.
"This would definitely be an amazing idea if it’s possible! Your sis is doing incredible research, Allen!"
"Of course, you’d be so carefree about this... You know this research has more to it than just being \'handy\'? To be direct, just the current limited use alone can increase a nation\'s power by many folds by mass producing it. If a war were to break out this instant, the MVP would definitely be this piece of technology.
But if not even the Zatsingers had heard about it, this only leaves... Esteemed Sister, could that letter of an influential person by chance have the crest of a winged lion with a glittering jewel in its mouth?"
"Woah! You\'re amazing, Fey-chan. It was annoying to go through so many letters so I didn\'t read them, but it definitely was that crest. I think I tossed them into the living room so they should still be there somewhere."
Haaa...... Only I could have such abysmal luck to have such a dumb sister actually use the living room as a dustbin and toss the letters of this kingdom\'s royal family like trash. Did nothing come to her mind after seeing the same symbol of the national flag?
I really wanted to deck her, but my poor body wouldn\'t be able to handle the retaliation so that wasn’t an option.
Alright, whatever, time to draw the line as to who was responsible for what! I strained my voice and shouted—
"Elder sister! That\'s a letter from someone really important!
I fear those letters might have already been destroyed by the water magic that Aldore Engraver of the Royal Academy\'s Class 1-A had used in the fight with everyone earlier, but still, let\'s search for them right away!
But in case the letters are truly beyond salvageable, worry not, since Leo Zatsinger of the same class has said he will take responsibility for all the mess and reimburse for it!"
◆◆◆
Afterward, we all immediately started searching and scavenged them from the broken mess, but the water had blurred everything and we couldn’t tell what was written on them.
"Well, you really did a number this time, my friend," I patted Al\'s shoulder, and somehow tried to push responsibility. A pity everyone remembered that I was the one who allowed him to use magic, and so my strategy to fling the responsibility flopped.
"...Haa, seems like that\'s what fate wanted... We can only use that."
I ignored my sister who muttered \'It\'s not like I would have read them either way, so you don\'t have to mind\' without a care in the world and looked at everyone. They all had pale faces.
"I always knew ‘box of bizarre ideas’ was truly a perfect alias for you, Allen. So, do you have a way to reverse this situation?"
Fey, and everyone else too, turned their hopeful gazes at me.
"We saw nothing, heard nothing! That\'s all! Come on, eat the meat before it becomes the foil for fuel! And don\'t forget to drown yourselves in alcohol!"
What else otherwise, right? Not that we could reverse time.