Alice was not dressed in her usual maid uniform but wore the covert outfit she had on the first time she stabbed Lumpen Hound.
Her eyes and the blade faintly gleamed in the complete darkness, giving her the appearance of a black cat.
Perhaps it was because her pupils shone with an eerie green light.
“Sage… failed…”
Ah, she meant the matter with Jason earlier today.
“We have to keep trying.”
After hearing my reply, Alice glanced at me for a moment, then quickly averted her gaze and raised her dagger.
With a whoosh sound, she instantly appeared at the corner of the training ground.
Her movements were astonishingly swift and precise.
Come to think of it, when she fought Lumpen Hound, she had appeared silently behind him before stabbing.
“Alice, you said you were a beginner Swordmaster, right?”
She nodded ever so slightly and leapt into the air, twirling the dagger this way and that.
The sharp gleam of the blade left vividly lethal traces in the air before vanishing.
Those traces were all aimed precisely at a human’s vital points.
“What do you think of Lumpen Hound’s skill level?”
“Strong.”
That was a rare, unequivocal answer from her.
“He’s slightly weaker than the Butler-in-Chief… but stronger than the Head Maid…”
So, roughly the level of a duke’s retainer supporting the Helpion Duchy.
And those with that level of skill form the various units scattered across the Empire.
“So if I were to fight Lumpen Hound, according to you…?”
“I’d lose.”
That was obvious enough not to offend me.
“Even if I had one arm chopped off and was a wreck?”
“I’d still lose.”
Ah, yes.
“What if it was just the two of us, Alice and me, attacking together?”
“Moere would die.”
Oh, so there’s a chance if it’s a joint attack.
“And the Chamberlain would die too.”
…Is she saying she’d use me as bait to kill Lumpen Hound?
After answering that far, Alice clearly didn’t want to continue talking.
She moved around the training ground more fiercely than before, continuing her practice.
Her faint movements, glimpsed from time to time, were so fast it was difficult to follow with the eyes.
She made no footstep sounds at all, as if not touching the ground.
The only indication she was there was the faint sound of air being cut.
The gleam of her blade briefly embroidered the empty space—a flash of light, but each one extremely threatening.
I found myself gradually absorbed by her movements, forgetting I had come to the training ground for my own practice.
It was similar to watching Sir Albert’s swordsmanship in the Squaret Duchy.
Just as I had seen the snowy Northern Sea landscape in his sword, I began to see faint scenery in Alice’s swordplay.
She was like a sharp wind blowing across a vast plain.
With every gust, a bone-chilling cold invaded the body.
Trees bent, reeds lay down.
The wild grasses withered from the threatening wind that could blow from anywhere.
Watching her, I suddenly recalled the title of a book.
[Flying Technique: Principles and Applications]
‘Maybe if you could understand sunlight in detail, down to the smallest units, things would be different. Why light is produced, how it reaches us, what it feels like, and so on?’
Why did I think such a thing didn’t exist?
It might not be in this world now, but there’s no guarantee it won’t exist thousands of years in the future.
That book I had glanced through covered wind, air, and gravity using graphs, diagrams, and countless technical terms.
Where had I put that book?
Right, my quarters! I had hidden it under the mattress.
I hurried off toward my room.
“…What was that…”
I heard Alice speaking behind me, but this wasn’t the moment for that.
Back in my room, I immediately pulled out the book.
Thanks to future technology, the book felt as luxurious and pristine as when I first got it.
Actually, I had planned to keep it to give later to Senior Jizel or Barbara.
But somehow, it was all connected now.
Let’s see.
The book started by explaining the existence of something called an ‘airplane.’
It was like a giant fortress or island floating in the sky.
A massive object carrying hundreds of people through the air at great speed.
Even a legendary dragon wouldn’t be able to carry that many on its back.
Moreover, this chunk of metal flew without using any mana at all?
The book slowly explained the principles of flight.
What was this? Lift, drag, thrust, gravity…
Ugh, these were all terms my head struggled to grasp.
So this metal thing with wings had one side flat and the other curved.
Because the curved side had faster airflow, the pressure was low; the flat side had slower airflow, so the pressure was higher.
Then, by some law or equation, a force is generated enabling flight.
That was as far as I could understand.
Below that were diagrams and formulas in some strange language.
Shouldn’t formulas have numbers?
Why were there so many unfamiliar characters and drawings?
Anyway, the important part was that the book detailed air, wind, and flow in incredibly fine units.
Alright. Let’s give it a try.
I left my quarters once more.
“Raward, you’re a strange one.”
“Why?”
“Because you always do odd things.”
“Odd things? I’m conducting serious experiments to uncover the truths of the world.”
“Uh huh, truths… yeah, sounds good, but…”
Jason trailed off, unable to come up with a proper reply, laughing awkwardly.
I was sincere.
But explaining this situation was tedious, so I just went back to what I was doing.
I finished folding a paper airplane with all my might.
Good. No creases or flaws.
Now, let’s throw it. Hup!
The paper airplane shot strongly upward, then glided slowly, flying far into the thicket.
“Hm, bending the wings a bit makes it soar higher.”
As expected from the Magic Tower.
Using expensive paper provided for research, the paper airplane flew beautifully.
Now, let’s make the front a little heavier to increase speed.
According to the book, faster airspeed should make it fly higher.
Alright, the paper, the paper…
“Hey, Raward?”
“Yes?”
“The reason I came was because there’s been a complaint. The paper belongs to the Magic Tower, and they say you’re wasting it like crazy.”
Who was criticizing who for wasting paper?
Even if I folded about 120 paper airplanes this morning, that’s only 120 sheets of paper!
“Aren’t magicians the ones who spend the most on research?”
“That’s undeniable, but what you’re doing now isn’t that.
What you’re doing isn’t a magic experiment; it’s, well, something like reckless behavior? A deviation?”
Ah, magicians. Folding paper is reckless and deviant.
What kind of lives have you been living inside the Magic Tower?
Anyway, I had to clear up this misunderstanding.
I grabbed Jason and gave him a basic explanation about airflow and pressure, then showed him the paper airplane as an example.
At first, Jason only half-listened, but he quickly grew interested and began listening attentively.
And soon…
“Heh heh, Raward, this is our local vision of the paper airplane.”
“What? Four wings… that’s like a legendary Fairy Dragon?!”
“I’ll shape the curve you mentioned as a canard wing and the lower wing almost perfectly horizontal as support.
Your turn!”
“Ugh, I admit it. I don’t have the ultimate paper airplane to beat you, Jason. But…”
I laid out fifteen different paper airplanes.
“No way… is this…?!”
“Yes! They all look the same, but I’ve adjusted the wing curvature in 2-degree increments!
From number one to number fifteen!”
“Planning to win with quantity over quality?”
“To get accurate data, I’ll do whatever it takes.
Now! I’ll put these fifteen paper airplanes in the basket and throw them.
The strongest one will fly the highest.”
“So cold!”
“For the sake of the experiment…! Now, fly—ugh?”
Just as I was about to go to the window to throw the basket full of paper planes, someone grabbed me by the back of the neck and threw me to the ground.
“Who… Ah, Boris.”
Standing there was Boris, the eldest brother of the Magic Tower.
His prominent cheekbones and sharp expression, combined with his 190 cm tall but gaunt body, made him look like a living skeleton.
He looked at Jason and me with a scowl, and Jason scratched his head awkwardly.
All while holding the Fairy Dragon model in his hand.
“I thought I sent you to stop wasting paper.”
“Ugh, big brother, this is really magic training…”
“Go outside and pick up all the scraps.”
“…Yes.”
Neither of us managed to make an excuse before we were kicked out of the Magic Tower.
“Ahem, you’re too harsh, brother.
Chasing away people doing serious magic research.”
“Exactly.”
“So, did you learn anything?”
Throwing all fifteen at once might have been more accurate, but at least I gained something at the end.
“I’m not sure if it will work, but I’ll try.”
I slowly started focusing on the mana around me.
Mana is energy imitating nature.
So if I made the mana in front of me flow quickly and the mana behind me flow slowly…
I took advantage of that moment when mana flowed and threw my body forward.
The scenery around me compressed like nothing I’d ever seen before, and the rear distance quickly stretched away.
At the same time, everything ahead of me rushed toward me all at once.
Then, my body was hit by an impact that felt like it would shatter me.
Thud!
“Ugh? H-hey, Raward! Are you okay? Raward…!”
Damn it… What just happened…?
I lost consciousness right there.
Jason couldn’t comprehend it.
Though Raward was called a swordsman, Jason hadn’t thought his skill impressive.
Using magic without reading mana flow or creating a circle?
That was a miracle unheard of in his experience.
What could such a person achieve swinging a sword?
Raward’s body looked weak for a swordsman, occasionally misstepping or making subtle mistakes.
But how to describe that movement just now?
I thought he merely rolled once, but I completely lost track of him.
He flew like a spell exploding from mana.
Raward’s body smashed through forest trees and flew 150 meters before crashing into a boulder.
Bloodied, he immediately lost consciousness.
Jason hurried over and poured a potion he always carried onto Raward’s wounds, but there was little improvement.
The injury was severe.
If he had crashed into the boulder without breaking the trees first?
Something terrible would have happened.
Jason sprayed the potion broadly over Raward’s wounds and carried him as he ran toward the Magic Tower.
At this level of injury, potions alone weren’t enough.
Unfortunately, the Magic Tower had no one skilled in healing magic, but there was still someone to call for help.
Jason rushed inside and called the first young magician he saw.
“Hey, go quickly and contact Sir Humboldt. Tell him there’s a critical patient. Ask him to come urgently.”