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Chapter 50: Your Paper’s Kind Of Awesome (9)
Chapter 50: Your Paper’s Kind Of Awesome (9)
Chapter 50: Your Paper’s Kind Of Awesome (9)
People gathered at the roof-shattering wail.
It was aggro at its finest, and it had my own cheeks burning.
Professor Hasfeldt was rather adept at gathering people. The only problem was that the person in question didn’t seem to realize this.
In other words, Hasfeldt was blind with rage.
“You’re a Golden-Eyed...! How could someone like you with insufficient mana research an Ultimate Magic like Flare...?!”
There was nothing calm about the way she was now. That heartless, cold-blooded Professor Hasfeldt was nowhere to be seen.
She looked like a child throwing a tantrum because she wanted a toy, which killed any thoughts of refuting. I simply told the facts in an even tone.
“I was helped by my friends.”
Lotte Saliere, and Freyr Shelkany.
Although it had started off as coincidental encounters, they were now excellent business partners. They were the kinds of people worthy of being called friends.
“Then, then what about the money? It takes a fortune to research Flare! It would have cost at least thousands of gold pieces......!!”
Well, that would be if you went with the standard method of using a bunch of magic papers. After devising the three-dimensional cuboidal scroll, the cost of development was reduced greatly.
So, to put it simply....
“We found a way to reduce the cost. As for material fees, I used them for free through the academic club.”
It wasn’t an excuse, either. Personally, it only cost me a few pennies to develop Flare.
This was my first time defending a paper like this. The argument should be made about the paper, or did she not know that attacking the person who wrote it counted as an ad hominem? It didn’t make sense that she wouldn’t know such basics when she’d received tenure.
Ah, right. I’d probably go out of my mind, too, if my paper had been scooped. They said that those in academia cursed profusely just from hearing the ‘s’ in ‘scooping’, so how devastating would it be to actually experience it?
Perhaps that was why, but Professor Hasfeldt had almost no reason left. Without being aware of the others murmuring around her, she launched her final attack.
“You’re only an Academy freshman. How could you have submitted research on Flare acceptable for the Imperial Society’s journal with only the skills of an undergrad? Something, there was something, wasn’t there?! No, everything until now must have been a lie, right...? Aha...! Today, was it April Fool’s day today...?”
I looked around and sighed.
They say that a person’s true self came out when they were pushed to their limit.
I wasn’t fond of those words, but it was the best way to describe this current situation. A person at their limits would do anything to get out of their plight.
That was Hasfeldt exactly. How would the elders of the Hasfeldt household react if they found out that their eighty years of research was stolen by some asshole without a lineage?
Reputation was important in noble society. On top of not being able to complete Flare with her own hands, if the other nobles who saw this spread ill rumors, the Hasfeldt family’s honor would be shattered.
With Flare completed at this point, I didn’t want to face the whole Hasfeldt family. I had to end the conversation and take care of this situation for later on.
I crossed my arms and answered.
“You’re the one who told me to research Flare.”
As calmly as I could, while saying what I needed to.
“When did I.... Ah.......”
It was like trying to persuade a child. I never thought there’d be a day that I would talk to Professor Hasfeldt in this manner.
“What has gotten into Professor Hasfledt?”
“They’re saying that she got caught plagiarizing. I wonder if that’s true.”
“...Really? She didn’t seem that kind of person.”
Things were already being distorted.
I could keep pushing her if I wanted to. But I decided to hold back for my reputation’s sake.
This was the building of the Society, a public space. A civilized person should know how to distinguish between public and private.
“...... Heh.”
Perhaps Hasfeldt had also regained her senses. After seemingly going over my words, she backed off with a despondent face.
“What is going on here?”
Just as someone asked a troubling question, the chairman stepped in with a clap.
“Everything is fine. I apologize in my name for the brief commotion. If you would, I ask that everyone swiftly disband so as to not block the way for others.”
Perhaps due to his position as the chairman, the crowd quickly went on their way even as they kept talking.
There was a woman who came squeezing through the dispersing people. It was Miss Meriga Heerlein.
Miss Heerlein threw a quick glance at the spaced out figure of Professor Hasfeldt, then turned her head towards me and the chairman. She had narrow eyes which made it hard to tell if Heerlein’s gaze was directed at us.
She exchanged brief nods with me then requested for the chairman to lend his ear. Her whispering was loud enough that it could be heard.
“The conference room in the basement has been set up. We can proceed with the presentation right away.”
“Oho, is that so?”
The chairman then turned to me and spoke.
“If you’d like, you can present today. What do you think?”
“Is everyone waiting on me?”
“Hoho, there’s even those who are staying out to see you.”
There are nobles who are staying out just to see me?
What is that? That’s scary.
“Then we should schedule it as soon as possible. Please give me some time to call the co-authors and prepare safety equipment for the demonstration.”
It was best to get these kinds of things over with and rest.
I nodded and walked away.
“.......”
Meriga sat next to Klais without a word.
The two had been long-time friends through many ups and downs. They’d both graduated from Tilette Academy with honors, and took care of each other through life and death on the battlefield. As such, they had been able to maintain this friendship that went beyond status.
Right now, that friendship of ten years was starting to crack.
“... Meriga, I didn’t think that what you did would have such consequences. Don’t you think as well?”
The words came out as if being tossed.
Meriga could read the subtle changes in Klais’ emotions. Though her words sounded weak, Klais was definitely expressing anger.
Why was she angry.
Because she was upset that her paper was taken by someone else?
Because her trusted friend helped free her slave?
No one knew. Only the Goddess would understand the flow of emotions.
“Do you know how I felt when you told me that you paid for Aether’s admission fees?”
“Klais.”
A low fire burned a few strands of Klais’ bright yellow hair. It was a phenomenon that occurred when a Fire Mage lost control of their mana and released it.
“I thought my world fell apart. It would have been better if she had paid with the money that she hid away herself, but you just had to intervene.”
“.......”
“So she was accepted, and put on a great performance like today. It happened exactly the way you wanted.”
There was a logical fallacy to Klais’ reasoning.
She had been the initial cause of Aether’s wanting to escape. Not only had she tried to sell off the assistant she used for three years, but had also ordered her to research the magic that she herself couldn’t.
Also, Meriga had intended to respect Aether’s wishes. If Aether hadn’t wanted to escape from Klais, she wouldn’t have bothered helping her friend’s slave get into the Academy.
But that wasn’t all. When she had revealed that she was the one who secretly supported Aether, Klais had drilled her about it. That had only been possible because of the trust between them.
Klais shouldn’t be getting angry with Meriga in the first place. Because she was the one mainly responsible for Meriga’s one eye not being able to function ever again.
Klais knew full well that being angry at her rescuer made her a piece of trash, but she was having difficulty cooling down her body from spontaneously combusting.
“First it was my slave.... No, my assistant, and then the paper. I must be the only Grand Duke in this country who was screwed over twice like this. You must think so, too, Heerlein.”
Meriga chose to remain silent.
How long did they stay that way?
The minute hand of the analog clock only took a 180-degree turn, yet it felt like many days had already gone by.
“The preparation for the presentation is finished. Will the two of you be attending as well?”
Chairman Robespierre was the one who broke the extended silence.
“...Yes. If I buy the patent.......”
Klais bowed her head momentarily as if in contemplation, then stood up at last.
The three didn’t exchange much as they headed down to the large conference room in the basement.
Klais took her seat somewhere in the center. Meriga sat right next to her. Klais then shifted one chair over, and Meriga changed her seat accordingly.
By the end of it, the two were sitting in the corner.
“.......”
“.......”
The middle of the conference room had a chalkboard, and the chairs were arranged radially around it. The further the seat was from the chalkboard, the higher the relative altitude.
The Golden-Eyed girl who had been in the prep room pulled something along as she entered. After a slight wait, two other girls appeared from the opposite end. The two girls brought with them a cart full of tools and equipment and put it on the stage. Amongst them were things like chunks of silica ores, concrete, and a tough-looking shell of a beast.
“That must be the Flare generator.”
It was large. Based on a horizontal scale, it was about five adult males long.
Klais’ face suddenly lit up when she saw the grand size.
“It’s different from the one I made...!”
Seeing her smile, Meriga dropped her head into her hands. A deep sigh vanished into the conference room’s atmosphere.
Footnotes
1. Korean meme phrase used when the person is amazed in a negative way - https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%AA%B0%EB%9D%BC%20%EB%AD%90%EC%95%BC%20%EA%B7%B8%EA%B1%B0%20%EB%AC%B4%EC%84%9C%EC%9B%8C