Chapter 145: Scepter Design

According to Hiyori, recently in the Chengdu Concession, momentum for independence has been growing.

It seems like there will be some upheaval soon, or rather, it’s already happening.

The British noble Stuart family currently governing the Chengdu Concession were originally warlord nobles who destroyed the small kingdom “Kyu Jiao” that once flourished where Chengdu now stands. After destroying it, they settled right in and have long held power.

They exploited the local Chinese cheaply, fanned conflicts to prevent unity, and only extracted profits. It was an unpleasant, thoroughly British-style of governance based on the principle of “divide and rule.”

British immigrants increased year by year, and the city became like a small Britain within China.

The turning point came when Arthur Stuart ascended to the seat of lord governing the Chengdu Concession.

Arthur fell in love with and married a daughter of a prestigious Chinese family.

The young lady was from a family of demons (derived from gremlin implantation), a well-known household in western China. The people of this prestigious family were initially furious that their child had been taken by a tea-drinking bastard, but they reconciled all at once when a daughter, Ainsel Stuart, was born between Arthur and the young lady.

The Chengdu Concession tilted toward being pro-China as never before.

The ones not pleased by this were the British mainland.

The better the treatment of Chinese in the Chengdu Concession, the less revenue flowed to the mainland. The profits that should have been sent to Britain were being distributed to China instead.

Well, things got messy from there.

Arthur refused the transfer order from the mainland and caused a dispute.

Arthur, who grew suspicious about the cause of his wife’s death from a magic rampage, and the western prestigious family grew stronger in their resentment toward Britain.

When Arthur went to Britain with Transcendent guards to negotiate with the mainland, his daughter Ainsel, whom he had tried to evacuate to America until things settled down, was nearly assassinated en route.

This is bad.

His wife was killed (probably), and his daughter was nearly killed too.

That’s war.

However, while the Chengdu Concession is the greatest metropolis in the west, flourishing through the tiger monster industry, it is still only within the framework of a metropolis. It doesn’t have the power to wage war against Britain.

On the other hand, Britain has just finished its civil war and the country is in shambles. They don’t want to openly clash armies with the Chengdu Concession.

The Stuart family no longer has any loyalty whatsoever to the mainland. Their resentment runs bone-deep.

Honestly, they’d want revenge, but they don’t have the power for that.

Therefore, they are planning independence. If they’re going to break away from Britain, which has done such terrible things to them, there’s no time but now while the mainland is exhausted from civil war damage.

The Stuart family has strong support from both British immigrants and local Chinese. Even if they declare independence, there will be no backlash from the people.

By the way, formally returning the land to China and becoming subordinate to it seems to have its own problems.

China’s eastern region is strong, while the west is looked down upon. Even if they came under China, it would just change from submitting profits to Britain to submitting them to the central government. Hard times.

Even if I don’t make the scepter, the Stuart family will break away from Britain either way.

The Stuart family wants to have all possible options ready.

The creator of “Kyanos,” an over-technology magic item that has reigned as the strongest magic staff for 80 years since its creation, 0933. If a traditional, top-class legendary craftsman would make a regalia scepter to add prestige to the new nation’s royal authority, avoidable difficulties would increase, and various matters would proceed more smoothly… or so the story goes.

I listened to the whole affair with arms crossed and nodded, while Tsubaki leaned against my back, resting her chin on my shoulder with a blank face.

“So many names came up, I don’t really get it. Dairi, summarize it in an easy way.”

“I got bullied and got mad, so I decided to have my own territory. The neighbors aren’t reliable, so I have to stand and walk on my own feet. And I’m making a staff to help walk that steep path.”

“Mimi. Got it!”

“Really…?”

“Dairi makes amazing staff. Everyone happy. Happy ending. Right?”

“Oh, correct~”

When I poked her cheek, Tsubaki chirped “mimi” and narrowed her eyes.

Tsubaki is so smart!

Tsubaki and I were feeling warm and fuzzy, but Hiyori, the capable saleswoman who had brought in this big job, was playing with her hair ends with her finger, looking thoughtful. What’s wrong?

“Is there something else?”

“There is. China is fine with them becoming independent. From the Chinese central government’s perspective, a British exclave just changing its name to a British offshoot is all it is. Rather, they might be pleased that the tie to Britain is cut and it becomes just a small country, making it easier to handle.

Britain will hate it. Definitely. If we make a scepter supporting independence, Britain’s opinion of us will worsen.”

“Huh… Should I decline the request?”

I had been getting excited about the scepter as a prestigious and challenging job, but if the sales witch says no, maybe I should decline.

When I asked for her opinion, Hiyori rubbed the wrinkles between her brows as if troubled.

“It’s a difficult problem. If we decline this request, we might as well side with Britain. If we become bats that don’t side with either, we’ll be hated by both. Currently Britain has stronger national power, so siding with Britain would give us a stronger backing. But Chengdu has high future potential. Tsubaki, can’t you feel it? The magic power of this land.”

“Mi?”

“Connect to the ley lines with Salamandra.”

Prompted, Tsubaki, still with a blank face not really understanding the flow of conversation, poked the floor with Salamandra as told and closed her eyes.

After a while, Tsubaki opened her eyes and blinked.

“Mimi, mi…? Could this place, maybe, have strong ley lines?”

“Yes. Chengdu is probably a magically exceptional land. The tiger magical beast Dune favors this place likely for that reason. As years pass, the magical blessings of this land will surely grow stronger. I think establishing a connection with a nation rooted here would be outstanding as an investment in the future.”

And after a pause, Hiyori concluded honestly.

“Also, I don’t like Britain. I like Arthur and Ainsel. I want to help them.”

“Then we don’t need to think too hard about it. Let’s take this job.”

In business, there will be times you’re disliked. You can’t do business that pleases everyone.

If you’re going to be liked anyway, it’s far better to be liked by those you want to like you than by those you hate. It’s a matter of whether it’s better to be liked by that capable piece of trash Iruma or by the shockingly super beautiful Hiyori.

I don’t know Arthur and Ainsel’s faces and have no particular interest in them, but if she cares about them, I feel like helping them too.

Seeing my enthusiastic and positive attitude, Hiyori, who had been worrying about various interests and concerns, seemed to have made up her mind.

I formally accepted the request and decided to make the scepter for Arthur Stuart, who would become the new king.

Now then.

As expected when I take on a job, the client requested a direct meeting.

Guardian Hiyori flatly refused that and stood as a negotiation proxy, successfully obtaining a request document from the other party.

With Hiyori’s help deciphering the request document written in difficult English phrasing, I sent inquiries about unclear parts to confirm, and summarized and understood the contents.

Roughly summarized, they want “a prestigious staff that maintains its dignity even after 100 years.” For this purpose, they even offer various magical metals and the magic stones “Merlin Diamond” and “Kunlun Jade.” Offering two types of magic stones shows they’re serious.

The Merlin Diamond was originally a large chunk, but is now broken into multiple pieces, with the Stuart family possessing about 1/10 of the original stone.

The Kunlun Jade is a magic stone given to Lady Ainsel by her maternal grandparents, also a small piece divided from the original stone.

In the past, magic stones were obtained as whole raw stones, but in modern times they’ve become even more precious than before. Even small fragments are extremely valuable.

Using an entire magic stone as the core of a staff is unthinkable in modern times. In that sense, the old days were better…

The materials are good.

My motivation is good.

The question is, what kind of staff should I make?

Up until now, I’ve made magic staffs for renowned Transcendents led by the Tokyo Witch Assembly, but as expected, I have no experience making a royal scepter.

A prestigious staff that maintains its dignity even after 100 years. I’m troubled about what would be good.

First of all, one thing is that relying too much on the latest technology is not good.

Even if I make a state-of-the-art staff packed with cutting-edge modern technology, it may become outdated in 100 years.

In fact, the backflow prevention mechanism of Kyanos, which was cutting-edge 80 years ago, became obsolete over the long years (now replaced with the latest model), and the multi-layer structure that was once 0933’s exclusive patent can now be realized up to three layers.

On the other hand, the magic power measuring device and the regular dodecahedron fractal have completely become lost technology. Even now, only I can make them. There are things in this world that don’t become outdated.

I’ll incorporate the magic power measuring device, which has a track record of remaining precious and useful for 80 years, into the scepter.

Reproducing old technology with modern design would make a good impression on the British nobility who value tradition and prestige, and I also want to incorporate the sealing mechanism of the Fire Guardian Staff.

The Fire Guardian Staff, which extended its lifespan by 80 years, requires the Mamono Scissors mechanism that connects two or more types of magic stone fragments as essential material.

Fortunately, I’ve received two types of magic stones as materials for the scepter. Perfect.

As a royal scepter for a small nation founded by a British-born noble in China, a gimmick using both British-derived and Chinese-derived magic stones is fitting.

The sealing mechanism of the Fire Guardian Staff has the effect of granting the magic characteristics of the sealed being to blood-related users.

If I can cleverly combine this with the magical power identification function of Iatros Glass, I think I could make a “Royal Scepter Regalia that only the royal bloodline can use.”

If such a function can be made, it would be truly fitting for a staff held by a king.

With the magic power measuring device and royal bloodline exclusivity. With those two functions incorporated, what about other functions? Since there’s remaining design space, I want to add one or two more functions. Well, the backflow prevention mechanism is a super stable part that’s definitely worth including, so I’ll install that.

And then… hmm…?

I sit cross-legged in a room at the inn, groaning as I ponder, with design sketches scattered on the floor.

Hiyori, who had just retrieved Tsubaki after she burned the design sketch earlier, sighs and starts picking up and organizing the scattered sketches.

“You don’t have to clean up. Just leave them.”

“Even so, there’s nowhere to step… Hey, is this a four-dimensional technology design?”

Hiyori raises a loud accusatory voice upon seeing one of the sketches, so I look up while wiping the nib of my fountain pen.

It’s noisy. My concentration is breaking. I’m at a good part right now!

“Idiot, stop, stop! What if it malfunctions and causes an accident again? Don’t use four-dimensional technology.”

“I’ll install the same safety as Kyanos, so it’s fine. Besides, the four-dimensional technology in that design isn’t storage appearance. Theoretically, it’s probably closer to Quodents than the theory Hatobato-san used in his doll design.”

“Huh…? What are you saying? You’ve never seen Quodents.”

“But it’s a four-dimensional geometric structure, right? Then it should be made that way to break through the constraints of three-dimensional volume.”

“Huh?”

For Hiyori, who as always is clueless about gremlin geometry with a blank face, I break down and explain the magical theory I’ve recently come to understand.

Geometric gremlins, which operate as a single mass by assembling a large number of gremlins like a puzzle, have an optimal volume. When the overall size exceeds a certain volume (1400 cm³), the amplification rate and conductivity decrease exponentially.

In other words, just because I can’t do precision miniaturization processing like I do, if you make them larger, performance drops drastically.

The performance of geometric gremlins, led by silent casting mechanisms, magical communication, and magical calculators, depends on how much functionality can be packed into a small space.

Probably, Quodents being four-dimensional is related to this principle.

It breaks through the constraints of three-dimensional volume with four-dimensional technology. By expanding volume in the fourth dimension, while keeping it within the 1400 cm³ range in three dimensions, it can utilize an extremely large design space.

“The point is compression, compression. Got it? Think of it as having to keep data capacity within 10GB. If it becomes 100GB, operations become heavy, it freezes, or forces a shutdown. But somehow you want to pack in 100GB of data.

So you compress it! If you compress 100GB of data down to 10GB, it’s fine.

A geometric gremlin that’s too big in three dimensions is being compactly summarized using four-dimensional space. Even if it’s actually huge, the volume expressed in three dimensions is small, so there’s no problem.”

Sometimes, technology is born for the sake of technology.

Brightness was sought and the light bulb was developed. Filament materials were improved to enhance light bulb performance.

If Quodents being four-dimensional is technology to solve the technical problems geometric gremlins face, it makes sense.

When I finish explaining while illustrating various things on the back of the design sketch, Hiyori tilts her head uncertainly.

“Ah… so… in other words, is this about Yamashita’s theory of spatial lamination…?”

“Yes! Its developed form. You remember well?”

“Vaguely. Well, I understand the story. There’s no doubt it’s far safer than object disappearance and appearance. But do experiments! Don’t suddenly implement it in the real thing. I’ll do the experiments. When you do experiments, absolutely tell me, okay? Don’t think that something at this level should be fine to do yourself.”

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

“Listen properly! I’m worried about you, you big fool. Listen, you’ve never had enough sense of danger since long ago. ‘It should be fine’ isn’t good enough. Even with absolute certainty that it’s definitely safe, you should tap the stone bridge.”

I reluctantly sit up straight and listen obediently to Mother Hiyori’s lecture.

There’s no need to shout so loudly.

Well, if listening to the lecture calms Hiyori down, that’s fine. It’s not like I’m being yelled at for stress relief. Besides, Hiyori wouldn’t lecture someone she hates.

“So make double-checking mandatory—what are you grinning about? Are you listening properly?”

“No? I was just thinking that Hiyori nags at me like this because she likes me.”

“…Sigh. Fine.”

Hiyori, momentarily taken aback, drops her shoulders in resignation and headbutts me.

I don’t really get it, but the lecture seems to be over. Good.

While dealing with Hiyori who seems to be clinging to me for some reason, I return to designing the scepter.

Wait for me, client. I’ll make you the best scepter worthy of a king of the magical age!