Kays Translations

Chapter 108: New Series

Having finished deciphering the magic circle on the armor, Isamu began prototyping weapons utilizing it with Eto and the others from the next day.

“Let’s start with something straightforward, like dispersing impacts.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. This seems versatile, so we should get started on it soon.”

“I agree. Shall we try making a shield with the dispersing magic circle right away?”

With the consensus of the three, they decided to prototype a shield incorporating a magic circle to disperse impacts.

This magic circle is designed to work in two stages. In the first stage, it widely disperses the force of impact across the surface, and in the second stage, it converts that impact into light using magic to reduce damage. While shock-absorbing products used on Earth mainly convert the energy into heat, the recent dampers installed on the carriage are also designed to dissipate it into heat.

Although the concept is similar, since magic is involved, it’s unlikely to strictly adhere to pure physical laws. It should probably be considered a coincidence that they arrived at similar conclusions. Perhaps they didn’t convert it into heat because it would cause burns when used in armor. Also, they don’t understand why it needs to be dispersed once, so they decided to create a version without dispersion when making the shield for comparison.

With its simple structure as a shield and by focusing its function solely on physical impacts, the magic circle was greatly simplified, and two prototypes were completed within a few hours. The original shield used was a heater shield commonly used by the knight order.

“You’re using both light and non-attribute magic stones, huh?”

Looking at the magic stone incorporated on the back, Eto remarked.

“Yes, indeed. It seems like we’ll be using non-attribute magic stones for dispersing the impact and then using light magic stones to make it shine.”

It was another application found for non-attribute magic stones. At this point, their usefulness has become undeniable, and it seems likely that their applications will continue to increase in the future.

“Felix-san, Mizeroi-san, sorry to keep you waiting!”

Carrying the two shields, Isamu went out to the backyard and called out to the two exclusive knight guards who were leisurely engaged in something resembling mock combat.

“Ah, have they finally been completed?”

“Well, after the magic weapons, now we have magic shields… It feels like we’ve become characters from the hero tales we used to read as kids.”

Both Felix and Mizeroi had expressions of excitement that they couldn’t contain.

It’s like asking a car enthusiast to test drive one new sports car after another, so it can’t be helped.

“Shall we start by testing them without activating them, as usual?”

“Understood. Mizeroi, shall we?”

“Anytime.”

At Isamu’s prompting, Felix poised his sword, and Mizeroi readied his shield.

They had previously argued over who would try first, but it seems they had learned and decided beforehand this time.

*sei!*

Just like before, Felix swung his sword with one hand.

A high-pitched sound was heard, and Mizeroi blocked it with his shield.

After about 10 slashes, Felix now holds the sword in both hands and begins to swing it.

Felix stopped his attack when a louder sound, louder than before, rang out around ten times.

“Hmm. Well, so far it’s been the same as usual training. There’s no particular difference.”

Isamu just buried a few magic stones in a position where they wouldn’t get in the way, so it doesn’t seem to feel particularly strange even when it’s not activated.

“Then, please leave it running. The first one is the one that is distributed and then converted, just like the original system.”

“I got it”

“Understood. Let’s start!”

Saying that, Mizeroi touched the activation magic stone attached to the upper left of the shield.

As light flashed across the magic circle drawn on the back of the shield along with the usual startup sound, Mizeroi’s face broke involuntarily.

“It’s still a good thing no matter how many times I see it!”

After nodding a few times with satisfaction, he raised his shield.

“Let’s go?”

“Please!”

Just like before, Felix starts by swinging a sword with one hand.

The difference became clear the moment the first blow struck the shield.

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

The sharp, ringing sound that had been heard until now changed to a low, short sound. Moreover, faint light emanated from all over the surface of the shield and the back.

Surprised by the difference, Felix continued to increase his attacks. Each time, there was a short, low sound as the shield dispersed the impact, and faint light was emitted.

This time, after swinging the sword about ten times, he switched to both hands and began slashing.

A short, low sound echoes, just like when you cut it with one hand. The sound was a little louder than when using one hand, and the light emitted seemed a little brighter.

Even with both hands, he made about 10 slashes, and just when Isamu thought that was the end, Felix, who had not yet released his stance, stared at Mizeroi’s face.

In response to that, Mizeroi gave a small nod.

And…….

“Huh!”

With a shout that was clearly more enthusiastic than before, Felix slashed hard and fast.

Goin! There was a louder sound than before, and the shield emitted an even brighter light.

After about five rounds of discussion, Felix drew his sword and took a deep breath.

Mizeroi, who had been silently looking at the shield for a while, opened his mouth.

“It’s amazing! The impact that reaches my hand is completely different from before. In fact, there was hardly any impact from attacks with one hand or lighter attacks with both hands. It was only with the attack that put in all his strength at the end that there was an impact, but it’s astounding that such a level of attack can be endured with this level of impact.” 

Mizeroi, who had been defending with the shield, seemed to have felt a significant effect.

“How was it, Felix-san?”

This time, Isamu asked Felix, who was on the attacking side, about his impressions.

“It felt quite strange. When you cut a metal shield, usually there’s a loud noise and some recoil. However, with this shield, there’s still recoil, but it feels like there’s no sound, as if I’m cutting through something that doesn’t bounce back. It’s a bit unsettling because it goes against my past experiences…”

Felix spoke his thoughts with a furrowed brow. It seemed like he, being accustomed to combat, felt a sense of discomfort.

“I see… So, if there’s recoil, it means it’s not absorbing all the impact at the contact point but only dealing with the impact that’s transmitted to the shield?”

“That would be more convenient for armor. It doesn’t have to absorb unnecessary things.”

“Indeed, it’s more efficient that way. This is quite high-performance…”

Feeling that it could be useful, they proceeded to test the version without dispersal.

Mizeroi continued to take on the role of defense. He swapped shields and activated the new one.

“Here we go!”

Felix attacked with one hand as before.

Clang, clang went the high-pitched sound. Only the area around where the sword made contact emitted light on the surface of the shield. The light seemed brighter than that of the dispersing type.

Without pause, Felix switched to attacking with both hands.

Again, there were clang, clang sounds. The brightness of the light seemed to be not much different from when struck with one hand.

After striking about ten times each with one hand and both hands, Felix stopped. This time, it seemed he didn’t intend to exert full force.

“This one is slightly better than the regular shield… There was some effect against attacks with one hand, but there wasn’t much reduction in impact against attacks with both hands.”

“The sound of the impact was similar as well. The sound when struck with both hands was quite close to the sound of a normal shield.”

With both knights agreeing, it was safe to say that the effect of reducing power wasn’t fully demonstrated without dispersal.

Afterward, they swapped roles between attacker and defender and repeated the same test, with the same results.

“It seems that there’s a limit to the size of impact that can be converted per unit area.”

Based on the results of the experiment, Isamu concluded as such.

When not dispersing, there wasn’t much difference in the glow between attacks with one hand and both hands. The reason for this was likely because the impact exceeded the conversion limit for attacks with both hands, so the light intensity reached its limit there.

The purpose of dispersal seemed to be to increase the total amount of impact that could be converted by increasing the conversion area.

This raised the question of whether increasing the area would also increase the amount of impact that could be converted. So, they decided to create a prototype by drawing a magic circle on a larger shield called a tower shield and conducting comparative tests.

As a result, it was found that there was a decrease in conversion efficiency once a certain area was exceeded. From the point of impact to about a diameter of 50 centimeters, increasing the area increased the conversion amount, but beyond that, the conversion amount decreased. Despite this, there was not much difference in the consumed magic power.

Therefore, while enlarging the shield expanded the defendable area and changed the upper limit of impact that could be mitigated, efficiency decreased. Furthermore, enlarging the shield meant that the consumed magic power required for maintenance also increased, inevitably reducing the operating time.

Considering these conditions, it was decided to base the mass production on the Kite Shield, which is of intermediate size among the three sizes used by the knight order. Additionally, they decided to consider adoption for defending city walls and gates after conducting comparative tests with existing hardened magic tools.

By the way, it was decided as part of Isamu’s personal research theme to try improving carriages, mainly to improve ride comfort.

Thus, what had been the Felis series limited to weapons was expanded to include armor.

This armor series was named the Xiao mao series, meaning “kitten” in Chinese. Along with this, the magic shield Xiao mao Type 1 was formally adopted as the first installment.

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