The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 76: Caught In A Dilemma

We had three meetings so far, and Lotte finished packing to go home in the meantime.

I asked her.

“Can I come with you up to the borders?”

The territory managed by Count Saliere was located in the western frontier region, more than 500 km from the capital.

The range of Rosemary’s Scope was said to be around 400 km from her base in the palace. It was the best place to be out of the beast’s sight.

Of course, there was another reason–the place had a key ingredient used in the development of the hydrogen bomb buried there. I could use Flare and develop a nuclear weapon, but acquiring this ingredient would allow us to deal a critical blow to the Demon Army even with technology from 1945.

It wasn’t that I didn’t consider the possibility of Rosemary leaving the palace area. When I hadn’t known the range of her surveillance, I’d worried about that. But after speaking with Vermel, the fog was lifted.

─ Rosemary won’t leave the capital no matter what until winter.

I had transmigrator guarantee; I was now relieved.

Lotte smiled after staring blankly for a moment at my question, then nodded.

“Yes, alright.”

“My lord also wished to see you.”

The maid next to Lotte echoed her sentiments. Was it Charlotte? She was a servant who’d been sent by the Saliere family once the lockdown orders were lifted.

She looked around our age. There was discipline in her words and behavior, appearing to have worked as a maid for quite some time.

“We have about three days before we leave as the other miss requested to accompany us to the borders as well. So we are waiting until she finishes getting ready.”

“Freyr, you mean?”

“Yes. She mentioned she has business across the borders.”

To the west of the Empire was the land of beastkin. A disorderly land of chaos and plunder. The Empire’s citizens lumped all the beastkin who lived there together and called them barbarians.

I didn’t know why Freyr was going there. Was there some incredible drink across the border?

For now, I just nodded; I could ask Vermel later.

I headed to the clubroom and let myself in. The tokamak was sitting on one side, having only been used once to test Flare. But I couldn’t just leave it here.

I lifted the makeshift tokamak weighing about four sacks of rice. It was quite heavy, but not to the point that I couldn’t carry it.

“... You’re planning to take that, too?

Vermel asked with a bitter smile. He still didn’t seem to understand the masterpiece by Freyr and me.

He had been quite taken aback when I first showed him the tokamak. And when talking at our meeting, he said how the original Aether had also made something similar. She must have been going down the nuclear fission-fusion path as well.

It was understandable for Vermel to freak out considering that someone different was still doing the same things. He finally seemed relieved after I explained that I majored in physics.

By this point, he was comfortable with me, no longer panicking just from making contact like the beginning of the semester.

“That isn’t what’s urgent right now.”

“I know.”

The thing more important than moving luggage–preventing Miss Heerlein from leaving the state.

Vermel mentioned it at the following meeting. If Heerlein or Hasfeldt, either professor, died, then the world would be destroyed.

It was highly likely that Professor Hasfeldt was trapped in this Iron Tower place. If what Vermel said was true, then Hasfeldt would be fine for about a year and a half. On the other hand, Heerlein was going to die for sure if she wasn’t stopped from leaving.

“You’re staying here throughout the break, right?”

Vermel nodded.

To thoroughly block Heerlein so she couldn’t get out–that was the job of the transmigrator who knew the causality of this world. If Vermel remained here and did his job properly, then Heerlein was going to live.

The start was the most important. We had to complete the first step that was going to stop Heerlein from leaving, what was referred to as a ‘strategic route’ in game context. Vermel taught me this phrase.

After moving the tokamak to my dorm, I headed to the north gate of the citadel with my new friend.

That was where we would prevent the death of my mentor.

Recently, there was something strange going on between Aether and an elf. She even cut back on sleep to watch them which made her head throb. It felt like her CPU got hit with an EMP.

Had it been a month? At some point, Aether and Vermel’s relationship developed rapidly.

Aether would talk to Vermel every chance she had, and Vermel hovered around her at every break and expressed his interest.

“What are they doing?”

It was a phenomenon difficult for her to understand.

“I’ll watch them for a little longer.”

As she did, she noticed something peculiar. Once the semester ended, the two of them came to reside in the club.

Particularly, they’d go into the storage room attached to one side at different times and stay together for a while, then come out. She tried to see what they were up to inside but the signals were blocked. Scope would get too noisy so she wasn’t able to illuminate within.

She felt a chill for some reason.

“What is the matter?”

“That elf, we can’t let him be.”

He’d exchanged written inquiries with big sis last time, and he also knew how to counter her magic.

“So he does know me; that’s a bit annoying.”

She decided to leave it for now and continued to monitor the two. Blanton also watched from the side.

The screen displayed Vermel and Aether exiting the small storage. They couldn’t see the previous scene, of course, since Scope was blocked.

“What were they doing in there, I wonder.”

Were they conspiring? Was he persuading Aether? What the hell did they talk about?

Rosemary groaned from all the questions. That was when Duke Blanton spoke up.

“I believe it’s a rendezvous.”

“You think I’m stupid not to know that?”

“No, not the appropriate kind that you are thinking of, Quartus.”

Rosemary’s mouth dropped open.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

“N-not appropriate.... Y-you mean, that...?”

“Yes, I believe that may be it.”

She suddenly felt lightheaded.

“Perhaps she has fallen in love.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Blanton!”

Love was Rosemary’s least favorite emotion. For her, that kind of notion had never been an option from the start.

The desire to care for others for no reason. And what had become of those few compatriots who felt that way?

“Love? From someone who spent years as a slave? What nonsense. Furthermore, the Golden-Eyed and elves have the worst compatibility! The phases of their mana waves are polar opposites so they’d instinctively feel sick around each other!”

That was what Rosemary protested and to Blanton, it only sounded like the excuse of a young girl.

Duke Blanton had been here for longer than Rosemary. He’d secured the bridgehead for infiltrating the Empire and spent decades clearing the way for her to enter the palace. During this time, he learned much about the humans.

So Blanton knew that a single emotion like love could easily destroy a household.

“There are cases where a man and woman from enemy countries love each other. If it’s difficult to relate, consider the Golden-Eyed who are not loyal to our King–they feel similarly towards the Elementals and the Goddess.”

With her chin in hand, Rosemary huffed. It was her pose for when she didn’t want to admit something.

“Does being human mean that you can just fall in love at first sight over nothing?”

“Wouldn’t you know since you were once of that species?”

“I don’t. I can’t remember.”

Rosemary decided to stop thinking about it; she didn’t want to bother with something that she wasn’t sure about.

This time, she stuck a lollipop in her mouth. Not just any lollipop but a magic element candy which contained mana, a snack that filled one’s body with mana just from licking it.

Rosemary reopened Scope. Aether was currently talking to the girl from the Count Saliere family, and Rosemary frowned as she listened in on it.

“They’re heading to the western borders? That’s bad.”

They were going to be out of range, then; the distance of her Scope didn’t reach the western borders.

The big one wasn’t to happen until at least November, so Rosemary had to stay here until then. She could be gone for a short time but not for days; there were too many people to watch for her to be able to do that.

She had no choice.

“Blanton.”

“Yes, Quartus.”

“I’ll lend you special ops so take a trip for a couple months. Go see what Aether is up to and if it’s possible to bring her around, approach her and bring her back. Also, go drop by the Pitchblende Mines and tell that oversized lizard to get working while you’re at it.”

“Understood.”

With a bow, Blanton went away. Rosemary continued monitoring Aether and Vermel.

The two walked to the northern citadel as they talked about mundane things. There wasn’t any useful information.

If there was one thing unusual, it’d be Aether’s expression; she kept smiling while talking to the elf.

Weird; she’d always go around expressionless.

“No way. Nah, it can’t be.”

It was a pointless delusion. It was more important to know where they were going.

She changed screens and checked where they were headed first. Inside the citadel, mages were preparing warhorses and golems.

Rosemary’s eyes widened when she saw one of her other surveillance targets.

“Professor Heerlein?”

Meriga Heerlein–the monster who breached the first line of defense with Klais Hasfeldt back when Flare didn’t exist.

She was getting ready to go out, strangely enough. Rosemary thought for a moment, then realized that the woman was heading for their headquarters.

“Right, sis two captured Hasfeldt and threw her into the tower. Is she off to her rescue?”

She now knew what the chairman, Heerlein, and Aether had talked about together in the basement.

“Huuup.... To let her go or not?”

Rosemary hesitated for a moment.

Humanity had already obtained an advanced technology called Flare. With its development, the Calamities were now easily defeated. And if Heerlein who was naturally gifted in operating golems was joining?

The third line would be breached once again; the legion’s forces that they had barely managed to restore would evaporate again.

But it wasn’t a bad choice to let her go; it was beneficial in its own way to take her out in the northern parts where the Elemental’s eyes could be avoided. And most of all, Secundus and Tertius were at the tower so there weren’t any chances for the headquarters to fall.

“It’s better to let her leave, right?”

Yes, she would let Heerlein go and stop the elf from leaving; that was the right decision tactics-wise.

As expected, Vermel and Aether stopped in front of Heerlein, meaning they wished to say something to her.

“Now, let’s see what they’re going to do.”

They were in the palm of her hand, anyway. However the elf persuaded her, she was going to send Heerlein to the north.

Giggling, Rosemary grabbed the screen with both hands.

Go ahead, try to stop her!

[Have a safe trip, Miss!]

Huh?