The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1263

Within Heins territory, there existed a number of independent, specialized groups operating under Davey’s permission.

Some were called clubs, others research societies, and some social societies. The naming was fairly flexible.

Several among them had garnered fame, but two in particular had a reputation for causing the most trouble. One was the Gourmet Research Society, led by the high elf Yuria Helishana.

The other was the Development Society of the territory. They were a group known for achieving tremendous contributions to Heins Territory while also constantly stirring up incidents.

There were three dwarves, two humans, and one dragon member. A surprisingly large group, but every one of them had a screw loose.

“We’ll now begin the 824th research topic meeting.”

The one leading the meeting was Aeonitia O'Rowane, the youngest princess of the Rowane Kingdom. Despite being a few years older, she still retained her petite frame.

The two others present nodded at her serious tone.

“We’re out of budget.” With no preamble, Aeonitia dropped the news, prompting Tiara to sigh heavily.

“This must be because of the Gourmet Research Society. They caused trouble again, didn’t they? Now, every society’s budget has been slashed across the board.”

The last person present, Elder Goulda, stayed silent.

“At this rate, we won’t be able to finish the new weapon we were planning to implement on the airship Asgard.”

Following Aeonitia’s depressed sigh, Tiara slammed the table with both hands. “This is all the Gourmet Research Society’s fault! We need to bring the hammer down on them!”

“Do you think you can beat them?” Aeonitia asked with exasperation. That simple question shut her mouth.

The Gourmet Research Society might’ve been notorious eccentrics, but their individual power couldn’t be ignored.

Yuria Helishana commanded high-ranking spirits; Marky wielded the power of Chandra, the Butterfly Empress; and worst of all was Rinne, the White Wings Sephiroth, who was practically as strong as a full-fledged nation in terms of firepower.

“To put it bluntly, Rinne is a flawless artificial living being. The level of technology condensed into her body... is something no one aside from the Gracious Savior can even comprehend.”

“As an inventor, it pisses me off to admit it, but you’re right. Rinne alone could wipe out an entire country without blinking,” Tiara muttered bitterly. “On top of that, she also has command authority over the Decepticon Fleet and Avengers Squadron we manage. There’s no way we could ever punish them by force.”

They were absolute menaces, throwing their weight backed by sheer strength. Rinne was particularly infuriating, as she’d constantly borrowed the golems Tiara worked so hard to polish, tighten, and oil, only to use them for her bizarre antics.

Even so, it was impossible for Tiara to see her with anything but a mix of fascination and grudging admiration.

“We’ve gotten off track. In conclusion, until more funding comes in, the Asgard new weapon project will be indefinitely suspended. Any objections?”

“I want to say I have one, but no,” Tiara begrudgingly agreed.

“None here either.”

The remaining members—technical advisor Edison, the dragon Rudelite, and Elder Goulda—were all tied up with other projects anyway. They likely couldn't bother caring as much.

“Princess Aeonitia.”

“What is it, Tiara? It must be important, for you to be interrupting proceedings like this.”

“Yes, it is. Can’t you go ask for more funding?”

“We already receive more than most others do. Besides, my brother isn’t the type to just hand over money simply because I ask.”

While her warmly as a family member, when it came to principles, he was unexpectedly uncompromising.

Tiara turned to the side, saying, “Elder Goulda, don’t you think that if she went to him and showed some sisterly affection, he’d cave?”

“Possibly...”

As Goulda stroked his chin with interest, Aeonitia reddened. She slammed the table with a loud crack. “Both of you, enough! The decision has already been made. We’ll leave the project in limbo as-is and prepare for the next thing.”

“But if the Asgard weapon project is done for, isn’t there nothing else for us to talk about today?”

“No. We still have research papers and proposals due this quarter. There are already a couple of drafts prepared, so today we’ll decide which is most feasible.”

She dusted off her hands and pulled an artifact from her pocket, pressing a button before tossing it onto the table.

Whrrr!

An image spun into view above it.

“This is the first proposal, submitted by Tiara...” Aeonitia narrowed her eyes. Letting out a short sigh, she stamped it with a red ‘DENIED’ seal. She announced, “As I said before, we can’t handle projects on this big of a scale right now.”

“What?! Do you know how much work I put into that?!” Tiara complained.

“I know, but what can you expect us to do? We don’t have the money, it’s as simple as that.” She formed a circle with her thumb and index finger, mimicking a coin.

Tiara couldn’t help but make a sour face. “If we just had a little more budget and time...”

“Then it wouldn’t be an issue,” Aeonitia agreed.

“Fine. I’ll scrape up some budget in the books, then!” Tiara declared with what seemed like misplaced confidence.

Aeonitia stared at her silently, eyes narrowing as if to figure out what was going on in her mind. “I hope you’re not thinking of siphoning maintenance funds from Asgard, the Heins Territory facilities, the Decepticon Fleet, or the Avengers Squadron.”

Tiara’s following snort and smirk were all anyone needed to know what she thought of that.

“That’s embezzlement, you know.”

“It’s not a crime if you don’t get caught.”

Aeonitia shook her head at the brazen declaration. “You already got caught last time, didn’t you? That’s probably one of the reasons our budget was cut in the first place.”

“Hmm. The results were stable and successful, though.”

“You can’t keep blowing astronomical sums just to till a single field when in charge of many acres of land.”

In the end, it was confirmed that the biggest reasons for their budget cuts were the Gourmet Research Society and Tiara.

“Forget it. Let’s pick from the remaining drafts, finding something we can actually do.”

Despite Aeonitia saying so, deep down, she already knew the reality of their situation. All the prepared proposals had problems that made them impossible to build on such a shoestring budget.

Aeonitia felt the pressure gnawing at her. After all, the Development Society hadn’t produced any new viable proposals lately.

“Don’t rush,” said Elder Goulda. “Didn’t Gracious Savior say the same? As long as you keep trying, even without results, he’ll keep supporting you.”

If Aeonitia were a complete stranger, things might’ve gone differently, but she was Davey’s half-sister. Although her birth mother once clashed violently with Davey, he never brought it up or judged her for it.

“No. He’s a terrifying person.” Aeonitia dropped the insincere line she always said, but to Tiara and Elder Goulda, it was nothing more than a weak excuse.

Afterward, the Development Society realized every proposal on the table would take more money than they had to finish on time.

“This is all the Gourmet Research Society’s fault,” one of them lamented.

“We must get revenge!”

Once the group traced the root of all their trouble back to the Gourmet Research Society, Aeonitia’s eyes lit up. “Tiara, doesn’t the Gourmet Research Society have an outstanding request with us?”

Tiara laid a thick stack of documents down as if she’d been waiting for the cue. “Yes! This one.”

Perhaps due to their pride as researchers, the files showed a lot of effort, with handwritten comments suggesting worthwhile consideration despite the outlandish request.

“I see you put a lot of thought into this,” Aeonitia commented with shining eyes. She was, in fact, a bit surprised at the rather bold ideas.

Yet, Tiara shook her head. “Only because I didn’t expect the Gourmet Research Society to cause trouble. The Development Society has our own pride—we cannot and will not hand them junk.”

“That’s true.” Aeonitia rose, cleared away the holographic artifact, and spread a set of schematics out across the table. “The device they asked for originally turns vast mana within a confined space into an unstable state. It then forces the resulting waves to collide inside a specially coated chamber, accelerating fermentation.”

Fermentation normally took considerable time, yet Tiara, known all over the continent as an alchemical genius, had used what she learned from Davey to design a device that could drastically shorten that time.

“The idea has potential. If properly completed, it’d be a major achievement.”

Under normal circumstances, the Development Society would’ve executed the request without hesitation. Yet, this time, things felt different.

“We can’t just hand this to them as-is.” Tiara grinned wickedly and picked up a pen.

“So I’ll tweak the design. For instance, this part here,” she said as she pointed to the core of the fermentation unit. “The core is normally coated with a special ore. Without that coating, it produces a unique, impure waveform. I plan to remove that coating entirely from the schematic.”

“What will happen if you do that?” Aeonitia asked.

Elder Goulda answered instead, “Seems like that change will place a significant burden on the user.”

They’d normally never do something like that, but with their client being the Gourmet Research Society, their approach changed.

“Yes! If we simply deliver it like that, it’d be a defective product. However, if we coat the removed section with Chromattee steel... heh. It would suppress certain side effects and produce a nauseating, disorienting waveform.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Our very own dragon Rudelite verified it, so I’m certain.”

If a device made for cooking made users dizzy instead, efficiency and effectiveness would go out the window.

“Completely pointless,” Tiara said.

“Exactly! No benefit, no use.”

The three shared a grim smile as silence fell.

“Let’s start work immediately.”

“The time for payback has finally come.”

For the Development Society, the more pointless the project became, the better.

Aeonitia and Tiara had both earned reputations as prodigies across the continent, yet they often clashed due to differing priorities. This time, though, they fell into perfect alignment. Their plan to make the Gourmet Research Society suffer began to take shape.

Tiara set things into motion. “Let’s reverse-engineer it first. Elder Goulda, consult Rudelite about the mana reactions.”

“Understood,” he confirmed.

“Remember, whatever we’re doing mustn’t leak. Don’t drag other society members into it unless absolutely necessary—I want absolute operational security.”

“We know,” Aeonitia spoke firmly.

“Alright then. Let’s begin!”

* * *

Aeonitia, Tiara, and Elder Goulda poured their souls into completing the device. After some time, before them stood a metal construct about one meter both wide and tall. Each of them wore a satisfied smile.

“Even if we can’t fully cut down the time needed, reducing the fermentation process by thirty percent is still a major breakthrough,” Aeonitia said.

Truthfully, similar concepts had already been discussed in alchemical academia. Considering as much, it wasn’t an invention that would shock the world. Of course, it was something that had only been discussed in theory, and to actually build it would require a group of great mages and geniuses to bang their heads together.

“Well then, shall we test it?” Aeonitia smiled eerily and pressed a switch, activating the mana stone. A yellow light shimmered within the machine, pulsing with waves of unstable energy.

Tiara, held up a wave detector with fascination and rapidly noted down the readings, while Aeonitia silently observed the food placed inside.

“Oooh! The theory really holds up. It’s working!”

“The waves are stable too. But... why aren’t we feeling dizzy?”

By all means, their modifications and calculations indicated that the machine should overwhelm anyone nearby with unending waves of dizziness and nausea. The oscillating waves were meant to shake the semicircular canals of the ear, which was the same principle Davey had used when he gave the Decepticon Fleet leader Megatron nausea bullets.

Yet strangely, the reaction was far too stable. Both Tiara and Aeonitia froze.

“Huh? Is it supposed to be like this?”

“No way! This is too stable. Wait... the fermentation speed is way too fast! You said it would only be thirty percent!” Tiara shouted in sheer frustration. It was clear that she refused to hand such an incredible invention to those annoying gourmet freaks.

What was supposed to be a half-baked prank device was instead proving to be more stable and far faster than existing theories and calculations had ever predicted.

“Not on my watch!!” Furious, Tiara kicked the machine. After all, they could always scrap it and make another one later.

Sure, if their incredible creation was ever presented to the public, it would attract tons of attention, but that wasn’t what the trio was interested in.

They were left with no choice but to break it to spite those gourmet lunatics.

Tiara kept kicking, and tried to grab the control module. Yet, at that moment, Aeonitia screamed, “No! Not that—!”

Alas, she was too small and weak to stop Tiara’s reckless charge.

Crack!!

The control module shattered in her hand.

Whummm!! Whummm!!

The device erupted with massive waves that slammed into all three of them. The overwhelming dizziness sent Tiara, Aeonitia, and Elder Goulda crashing to the ground, clutching their mouths.

Whummm!! Whummm!!

“T-The control module is broken... It's too strong now! We can’t hand this over to the Gourmet Research Society!”

Instead of the mild nausea they had planned, the waves were devastating in effect. They were enough to guarantee immediate complaints.

Aeonitia reached for the emergency shutoff switch.

But...

“Huh?”

The waves spread across the entire workshop, resonating with a massive object draped in cloth.

“Asgard’s new weapon!”

The mana gravity cannon, built for the airship Asgard, resonated violently with the waves. It roared to life on its own, spiraling out of control.

“AAAHHH!”

“Get down!!”

They dropped flat to the ground, covering their ears. It was only moments before an enormous gravitational wave swallowed the entire Development Society facility.

Boom!!

That day, the waves from the fermentation device and the gravity cannon resonated together, affecting a three-hundred-meter radius within Heins Territory and completely warping the gravity in those areas. Some areas doubled in gravitational pull, while others became five times lighter.

It was complete chaos.

Once their building began consuming enormous amounts of mana from the territory, it abruptly shut off every mana lamp and powered device in the land.

“We’re screwed...” Aeonitia muttered in despair.

Tiara groaned, clutching her head. “Let’s run.”

None of them objected. As soon as gravity stabilized, the three bolted for the hills.

Even though the effect only lasted for a couple of seconds, the achievement of warping gravity without the use of magic was enough to overturn the academic world. Yet to the two women and one dwarf, the only thing that mattered was making their escape.

Of course, there was no way the lord of the territory wouldn’t notice an incident that drained all mana and blacked out his domain.

A voice called out to them, “Causing trouble just like the Gourmet Research Society, tsk.”

When Aeonitia fumbled her way out of the building, she froze. She saw a young man in black, smiling faintly. “D-Davey...”

“Come with me.”

He grabbed her by the ear and dragged her off.

“Aah... Aeonitia, we’ll never forget your sacrifice,” Tiara whispered, relieved they weren’t the ones caught.

Yet.

“T-This was all Tiara’s idea! I just followed the blueprint!” Aeonitia shouted as she was hauled away.

“Is that so?” Davey shifted her over his shoulder, then crooked a finger at Tiara.

“You traitor!”

“You’re the one who betrayed me first!”

Watching them bicker, Davey wondered how they were any different from the Gourmet Research Society.

The three who caused such chaos ended up being strung up at the lord’s castle as punishment. Of course, the Gourmet Research Society showed up to snicker and jeer at them, making their blood pressure spike even more.

Meanwhile, Perserque and Davey, when reviewing the reports, looked utterly dumbfounded.

“Davey. Your sister... she’ll go down in Tionis’s history as a true genius.”

Unlike Davey, who only developed and hoarded technology for himself to satisfy selfish interests, Aeonitia always published everything she made and gained enormous recognition.

Even so, the incident they’d caused was on another level.

“Let’s keep this quiet for now. If word gets out, it’ll be chaos.” Davey skimmed the incident report and the schematics. He chuckled dryly. “They were trying to make a fermentation device... and ended up building an artificial gravity field? Were they aiming for mana core fusion or something? Still... at this fermentation speed, we could probably push Sacred Grass’s stability to the extreme.”

“Not quite that far in practice, but... it does get us closer to perfection.”

Though the device consumed massive energy and only worked for a short time, in that moment, it had undeniably warped gravity across the territory. Even if it was an accident, even if it drew on technology far beyond Tionis, the discovery was nothing short of miraculous.

The moment such groundbreaking technology spread, there was no doubt that countless nations would covet it. Davey figured it’d be enough to even spark wars. It was a discovery for beyond their world’s state of development.

“What’s being done with those three?” Perserque asked, eyes glimmering with interest as she studied the schematics.

“They’re strung up in the garden. The Gourmet Research Society’s probably having a field day mocking them right now.”

The sight of the so-called senior troublemakers gleefully tormenting their juniors was almost absurdly comical.