The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 180: Our Work Explodes (4)

Chapter 180: Our Work Explodes (4)

Aether said calmly.

“Our work explodes.”

What did this mean?

Crowpeltz recalled a distant memory from the past.

I remember.

When she had been studying language abroad, she remembered seeing some nameless Fire Mage creating a large fireball.

When a powerful explosive magic was used, the Fire Elemental pushed out the Air Elemental and caused a fireball to erupt. It was a fact that could be derived from theory, but Crowpeltz had witnessed it with her own eyes.

If the explosion was large enough, the clouds formed by the fireball looked like a mushroom.

Then.

Is it an actual bomb?

Cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Crowpeltz shook her head.

“It can’t be. It’s a model, isn’t it.”

“......We don’t know if it is until we blow it up.”

Aether spoke with an unfluctuating voice. There was an inexplicable persuasiveness in her tone which was flat like a well-trodden ground.

Is it real?

If that girl activated the scroll in her hand, then it seemed like the capital including Tilette would be engulfed in a great flame instantly.

“No, it’s probably a model. Would you display it somewhere like this If it was real?”

Aether nodded, thinking that she made a reasonable deduction. But that didn’t mean it was the answer.

“We won’t know if it’s real or not until we try.”

Aether replied while waving the scroll containing the trigger. There was a faint trace of mana in her fingertips.

“W-wait! What are you trying to do!”

“What do you think will happen if I flow mana into this scroll?”

“Don’t...!”

“You said it was definitely a model.”

“When did I say it definitely was? I said it was likely!”

Strange.

If that was a real bomb, then even Aether wouldn’t be safe when it was detonated. Yet that girl just repeatedly brought the scroll up and down with a confident face like she didn’t care.

There was a sense of discrepancy in that regard.

Just then.

“Th-that probably is a real bomb.”

A trembling voice could be heard from behind.

It was a pretty girl with ultramarine hair. She walked up to Crowpeltz with her hand holding the fan shaking.

She’s the daughter of the Blanton family.

She was someone Crowpeltz knew.

She didn’t just know her, but Lady Rosemary was rumored to be one of the most credible and intelligent people in the Empire. She was said to be so wise and courageous that there wasn’t anyone in the capital who didn’t know her, at least.

She didn’t expect that Lady Rosemary would react like this.

But that wasn’t where it ended.

“Goodness, Aether. Are you causing trouble again?”

A beautiful woman with narrow eyes approached while sighing.

Meriga Heerlein. She, too, was someone Crowpeltz knew about.

No, there was no way she couldn’t know.

The genius who entered Tilette Academy as a commoner and became an authority on golem transmutation. Called the hope of the common people beyond the city, she was also a war hero who had made remarkable contributions on the northern front.

And that Heerlein made a sore face as if she disapproved when she looked at Aether.

“What’s this. A bomb?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Humm.... It doesn’t look like a model.”

Saying that, Heerlein knocked Aether on the head.

“Ack.”

“I just can’t deal with you these days! A few days ago you were going around beating up the elves and now you submit something dangerous like this for the festival? Did the exhibitor in charge not stop you when they saw this?”

“They registered it right away when I tipped them on top of the entry fee.”

Heerlein pounded her chest in disbelief.

To think that Heerlein who’s known for her honesty would say that.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

With this, it became an established fact that the work Aether submitted was an actual bomb. The back of Crowpeltz’s neck stiffened like she’d been bitten by a rabid dog.

“That should be a bomb.”

Professors who happened to be passing by also chimed in with their own comments. One of them even gave it with a sigh.

“What in the world....”

“This child isn’t ordinary.”

Heerlein spoke in a grumpy tone.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard of Flare, but Aether was the one who made that. At her level, she wouldn’t have submitted a fake.”

It was the appearance of an unexpected defense. Crowpeltz had no choice but to back down since the faculty of Tilette, who were second to none in terms of magic, spoke collectively.

Ah.

She realized in that moment.

Come to think of it, it didn’t matter whether that thing was a model or not.

The important thing was that nervousness and fear about the unknown had been created through the work that the girl had made.

That alone made it sufficient to pass, as evoking strong emotions was one of the directions that the arts needed to pursue lately.

I’ve been shortsighted.

Rather than simply viewing everyday objects in an artistic way, there was no need to chase after beauty of point, line, and face only.

Crowpeltz realized for the first time today that in this world, there was art that revealed its true value when it was destroyed.

Now this work looked different.

“Amazing, simply amazing...!”

Around the same time, Durand was feeling the same way.

“That is the epitome of beauty! I, Michel Durand! Am infinitely impressed by your beautiful sculpture!”

After admiring the work for a few more minutes, Crowpeltz and Durand left.

“Holy.”

How tiring.

As it was an art contest, she should have explained the aesthetic aspect accordingly, but she’d ended up only focusing on the fact that it was a bomb.

- If you don’t see this as a mushroom, I’ll show you what a real mushroom is.

–was the general idea behind the title, but those people had viewed it differently and unexpectedly admired it.

Luck, perhaps?

Wiping her hands with a handkerchief, Aether looked up her work.

“But it is well-made.”

A long, smooth metal rod over three meters tall.

The identity of this small-capped mushroom-looking hunk of metal was only a fraction of the groundwork she was going to lay.

**There was a slight anomaly at the festival.

The grand prize that had meant to be given to Durand went to Aether’s team, and this was accepted by Freyr and Lotte who’d collaborated with her.

The two girls respectively had the trophy and a sack of platinum coins in their hands.

“There is also a bonus prize.”

The judge took out a small jewelry box from a fancy case.

“Is Aether away?”

“She’s locked herself in the basement to get ready for the invention contest and hasn’t come out.”

“Then it can’t be helped. Please give this to her later.”

With a smile, Crowpeltz made an impression on Lotte.

“I do not know what’s inside, either. Things like these are usually created by the Elementals who are interested in the arts. I recommend that you open it together when she’s present.”

Lotte and Freyr both nodded.

**After the art fest, late at night.

Rosemary, head in hand, walked the night streets illuminated by the arc lamps.

Her steps were unstable. Even nicely put, it was hard to say that she was walking properly.

My head hurts so bad.

It was CPU overheating.

Biting down on her lip hard, Rosemary recalled what happened today.

The atomic bomb with even the inside completed.

It couldn’t be anyone else. That was an object that only sis could make in all of Ahrens continent.

You said you were only making the outside! A fake bomb!

There was no end to Rosemary’s despair.

Sis was going to kill me! Sis was going to kill us all! She was going to destroy everyone regardless if they were human or Beast!

“Arghhhhhhh!”

Her mind wasn’t just going to break, it was about to crumble like a macaron.

Every plan had failed, she couldn’t kill even one elf, she’d thought that sis had gone back to normal but was persisting with some weird research....

And the research was that thing, even!

Rosemary had been under great stress because of all these things lately.

But that wasn’t all.

She had also been bothered because of that bitch Lotte or whatsherface, and a whole group of elves who used Elementals came earlier than expected to Tilette because Octavus had caused shit in Kaurelia.

─ They say that the Lodestone will soon be here.

If she hadn’t received that message from Septimus, she would’ve already smashed everything.

Creeeak, bam!

Rosemary broke into the storage where the artworks that had been entered for the festival were stored.

Sorry, sis! But what do you want me to do?

Gold eyes glowed softly in the dark. A bright light like one from a lighthouse moved around whenever she turned her head.

“......Found it.”

The winner.

An atomic bomb named ‘Mushroom’ made by sis.

Aether had actually been planning to name the bomb ‘Little Girl’, but Rosemary wouldn’t know that.

Sis would be celebrating her win about now, right?

She might be drinking with those fake comrades who were supposed to be her friends or something. She was a bit peeved about that, but right now it didn’t matter.

Even if someone took this, no one was going to notice.

Giggling, Rosemary petted the atomic bomb.

“Wow.”

It felt different to the touch.

It was beautiful, soft, lovely.

If this worked, then they could blow up the Empire’s capital in one go.

What was the population here again?

Around five million? It should be around there.

In front of her was a weapon that could blow up at least a tenth of that.

And not just a tenth.

If this was radiation that spread, then it could deal fatal damage to twice as many humans including the neighboring regions.

A weapon that dealt a painful death along with chronic side effects that even the ‘plague’ that Quintus used couldn’t achieve easily.

“It’s your fault, sis. Making something like this.......”

Rosemary tensed both arms and lifted the bomb. It weighed about 4.8 tons, but it was only as heavy as carrying a sack of grains with her mechanical strength.

But.

“......Am I going to be able to move this to the palace?”

Unfortunately, Rosemary didn’t have a teleport scroll on her at the moment. It was because she had had many other things to take care of besides this, and she’d rushed over after signing off on those.

“Damn it.”

Rosemary took out a chalk from her pocket so that she could draw a substitute transmutation circle.

It was an old-fashioned method from centuries ago and wasn’t as effective, but there wasn’t a better way.

“Alright, it’s been a while....”

Just then.

Bang!

The sound of something shutting loudly.

“Ahh!”

Startled, Rosemary hunched herself like a kitten.

Bang, bang, bang!

The light gently washed over her head. The yellow spotlight illuminated Rosemary’s blue hair.

Goosebumps broke out instinctively.

And at the same time, it felt like her diaphragm was lifting.

“I was wondering where a stray cat came from.”

Hic.

“I knew it would be you.”

Hic, hic.

“Little sis.”

“Hic.”

“You want to die?”

Rosemary froze into a statue.

Her insides churned.