ALL NOVEL Chapter 153
153. The Protagonist Always Arrived Late, Isn’t It?
In one of the many secret rooms built in the castle, Kyle, Jabil-sensei, Myrna, and I enter.
Alphard and Persia, our escorts, follow us.
Batista, the head court alchemist, and what appear to be his apprentices, are also with us to set up the transfer circle.
Among the apprentices, there was someone I recognized.
It was Erla Luira, once a disciple of Jabil-sensei, who had come to inspect the Golden Dawn.
Since she knew Jabil-sensei before he became like this, she must be older than me, but she looked youthful, not showing her age at all.
Today, she was quietly following along, perhaps because Batista was around.
“Still, to complete such a magnificent castle in such a short time—your craftsmen here are quite skilled.”
“Yes. Especially the head of the production guild, who is currently preparing the secret rooms—he is particularly exceptional.”
“Ho. Hardened alchemical stone has only recently begun to be used in the royal capital, but it’s far from widespread.”
“Is that so?”
Huh?
That’s a bit different from what I heard. I thought Van said they were desperately mass-producing hardened stone in the capital.
“Yes. We’ve heard of a method to make hardened stone from Jabil that doesn’t require a Twilight Alchemist, but it depends heavily on magical power. Handling that intricate magic formula requires someone like me, Jabil, or our talented apprentices. Alchemists working in town can’t mass-produce it. Even so, we’ve received their cooperation.”
“I… didn’t know that.”
Listening to Kyle and Batista’s conversation, I was a bit surprised.
I had worked hard with Jabil-sensei to create an improved alchemy method for academic papers, but it was still difficult for regular alchemists.
Seeing through my thoughts, Jabil-sensei shrugged in exasperation.
“Honestly… Do you not remember debating whether or not to publish the method for hardened alchemical stone because it could be used in warfare?”
“I remember. But since it’s mainly for defensive use, you decided to publish it, right?”
“Fool. Not just for that. Because it requires skilled alchemists, mass production is difficult, so we decided to release it.”
“Oh, I see. I hadn’t connected the dots.”
As expected of Jabil-sensei! She thinks everything through!
“Even if you’re a top-tier alchemist, if you can’t consider the societal impact, you’re still second-rate.”
“I’ll strive to improve.”
Kyle, overhearing my conversation with sensei, turned around.
“You need a lot of magical power to mass-produce it, don’t you? Alchemy is about equivalent exchange, after all.”
Kyle smiled, but in contrast, the alchemists—Jabil-sensei, Batista, and Erla—looked as if they’d bitten into something sour.
“Did I say something strange?”
“Kyle-sama, that’s a big misconception. I’m not sure why it’s become common knowledge, but alchemy’s core philosophy is ‘One is All, All is One.’”
“One is all… all is one?”
“Yes. We alchemists believe that everything in the world comes from a single substance, which we call the ‘prima materia.’ Understanding, creating, or extracting this prima materia is the ultimate goal and achievement of alchemists. If we can obtain it, every substance and phenomenon in this world can be controlled. Currently, we can only observe phenomena we believe are produced by prima materia. These phenomena are said to exist in four states—wet, dry, hot, and cold—which correspond to the four attributes called earth, water, fire, and wind by magicians, showing that this is a near-truth concept. There’s also the idea that a fifth essence, pneuma, is involved, and the force that binds these states together is magical energy, mana—”
As Jabil-sensei seemed to be getting carried away, starting a lecture like he would for me, I hurriedly called out.
“Sensei, sensei…”
As much as I’d love to hear the lecture, now wasn’t the time.
Erla, stop listening so intently with your eyes shining and help stop her!
While I was panicking about what to do, Batista kindly intervened with a chuckle.
“Jabil, that’s enough. Kyle-sama looks a bit overwhelmed.”
“Huh? Oh, apologies. I got carried away—”
Batista waved his hand to silence Jabil, turning back to Kyle.
“Kyle-sama, in summary, all you need to understand is that we aim for the ‘All is One’ principle, not equivalent exchange, and you can disregard the rest.”
“No, it’s a fascinating topic. If I have the time, I’d love to hear more, but… we’re almost at our destination.”
Right on cue, we arrived at the secret room.
One of the statues placed here and there along the corridor slowly moved, revealing a decently spacious room.
Inside, Leafan was already kneeling, having finished her preparations, such as cleaning.
“She’s the Leafan I mentioned earlier.”
“Hmm. Let’s get started with setting up the transfer circle. I’d like your help along with the twilight.”
“Of course.”
Called upon, Leafan and I began setting up the transfer circle together with Erla.
We were instructed to place the magic devices, which held large magic stones, at the six points of the hexagram drawn on the floor.
“These transfer devices are rare even among the royal family, so handle them carefully.”
“Uh, okay.”
Now that I think about it, I’d heard about them during my adventurer days.
They’re rare treasures only occasionally found in large dungeons, and the kingdom buys them for outrageous prices.
If an individual holds onto one, it’s basically useless without knowing how to use the magic circle, so it’s always sold.
As Leafan and I carefully handled the devices to avoid breaking them…
“Whoa!?”
Suddenly, knowledge flowed into my brain, as if it was pouring out of the emblem on my left hand.
Looking over, Leafan seemed equally surprised.
What surged into me was information related to alchemy, but Leafan must have received knowledge about blacksmithing.
“Hm? What’s going on? Could it be…”
Batista shot a sharp glance in our direction.
It seems it was obvious we had received a whisper from the emblem.
“Uh… well, I now know how to make these transfer devices.”
“Wha… what?”
Batista’s jaw dropped in shock, and I understood how he felt.
“No way… We alchemists and magicians have worked tirelessly to research and gave up on making transfer devices?”
“Uh, it’s not just that. There’s also something called a ‘transfer gate’—”
“‘What!?’”
Both Batista and Erla shouted in surprise, while Jabil-sensei furrowed her brow and shook her head.
“You really are something else…”
“Uh, did I mess up?”
“You should have kept quiet here and consulted me in private later.”
Jabil-sensei pressed her temples as if she had a headache.
“Ah… well, it’s fine.
So, what’s the difference between this ‘transfer gate’ and the transfer circle?”
I’m no good at playing dumb, sensei!
But, as an alchemist striving for the truth of the world, I’ll do my best to explain.
“Well, the transfer circle can only send a few people at a time, and it requires six high-quality magic stones for each use. But a transfer gate connects two gates, allowing free passage until the magic stone’s power runs out, without any limits on number or weight.”
“Wha… what?”
Batista was more shocked than Jabil-sensei.
“To activate a transfer gate, you’d need a Cyclops-class magic stone, which would last about an hour. It depends on the size of the gate, though.”
If it’s just large enough for people to walk through, it’ll last about an hour.
For something as big as a carriage, the time would decrease.
Still, it consumes fewer magic stones than the transfer circle.
It seems the transfer circle was created as a simplified version of the transfer gate.
Maybe in the past, people used to carry these devices around.
“That’s quite interesting, but for now, we should focus on setting up the transfer circle so His Majesty can come through.”
“Right. Craft-niisa… ahem, Craft-san, please set it up.”
“Understood.”
We resumed setting up the transfer circle.
As Batista contacted Van using the royal family’s communication artifact (not the one I made), the transfer circle responded almost immediately, as if they were waiting for the signal.
“Haha! I’ve arrived!”
Van appeared suddenly on the magic circle, striking a strange pose, with two knights guarding him.
You’re as flamboyant as ever!