After experimenting, we learned that the fins could be incredibly thin without losing any energy-collection efficiency. As long as they were made from mithril-silver alloy, they could be just one to two millimeters thick without issue. Hell, even when I made them as thin and frail as aluminum foil, the collection rate didn’t change at all.
“That’s all well and good,” I said, “but I’m not sure what that says about practicality, if anything.”
“Mm. The thinner they are, the less useful they get,” Ira replied flatly.
“Right. Still, now we know that thickness doesn’t matter for the mana trap’s performance.”
If the fins could be paper-thin, that would cut costs dramatically. The real problem would be manufacturing them that way. You probably couldn’t use a hammer to make them that thin. Or wait, couldn’t you put gold leaf between two pieces of leather and hit it with a wooden mallet? I remembered seeing something like that on TV ages ago…
“Next up is a variation,” I said. “I’m going to make an automatic energy-collection device using formulas.”
“Mm. Let’s do it,” Ira said eagerly.
“I doubt it’s going to be that easy…” Ifriita muttered, far less optimistic.
You never know until you try, Princess!
…Except this time, she was absolutely right: It was brutal.
I selected a few major drain-type spells and mixed in some status-effect magic that ignored magic resistance. From there, we extracted shared formulas—things like targeting and bypassing magic resistance—and tried to modify them for collection use. Nothing worked.
“I guess this was never going to be easy, huh?” I sighed.
“These formulas are far more complex than the ones in wind magic,” Ira said with a frown.
“I told you so,” Ifriita added smugly.
The three of us had hit a wall. I really wanted to use drain magic somehow, but maybe it was time to rethink the whole approach. Sticking to my original plan was important, sure, but I couldn’t let myself get caught up on my original idea too much. Not if it kept us from moving forward. “Let’s come at this from a different angle.”
“How so?”
“No more fixating on drain magic. The real goal is to draw magic energy from the atmosphere and make it usable. How we do it doesn’t matter.”
“Right… You’re absolutely right,” said Ifriita.
“Mm… Then what now?” Ira asked, tilting her head.
Moving away from drain magic was all well and good, but we still needed a new direction to head in.
“Are there any spells that recover or temporarily store magic energy?” I asked.
“There’s no magic that recovers magic energy,” Ifriita said.
“Not that I know of,” Ira agreed.
“No, huh? Hmm…” I paused, thinking. “Actually, I have a question. What about when you recharge magicite?”
“We hold it directly in our hands and pour energy into it,” Ira replied.
“Mm. Magic energy release,” Ifriita added.
“I see… And you can draw energy out of magicite too, right?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“Then that means that humans—or mages specifically—must have some kind of organ that lets them expel and absorb magic energy.”
It made sense—just like lungs let us inhale and exhale air, mages must have something inside them that handled the flow of magic energy.
For some reason, both women stared at me and slowly retreated backward.
“No dissections,” Ifriita said sharply. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m not letting you experiment on humans. That’s taboo. Got it?” Ira added, glaring.
“Who do you think I am? And seriously, Ira? Didn’t you try to dissect me when we first met?”
“That was a mage joke,” she muttered, averting her gaze.
“Ha ha! A mage joke, hm? Then here’s a Kousuke joke: What if I proposed using living mages as engines and cores for magic tools?”
“I’m sorry,” she said immediately.
“You’re forgiven.”
I forgave her since she apologized so earnestly. Although I couldn’t help imagining Ira running on a hamster wheel, powering magic devices with everything she had. I decided not to say that part out loud, and especially not the part where I could imagine a future where she’d end up slipping and getting taken for a ride on one of those wheels.
“Anyway,” I said, “could you two look into magic-energy manipulation? Specifically, anything involving magic tools? Look into any tech that involves charging magicite with magic energy from magic jewels and crystals, or any tools that can store magic energy. Anything that seems remotely useful. I’m going to experiment with the knowledge from my old world and my craft skills and try to perfect the mana trap.”
“Mm, got it,” said Ira.
“All right,” said Ifriita.
✦ ✦ ✦
“So yeah, we’ve been working on developing this mana trap concept.”
“I see. So you claim you haven’t been idling your time away with the harpies and flirting with other girls?”
“That seems a little harsh,” I said, wincing.
“Lady Eleonora can get very lonely, you see,” Amalie said with a teasing giggle, setting her sewing aside for a moment.
After finishing the day’s magic lesson with Ira and Ifriita—and putting our mana trap development on hold for now—I paid a visit to Elen and Amalie’s room in the rear palace. I filled them in on what I’d gotten up to earlier in the day.
“As of late, you only visit in the mornings and the evenings. You hardly pay us any attention at all,” Elen said with a pout.
“I’m so sorry. I really have been busy lately.”
“Mmm… I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad…”
The moment I apologized, Elen’s expression softened. Was she feeling a little emotionally fragile? I mean, she did have a baby inside of her, so it was very possible.
“Lady Eleonora simply wishes for you to pay her more attention,” Amalie said kindly. “She meant no harm with her words, so please forgive her.”
“There’s nothing to forgive. I really am sorry, Elen. I need to be more considerate.”
“Mmm… You don’t have to apologize,” she said softly, squeezing my hand in hers and pressing it to her cheek.
I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but maybe it helped calm her nerves.
“Um, Kousuke…” Elen murmured, nuzzling my hand and looking up at me with her deep crimson eyes. “You haven’t really touched me much since I became pregnant…”
“A-ah, uh, well… I just don’t want to mess up and hurt the baby.”
“Neither we nor the babies in our stomachs are so fragile that a little skinship would harm us.”
Suddenly, Amalie moved closer. With Elen on my left and Amalie on my right, I was completely surrounded.
“I request some skinship befitting a married couple,” Amalie said with a warm smile.
“This tea table is in the way,” Elen added. “Shall we move over to that nice, soft couch instead?”
“But of course!”
In the end, we got…very touchy-feely. More specifically, Elen rested her head on my lap, and Amalie embraced me in her bosom.
“Did you forget that I’m here as well?”
Eventually, Belta—their attendant—spoke up with her clear irritation. Then she joined in as well.
And, well… I ended up giving out just as much love as I received.