“Ah, that makes sense,” he answered, understanding her concern and realizing his lack of forethought. At the same time, it underscored the depth of his wife’s feelings and affection, so he couldn’t help the smile making its way onto his lips. Somehow managing to retain a dignified expression, he continued. “Got it. I don’t know exactly how I’ll deal with it, but I’ll make sure I’m ready.”
“Good. Diplomacy is a conversation, so if you are aware and ready in advance, things are entirely different.”
That marked the end of their discussion about Zenjirou jumping the gun with his negotiations.
Zenjirou shifted his thinking and then started talking about the specifics of the agreement he’d made.
“So, their terms are a route to Utgarða.”
Aura hummed in agreement and then said, “Frankly, I have found no magic promising in the slightest.”
With that easy admission, Zenjirou—still sitting on the sofa—slumped slightly. “You too? Guess that’s the end of it, then. We’ll have to pin our hopes on our descendants. You can use the summoning and sending spells, right?”
Aura agreed easily as he pointed out that she’d both brought him to Capua and temporarily sent him back. “Learning and casting a preexisting spell requires different abilities than unraveling the magic language to create something new. I have some skill in the former, but none at all in the latter. It was mostly my uncle, Carlos, who adapted the transport spell into summoning. All I did was adjust the details.”
Those adjustments primarily consisted of changing the amount of mana offered and testing several words in the magic language that all had the same meaning in her native tongue. In other words, something that didn’t take a vast amount of knowledge and could be accomplished in great part through trial and error.
“So have you still got his writings on the spell? I can compile them all, right? If so, I want to get them onto my computer.”
Zenjirou had added the characters used in the region’s native tongue to his word processor, so he could type in the local language as well as in Japanese. Fortunately, his steady efforts meant that he was as skilled at reading the language as a Japanese high school graduate would be with English. Of course, there would be a deluge of words he didn’t know when it came to something as specialized as magic research, but he didn’t need to understand what the words meant to type them out.
Aura put a hand to her chin as she considered it. “It would be useful to consolidate all of that disparate information. There are two problems, though. One is that it is impossible to correctly render the pronunciation with our writing. The other is that to access the consolidated data, one would need to be proficient with the use of the computer.”
Despite there being problems, neither was significant. The first point was true for the written records as well, while the latter was lessened by space-time magic research being limited to the royal family. They could simply teach their descendants how to use the computer at the same time.
“Once it’s digitized, it’s a lot easier to look through everything than with paper copies. The problem would be saving it all. It’s a bit late to be worrying about it, but I should have bought a big external drive. Well, that’s years down the line anyway,” Zenjirou mused, the pointless complaints drifting from his lips.
The secret time reversal spell of the Capuan royal family would make it possible to keep the weapons of the royal family—the generator, computer, and so on—functioning semipermanently, but the contents of the computer could be an issue. Time reversal was exactly what its name suggested—not repair magic. If they did nothing and then turned back the clock by a year for the computer, it would work just as it had back then, but the data stored within it would also be reverted.
To avoid that, they would need to separately store data they wanted to keep. Zenjirou technically had several SD cards and memory sticks, but the total storage space wasn’t all that great. Individual documents and spreadsheets didn’t take up much space on their own, but every bit counted. If things went as planned and the research took a century or more, all while being recorded in the computer, they would eventually run out of room. The storage space on the computer itself probably wasn’t a major concern, but the external storage limits had to be kept in mind.
“If it is a future concern, you could go and buy another, no? When the stars align again in thirty years, I can send you to and fetch you from that world. I doubt you used all of your currency there, did you?”
Joy flashed across Zenjirou’s face for a moment, but then he thought things over and shook his head. “It’s an option, but we probably shouldn’t rely too heavily on it. Technology, particularly this kind of thing, advances extremely quickly there. In thirty years, there’s no guarantee I’d be able to find any compatible parts.”
If ten years seemed like ancient history, then thirty years was practically prehistoric. It was entirely possible that whatever he could find at that point would be wholly incompatible with his current laptop. In fact, Zenjirou himself didn’t really think of cloud storage as a data backup method. The world of technology had changed so much in less than a decade.
Aura, however, wouldn’t be able to understand such rapid change. Even so, she offered a solution. “Then why not buy a new computer as well?”
“I don’t know whether I could manage that with the money I’ve got left. The way I see it, I should easily be able to, but prices will have changed as well. Besides, in thirty years, they’ll probably have changed the style of currency, so trying to use old cash to buy a computer could set off all kinds of alarm bells. I don’t know what they’d do with an account that’s been inactive for thirty years, and buying a computer with cash might not be the easiest thing.”
What position would he be in when he went back? They’d probably have declared him either dead or missing. There was always the chance he’d end up drawing the attention of the law, and that would probably make things even more difficult.
“Hm. I admit to not understanding the details, but the number of possible issues mean we should not rely on it.”
“Yeah. Still, you’re right. Text documents should fit on my SD cards and memory sticks for a while.”
“Very well. In that case, Zenjirou, I formally entrust the investigation of a route between Utgard and Utgarða to you.”
The official decree from the queen made Zenjirou straighten and respond formally, “Understood, Your Majesty.”
“You understand the implications, no? I will be unable to assist you. I lack the time to dedicate myself to it. Additionally, you will be responsible for ensuring it is continued by the next generation.”
“Of course.”
The current generation of the Capuan royal family consisted solely of Zenjirou and Aura. Therefore, saying that Zenjirou had this responsibility was also saying that he would be the only one involved. The issue was that he would also have to take charge of passing down the work to the next generation. He would have to get things to a position where they could be passed down by the time his successor—one of his and Aura’s children—was old enough to take over.
If each generation had to start from scratch, unless one successor was a veritable genius in magic research, it would never get close to completion. Zenjirou had to build the foundation for all of that, so it was a rather hefty role.
“Guess I’ll have to get back to studying properly again. I’m pretty sure I’ll end up running into a roadblock I can’t get past on my own. Who do I ask for advice then? You? Lady Octavia? Espiridion?”
His somewhat rambling concerns prompted Aura to relax slightly before answering. “I will, of course, answer your questions, though it would be limited to the inner palace here. I have little in the way of applicable knowledge or free time, though.”
Still, she had much more knowledge than Zenjirou did at the moment. If you limited the topic to space-time magic rather than magic in general, Aura was the leading expert among the living, though the fact that “second place” was also “last” in that leaderboard was a concern.
“Lady Octavia is out of the question. There is too much at risk to let it leak, both in terms of our lineal magic and the agreement with Utgard.”
Octavia’s personality made her one of the most trusted people in the country, but her loyalty was not solely to the crown. She was the wife of one of the most independent nobles, Count Márquez. Given her position, there was little they could let leak to her.
“Finally, the ol—Espiridion—is someone I will grant limited permission to discuss the matter with. Such conversations will take place within a room of the royal palace, and no one else will be present. The only exception I will allow is Ines. All discussions must be verbal. Anything written could potentially go missing.”
“What about audio recordings?”
Aura was already aware of the recorder Zenjirou had brought from Japan and its capabilities. She thought it over for a few moments before nodding. “Again, in a limited fashion. If you are taking it with you, you must report it to me that morning, as well as its safe return.”
The possibility that Zenjirou would forget it somewhere, resulting in someone unsavory getting hold of it and managing to figure out how to use it through trial and error was rather low. Moreover, the audio itself would be exempt from the effect of the soul of language. As long as the hypothetical thief wasn’t exceptionally skilled in the language of magic, they wouldn’t be able to understand what was being said. For such a small risk, it was worth it.
“Got it. It might be limited, but with his help, maybe it’ll go quicker than we expect.”
“I would like to think so,” Aura said, agreeing with his optimism.
Although they potentially had centuries, they were all but trying to catch a cloud. Significant progress within their own lifetimes would be a godsend.