What if he leaked information or stole expensive materials and tools? Donato did not put this question into words, but Sigma understood the implication and looked at his feet.
Seiichirou thought they were more of a liability for barging into a highly confidential area without an appointment, but they were guests, so he did not say this aloud.
“Yes, well, he does not normally come and go so freely! He just happened to be here today! To observe!” Zoltan insisted.
The Romany sorcerers grimaced at his weaselly tone. Unlike their flaky boss, the promising young boy who showed up nearly every day had long since become one of their own. The fact that he could have proper conversations with Ist of all people made him invaluable. Sigma gave a little smile when the sorcerers patted him wordlessly on the shoulder, which made Seiichirou breathe a sigh of relief.
“He must have a great affinity for magic tools and manipulating magic to be granted access as a commoner!” Georgi looked very taken with Sigma, and young Luciano’s eyes sparkled, too. Only Donato put much stock in blood, it seemed.
Just when Seiichirou was thinking that this was turning out surprisingly well, Sigma responded, “Oh no, um… I don’t have much magic. I can’t manipulate it at all.”
“What?!” Georgi’s naturally loud voice boomed even more vociferously. “How can you be a magic tool maker when you can’t use magic?! It’s absurd! What is going on in this country?!”
Sigma clammed up again at the reproachful remark. To make matters worse, none of his reliable sorcerer friends spoke up. They were all studious yet weak-willed sorts, and so all they could do was watch on, perturbed. Had Ist been around, he would have argued back, oblivious to the silent strain in the atmosphere.
But he wasn’t, because Seiichirou had locked him away.
And so, with no other form of recourse, Seiichirou came to Sigma’s aid.
“It is quite possible to work on magical tools without everyone involved being proficient in magic.”
“What did you say?! You dare talk like an expert?!”
The man had poured decades of blood and sweat into pursuing his craft. Moreover, he was an important guest. Seiichirou could not afford to anger him.
“My apologies, I am merely an accountant and can only speak about the financial side. However, I can assemble the budget for the Sorcery Department to pursue its research.”
“What of it?”
“I delegate the work to the right people for the job.”
“What do you mean?” The frown was covering Georgi’s entire face.
Seiichirou tried his very best to be patient and complimentary toward the man he was speaking to.
“Compared to your nation, the Romany Kingdom does not possess as many individuals with both exemplary magic control and a robust knowledge of magic tools. As a nation with a wealth of magic tools, Egorova can have the best of both worlds.”
“Hm, I suppose.” Georgi didn’t look too satisfied with that explanation. Neither did Donato or Luciano. Only Lars’s smile remained unchanged.
“So here, the technicians and sorcerers focus on their respective crafts. By having them work together to create magic tools, they make up for what the other lacks.”
“Hmm…”
“It is also difficult to find good people.”
Indeed. Because magic came down almost entirely to innate talent, sorcerers and magic technicians were in terribly short supply. Egorova was unusual in its abundance.
This thought reminded Seiichirou that Egorova apparently had plenty of mines to extract magic stones from. Through human intervention, they could be used as a magic source. Much like how Seiichirou had only gradually developed resistance to magic after coming to Romany, perhaps people who lived in magicule-heavy regions possessed more magical power?
It occurred to Seiichirou that, if this assumption held true, then it was possible to address the labor shortage by artificially increasing people’s magic capacity.
I’d love to ask Ist about this straight away…but that’s not happening right now. Seiichirou calmed himself upon remembering the sorcerer he had locked up. I can always do it after the Egorovans go home… Besides, I can ask Ciro about stuff related to the body.
Ciro was the director of the Medical Bureau. He’d been looking out for Seiichirou ever since that one time he collapsed and Aresh dragged him in for a checkup.
While Seiichirou was expanding his mental list of tasks, Sigma withstood Georgi’s barrage of questions.
“But how much are you able to achieve with your level of magic?”
“Well, um, we made a device that can measure magic power.”
“Oh? This thing? So it changes color depending on the magic flow?”
“It has kelsil in it, you see, and…”
“Oho! It expands?! So that’s how you get it to change color from the pressure! Interesting!” Georgi shouted, instantly grasping the mechanism behind the magic-measuring device Ist and Sigma had created.
This time, his tone was not reproachful, which left Sigma at a loss. “I-indeed,” the boy replied falteringly, although he also seemed happy to talk about magic tools.
“Can I have a look, too?!” Luciano raised his hand.
Behind him, Donato looked interested as well. So they were just research nuts in the end.
“Wow, it’s so simple yet elegant,” said Luciano.
“Yes, I tried to make it so that anyone could use it…”
“Oho, a very pauper-like way of thinking,” remarked Donato.
“It’s important to make things easy to understand,” Georgi commented.
“Yes, we have magic-measuring devices in our country, too, but they’re made entirely differently,” Luciano said as he brought out an object that looked like a finely made pocket watch. Sigma’s creation looked more like a thermometer.
“How does your device work?” asked Sigma.
Georgi coughed. “Well, you see, you inscribe a chant on the magic ore here…”
“Wow! What a high-level technique!”
The other sorcerers started to gather around Sigma.
Great, thought Seiichirou, delighted at the demonstration. Keep it coming.
“Hey, it’s showing on your face,” Orjef whispered a warning.
“Huh? What is?” Seiichirou tilted his head without an ounce of self-awareness.
“That ‘hell yeah’ look you’ve got right now.”
Seiichirou wasn’t doing anything that went against the Romany Kingdom’s interests, so he just put on a bright, fake smile. “How imprudent of me.”
“So you’re not even denying it.” Orjef sighed. “Well, whatever. Looks like this will go on for ages, so let’s just talk about that other thing tomorrow.”
“Yes, I suppose we should.” Seiichirou nodded as he watched the lively discussion play out between the research nuts—er, talented technicians and sorcerers.
Despite the late start and the significant change in schedule, the current situation was ideal. If he waited for this to end and then talked to Orjef, he would probably get home during the Wood Hour (approximately nine in the evening).
“Then shall we talk tomorrow morning?” Seiichirou suggested. He had the feeling that nothing about this task was going to proceed according to schedule.
The same thought must have occurred to Orjef, because after a moment, he nodded.