The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 183: [Boss Fight] Steam Rain (1)

Time flew by like the wind.

It was already coming to the end of midterms. As the days got colder, people started wearing undergarments. I also voluntarily wore the muffler Lotte had given me.

The temperature was dropping; this meant one thing.

The time was coming.

The time to part ways.

“Be careful not to catch a cold. You have to take care while I’m gone, okay?”

“I’m not a child.”

It was nearly a month since Iliad Academy had been partially wrecked.

Lotte, who’d been thinking about not going for the exchange program, made a big decision and stepped onto the train heading towards elf country.

Wistful, we hugged each other again and again. As someone who’d been a man at heart, it was an embarrassing exchange.

“Take care of your hair, don’t forget to make your bed in the mornings, don’t stay up because you’re too busy, and.......”

“I get it, I get it.”

Like that, Lotte waved and took off. Feeling the loss, I gazed into the horizon with a dazed expression until the train became a small dot and disappeared, then returned to the Academy.

[There’s no need to be that sad. It’s not like you’ll never see her again.]

Yeah, I suppose.

Anyway, I had to get ready for the next thing.

There were two events after the art fest.

Invention contest, and mini-thesis contest.

The two contests were organically linked. It looked like the students who entered one contest generally entered the other one as well.

They had to, since inventing something meant the same thing as applying for a patent, and patents were the perfect subject to write a mini-thesis on in a few pages.

[So you’re writing a mini-thesis after all?]

“Of course.”

I loved writing papers. I never got tired of them, always novel.

Of course, it wasn’t just for emotional reasons that I was participating in the invention contest.

“Hey.”

Vermel, who’d returned from the station with me, spoke up quietly.

“Can you make something for me using the invention contest as an excuse?”

I had something to work on right away.

Bang!

I kicked open the door to the club with a drunk Freyr tucked at my waist.

“How much have you been drinking since daylight?”

“I dunnoooo......!”

She was already gone from the way she was slurring.

The faint scent of alcohol soaked the air like paper touched by water. Even I was getting tipsy from the smell of it.

I guess I was still as weak to alcohol as I used to be.

“...Cheers!”

“Cheers my ass.”

“I want to sleeeep....”

“Your face’ll freeze if you sleep here, brat.”

Freyr kept whining with her eyes half-closed. Seeing how she was giggling and not even reacting to my calling her a brat, she was definitely drunk. Like this, she was no different than a cat high on catnip.

Freyr flopped onto the desk, stretching her arms out like a cat. Her hat could tip over and accidentally show her fox ears in this state.

Although there weren’t other people around, you never knew. I grabbed the hat that was about to come off and put it back on properly.

“Fine, I’ll work by myself today.”

We had to submit something else for the invention contest since the atom bomb presented at the art fest had won the grand prize.

Mana stones could be obtained through the invention contest. It wasn’t much of a prize, but it was better than nothing.

We weren’t entering with the expectation of getting the prize money anyway.

Right now, there were things I had to get more than money.

Fame and honor.

Given my current position, there was nothing more important than these two. I had to lay the groundwork with ethos to reduce variables as much as possible.

There was no better battleground for gaining fame and honor than the invention contest. Whether we came in first or second, the people were going to look at me more favorably if I gave up the patent for what I made.

I did that when I made Flare, and same with the mosquito-deterrent scroll. To some, I was already a ‘good person’.

Still.

I couldn’t stop here.

I had to have more people seeing me in a positive light in order not to have problems later.

Rosemary hadn’t shown herself after that day, probably at the Demon Castle showing off what I made to Primus or Akasha.

I had to finish within that time. I went into the supply room and took the remaining supplies.

Among them was also Fenrir’s intestines that we’d brought back from the dungeon exploration practice. They say intestine, but it was really just a large solenoid.

After testing a bunch of things including electrical conductivity, it was found to be a high-quality object.

“It’s perfect as an EMP source.”

Foll𝑜w current novels on fɾēewebnσveℓ.com.

[You’re going to make a pulse generator?]

I nodded.

It was Vermel’s request, no one else. I had to listen to what the transmigrator asked for as much as I could so that things went smoothly.

Anyway, I didn’t know the whole future while he was the one who knew every single strategy for this world. The agreement to work together until the Demon King was defeated hadn’t changed.

I would do what I could.

[Creating new item.]I opened the hardcover and drew the design. Thanks to the experience with the tokamak and the atom bomb, it didn’t take long to make it.

Above all.

[Proficiency level of ‘Free Transmutation’ is currently at 78%.]The Ultimate Earth Magic that was marked as learned based on proficiency was nearly complete. It was the result of hard practice.

Anyway.

[There are two main ways to make a non-nuclear EMP (NNEMP).]

[1. Flow a large instantaneous electrical current through the coil]

[2. Explode a coil with a large electrical current running through it (Single-use)]

It wasn’t that winding the solenoid and letting currents flow through it made it a great EMP, but it could serve as a minimal circuit breaker.

That was exactly what Vermel asked for. He had requested a pulse generator that could deal a critical blow to Beasts that had all their circuits exposed.

It was for winter break, I suppose.

I couldn’t get the details due to time constraints, but he had said there was going to be a boss fight around winter vacation. This was to prepare for that.

I was thinking that it was too much to ask of a nuclear physicist, but considering who the original owner of this body was, it was easy to do.

There was a lot of time, anyway–about two months to go.

It was as I was making the first draft.

The door opened with a thunk and three elves rushed in.

“Hey, we have a problem!”

Their expressions were urgent like they’d been bitten by a venomous snake. Looking at their complexions, My face soon turned dry as I looked over their complexions.

It wasn’t the characteristic poker face kicking in; it was because the next words weren’t that big of a deal.

“The Lodestone of Fire just arrived at the museum!”

Lodestone.

A piece of rock containing some of the thoughts of the Demon King who’d lost in the Great War.

At the same time, it was an abomination that was mixed with the sealed souls of two Heavens who’d once opposed the Goddess until the very end as a ‘buy 1, get 2’ deal.

Well, not that I should be calling it an abomination.

“It has so much evil energy. It’s hard to stay there.”

“I feel like vomiting.......”

“We’re going to take refuge here for a bit; we don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Of course most Elementals would be convulsing with there being residual energy of the Demon King, and the same went for the three elves who had their minds connected with them.

Anyway, the Lodestone, hm.

I had no recollection of seeing even in this body.

Curiosity piqued, I stopped what I was doing and stepped outside. I heard voices from behind me telling me not to go, but that wasn’t going to stop me.

The club I was in was quite a distance from the school museum. It took nearly ten minutes just to walk there.

When I arrived in front of the museum, a rock that was wrapped tightly with all sorts of chains and mana stones came into view.

The overall height was a bit over five meters, a little bigger than the bomb that I made.

The chairman and students were all crowded around it as it wasn’t everyday that they’d get to see the object sealing the Demon King.

[As expected, I hardly see the elves that use Elementals.]

The Lodestone was glowing bright red like cochineal, and just looking at it alone made me feel nauseous.

It wasn’t normal, but a malicious energy.

- The Lord wants it.

My head turned on reflex. It got a bit better when the maintenance staff covered the Lodestone with an enchanted sheet.

“As you all just saw, the Lodestone is asymmetrical on all sides. This was said to be intentional according to the research of the Earth mages.”

When I turned back my head at the familiar voice, Robespierre was explaining the Lodestone to the students.

He locked eyes with me while talking for some time, then came over this way after sending the maintenance staff into the museum.

He approached with a smile.

Glad yet challenged at the same time.

The two emotions reflected in his eyes in turns.

“Miss Aether.”

He asked in a lowered voice.

“Did you complete what we talked about last time?”

“Yes, sir.”

I answered in a voice even lower than his.

“Of course I remembered our promise.”

It was the promise that I’d miniaturize Flare and give it to him as soon as midterms were done.

In return, I was paid upfront with a lot of research funds, supplies, and the waiving of my tuition for second semester. I was the only one with remaining debt.

“Is it too late?”

“Not at all.”

“I have one ready. Here.”

I reached deep into my coat and out came a silver cylinder the size of a laser pointer.

“Is it Flare?”

“It’s stronger than that.”

The chairman grinned to the point his gums showed.

“Are there any more of these?”

“I have the blueprint and prototypes in Professor Cai-Lussac’s lab. He’ll give it to you if you go ask him.”

As soon as I finished, Robespierre was about to take off in the direction of Cai-Lussac’s lab.

“Chairman.”

“Hm, what is it?”

After a slight pause, I spoke.

“...If you’re planning a revolt, I ask that you schedule it after winter vacation.”

“Hmm...?”

“I’d like for my studies not to be disrupted.”

The chairman nodded readily.

“I understand.”

Then he ran off even more quickly than before. I waited until the chairman’s form disappeared, then took out a cigarette from the chest pocket and put it in my mouth.

My gaze went towards the museum.

“That’s weird.”

Rosemary was nowhere to be seen even though the Lodestone had arrived.

She had to be working on something behind the scenes.......

And just as I thought that.

“Extra, extra!”

“......Hm?”

An agile newspaper carrier ran down the streets, and shouted loudly.

“The First Prince has been released!”