CH 160

Ch. 160: The Invention

Lana: “Ugh～ it’s been a really tough day～”

ーーis what she told us.

We were all in one of the prepared rooms of the Palace, and Lana griped at us quietly.

After we greeted Lana at the Teleport Gateーー

She apparently had a full schedule, and after chatting with Lana for a bit, she was guided by Ms. Beatriz and walked into the Palace.

And so, after completing everything on her agenda……she came back to one of the guest rooms and finally got a break.

Henry: “Wow……..they gave you a good room.”

I looked around the room once and mumbled the words to no one in particular.

This is a room set aside for guests from outside the Imperial Capital, but it was very spacious and all the furniture inside was first class. With guest rooms, they would vary between the importance of the guests, and I can see how much they welcomed Lana from the looks of the room.

Inside this guest room, there were 3 bedrooms, so we were able to sleep here tonight.

……….and yes, Lana had guards protecting her, but rather than having soldiers who she didn’t recognize, Ms. Beatriz convinced the Palace security that it would be best for us to fill that role.

And well, because of Ms. Beatriz’ efforts, Lana was now able to relax much better being with people she knew well.

The room would have been a little too tight with all the Party inside, so Jend and Ferris returned to the inn.

Teo: “Lana, Lana, what kind of things did you do today?” Lana: “Ummm, well. We first had a meeting with the King. Then we had a meeting with the Academic Ministry Officials and other department leaders. We went to the Alvenia Central University to meet with Professor Conrad, and ……….in the evening, we had a dinner meeting with a President of one of the major Magecraft Artifact Makers, and the Ministers and Professor Conrad attended the dinner too.”

Being curious, Teo popped the question, and Lana began recounting her day. ……..just listening to all the titles of the big wigs, it sounded like a stressful day.

Linda: “I was only by her side the whole time, and even I was nervous. The food they served was wonderful, but we had no time to enjoy it at all.” Lana: “Yeahー they cooked with so many ingredients we never used before. …….do you think we could try something similar at our diner? You know, like a special menu.”

Linda: “Haha, no, no, no. There’s no way we could compete with a high-class restaurant like that. We’re competing on completely different grounds. One of their dishes would cost more than a night at our place. You think people would spend that kind of money?”

Lana: “Yeahー that won’t workー”

Ms. Linda vetoed the idea, and Lana sagged her shoulders. ………though she is a true genius, listening in on her family chats and how they talk about their inn, you can’t mistake her for anything but a young girl that’s just about to hit adulthood.

Linda: “Besides, Lana. Even if we don’t use expensive ingredients, Nord’s cooking is delicious.”

Lana: “Yeah, that’s true.” Yeah, it’s not a high-class dine-in experience at the Bear’s Keg Inn, but Mr. Nord’s cooking is amazing.

And seeing Lana and Ms. Linda like this…….they are a good family. Yeah….

Cyril: “Thank you for waitingー The tea is ready～”

And Cyril was busy preparing tea for everyone at the min-kitchen that was available in the room. She brought the cups on a silver tray.

Lana: “Thank you very much, Miss Cyril. I’m sorry. I should be the one doing this.”

Cyril: “Hehe～ Lana, you worked hard all day, right? Then leave the tea-making to Miss Cyril~!”

Cyril joyfully started filling each of the cups with tea.

This girl likes to take care of people in general. When we were living together, we tried to split apart the house chores evenly, but by the time I tried to take care of something, she had already completed it. And it happened more than once.

Well, as long as she’s enjoying herself. If I see her pushing herself too hard, I’ll step in.

Cyril: “Henry, here you go.” Henry: “Hey, thanks.” Cyril: “Teo, you like milk tea, right?” Teo: “.............thank you very much.”

I sip the hot tea slowly. The tea leaves were provided with the guest room, and they were high-quality. Let’s see…….it’s like……..I can tell that it’s expensive. Otherwise, I couldn’t tell you anything else.

Lana: “Wow, it’s so good～”

Linda: “They use quality leaves. As expected from a Royal Palace.”

Each person gave their impression of the tea. And there were cookies available too, and we all took one and sipped the tea again. The sweetness of the baked cookies, and the bitterness of the tea mixed well into an indescribable experience.

We all let out a breath of satisfaction and relaxed.

…………there’s been a couple of things on my mind, so seeing an opportunity, I decided to ask Lana a few questions.

Henry: “Hey, Lana. I heard that you created a Spell Inscription that removes the effects of Corrupted Magic, but how does it work?” Lana: “Oh, yes. Fundamentally, it is a Kroseid Style Spell Inscription. I had already created the general theory from way before, but I was unable to transfer that into a usable form. With the Kroseid Style, it’s possible to create any Spell Inscription that is theoretically possible……..so it’s all thanks to you introducing me to Mr. Riol, Mr. Henry.”

She bowed her head politely as a show of gratitude.

Henry: “No, no, no. You don’t need to thank me. Thanks to your invention, I think all of us Adventurers will be greatly indebted to you.”

Lana: “Hmmmm, I wonder about that. Right now, the Inscription itself takes at least 2 meters, and it is difficult to apply to anything outside of stationary Magecraft Artifacts.”

Henry: “But you were able to use it on the Magecraft Barrier, right? That’s more than enough.”

And if, for whatever reason, her invention could only be used for the Magecraft Barrier, that alone is more than enough.

It will not only be useful on the frontlines, but it will also assist humanity in greatly expanding their livable territories.

Cyril: “But, hasn’t it only been a month since the invention was made? I understand that it’s already proven useful in Ligaleo, but………is it really that easy to incorporate this invention?”

I was a little surprised at Cyril’s sharp remark.

If you think about it, the Magecraft Barrier is an astoundingly large and complex structure of multiple Spell Inscriptions. Even from a complete amateur’s perspective, I can’t think that incorporating an additional Spell Inscription to the established structure would be that simple.

Lana: “Oh, yes. That was a little difficult.”

……….a little difficult.

Lana: “I thought it would be nice to be able to just add it to existing Spell Inscriptions instead of having to create it from scratch. Without going into too much detail……..I structured the Inscription so that it would fit nicely into any general Spell Inscriptions.”

Henry: “EーEven for Inscriptions outside the Kroseid Style?!”

Lana: “? Of course. Well, because of that, it evolved into a much larger scale.”

……….it is said to be theoretically possible to put together Spell Inscriptions from different styles of Magecraft, but I thought it could never be done in practice.

Linda: “Oh, that President of the Magecraft Artifact maker…….Mr. Miliard, was it? He was very impressed about that. Is it that big of a deal?”

Lana: “It’s a little bitー hehe.”

Linda: “Well now. Good for you, Lana.” Though they use Magecraft Artifacts in day to day life, Ms. Linda, who doesn’t use Magecraft herself, is gently complimenting Lana, and Cyril is also commenting casually saying, “That sounds useful”, and………..I glance at Teo sitting next to me.

Teo is also sitting there aghast.

Henry: (Is it…….only a little bit of a big deal?)

Teo: (Emphatically not.)

I whispered to confirm, and she rejected it without reservation.

…….yeah, I thought as much. When I was at the Mages Tower, I was doing some light reading since there was a Library, and I touched on a few books about Magecraft Theories……..and even those books touched upon the difficulties of actually making it come true.

Lana: “And well, no matter how you look at it, the Inscription is way too large and bulky, so we need to scale it down in size. I’m trying to optimize the Inscription, so we can create smaller versions of it………but it might be half a year before that could happen.”

And Lana was grumbling about how long half a year was but……….holy crap. Typically, it takes much longer to optimize established Spells and doing that in half a year is unheard of.

As I sat in silence at Lana’s abilities and potential, Ms. Linda opened her mouth to speak.

Linda: “But isn’t that if you continued to do your research while helping out with our inn? Lana, we’ll definitely talk this over with Nord after we return to Flowtier, but what do you want to do going forward? Everyone we saw today wants you to join their organization.”

Lana: “Hmmmmm……but…….will you really be okay without me?” Linda: “HA! I guess you have grown up some, but don’t worry about us. This is about your future and what you want to do. You can work at the inn just as you have before, and you’re free to become a researcher………and if you wanted to, you could use that reward money they gave you to retire and just enjoy the rest of your life. Just…….think about it carefully.”

Ms. Linda spoke gently but firmly to Lana. I guess this is what it’s like to be a parent.

Lana: “.........okay, I understand. I’ll think about it, mom.”

Linda: “Good.”

Ms. Linda nodded approvingly at Lana’s solemn answer.

Lana: “Oh, yes. Teo, tell me more about what you’ve been doing. You’ve been training at a town far away, right?” Teo: “Yeah, I’ll tell you.”

And with Lana’s invitation, Teo began describing her experience.

The contents of her story was exactly the same as what she told us when the Party reunited.

She described her training at the Speed Construction Society based in the east town of Eastflair.

She described what Eastflair was like and the good food there.

How it was a little stressful for Jend, Ferris, and her to find and maintain a place to live, but how it was fun overall.

Lana: “Oh, so you were living with Mr. Jend and Miss Ferris? Ummm, they are…..dating, right? So～ since they are both grown ups, was there…….things that they did together?”

……….um, Miss Lana. I know you’re right about to become an adult yourself, but………let’s not bring up such topics lightly.

Teo: “I was practicing my stealth and concealing techniques at home, and I caught them kissing in secret twice.”

Lana: “Wow～”

Teo～～～! Don’t be blabbing about Party member’s activities like that openly! But well, it is juicy news that I’m going to use to tease Jend later though!

Lana: “Anything else? Nothing else at all?” Teo: “Hmmmm, I think that’s it. The two of them were reserved around me. But they did go on dates when there was a break.”

Lana: “I’m so jealous. We run an inn, so whenever a man and a woman reserve a room together, I don’t mean to listen, but I hear stuff all the time………that’s so nice to have someone like that.”

Teo: “You think so?”

Though Lana was very interested in relationships, Teo seemed pretty indifferent on that topic as a whole.

………this girl…….I haven’t seen her really perk up with interest for the opposite sex, and I wonder if she’s even interested in finding someone to date. In fact, I worry because it would be difficult for her to remain in a party with two other couples.

Teo: “And besides, if you want to talk about that, Mr. Henry and Miss Cyril have been living together ー and it was just the two of them.”

Something sharply lit up……….in Lana’s eyes. Or so I thought.

I was able to dodge most of Lana’s pokes and prods about my situationーー

ーーbut in hindsight, I think she saw through most of my answers.