Magi Craft Meister 616
18 King Klein’s Treatment Arc
19-03 Driving Force
“Father, what do I do?”
Reiko wanted to know whether it was necessary for her to accompany them just like when they went to the land of the demons.
“Hmm, there’s a lot of things I’m gonna need your help with around here, Reiko…”
“I don’t want to leave your side, Father.”
Laojun’s mobile terminal, “Laozi”, would be enough on his own, but it would still be better to have someone support it
“Okay, let’s have Ann go with him this time around.”
Jin then called for Ann.
“You called, Master?”
“Ann, I’m sending Laozi to Ismal, and I thought that you should go with him.”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
Jin then conveyed the details of the plan to Ann. Together with Laojun’s own additions, Ann was armed with enough knowledge for the task ahead.
＊ ＊ ＊
After Laozi and Ann were transferred away by the Warp Gate, Reiko turned to Jin.
“Father, what do you want to do?”
“Ah, I’ll gather the most relevant members of the Family for this task and tell you all about it once Hanna goes to bed.”
The time difference between the capital of the Shouro Empire, Loizart, where Hanna was currently located, and Hourai Island was approximately 5 hours and 20 minutes. Hannah would usually wake up around 6 AM.
When Loizart was at midnight, it would be 5:20 AM in Hourai Island.
“We’ll have a Family meeting at 3:00 AM in Hourai Island time.”
The three people who answered Jin’s call were Reinhardt, Elsa, and Saki.
Toa and Stearleana had been invited to Marquis Theoderic’s mansion, and couldn’t sneak away.
In addition, since this meeting would consist of a purely theoretical discussion, Minne, Vivian, and Berthie didn’t participate.
“Well, the reason we’ve gathered here today is to talk about a theory I came across the other day.”
It was still late at night in the Shouro Empire, so Jin rubbed his slightly sleepy eyes and began to speak.
“First of all, I’m sure you’re familiar with the Magi Jet Engine I’ve developed…”
All three of them nodded.
“I think you also know that the way it works is by eliminating the aspect of Wind Magic which negates its own recoil.”
Regular Wind Magic was designed to negate the recoil that would otherwise be applied to the caster. Therefore, no matter how strong the wind it creates, it has no effect on the caster.
By eliminating the effect of Wind Magic that negates its own recoil, one can create a driving force which, if strong enough, can even propel heavy vehicles through the air. This was the principle behind the Magi Jet Engine that Jin had created.
Reinhardt and Elsa immediately nodded. Saki seemed to at least get the general idea behind it, and nodded as well, although she seemed slightly confused.
“Now, let’s get down to the main topic. What would happen if we didn’t generate wind?”
“Huh? …Ah, I see! Even though there’s no wind, the force to counteract the recoil would still be there… I think?”there’s only a force to counteract the recoil, I guess?”
Reinhardt was the first to answer.
“That’s correct, Reinhardt. We’ll call this ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’ for the time being.
“…What kind of power is that?”
“Wait, is it even possible to produce only that power?”
Elsa and Saki were quick to ask their own questions.
“That’s what I’m planning to look into from now on.”
Jin replied with a serious look on his face.
“I see, if you can do that, it’ll be a big step forward!”
It could be a breakthrough in regards to propulsive power.
“I have some prospects in a preliminary experiment I conducted. Allow me to explain.”
Jin took out a small Magi Crystal.
“This is a Magic Tool that generates directional Gravity Magic.”
Then, he said the keyword that activated the Magic Tool.
“This is now generating 1G of gravity upwards. So if I do this…”
Jin picked up a pebble and let go of it on top of the Magi Crystal. Then, the pebble started to float in the air without falling to the floor.
“I see, you’ve basically canceled gravity.”
Reinhardt spoke with a satisfied expression on his face.
“Yes. Then, what if I do this?”
Jin turned the Magi Crystal 90 degrees, turning it sideways, then picked up the pebble from earlier and placed it in the direction the Magi Crystal was facing before letting go of it. As a result, after the pebble flew diagonally to the side for a brief moment, it was pulled by gravity and fell to the floor.
“Hmm, so this means that the pebble will fly in the direction of the combined force of gravity and the power of the Magic Tool.”
“I think I’m starting to catch up, Jin. But isn’t this power Wind Magic has that allows it to cancel its own recoil the same as Gravity Magic?”
But Jin shook his head in response to Saki’s observations.
“I thought so too at first. However, it seems that they are merely similar but different.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“In other words, if that were the case, wouldn’t the effects of Gravity Magic not only affect the caster of Wind Magic, but instead extend beyond them?”
“Umm…”
Jin wondered if his explanation had been poor as he saw Saki pondering for a while, then looking around for answers with her eyes wandering left and right, trying to digest what he had just said.
Elsa was the one who broke this silence.
“If it was the same as Gravity Magic, it would probably affect things that are farther away from the caster as well. But in reality, this recoil cancelation effect only affects the caster. Does that sound right, Jin?”
“You’re absolutely right, Elsa…. That difference is what I’m worried about.”
Jin once again explained that Gravity Magic and this “Recoil Elimination Magic” had different effective ranges.
“I think that’s why, but the Mana they consume is also very different. Gravity Magic requires 1000 times more Mana than Wind Magic.”
“I see, so that’s why you’re so interested in this ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’, Jin.”
The 1000 times difference in these two types of magical power’s “fuel consumption” was quite big. Even Reinhardt seemed to understand why Jin was working so hard.
“The difference in magic fuel consumption seems to be related to their effective ranges.”
Saki’s remark indicated that the ideas were finally coming together inside her head.
Gravity magic exerted its effect on a straight line extending from the point of origin, while “Recoil Elimination Magic” exerted its effect only on the caster. Their effective ranges were simply too different.
“Yeah, I’m almost certain of that.”
Jin agreed.
“…What kind of power is ‘gravity’ in the first place, Brother Jin?”
Elsa’s question went deep down to the very roots of the theory they were discussing. As expected, even Jin hesitated to give her a concrete answer.
“Hmm… To be honest, I don’t know all of the details about that either.”
Einstein’s general theory of relativity explains that gravitational fields are a distortion of space-time itself. Jin also knew about this, as it was talked about on TV, in science magazines, and even in science fiction novels and anime.
But knowing about it and having a keen understanding of it are two different things.
“This world has powers that do not exist in the world I come from, such as Ether and Magic, so I think we will definitely need a new theory to explain that.”
In the end, Jin had no choice but to honestly say he didn’t know.
“Is it possible to use that ‘driving force’ as a theory? …Actually, this is you we’re talking about, Jin. You must already have at least some kind of draft worked out by now, right?”
Jin couldn’t help but smile bitterly at Saki’s words.
“No, I’m actually a bit stuck in the middle of it.”
“Huh? Jin, I want you to tell me more about it.”
“Me too.”
Both Reinhardt and Elsa looked at Jin with eyes filled with curiosity.
“Of course. That’s what I was going to do today.”
Then Jin took out another Magi Crystal.
“This is a prototype of a ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’ Magic Tool. But it’s a failure.”
“Huh? Let me take a look at it.”
Jin handed Reinhardt the Magi Crystal.
“Thanks… Hmm?”
After receiving the Magi Crystal, Reinhardt immediately began analyzing the Magi Formula written onto it.
“Oh, I see…”
The most basic spell of the Wind Magic family, “Wind” was the starting point of the theory. From there, Jin had thought that if the Magi Formula that seemed to be in charge of making wind blow was removed, in theory, the “Recoil Elimination Magic” would remain, but…
“It just doesn’t activate.”
Jin concluded with a sour expression on his face.
“Huh?”
“…This led me to believe that this ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’, which is basically a magical force that reacts to an action, cannot exist unless the action –that is, the wind blowing– takes place as well.”
Saki and Reinhardt nodded at Jin’s guess.
“I see… so it’s a phenomenon that only occurs as a result of a cause.”
“Even though it’s possible to take out the ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’, it seems that it’s very difficult to remove the action in order to harness the ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’, even for Jin…”
But at that time, Elsa, who was still thinking, suddenly opened her mouth as if she had an idea.
“How does this ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’ get to match the force needed to cancel the action it’s related to?”
“Huh?”
“I was just thinking that if you had to get some kind of information from somewhere and decide the amount of the ‘Recoil Elimination Magic’ based on that, you will inevitably have some kind of delay.”
After hearing Elsa’s question, Jin, Reinhardt and Saki realized that this problem she was trying to refer to was the key to solving this mystery.
After all, just as a Wind Magic spell is activated, a matching recoil is also activated without a moment’s delay. The true question was “how was this possible?”
“I just can’t get my head around it.”
Jin’s voice sounded regretful.
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