Chapter 60

“…”

The sound of footsteps following behind Damian suddenly stopped. When he turned around, Peter was standing there with his head bowed, clutching the documents tightly with both hands.

“…What is it.”

“Hubert Peter.”

Even when Damian called his name, Peter trembled all over and couldn’t answer.

He must have been gripping them with all his strength, because the papers in his hands were crumpled beyond recognition.

“Your Grace!”

Peter abruptly lifted his head, raising his voice in a rare outburst.

Peter, or rather, Hubert Peter, shouted,

“What kind of genius idea is this!”

He looked unusually excited.

“…”

Damian stared at Peter with a baffled expression.

“Are you even listening to me. More importantly, you’re reacting while reading it just fine.”

“You always pile excessive work on me, Your Grace, so this level of multitasking is nothing. Someone who comes up with ideas like this can’t be an empty shell. No, more than that, calling a person an empty shell is rude, Your Grace.”

“…”

“Originally, mana stones are classified after mining and then go through a refining process. That refining is done by Mage Examiners or mages. They stabilize the mana inside…”

“You don’t need to explain things I already know.”

It was information Damian had gone over endlessly with Reina the night before.

“I don’t know how Reina Botn knew about this concept, but…”

“I heard she once worked at a mana stone refinery.”

“Either way, if this theory holds, the lives of the empire’s people will improve dramatically.”

“The market will turn upside down too.”

That was, of course, if the theory worked.

Damian lifted his gaze to the towering presence of the mansion.

“Looks like we’ll be busy for a while.”

What Reina proposed was a way to turn mana stones into powder.

Mana stones, magic stones, refined mana stones. There were many names for stones imbued with mana.

To be precise, magic stone was a broader term that included raw mana stones and refined mana stones, while refined mana stones were processed mana stones.

Mana stones, or refined mana stones, held mana pooled inside them, which was why explosions occurred. If they could be powdered successfully, the pooled mana would disperse into the powder. It would also absorb shock more easily, making maintenance simpler.

This theory wasn’t originally proposed by Reina.

The problem was how to grind refined mana stones into powder.

Refined mana stones had only been used in daily life for about seventy years, so research was still lacking.

In short, if Reina’s proposed method proved feasible, it would be a discovery powerful enough to shake the entire empire.

* * *

“Mmmm…”

When Reina opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

To be precise, it wasn’t completely unfamiliar.

‘Did I fall asleep here…’

At dawn, she and Damian had frantically searched through materials and discussed things until the sun rose.

It was to lay the groundwork for drafting a proposal, and Damian listened intently to Reina’s idea, which had been nothing more than a rough theory.

‘He was the one who really solidified it.’

All the materials that supported her vague idea had been gathered by Damian.

As Reina moved, the jacket covering her slipped off with a soft thud.

“…?”

It was a very familiar jacket.

The one that had once served as Bonita’s snack bundle. Damian’s coat.

“W-why do I have this?”

Before Reina could make sense of the situation, the office door opened and Damian and Peter walked in.

“My Lord? Peter?”

“You’re awake early.”

Reina looked back and forth between the jacket in her hands and Damian.

Her eyes were a little dazed.

“You woke up early. From what I heard, it sounds like you searched through materials with His Grace until morning.”

In Peter’s hands was the stack of papers that had been scribbled into chaos until that very morning.

To be exact, Damian had written everything for her, but Reina had explained things messily on top of it, turning the documents into a disaster.

“Th-then why does Peter have those?”

“I gave them to him to read.”

Reina half stood up from the sofa, frozen in an awkward position as she looked at the two men.

As always, Damian was expressionless, and as always, Peter wore his politely kind, professional smile.

“It was an incredibly groundbreaking idea. I can’t even remember the previous one now.”

“N-no, it’s just… it might actually be possible… and honestly, My Lord helped with almost everything, so I didn’t really do much.”

“Just thinking about it in the first place is already impressive, Reina Botn. Everything in the world seems obvious now, but coming up with it initially is the start of every great discovery. Isn’t that right, Your Grace?”

“That’s right.”

Reina’s ears turned red at the unexpected praise.

Feeling heat rush to her face, she rubbed the back of her neck with both hands.

“How did you come up with it?”

“Last night, when the magical tools went berserk and the mansion was in chaos, I remembered a conversation I had with Sir Dean before. About when I worked at a mana stone refinery. There was an accident once where a refined mana stone exploded.”

Peter nodded and sat down across from Reina.

Reina hovered awkwardly until Damian tilted his head slightly, then she finally sat down as well.

“Mana stones and refined mana stones are harder than any metal. That is, before they release all their power. After they’ve spent it, they crumble even if you just drop them. So, the principle of mana pressure you taught me before, Chapter Three…”

As Reina explained, Peter flipped through the papers. He already knew the contents from reading them, but hearing it in her calm voice made it more engaging.

“…So I concluded that the mana inside mana stones is a formless force. Just pure power without any magical symbols. That’s why mana stones are so hard, and when those forces collide, they explode. So I thought, why not use that principle in reverse.”

Reina spoke while overlapping her hands to form a circle.

“If we gather mana stones together, confine them, and make them explode.”

Hearing the theory directly, Peter’s eyes sparkled.

“By making the container itself out of mana stone?”

“Yes. Well, that’s what I thought… I don’t know if it’s really possible.”

Feeling that her explanation was vague, Reina pulled a sheet of paper toward her. She grabbed a pen that had been rolling around and started drawing.

She drew a large circle and arrows rolling in one direction beside it.

“If you make it like this and roll it, the stones inside will constantly collide with the boundary made of lowest grade mana stone, creating friction and releasing power.”

Peter asked as he listened.

“But why the lowest grade mana stone?”

“Oh, that’s because… when I worked at the refinery, there was an accident where top grade mana stones collided and exploded. I was standing next to a huge rock made of lowest grade mana stone at the time.”

Lowest grade mana stones were extremely hard, and when mined as massive rocks, they caused serious headaches.

Reina added that they had been considering inviting a mage to see if it could be taken to the mage tower.

“But when the explosion happened suddenly, that rock didn’t even crack. And neither I nor the mage behind it were hurt.”

“Isn’t it possible the mage used a protective spell?”

“No. He looked just as startled… and if he had, he would’ve protected just himself and me. Lowest grade mana stones don’t have much commercial value.”

Reina shook her head and continued.

“So this is mostly my own hypothesis, but I think lowest grade mana stones aren’t low grade so much as they’re mana that’s too densely compressed. Like they’ve fossilized.”

Even as she said this, Reina thought to herself that in Eugene’s world, fossils turned into oil, so in the end, mana stones becoming fuel wasn’t such a different concept.

“I think they were classified as lowest grade because they’re so hard that the power can’t escape. In reality, lowest grade mana stones are basically impossible to break, which makes their value low.”

“…Lowest grade mana stones are harder than any other type, and even if you break them, you can’t make a profit beyond labor costs, so no one bothers. Mage Examiners probably couldn’t measure their mana because they’re that solid.”

“Also, if mana is too vast, even Mage Examiners can’t read it.”

“Really?”

“Yes. People can only perceive what falls within their range of recognition.”

Reina fidgeted with her fingers and rolled her eyes.

“…Well, all of this is just my hypothesis.”

“But if this hypothesis is correct, it’s an incredible discovery. If the explosion happens inside a space made of mana stone, the mana won’t leak out. It’ll act as a barrier.”

Peter thought for a moment, then wrote down numbers on the paper. It was a list of funds needed for the experiment.

“Your Grace, this should be enough.”

“It’s cheaper than I expected.”

“The experimental space is the issue.”

“We can use the villa Baron Testoa used or Count Embron’s estate. They’re empty now anyway.”

“And it has symbolic meaning too.” Damian added, and Peter nodded.

Reina still hadn’t grasped the situation.

“A space? An experiment?”

Damian didn’t understand why she was confused.

“Isn’t it obvious? Reina Botn, you don’t have land or capital to conduct the experiment.”

“That’s… true, but.”

“If you had proper documents and a way to prove your identity, you could receive investment from the imperial family, but in your case…”

“…?”

Reina blinked with a bewildered expression.