Volume 3 Chapter 23 Three Heads Are Better Than One. So, Seven Heads...
While waiting for Cecilia and the others to finish their afternoon class, Randy and Liz went home to grab a gift for Cory.
"Hey? You're back early today."
Harrison looked confused, and Randy pointed to a big bug cage left at the entrance. It looked more like a prison than a cage. The cage was made of metal and wood, and it seemed empty.
But when Harrison looked back at the cage, he nodded as if he understood. Even though he couldn't see anything, he knew something was inside.
"Taking that is fine, but isn't it super noticeable?"
Harrison smiled awkwardly, and Randy agreed, "Yeah, for sure." They could ask Harrison to bring a carriage, but that would mean Rita would have to come along too. Rita probably wanted her own free time. It didn't seem fair to drag her along just for this...
Thinking about this, Randy suddenly had an idea.
"Why don't we just carry it ourselves?"
"Well, it's invisible, so that's a bit tricky..."
Harrison frowned and looked back at the cage. "What if it attacks us on the way?"
"Okay, then let's knock it out. Help me out."
Without waiting for a response, Randy confidently walked over to the cage and took off the lid. He reached in to grab the Valion, but since it looked empty, it was like he was doing a mime act.
Still, Harrison could feel something there. He moved closer and stared at what Randy was holding.
"How are we going to knock it out?"
"Well, I guess we just hit it..."
"No way! If you hit it, its brains will splatter everywhere!"
Harrison frowned, and Randy pouted, "Then what do we do?"
"Didn't you ask about its weak points?"
"Nope."
Randy shook his head, and Harrison looked up at the sky in disbelief.
Going to hunt an unknown beast. It was typical for Randy to go into a situation like this without any information. Even though they had talked to an expert, he didn't get the most important info.
"Hey, don't look at me like I'm an idiot."
"You're looking at an idiot, so it's hard not to."
Harrison accidentally blurted that out. He quickly said "Oh," but it was too late.
"Alright, brace yourself──."
"Just kidding! I thought it was impressive how you were like, 'I don't know its weak points. Strength is power!'"
"Are you making fun of me?!"
Liz and Rita watched the noisy duo from a distance with warm eyes. Liz sighed, realizing they wouldn't settle down anytime soon.
"Randy, if you don't hurry, we'll keep Cecily and the others waiting."
Thanks to Liz stepping in, Randy's annoyed "Tch" ended their back-and-forth for now. But they were still at square one...
"So, how are we going to knock it out?"
Since hitting it was off the table, Randy figured Harrison might have a clever idea, so he pointed the invisible Valion at him.
"Hmm. Should I try giving it a flick on the forehead?"
"Do you really think a flick will knock it out?"
"How rude! For a beast like this──oh, it just attacked me with its tongue!"
Randy and Harrison were back to making a ruckus at the entrance, but the beast they were talking about was invisible to everyone else. Of course, Rita couldn't see it either.
"Um, ladies... those 2 are acting strange."
"Rita, there's something only they can see."
"What is it? A ghost or something?"
Rita was surprised, and while Liz explained, Randy and Harrison continued to have fun arguing with the invisible beast.
* * *
"You two are late."
Cecilia stood confidently in front of the circle building, and Randy raised his hand, saying, "Sorry, sorry."
"We just went to grab a little gift."
Randy raised his empty hand, but Luke was the only one who seemed to know what he meant.
"Are you dead or something?"
"Nah, he's just passed out."
After that, Harrison and I tossed around ideas and finally decided to have Liz give him a weak electric shock to knock him out.
While chatting about random stuff, the 4 of them quickly arrived at the beast research club where Cory was waiting──well, he wasn't really waiting.
Randy suddenly remembered that they hadn't made an appointment, but luckily, there were some signs of life inside... for some reason, there were 2. If they were busy, they could always come back another day, so he knocked on the door of the beast research club.
The knock echoed, and they heard a response right away as the door swung open. Peeking out was Cory, Annabelle's childhood friend and the only member supporting the beast research club.
He had round glasses and a messy haircut. He was short and skinny, but he was still a first-year. He would definitely grow taller.
Cory, still looking a bit innocent, tilted his head and looked up at us.
"Hey? Senior Randolph, what's up?"
"I just wanted to get your opinion... and I brought a little gift──."
Randy raised his empty hand, and Cory tilted his head for a moment, but being the expert and source of information that he was, he quickly understood what Randy meant. With a big smile, Cory said, "Great, let's talk inside!"
Cory pulled them into the clubroom, and they were greeted by someone unexpected... or maybe it was expected.
"Hello, everyone."
"Lady Annabelle, you're here too!"
Randy put on a polite smile, but no one dared to comment on it. Only Luke couldn't hold back a chuckle and burst out laughing.
Randy shot a glare at Luke and said, "...Anyway," trying to bring back the awkward atmosphere caused by Luke.
"Should I just leave this guy here if it's a bother?"
As he lifted up the Valion, Randy looked between Cory and Annabelle. Annabelle quickly shook her head, saying, "No, it's not a bother," and Cory nodded enthusiastically, saying, "No problem at all."
"Well, that's good..."
Even though it felt a bit forced, it wouldn't be good to back down now. So, Randy took out some materials from his magic bag and quickly made a cage for the Valion. After tossing the Valion into the cage, Randy said, "I just want you to take a look at this."
"This is amazing!"
"Y-Yeah. It seems like a lot of breakthroughs are coming."
Cory and Annabelle were both really interested in the photo that had just been developed. They were still excitedly talking about things like "a beast encyclopedia" and "ghost face recognition."
"Sorry to interrupt your excitement, but it's still not working at all."
Randy gave a wry smile, and Cory scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
"I'm trying to get the colors to stick somehow..."
Randy scratched his head while Cory glanced back at the Valion in the cage.
"If it changes color when it gets light... what if we adjust the concentration of its body fluid? So it changes color based on the light's strength."
"I'm already trying that."
Randy shrugged and started explaining the prototypes that led to this point.
A body fluid that changes color automatically when it gets light. It's produced inside the Valion and changes color by covering its surface through something like sweat glands. When Randy figured this out, he first wondered if using this as a light-sensitive material would make the color stick.
To be honest, Randy didn't have any solid knowledge about fixing colors. He only had a vague idea that "if you shine light on something that changes color, it'll make a photo."
So, when he thought about getting a light-sensitive material and combining it with paper in Craft, the quick change was unexpected for him.
The giant Valion moved so fast, and even when it stuck out its tongue, the scenery didn't change. This meant it was reflecting colors smoothly. Even if he turned that into light-sensitive paper, it could end up acting like a mirror.
That's when Randy thought, "What if I just increase the amount of light needed for the change?"
He tried diluting the solution.
He also tried making the coating thicker to prevent the solution from evaporating.
After various tests, he ended up with the prototype film they were currently using.
"To gather and project light with a lens, the current version of the lens has the best color quality. If it's too thin, the colors won't change at all. The thickness of the coating matters too."
"So, how about making the light stronger?"
Randy thought about Annabelle's idea, "Improving the lens, huh..." It made sense because a regular camera usually has multiple lenses.
"Well, we can improve the lens, but we can also use a magic stone to make the light stronger."
"Really? Can we do that?"
"Yes. Like the beam from a ghost-catching device..."
Annabelle was talking about that ghost-catching thing. It definitely had multiple beams, but if they use that principle, it seems like a really strong light would come from inside the camera.
"Are we going to have a flash inside? That could hurt our eyes."
Everyone tilted their heads at Randy's comment. Even if light is generated inside, it would only leak out a little from the camera lens.
"No, I want to create a viewing hole to set the angle."
Randy borrowed paper and a pen from Cory and roughly sketched his idea. The camera looked like a DSLR from the side, and everyone around said things like "Wow" and "Hmm."
"The shape is nice, but from here, we can't see it properly, right?"
Luke immediately pointed out the problem with the viewing hole being in a different spot from the lens. Randy also wasn't sure why it was there.
"If we use a mirror, it might work, right?"
"Yeah. If we reflect the image coming from the lens with a mirror──."
Liz and Cecilia quickly figured it out, and Randy said, "Great, you two can handle that part," tossing the idea of the internal mechanism to them.
Liz and Cecilia, now with a task, started adding details about the direction of the light and the angle and structure of the mirror to Randy's simple drawing.
"We want to make it so you can see the scenery inside as it lights up..."
"Yeah, if we light it up inside, it will definitely hurt our eyes."
"How about closing the viewing hole just for that moment?"
While Liz skillfully joined the conversation, drawing lines, Randy chuckled and said, "Isn't that too complicated?"
"I think it's worth a try."
"Then, I'll leave it to you."
As things got more complicated, Randy felt lost. The moment he pressed a button, light hit the photosensitive paper, and the viewing hole went dark. He didn't even understand why the light was hitting the paper when it was already being reflected by the mirror.
"For now, let's focus on directing the light... but we still need something to fix it in place."
Randy was right; even if they made something that only reacted to strong light, it would still react if strong light hit it. They needed something to prevent that.
"Fixing it... right?"
"Yes, it means to hold it in place."
Cory and Annabelle were deep in thought, and Randy was quiet too. Then, unexpectedly, Luke chimed in.
"Like ghosts, there are things that stay even when they're not asked to."
Luke was leaning against the wall.
"Ghosts stay in this world, but..."
Randy chuckled, remembering when he defeated a wraith in the church basement and got nothing from it.
"They didn't drop any materials──."
"I heard they might be useful."
"Huh?"
When he turned around, he saw Liz with a strange expression.
"I heard they might be useful. Ghosts..."
From the way she said it, Randy realized that the ancient great magician's wisdom was finally coming into play.
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