Volume 4 Chapter 10 Losing Sight Of The Goal When Becoming Absorbed
A week after Randy and Liz returned to Victor, the Dukedom Government announced that there would be an official meeting. This was just before the Saint's Birthday Festival was about to start.
The meeting was set for the day before the festival.
It was going to take place at a huge place called the Ruins of the Ancient Arena, located just outside Rivernant.
The Ruins of the Ancient Arena is one of the ancient ruins. It was said to be a place where gladiators fought, and it has been used many times for duels between nobles, making it a historic site.
Even though the meeting was the main reason for gathering, it was clear that it was also meant for a duel.
As the meeting approached, Randy and the others were...
"Hey, boss, how's it going?"
"Just wait a minute."
They were outside Port City, digging a hole in the ground to put in iron pipes with runes carved on them under a cloudy sky.
Using a rune dictionary he got from Aaron, Randy carved a rune that amplifies heat onto a metal plate, shaped it into a pipe, and buried it in the ground.
It sounds easy, but it took them a whole week to get to this point.
Randy and Liz's Craft.
Gaston's skills.
Ellie's magic.
They combined all of these to finally finish the pipe, which they just buried.
"I don't really get what I'm helping with, but what is this all about?"
Luke, who was frowning, had come here to hang out with Cecilia a couple of days ago... as a valuable helper.
"Just watch and see."
Randy cut Luke off, and after turning on a fan to blow air...
"Oh, it's getting a bit warm."
Gaston, who had his hand over the air outlet, had a big smile on his face like a kid.
When they circulated air without anything in the way before the rune experiment, it was just a slight warmth, so the effect of the rune seemed really significant.
"Boss, what if we add more runes?"
"Good idea."
Gaston, with a mischievous grin, looked back at Liz, who had already become a rune-making machine. Liz had perfectly recreated the delicate dwarf craftsmanship of rune engraving using her Craft.
She read the tiny magical power in the blade used to carve the runes, analyzed it with Ellie, and completely reproduced it with Craft... a groundbreaking achievement, and there were already several engraved metal plates stacked in front of Liz.
"...She's really an amazing girl."
Gaston smiled wryly at the unexpected progress.
"Show some respect... young dwarf."
Gaston bowed deeply to Ellie, who was laughing happily. Feeling good about it, Ellie joined Randy, Gaston, and the other dwarves in the experiment.
"One rune raises the temperature by about 2°C (35°F)."
What they found out was that even without runes, the air didn't get warmed up much underground, and cold air came out. But when they added a pipe with runes, the temperature rose about 2°C compared to the outside air.
"So if we just multiply that by ten, it should raise the temperature by 20°C, right?"
"No, the temperature underground is about 15°C. Even if we amplify the heat, it might be hard to go over 20°C."
"What if we bury it deeper?"
"How about changing the direction of the heat?"
After a lot of ideas were thrown around...
"Alright. Let's try everything."
With Randy's cheerful suggestion, they decided to test all the ideas.
The runes they carved into the pipe were meant to amplify the heat energy from underground and transfer it inside the pipe. So, with the underground heat at about 15°C (59°F), even if they amplified it, 20°C (68°F) was probably the limit, and anything beyond that wouldn't change because the temperature inside the pipe would equal the amplified underground heat.
To test this, they would try adding more runes, burying it deeper, and changing the direction of the energy.
They started the experiments by burying different pipes.
Everyone was especially excited about the idea of changing the direction, thinking they would see something interesting. The plan was to take in warm air from underground, amplify the heat inside the pipe, and radiate it out.
With the hopes of everyone that they could raise their own temperature using their own heat, the various pipes were happily buried in the ground by Ellie.
"What's going on? I have no idea."
"But it looks fun, like a festival!"
Luke still doesn't get it, while Cecilia seems to be enjoying the lively atmosphere around them.
As they watch, the dwarves are seriously checking the ends of their pipes, looking focused, waving their hands, and sticking thermometers in to gather data.
They've added runes, buried things deep underground, and amplified the heat inside the pipes. The results for all 3 are...
"It was warm at first, but──."
...now the air coming out is almost the same as outside, just a "maybe it's warm?" level.
Before the air inside the pipes could warm up, it got pushed out... Everyone noticed this and sighed in disappointment.
The warm air at the start was probably the air that rose while they were waiting. It got pushed out by the colder air that came later, so even though it was warm at first, the cold air pushed it out before it could heat up.
"The first batch is cold now."
Gaston, who was touching the prototype, sighed.
What worried Randy and the others even more was that the air that came out first wasn't as hot as they expected.
This led to a brainstorming session that even included Luke and Cecilia.
It depends on the original air temperature, or the rising temperature is escaping outside, or the runes are interfering with each other.
Among all the different ideas, Cecilia quietly said something that caught everyone's attention.
"What if the runes have some kind of restriction?"
That's a dangerous thought that could break the law of energy conservation. Everyone nodded, thinking it could be true, while Randy and Liz opened the dictionary they got from Aaron again.
"I think it's a restriction... or maybe a reaction──."
"Wait a second... let me take over."
Liz thought it was a waste of time to even translate in her head, so she switched places with Ellie, who soon whispered, "Found it." It was a small note written in ancient magic language at the end of the dictionary.
"What does it say?"
Randy could handle ancient language but struggled with magic language, so Ellie read it out loud and smiled.
"It says the runes have a built-in reaction."
Everyone cheered, saying, "I knew it!"
"Why are we messing around? I'll rewrite it right away."
It's not messing around; it's just a safety feature that everyone forgot about. They were simply driven by curiosity, even ignoring the fact that rewriting the runes was a big deal.
Anyway, Ellie got serious and started pulling out the pipes buried deep underground, rewriting the runes she had already carved. The runes glowing dark red on the iron pipes looked really ominous...
"Alright! Now we can push the limits!"
"Wait. We still haven't solved the problem of blowing air in."
...But there was no one here to stop the engineers, who were already changing their goals.
The brainstorming started again, and it got really exciting.
One idea was to use heat storage materials to improve how heat is exchanged. By using underground heat and magic runes, the air could be warmed quickly as it was blown through the system.
Another suggestion was to make the pipes longer, allowing the air more time to warm up as it traveled through.
There was also the idea of using multiple pipes to pull warm air. By installing several pipes, when one finished, the next would start, and so on, ensuring warm air was always flowing.
Some proposed adding pipes to recycle the air. The pipes could be split into upper and lower parts, with the cold air from below being sent back to the beginning to warm up again.
All of these ideas could definitely help with the temperature drop, but they might make the system too big.
In the middle of this, Liz suggested an idea that everyone jumped on.
"How about we modify the runes?"
She said something really scary. She mentioned that while they couldn't change the original runes, they could add magic circuits to them.
"So, we could create a rune-based heat amplification device... or maybe a rune that captures friction heat..."
Randy and Luke have no idea what's going on. They don't understand anything, but there's one thing they do know. It's... fun!
"Alright, let's give it a try!"
Once again, the construction boss (Randy) decides to make some crazy changes, and runes are carved into the pipe. Even though it's a creepy iron pipe glowing with a dark purple aura, everyone is looking at it like it's a gift from the goddess.
That creepy iron pipe is now... buried in the ground.
"I'm going to blow some air!"
The dwarf in charge of the fan, feeling a bit nervous, turns on the switch...
"Whoa, it's hot!"
"This is crazy!"
Everyone is laughing out loud as hot air blasts out of the pipe. The temperature just won't go down, and everyone is bursting with joy.
The experiment is a huge success, so it's no wonder everyone is excited... but these engineers can be a bit reckless.
"I wonder what would happen if we put even hotter air in the pipe?"
Randy's silly comment gets everyone excited. Cecilia and Luke try to stop them, saying, "Come on, that's too much," but even Liz, who usually keeps them in check, is totally curious.
After all, it's Liz who says, "Here we go!" and happily throws hot air──also known as a fireball.
Liz tosses a fireball into the pipe with the fan removed... but what comes out of the pipe, which everyone is watching from a distance, is just a little puff of black smoke.
"What was that?"
"Who knows?"
Randy and Gaston, scratching their heads, ask Liz to help dig up the buried pipe with magic.
"Oh no. It's melting."
"It couldn't handle it."
Just as they said, the iron pipe was all melted and blackened in the ground.
"Looks like iron just couldn't take it."
Gaston, with his arms crossed, mutters, "If only we had something heat-resistant."
"Maybe we should just stop now?"
Cecilia tilts her head, but Randy insists, "No way. We need to know the limits."
By the way, everyone has forgotten that this was supposed to be a test for heating equipment, not a limit-testing experiment. But when engineers see something interesting, they just want to try it out.
Randy and Liz both have that same curious spirit that engineers have.
Randy is fascinated by magic, while Liz is simply inspired by her curiosity.
Cecilia and Luke are caught up in it, but with this group, having just 2 voices of reason doesn't help.
No one is stopping them.
And for now, Randy and Liz have thrown caution to the wind.
What happens next is...
"How about dragon scales?"
...as Liz pulls out some dragon scales from her item box.
Ignoring the surprised engineers wondering why dragon scales are here, Liz carves runes while Randy prepares a smaller pipe. They know dragon scales are rare, so they don't plan to use too many.
Even though they can turn it back into materials with Craft, it might melt like the iron pipe did.
If the two of them had been a bit more sensible, they could have stopped the tragedy that was about to happen, but right now, all they can think about is their simple curiosity.
──What will happen if we do this?
With that curiosity, the two of them set up the dragon scale pipe and nodded at each other. Dragon scales is a super heat-resistant material. This means that the energy from the ground heat won't be able to affect it, and it's just another experiment with the heat amplification device that the iron pipe couldn't handle.
And... with no one to stop them, Liz throws a fireball into the pipe.
After a high-pitched sound like ringing in the ears, a massive pillar of fire shoots up into the sky from the pipe.
The bright white flames cut through the slightly cloudy sky, instantly turning it into a clear blue.
With such an unbelievable result that even changes the weather, everyone finally calms down.
...This is bad.
But it's too late. In the distance, the Knight Brigade led by Harrison is rushing over, their armor clanking loudly.
It seems like the timing couldn't be worse.
A carriage with Alan was passing by too, heading to Rivernant.
Now, Harrison came running up, looking super worried, and asked Randy and the others,
"What's going on?"
"Uh... well──."
There was no way to say it. That they had been having fun with the rune experiment and ended up creating a crazy weapon. Randy hesitated, and it seemed like Harrison started to figure things out, so he began asking the engineers around them.
But the engineers were just messing around, so they could only look down and not say much.
"That's fine. Then I'll just question everyone in front of the master."
Harrison said this with a frustrated look, and Luke pointed at Randy, saying, "It's him."
"You traitor, Luke!"
"Are you stupid? I was just made to help you."
"You looked like you were having fun too!"
Randy argued back, but the other engineers started to change their tune, saying things like, "Well, the dragon is..."
"Y-You guys..."
Randy's face twisted in worry, and Harrison sighed and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Young master, I knew about it."
"Uh, um... we was just messing around too,"
Liz said, blushing as she stepped forward, but Harrison shook his head sadly.
"Miss Elizabeth... sometimes kindness means scolding someone. You can't just cover for him."
Because of Randy's usual behavior, everyone thought she was just trying to protect him, so no one took her seriously.
"Young master, we need to go. If we take too long, master will get mad."
Harrison pulled him along, and everyone watched as Randy mumbled, "I don't agree with this," while they exchanged awkward smiles.
Even if they got through this moment, they knew they would get scolded later. But for now, they had to clean up the mess they made.
"Sh-Should we clean up?"
Liz's shaky voice made everyone nod silently, and they started cleaning up. The atmosphere was completely different from before, moving quietly under the clear blue sky.
Of course, it goes without saying that later, they all got in trouble together.
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