༺ Sisters Are The Closest Friends! (3) ༻
“Alright, we are now leaving. Don’t wander off on your own before I tell you it’s free time. And listen to what this teacher is saying. Do you understand?”
Salome asked.
The 1st graders all loudly answered, “Yes-!”
It was quite cute to see them obedient.
Then Salome was shocked at herself.
‘Cute? These little troublemakers?’
Salome generally disliked children.
Disguising as a teacher at this school was only a means to approach Judas’ daughter, ‘Naru’.
If it weren’t for that reason, she would have never subjected herself to teaching children who acted selfishly and cried at the drop of a hat.
But as she continued this job, they were cuter than she expected.
‘If I keep working as a teacher, my perspective will change. I’ll quit after this semester. I already have the info I need on Naru and Judas, anyway.’
Thinking that, Salome led the children to the magic-powered carriages.
The magic-powered vehicle was large enough to hold up to 30 people, and it was also Salome’s first time riding in one.
Fascinating contraption.
Today, they were planning to visit the lab-cum-museum where this fascinating contraption was researched and produced.
Opposite of Salome who was thinking how boring this would be–the children were busy giggling.
“Elizabeth! Naru bought cookies! Naru will share! But, how do we sit? Who will sit next to Naru?”
The children were occupied with sitting next to their close friends aboard the bus.
Naru also wanted to sit with her good friends Elizabeth and Cecily, too.
However, this magic vehicle bus mostly had two-seaters.
To sit together, they had to sit at the very back.
“Wow, holy shh…! Everyone, sit at the back!”
Urururu—
Naru and her friends sat in the back seats.
Like that, the bus took off.
It would be about an hour to the research facility.
An hour-long journey.
Naru, filled with excitement, opened her bag.
━Miaaaao.
When it opened, Molumolu popped out.
Molumolu’s black fur had crumbs all over.
It seemed that it hid in Naru’s bag and ate the snacks.
“Wow, holy shh…! Molumolu ate almost all of Naru’s cookies!”
━Miaaaao.
“Urrrgh, I’m angry but because Molumolu usually helps with Naru’s math homework a lot, you’re forgiven! Molumolu, next time tell Naru if you’re hungry.”
━Kong Kong.
At Molumolu’s barking, Naru stroked its head.
Watching this scene, Elizabeth couldn’t understand what was happening.
“Molumolu helps with math homework…? Exactly how…?”
“Molumolu is good at math! Do you want to see?”
Scritch— Scritch—
Naru wrote in the agenda that Brigitte packed.
213547 – 11245 =
Then when the agenda was pushed into Molumolu’s furry body, they heard a strange Scratch— Scratch— noise.
Slide-.
When Naru pulled out the paper, there appeared words that weren’t previously written.
213547 – 11245 = 202,302
“Look! Isn’t it awesome?!”
“…….”
Seeing Naru laugh with a “Mwehehe”, Elizabeth gave up on thinking.
She was learning from Naru and Molumolu that there were many mysterious things in this world.
Then a sudden thought flashed through her mind.
“Maybe we can find out what kind of animal Molumolu is at the lab we’re going to!”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the place they were going researched every kind of knowledge in the world.
There was a good chance that they would learn Molumolu’s species there.
But to Naru, it was fine either way.
“Molumolu is molumolu!”
Giggle— Kyaaa— Kyaa—.
A car of noisy children.
It passed through the gates of Freesia and drove by fields blossoming with spring flowers.
It was a joyous field trip day.
* * *
“Okay, numbers from the front to back.”
One, two, three, four, five!
The children lined up in front of the teacher and said their numbers.
“Thirty!”
Naru’s number, thirty.
With that, they finished accounting for everyone.
As already planned, Teacher Salome led the children inside the research facility.
Though the facility was a clean building with impressive marble floors and pillars, it was filled with the latest magically-engineered equipment which made it magnificent even in Salome’s eyes.
They had just gone through the entrance when someone shouted.
“Look! It’s the Headmaster!”
Headmaster Elle Cladeco.
She stood at the entrance of the facility and spoke to everyone.
「I thank and welcome all the special guests who are visiting our Freesian Research Institute. This facility is the cradle for the greater advancement of humankind–」.
Elle Cladeco was interrupted by Naru.
Naru patted her hands all over Elle Cladeco’s body.
To her fascination, Cladeco’s form couldn’t be grasped in Naru’s hands and they passed through it like an illusion.
“Ghost! Tywin! Your mom’s a ghost!”
Seeing Elle Cladeco’s translucent form, Naru confirmed she was a ghost.
But Tywin scrunched her face at the sight.
“It’s not a ghost but a mana hologram. It’s a device that’s currently being developed. It’s a device that can play a recording like this.
Ooooohhhhh—
Children were impressed with Tywin’s explanation.
Then Cecily asked.
“Then what about this? It looks like a garbage bin. Does this also happen to be a great invention?
“That actually is a garbage bin. Don’t touch it, it’s dirty.”
“Hiiik…!”
Chatter— Chatter—
At the children’s talking, the quiet lab now became noisy.
The researchers walking around in white gowns saw the children in passing and said with warm smiles, “Oh, how cute.” or “So small. How old are they?”
To those researchers, Naru showed them Molumolu that was secure in her hands.
“Do you know what animal is Molumolu?”
━Miaaaao.
Molumolu was a warm and soft ball of fur.
Seeing the unidentifiable creature, the researchers all said something.
“What’s this? From the cry, is it a cat?
“No, how so when it doesn’t have any characteristics of a cat…?
“Little girl, may we research what kind of animal this is? We can get a needle and start with some blood tests.”
━Grrrrr…!
Hop—
Hearing the word needle, Molumolu struggled out of Naru’s arms.
Swoosh—
Immediately Molumolu hid into a nearby shadow and Naru shouted.
“Molumolu! It’s not free time yet!”
However.
The researchers were shocked at the sight.
“Did you see? The furball hid inside the shadow just now!”
“Perhaps it can travel freely in and out of subspaces? This might be the key to the mystery of other worlds!”
“Should we tell the Headmaster? No, she said she’s busy so we may have to tell the Deputy Headmaster! Let’s go inform Master Ilgast!”
The researchers activated the telecom.
Children and researchers alike were all excited in the lab’s lobby.
The pocket of Pharmacist Ilgast, who was watching from a fairly high level, vibrated with a Bzzzt—
It was a call from the researchers.
“Aren’t they cute?”
Ilgast said as he looked down to the 1st floor.
Because the kids were all tiny they were hard to see clearly, but surely his daughter Elizabeth was among them.
Since today was the field trip.
Though he wanted to head down and go see his daughter, Freesia’s best pharmacist, Ilgast, was currently working.
And that work was to receive an important guest.
Guest.
In fact, this person was rather the opposite of a guest.
Anybody human might have had this concern at one point–what if I get attacked by some felon while walking the streets alone at night?
The actual manifestation of this imagined felon was the very guest Ilgast was accommodating.
The suspicious Judas was busy looking around here and there.
Was this lab full of interesting things even to a thief like him?
“That thing ringing in your pocket. A portable communication device?”
Judas now took interest in the portable device in Ilgast’s pocket.
Ilgast showed the flat-shaped terminal to Judas.
“It’s not ready to be commercialized yet but that is correct. With this, even those without mana can use a form of ‘telepathy’. Though it needs to be charged with mana before it can be used.”
“Oh. That’s amazing.”
“One flaw is that the mana-charging is unstable so it can explode easily. If we can fix that then this will revolutionize the world. Imagine. A world in which people can talk to each other from a far distance.”
“Sounds good.”
“No longer will we be sad to part with those leaving on long journeys. With active communications between different lands, the world will develop exponentially!”
It was an amazing invention.
But Thief Judas’ attitude showed very little interest.
Was explaining the greatness of current technology too much for the thief?
‘Does he not care? Then again, to this man, a treasure would look more like shining gold.’
Everyone has their own perspective.
Ilgast decided not to judge whose perspective was better–those who value advancement like himself or those who value material gain like Judas.
Right then, Judas took note of something.
“What about this?”
“Ah, that’s a Computer. You enter the values and it’ll calculate the result according to set rules. To put it simply, it’s like a modernized abacus.”
It was an expensive item.
Like an equivalent of a well-trained knight of a household.
Of course, the actual value far surpassed that of a single knight.
This computer- the world’s progression increased rapidly after Elle Cladeco devised and invented it.
And now, this calculation device was practically the Demiurge of devices.
“It operates using this keyboard?”
Judas pointed with his finger at the keyboard.
Ilgast was lightly surprised to hear him say ‘keyboard’.
“How did you know?”
“Ah, well. I’m pretty good at guessing. Keyboard, hm-. How interesting. Then this must be a mouse?”
Judas pointed at the device that would fit in one hand.
To that, Ilgast answered sincerely.
“No, it isn’t a mouse but a Hamster.”
“… What? Hamster?”
“A mouse has a tail. Because this is remote and magic-powered, it doesn’t have a wire. It’s completely wireless. Hence, it’s a Hamster. You use the Hamster with a Click— like this.”
“… Hamster… ?”
Judas made a confused expression.
The operation of such a sophisticated technology frustrated many researchers still, so this far-from-intelligent King of Thieves no doubt had trouble understanding.
He asked.
“Anyway. All of these were devised and planned by Elle Cladeco, then?
“That’s right. She’s certain that her designs of these technologies will spearhead the next step in human advancement.”
“The next step being?”
At Judas’ question, Ilgast looked around.
And after making sure that there was no one around to eavesdrop on their conversation, he spoke.
“The transcendence of all humankind.”
The transcendence of all humankind.
Everyone achieving level 50 and becoming like gods.
A world that was fair in which all people were equal.
That was Elle Cladeco’s ideology.
At that, the King of Thieves laughed.
“That kind of thing is impossible. How much experience do you think is needed to have all of humanity achieve level 50? Even I’m not at level 50 yet.”
The King of Thieves who endured many battles and dangers and even defeated the Demon King hadn’t even become level 50 yet.
To transcend was to accumulate immense karma.
How much karma would be needed to transcend the whole world?
What kind of disaster must humanity face?
Whatever it was it would be something that would have to surpass the commotion caused by the Demon King.
When Judas closed his mouth in thought, Ilgast curled his hand into a fist.
Then he quietly said this.
“I also know that. That it’s an impossible feat. However, Elle Cladeco is scheming something. There, in the secluded lab in the basement. My wife… got into an accident while investigating this.
“…….”
“Looking back on it, I can’t say if it really was an accident. The only one who knows is my wife, Batory. But…, I don’t think it was as simple as that. Cladeco must have killed her.”
“Kill?”
“Elle Cladeco is a monster. A monster who would even kill her sibling, her younger sister to achieve her objectives.
Clench—
Ilgast’s tightly-held fist turned white.
And finally, he blurted out what he was holding back.
“Judas, it must have been fate that led you to seek me yesterday. The one with whom you have a close relationship, Professor Brigitte, is not completely irrelevant regarding this matter.”
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