The door to the squeaky mansion opened.
A gray, stooped old man greeted us.
“Are you Professor Ban who contacted me? Please come in. “The master is waiting.”
As I passed through a hallway covered in cobwebs, a person appeared.
Count Armand.
However, the expression on his face was strange.
Contrary to our expectations that they would be happy, they were glaring at us fiercely.
“Banregi? “Did you come to scam me too?”
“!!”
I realized I had overlooked one thing and looked troubled.
It’s been 10 years.
It was enough time for a dream-chasing romantic to turn into a pessimist.
‘I’ve probably been scammed by all kinds of wizards. ‘You will never believe me.’
Count Armand growled fiercely.
“If it weren’t for the previous help I received from His Excellency, I would never have met you like this. “Get out now.”
From Noble mtl dot com
One fortunate thing is that I am a former sales tycoon.
Similarly, there were numerous experiences of being treated as fraudsters.
Here, the thing that pushes you to trust is the handshake.
On the contrary, I had to go in the opposite direction.
I just nodded.
“All right. If you say that, I can’t help it. Linden, let’s go.”
“professor?”
“I don’t have time until my next appointment.”
“Oh right! Yes. “The professor’s theory was that other merchants would give huge guarantees, but he came to talk to Count Armand first.”
Also Linden.
As expected of a piece of trash, my hair went away easily. He quickly matched my rhythm.
I looked at Count Armand with a teaspoon of regret, nothing more or less.
It was regrettable, but he spoke in a voice without regret.
“I was looking for a way to solve the problem of the ‘separator’ of the anode, and the first person that came to mind was the Count, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be the case. “Excuse me.”
As soon as I turned my back, Count Armand grabbed me.
“for a moment.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Don’t do anything foolish. “I think you’re trying to scam me by provoking me. Everyone but me has given up on car development, so who are you going to turn to?”
The voice of doubt still remains.
However, there was a big difference from before.
Because Count Armand captured me.
Count Armand may not have realized it, but the parties A and B of the transaction had changed.
It was important from now on.
“No one is developing cars now. “For now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think other merchants will remain silent even if the separator challenge is resolved? “Everyone will get involved in car development.”
“!!”
My gaze fell on Count Armand’s eyes. I looked deep into the depths.
In fact, it was not doubt that filled his eyes.
It was a wound that had accumulated over the past 10 years.
I faced the wound directly and stabbed his ‘weak point’.
“Don’t you know best, Count? What a great invention the automobile would be. “Cars will change the world.”
his weakness.
It was a dream for a car.
“… … .”
Count Armand’s eyes wavered slightly.
It’s agitated.
Of course, my ‘sales’ did not end here.
“Cars will change the world, but unfortunately, the Count will not be called the king of cars in history. “The Count will remain a failure who missed his chance.”
“under! Don’t be funny! No, you solved the problem of the separation membrane in the first place?! “Is that possible?”
Engines using bipolar theory had a fatal problem.
The repulsion between the two poles of mana creates strong heat energy.
Therefore, a separator was needed to block and protect the two mana poles.
‘Mana particles must pass through while heat energy must be completely blocked, so a very delicate yet strong separator is needed.’
Delicacy and strength.
You need to capture both, but these are attributes that are difficult to coexist.
If the heat generation was blocked, the mana particles could not pass through properly, and if the mana particles passed smoothly, the heat energy could not be blocked from leaking out.
but.
“I’ll show you directly.”
“… what?”
“Using the multi-layer theory, we achieved delicacy and strength by overlapping more than ten layers of thin membranes… Haven’t you probably heard a lot of plausible theories spread around anyway? “I will just show you the ‘miracle’ myself.”
“!!”
“Please go out into the garden.”
After arriving at the garden, I gave Linden a signal.
Paang!
When Linden opened the huge subspace bag he brought, a surprising object was revealed.
It was a car.
‘It’s the same size and shape as a buggy at an amusement park.’
FYI, now Lv. 6 It was handmade by Hans, who became a magician specializing in magic tools.
“Count, please ride.”
“I?”
“It’s the world’s first car. “This is a moment that will go down in history, so shouldn’t the first test driver be the Count?”
“under! That’s not even funny! “There’s no way something like this could move!”
However, he seemed to quickly climb into his seat.
“You can control the direction using this round handle, and accelerate and decelerate with the pedals underneath.”
“The details are surprisingly good. Even if it were, it would be of no use if you don’t move.”
Count Armand snorted and pressed the button.
Paaat!
Instead of the engine sound, the sound of mana stones resonating was heard.
“under. Now the circuit will be damaged by the repulsive energy of the anode. “I know everything.”
It was that moment.
Count Armand kept his mouth shut.
The car started moving.
Slowly, but surely.
“What about this?”
“Be careful. “It will get faster and faster.”
“uh? uh??”
Count Armand only had a blank expression, like a man who had lost his words.
Meanwhile, the speed gradually increased.
“Slow down.”
“uh?! uh!!! uh?!!!”
“Pump on the brakes!”
However, Count Armand did not listen.
“Goes! It’s really running!! “It’s running!!”
“careful!! Stop now!”
“Noisy! “It’s running!!”
Fortunately, no accident occurred.
Perhaps because Count Armand had been waiting for this moment for over 10 years, he drove the car like a natural driver.
I also looked at Count Armand with some relief.
“Run! run! I’m not wrong! It wasn’t wrong!! ha ha ha!!”
Count Armand was crying.
* * *
The place where Count Armand stopped was deep in the garden.
There was a small grave.
A sight that seems to have a story.
‘The reason Count Armand got into car development in the first place was for his dead son.’
Count Armand’s son was born without the use of his legs.
The son dreamed of a car, and Count Armand set out to develop a car to grant his son’s wish.
“… … .”
Count Armand did not explain this story to us. I didn’t even bother to ask.
I just waited for Count Armand to finish talking with his son in the grave.
and,
“… It looked disgraceful. “I am truly grateful for making Armand’s dream come true.”
The tone and atmosphere have changed 180 degrees from before.
“Not yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t decided to do business with the Count yet.”
“!!”
“Of course, I would like to do business with the Count as much as possible. This is because you are the person who knows the value of your car best. I believe you also understand the value of multi-layer theory.”
It was a story about paying a sufficient price.
‘You can’t give it for free!’
“hahahaha! That’s natural. “Don’t do this and move your seat.”
We went inside and discussed specific conditions.
“As you know, there are two forms of trading in magical technology. “Guarantees and royalties.”
It is somewhat different from Earth, but to put it simply, a guarantee is receiving a lump sum at once, and royalties are receiving profit distribution in percentage terms.
‘Actually, I usually prefer the guarantee method. Wizards often need a large sum of money, and no one knows whether the product will actually be successful or not.’
“If you want the guarantee method, I will pay 300,000 penas in one lump sum.”
Count Armand made an apologetic face.
“Actually, I would like to give more, but no matter how much I borrow, I simply cannot mobilize more than this amount.”
I said I was sorry, but it was actually a huge amount of money.
‘If you look at my salary now, it’s almost 100 years worth. Of course, I am currently working as a temporary employee, so the pay is low.’
Even in a free city where land is expensive, the amount was enough to buy more than a few houses, or even a small building if necessary.
I played around with the calculator some more.
‘It’s a good condition considering the customs. ‘Because I didn’t develop all the technology for car engines.’
The core of the Mana car engine is the anode.
This was completed by Count Armand over a period of 10 years.
It only contributed to the separator, which is part of the engine, and at 300,000 pennies, it was a very high price.
but.
“I will pay royalties.”
“hahahaha! okay! I knew you would say that. “Cars are going to take over the whole world, so is the guarantee the only problem?”
It was as he said.
It was an opportunity to turn my life around.
‘It may take time, but once automobiles are commercialized in earnest, you will no longer have to worry about the future! I’ll be rejected!’
However, Linden hesitated next to me and said.
“Can I just take it as a guarantee?”
For your reference, the multi-layer theory that Linden published on Magic Tower and my current theory have the same name, but are completely different.
Still, I was inspired, so I shared some shares.
“Linden, what about you?”
“I don’t do stocks! I won’t do it! I can’t do it because my account has already been suspended. Anyway, I will definitely receive a guarantee, so please do so. “hehehe.”
‘… ‘I think I’ll get into an accident.’
However, I had no authority to interfere with this.
“I have other favors to ask the Count other than this.”
“Just say it! “I’ll listen to anything!”
I said a few things, and Count Armand looked surprised.
“you? Well, I see. hahahaha. “I guess the rumor was true.”
Count Armand looked at me with meaningful eyes.
“An ‘accident’ caused by Van Legend. “I’m looking forward to it with joy.”
After achieving all of my goals, I returned to the academy.
Afterwards, various measures were taken for the next stage of the operation.
Time passed, and the end date of my contract was getting closer.
“Hoo, who is this? “Isn’t he Professor Ban?”
I just ran into the chairman of the board, Count Werner.
Duke Bolman’s right hand man.
I wasn’t alone.
‘The department heads are also there.’
On both sides, people with unusual looks were standing as if guarding them.
Slayman, head of the Department of Magic.
It was Diego, the head of the department of knights.
‘It’s such great power. You carry around department heads like servants. Still, except for the president, they are the highest-ranking professors in the academy.’
In any case, it didn’t seem like a chance meeting.
I saw him smiling and saying this.
“You seem to be busy here and there recently, but I don’t know if you’re ready to pack.”
“… … .”
“You do realize that there are only two days left until the contract ends, right?”
I nodded.
“I know. “I’m waiting too.”
“… “You’re waiting?”
“Yes, I’m looking forward to it.”
Two days.
It was D-Day.
The climax of the operation was not far away.