October 10, 1614 Central Calendar, 22:00

Holy Milishial Empire, Capital Runepolis

San Redentore District, Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures

After the successful testing of Meteos’ miniature turbojet engine, Robin set out to write a report for the Ancient Ministry that very night. And with the help of her two apprentices, Walman and Meteos, as well as a heavy dose of coffee, she managed to finish the report by the night on the next day and the report was delivered to her boss in the MOASEC building, located at a secluded corner in the San Redentore District, north of Runepolis.

As Robin was standing facing her boss in his office, waiting until he finished reading the summary of her report, her mind began to wander somewhere. Although her stance was rigid and her face looked impassive, Robin is actually trying her best to fight the urge to sleep, having not slept at all since yesterday. Her boss, a raven-haired man by the name of Arsene Lippin, is still looking at the report’s contents without uttering a single word.

‘Can we just finish this already and let me go home? And who in the right mind setting up AC in October!?’ she yelled inwardly.

Indeed, the air conditioner in the top corner of the room is giving a soft greenish glow, indicating that it is active and giving the room a cool temperature on its lowest setting. However, the thing is active in the middle of October night, where the air in Runepolis is getting colder as the season began to transition into winter. It is clearly not helping Robin in shaking off her drowsiness.

Her boss occasionally sipped into a cup of warm tea on his desk while flipping another page of the report submitted by her and glanced at the magic pictures spread on the table. Robin felt the cold air went past her thick longcoat, causing her to try to bury her face underneath her scarf. Meanwhile, her eyelids were starting to droop.

‘Crap…! Come on, Robin, think of something… something funny!’

Her mind raced. Then she suddenly recalled one incident involving Meteos and Walman when they decided to help Annette in the Training Ground with her magnetism magic.

“Pffftt…!”

Remembering the sheer ridiculousness of that incident made Robin shake uncontrollably, trying to hold back laughter as she pinched her left thigh with her hand. Her face was contorted into a weird expression, her lips twitched uncontrollably while her cheeks are puffing. However, she began to lose in the struggle as muffled noises began to flow from Robin’s quivering mouth.

The noises Robin made drew Lippin’s attention as he glanced up from the report.

“Hm, is there something wrong?”

“BHA—I mean… n-no, sir!”

He squinted at Robin for a while. Seeing that her boss’ attention is now on her, Robin felt a blush creep into her face and lowered her head in embarrassment. She coughed into her hand awkwardly before trying to stand at attention once more. Well, at least her sleepiness is somewhat gone now, but by the heavens, that image…

Lippin slumped in his chair and finally asked Robin a question.

“…So, Robin, what do you think of this?”

She shook her head to purge that specific mental image from her mind, schooled her expression, and answered her boss.

“Ahem…… Sir. Within one month, a group of students has managed to solve a problem that our best engineers at the Ancient Ministry cannot do for years. Like the three instances before this, the idea brought by the person of interest must not be ignored and I believe that this will benefit not only our organization but also the Empire as a whole.”

Robin paused and pulled a package from her bag and placed it on Lippin’s desk. When Lippin opened the seal to the package, he found three film rolls and lifted one to examine it, motioning his subordinate to continue.

“These film rolls contain a brief explanation of the engine and the recording of its testing. Currently, the person of interest is focused on aviation technology, but there is a possibility of this invention being applied in other fields. In fact, I already have some rough ideas in mind regarding its further development.”

“…I see. I will take a look at it later. To think that all of these comes from the ideas of one person… I still find it quite hard to believe…”

So far, Lippin was impressed by the contents of Robin’s report. He then leaned forward and continued to speak.

“However, some of the contents in your report are quite… unusual, I must say.”

Robin already knew what was being talked about and provided her opinion, her sleepiness was already gone at this point.

“Yes, sir. You will be surprised at how some junk ore is actually capable of better performance than even the strongest magical iron alloy. I have included a comparison between standard magic iron alloys up to Ferrum-3+ and the new alloy used in the experiment at the end of the report. And as you can see, it is overall superior in terms of strength, lightness, and resistance to the heat and pressure produced by the engine. As for the manufacturing process, the available forge in RMA has the ability to purify the ore and create several variations of the new alloy with a slight modification to the standard processing methods. Its further development and promotion for practical use are also highly recommended.”

“Why not use a more powerful pure magic alloy instead?” Lippin asked, his hand flipping the pages to the end of the report.

“We have taken into account the cost needed, sir. Please refer to the next page for the estimated cost needed to procure a full-sized engine.”

Lippin flipped to the next page to check and found it surprisingly quite affordable.

Even if the Empire succeeded in putting the technology into practical use, the next problem they will encounter eventually is the strength of materials. Since the more powerful pure magic alloys are currently too expensive to produce, Meteos wanted to tackle these problems in one go by developing a cheap, but high-quality new alloy at the same time as the development of the turbojet by enlisting the help of his female friends from the other class. The testing on the other day is the demonstration of both inventions.

“While we could proceed to the development of a full-scale engine, we should make an appeal to conduct a geological survey both in the country and on the places mentioned in the report to procure more resources.”

“Hmm… NMC-22, was it? You are right since it is not a commonly mined ore and our country does not even consider it a valuable resource, but persuading those politicians will be a difficult task…”

Robin somewhat expected this answer and appealed to her boss.

“Director Lippin, I beg you to consider. As the organization with full jurisdiction over matters regarding the protection of our Empire, nay, the entire world from the Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s return, our priority should have been placed above the rest, am I right?”

“Of course, I know that… but…”

She suppressed the urge to groan. It’s always been like this. He and the rest of the MOASEC have enjoyed Meteos’ ingenuity for granted so far, and when they are required to make some effort, even though it’s for their own benefit, they are reluctant to do so?

How lazy.

“If I may be so bold, sir, please consider the circumstances of your appointment. Your current situation is improving by leaps and bounds thanks to your decision of providing support to the person of interest’s endeavors. We can help each other and make it even better; all you have to do is to ensure the person of interest’s project goes smoothly. You have the power to do so, after all, the Ancient Ministry’s voice can even steer the Empire to whatever direction it wanted, no?” Robin cooed. As she leaned her head forward a bit, her glasses briefly reflected the magic lamp’s light.

“…!!”

Lippin shuddered as Robin’s words reminded him of the day one year and a half ago when he took office as the director of the MOASEC after his predecessor was sacked for incompetence. He knew well that it can also happen to him someday should he fail at providing satisfying results from the ministry he is leading, and he maybe will not last long in this position. But he has a family to support and children to feed and love, and he does not want that.

As an ordinary paper-pusher, Lippin once felt an unparalleled excitement when he was given such a prestigious position, but he never expected this level of pressure. Lippin felt nauseous at the thought of having to shoulder the large expectations from the Empire as the leader of the organization dedicated to being at the forefront of the world’s protection. He began to doubt if the position was even worth it.

In addition, despite their role made the Ancient Ministry have a very high influence within the government, their lack of progress and the fact that they ate the most national budget began to earn the scorn of other ministries and the diminishing confidence from His Majesty the Emperor.

He was thankful that the cold air of the room prevented him from sweating in front of his subordinate due to his nervousness.

However, one opportunity was laid open in front of him to save himself from his precarious situation. The director shook his head and leaned back in his chair as he recounted the recent turn of events, starting from the summer of the last year.

It happened out of nowhere. Robin’s acquaintance, retired Navy Captain William Falkenhausen, who formerly commanded a test ship, contacted her saying that he had found something interesting regarding Ancient Sorcerous Empire and at her proposal, Lippin gave her the assignment to verify. However, what she found was not a Ravernal artifact, but rather a machine resembling an Ancient Sorcerous Empire artifact built by someone; a young teenager by the name of Meteos Roguerider.

A person with such knowledge will certainly be hailed as a genius by other people. However, on the other hand, this young man never had any prior contact with any ancient artifact to allow him such in-depth knowledge regarding a conductive magnetic radar’s mechanism. So on that day, at Robin’s suggestion, Lippin assigned her to the Runepolis Magic Academy for conducting surveillance in case there is any possibility of information leakage, which will further endanger Lippin’s position. Since then, Meteos Roguerider was being watched by the Ancient Ministry, labeled as a ‘person of interest’ and unofficially affiliated to the Ancient Ministry as Robin’s apprentice.

But it seems that they have stumbled upon a gold mine. Meteos Roguerider’s willingness to teach his knowledge also helped the Ancient Ministry to make a progress in their own job: jurisdiction over Ancient Sorcerous Empire relics. But instead of lifting the pressure off his shoulders, the Empire expected more out of the Ancient Ministry. Once again, as per Robin’s suggestion, Lippin agreed to use their resources to support him and make a bid to recruit Meteos Roguerider in the future as an official member of the Ancient Ministry.

The raven-haired man finished his tea and let out a deep, resigned sigh before speaking to Robin again.

“………I understand. I will make sure that this proposal goes through. If necessary, I might have to make some lobbying regarding this matter.”

Hearing the words made Robin smile a bit, “Thank you very much, sir.”

“…About the person of interest… continue observing him and provide assistance to him as much as you can. Alright, that’s all for today, you’re dismissed. Just wait at the entrance, I’ll call someone to take you home. Good evening, Robin.”

“Good evening, Director Lippin,” Robin bowed and walked out of the room.

When he was the only one left in the office, Lippin reached for an internal manacom on his desk and contacted someone.

“It’s me. Prepare a car to take Miss Robin home.”

“At once, sir,” a male sound replied from the other side.

With a grunt, Lippin cut off the call and leaned once again in his chair, his gaze stopped at the profile page of Meteos Roguerider. As he picked the paper up, the pair of blue orbs stared back unblinkingly at him.

“Why did I accept this position again…?” He grumbled and threw the page back to the desk, turning to glance at the windows behind him.

With a victorious smirk on her face, Robin sauntered along the empty hallway towards the entrance where a car will come and take her to her apartment. She had succeeded in convincing her boss to at least try to bring up the matter of her proposal to the meeting between the Empire’s ministers. She wanted to do more, but she is only a subordinate, there is only so much someone from her station could do at the moment.

As she stepped out of the MOASEC building, Robin inhaled the fresh air and released a deep, satisfied sigh. She then did a bit of stretching before leaning on the wall at the building’s entrance, waiting for the car that will take her to her apartment.

“I wonder if the boys are already asleep…” She muttered, checking her grimoire. The clock on her magic phone already showed 22:58.

She is tempted to tell Meteos about this, but decided against it, not wanting to disturb her student’s rest. After tucking the grimoire back to her pocket, Robin crossed her arms.

Thinking about today’s meeting, she was glad that Director Lippin listened to her suggestion.

Like usual.

Compared to the previous head of the Ancient Ministry, some worthless guy whose name Robin doesn’t care enough to know about, Arsene Lippin is a decent man, but he has no ambition, while the Ancient Ministry is an organization that has the potential to shape the Empire in their image.

Lippin, previously a Public Relations Department official with no skill or experience, is too worried about his position to even think about the MOASEC’s future policies. The ministry’s recent moves are all born from Robin’s suggestions, who comes from the elite Operational Division of the Ancient Arms Analysis Tactical Operations Department. In addition, MOASEC’s rapid progress within one year can be attributed to Robin’s sheer luck in finding Meteos Roguerider and her subsequent lobbying to Lippin, so Robin can say she has somewhat contributed the most to the MOASEC’s advancement. And as a result, she managed to gain Lippin’s full trust.

But must Robin need to convince him every single time to make him do something? Not that she is holding something against Lippin or something, but it will be much better if the Ancient Ministry is led by someone with skill, vision, and determination, something that she certainly has.

“Me? Leading the Ancient Ministry? Huh……” She mused, her mouth forming an amused smile.

Robin herself has a big vision for the ministry. But before she could entertain these thoughts any further, the wave of tiredness washed upon her, her eyes becoming heavier within each second.

Eventually, the headlights of a car shining from the corner of her eyes broke her from her musings, and a dark blue car came into view, its magic engine emitted a low whine before sliding to a stop in front of the entrance. The car sported an emblem in the form of a pair of wings at the front, the sign that this car is produced by the Empire’s renowned automobile manufacturer, Wellston-Martini.

The driver of the car, a brown-haired man in his early 20s and wearing a golf cap, stepped out from inside and walked up to Robin.

“Good evening, Miss Robin,” he greeted.

“Hoaaam… Hirkane, huh. Good evening to you as well,” she yawned in response.

Robin knew this man, a researcher named Hirkane Valpe who is only several years younger than her. They didn’t interact much, but he seems to be a polite young man. Hirkane opened the rear door of the car and ushered Robin to get in. When they are both inside the car, Robin spoke to him.

“I’m going to take a nap, wake me up later when we get there, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Satisfied with the answer, Robin removed her glasses and let her eyelids close as she felt the car start to move.

00:14

Tranquila District

“Ma’am, wake up, we’ve arrived.”

Robin felt someone shaking her and woke up to see Hirkane reaching out to her from the driver’s seat. Rubbing her bleary eyes, Robin let out a groan while Hirkane immediately got out of the car and opened the passenger window from outside.

“Aaah. Thank you very much,” Robin said, picking up her glasses and bags, then got out of the car and prepared to walk inside the apartment. However, she halted in her steps and turned out to Hirkane, as if remembering something.

The young man tilted his head at his senior’s behavior in confusion. Robin then pulled her wallet and handed him a pink note from it.

“Here. Keep the change.”

“Wha—”

Hirkane gawked at what Robin just handed to him: a 50 zollark bill.

“But ma’am, I’m not a—”

He glanced up and tried to protest, but Robin was already at the apartment’s doorway.

“See you around, Hirkane,” she said flippantly before entering the apartment building, leaving Hirkane standing alone in disbelief.

When she reached the third floor, where her room is located, Robin had a hunch that a certain occupant of the said room is still awake. She walked to the door and knocked it several times. After a while, the door opened, revealing Meteos with a tired look on his face.

“Miss Robin, you’re back,” he greeted.

“Figures…” she muttered tiredly, then spoke to the boy, “You’re still awake.”

“……”

The silver-haired boy was silent, but his eyes glanced away from her.

“Why are you still up at this hour?”

“The usual stuff,” Meteos shrugged.

By ‘the usual stuff,’ Meteos meant that he was drafting blueprints, performing calculations, and other brain-intensive activities up to late in the night. Robin groaned, holding her forehead with her hand. She had told him to not do this many times, and yet this stubborn brat won’t listen. When she glanced past Meteos, Robin saw Walman already sleeping soundly on the large bed that he and his friend shared.

“Then stop it now. You looked tired. Go to sleep,” she ordered.

“What about you, Miss Robin? You didn’t sleep at all since yesterday. Please go back to your room and take a rest,” Meteos countered.

“And how do I know that you will not pretend to be asleep and then continue your work after I go back to my room?”

“……”

“Hm?”

Robin crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor, waiting for an answer. Meteos finally decided to humor her.

“Argh, fine. I will go to sleep. Happy now?”

“No, wait I have a better idea. Wait here.”

Robin took out the key for her room and after making Meteos wait for a while, she emerged from her room with her pajamas, her brown hair now flowing freely and without her glasses. In addition, she also carries a folded blanket and a pillow tucked under her armpit. Seeing her locking the door of her room, Meteos asked her.

“What… are you doing?”

“I am making sure that you will go to sleep. So, I will sleep in your room. Now, go to your bed.”

She grabbed Meteos’ shoulder and pushed his shorter frame inside the room. Annoyed, Meteos let out a grunt and walked to his desk to tidy it up before going to bed. While he was at it, Meteos spoke up again.

“By the way, how’s the meeting?”

Robin perked up at the question and answered happily, “Oh, yeah! It went well—wait, no! We can talk about this tomorrow. Nice try, kid.”

It seems that Robin is dead set to make Meteos go to sleep. He just rolled his eyes at her attitude, which reminded him of his mother. Meteos then finished organizing the documents and drawings at the desk and walked up to the bed.

“Wait a minute.”

“What now?”

“Where do you want to sleep?”

“I can take the couch.”

Meteos frowned. The sofa is not the most comfortable place to sleep, especially when one is very tired after a long day of work. He glanced back and forth between the couch, where Robin is sitting, and the bed.

“Miss Robin, here, the bed is big enough for the three of us,” Meteos said, patting the side of the bed from his position in the center.

While all this happened, Walman is sleeping soundly, oblivious to their interaction.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. You deserve a good night’s sleep. Naturally, you should take the bed.”

“……Alright.”

The three of them are finally on the bed. Robin is lying on the edge of the bed, facing Meteos.

“Stop staring at me,” the boy said flatly.

“I’ll sleep when you are sleeping. What, do you need me to give you a kiss?”

“Blegh, fine. Good night, Miss Robin.”

Meteos turned so that his back is facing her.

“Aww… good night, Meteos.”

As Robin turned to face the ceiling, she let the comfortable bed and the warmth led her to dreamland.

Currently Publicly Available Information

MINISTRY OF ANCIENT SORCEROUS EMPIRE COUNTERMEASURES

The Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures, also known by its acronym MOASEC or the Ancient Ministry, is the ministry of the Imperial Government of the Holy Milishial Empire in charge of managing policies regarding the protection of humanity from the coming revival of the Ancient Sorcerous Empire, including acquisition and analysis of every excavated Ancient Sorcerous Empire weapon and technology for the use of the Holy Milishial Empire, working closely with the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As of the year 1614 Central Calendar, the MOASEC is headed by Director Arsene Lippin.

The MOASEC’s emblem depicts the ‘August Star’, which is also the emblem of the Holy Milishial Empire, falling on the Ravernal Empire’s mainland. The writing on the emblem, which is written in Milishian script, reads “ANCIENT SORCEROUS EMPIRE – COUNTERMEASURES”.