January 16, 1615 Central Calendar, 19:00

Holy Milishial Empire, San Redentore District, a room in the MOASEC Apartment Complex

The sound of pencil scraping against paper echoed in a quiet office room. The wielder of the instrument, a lanky brown-haired teenager known as one of the youngest members of the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures, Walman Falkenhausen, continued to align his pencil with a triangular ruler held in his left hand with focused eyes and then, drew several other lines on the paper with a satisfying noise. After he was done with it, he let go of the drawing tools, took a step back, and looked at the paper with a small smile.

“Mastering the construction and configuration of its mechanism… so this is how this thing gets built, huh?”

As Walman sighed in satisfaction with the finished work, he heard the sound of the door being opened from behind him, and when he turned around, his childhood friend, Meteos Roguerider, entered the room carrying a tray with two plates, cups filled with water, and eating utensils.

“Hey, I just finished cooking. Let’s take a break for now,” the silverette called out to his friend’s back just after he put the tray with the dinner on a table, waiting for the brunette to join him.

“Hm? Ahh… just in time. Actually, it’s already finished. Take a look,” Walman gestured.

“Oh?” Meteos hummed, “This marks the fifth day since we started the work. With the number of sketches for the general design drawing, the cross-section drawing, and the details of each part… I think that’s impressive for a pair of kids, don’t you think?”

“Hmph… yeah. It seems hard at the first glance, but fortunately there are a lot of reference materials for us to work with. I’ve reread all of them ever since yesterday morning. Thanks, Meteos, it’s been a great help.”

“Don’t mention it, I just selected them for you. It’s the Ancient Ministry that you must be grateful for keeping those books,” he answered plainly. “Now that the side quest is already finished, shall we?”

Meteos gestured to a plate of what looked like a warm and thick omelet emitting a delicious smell that wafted inside the room, inviting the tired boy to come and take a bite of it. Walman chuckled, patting a pile of books beside the drawing table as he spoke before leaving the drawing table and sitting across from his friend to indulge in the supper that Meteos had prepared.

A few minutes later, the two friends finished dinner with smiles on their faces. After sitting and letting his stomach digest the meal for a moment, Walman excused himself and headed out of the office room to stretch his body and get some rest in the living room, leaving Meteos who decided to remain in the office for a bit longer. After setting the empty plates aside, he got up from the chair and walked toward the drawing table. He picked up a stack of drawings kept in the corner of the room along the way and shuffled through it.

“To think Walman was still a junior high schooler until last October… he’s really bright when he put his mind to it,” he muttered as he traced his fingers over the paper, doing a check to try to find flaws in his friend’s drawings and comparing its dimensions to the papers he spread out over the table. However, no matter where he looked, he found none, and thus his inspection ended as soon as he started it.

This so-called ‘side quest’ was started five days ago immediately after Meteos finished his shift working on the Alpha Edge Project, when he and the core members of the designing team have some breathing room. Although the team received a large increase in personnel, they still have to monitor the work of the personnel loaned from outside the Ancient Ministry so that there will be no mistakes that will be fatal to the Heavenly Vessel, in addition to their own duties. But now that several months have passed since the development was started, all involved personnel in the Alpha Edge Project are more or less capable of keeping up with the core members. In a way, it’s like Meteos and Walman’s own relationship in designing their inventions.

The reason why they called this design an Alpha Edge Project’s side quest is that although they started the project as an independent one, it was intended to improve the Alpha Edge design’s performance. Although the Alpha Edge team has not yet raised concern about this, Meteos and Walman are already about to deliver a solution.

As for working on their side quest, Meteos and Walman have devised a schedule considering their differing working hours and the time to do household chores. Whenever one of them went to work, the one who remained in the apartment will continue the process and during the night, when the two boys were home, they will work together, exchanging ideas as they poured their imagination into the papers. This schedule relied heavily on trust and coordination between Meteos and Walman, however. Completing the design within five days while learning the principles behind it along the way is unprecedented, especially when the ones creating the drawings are a pair of 14-year-old teenagers.

Even more so than the design itself, Walman’s contribution is not something to be scoffed at. He read all the reference materials needed for this project that Meteos chose for him to learn from the Ancient Ministry’s library in such a short time and is able to keep up with Meteos in working on the design even though he is just an ordinary boy without complete memories of a past life.

Several months ago, when Walman put his intellect to the test to build something capable of matching Meteos’ magic oxygen torpedo, he did so with difficulty, requiring his friend to help him and correct his mistakes with his design to produce a simple naval mine. And then fast-forward to the present day, when there is an abundance of information and time to exercise, he only asked around for little details he can’t fully understand. And once he learned everything provided to him, Walman proceeded with the work in a breeze, making increasingly fewer errors until he can finish the work even without Meteos present beside him, just like now.

Although he did not say it out loud, Meteos’ admiration and pride for his childhood friend grew immensely with this feat.

Now the design is declared complete, all that’s left is to show this to Robin, who in turn will relay this new design to the higher-ups, who will decide whether or not to adopt the design.

In case of rejection, however, Meteos had prepared. The Holy Milishial Empire’s comparable designs currently in use at present are either unreliable or had lower performance than expected. Therefore, with the combination of high performance, high level of technology, durability, and reliability, but with relative simplicity that it can be made with the country’s current industrial power, it will still turn a few heads even if the design’s intended target decided not to put it into service, just like his seemingly outlandish ideas spoken during lunch breaks within the Ancient Ministry, and yet it managed to make an engineer or two listen to him with interest.

He was confident. Just like the magic oxygen torpedo he created half a year ago, this design is a revolutionary one.

‘The key to immediate approval for one’s invention in this country is to make it as mind-blowing and revolutionary as possible. Whether or not it will work can be dealt with later. The Holy Milishial Empire has long witnessed the wonders that the Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s technologies can do. But when someone came up with something that they have never seen in the Light-Winged People’s relics before, they will be so shocked and then they will desire to have it in their possession even more.’

In Meteos’ previous life, that is what happens with the Holy Milishial Empire. When Japan and the Gra Valkas Empire appeared with technology beyond their wildest dreams, their rational thinking see them as potential examples to emulate. It’s just that in their hasty decision, they labeled them as insignificant ‘outside civilization areas’ as soon as they heard them, imprinting that mindset from the start and causing their hearts to revolt at the thought of looking at them for inspiration.

As he stood there, the grimoire placed on the table rang. When he checked it, he cracked a grin to find that Robin, his teacher, had texted him. It read…

“Omw home. Can I have dinner plz? …(jk)”

“Pfft… honestly…”

‘On my way,’ ‘please,’ and ‘just kidding,’ respectively. Ah, yes… internet slangs.

One of his successful ‘inventions,’ if one can say that way. Initially coined just for fooling around and having fun with the grimoires, this world’s first modern cell phone capable of instantaneous text messaging, Robin instantly gets hooked with it, and now, every time she texted someone who is not Director Arsene Lippin or Andreas Birkburn, it always contains at least one abbreviated word like this. Well, she indeed kind of looks like the type of someone who will post jokes over what the Japanese in his previous life called the ‘internet.’

Without wasting time, Meteos immediately typed ‘OK’ and lightly tossed the grimoire back on a paper-covered table and making a soft thud, not minding her joking request for dinner and proceeded to make preparations to greet his teacher who is about to stop by their apartment.

As he walked out of the office, he found Walman lounging on the living room couch, watching an evening entertainment program typical to the Holy Empire’s broadcasting companies of this era on the lit magic transmission monitor in front of him. But just as he was about to start cooking, another thought occurred to him because of Robin’s message earlier.

With the widespread computer studies, the concept of interconnected networks, or the internet, will inevitably appear. The question is, when it will emerge in this world? Of course, the usefulness of the internet is undeniable, but can its emergence be made earlier by understanding the computers left behind by the Ancient Sorcerous Empire or some other way? At least this country must know the concept of sharing information between a network of computers by the time Japan and the Gra Valkas Empire appears in this world.

The Holy Empire is already researching Manadrivers, automatic spell-chanters for use by the mages which is actually miniaturized computer to manage spell components. Developing more advanced Manadrivers capable of handling wider and more powerful spells will also advance computer development. In addition, Manadrivers use advanced magic circuits, which means in the Holy Milishial Empire, whose all of its magical technology derived from the usage of magic circuits, advancement in magic circuits means two things: everyone with their imagination can run wild with an even greater possibility held by that small device, and technological advancement in everything.

The Holy Milishial Empire has shown the ability to use magic to make a great leap in technological advancement both in the previous and current timeline. The most important thing is to keep the inspiration flowing so that the momentum can last for a long time.

“Hm, another thing to consider… but I need to wait at least next Monday for my plan to truly begin in earnest,” Meteos sighed and then glanced to his right hand.

There he found himself holding a cup filled with a whisked egg and standing in front of a heated skillet. Right, he is about to prepare dinner for Robin. Shrugging, he poured the ingredients into the skillet and started cooking for the second time of the night.

Meanwhile

MOASEC, Aerial System Development Facility

“Oh, shit. I didn’t expect him to say yes.”

Robin stared at her grimoire display and was taken aback by what was shown on it. At first, she just wanted to notify Meteos that she is coming back from work, but she couldn’t resist a certain urge and as a result, on a two-way text messaging, she jokingly asked to have dinner for tonight. After that, Meteos replied with only two words, ‘O’ and ‘K.’

“Thank you for your hard work, Robin. Enjoy your weekend!”

A sound called out to her caused Robin to glance away from the magic phone and to the speaker, a blonde half-elf who was walking over to her.

“Ah… Emmy, but you still have to stay here…”

Robin smiled apologetically toward her friend Emilia Giovanna as she was about to head home, having completed her schedule for the day and looking forward to a weekend where she can rest her tired mind and body. However, she felt bad for Emilia, who held the position of Alpha Edge’s engine section chief. Because of her responsibility, she will remain in the office for some time.

Around them, the personnel who have also finished their schedule began to pack their belongings and left one after another, to be replaced by a new set of personnel who will come half an hour later for the night shift.

Despite her tired gaze, Emilia gave an encouraging smile at Robin, “Eh, I already got used to it. Besides, if I want the next week’s work to be somewhat loose, we need to finish the work this weekend. My section is making good progress. Maybe next week I can have a vacation for once and we can hang out together?”

Robin giggled, lightly rubbing her nape, “Ahahaha, I like your optimism, Emmy. Well then… see you around.”

“Yes. Send my regards to Young Meteos and Young Walman.”

After bowing and saying the parting words to Emilia, Robin walked out of the building. The blonde half-elf gazed at Robin’s back as she disappeared beyond the doorway at the end of the corridor. Emilia then returned to where she came from before seeing her human friend off. In her hand, she held a document titled, “Alpha Edge General Design Drawing.” Although she had seen through it several times, Emilia opened the pages and scanned the drawings.

It was a copy of a very generalized blueprint of the Alpha Edge Project’s new Heavenly Vessel design. As Emilia’s engine section is progressing with the development of a new, high-performance magic turbojet that Meteos Roguerider played a major role in designing, he, and his friend Walman Falkenhausen, moved along to proceed with helping the airframe section. It was around that time that the first snow fell on the Holy Milishial Empire.

To match the engine section’s efforts, the airframe designing team came up with a design closer in appearance to the Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s Alpha Zero fighter than the Alpha-1, and the result can be seen in the document that Emilia carries with her. It was a small fighter design powered by a single fuselage-mounted magic turbojet engine fed by a pair of intakes on the sides of the plane instead of nacelle-mounted engines as in the Alpha-1, sporting a pointed nose where the plane’s guns would be located. Although it still uses straight wings, the airframe is also designed to be easy to upgrade as new technologies are expected to emerge while the Alpha Edge Project is in progress. But without an engine, the airframe section will only produce the world’s most advanced glider, so it is up to the engine section to complete the development as soon as possible.

Emilia soon arrived at the walkway overlooking the hangar where her engine section was working. On the floor, she can see the technicians not only from the Ancient Ministry, but also from various companies related to the aviation industry who were ordered by the Imperial government to assist in the development, most of them were from the largest of all aviation industries, the Runes Valletta Academy of Magic’s Aviation Department. However, there were also technicians from the neighboring Magic Technology System Development Facility and those from Aikon Corporation, handling the magic circuits.

And in the middle of them all, sat a metallic cylindrical object nearly three meters in length and half a meter in diameter being tampered with and monitored by those technicians. Seeing the fruits of their labor after months of working almost nonstop in front of her, Emilia’s smile widened.

“Soon…”

The culmination of the Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s ancient technology, the brilliance of the people living in the present day, and unbeknownst to them all, the knowledge from the future. A full-scale magic turbojet engine was nearing completion. If possible, Emilia wished to build another engine as a spare in case the first one fails, as well as using the first as basis to improve the second.

Suddenly Emilia felt that Arsene’s estimates to be not too farfetched with the engine’s completion. Maybe they can finish Alpha Edge before that two-year deadline after all.

After walking out from the Aerial System Development Facility’s vast complex, Robin rode a scooter given to her by her boss, Andreas Birkburn, to go home.

Snow fell again from the pitch-black sky above that night. Accompanied by the whine of her scooter’s lightning-type motor engine and the occasional passing of minibuses that transported the returning workers from behind, Robin rode through the snowflakes unperturbed by the barrage of the cold winds coming from the front, relying on her winter clothing and a simple heat-producing spell cast through her Manadriver to keep the air inside her clothing at a comfortable room temperature. Keeping a spell on with nothing but one’s mana for dozens of minutes requires focus and stamina. If the situation is convenient, Robin usually does this to do some exercise.

Way to go, Robin, doing something productive even when doing something mundane as sitting on a scooter.

However, there is no denying that Robin is hungry and tired from work and wanted to rest somewhere cozy and warm, so she further twisted the throttle to increase the speed, intending to arrive at the apartment as soon as possible. With heading home in mind, Robin ignored a large truck that passed by her as she exited the MOASEC Headquarters’ complex and into the empty main street of the San Redentore District.

19:20

MOASEC Apartment Complex

The sound of someone knocking on the front door alerted Walman who was watching the magic transmission monitor, causing him to turn in the direction. Lazily getting up from the couch and walking toward the door, the brunette opened it to find Robin standing there.

“Guess who’s back!?”

Her voice echoed from the doorway leading to a spacious apartment room that Meteos and Walman shared.

“No need to yell… but anyway, welcome back,” Walman said.

Robin chuckled and leaned forward, giving her student a cheek-to-cheek kiss on both sides, as a standard greeting between close friends in the Holy Milishial Empire. After a long day of work, she finally stepped inside the apartment.

It was one of those rare weekend days when Robin, who is heavily involved in the Alpha Edge Project, would go back to her own apartment and sleep on a proper bed instead of staying awake all night working on the Heavenly Vessel design or napping on one of the office’s benches. Meteos and Walman, although they are also the main members of the designing team, they worked under special rules considering their age which gave them a lot of free time, basically living normally as young teenagers even though they worked in the most demanding working environment in the entire Holy Milishial Empire. Whenever Robin is available, they always invited her for mealtime.

Not long after entering the students’ apartment, Meteos, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen carrying several plates and lined them up on the dining table.

“Good timing, dear teacher. Welcome home,” he smiled. As he finished setting the meals on the table, Robin walked to him and repeated the gesture she gave Walman.

“It’s good to be back,” she replied, exhausted but content, “Err… that looks delicious,” Robin continued, gesturing to the dinner that Meteos had prepared for her.

“Then what are you waiting for? Dig in.”

“Ah… thank you very much, kid,” she said, pulling the dining chair and sitting on it, feeling the scent of the meal stimulating her tastebuds.

“Hmph, no worries. It’s my turn to do chores anyway.”

Knowing that Robin isn’t fond of heavy dinner, Meteos decided to cook her a simple omelet made from a bird wyvern egg, with the addition of meats, cheeses, and herbs, all leftover ingredients from the lunch, accompanied by mashed sweet potatoes. It was a simple and quick, but fulfilling dinner that Robin greatly enjoyed. As she began to eat, Robin couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Meteos asked.

“Mm-hmm! I said it once and I’ll say it again, this is exquisite. You make me jealous with your culinary skills, Meteos. With all those times you used to draw blueprints, when did you ever learn to cook?”

“Long ago, I learned by seeing others do it,” he answered simply, briefly reminiscing one part of his past life.

“………”

He never married in that timeline, having lived and died alone, so he learned to take care of himself, including cooking. Robin is not the only one who felt that way, even his own mother Meteora and aunt Marie Falkenhausen, Walman’s mother, also felt bewildered and sometimes insecure whenever he feels like helping around with cooking.

Meanwhile, Walman silently listened the two’s exchange with an amused snort, but soon his attention was fully focused on the magic TV. The show’s getting to the good part.

…………

After finishing dinner, Robin briefly returned to her room to take a bath and change her clothes before coming back to her students’ room. Now, she was dressed in a simple yellow long-sleeved shirt and black trousers, sitting on the living room couch with Meteos and Walman. For the past week, she was staying in the office working on the Alpha Edge Project for days, and only this Friday she finally has the chance to go home. However, before having a well-earned rest, Robin decided to have a talk with her students first.

“Is that so!? Then your ‘side quest’ is already done?” she asked with renewed enthusiasm the moment Walman told her about their finished work.

“That’s right,” Walman smirked, “We promised you that it will be done next week, but apparently we’re getting too carried away…”

“No, no, that’s very nice! Can I see it now?”

Meteos, sitting at the end of the sofa, laughed.

“You seem to be in a good mood today, Miss Robin. We really wanted to show it to you, but before that, I wanted to talk about one more thing,” he said, holding up a finger.

“Is it about that thing?”

“Yes. The first package of my reserve drawings that I left at home in Leiden is coming next Monday.”

“I see, so it’s finally here,” Robin said with a smile.

She had heard that before Meteos suddenly asked Walman to build a conductive magnetic radar together for his special summer project that started everything, Meteos kept a stash of plans for various things stored in his house’s bedroom and basement that he had drawn since he was five years old. But unfortunately, those plans are either too far ahead of their time or looked dangerous enough that it will be either very expensive to develop with his funds or too much of a hassle to obtain permission back then.

Meteos chose not to have those plans sent to Runepolis until they joined the Ancient Ministry because he knew they wouldn’t stay long at the Runepolis Magic Academy anyway. And now that all of his current objectives have been met, Meteos can do things that he had put off for a while. He told Robin about it shortly after they moved into their new apartment and asked his parents to have the plans packaged and sent to his new address in the San Redentore District. However, after nine years’ worth of motivation-filled work of drawing his future memories, those plans grew to be too numerous to be sent in a single shipment.

But on the bright side, just this one package contains items that the Ancient Ministry’s higher-ups might find interesting. He was sure of it, because the majority of Meteos’ plans made back then were made in consideration of the Ancient Sorcerous Empire relics discovered between 1614 and 1700 in his previous life and as such, made in such a way that it might conveniently help the Milishian engineers handling the excavated artifacts by filling the blanks that they encountered during research.

“And one more thing, after those plans arrived, if I want to show it to the Ancient Ministry personnel, who can I contact to help me if you or Miss Emilia is busy?”

“Right. Bring me paper and a pen, I’ll write you some contacts.”

After Walman fetched her a notebook and a pen, Robin began to write a list consisting of grimoire numbers and names next to them. The boys looked on curiously and after she was finished, Walman began to read out several of the names circled by Robin, separating them from the rest of the contacts.

“Arsene Lippin… Andreas Birkburn… Marco Rossi… Harley Hendrickson… Eugen Segarceanu… Clara Steinbelt…?”

He already knew Director Arsene and Marco Rossi, the head of the Aerial System Development Facility, but the rest are unknown to him.

“Is Andreas Birkburn the writer of the Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s encyclopedia?” Meteos commented, feigning confusion.

“Yes, he is my immediate superior, but you can talk directly to him as my apprentices,” Robin explained, pointing to the names as she spoke, “As for the rest, Professor Harley is the head of the Ground System Development Facility, Mister Eugen Segarceanu belongs to the Naval Facility, and Baroness Clara Steinbelt is the leader of the Magic Technology Facility.”

“…Those are big names, Miss Robin. Are you sure apprentices like us can contact them directly?” Walman said uneasily.

“Don’t worry. Just tell them that Robin is the one who shared their contacts. Or if you are still hesitant, you can just Director Arsene. If anything, he is the easiest to persuade among them.”

Meteos noted her explanation in his mind. ‘Well, compared to the rest who are engineers, Director Lippin is a Public Affairs bureaucrat before being appointed director. But how surprising, even for an Ancient Weapons Operator, she has so much clout within the Ministry. She must have worked closely with them sometime in the past, but she’s only twenty-six and joined the Ministry when she was fifteen… What are the possible cases in the past that she was involved with besides Nosgorath-related ones? …Could it be, Uqbar? That would mean Robin was seventeen at that time.’

“Huh… interesting.”

Of all the cases involving the MOASEC that require participation with the aforementioned departments, Meteos narrowed the possible case that Robin, whom Meteos is already one hundred percent sure is an Ancient Weapons Operator, participated in, into a certain case that occurred deep into the Holy Empire’s territory in the past, but that is another story.

Anyway, it pleased him to know that the higher-ups of the Ancient Ministry are within reach.

“I see. Thank you very much for sharing their contacts, Miss Robin. This will be a great help in our future plans.”

“Don’t mention it! Now, can I see your side quest?”

The two of them laughed as they see Robin was getting impatient.

“Alright, alright, this way.”

The two Apprentice Mages and their teacher walked into the office room where they worked on their drawings. As soon as they entered the room, Robin rushed to the drawing table where their ‘side quest’ is still pinned on it. Meteos and Walman looked at each other as their teacher examined the design, making excited noises while she was on it.

A few moments later, when Robin calmed down, they came to her side and began to speak.

“Alright, Miss Robin. Let me explain the design. It has a length of 1,83 meters, an estimated weight of around 80 kilograms, firing 20 mm Imperial ammunition with an estimated rate of fire of 1.500 rounds per minute. That high rate of fire is possible thanks to this five-chamber revolver that we designed and to prevent the single barrel from overheating, we plan to use miniaturized magic circuits containing a cooling spell that is powered by a fraction of the propellant mana redirected from the main firing chamber. Only a small amount of them is enough to power the entire system, so there will be no reduction in performance…”

And thus, the three spent the night reviewing the design of the Alpha Edge’s side quest, a magic light revolver cannon.

20:00

MOASEC, Ground System Development Facility

In another place, a truck was entering the grounds of one of the four clusters of the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s main research facility. Driving through the nearly empty building, the truck pulled up into a brightly lit hangar before stopping in front of a group of people gathered inside. The driver disembarked from the truck and approached the group, bowing to the three men and one woman who appears to be the leaders.

“Director, Chief Birkburn, Professor Hendrickson, and Lady Steinbelt, we have completed the delivery of the package you requested.”

Birkburn, one of the people addressed by the driver, turned to the side and nodded to Lippin.

“Good work. You may unload the package now,” Arsene ordered.

“At once, sir.”

They were the higher-ups of the Ancient Ministry. Other than Arsene Lippin, the number one man in the ministry himself, also present Andreas Birkburn, who is officially a member of the General Affairs Department, but in reality, he is the Chief of the Ancient Arms Analysis Tactical Operations Department, the one in charge of handling the ancient technologies directly. He stood at the same height as the director, and his ruggedly handsome look with chiseled features and a small goatee gave the impression of being the older of the pair when it is actually the other way around, with him being seven years younger than Lippin.

Harley Hendrickson, the head of this facility, is a muscular dwarf with graying hair and a beard. He waited impatiently for the package to be unloaded, his gloved hands rubbing against each other while he grinned in anticipation.

And lastly, Clara Steinbelt, came from the neighboring Magic Technology System Development Facility. She is a dignified-looking woman who came from a low nobility background, as well as a well-known Mage. Unlike the excited Hendrickson, she simply stood there silently.

The gathered subordinate, consisting of engineers, approached the back of the truck and unloaded something covered in a blue tarpaulin, carefully placing it on the hangar’s floor. In addition, they also unloaded a couple of wooden boxes stamped with bright red letters and placed them next to the object.

“By the way, Chief Birkburn.”

“Yes, Director?”

“What makes you think that this object will help with the Alpha Edge Project’s development?”

“Well, the object itself is a prototype technology completely unrelated to the Heavenly Vessel, it’s just that it is installed with an advanced arithmetic unit, a Clearance Level 4 technology directly taken from an Ancient Sorcerous Empire Armored Golem and installed into it.”

“Arithmetic unit, huh? I see, I’m guessing that researching it is essential to produce a miniaturized conductive magnetic radar that you can mount on a Heavenly Vessel?”

“That’s absolutely correct, Director.”

“Gahahaha! Director Lippin, it’s only a year and a half, but you’re making great strides with your job, I must say,” Hendrickson laughed loudly, praising the tall raven-haired man.

“Ah… I tried my best not to be a letdown to everyone,” Lippin replied sheepishly.

“Excuse me, Director. I appreciate your humbleness, but as a person befitting your position, you should speak with more dignity and keep your posture straight,” Steinbelt, the group’s resident noble, commented from the side.

“Ah—I mean, thank you for your advice, Lady Steinbelt.”

The young director straightened his back and schooled his features, then bowed lightly to Steinbelt with a slightly deeper and sterner tone than before. Hearing Lippin’s baritone voice sent a slight shiver down Steinbelt’s spine, but she did not show it outwardly. Unbeknownst to Steinbelt, several other female staff members behind her who secretly harbored a crush to the director also felt the same way.

“Better,” Steinbelt said, satisfied, “Just keep in mind that you are the face of the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures. Show the people out there that we are elites that will not let themselves be looked down on by anyone.”

“……I understand.”

‘Honestly, as one would expect from a nobility,’ Birkburn sighed inwardly.

While the leaders were talking to each other, the engineers finished setting up the package and unveiled it, removing the tarpaulin covering the object to reveal the object underneath. Seeing the vehicle’s appearance caused the group to gasp in awe.

“Hahaha! Man, this is nostalgic,” Hendrickson laughed again.

“Indeed, especially it is state-of-the-art for the time,” Steinbelt added.

The two leaders were once involved in the development of this prototype and couldn’t help but reminisce the old days, something that Birkburn, who already read the archives, can understand. However, Lippin, who was new to classified materials, raised an eyebrow.

“I never thought that you people were crazy enough to put an Armored Golem’s arithmetic unit to an autobike…”

An autobike is what the Holy Milishial Empire call a motorcycle, a two-wheeled vehicle powered by an engine. However, unlike the autobikes commonly seen in the streets, this prototype resembles what those from Earth call a modern dirt bike, with a jet-black paint scheme, two handguards jutting out from the dashboard, an exposed engine block, and a pair of metallic-colored exhaust pipes from both sides of the autobike.

“I have never seen an autobike like this before, Professor Hendrickson.”

“Well, yes. Director, this autobike is called the M1605 Trychaser, a one-off prototype jointly developed by the Ground and Magic Technology Facilities ten years ago. Unlike the cars and autobikes you see on the street, this Trychaser is powered by a fire-type motor engine, which is why it has exhaust pipes. This engine is less fuel efficient compared to the lightning-type motor, which is why it is less competitive in the market. But personally, I liked the roaring sound a fire-type motor produces compared to a lightning-type motor’s whine.”

Lippin hummed, “But wasn’t lightning-type motor already invented twenty years ago? Why are you decided to build this… Trychaser, was it? Why are you building this autobike with a fire-type motor?”

To his question, Steinbelt answered. “First of all, for experimental purposes. We aim to build a faster and more powerful autobike than the conventional ones in the market. Also, the fire-type motor gave the Trychaser the ability of afterboosting, increasing its maximum speed from 100 to 150 kilometers per hour. For comparison, common autobikes can reach speeds of 70 kilometers per hour maximum.”

“My goodness…!”

Afterboosting refers to the injection of nitrous oxide into the fire-type motor engine’s combustion chamber and mixing it with the liquid magic stone fuel, increasing its output in order to increase the Trychaser’s speed. However, it resulted in even worse fuel efficiency. In addition, the fire-type motor’s loud sound resulted in it being less popular than the lightning-type motor, which is the mainstream engine for the Holy Milishial Empire’s cars and autobikes. But some hobbyists are known to modify their vehicles with fire-type motor and Ticadou, an autobike manufacturer, have manufactured fire-type motor-equipped autobikes in limited numbers. Harley Hendrickson is one of them.

“However, I’m still confused as to why you are putting a Clearance Level 4 technology to an autobike.”

“About that, Director,” Birkburn started, “It’s related to this autobike’s operational history. I can’t tell you here, but its document is available in the Archive Department. If you want to take a look, here are the keywords…”

He leaned to whisper in Lippin’s ears. After finishing conveying the keywords, Birkburn nodded to his superior and went to examine the displayed Trychaser.

‘1605, Gas, Mutation, Arcle, Sheba, and Uqbar… Also, Flamberge? Isn’t that Robin Calvello’s codename? It seems there’s more to that girl than meets the eye, huh…’

With this revelation, the young director decided to visit the Archive Department sometime in the future to satisfy his curiosity and maybe visit Robin herself to have a talk.

The MOASEC personnel stripped the M1605 Trychaser of sensitive components, including the afterboosting mechanism, an unspecified spell projector mechanism installed on the headlights, the onboard manacom, and the dashboard-mounted advanced arithmetic unit which was handed over to the Alpha Edge Project for research. After that, they updated the currently publicly available information to include the Trychaser in it. It is safe to say that the autobike’s sophisticated design quickly attracted people’s attention.

Later, when the MOASEC announced that they will develop an autobike based on the technology implemented in the Trychaser, several companies reportedly approached the ministry to offer joint development. Among them are the Ticadou Motors and Wellston-Martini Automobiles. To no one’s surprise, Aikon Corporation, a communications equipment and magic circuit manufacturer that has begun to expand its field of activities aggressively as of late, also said to contact the Ancient Ministry for similar reasons.

On the other hand, the Imperial Police Headquarters, the Imperial Guards, as well as the Armed Forces are also said to express interest on the new autobike. If all goes well, a mass-produced model of the Trychaser might appear in the future.

Currently Publicly Available Information

M1605 TRYCHASER

A prototype autobike developed by the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire, designed for experimental purposes. A new model of autobike, it was designed to be faster and more powerful than the mainstream autobikes sold in the market. Its dashboard consists of a combination of buttons and levers to operate an inbuilt manacom. The Trychaser is powered by a 250-cc fire-type motor engine capable of reaching a speed of 100 km/h thanks to its relatively light weight of only 103 kilograms.

Although some of its equipment which are unavailable for public disclosure have been removed, the Trychaser still functions perfectly as an autobike. Tests using an updated model revealed the Trychaser to be an excellent off-road bike.

Specifications

- Length : 240 cm

- Height : 125 cm

- Weight : 103 kg

- Seat Height : 860 mm

- Frame Type : Tubular chromoly cradle

- Front Suspension : Preload

- Rear Suspension : Preload

- Front Brake : Single 240 mm disc

- Rear Brake : 200 mm disc

- Front Tyre Size : 90/90 × 21

- Rear Tyre Size : 130/80 × 18

- Engine : 250 cc fire-type motor

- Fuel Capacity : 9 liters of liquid magic stone fuel

- Top Speed : 100 km/h