The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 219: Atonement (2)

Chapter 219: Atonement (2)

Five in the morning.

After checking up on Klara, who was sound asleep on the other bed, she set out to get ready.

Klais stood in front of the mirror with the toothbrush in her mouth. Once she brushed her teeth and combed her hair with the toiletry she was given a week ago, she looked pretty presentable.

Now she just needed to put on a robe and she’d be ready to get to work.

When she turned the handle in front of her with a deep breath, she could see her master scribbling away with a pen.

Cautiously, Klais bowed her head.

“G-good morning, Master.”

“Oho.”

“Did you stay up the night again?”

“...I did.”

After promising to send them home if she successfully finished the research–

Klais’ loyalty was through the roof.

Not only was she following what she was told without question, she even was using the title ‘Master’–which had been awkward for her to say–of her own accord.

Rather, it was Aether who would look averse to it every time she heard it.

“You’re up early. What time did you sleep last night?”

“Past two in the morning.”

“Then, three hours?”

“Yes, about.......”

Indeed.

Klais was currently very tired.

The total number of hours she’d slept in the past week was about twenty. The time spent on eating and washing totaled less than five hours.

Then what about the rest of the time?

She spent it all on researching.

“You’ll die like that.”

“It’s alright.”

It was a deadly schedule that no normal person would’ve been able to endure, but Klais was managing all of it.

She believed it took this much to show her gratitude for taking Klara in.

Suppressing a yawn, she awaited her master’s orders.

“What about breakfast?”

“I won’t have it.”

“Your body is not going to hold like that.”

“I can do it.”

Klais even went so far as to skip meals.

“Why?”

“...Because you did as well.”

Because when she had been the master, Aether would often go without lunch, let alone breakfast.

“Since you did once, Master, I also should be treated the same.”

This was punishment. A self-imposed punishment to make up for her past wrongdoing.

She was starving to be honest, but Klais still decided to take it all. She wanted to pick up some of the milk she had spilled in the past even in ways like this.

Contrary to Klais and her thoughts, Aether just blinked.

What is she talking about?

“Coffee?”

“It’s fine.”

“You won’t be efficient if you fall asleep in the middle of working. You understand what I mean, right?”

“.......”

While Klais was silent–

Aether took out instant coffee powder and poured it into a paper cup.

She then pulled out an object called an ‘electric kettle’ and began boiling water, and it was fascinating how it generated heat with electrical properties instead of fire.

How did it work? While she thought about it, the coffee with a sweet aroma was finished.

The two of them each took their cups and went out to the balcony.

As they smoked and drank coffee together, Aether slowly spoke up.

“Starting today, we’ll get into the production of a proper superconductor.”

“Am I to be part of the actual research as well?”

“Correct.”

She hadn’t immediately joined the research on superconductivity the day after Aether declared that she would protect Klara.

Until then, Klais didn’t know what superconductivity was. She didn’t know what the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) theory was, of course, and had never heard of the London equations, either. At best, she only had basic knowledge of electromagnetism in her head.

To use her for research, she first had to teach her the basics.

Starting with the basic concept of superconductivity, Aether taught her critical temperature and the Meissner effect, isotope effect, Cooper pairs, phonos, axions, magnetic quantization, semiconductor theory, Josephson Junction, spin density wave and charge density wave, etc.

And each time, Klais wrote down the concepts and equations she learned like an examinee and reviewed them.

Even now.

As Klais was reading about complicated spin theory–

Aether, who had been thinking about something else, tapped the ashes into the emptied paper cup and smiled faintly.

“I should thank the other me.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go inside.”

Anyway, further education of Klais had finished as of yesterday.

Now she was ready to be used however as a research slave.

Aether’s lips curled up once again.

**The goal was to create an ultra-high temperature superconductor that exhibited superconductivity even at temperatures above a few hundred degrees.

But in fact, it was good enough even at ‘room temperature’.

Most superconductors lost direct current resistance at very low temperatures. The superconducting materials discovered in the past had to be close to absolute zero to be used, so more needed to be said? Even the so-called high-temperature superconductors that didn’t follow the BCS theory could only operate at near minus 200 degrees.

But Dark Day’s first goal was to apply a magic circle of superconductivity over the entire continent and control currents and magnetic fields.

There wasn’t enough funds to reduce the temperature of the entire planet by that much.

Most of all, Aether wanted to make a nuclear winter, not just a simple ice age.

In that sense, it would be a huge success if it reached around 18-degrees celsius, the average temperature of this world.

“There are two things you need to do.”

Aether put up two fingers in a ‘V’ and began to explain.

The following was a summary of Klais’ assignment in two statements:

First. Find a material that exhibits superconductivity at above 0-degrees celsius.

Second. Standardize said material so it can be incorporated into scrollology.

Neither one was easy.

“Um, until when.......”

“I will give you three weeks. If you can’t finish by then, well.”

The last thing that Aether said meant multiple things.

Her mind whited out.

She was saying to create a material that could be a room-temperature superconductor in three weeks?

It was a harsh order for Klais who had just barely grasped superconductivity.

Yet if she thought about it, she had done something similar to Aether before so she just dropped her head without arguing.

“What is it? Unmotivated already?”

“N-no.”

It was overwhelming.

The deadline was too short. It actually seemed impossible.

Klais wasn’t as smart as Aether. Yes, she was considered a genius, but that was only by human standards.

Compared to a Beast who had been alive since the Great War, there was a whole millennium’s worth of difference in knowledge.

So in the end, it was going to take enormous effort and luck to bridge that gap.

Luck especially.

Maximum luck was needed to synthesize a room-temperature superconductor in time.

“...I’ll try. No, I’ll do it.”

Along with Klais’ determination, their research life finally took off.

When the Beasts from outside brought ingredients, Klais would sort them out and put them into boxes.

She’d then make them into crystals with heat and pressure, then bring over a tank containing liquid nitrogen and slowly lower the temperature.

The first step was measuring the critical temperature and recording it. She would first accumulate experimental data this way, then make small changes and observe the progress.

She’d try mixing two solids, try different chemical structures, and also adjust many other variables.

Before she knew it, the time was one in the afternoon past lunchtime.

Although she expected, there wasn’t much of a result.

After checking her watch, Aether put down the Flare cutter and lit a cigarette.

“We’ll take a ten minute break here.”

“Are you tired?”

“......Well.”

Tiredly, Aether sank into the sofa.

Even as a machine, long hours of research fried one’s brain.

It would be nice if there was a decent cooler, but there wasn’t. Instead, it helped a little to open the window and let in fresh air.

Actually, this was also why the Demon Army had settled in the northernmost part of the planet.

Because it was too hot near the equator.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you taking a break?”

Although it was breaktime, Klais didn’t stop.

Because she decided that the pain from not meeting the deadline outweighed the pain of not being able to rest right now.

In the end, Klais played around with mana stones until Aether stopped her to eat.

It wasn’t until she accepted a sandwich from an unfamiliar Golden-Eyed servant that she was able to sate her hunger.

“I have to eat fast....”

Still, she was urgent all the same.

Klais ate almost half the triangular sandwich in a single bite.

It had various ingredients like ham, cheese, lettuce, onion, and tomatoes, but she had no time to savor them. Like a snake swallowing its prey, she gulped it down without even chewing much.

As such, she felt her throat get clogged.

Klais began hacking, and unable to stand by and watch, Aether poured her some water.

“Slow down. Don’t try to choke yourself to death.”

“But.......”

“But what.”

Klais gulped down the water like it was air, then continued before Aether could say something about it.

“But I have to do it quickly.”

“I didn’t say to reduce meal times.”

“But that’s what I did.”

“What?”

“Do you not remember? Even just a year ago.......”

Ah, it was then that Aether nodded.

She had actually forgotten about it completely.

The shock of trying to sell her to the Crown Prince had been so great that not being fed a few times when she had been a slave hadn’t even stayed in her mind.

“...It may sound stupid, but I didn’t know that it was this difficult to research while starving.”

Klais fixed her eyes on the sandwich, mouth moving wordlessly.

“Actually, there is something I wanted to tell you.......”

For the past week, at least–

Looking at Aether who had taken in Klara, looking at you who was strangely kind to me despite being a Beast, and looking back on myself who had once treated you cruelly...

There was something she had to get out.

Klais took a deep breath.

“I’m so-so.......”

A word that she had never said before in her life.

Out of pride. From being immersed in research. Because her relationships had been few in the first place.

The word that she had never, and could not say–

“I’m sorry....”

She said it.

I wanted to say this to you someday.

After the great goal of Flare was gone, after she was captured by Beasts and her chances of survival had been completely destroyed...

It was only now after becoming like this that she was able to look back on her tainted path.

“I’m sorry for being cruel to you back then. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.......”

Not giving her food on time, making her stay in the dirty and smelly shed, ordering her to sweep the Academy corridors every morning, only giving her two bronze pieces a day for living expenses.

Looking down on her because she was a slave.

Scolding her ‘what is this’ even though she researched hard.

Not taking her hand although she was talented.

And, throwing out her humanity because of something like Flare.

Everything.

“I’m so sorry, I won’t even ask for forgiveness. So.... please let me work here until I die....”

She wanted to apologize.

Forcing herself not to cry, Klais bowed her head.

She didn’t even have the right to cry here.

Because a gold-eyed girl who wanted to live amongst humans had ended up coming back to the Demon Army because of her.

And in that she dishonored humanity, and wounded this girl’s heart.

Someone like her could never show her tears.

“.......”

Even though Klais had plainly expressed her intentions, Aether just remained silent.

The ten minutes that had been decided for a break also just passed. Klais put down the rest of her sandwich and went back to her spot.After that, there was only silence in the lab for the rest of the day.