Chapter 1113 – #264_The Fruits Of Research (4)
#1107
1.
It was only natural that Rinne packed a lunch and went to find Siwoo, all to fulfill her role as a supportive wife.
With Siwoo’s promotion to Count, Rinne had rightfully gained citizenship in Gehenna. Although Eloa was the head of the Magic Combat Department, she needed rest, making it highly likely that Rinne, as the deputy head, would lead the practical classes.
However, the Magic Combat Department’s curriculum preparation was more relaxed compared to other departments.
This was because it wasn’t included in the pilot semester’s lecture list, and even in the regular semester, classes were planned to be practical-oriented.
The purpose of the Magic Combat Department was simply, “To gain the power to protect oneself in a chaotic world.”
What good was honing magic in theory if it couldn’t be used in practice? It would be nothing more than empty talk.
Therefore, Rinne took on the role of a wife bringing a midday snack to the fields.
She fully displayed her cooking skills, preparing a lunch box for Siwoo, and also preparing some for the researchers who were working through the night with him.
Originally, the latter was something she could have easily skipped. She would have done it a couple of times out of courtesy and then stopped.
“This fluffy rolled omelet…! It’s definitely made with ground shrimp!”
“This melts in my mouth… Is it monkfish liver steamed in sake?”
Any praise about the food was fine. She had simply followed the recipes and handled the ingredients, so she didn’t feel particularly proud or confident.
“How can Madam be such a good cook?”
“She’s the epitome of a virtuous wife!”
However, hearing the researchers call her the chairman’s wife, madam, or spouse made her heart flutter. It was for this praise that she devoted about 10 hours a day to cooking.
“Does it suit my husband’s taste?”
“Rinne-nim’s cooking is always the best. Aren’t you getting better and better?”
“…It’s not really like that. Eat slowly. You have something on your mouth.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Rinne sat demurely next to Siwoo, who was eating with his ears perked up like a fennec fox, and wiped his mouth.
“Ah, so sweet…”
“Madam, you were really scary at first, but now you’re completely smitten. You seem so harmless.”
“Isn’t that the ideal newlywed life?”
The Sword Witch, known as the Sword Demon, was a public enemy as dangerous as a natural disaster.
“Husband, don’t overdo it.”
“I’m fine.”
However, Rinne’s appearance, lightly kissing Siwoo on the cheek after the meal and then running away, was far from dangerous. Just watching from afar made their romantic sugar levels rise sweetly.
“Okay, let’s get back to work.”
“Yes!”
The break time wasn’t long. They had to return to research without a break, just 30 minutes after finishing their meal.
Back in the suffocating battlefield that was the research building, Siwoo focused on organizing data again.
In fact, this work wasn’t just a research project for Siwoo.
When a witch’s rank rises, the amount of research material increases dramatically. It was like breaking through a thick wall and finding a flat plain in front of you.
Siwoo had broken through the 23rd rank wall in the last battle. He had even managed to compete with Lydia, who was close to the 24th rank, albeit temporarily, using the lotus and unconscious doping.
His mind was overflowing with all sorts of inspiration and subtle realizations he hadn’t noticed before.
Therefore, this project was both a task to lay the foundation for the Hesed Society and an opportunity to organize the insights that were flying in all directions.
“Huh?”
At that moment, an inspiration like lightning struck him from head to spine.
The researchers, who had been watching Siwoo, who never made a sound when concentrating, turned their attention to him when he let out a single exclamation.
But he didn’t care.
What came to Siwoo’s mind was none other than the ‘Sluice Gate.’ An artifact that could suppress the flood of homunculi obtained by entering the ark arranged by the Creation Witch.
It was impossible to induce localized activity of the homunculi. It was impossible to give detailed commands to the homunculi. It was only possible to control the activity of the homunculi.
It had some use as an asymmetric weapon in that it could induce a ‘flood’ or completely stop it, which was why Siwoo had made a great contribution to receiving his barony, but it was otherwise a complete nuisance.
Despite conducting individual research, he had not achieved any significant results.
This was also related to future concerns.
Siwoo had put the homunculi into a semi-permanent hibernation through the Sluice Gate, effectively erasing them from the present world.
In fact, Siwoo didn’t really care.
He had saved humans from being eaten by monsters somewhere in the world, so in the long run, he could be seen as a hero who had saved tens of millions of lives.
But that wasn’t the case for the witches.
Although there were differences in degree, there were many witches in Gehenna who adhered to the witch’s way, the so-called orthodox witches. Just look at Duke Errelim and the Truth and Name Academic Society.
‘Are the homunculi theirs?’
‘No! Then what am I supposed to live on?’
‘What about the Creation Witch’s relics inside? The research data? The Gnosis eggs? The artifacts? Are you going to keep all that precious stuff locked in the dimensional gap forever?’
‘The flood was a bit much… but couldn’t we just let them be active like before?’
That’s why these complaints were slowly rising.
The flood was an impactful event, and Siwoo was the one who suppressed it, so he hadn’t faced any sharp public opinion so far.
However, these complaints would gradually swell unless a solution was found and would eventually emerge as a problem that needed to be solved.
But.
He connected the newly acquired dimensional magic with the Sluice Gate.
All homunculi had the same characteristic. They could completely hide their bodies in an untraceable subspace as they moved through dimensions.
If he used the data obtained from researching the ‘Gate’ and the dimensional magic formula that had reached the pinnacle of ascension…
This could work.
This was a viable item.
At that moment, an explosive idea heated up his synapses. Siwoo began to write down his ideas at a terrifying speed, in a state of trance.
The paper cried out harshly, and the pen scribbled furiously. The researcher who had come to get a review was frightened and ran away, having been exposed to his terrifying aura all day.
2.
“Ugh…”
“It’s finally starting to look like it’s coming to an end…”
Ten days had passed since the ‘Gate’ restoration project. The researchers of the basic science department, the driving force behind the promotion and development of the Hesed Society, had been working on the project without a single dropout.
The chairman’s unreasonable plan, which at first seemed impossible, was slowly taking shape within the big picture and was becoming a reality. At this rate, all the research might really be finished in a few days.
“The chairman is really amazing.”
“He’s a genius, a genius.”
“Rather than a genius, isn’t he closer to a monster…?”
“There’s a reason why his alias is the Demon King.”
To reiterate, the task assigned to the researchers was to color and carve each piece of the puzzle.
Even with the witch’s excellent insight, it was difficult to handle just one piece, but he was looking at hundreds of pieces and coordinating them as a whole.
Now, the researchers couldn’t even guess how far he was looking ahead. It was a skill that inspired awe rather than a sense of relative deprivation or jealousy.
“Everyone, I have an important announcement.”
Siwoo, who had received everyone’s respect and admiration, cleared his throat and said,
“I would like to extend the deadline for the Gate restoration project by two weeks.”
At that moment, the research building buzzed.
At the current pace, it seemed like the project was about to be completed, so the two-week extension could be interpreted in both good and bad ways.
First, the good interpretation was this.
“Ah, the chairman has finally learned the human heart…”
“He must be giving us some leeway because we seem to be having a hard time!”
“Chairman, I will serve you forever. Loyalty, loyalty… *sniff*.”
“He means that we shouldn’t be too hasty and that we should take our time with the finishing touches to avoid mistakes!”
The witches with a strong optimistic tendency accepted it this way.
On the other hand, the bad interpretation was this.
“Huh? It seemed to be going well, was there a problem?”
“Wait, could it be… did something go wrong with a core theory and we have to start over?”
“Yeah, even if the chairman is a genius, he couldn’t have finished all of this in such a short time. I understand completely.”
The witches who could judge reality calmly accepted it this way.
These two premonitions changed again when they saw Siwoo’s face. He had a somewhat pleased and proud expression.
Yes, that expression was like the expression he made when he was giving a gift.
“Thanks to your hard work, the project has reached the completion stage. The simulation experiments using the current model are also going smoothly.”
“Then why the deadline extension?”
Daphne had often been told that she had a good intuition since she was young. Perhaps that’s why she asked in a trembling voice, sensing a tragedy.
“As you know, this project will go down as a great achievement in Gehenna. It’s not just my glory, but your hard work and the research capabilities of the Hesed basic science research team will also be highly evaluated.”
“Of course!”
“With this kind of performance, you’ll have a free pass to any research lab or society!”
“It was like hell at first, but now that I’ve overcome it once, I think I can do it again.”
Siwoo nodded with satisfaction in front of the highly motivated researchers.
“That’s a good attitude. There’s a saying in my hometown, ‘Strike while the iron is hot.'”
Siwoo took out the project proposal that had been hidden by distortion so that the society members couldn’t see it.
“So, I’ve prepared something. A new project, ‘Gate’!”
Siwoo immediately connected the idea to practical work.
“The flood was stopped by the Sluice Gate, and the homunculi have dried up. The gist of the Gate project is simple. We will track the location of the homunculi through the Sluice Gate. We will create an artifact that generates a gate that can forcibly pull out the hibernating homunculi.”
“……”
“In other words, the Hesed Society will exclusively sell the rights to hunt homunculi. There are many overlapping aspects with the existing restoration project, so it’s good to proceed in parallel. It will also be much more impressive. Therefore, the goal is a joint presentation in two weeks.”
But the researchers couldn’t hear anything anymore. The project proposal they had received was no different from the ‘Gate’ restoration project in terms of research volume.
“It’s almost over…”
“One more project…”
“Gerrrrulk…!”
With four days left until the end of the project.
Another large project bomb had fallen on the researchers’ heads.
