Water Magician

Editor: Tseirp

“Hey, Ryo, wake up.”

“…No, I can’t. I can’t eat any more cake. I’m full… mumble mumble.”

“You probably ain’t gonna find no cakes here, buddy.”

Was Abel’s statement the deciding factor?

Ryo’s eyes widened, and he literally jumped up.

He looked around.

Beside him was Abel.

The two were on a sandy beach.

Behind them was a forest approaching near the coast.

He was wearing his usual robe.

He wore the shoes he received from Dullahan.

Murasame, Michael’s knife, and his self-made sheath were all there.

The identification plate he was told to always wear was hanging from his neck.

There didn’t seem to be any particular problem.

“Phew, that’s good. It seems like there’s no fatal problem.”

After grasping the situation, Ryo expressed relief.

“No, it’s definitely a tough situation no matter how you look at it…”

Abel, by Ryo’s side, seemed unable to agree with Ryo’s opinion.

That’s inevitable.

The world is made up of diversity.

There are people with different opinions and ways of thinking, and that basic understanding must always be kept in mind.

“Indeed… since I left my usual bag behind, I don’t have salt and pepper. That is quite a situation, but I want you to bear with it. Could it be that Abel, having become a king, can no longer tolerate such things?”

“It’s not like that! Besides, where even is this place?”

“It’s a beach, you know? Where else could it be…”

Ryo, with a mysterious expression, tilted his head in response to Abel’s unjustifiable outburst.

“Yeah, okay… I guess my way of phrasing it was wrong. Why are we here at this beach?”

“I see. Abel, you don’t understand what happened at that time, do you?”

Ryo finally understood why Abel was blurting out such things.

…Or at least, he thinks he understood.

“Djinn Garwin’s magic power… or rather, magic went out of control. Djinns are good at gravity manipulation magic, right? Since gravity is the bending of space, as a great physicist said, I think space was twisted and we ended up somewhere unknown.”

“…Sorry, I don’t get it at all.”

Despite Ryo’s thorough explanation, Abel didn’t seem to understand….

It’s difficult to make someone understand without fundamental knowledge.

It’s like trying to make someone who can’t do addition and subtraction understand a 10-simultaneous second-order nonlinear partial differential equation. It’s impossible.

…Yeah, I don’t understand a 10-simultaneous second-order nonlinear partial differential equation in the first place.

It’s not something you’d normally solve.

“So, both of us were sent somewhere far away, is that it?”

“Yes, I think that’s a good way to put it.”

Abel said roughly, and Ryo accepted his words.

“We need to get back as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. But it’s going to be difficult…”

Ryo responded to Abel’s words.

And then, Ryo fell silent.

Even after waiting for a while, Ryo remained silent.

Abel could see that Ryo’s expression was unusually serious, deeply lost in thought.

It was different from his usual pretense of seriousness.

With as long as Abel has been with him, he can grasp that difference.

“What’s wrong, Ryo?”

“Abel… I think we’re going to have to throw ourselves into a fight that we can’t avoid.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

With a serious expression, Ryo said, and Abel tilted his head in response.

Ryo stretched out his arm.

Where he was pointing was…

“The sea?”

“Yeah. Unless we stay here indefinitely, we’ll eventually have to venture out into this sea.”

“Yeah…”

Then Abel understood what Ryo was concerned about.

“It’s a different world out there in the sea.”

“Yeah…. It’s said to be a world where people shouldn’t venture into, even more so than the forest at night.”

Abel agreed with Ryo’s words.

“No one can defeat the sea monsters underwater…”

Abel muttered.

Indeed, that’s natural.

In an environment completely surrounded by water, attacks with fire magic or wind magic are meaningless.

Even generating stone lances with earth-attribute magic and throwing them… would be resisted by the water.

Moreover, the water in the sea is under the control of the sea monsters…

Furthermore… there’s the fundamental problem of how to breathe underwater.

“That’s why water magic stones obtained from aquatic monsters command astonishingly high prices… or rather, they’re rarely obtained.”

“Come to think of it, I hardly ever hear about water magic stones.”

Abel remarked, and Ryo nodded as he remembered.

Abel spoke while looking at Ryo’s ear.

“That earring you’re wearing, Ryo, that’s a water magic stone, but even at that size, it costs a fortune.”

“This?”

Ryo’s earring was a prototype made by Viscount Kenneth Hayward of the Royal Alchemy Workshop for Abel’s ‘Soul Resonance’.

It was a very beautiful earring with a small, blue magic stone embedded in the center.

“The Royal Alchemy Workshop only receives about two or three of these water magic stones a year. Despite being the institution with the highest priority magic stone distribution within the Kingdom.”

“Ho-hoo~.”

It seemed to be a considerably rare piece of equipment…

Yes, sea monsters sink to the bottom of the sea when defeated.

That’s what happened when he defeated the Bait Ball…

They sink to the bottom of the sea… not in the shallows, but further down, where it’s deeper.

Certainly, even if they were to defeat sea monsters, it would be impossible to retrieve the magic stones.

“But… if we don’t defeat that guy, we won’t be able to leave, right?”

“That guy?”

“Yeah. Our common archenemy.”

“We have an archenemy?”

Abel tilted his head at Ryo’s words.

“It easily took control of my magic and sank the ship you were on into the sea…”

“…Oh, the Kraken, huh. Wonder if it’s here too.”

It was off the coast of Rondo Forest.

It’s uncertain if it’s here.

Of course, it would be a different one, but… when crossing the sea, one can’t ignore that giant squid.

“Of course, it would be great if it let us pass easily… But from what I learned in the Western Countries, Krakens actively attack those who invade their territory. It’s probably best to consider the possibility of a fight.”

“For real…”

Even Ryo, who had fought a deadly battle against the legendary djinn, couldn’t defeat a Kraken underwater.

Because in the water, he would lose control over water.

What would happen if he lost control over water?

He couldn’t defend with .

He couldn’t attack with .

He couldn’t even swim.

And might even be crushed by the seawater…

In other words, he wouldn’t be able to put up a fight…

But they might have to defeat such a colossal opponent…

For Ryo and Abel to survive.

From that day on, Ryo began days of contemplation and experimentation.

He spent all day staring at the sea.

Usually, or previously, Abel might have complained, but he didn’t now.

He understood that Ryo wasn’t slacking off but was earnestly trying to find a way to overcome their current predicament.

Occasionally, Ryo would go to the water’s edge and create something with water-attribute magic.

But he never went into the sea.

When Abel asked for “Salt”, Ryo would produce it from seawater.

When Abel asked for “Water”, Ryo would generate it in an ice pot or an ice jug.

When Abel asked for a “Shower”, Ryo would make fine rain fall on him.

The rest of the time, Ryo spent thinking and experimenting.

Abel swung his sword, trained his body, and went into the forest to gather animals and fruits.

Yes, animals, not monsters.

Once, he saw a rabbit monster, but it ran away at an incredible speed.

It seemed there weren’t many strong monsters in the forest near the coast.

After a while, Ryo started making something big.

As usual, it was made of ice.

Abel didn’t understand what it was and figured Ryo would tell him when it was finished, so he didn’t ask questions.

He swung his sword, gathered food, and cooked.

They had completely divided their roles.

However, it seemed that Ryo wasn’t necessarily making progress.

One morning, he rushed to the sea with great excitement, but by the evening when Abel returned, he was surprisingly downcast.

Abel guessed something hadn’t gone well. Without saying anything, he cooked dinner and ate with Ryo in silence.

Abel believed that when someone is truly struggling, they don’t want anyone to talk to them…

After eating and sleeping for a night, Ryo was back to his usual self.

“I will definitely avenge you, Rondo!”, he shouted, but Abel didn’t understand what he meant.

After that, the balance shifted overwhelmingly from thinking to experimenting.

And more towards alchemy than magic.

Given Abel’s position as king, he often interacted with Viscount Kenneth Hayward of the Royal Alchemy Workshop.

He would sometimes invite Kenneth to the royal castle for lectures.

And had seen the detailed process of creating alchemy tools.

Sometimes, magic formulas or magic circles are directly drawn on the alchemy tools themselves, while other times, they are inscribed on something like a stone tablet and then ‘transferred’ to the alchemy tools.

Abel knew there were mainly these two methods.

So, when he saw Ryo drawing what seemed to be magic formulas on ice slabs and then ‘transferring’ them, he wasn’t surprised.

Incidentally, what Ryo was ultimately transferring the formulas to was the sheath of the knife he always wore at his waist.

Made from the tanned hide of a boar or a bear, Abel knew that Ryo cherished this knife.

Ryo was engraving the sheath with alchemy…

About ten days later.

Abel was called by Ryo to the beach.

There, Abel found…

“Wh…what is this…?”

“Hehehe. Are you surprised? This is our trump card, the Rondo-class second ship, Neil Andersen!”

Before him was a submarine.

It was technically a submersible in size, but to Ryo, it was a decisive weapon, so he called it a submarine.

“Ten meters long, three meters high, two-person crew. Weight and displacement unknown. Named after the alchemist who helped me, Neil-san.”

Ryo explained happily, patting the transparent ice submarine.

He seemed very pleased with its craftsmanship.

In size, it was about as big as a tanker truck you might see on Earth, the kind that transports gasoline.

The upper structure of the submarine, the sail, which allows for entry and extends the periscope;

Was absent in Ryo’s design.

It was shaped like a bullet, similar to a missile or torpedo.

With a slightly pointed front.

Looking closely, Abel could see something like seats inside the front part of the submarine.

Since everything, including the walls and seats, was made of transparent ice, it was faintly visible.

“I see… You mentioned this is the second ship. What happened to the first…?”

Abel asked, and Ryo replied with a sad look on his face.

“The Rondo-class first ship, Rondo… unfortunately, during the experimental phase, it was lost to the sea…”

“Lost to the sea…”

“It was taken by the sea monster… Kraken. It seized control of my magic and dragged it to the bottom of the sea.”

“O-oh… so there’s a Kraken here as well?”

Ryo explained tearfully… and Abel, not knowing what to say, nodded and murmured his thoughts.

“Hmm? If that’s what happened to the first ship, will the second one… be okay?”

“Of course! The major difference is that the second ship is created through alchemy.”

“…Huh?”

“That’s why it’s named after the alchemist Neil Andersen.”

Ryo seemed very pleased.

Abel, still confused, decided to ask for clarification.

“The first ship… was made with your water-attribute magic, right? But this second ship was made with alchemy. I’m sorry, but I don’t understand the difference… how are they different?”

Abel’s question was valid.

Unless you were a magician or alchemist, the difference wouldn’t be clear.

Even a king, who needed much more knowledge and discernment than the average person, might not grasp it.

“Magic is… well, you know it, right?”

Ryo said and cast a spell.

“.”

Next to the second ship, Neil Andersen, another submarine of similar size and almost identical appearance was created.

“Like this, it’s an easy and simple creation with water-attribute magic.”

“Yes, I see…”

Abel nodded, although he was slightly uncomfortable with the words ‘easy and simple’.

Needless to say, for an ordinary magician, this was neither easy nor simple…

“However, with this method, powerful sea monsters can seize control of the magic, taking over the submarine.”

Ryo seemed to be recalling a past experience.

Explaining with a regretful expression.

“But! If we use alchemy to generate it, the magic control can’t be rewritten and hijacked afterward. That’s because it’s defined by magic formulas and magic circles. It’s similar to how, in computer programming, the compiled product can be tinkered with by the user, but as long as the source code itself isn’t rewritten, it’s safe!”

“Hmm… yeah, I’m completely lost.”

Abel said, shaking his head slightly at Ryo’s explanation.

However, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand at all.

“The magic control of things generated by alchemy can’t be hijacked. Because, at the stage before generation, it’s written in magic formulas or magic circles… it’s defined there, so unless you rewrite it from there, parts like ownership or usage… those aspects can’t be changed externally. Is that the right understanding?”

“Yes, yes. That’s correct. As expected of Abel.”

Ryo nodded in satisfaction at Abel’s understanding.

Perhaps this was due to Abel’s position as a ‘king’, requiring him to make decisions even without specialized knowledge.

He seemed to have developed a sort of special skill to grasp the gist of things he didn’t understand… at least, that’s how it appeared to Ryo.

“Where is this alchemical magic formula written…?”

“This time, it’s engraved on the sheath of my knife.”

Ryo answered, showing the knife’s sheath to Abel.

Abel looked at the indicated sheath but…

“It looks incredibly small?”

It only appeared as scratches on the sheath.

The magic formula seemed to be very minutely inscribed.

“Yes, yes, that’s the convenience of it. Kenneth taught me this before.”

Ryo answered happily.

Viscount Kenneth Hayward, whom Ryo had arbitrarily dubbed his alchemy mentor, was said to be one of the most brilliant alchemists of the current era.

“You mentioned this time… but there are cases where it’s directly engraved on a magic stone, right?”

“Yes. When you want to supply magic power directly from the magic stone, it’s very convenient. But engraving it so it doesn’t break… it’s quite difficult, especially for small magic circles.”

It seemed there were various approaches even within alchemy.

“Ryo, your alchemy skills… have really progressed.”

“Hmm, but I still think I have a long way to go.”

Ryo responded, shaking his head slightly at Abel’s expression of admiration and amazement.

“Creating things with alchemy instead of magic. Fundamentally, it’s not difficult. .”

Ryo chanted, and a small flute appeared in his right hand.

“This is a flute for calling Grigri in the Rondo Forest. And this is alchemy.”

Ryo said, taking out something resembling a shell in his left hand and channeling magic through it.

The shell emitted a soft alchemy glow, and a small flute identical to the one in his right hand materialized beside it.

“This flute on the left is one I made during practice. As long as it’s properly defined, you can create with alchemy what can be generated with magic.”

“I see…”

Abel nodded in agreement.

Although he had no idea what Grigri was, he assumed it was some kind of pet.

“By the way, the ‘lamppost’ alchemy tools in the city. Those seem like they reproduce the light-attribute magic of the priests with alchemy tools, right?”

“Oh, yes. I heard that too. Since the temple monopolizes its manufacture, the temple’s income is stable.”

“Y-Yeah… It sounds somewhat questionable when put like that, but… thanks to that, the priests can heal the wounds and illnesses of the town’s people for free.”

“The person who thought up that system might be a genius…”

Both Abel and Ryo were impressed in their own ways.

After their admiration, Ryo continued his explanation.

“A submarine’s mechanism itself is relatively simple. It sinks by taking in seawater and surfaces by expelling seawater. It moves forward and backward by turning the screw and maneuvers up, down, left, and right by steering.”

To manufacture something that could continuously operate underwater without magic, under constant water pressure.

It required quite advanced metallurgical technology.

“The Rondo-class operates with , so there are no screws or rudders. Writing everything in magic formulas is simpler in that case. Although there are difficulties in quantifying it… I managed to do it.”

“Oh, I see… And… is it right to perceive that vehicle as a submarine?”

“Yes, yeah, that’s right. With this, we can dive into the sea.”

Abel asked, and Ryo answered.

Submarines, unlike ships, were not yet present in the kingdom.

“In a nutshell, magic is about imagery. If we can define that imagery entirely through formulas, numbers, or language, then anything that can be created with magic can also be created with alchemy.”

“I see. That’s amazing. So, why are you dissatisfied?”

“Because what I’m aiming for lies far beyond this!”

“Huh?”

“My goal is to create a golem army!”

“Wait, what?”

Abel was baffled by Ryo’s declaration.

“You mean like… the artificial golems of the Union?”

“No, not at all. I’m talking about an army of ten thousand ice golems that can be summoned and dismissed anytime, anywhere, through alchemy! With this, the Debuhi Empire wouldn’t be able to act so high and mighty!”

“Yeah… you could probably conquer not just the Empire, but the entire Central Countries… and even the Western Countries with that.”

Abel replied, half-amused, half-exasperated by Ryo’s bold declaration.

Safe to say he didn’t take it seriously at all.

Creating battlefield golems, even metallic ones that can’t be summoned and dismissed freely, was extremely difficult without foundational research.

Even the genius alchemist Viscount Kenneth Hayward struggled with this.

“Yes, meeting the requirement of ‘enduring battlefield use’ is remarkably challenging. For any kind of creation… It’s an aspect I need to consider very thoroughly.”

Ryo said, starting to ponder.

“Ryo, let’s focus on the submarine first, okay?”

Abel hastily interrupted.

Suggesting that golems could wait.

“You’re right. So, Abel, shall we board now?”

“Wait, I’m coming too…?”

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? The crew consists of two people. You need to listen more carefully.”

“Oh… yeah, I guess this is just so incredible that I couldn’t process everything.”

“Right! That’s completely understandable!”

Ryo replied cheerfully.

Reactions can change drastically with a single word.

“Don’t worry. The outer shell is based on , making it resistant to external influences. So, there’s no chance we’ll suddenly be flooded with water and drown due to enemy magic.”

“Oh… yeah, that would be terrifying.”

Abel shuddered at the thought, which hadn’t crossed his mind before…

Venturing into the open sea.

That meant trusting Ryo’s magic and alchemy skills completely.

“Of course, I trust you, Ryo.”

Abel declared confidently.

Ryo led the way and touched the side of the second Rondo-class vessel, Neil Andersen, with his right hand.

A person-sized entryway opened on its side.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Alright.”

Ryo entered first, followed by Abel.

Once inside, the entryway closed behind them.

The interior had two seats arranged front and back.

Resembling the cockpit of a two-seater fighter plane.

The rear seat was slightly elevated to ensure a clear forward view even when someone was seated in the front.

“The front seat is mine, and the back seat is yours.”

Ryo explained, as Abel examined his assigned seat.

The ice chair seemed a bit hard…

“Please bear with it. This isn’t meant for a luxurious passenger trip. it’s a decisive weapon.”

“Got it.”

Abel nodded in agreement to Ryo’s words.

And sat down in his seat.

A U-shaped ice bar descended from above, securing Abel from his shoulders to his waist to prevent him from being thrown forward.

It was a safety bar Ryo designed based on amusement park roller coasters.

With this in place, Abel wouldn’t be thrown from his seat no matter how the submarine moved.

Between Abel’s legs, a control stick protruded.

“What’s this?”

Abel asked, unfamiliar with the device.

“That’s a control stick. It allows you to steer this vessel.”

“Steer? Me?”

“Yeah. I’ll be piloting from the front seat most of the time, but you can control it from your seat as well. However, it’s usually locked to prevent any accidental tampering.”

“Got it…”

Abel said, swallowing nervously.

“Hey, this vessel… it is a ship, right? The ship is pretty long at the back. But when I looked inside, there wasn’t anything loaded, was there?”

“Right. The rear is filled with air.”

“Air? Hmm?”

Abel seemed not to fully grasp the concept.

He should understand the concept of air itself.

It had come up in various conversations while he was in the Central Countries before…

However, there seemed to be something he couldn’t quite accept or understand.

Perhaps humans find it very difficult to comprehend things that are invisible.

Typically, submarines submerge by taking in seawater into internal tanks and rise by expelling the seawater from the tanks.

However, there’s a technical difficulty in this.

Submerging is easy, but the problem lies in expelling the seawater from the tanks when surfacing.

The outside of the submarine is the sea. Filled with seawater.

Always under pressure.

Some kind of ‘force’ is needed to push the water out.

Such as pumping it out.

How does Ryo’s Rondo-class handle this?

Since it uses alchemy, the structure is made as simple as possible.

The ‘tank’ section from the middle to the rear of the vessel is essentially a double-walled structure with an inner and outer wall.

However, it does not take in seawater from outside.

When submerging, the inner wall contracts, compressing the air inside.

The space between the inner and outer walls is filled with water generated through alchemy, causing the vessel to sink.

Conversely, when surfacing, the inner wall expands, the compressed air returns to normal pressure.

And the alchemically generated water between the inner and outer walls is reduced or eliminated, allowing the vessel to rise.

This is a variant… of the method using compressed air employed in many submarines.

On Earth, submarines typically use the force of compressed air returning to its original state to expel the water from the tanks…

Often dramatized in movies with commands like “Blow the main tanks!”.

The Rondo-class, whether the first ship using magic or the second ship using alchemy, shares the same basic structure.

The problem of ‘ice floats on water’ was solved by making the ice denser.

It’s known even on Earth that ice created under high pressure and extremely low temperatures can sink… this application of common physics was used.

The real challenge was doing everything with alchemy.

The need to recreate a ‘submarine’ generated by using alchemy.

Meant writing ‘everything’ in magic formulas and magic circles.

This turned out to be a more troublesome task than anticipated.

Reflecting on the second artificial intelligence boom on Earth… one of its core components, the expert system, failed because it couldn’t ‘describe all the necessary information’.

Consider, for instance, an ‘expert’ pottery artist recognized as a living national treasure.

If one wanted to replicate the artist’s skill using AI and robots.

One would need to program ‘all’ the necessary information.

Nothing could be left out.

However, this is impossible.

The potter unconsciously adjusts to a plethora of information beyond their conscious awareness, and this information isn’t passed on to the artificial intelligence.

For example, the day’s temperature, humidity, the dryness of the clay, the ratio of ingredients, and even the temperature of the water used to wet their hands… might be factors the potter adjusts to unconsciously.

They adapt their perception and body, unconsciously.

These unconscious adjustments mean the programmers aren’t informed about all necessary data… so the AI doesn’t account for them…

Leading to failure.

However, overcoming such failures, the third AI boom succeeded by using big data and deep learning to allow the AI itself to gather the necessary information through learning.

Proving that it is difficult for humans to describe ‘all’ necessary information manually.

But Ryo did it. He managed it.

The result is the second ship, the Neil Anderson.

Abel, seated, was looking around.

And murmured.

“It’s amazing that I can see everything around me.”

There was a hint of excitement in his voice.

Which Ryo sensed.

Indeed, the entire submarine was made of ice, allowing for a full panoramic view.

“Yeah! That’s the major difference from a normal submarine. Regular submarines don’t have any windows due to the pressure underwater, making it impossible to visually check the surroundings. At best, they rely on sonar for graphical imaging. But with the Rondo-class, you can directly see your surroundings!”

Abel heard terms like water pressure and graphical imaging but didn’t fully understand them.

Nonetheless, he was eager to set off to sea.

Feeling the excitement building up.

The ocean’s depths are said to be even more forbidding than a forest at night.

While Abel knew this.

It didn’t dampen his curiosity about what lay beneath the waves.

He was familiar with deep rivers.

And knew fish swam there, but he sensed that the sea was a different world altogether…

Ryo also noticed Abel’s growing excitement.

Naturally.

Because Abel was an adventurer at heart.

With a smile, Ryo took his seat in the front cockpit.

Yup, in Ryo’s mind, his seat was the cockpit. Regardless of what anyone else said.

Of course, there were no instruments or gauges…

Ryo sat in his cockpit and lowered his safety bar.

Then, placed his hands into the console.

Which was like a hand massager, enveloping his hands completely.

It was different from Abel’s control stick.

“Ryo… your setup is different from this control stick thing I have.”

“Yeah. From here, I can also operate the weapons.”

“Weapons?”

“We are going to avenge the first ship, Rondo. We aren’t just going out there to be defeated again!”

Ryo spoke with determination and continued.

“Alright, let’s go. Rondo-class second vessel, Neil Andersen, launch!”

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