Chapter 624: Old Friend
"Spruce wood suitable for mana conduction... The error margin turned out even larger than expected..."
"It is indeed a bit counterintuitive... Lady Charlotte, try this Moon Silverstone from the Morris Mountains. It barely reacts to arcane particles, yet possesses excellent mana conductivity. It might make a decent transmission material."
"Mm, let me see its exact performance."
Inside the research chamber, Astrid and Charlotte were testing various materials capable of transmitting stabilizing arcane particles, one by one. From woods to ores, and even double-composite materials from magical theory, they recorded the deviation for each, striving to find the most suitable medium for this nascent signal-writing system.
Fortunately, as the Empire’s Regent, Astrid now wields unprecedented access to human resources. With Amalia’s tacit approval, she can freely take whatever she wishes from the imperial treasury or the private collections of past emperors. Otherwise, the workload would have multiplied several times over, just as Tessadia did in the original novel, venturing into the wilderness for a single magical component, enduring countless hardships before barely acquiring it.
Now, they merely had to sit in the lab, and every resource would come directly to them.
Quietly waiting as Charlotte etched runes into the finely polished, slender Moon Silverstone, after a while the woman passed one end of the rod to her. Astrid took it smoothly, proceeding with yet another error assessment.
Earlier checks had been superficial, but to ensure experimental precision, Charlotte had increased the volume of transmitted information, transforming simple dots and lines into something more complex than Astrid had attempted before.
With a larger experimental baseline, the accuracy of individual measurements improved dramatically, allowing the screening process to accelerate. If a group of arcane particles shows massive transmission errors across even this short distance on a given magical material, there’d be no point extending the material’s length or efficiency testing with stacked arrays.
This was only the first screening. Later would come decay detection over varying distances, cost-adjustment measurements, and detailed thorough tests.
"How is it, Little Astr?" Charlotte asked softly.
Astrid parted her pink lips, gently comparing transmission results with her aunt. Her delicate black-stockinged legs swayed slightly beneath the desk as she frowned slightly upon reaching her conclusion.
Moon Silverstone performed better than spruce wood, but only marginally, reducing error from five to four percent.
Such a large deviation at the research’s early stage relegated it to a lower-priority batch of materials. Future testing could come later.
After pondering for a few seconds, Astrid gently tapped her thigh with her fingers and softly delivered her judgment.
"It seems Moon Silverstone is only slightly better than spruce wood. It’s insufficient to serve as a primary research material."
Charlotte knew this well too, and nodded slightly in agreement with Astrid’s assessment.
"Mm. I’d like to try some other composite materials."
For example?
"Meteorite Iron infused with Dusk Crystals. This workshop doesn’t have any, but I still have stock at my estate..."
Although space rings were convenient, they couldn’t carry every random item. Amalia’s alchemical workshop was stocked only with common materials, the rarer ones came from Charlotte’s private reserves and some imperial treasures Astrid had brought.
"Meteorite Iron infused with Dusk Crystals?"
Astrid pondered the suggestion, then after a moment silently used wind magic to relay a message to the head maid waiting by the door, instructing her to fetch it from the imperial treasury under the Regent’s orders.
"The palace still has some. No need to travel all the way out to the suburbs."
"I’ve already sent Elise. The treasury isn’t far. While the maids are walking, we might as well continue experimenting with other materials."
With Astrid’s support, Charlotte nodded gently and softly replied, "Troublesome as always." Then she returned to testing magical materials on the workbench. Once this batch was nearly complete, the two women left the cramped research chamber and moved to the large testing grounds outside the mana workshop.
Next up, length testing.
They began with connecting tubes around ten meters long. The concept was similar to the electrical wires or fiber optics from Astrid’s past life, though their progress along the magical technology tree was limited, leaving them with only these relatively primitive transmission methods, for now. Of course, by the standards of the entire Carist Empire, this was already the pinnacle of advancement.
"If it’s a series of repeated teleportation arrays, I’ll assist you, Lady Charlotte."
Walking across the smooth marble flooring, the crisp clicks of high heels echoed in turns. Astrid brushed her hair aside, her deep black gloves briefly visible against her silver strands, exuding an air of elegance and mystery.
"Consider it using up today’s mental energy entirely right here."
............
Astrid had arrived at noon, when sunlight was strong. By the time their experiments concluded, evening had drawn near. The sun had sunk low, and faint stars were beginning to appear in the night sky.
Charlotte compiled the day’s experimental results into a notebook, storing everything into her spatial ring. Only then did she realize Astrid had spent the entire afternoon here with her, unable to attend to anything else beyond mana research. She spoke gently.
"You’ve worked hard today, Little Astr." She touched the metallic ring on her left ring finger, her pink lips pressing together slightly.
"Spending so long with me at the mana workshop... It’s already dark."
Charlotte knew full well how busy the Imperial Regent was. And now that Astrid was married, she had emotional responsibilities to attend as well.
One thing Charlotte was certain of: their Empress, Amalia Valeria, insisted on napping with Astrid every single noon. The fact that Astrid had stayed here all day was clearly an exception.
The silver-haired girl shook her head and replied warmly.
"It’s not really tiring. Working alongside Lady Charlotte is quite pleasant, many would envy this opportunity."
Listening to Astrid’s flattery while gazing into her clear, bright red eyes, Charlotte couldn’t help recalling their intimate gestures during joint spellcasting earlier. She felt the word "pleasant" might carry some hidden meaning.
But considering her niece’s personality, perhaps she was saying it on purpose, just to make Charlotte flustered.
She wouldn’t be easily tricked, like that certain Holy Light Knight who’d been teased before.
Charlotte fluttered her eyelashes, then gradually tugged at her stocking cuff out of sight. The transparent silk stocking, slightly wrinkled from Astrid’s earlier massage, smoothed itself out. Her pristine, delicate ankle and softly glowing instep appears even more silky under the light.
"Little Astr, your mouth is sweet, you always know how to say the right things."
"It’s simply stating facts. If Lady Charlotte enjoys hearing it, I can say more."
"Hmph... Save those words to charm little girls..."
Noticing Astrid’s hem had somehow become wrinkled, Charlotte reached out to straighten it. Before withdrawing her hand, she gently swept a strand of silver hair behind Astrid’s ear.
"Back to business, Little Astr spent the whole afternoon on mana devices. When do you plan to attend to your other duties?"
"I heard you haven’t signed the latest quarterly commercial contract with the Velmont family yet?"
Her information network wasn’t as extensive as the Empress’s, but it was still quite reliable. She suddenly knew Astrid had been busy recently with preparations for the upcoming mana device exhibition, frequently visiting clinics’ mansions and various noble ladies’ residences.
If her public schedule is this packed, her private responsibilities must be even heavier.
Astrid gently caught Charlotte’s hand before it could fully withdraw, speaking softly.
"Circumstances have changed. Naturally, the distribution of interests must change too. I get along well with Lord Tristian, but when it comes to business, interests always come first. Without investing sufficient time and effort into negotiating specific terms, neither the royal family nor the nobility will feel at ease."
"As for the ’important matters’ Lady Charlotte mentioned..."
"...Am I not doing them right now?"
Her crimson eyes gazed quietly at Charlotte as Astrid spoke in a calm tone.
"Helping Lady Charlotte research mana devices that greatly benefit the Empire is the perfect alignment of my personal ideals and official position."
"Not just today, every day from now on, if Lady Charlotte needs me, I’ll try my best to make time."
In politics, Amalia could take over some of her burdens and help relieve the pressure. But for mana devices, especially their current research direction, since it involves fragments of ancient language and requires Astrid’s sharp mind, shaped by her experience in an information society, to continuously provide fresh ideas and inspiration, Charlotte depends on her far more.
Hearing Astrid’s words, Charlotte’s gaze lingered on the silver-haired girl’s face for a few seconds. For a moment, she saw the shadow of someone from the past, and her tone shifted.
"...Then I’ll be troubled Little Astr quite a lot from now on."
Now that she’d moved into the palace and restarted the communication mana device project on Astrid’s suggestion, she’d inevitably need her involvement in the research.
"Mm. Lady Charlotte is always welcome to reach out whenever needed."
After speaking, Astrid curved her lips slightly and said softly.
"But now, please join me for dinner."
"You can’t just focus on mana research without replenishing energy."
Her navy-blue stilettos tapped against the floor tiles, accompanied by the swaying layers of the silver-haired beauty’s elaborate skirt.
Feeling the pressure of Astrid’s hand, Charlotte followed behind, her long legs swinging rhythmically and releasing a faint, delicate fragrance.
"The Empress must be anxiously waiting?" Charlotte asked.
Astrid replied: "Mm."
Immediately after, the silver-haired Regent walking ahead added:
"We might as well tell Amalia during dinner."
"About the proposal to add a new bed to the research chamber."
Upon hearing Astrid’s words, the skin beneath Charlotte’s silk glove flushed slightly, and her ears grew warm.
Why did it suddenly feel... stranger the more she thought about it?
Even though there was a perfectly legitimate reason, an indescribable, awkward sensation welled up inside her.
Almost as if announced to one’s wife that one was forced to do something... just for work.
Wait, what was she even imagining now?
Feeling the evening breeze against her face, Charlotte suppressed her emotions, listening to the crisp melody of heels tapping the ground as she walked beside Astrid into the night.
.............
After dinner, Charlotte went to stay in the Regent’s chambers. Although it had been several days since that night, this was her first overnight stay since. Yet tonight, Astrid didn’t come for their usual late-night talk.
Finally, after reviewing the afternoon’s notes at her desk, Charlotte ended her exhausting day. Having washed up, she changed into a silk nightgown and lay on the soft bed.
The afternoon’s experiments had gone reasonably well. Tomorrow, she planned to test several new materials to see if the error margin became acceptable, some magical materials weren’t even available in the Imperial capital and would take a day or two to be transported here.
If time permits, Charlotte even consider adding a few more display cases to the upcoming mana device exhibition, to showcase a prototype of the communication device, a specially crafted long tube capable of transmitting fixed arcane particle clusters.
"..."
Was she rushing too much?
Charlotte slightly pulled the blanket over herself. Her bare, smooth legs, no longer covered by transparent stockings, glowed under moonlight like an alluring piece of jade.
Perhaps Astrid’s novel ideas had momentarily clouded her judgment, making her eager to unveil this epoch-defining invention to the world.
But how far did they really come? They hadn’t yet found suitable materials for long-distance transmission tubes, and had no idea how to design proper transmitting or receiving devices. Everything depends on her and Astrid alone. The final product was still a long way off.
Thinking about it too early risks the arrogance of half-knowledge. At the very least, they should first identify suitable materials. Only if they could produce a relatively complete prototype within fifteen days should they consider displaying it.
After calming her excitement, Charlotte resumed reviewing every variable and data point from the experiments, dedicating even this tiny moment of pre-sleep rest to the cause of mana devices.
After silently pondering for a while, her insatiable curiosity urged her to seek out Astrid and discuss material choices again.
[If you’re ever lonely, feel free to come find me.]
[I’ve said it before, my chambers will always have an open door for you.]
Astrid’s room was just across the corridor, by no means far.
After a moment’s thought, however, Charlotte immediately dismissed the idea of a nighttime visit, reminding Amalia was currently staying in Astrid’s bedroom.
Having an open door was one thing, but some things should not be seen, some things should not be heard.
She definitely didn’t want to open that door and accidentally caught an overly intimate scene, such as a black and white pair, like twin lotuses in bloom, gradually entering a state of bliss.
"..."
Then again... was that feeling really that good?
Even Little Astr, usually so composed and aloof, seems utterly enchanted by it.
