“I finished the Biological Radar, Commander Sis-ter!”
“B-Biological Radar?”
While being pounced on by Asahi—who had returned for the first time in a while—Commander Eve looked bewildered.
She couldn’t be blamed. She’d just had an unknown term thrown at her out of nowhere.
“Yes! Um, that silver dragon Wyvern! That thing! I analyzed its electromagnetic detection ability, and using pseudo-biological parts, I completed a radar function!”
“O-Oh...?”
Commander Eve had received no such report from <Ringo>.
She glanced over, and <Ringo> gave a small nod.
“She asked me to keep it secret.”
“...And?”
At <Ringo>’s casual answer, Eve stroked Asahi’s head and narrowed her eyes.
“It doesn’t particularly affect our plans going forward, so I let her do as she pleased. Technically, it has some innovative aspects, but it lacks applicability and has difficulties with mass production—”
“<Ringo>! Biological parts are packed with infinite possibilities! You don’t have to put it like that!”
“I see,” Commander Eve said, nodding.
Right now, <The Tree> was being operated according to the future planning roadmap drawn up by <Ringo>, and unless a problem arose that required major revisions to that plan, reports would not actively come up.
Even if something technically new was discovered, as long as it did not cause a plan revision, no proactive report would come up.
In other words, if the discoverer said to keep quiet, then so long as there was no problem, <Ringo> would do exactly that.
If Eve asked directly, that would be a different matter.
“Now, now, calm down. Since you went to the trouble, Asahi, would you tell me about that Biological Radar?”
“Yes, gladly, Commander Sis-ter!”
“I’ve prepared tea in the sitting room. This way.”
<Ringo> smoothly led the two of them along.
At the same time, Commander Eve’s schedule was published on the network, and the First Five Sisters who received it also began moving toward the sitting room.
“So, what was it you said again?”
“Yes! Biological Radar, Commander Sis-ter! The thing that silver dragon Wyvern was using! I succeeded in reproducing it!”
According to Asahi, the radar the Wyvern used—electromagnetic emission and electromagnetic detection—could apparently be analyzed by scientific technology, without relying on magic-fantasy methods.
“Basically, it’s a combination of sensing cells that generate electrical signals in response to surrounding electromagnetic waves, and excitation cells that convert the power generated by power-generation cells into electromagnetic waves! The mechanism itself isn’t that complicated!”
“It appeared the Wyvern had this cell cluster as part of its brain inside the skull.”
In step with Asahi’s explanation, <Ringo> displayed a 3D visualization of the Wyvern analysis results on the display.
“The problem is not detection, but generation! As long as we follow normal physical laws, to emit electromagnetic waves of that strength—coherent electromagnetic waves with aligned phase, at that—you need voltage and current, but the heat-handling problem is huge! If you can’t efficiently cool overheated cells, the proteins will thermally denature in the next instant!”
“No efficient cooling function was confirmed in the Wyvern’s body structure.”
“Structurally, having a major heat source housed in the head—inside the skull, together with the brain, the most important organ—is biologically abnormal! That’s what makes monsters monsters! By using the magic stone’s body-structure reinforcement function, it forcibly crushes biological weaknesses!”
By Asahi’s calculations, at the point where the Wyvern generated the power needed to produce its radar waves, the entire brain would boil.
Naturally, there was no way the brain or blood could withstand such high temperatures, and the Wyvern should have died instantly.
Moreover, the heat source was also the electromagnetic excitation cells. With both the power-generation cells and electromagnetic excitation cells becoming high-temperature, it meant the Wyvern could not live without the power of the magic stone.
“Man, it’s a lump of unfairness! But the power-generation and excitation cells themselves are reproducible enough! Once we knew it would function if we provided a cooling mechanism, I kept prototyping! And finally, I was able to reproduce something at a practical level!”
Then, what Asahi displayed on the monitor was a lump of flesh contained in a glass cylindrical vessel.
To put it mildly, it was grotesque.
Still, Eve had some tolerance, so all she did was crease her brow slightly.
“This is...? Um, how big is it?”
“Diameter: 164 cm!!”
“Huge!”
“With this, we confirmed performance similar to short-range radar!”
“For reference, an electronic device with nearly the same performance would fit into a 10 cm square.”
“That’s palm-sized!”
“Size doesn’t matter at all!!”
Asahi declared it outright.
“Commander Sis-ter, what matters is that we reproduced it with our own power! The first step in analyzing magic fantasy is understanding! At the very least, the Biological Radar that Wyvern used is scientifically reproducible!”
Asahi was right. In science, observation and reproducibility are what matter. Practical operation and miniaturization come later.
Observing an unknown phenomenon, and reproducing it.
That was the first step, and if you couldn’t do that, you would never move forward.
“Hmmm... Well, it’s fine, I guess...”
But.
Did completing this Biological Radar really help with understanding magic fantasy in [N O V E L I G H T] any way?
“If we look at it from the perspective of fantasy analysis, there is no particular progress. The power-generation cells and excitation cells themselves are known phenomena. Combining them and making them exhibit a meaningful function is a kind of discovery, but—”
“...”
“Asahi, was it fun?”
“Yes! More than you can imagine!”
Well, if this little sister had fun, then that was fine in its own way.
“Though it was so frustrating that while I was busy with this, <Cosmos> analyzed the mana meter, so I kind of went on a rampage!”
“Ah, that.”
The Asahi Frenzy Incident.
It seemed to occur regularly.
“Apparently they found cells that generate a potential difference in response to mana, so next I’m planning to approach those cells scientifically! Stuff like ‘it won’t run without a magic stone’ is just too difficult for mass production!”
“<Cosmos> reported that you can crush magic stones and use them.”
“But didn’t they say crushing them drastically shortens the magic stone’s lifespan? That’s fine in the short term, but we have to look at things in the long term!”
“Look at things in the long term...?”
Commander Eve looked extremely caught on Asahi’s words, but Asahi ignored it completely.
“I’m not just going to sit there watching <Cosmos>—or rather, Olive—rack up achievements! I’ll prove that Asahi can do it too!”
“Wait, you’re aware?”
“Commander Sis-ter, Asahi is a capable girl!”
“...No, I mean, sure, that’s fine, but...”
It wasn’t exactly “love is blind,” but maybe the more troublesome the child, the cuter they looked.
Of course, Eve dotes on the First Five Sisters all the time, so showering attention on Asahi—who only comes back occasionally—probably didn’t count as favoritism.
As she absentmindedly stroked the Asahi pressing herself up against her, Eve let out a sigh.
*****
“We have sufficient power to prepare what you seek. We also understand that this will help you.”
Before Dreizich=Fragaria as she spoke, Tiariada Elemes was sweating with a nasty, sticky sweat.
Just what did the person in front of them know, and how much?
How far had their information been grasped?
“The issue is whether you can sufficiently prepare the price for it.”
“...I believe I understand that. We are also in the middle of gathering the price.”
“If possible, I would like to confirm it with my own eyes. Can you guide us? It is not such a difficult matter. You only need to accept our envoy delegation.”
