#521

521. Magic Engineering Expo (2)

After the dean left, only Lennok and Cassia remained at their booth. While Lennok assembled an engine, the spirits left behind by the dean squabbled at his feet, attracting attention. With the two spirits buzzing around like miniature aircraft, more people began gathering nearby.

“There’s so much fascinating stuff at this expo.”  

“This is my first time seeing a spirit up close. Are they all this cute?”  

“I’m eager to see the research presentation on spirits. When does it start?”

As the crowd for the expo swelled, many visitors began moving inside to explore. Noticing dozens of onlookers watching the playful spirits, Cassia glanced around nervously.

“Evan, are you sure this is alright?”  

“Somehow, we’ll make it work.”

Lennok reassured her as he set the assembled engine onto the display platform at their booth.

“We don’t have much to show yet, but no one will complain if we keep the engine running. We can coast along until the judging begins.”  

“That’s not what I mean…”

Cassia leaned toward Lennok and whispered.

“We have to present the research paper to the judges soon. But all we’ve prepared is an engine….”

“I’ll take a quick look at the other booths. Could you hold the fort?”

“What...?”  

“With the dean’s spirit here, it should be easy to keep people entertained.”

“But I’m not even a spirit handler; how am I supposed to manage…!”

Before Cassia could finish, Lennok grabbed Davi and swiftly exited the booth. Holding the researcher badge the dean had given him, he kept his face stern as he walked, and the crowd naturally parted for him. He picked up a hotdog from a nearby stand and began surveying the other booths inside the venue.

“Hm…”

As he took a bite, he scanned the booths, feeling the unhealthy taste seep into him. Some booths had completed their setups and were already welcoming visitors, while others remained shrouded by curtains, with researchers intensely focused on their preparations. Lennok started keenly observing each booth, analyzing the research themes they presented at the expo.

‘This gathering of nearby towers and research institutions presents a rare chance to peek into the latest trends and breakthroughs.’

The exhibitors weren’t just here for demonstrations and displays; they awaited evaluation from the expo judges, hoping for awards. Part of this process meant disclosing core achievements and principles they had developed over time.

Lennok’s plan was to leverage his sharp eyes and Davi’s abilities to record and document the technology that the magic towers and research institutions were unveiling on the spot.

‘Even though my second paper presentation is important, I can’t pass up an opportunity like this.’

As institutions from all corners of the continent gathered, the themes and fields of research were diverse.  

Just a quick tour around the exclusive booths inside the city hall was enough for Lennok to spot numerous intriguing themes and research results that sparked his interest.

"New spell systems discovered at the 62nd Tower Conference, clinical trials on the bestial nature of the Ain race, a new architectural style using spatial compression…."

Holding Davi close, Lennok continued recording each new research topic or theme that caught his eye.

“Hey, you there, researcher. What are you doing?”  

“Can I see what you were holding just now?”

Naturally, with Lennok’s skills, it was impossible for him to slip in and out of booths to steal hidden presentation details undetected. Sharp-eyed mages and researchers from the tower, catching on to his suspicious movements, immediately called him out.

But each time, Lennok would lift the spirit in his arms, Davi, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“Ah, my apologies. My spirit here hasn’t had an outing in a while and wanted to look around.”

Davi squinted down at Lennok, clearly irritated by his excuse, but the sight of the plump, young fox-like creature quickly melted any suspicions, replacing them with amused, gentle expressions.

“Oh, so you’re a spirit mage? That explains it.”  

“What an adorable young spirit!”

The mages and researchers, seeing Davi’s pouty expression, quickly broke into smiles.

“There’s a saying that young spirits should see and hear as much as possible.”  

“What’s its name? Is it alright if I pet it?”

Some researchers, caught up in their interest in spirits, even guided Lennok directly into their booths as they chatted.

“I hope I’m not imposing on you busy researchers.”  

“Oh, not at all! We even have some extra catalysts here. If it’s alright, I’d like to give some to your little one.”

“Davi, say hello.”

Davi, though clearly displeased with the situation, kept its mouth shut, reluctant to speak in front of strangers. Lennok took Davi’s front paw and made it clap gently.

“Davi, boo~”

[Boo.]

Davi uttered a single, curt sound, but that alone was enough to bring a look of delight to the faces of the mages and researchers.

“How adorable!”  

“I’d love to introduce it to my colleagues. Do you have a moment?”  

“Of course.”

[Boo-boo!]

Spirit mages were exceedingly rare, and their research themes hardly ever overlapped with the typical fields presented at academic conferences. With Davi as his willing decoy, Lennok easily absorbed the information these mages eagerly offered, too distracted by the charming spirit to keep their research secrets guarded.

As soon as he entered each booth, Lennok used his magic and Davi’s computational abilities to quickly scan the entire research outcome.  

After spending half the day circulating from booth to booth, leveraging Davi as a versatile key to unlock even the most guarded mages’ suspicions, Lennok finally emerged into the lobby, deep in thought.

While he had managed to gather various technologies and research results, there was something strange he had noticed along the way.

‘Some of the magic towers and research institutions seem to have oddly overlapping research directions.’

Unable to resist, Lennok purchased a roll of commercially available rechargeable scroll tissue and fiddled with it, his gaze cooling.

‘Institutions with hardly any shared connections have chosen the same theme… there has to be a reason for it.’

Most of the overlapping themes related to atmospheric flow manipulation or magnetic storm resistance experiments, all of which had to do with Vulcan’s atmospheric conditions. What were the odds that these topics would all coincidentally align at this expo?

Just as Lennok was about to delve further into his thoughts, a voice called out from behind him.

“Evan?”

He stopped in his tracks. Turning around, he saw a sharp-eyed woman with loosely tied blue hair, her mouth smudged with ice cream, looking his way.

“Wow, it really is you, Evan! Long time no see!”

The woman approached cheerfully, giving him a rough slap on the shoulder. Lennok quickly changed his expression, smiling wryly as if he couldn’t help it.

“Camilla, it’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“Camilla, is this someone you know?”  

Behind her, a towering giant with straw-colored hair stepped forward. Despite his stern expression, he wore a cone hat and held a gear-shaped balloon in one hand. Camilla turned back to him, still holding onto Lennok.

“Felix, this is my younger sibling’s professor I told you about!!”

Felix and Camilla were members of the Antares Mercenary Office. Given the size of the Magic Engineering Expo, it seemed they, too, were here for a day out.

“Oh, so you’re Evan Vylun, the assistant professor….”

Felix, having apparently heard of Evan before, raised his eyebrows and offered his hand for a handshake.

“Felix Magath. Pleased to meet you.”  

“Evan Vylun.”

Felix and Camilla didn’t know that Lennok and Evan were the same person. They only knew, through Camilla’s younger sister Priscilla, who worked at Rabatenon University, that her professor’s name was Evan. Nonetheless, Felix seemed genuinely interested in Evan.

“I’ve heard quite a bit about you. I understand you once helped apprehend a cult missionary?”  

“It wasn’t a big deal….”  

“Camilla praised your talents in combat, even though you’re a research mage.”  

“He saved Silla, so you can trust my judgment.”

"As you can see, he's not the type to throw around empty words."  

"……."

With that, Felix pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Lennok.  

"Antares Mercenary Office is always open to talented newcomers. Should we ever cross paths."  

"…Thank you. I’ll accept it."

“Are you presenting at this expo? I’ll come by with the others to watch!”  

“I wonder what Dylan is up to. And Stella? She’s probably already off drinking, isn’t she?”

As Lennok watched the Antares mercenaries move off, laughing and chatting, he let out a small chuckle and turned back to his path. Time had passed more quickly than he realized, and Cassia was likely feeling the pressure. It was time for him to take over the booth and start preparing.

As Lennok headed back to his booth, he noticed Cassia standing with her arms crossed, staring intently in a particular direction. She looked sharper and more on edge than usual. Just as Lennok was about to cautiously call out to her, a rigid voice sounded beside their booth.

“Evan Vylun?”

A stern-looking man, with an expression as unyielding as steel, stood facing Lennok. Glancing around the booth as if he owned it, he stepped inside without hesitation.

“Assistant Professor Evan Vylun of Rabatenon University, correct?”  

"Yes, that would be me…."  

“Seeing the dean’s spirit with you confirms it.”

Cutting Lennok off, the man eyed the engine on display.

“I’d heard that some leech was going around showing off Professor Ricellen’s work as his own. I thought I’d see it for myself.”

“…”

“I’m surprised you look so decent. People who cling to others to suck them dry usually have a specific look to them.” He glanced around the booth and added, "Then again, I suppose that level of charm is necessary to enchant even an assistant researcher from the Carlisle Institute into staging such an elaborate show."

When someone displays hostility this openly, it barely even stirs anger.

“You might want to be careful with that loose tongue of yours. Or perhaps you’re beyond needing caution?”

At that moment, Cassia stepped forward, her face icy and resolute, intercepting the man’s verbal attacks.

"I’ll make sure you take full responsibility for that pathetic provocation you just spewed."

“Is that so?”  

“The emblem on your coat—you’re from the Pegrache Institute, right?” Cassia shot back with a cutting tone.  

“There’s a lot of talk about your connection to a senator. Planning to flaunt that influence here at the expo too?”

“I don’t understand. Isn’t it you all who have the backing of the city council?”  

“What?”  

The man rubbed his temples, his face genuinely puzzled.

"Did you really think our institute wouldn’t know that your dean has been lobbying as a technical advisor for the Central Council?"  

"Even shamelessness has its limits," Cassia retorted with a sharp edge in her tone.

"There have been multiple articles about Pegrache Institute being raided twice by the Audit Committee led by Representative Mayer—"  

"We’re merely collaborating for the sake of research," the man interrupted, redirecting the conversation. "For Rabatenon to criticize us for lobbying when they’re the real lobbyists… don’t you think that’s the height of hypocrisy?"

"Anyway, I was curious to see what nerve you had to crawl out here to the expo, but I see there’s no need to bother."

The man sneered, tapping his hand against the engine Lennok had assembled.  

"So, this is what you brought? Just one engine based on the mana-electric conversion principle?"

"......"

"When your thesis was first presented, it was groundbreaking, but this field has long since moved into market-ready, mass-producible tech. There are plenty of top-tier magic engineering engines out there that match this."

A mixture of undisguised delight and disdain glinted in the man’s eyes as he looked at Lennok.  

"As I expected, just a cheap imitation of Professor Ricellen’s work. That so-called second paper of yours is likely just a rehash of your first."  

Bang, bang!  

The man’s strikes on the engine grew harsher.

"Maybe you thought you could leech off others' hard work forever, but you’ve picked the wrong stage this time. I’ll make sure every inch of that shameless face and pathetic display is…!"

"If you keep hitting it like that," Lennok interrupted, his gaze fixed on the engine the man had been pounding, "it’ll explode."

"What?"  

Hiiisss…!

Just then, the upper section of the engine, which the man had been beating, turned red-hot, emitting a bluish flame.

Boom!!!

The man’s hand, grasping the searingly hot engine, was engulfed in flames, and his face twisted in agony as he let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Aaaaargh!!!"

Grabbing his burning arm, the man thrashed wildly on the floor of the booth. Before Lennok or Cassia could take any action, several people rushed over from a nearby booth to help him.

"Sliman!!"  

"What happened?!"  

"His arm’s injured! Call for security immediately!"  

"No, no… my arm…!!!"

His arm, still engulfed in flames, appeared barely functional. Sliman likely realized the severity of his injury from the moment the engine had exploded. Cassia grimaced slightly as she watched Sliman’s tear-streaked, contorted face.

With a scream close to a fit, Sliman pointed at the two of them.

“It’s them! Those bastards burned my arm!”

***

“So, the CCTV footage doesn’t show any malicious intent from you two…”

“They burned Sliman’s arm! They’re using vile tactics to eliminate competition!”

“But wasn’t it Researcher Sliman himself who approached the booth and tampered with the demonstration piece?”

“The Carlisle Institute set this up… jealous of Pegrache’s success!”

“Ah, well…”

The official, who had been politely listening to Sliman’s colleagues’ baseless complaints, let out a troubled sigh. Surrounded by security personnel, Sliman’s right arm appeared nearly immobile. A high-temperature burn that inflicted one of the most excruciating pains imaginable. Without assistive devices, using his right arm would likely be challenging in the future. Though a prosthetic would allow him to continue research, it would significantly impair his control of mana, making it difficult to function as a mage.

“Touching an in-progress demonstration device is clearly his own fault, so I can’t say much there. Morally, it’s unfortunate… but we can’t take responsibility for this.”

“You…! Do you know what we’re about to face, and yet you stand there saying this?!”

Sliman’s colleagues grabbed the official by the collar, shaking him aggressively. Lennok could feel the sidelong glances from nearby mages and researchers preparing at their own booths. Ignoring the onlookers, he quietly focused on repairing the engine.

Cassia glanced at him over her shoulder, asking cautiously, “Will it be done soon?”

“No problem.” Lennok replied. “It was just an overload in the heat vent filter; adjusting the output limit should fix it.”

“Hm, funny how of all the filters, the one he tampered with overloaded…”

“Pure coincidence,” Lennok replied, and Cassia smiled knowingly.

“Of course, a rather unfortunate coincidence.”

What Lennok had to deal with wasn’t Pegrache Institute but the judges who’d be scrutinizing his paper. Compared to the tasks ahead, this commotion was minor. Damaging Sliman’s arm instead of outright killing him was a deliberate choice. Even if he could pass it off as an accident, a death might delay the expo’s schedule, and Lennok couldn’t risk the event being disrupted by one useless obstacle.

“The adjustments are finished. It should work normally now.”

As Lennok stretched his stiff back and stood up, Cassia, who had been tidying up the booth, asked him casually, “By the way, is the content of your second paper really related to this engine?”

"Now you’re suddenly curious about it?"  

"I’ve been curious for quite some time," Cassia replied with a smirk.

“That fool’s words earlier might have been nonsense, but it does seem likely that your second paper’s results are connected to this engine.” She reasoned that if it weren’t, Lennok wouldn’t be here, fixing the engine right before the expo presentation. Though he claimed it was merely for show, it was suspicious that he’d brought almost nothing else along. Cassia wondered what he had in mind, that even their strict dean had called in favors and risked pushing things so boldly.

"An impressive improvement in fuel efficiency or power, perhaps?"

Before Lennok could reply, a calm voice echoed from outside the booth. It belonged to a woman with cold eyes and glasses, dressed in attire closer to a military uniform than a researcher’s, quite unlike Sliman’s colleague from the Pegrache Institute.

“Fedora. Fedora Avon, from the Defense Technology Bureau.”

Fedora, choosing not to step inside, kept her gaze fixed on Lennok from outside the booth. “What that fool tried to pull earlier is regrettable.”

“Oh, it’s fine…” Lennok began.

“I just found out he was rejected from Professor Ricellen’s lab recently. Seems he’s gone a bit mad, holding a grudge against you.”

In that short time, Fedora had gathered information about both of them and approached Lennok for a conversation. The Defense Technology Bureau, still active even after General Treffen’s betrayal, was clearly well-informed.

“I’m not as idiotic as he is, but he wasn’t entirely wrong.” Glancing at the engine, Fedora continued, “I assume you’re planning to present results from your second paper, aiming to improve engine performance or efficiency? You’ll need at least that much to have anything worth showing.”

"Is that so?"

Fedora was far more reasonable than Sliman, yet her tone hinted at skepticism toward Lennok’s research results.

“But results like that alone won’t catch the attention of the senators,” she added. “The theme they want for this expo has been set from the beginning, and we’ve been preparing for it for a long time. So have the other institutes. Even if your dean has connections in city government, what could Rabatenon University achieve without real collaboration or support?”

Fedora’s expression remained unphased as she looked at Lennok’s engine. “The city council always seeks new breakthroughs and innovative technologies. Simply repeating past achievements won’t meet their expectations. It seems your dean chose the wrong person.”

"Innovative breakthroughs…"

“I heard your dean went to great lengths to get you a place on this expo stage. If you fail, his influence and reputation will likely suffer significantly.”

With a faint, amused smile, Fedora casually strolled past the booth. “Let’s do our best, though the outcome already seems determined.”

Cassia watched Fedora’s retreating figure with a mixture of frustration and disbelief, then turned to Lennok, a hint of a vein pulsing on her forehead as she smiled.

“Maybe we should give that woman a closer look at the engine?”

“It’s best to stay calm,” Lennok replied with a grin. “The demonstration will begin soon.”

Just then, the bustle in the city hall booths increased. An automated announcement echoed softly through the lobby.

[Selected participants, please step forward when called.]

[We will now begin the evaluation process.]

The booths located outside the main lobby were summoned one by one to an expansive, open stage within the lobby. As the lights slowly came on, figures seated neatly on the second floor of the city hall became visible, though their faces remained shrouded in shadow, with only gnarled hands gripping staff visible.

The senators from the City Council’s Central Assembly had arrived at the expo, marking the start of the demonstration to evaluate the expo’s innovations and technologies.