SIAW Vol. 2 Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – All Fingers Point to Dorothea

After taking care of the registration process in the “Chamber of Knowledge”, Zanvert and I went back to the meeting room.

“How did it go!?”

Dorothea was still sitting on the floor, in the apologetic posture we left her in.

Oh, right, I had almost forgotten about her…

Sil’s familiar registration, the “Chamber of Knowledge”…I had made plenty of new experiences for one day, so I was getting pretty tired. I wanted to go back and rest…

“Right, I forgot about you, sister. What should we do with this, Tenma?”

Oof, Zanvert, aren’t you a bit too strict? She’s family, isn’t she?

Her sudden request to see my status had thrown me for a loop, but I wasn’t furious or anything,

Zanvert’s question, however, made me come up with an idea.

“Dorothea is a very famous magician in this country, yes?”

“Indeed I am! Even His Majesty the King prizes my abilities!”

I had asked the question to Zanvert, but Dorothea answered instead. He nodded, though, so I supposed she wasn’t lying.

“In that case, you have a degree of influence over nobles or other people of authority, yes?”

Dorothea cocked her head to the side: she didn’t seem to understand what I was getting at. Zanvert replied instead.

“Tenma, are you thinking of using her as a patron?”

Dorothea barged back in the conversation.

“Patron, supporter, whatever you want! As long as you let me see the results of the registration! Pleeease!!”

She really had nothing but her experiments in mind…

I sighed.

“I’m starting to think that it might be more dangerous to have Dorothea as patron…”

“Indeed…anyway, what did you want her to do?”

I explained my ideas to Zanvert in detail.

“I wanted her to act as the manager for the knowledge I registered today.”

When I did the registration in the “Chamber of Knowledge”, I learned that it was also possible to create an additional contract, to set usage fees and availability with more conditions. Using this function, I wanted to set up a system like the following:

.

Dorothea can issue permits (with prior permission from Zanvert)

Zanvert can issue permits (with prior permission from me, “TEX”) 

Any earnings from usage fees would be split evenly between the issuer and TEX.

TEX can issue permits freely, but will inform Dorothea, Zanvert or the two women from the Magicians’ Guild when it happens.

.

First, I was going to make a new contract with the above content and register it in the “Chamber of Knowledge”. I would then have them sign another contract, with the following conditions:

.

The true identity of TEX will only be known to Zanvert, Dorothea and her two assistants.

On the surface, Tenma is acting on behalf of TEX.

Any experiments related to TEX’ documents will generally not be made public.

TEX will assist such experiments, whenever possible.

.

“…I want to form a new contract with you all, with these conditions. This way, I can hide the fact that I am “TEX” and can continue testing and experimenting, with Dorothea as a cover. If she “loses control” again, Zanvert can stop her, I’m sure. On the other hand, Dorothea can experiment to her heart’s content, as well as receive funding for it. I think it’s a good proposal for everyone involved, don’t you agree?”

I finished my explanation, and noticed that Dorothea had sparkles in her eyes.

“Yes, yes! I fully, completely, absolutely agree!! Just let me see the results of the registration, pleeeeaaase!”

…this woman is really pure, in a way…

“Yes, I don’t think there are any problems. To be honest, the process seems cumbersome, but I did ask you to register your writings in the first place, so I can’t really complain.”

Zanvert agreed too. Dorothea’s two assistants nodded as well: everyone was in agreement, then.

Zanvert wanted to form the contract, but Dorothea and her assistants seemed to be too interested in the registered documents to comply,

It couldn’t be helped: I made three more permits and gave them to the three women.

Dorothea immediately tried to stand up and rush to the Chamber of Knowledge…but spending such a long time sitting in an uncomfortable position had made her legs numb: she lost her balance and fell face first.

When she raised her head, there was blood running from her nose. She couldn’t even be bothered with wiping it, however, and wobbled out of the meeting room.

I watched Dorothea go, perplexed, then turned to Zanvert.

“How old is your sister, exactly?”

“She will turn 60 next month. I am 51, by the way. Oh, and the two women who were with her are both in their late forties.”

“I…I can’t believe it…”

I was at a loss for words.

Dorothea looked like a mature, alluring woman about 35 years old. From the standpoint of my previous life self, she was like a sexy, slightly older female coworker…and yet! She was older than my mother!?

The other two women too looked like intellectual beauties in their mid twenties to me…yet turned out to be twice that age instead.

I was making the new contract with Zanvert, despite the turbulent, complex emotions in my heart, when Dorothea rushed back into the room, almost breaking the door down in her momentum.

“T-T-They!! Were!! All!! SSS!!!”

Zanvert and I looked at her for one second, then returned to our task.

“Can you not comprehend, young one!? Your documents will change history!!”

Zanvert shot Dorothea a cold glare.

“Are you talking about the documents that were almost buried in darkness by a certain someone’s uncontrollable curiosity?”

“Ah…egh..I…”

Dorothea was stumped.

“More importantly, “dear sister”! Read this contract and, if there aren’t any problems, sign it!”

“Yes sir…”

Dorothea’s two assistants returned a little while later, as excited as her, but perceived the icy cold air in the room and quietly signed the contract.

◇　　　◇　　　◇　　　◇

We registered the new contract in the “Chamber of Knowledge” and returned to the meeting room, to find Marcel waiting. Zanvert had called for him, apparently.

Thanks to that, we could complete the contract process quickly.

After casting the contract formation spell again, Marcel immediately left the room.

“That takes care of all of our business today, yes?”

Zanvert smiled wryly and replied to my question.

“Yes, I’m sorry it took so much time.”

I wanted to say goodbye to Zanvert and leave, but…

“P-Please wait a moment, young one! The contract said that “TEX will assist the experiments”. I want to talk about that!”

So desperately pleaded Dorothea. Luckily, Zanvert tried to dissuade her.

“I don’t think we should ask more of Tenma today, sister. Let’s save it for another time.”

“B-But…”

Looking at their exchange, I was reminded that I had something to give to them.

I accessed my Item Box and took out a ring I had made the day before and bracelets like the one I had lent to Misha, then attached several enchantments to them.

Zanvert and the others didn’t know what I was doing, so they just stared at the items in my hands.

“Here, I will lend you these. Please wear them and pour your magic power into the bracelet.”

After completing the enchantment, I gave a bracelet to each person in the room, so four in total.

The bracelets automatically fit the wearer’s arm size, much to their surprise.

I then continued.

“Next, please say, either out loud or in your mind, the word ‘Status’.”

“W-WHAT IN THE WORLD!?!”

The next instant, Dorothea yelled, surprising everyone else.

“T-Tenma, what is this…?”

Zanvert, apparently shocked, asked me to explain, but I gestured for him to wait.

“There are other functions, so I’ll take any questions you have later. Now, please pick up the documents and say, like before, the word ‘Storage’.”

Okay, looks like everyone can use Storage too.

“If you picture the item you wish to take out in your mind, it should appear in your hands. It is also possible to display a list of the items you currently have stored. Once you get used to it, you can store the items around you even without touching them, or also make them appear a short distance away from you.”

Dorothea, without saying a word, was repeatedly taking the documents in and out of Storage.

Did I see wrong, or were her hands shaking…?

“Storage automatically applies Preservation to the items inside, so there is no risk of deterioration.”

Everyone swallowed their breath after hearing about this perk.

“(Additionally, it is also possible to communicate mentally, like this. Just reach out to them in your mind, and you can have conversations with anyone, as long as you both are wearing the bracelet. I haven’t tested if there are limits on how far it reaches, though.)”

I continued explaining using Mindtype.

“(Furthermore, as you can see, it is also possible to mentally send written messages too. Mindtype messages remain, so you can check them again whenever you want after you have received them. It’s also possible to use them in different ways than the usual Mental Message.)”

I glanced at the surprised expressions of everyone in the room, then continued out loud.

“I will lend you this magic tool, as the research assistance I promised. I don’t mean to force you, of course: if you have no need for it, just give it back to me anytime.”

I made it so that sending a particular signal via Mindtype deactivated the bracelet, so if anything happened I could turn them off from my side too.

Dorothea was about to say something, but I motioned at her to stop and continued.

“I am not going to tell you any more details about this magic tool at the moment: just think of it as something you have borrowed from TEX, for research purposes. Also, when you want to contact me, please do it via Mindtype first. If necessary, I will contact you back via Mental Message.”

Despite what I said, Dorothea immediately bombarded me with Mental Messages, but I ignored them.

She looked clearly dissatisfied, but at least stopped saying anything.

I stood up and prepared to end my explanation.

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go pick up Misha now, so let’s stop here for today. If you have any simple questions, just send them via Mindtype. In case of complex ones, I’m afraid you’ll have to send them in actual writing. Thank you and have a nice day!”

I made it clear that my participation was finished and left the meeting room.

I had managed to obtain a lot more information than expected, but also spent much more time than scheduled too.

I left the building and hurried out of town.