The existence of the dragon that once ruled the world has been forgotten, reduced to just a VeTuber concept.
The truth of the wizard has been buried in the Net Space.
And nobody seems to care about any of it.
In an era where magic has become a vulgar joke, a commoner couldn’t believe the truth.
“…That’s nonsense.”
Maybe it was because, despite having the profession of a thief, he couldn’t defeat a warrior (a skill level that’s garbage), making it hard for him to easily trust others.
Of course, the fact that he hadn’t received proper maintenance or scaling on his cyberware prosthetic arm also played a part.
Furthermore, Teddy had arms of different lengths. On closer inspection, even the size and shape of his fingers varied due to his own modifications.
In fact, one should marvel at the fact that he could play the game at all in that state.
Realizing this, I thought to myself that as a magnanimous warrior, I should understand him.
“I’m telling you it’s true.”
“Where on earth did you hear such a strange rumor? Even the moles in the underground don’t believe you.”
…….
Seeing he still couldn’t trust my words, it seemed that anyone who chose the thief profession had something wrong with their character from the start.
Anyway,
I slightly pushed back the chair I was sitting in.
Tilting my head to the side, I frowned.
“Then how am I supposed to convince you?”
Teddy clapped his hands, as if pleased with my question.
Since his hand was a prosthetic, a scraping sound of metal echoed out.
Teddy leaned in with a fierce expression.
“Let’s hear it! Who did you hear this from? A homeless person on the street? A conspiracy theorist high on mental care drugs? Or maybe from an anonymous bulletin board in the Net Space?”
I muttered quietly.
“The mayor of Neon City.”
“Hmm.”
After getting worked up from my answer, Teddy regained his calm demeanor.
“Then it might really be true.”
That was a very rapid change of stance.
I stared at him blankly with an icy gaze.
“41. A Truth Like a Lie (2)”
“But how do you even run a power plant with mana?”
His immediate acceptance of the truth and quick change of subject was a prime example of a thief.
…I should ask Eve for a nerf in place of a warrior buff.
I leaned back in my chair, formulating that plan in my mind.
“Honestly, I don’t really know. I just heard that they run the turbines with mana.”
Maybe they’re using fire magic.
To think that magical mysteries, which defy physical laws, were reduced to just boiling water…
In fact, this world was more rightly described as steampunk rather than cyberpunk.
After all, all the power was generated by steam engines.
Anyway, at my words, Teddy spun his mechanical eyes around. With a face that looked like a mad scientist, he innocently muttered,
“A turbine?”
“Ah.”
It seemed that having lived underground for so long, he lacked even basic common sense or knowledge.
“I see… You didn’t know…”
“Just stop your nonsense there.”
“……..”
Maybe it was because he was a hometown friend, but his words were a bit harsh.
I decided to kindly lower my level for my foolish friend and began to explain.
“You probably didn’t know, but most power production structures boil ‘water’ to make electricity using a ‘turbine.’”
Be it heat or wind power.
Even with advanced nuclear technologies like fission and fusion, the structure of “boiling water to produce electricity” remains the same.
Even if technology advances to the point where dark energy can be harnessed from space, they’d still be boiling water to turn turbines.
Sometimes, while wandering through the Net Space, such short jokes pop up.
“Hahaha! This device can absorb all negative human emotions and use them as an energy source!”
“…What are you planning to do with such evil power?!”
“Boil water to turn a turbine.”
“?”
Teddy, realizing the hidden truth of this world, instead of shouting, “That can’t possibly be true!!” and losing his sanity, said,
“I get it now. So, that’s how the power plant works. The incinerator must turn the waste heat to run the turbines as well.”
“Exactly.”
“But then…”
He asked me one question.
“…Is that even possible with magic?”
Feeling like his explanation was lacking, Teddy pointed a finger at Dal, who was bouncing happily on a soft sofa nearby.
“I know a bit about magic. That, over there, playing around, is also a wizard.”
Dal, catching on that he was mentioned, waved his hand at Teddy.
Teddy waved back, receiving Dal’s greeting, then turned his head to me again.
“Let’s be real, creating a fireball in mid-air isn’t that easy. But you say you can run a power plant with that? It doesn’t make sense. Even if I know little about how the world works.”
“That’s true.”
It wasn’t a response I could feasibly give, being capable of conjuring a massive fireball, but there was some merit to Teddy’s words.
All societal structures operate on ‘efficiency.’
Everything from taxing the lower class more than the upper class in cities to bestowing various privileges on corporations is all a choice based on efficiency.
I nodded in agreement to Teddy’s words.
“You’re right.”
“Hmm.”
“Exactly. I wonder why?”
“…?”
Teddy looked at me with a strange expression.
Despite sporting various scars and cheap round replica cyberware, I found it easy to read that look.
Teddy murmured in resignation.
“…Wait, why did you bring up this power plant? Did you think we might know something? Sorry to say, I’ve never heard of it.”
Hmm.
Originally, that was indeed my goal.
Having lived underground for so long, they might have heard a rumor about the mana power plant.
However, that wasn’t the only reason.
I changed my plan to Plan B.
I smoothly continued the topic as if I had intended to say this from the very beginning.
“I mentioned earlier.”
“What?”
“There’s probably a mana power plant right next to the incinerator where you lived.”
“So, what’s the big deal─.”
I interrupted Teddy’s sentence.
His voice was rough enough to make me feel like a static-filled TV screen was going blank.
“……Oh.”
I nodded toward Teddy who stared at me in a daze.
“A wizard took care of you two at the incinerator, right? Logically, don’t you think there’s a connection?”
I waited for Teddy’s reaction.
Coming back to his senses, Teddy’s mechanical eyes glinted.
“…Hey.”
“Uh-huh.”
His tone held a serious emotion.
At some point, Dal had approached us without making a sound, nearly making me jump.
Due to Dal’s ‘Chrome Allergy,’ Teddy shouldn’t come into contact with him, but he didn’t seem to care at all.
In short, he looked extremely anxious.
“…Why the sudden change?”
I instinctively tried to back away. But because I was sitting, there was only so far I could withdraw.
As my body hit the desk where the computer was set up, my head naturally turned back.
On the gray screen, a warrior character was jumping vigorously over Teddy’s character, who had lost a duel.
[P77648 (Warrior): Rubbish~ Rubbish~]
He was still taunting over the corpse.
I wanted to type a chat message to him.
“A thief is trying to attack me.”
But before I could even ask for help from him, a slowly speaking Teddy came closer to me.
“…You said you’re a famous mercenary, right?”
“…….That’s right?”
Given that I’ve often heard tales of being a lucky mercenary with good friends, I had to admit I was indeed famous in the mercenary world.
Teddy grabbed my hands with both of his.
The greasy feel of old oil transmitted through the prosthetics.
What on earth was he trying to discuss while setting this sort of tone?
With his head bowed as if praying, Teddy asked me.
“…Could you possibly go check out that mana power plant?”
…Suddenly?
Well, thinking about it,
It wasn’t really all that sudden.
After all, we had just been discussing the mana power plant.
It wasn’t exactly a difficult request either.
He wasn’t asking me to go through the underground sewers to the incinerator. If it was a properly functioning facility, there’d probably be elevators down there.
The wizard in the underground…
He said someone took care of Teddy and Dal like parents.
So, I could somewhat understand why he was begging me so earnestly.
As I organized my thoughts, Teddy suddenly had a look of realization and released my hands.
“…No, never mind. If it’s too much, just do some research.”
“If I research it, what will you do, go check it out yourself?”
“……..”
But it would be a hard task for them.
Generally, access to buildings like power plants is restricted in cities. I, however, had many connections, so it didn’t matter for me.
I shrugged my shoulders casually.
“I get why you want me to check it out, but let’s stay calm.”
After all, it had been a long time since Teddy and Dal lived at the incinerator.
It was unlikely that a day or two longer would drastically change things.
I picked up a towel that had fallen on the floor. As I wiped off the oil on my palm, I tried to calm down the anxious faces of Teddy and Dal.
“Let me look into it first; just wait a little longer.”
*
Who would have thought Teddy would bow his head so easily…
Remembering only the rude version of him from childhood, I felt a little strange.
I manipulated the visual interface and entered the number of a contact I had saved.
I was thinking of asking another person I knew for information about the mana power plant.
[Oh, what’s happening here!]
A holographic screen lit up with the face of an old man whose nose was bright red.
My second mentor, Merlin.
Honestly, he wasn’t the most reliable person, but still, a wizard is a wizard.
There was a good chance he’d know something.
Although it might have been faster to just ask Eve or the chairman, I thought I would give it a shot.
…….
Or maybe not?
Looking back, Merlin had a record of going underground after hearing rumors about wizards. I wasn’t sure if he’d know about a mana power plant.
Anyway, since I’d called, I should at least ask.
“…Uh.”
However,
Merlin seemed a bit off.
I noticed it was strange that his nose was red, but his whole face looked flushed too. He looked like a drunken homeless man on the street.
“Are you with anyone else?”
[That’s right! I did mention it, didn’t I? I’m with the wizard community! I’m here with my fellow colleagues!]
Ugh, so loud.
But hey, this was actually fortuitous.
While Merlin might not have known, other colleagues might have the information.
However, before I could continue speaking, Merlin’s loud voice reverberated through the visual interface.
[Listen everyone! This is my incredibly talented disciple I mentioned last time!]
How loud had he turned his voice up?
I could even hear the voices of other people jabbering beside him.
[Oh, is it that disciple everyone’s talking about?]
[You kept it under wraps, huh.]
In response to that voice, Merlin replied loudly.
[Well, I do have my reasons for not saying everything! This person here is the famous ‘Unique Wizard’ everyone is talking about!]
And then.
[…….]
[…….]
An inexplicable silence followed.
The previously raucous atmosphere vanished in an instant.
What just happened?
Merlin seemed to sense it too, as he oddly asked the crowd (probably other wizards).
[…Why is everyone acting this way? Is it because the nickname seems too arrogant? No, that’s not this friend’s fault─.]
At that moment, another wizard broke the silence.
[…If it’s the Unique Wizard, isn’t that the person always with ‘Meteor’?”]
Ah.
[Excuse me, Meteor…! Eep!!]
[Nicholas!!]
[Damn it, it’s a malfunction in my heart implant! Hurry, call for emergency services!]
No wonder I hadn’t received any contact from the wizard community…
I nodded to myself.
When I think about it, Catherine’s infamy was about this level.
