Episode 20
“Th-That is to say…”
When I checked Aidan’s reaction, Adelian took hold of both my shoulders. At the warmth holding me carefully, it felt as though not just my face, but my entire body grew hot now.
“I also heard from His Majesty, so I know exactly what you two are doing.”
Then again, since he was the Crown Prince, he would naturally know everything. I had gotten nervous for nothing.
“I’ve never seen a core in person either, but still, I want to be of help.”
“We were investigating things that suddenly appeared from unknown origins—things that look like gems, but aren’t gems.”
“Oh, that sounds just like this spinel.”
Adelian spoke while turning the scratched spinel—the piece of evidence—this way and that.
“Hmm, I happen to know of one such thing, though.”
“Pardon?”
“Is that true?”
When both of us asked at the same time, he smiled and nodded his head.
“I only heard the details through a letter, so whether it’s truly a core or not, I don’t know, but…”
Adelian’s explanation that followed went as follows.
His childhood mentor, Dr. Helico, was an honorary professor at the academy who had entered a sabbatical year starting last year. He was said to be spending peaceful days in a rural village a little distance away from the capital.
“However, one day, upon waking up suddenly, he found a blue cubic zirconia fallen on his window frame, you see.”
“A blue cubic zirconia?”
“Yes. It looked like a gem, but since it wasn’t a gem, it was concluded to be cubic zirconia. The doctor always set out water on the window frame so that small animals like birds or squirrels could drink and go. That’s why he wondered if perhaps a crow had picked it up from somewhere and left it behind.”
“What, as if a crow were repaying a favor?”
It was a statement typical of Aidan, who possessed not an ounce of sensitivity, but—something that looked like a gem, yet was not a gem. Something not in one’s memory, yet suddenly formed.
There was a high probability it was a core.
“Then where can we meet that Dr. Helico?”
At my question, Adelian looked at me with the ends of his eyebrows gently arched.
“The reason I came to know this news is precisely because of that. Dr. Helico happened to take on the role of a judge for the Comprehensive Academic Conference this time.”
If it was the Comprehensive Academic Conference, I knew about it as well.
Once a year, regardless of the field of study, all researchers gathered to submit full text papers related to their latest research achievements and undergo evaluation.
Since the field wasn’t fixed, many papers flooded in, and winning an award there carried many special privileges.
Prize money was a given, and one could receive research funding for three years. If one had children, their academy admission fees were covered, and if one had no children, this benefit could be received at a later time.
Of course, all these special privileges could only be received if one placed first, but…
In truth, even just placing among the winners made one famous, so people from all over would try to recruit them.
“This time marks the 50th anniversary of the academic conference, you see. So at the word that a special prize was needed, they said Dr. Helico embedded that cubic zirconia into the fountain pen he had received at an academic conference in the past.”
“A fountain pen…”
“Is that something one can only obtain by winning the Paper of the Year Award at the academic conference?”
“That’s right.”
At Aidan’s question, Adelian answered as if it were obvious.
“As for the academic conference schedule, there’s barely a month left, isn’t there?”
“To be precise, it’s 3 weeks and 4 days.”
Aidan, who counted the days even amidst this, saying such things must be precise, let out a sigh.
“This will be a bit difficult. What kind of paper can we write at this point? We haven’t conducted any separate research, either.”
Clicking his tongue, Aidan pressed between his brows. Writing a paper overnight out of thin air was a difficult task. Furthermore, because the academic conference held no separate restrictions on gender or age, many people participated every year.
Since anything less than decent quality wouldn’t stand a chance among them, his reaction like this was natural.
“Instead, how about speaking to the academy and putting out a different prize other than that fountain pen? I might be able to arrange a slightly better item using my own power.”
“I’m sorry, but that will be difficult.”
Adelian shook his head lightly.
“As you know, Dr. Helico is a person respected by many scholars.”
That much was true. A whopping twenty-five years ago, he overturned the theory that all bacteria would perish without enduring stomach acid for long, discovering bacteria living in the stomach lining, and through this, he published a paper that turned the medical field upside down.
Even after that, through developing antibiotics using bacterial culture methods, he went as far as developing vaccines, achieving accomplishments that dramatically lowered the Empire’s death rate from disease.
To the extent that even commoners busy trying to make a living for themselves knew his name.
Because of that, countless scholars respected Dr. Helico. To the point where visiting his hometown, sitting in the library seat where he reportedly studied often, and the pen he was said to use whenever studying were still popular among academy students.
“It has already been publicly announced that his personal cherished item—the fountain pen he received at the academic conference himself—will be offered as a prize for this academic conference, you see.”
“Even if they don’t need the prize money, there will be many people intent on obtaining that fountain pen.”
“Indeed.”
They announced that Dr. Helico’s personal cherished item would be offered as a prize to commemorate the 50th anniversary, so even if someone proposed changing that prize to something else now, the academy side would probably oppose it as well.
“Troublesome in many ways.”
“Would it be difficult to change just that cubic zirconia to something else?”
Since it was said to be blue, wouldn’t they actually prefer it if a real sapphire or something were attached instead?
“Hmm, you see, about that. While attaching that cubic zirconia, the jeweler made a mistake, causing a large crack in the fountain pen. The moment someone attempts to remove it, the fountain pen will likely snap in two.”
Though it wasn’t Adelian’s fault, he looked sheepish as if apologetic.
“In the end, to confirm whether that cubic zirconia is truly a core or not, there’s no choice but to win an award at the paper conference.”
A heavy silence descended.
“What do you want to do? There’s also the method of buying it at a premium from the winner later.”
“However, they won’t sell it. Even I wouldn’t sell it.”
It was a cherished item belonging to a person one respected, after all.
“Then what are you proposing we do? We can’t hit them on the back of the head, knock them unconscious, and snatch it away, either.”
Sighing, Aidan kicked at the innocent floor.
“As for a paper, I actually have one.”
“…What?”
Aidan raised his head and looked at me, and Adelian likewise stared at me with curious eyes.
“There’s a paper I was writing because I wanted to go to graduate school. Though I took the civil service exam, giving it up was difficult, you see.”
“It was surprising that you didn’t advance to graduate school, to be sure.”
Did Aidan take an interest in my path? We were people who didn’t even greet each other during our academy days.
“So what’s the topic of the paper?”
“Ah, actually, it’s nothing much, but…”
Having to present the results of research I had conducted with my own mouth felt embarrassing, just like reading aloud a novel I had written myself.
“Using candles when studying late at night was inconvenient, you see? Although gas lamps are bright, there’s a risk of fire, making them difficult to use inside the dormitory, and leaving them lit for a long time makes the air stale, too.”
Awkwardly, I stroked the back of my neck.
“So I thought of an electric lamp that can illuminate without fire.”
“An electric lamp?”
As if intrigued, Adelian leaned his upper body forward.
“At first, I conducted experiments passing electricity through platinum to emit light. Because platinum has a high melting point and doesn’t rust easily. But frankly, platinum was far too expensive, so I couldn’t test it many times.”
“Hmm.”
“So I wanted to try using another conductor that had good electrical conductivity while being cheaper than platinum, but…”
What if they say it’s nothing impressive? My voice grew smaller and smaller.
“In the end, I graduated without being able to conduct a proper experiment. Still, since I have all the materials regarding the research…”
I had nothing more to say, yet the two said nothing.
As expected, was it far too unimpressive a research topic?
I simply fiddled with my innocent fingers. It was right at the moment I was about to hang my head low at the surging embarrassment.
“…Insane.”
My head stopped at Aidan’s deeply sunken voice.
