Chapter 128 - 128 Demonstration at the Church
Mercury and Jupiter arrived in the Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Cascade.
As they stepped off the station, Jupiter glared at the steam locomotive.
"At last, I don't have to ride a vehicle developed by Archibalt."
The steam locomotive was not developed by Steve; rather, the mechanism of the steam locomotive was conveyed to the Royal Research Institute, and based on that, geniuses within the country set it in motion. Steve claims it is the achievement of those geniuses, but generally, the story is told as if it were Steve's development.
Therefore, both Jupiter and Mercury had thought it was something developed by Steve.
Hearing Jupiter's remark, Mercury smiled wryly.
"Jupiter has a rigid mind. If it's convenient and doesn't contradict God's teachings, I think we should accept it. It's faster than a carriage, has less shaking, and we were able to travel like this, so isn't that good?"
"That convenience might cause people to lose their faith."
Jupiter said that because she didn't want to acknowledge Steve's achievements, but the steam locomotive had no effect that would cause people to lose their faith.
Mercury pacified Jupiter and they left the station.
Their destination was the church where Eaton was located. The two planned to stay overnight at the church in the Kingdom of Cascade without booking a separate inn. Their outward identity was researchers from the Holy Nation, and the reason for their entry was to verify the achievement of creating gold from mercury. The purpose of this entry was the theoretical fusion of theology and science.
Deceiving even their own kin was second nature to them, and Eaton, upon receiving the notification that they were truly researchers, believed it to be true. He accepted the two without any suspicion. Furthermore, they promised to make a large donation to the Royal Research Institute and to invite Steve to the church to show him how to create gold from mercury.
The condition to do this at the church was because there was something they wanted to verify in secret, and they did not want anyone from the Royal Research Institute to hear about it.
Because of the large donation, even the Royal Research Institute, which usually does not send people on business trips, decided to do so since the church was nearby.
When Steve first heard the request from the church from Cyril, he spoke with Bella alone about finally coming to it.
"There's the matter of Julia's revelation, and with this timing, there's a high possibility this is a trap. They even set the condition to verify it at the church."
"If there are many companions, we can't protect everyone."
"It's just me and Bella going. Regarding the theory of creating gold from mercury, researchers haven't even observed the tiny world, so they don't understand it well enough to explain it."
Only Steve and Bella were going. This was because, in explaining the theory of creating gold from mercury, researchers did not understand protons and neutrons or the concept of atomic decay, and had not yet reached the stage of teaching it to anyone. Although they had given a simple explanation during a visit to the Royal Research Institute, they were not considering sending someone on a business trip for that purpose.
There were also requests for lectures from other countries, but all were declined.
For Steve himself, his knowledge was only at the level learned in school in his previous life, and it would be difficult to answer if asked about anything beyond that.
Bella looked at Steve's face.
"Is something on your face?"
"No. I was just wondering how Steve came to know about such an invisible tiny world."
"Can't the reason be that it just entered my head mysteriously?"
"That's right. Let's go with that. Because it's no different from before."
Bella was puzzled about how Steve knew about protons and neutrons, but she thought that even if she wasn't told, it wouldn't change their relationship. After all, how Steve knew things like this was the same for everything up until now.
And if pursuing this would break their current relationship, it was better to maintain the status quo without doing so.
However, the fact that Steve knew these things was also a topic of discussion at the Royal Research Institute. Especially this time, it was about an extremely tiny world that was difficult to observe.
It had been decided that magic attributes were an industry, and since there were no other mages with such attributes besides Steve, verification was impossible, so for now, that was the conclusion. However, as researchers, they wanted to study that point.
If a mage with an industrial attribute was discovered next time, would they present similar inventions and ideas? Furthermore, if magical talent could be created artificially, could Steve's same talent be reproduced?
Those with fire attributes could all create fireballs and arrows with magic. The same applied to water attributes. Therefore, it was predicted that even with industrial attributes, it would be the same.
Of course, with only one sample, verification was impossible.
For that reason, the phenomenon of reincarnation was not recognized, and no one thought Steve possessed knowledge from another world.
"So, what will you do? Kill them?"
"I've talked about this before, but first, let's talk."
"You're surprisingly kind. Are they young women?"
"No way. The church is basically male-supremacist. Julia is a Saintess, so she gets special treatment, but if you look at the Pope and Bishops, they are all men. I think the researchers are men too. Men and women are not equal under God."
"In that case, Steve, who decides positions based on ability regardless of gender, is much more like God."
"Well, actually, it's the result of the church's organizational management continuing to want men in key positions, not God's words. But God is equally guilty for allowing it."
They were having such a conversation, but when Steve actually met Mercury and Jupiter, he was surprised to find they were young women. However, at this time, Steve could not have predicted that.
On the day of the promised demonstration, Steve went to the church, and Eaton greeted him.
"Welcome. Normally, I would come to pick you up."
"No, the distance is fine. By the way, where are the researchers?"
Steve wondered why Eaton was alone.
"They are waiting in the garden. They requested to use the mercury they brought, but considering poisoning, they asked for a well-ventilated place. They are preparing now. It would be extremely disrespectful not to welcome the Apostle, but well, that is not generally known, so it cannot be helped."
"Hmm."
With those words, Steve considered the possibility that the researchers did not think highly of him. As Steve was the guest, not greeting him meant they either thought they were the customers paying money, or they thought there was no value in greeting him.
Even if they were not assassins, he had a feeling it would become troublesome.
"I will show you the way."
Saying that, Eaton led him to the inner courtyard.
There were two young women: Mercury and Jupiter.
The moment she saw them, Bella frowned.
"They are young women."
"Yes, they are."
Waiting for Steve in the courtyard were the cute Mercury and Jupiter, who possessed a beauty like a male role. If their wives were present here, they would undoubtedly be suspected of something inappropriate.
The distance between them was about 10 meters. Eaton informed the two that he had brought Steve, who was to give the demonstration today.
"I have brought His Excellency Archibalt, today's guest."
The moment she heard that, killing intent overflowed from Jupiter. Eaton could not sense it, but Steve and Bella sensed it and took a defensive stance.
Jupiter had no intention of hiding her killing intent and glared at Steve.
"You devil who deceives the commoners!"
Magic power gathered around Jupiter, and lightning began to run.
"Burn!"
Following Jupiter's command, lightning ran toward Steve.
Don!
A pillar of fire rose with that sound. In the dazzling light and fire pillar, Jupiter could no longer see Steve. However, based on the impact, she thought she had killed him.
Jupiter's vision returned, and she looked at the place where Steve had been with eyes full of expectation, but there was no figure of Steve scorched black. He was standing there in the same form as before the lightning struck directly. The only difference was that his figure appeared slightly blurry.
"Is this lightning?"
Steve confirmed that the lightning aimed at him had vanished while smiling brightly. He had taken no damage.
Jupiter, who had cast the magic, and Mercury, who knew Jupiter's strength, were shocked by this.
"Impossible, the lightning strike should have hit."
"It didn't hit. What hit was this water."
The reason Steve's figure was blurry was due to water. Transparent water covered Steve and the others, and the lightning struck there and flowed into the ground, disappearing.
Hearing "water," Jupiter became furious.
"Do you intend to deceive me by saying it's water?"
"I don't intend to deceive you."
"Water cannot stop a lightning strike. If you shoot into a puddle, the infidel who stepped in there would fall down."
"That was rainwater. This is fresh water, so it doesn't conduct electricity."
The water created by Steve was pure water. Since pure water does not conduct electricity, the lightning stopped there.
When Steve heard Julia's revelation, he had considered insulation by water as a countermeasure against lightning. When Jupiter wrapped herself in lightning, he realized this was lightning and created water.
Even after being explained, Jupiter could not accept it.
"How can that be!"
"There's no 'if' about it; what happened right before your eyes is a fact. By the way, I came because I was asked to show an experiment of creating gold from mercury, so what is the meaning of suddenly shooting lightning magic at me?"
Saying that, Steve bound Mercury and Jupiter with earthen chains. Even when bound, Jupiter continued to shoot lightning, so Steve covered them with a dome of pure water.
Steve shrugged his shoulders.
"Probably, an assassination order for me came from the Holy Nation, right?"
Hearing Steve's words, Eaton panicked.
"We certainly did not receive such an order."
"Well, if it were Eaton, it would show on your face. I think there was some movement even the Bishop didn't know about. Shall we ask him directly?"
Saying that, Steve intended to force a confession with a compulsion magic, but the magic had no effect.
"Is the mental magic countered? Does that mean you aren't just cheap assassins?"
"That is correct. Mental magic does not work on us."
Jupiter smiled triumphantly. They had been given magic items that canceled out mental magic, and due to their influence, Steve's magic had not worked.
However, even the triumphant Jupiter was at a standstill because her magic could not escape the water dome.
Against such Jupiter, Mercury sighed.
"Really, Jupiter attacks without even checking. Well, since it has come to this, we have no choice but to fight."
Saying that, she activated magic.
Mercury's body turned into a silver liquid, melting viscously and escaping the earthen chain's restraint.
Steve realized this was mercury.
"Heh. Magic to turn one's own body into another substance. That's interesting."
While reading the standard operating procedure he had created based on Mercury's magic, Steve became interested in this strange phenomenon. It was a phenomenon that could not be proven by science. If this could be clarified, not only creating gold from mercury, but also creating gold from earth would become possible. Thinking that, he couldn't stop his excitement.
Even while doing that, Mercury, still in the form of mercury, took on a human shape, broke through the water dome, and approached.
Steve tried driving earthen stakes toward Mercury.
It wasn't like hitting a nail into bran, but driving earthen stakes into liquid mercury did not inflict damage.
"It's useless."
Mercury's liquid face laughed at Steve with contempt.
Steve did not seem bothered even when laughed at.
"How about this?"
Steve used magic to create countless ice bullets and fired them one after another near Mercury's neck.
Mercury did not stop with that and continued to approach. The ice bullets were absorbed by Mercury, showing no signs of damage.
"Useless, useless."
Saying that, Mercury closed the distance, getting close enough to reach out.
"That is not useless."
Steve smiled, took out a sword he had stored in subspace using storage magic, and cut Mercury's neck.
Mercury's severed neck rolled on the ground, looking at Steve with an expression of surprise.
Towards Mercury's neck, which seemed to say "unbelievable," Steve flashed his brightest smile.
"See? It wasn't useless, was it?"
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