New chapter of Control Engineer is out! (1/1 chapter)

Extreme Modification

(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)

After that, I tried Breeze, and wind properly came out. At first, I was innocently rejoiced.

Amazing! The combination of the internal brain system and the Possessor is amazing.

While I thought that, there was also a calm part of me that told me to think carefully.

Water came out, wind came out. From the phenomenon alone, it’s an amazing thing. No mistake. How does it happen like that? Even I, who feel like I’ve suddenly gained knowledge, don’t understand. Well, I guess that’s what makes magic magical. However… what about in terms of usefulness? Let’s properly evaluate the good things that came from being able to use magic. Getting praised by Sensei or family… no, let’s put that aside.

Don’t need to carry around a canteen. Don’t need a fan. Hmm, the good things are about that much. It makes me feel uneasy.

Maybe it’s also because I’m getting a little tired, but my mood has cooled. It is an amazing thing, but there’s not much excitement. To begin with, the strength of the water stream, and the amount of wind generated, are constant. I’m not consciously aware, but it’s probably under some kind of control. To leave adjustments like this unexamined is disqualification for a control engineer (or one aspiring to be).

When I closed my eyes, the Stetra screen appeared on the back of my eyelids. But, this isn’t what I want to see. When I focused on the magic control box, SimuConnect opened. A negative feedback loop was constructed. I looked at the transfer coefficient, but it’s just normal PI control※1.

Which means, even if I change the gain※2, the water still comes out with a constant force. Well, if you change the value too much, it’ll probably become unstable. In that case, the interesting parts to change are the target value, or maybe somewhere else.

Let’s see what the current target value is. Ah, there it is. 0.379 lit/sec, huh. Let’s try changing it to 1 lit/sec (approximately 1 liter per second).

When I executed it, the force of the water greatly increased, and the distance before it hit the ground changed. I immediately flipped the switch and stopped the water. It became the expected result.

No, wait. Even if the flow rate increased, for the flow velocity to rise is not necessarily obvious. Since I had the image of spraying water from a hose, it didn’t feel weird, but… Does this assume that the cross-sectional area where the water comes out doesn’t change? To increase flow rate, you could also increase the cross-sectional area, basically the thickness of the hose, while not changing the velocity.

At that time, I didn’t realize that thinking about such things meant I was leaning into Reo’s way of thinking.

…Which means, if I can narrow this cross-sectional area, I can raise the water’s force even more. Yes, like a water jet, if possible. If I can reach that level, the added value of this magic, which just makes water come out, will go up.

I entered the Aqua magic model and searched, but the cross-sectional area setting was hard to find. I dug through the FAQ and documentation over and over and finally found it in a deeper layer.

Narrow it to the minimum. Alright! Execute!

Oh, ooh? Huh?

Water came out, but for some reason it was more of a trickle. Oh, the force is going up, but, how to say. It’s slow. I waited for a while, but at most, the force only went up to the level of when you connect a hose to a faucet and squeeze it by hand. Far from a water jet, it’s even weaker than a pressure washer.

“Why is this!” (Leon)

I closed my eyes and looked at SimConnect. So, I couldn’t just do this based on a whim. I gradually changed the cross-sectional area and simulated the flow velocity. When I narrowed the area compared to the initial condition, the flow velocity rose for a while but gradually hit a ceiling and then started to drop.

Hmm. Even in the ideal state (simulation) on SimConnect, it doesn’t increase. Is there something that’s preventing the flow velocity from rising?

“Ah, flow path resistance…” (Leon)

That’s right. Liquids also have friction. So, the more you narrow the cross-sectional area, the more the friction increases, making it harder to flow. That is flow path resistance. Pressure loss, huh… I see. To increase the flow velocity regardless, you have to raise the pressure applied to the water. In other words, just narrowing the cross-sectional area doesn’t work.

“They really built the physical model well… huh.” (Leon)

I snapped to myself.

What am I muttering? Until yesterday, I didn’t have knowledge like this, nor could I think logically.

A chill ran down my spine.

At this rate, am I going to be taken over by Reo…? I don’t feel that way, but… Well, whatever. I’m excited enough to more than make up for it. Apparently, here in Emilia… no, in this world… I’m encountering knowledge that I never would’ve been connected to in my whole life.

A few side effects are unavoidable. That’s right. For now, I should research how to raise water pressure.

 

—

 

Entering the merchant building through the back door where a guard stood, I went in with Ursula. Head Maid Zolka greeted us.

“I’m home.” (Leon)

“Leon-sama. Welcome home. Lunch is ready.” (Zolka)

“Yeah. Then, I’ll wash my hands and eat.” (Leon)

When I sat down at the table in the dining room, bean stew and black bread were quickly brought to me. At dinner, the whole family gathers, but breakfast and lunch are often separate. So, I didn’t mind eating alone and started my meal. On the way home, the church bell had been ringing, so it was already quite past noon. I was probably the last to come eat.

After a while, Kaa-sama came in.

“My, Leon. You had come back, I see.” (Mother)

“I’m home, Kaa-sama.” (Leon)

“Where did you go? You weren’t in the mansion, right?” (Mother)

Her eyes were a little scary.

“Near the villa. I-I properly took Ursula with me.” (Leon)

“Say that you had her come along with you. Well, if that’s the case, then it’s fine. Still, you siblings really do like that place, huh.” (Mother)

“Kaa-sama, do you dislike it?” (Leon)

When I look at Kaa-sama like this, she looks young. It doesn’t seem at all like she gave birth to us three brothers.

“Yeah, that thing in the back over there… it’s just, you know.” (Mother)

“Kaa-sama, you’re superstitious.” (Leon)

“Hey. Leon, that’s cheeky.” (Mother)

Oops.

“I’m sorry.” (Leon)

“In any case, don’t go into the back of the cave. And while it’s still okay now, once the active period comes, even if it’s on this side of the lake, it’s dangerous.” (Mother)

Apparently, the boundary of the barrier for auspicious place for a temple was somewhere around there.

“Yes.” (Leon)

If you go further upstream from the stream in the villa area where we were earlier, there’s an old cave. I’ve gone up to the front of the cave once with Hein-niisan. Since Tou-sama also said the inside was dangerous, I’ve never gone in. But, Hein-niisan said there was nothing in the cave, so maybe he’s gone inside before.

“Thank you for waiting, Oku-sama.” (Zolka)

“Thank you, Zolka.” (Mother)

As Kaa-san started eating, I quickly finished the rest, left my seat, and returned to my room.

Even so, this magic model’s documentation is well written. It’s better than the poorly written physics reference books I had in my previous life. Speaking of which, I’ve heard the main mansion has a library. I wonder what kind of books are there.

Anyway. From reading the highly detailed documentation over and over, I came to understand that water pressure is proportional to the demon realm strength generated by the practitioner. And in order to increase the demon realm strength, it says you have to raise the demon pressure, which is the line integral of demon realm strength.

I only got as far as understanding that demon pressure varies between individuals. In short, I wasn’t able to determine whether water pressure could be raised.

Why couldn’t I figure it out?

When I tried to investigate further and followed links in the documentation, suddenly, I became unable to read them. The pages turned into screens full of characters with × marks in boxes. Most likely, it’s garbled text. When I asked Sysler, it said it didn’t have the permissions to install the language subset that makes up those pages, so it couldn’t be translated into Sesilia language.

Therefore, there was no way to look into it further. Still, even the parts I could read were impressive. I was a little disappointed, but I had only just started. It was too early for despair. Next class, I would try asking Morgan-sensei how to raise the water pressure. Until yesterday, I had been gloomy about magic class, but now I found myself looking forward to it.

 

—

 

After that, five days passed, and finally the day of the long-awaited magic class came.

“Now, we will begin the magic class.” (Morgan)

“Thank you.” (Conan)

““Thank you.”” (Hein/Leon)

As usual, following Conan-niisan’s voice, Hein-niisan and I gave our greetings.

Sensei flipped over the large hourglass.

“Now then, take out the parchment I handed out the other day.” (Morgan)

No preamble. I took out the parchment as instructed.

“Conan-dono, how did the assigned Briese go?” (Morgan)

“Ah, yes. I tried it about 20 times this time, and it activated about half the time.” (Conan)

“Oh. Oh my. And how long did the wind continue?” (Morgan)

“Ah, around 10 to 20 seconds, I think. If I lose focus even a little, it cuts off.” (Conan)

Eh? No, it’s supposed to keep going until you run out of magical power or flip the switch… Ah, but I’ve only been activating it from Stetra.

“Hmm, not bad, I think. Then, Hein-dono?” (Morgan)

“Yes. About the same as Brother…” (Hein)

Huh? At times like this…

“Hein-dono. You didn’t try it very many times, did you?” (Morgan)

“Ugh.” (Hein)

Ahh. Just as I thought, he hit the mark. I bet he didn’t even try 10 times.

“Hein-dono, as I told you last time, you tend to think about things too simply.” (Morgan)

Uwah, scary face. Hein-nii-san’s face is stiffening too.

“Um, Sensei.” (Conan)

“What is it? Conan-dono.” (Morgan)

“I will supervise Hein and make sure he doesn’t slack off.” (Conan)

Sensei let out a long sigh.

“Very well. I’ll leave it to you.” (Morgan)

It seems Sensei trusts Conan-niisan. That’s good, that’s good.

“Next, Leon-dono. How did it go?” (Morgan)

“Yes. When I followed your instructions from last time, I was somehow able to make the wind occur.” (Leon)

I’ve decided to keep the internal brain system a secret for now. I’ve tried asking Nii-sans indirectly, but apparently to activate magic, you just need to imagine the activation symbol, as Sensei said. It pains me a little, but… explaining that would require me to talk about Reo, and that would be bad.

“That’s good to hear. I didn’t think someone like Leon-dono would fail.” (Morgan)

Sensei’s expression relaxed.

Hmm. I wonder why he thought that?

“How many times did you try, and how did it activate?” (Morgan)

Eh? I see. He would ask that. Makes sense. But, I’ll just answer honestly.

“Um, I don’t remember how many times I tried. But wind came out almost every time.” (Leon)

Uwah, what the—?

Nii-sans looked at me with shocked expressions. Even Sensei stepped away from the lectern and came over.

“Is that true?” (Morgan)

Eh, is that really something to be so surprised about?

“Umm, well…” (Leon)

“Hmm. Interesting. Let’s have you try it now.” (Morgan-sensei)

 

—

 

※1: PI Control – A standard control method often used in various systems. In this story’s case, it uses the difference (error) between the target value (target water volume) and actual water volume, and inputs two control terms in parallel: one proportional (P) to the error, and the other an integral (I) of the error over time. The former handles rough control, the latter handles fine control.

※2: Gain – In PI control, there is proportional gain and integral gain. Each determines how much to change per unit of time.

 

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(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)