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

 

 

Trial and Tested

(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)

“Tested?” (Leon)

“Step forward and activate Breeze. It only creates a breeze, so it’s safe to use indoors.” (Morgan)

“Uh, yes.” (Leon)

Am I… not trusted by Sensei?

When I stood up, Nii-sans looked at me with uneasy expressions.

“First, let’s make it easier to see that the wind is blowing.” (Morgan)

Sensei waved his arm, and smoke began to rise.

That ring! It seems to be a magic tool.

“Now, direct it toward this smoke.” (Morgan)

Alright. I raised my arm, then froze mid-motion.

Wait a second! Is it okay to use magic from the internal brain system here? Wouldn’t Sensei find out? If that happens, then Reo would… I need to play it safe.

≪Breeze Origin≫

From the tip of my extended right arm, a gentle breeze blew out.

The smoke fluttered, and anyone could see that the air was flowing, meaning that wind had been generated.

““Oooh…”” (Conan/Hein)

Nii-sans let out awed murmurs.

Yeah, that makes sense. You’d be surprised. After all, until recently I was struggling to activate magic at all, and now I could suddenly use Breeze.

Ufufu. Actually, now I can activate magic just by thinking of its name. Of course, not just any magic. Only those I’ve activated several times through the internal system, and I still need to concentrate a bit. But this should be indistinguishable from perfectly memorizing the activation symbol, just like Sensei said. He shouldn’t notice.

“That is undoubtedly Briese!” (Morgan)

Huh? Even Sensei seems surprised for some reason. No, no, the magic I activated is exactly the one drawn on the parchment. It’s just a gentle breeze like fanning something. It may be safe, but it’s such a boring magic.

Or so I can say because yesterday, I played around with Breeze a lot, creating various derivative versions with stronger wind, different cross-sectional sizes, constant-speed wind, intermittent wind, and so on.

Well, even calling it strong wind, it’s only about as strong as a breeze blowing through an open window. Even if I changed all the adjustable parameters, it didn’t become a storm-like whirlwind.

“H-Hey, Hein.” (Conan)

“Yeah, Nii-san.” (Hein)

What is it?

“Leon-dono.” (Morgan)

“Yes.” (Leon)

I turned to Sensei.

What now?

“Hmm. Even when called out to, the magic doesn’t break, huh.” (Morgan)

Huh?

I didn’t really get it, but when the smoke was about to run out, Sensei would wave his arm and add more. That happened several times.

“Alright. Leon-dono, that’s enough. Please stop the magic.” (Morgan)

“Yes.” (Leon)

The wind stopped, and I lowered my arm.

“Return to your seat. Hmmm…” (Morgan)

He seemed deep in thought.

“Ow.” (Leon)

When I returned to my seat, Hein-niisan patted my shoulder.

“Amazing, Leon. You activated the magic so quickly.” (Hein)

“Yeah, and the magic lasted so long too. That’s really amazing, Leon.” (Conan)

“R-Really?” (Leon)

Nii-sans beamed at me and nodded repeatedly.

But… isn’t that just how the magic works? It’s probably a beginner-level spell.

“Just as Conan-dono said…” (Morgan)

Huh?

“Even though it’s a low-grade magic, being able to activate it that fast and maintain it steadily for so long shows that Leon-dono possesses magical aptitude.” (Morgan)

Ehh?

“That’s right, Leon. Even I have to focus for more than ten seconds to get it to activate.” (Conan)

“For me, even longer. And the wind I summon is wobblier too…” (Hein)

Nii-san…

“Leon-dono likely has superior concentration and self-control.” (Morgan)

Ehhh?! Wow… This might be the first time I’ve been praised this much for something other than arithmetic. Amazing. So I have magical talent… No, no… It’s probably thanks to the internal brain system.

 

—

 

After class ended, I ate lunch and returned to my room.

Let me review what I asked Sensei and what he answered. How to make Breeze’s wind stronger?

The answer is as long as you use that activation symbol, it can’t be strengthened. You need to use a different activation symbol.

Disappointing.

Certainly, Breeze’s block diagram used PI control to keep the demon realm strength below a set value. Unless I change the target value, it won’t work. I already knew that.

Then, if I use a different activation symbol, can the wind get stronger?

Sensei’s answer was “Even with another symbol, how much stronger it gets depends on the practitioner”. Yeah, yeah. Just like it said in the documentation.

If I can use another activation sigil, how can I make the wind stronger?

‘You seem quite interested in magic, Leon-dono. That is a good tendency. The index for whether stronger magic can be activated is demon realm strength. The source used to apply demon realm strength is called mana.’ (Morgan)

‘Yes.’ (Leon)

My heart skipped a beat. But the content matched what was in the documentation. The problem started here.

‘Mana generally increases with age. Typically, it grows from childhood to adulthood. However, it is said that whether one uses magic during that time or not affects the degree of growth.’ (Morgan)

Oh! Repetition!

‘So, if I use a lot of magic, my magical power will grow stronger, right?’ (Leon)

‘You could say that. But using too much can hinder your development. There is a theory like that, so you mustn’t overdo it. If you use too much magic at once, you may feel nausea or dizziness. If you experience such symptoms or even before then, you must stop and rest. Understood?’ (Morgan)

‘Yes.’ (Leon)

‘Well, with the activation symbols I give to you all, such problems should not occur.’ (Morgan)

Certainly, it is originally a magic so safe it is boring. However, I can rewrite magic. And I can actually use those rewritten versions. Even Sensei likely don’t anticipate that far.

 

—

 

Now I know what I need to do. Keep using magic to strengthen myself. In a way, it’ll be tough, but I just have to work hard. It’d be a waste if I can control magic, but my magical power is weak. That would hinder development.

Once I made that decision, I began looking forward to the weekly magic classes. Each time Morgan-sensei taught me a new spell, I would modify its internals in my own way and test it over and over.

I became immersed in magic.

Magic itself was quite fascinating and most of all, in my current position, magic was the only thing I could actually control. To control a machine or system, I’d need an interface to link the internal system with them. But even machines themselves were limited to things like wind-up clocks or flour mills and threshers powered by water wheels or windmills.

In short, there weren’t many objects around that were interesting to control except for magic. I was curious about mechanical clocks, but Otou-sama cherished his, so I couldn’t touch it carelessly. Even under those circumstances, controlling magic was fun.

I tested magic that seemed relatively harmless within the estate grounds. If there were concerns, I took Ursula with me to the villa area to perform the activation. I cast magic until just before I couldn’t move anymore until my fingers started to slightly twitch from spasms.

I didn’t manage to achieve a completely satisfying magic, but I began to feel that my mana was gradually increasing.

That summer, just as I started feeling that progress, the situation came to an abrupt end.

 

—

(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)