Esperanza blinked blankly. Thanks to being pulled rather painfully, marks were left on her wrist, but she didn't really mind. Cider had pulled Esperanza slightly to the side of the door just before Cyrus opened it. So Cyrus alone was the only one who got hit by the dusty wind.
"Did you know?"
"Wouldn't it be stupid not to expect a warehouse that hasn't been used for years to be full of dust?"
The fool had nothing to say. She pouted and entered the warehouse as Cider indicated. Light orbs cast by the two mages dimly illuminated the inside of the ruined warehouse.
The ruined warehouse wasn't as large as expected. Comparatively, it was about the size of the count's apartnt. Combined with the bedroom, living room, and study, it would be about this size. And that space was completely filled with analytical engines from floor to ceiling, with even the windowless walls entirely covered.
Clock-shaped valves were rolling around on the floor. Cyrus picked one up and fitted it into an appropriate spot. Either a middle component was missing or the valve wasn't fixed and dangled loosely.
Though half-collapsed, broken, and with damaged parts rolling around at their feet, they could imagine the original form like stepping through ancient ruins and imagining an ancient city.
It was a different feeling from seeing the research laboratory. Because all of this was one machine. Esperanza let out an exclamation.
It was like looking inside soone's brain.
If you asked whose... probably Cider Claiborne's. This was an analytical engine Cider had made.
Theoretically, analytical engines are said to be capable of all calculations that modern supercomputers can perform. An analytical engine packed with magic stones, especially one of this scale, could perform magical feats.
So if you called this the inside of a genius's brain who might appear once in a century, that wouldn't be wrong either.
Esperanza shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked around. Cyrus was bending down picking up broken parts. And Cider was still standing by the door just looking at the giant machine. When their eyes t, he spoke in a sowhat dazed voice.
"This is the first ti I've seen it since I was sixteen."
Sixteen years old. That was the age when Cider Claiborne had achieved the invention of the century.
Cider approached the center of the machine. Though rusted, with dust stuck between parts, and half-collapsed, the form was recognizable.
The analytical engine that filled the entire warehouse without decoration, and the brass pipes that collected its calculated values. And in the center where hundreds of pipes converged was a machine of a form he'd never seen before.
It was hard to recognize in its half-destroyed state, but looking closely, he could tell. It was the form of a faceless man. With skeletal limbs. Each arm, leg, and torso was made entirely of machine parts.
The 'God of Ti' with its sparse form and parts fallen off here and there had empty hands. If you could call those hands.
"Is that where the Golden Claw goes?"
Cider, who had faced his invention for the first ti in years, had said the Golden Claw was the scythe of the God of Ti. So this half-destroyed man was a representation of the God of Ti. It was a form that suited a spaceti machine perfectly.
"Sothing like that."
Cider answered readily and gestured toward Cyrus with his chin. When two pairs of gazes fixed on him, Cyrus, who had been blankly staring at the machine, flinched.
"That's the most important component of this machine. Without it, this is just a big calculator."
"Hmm, but... isn't it impossible to recreate the Golden Claw?"
It was a part she hadn't thought of since the two n spoke of it as if it were unique. But if the Golden Claw was also just soone's creation, especially if Cider Claiborne had made it at sixteen, what reason would there be for not being able to recreate it now?
However, Cider shook his head.
"It's impossible."
"Why?"
"When I made this, I was sixteen. Even if you call soone the greatest magical engineer of this century, a genius who appears once in a millennium, sixteen is a very young age. Magical engineering is a young field, but it doesn't make sense for a youngster who learned to read less than 15 years ago to reach the pinnacle of that field, to reach limits we didn't even know existed."
But he had succeeded, and the result was before their eyes. Cider added as if answering an unasked question.
"It was chance. So recreating sothing like this is impossible."
Cider stated definitively. Then he suddenly tilted his head.
"Do they exist thirteen years later?"
"If you an the magic stones used in the 'Golden Claw,' only trace amounts have been discovered."
Only then could she understand why Cider had asserted it was impossible. Also why Cider had suddenly started researching magic stones. That research... when the image of Cider's eyes saying "miserable" like an explosion ca to mind, her chest ached again.
"As you know, magic stone is a general term for minerals with structures that can store magic power. All magic stones on the market take the form of black spheres, but that's only because we standardized based on the magic stone with the largest reserves. The types of magic stones actually used in machines are much more diverse."
Cider said while looking up at the collapsed God of Ti.
"And what was used in the spaceti machine is the only magic stone of its kind in the world."
Sixteen years old.
Cider Claiborne at that ti was a promising magical engineer, but not to the extent that you could definitively call him the best. The reason such a unique rare magic stone ca into that boy's hands was because he was the heir to Count Avondale.
It was nine years ago when the Avondale count family had lost the countess to an epidemic and fallen into despair.
An extrely small amount of a new type of unregistered magic stone was discovered in a mine on the outskirts of the city. The mine owner was very pleased. But sothing new ant its value wasn't determined yet. He couldn't help but worry about how to dispose of it.
The mine owner pondered for a long ti. He had established routes for selling magic stones regularly, but it didn't seem like they would pay well for magic stones whose purpose or value hadn't been determined.
Eventually, the mine owner gifted that rare magic stone to Count Avondale. It was well known that the count had an heir studying magical engineering. And the count gave the magic stone to his son as a gift, intending to comfort his son who had locked himself in the research lab after losing his mother. Though the son himself argued that he was in perfectly fine condition.
Anyway, through such circumstances, the world's only magic stone ca into the hands of young Cider Claiborne. He was intelligent, a boy equipped with both the passion to push his abilities to their limits and the desperation born from unexpected loss.
The spaceti machine.
It was the ultimate machine discussed only in vague theories even among magical engineers. According to theory, by applying extre magic power, one could twist ti and space to move to desired spacetis. At least theoretically.
Cider was a boy who could create analytical engines of enormous size and machines clever enough to resemble humans, but his research made little progress. The giant machine remained only a fra as dust accumulated.
Then the rare magic stone ca into his hands. Coincidentally, it was the key to completing the machine. Spurring on his stalled research, the vitality that had been lost returned to Cider Claiborne's eyes.
The count was greatly pleased and paid bonuses to his employees, sparing no support for his son's research.
After days of discussion with the finest magic stone refiner his father had specially called, Cider decided on refining to modify the magic power structure of this rare magic stone. Not knowing what regrets this would bring ten years later.
Thus was born the central component of the machine that would be called the 'Golden Claw' ten years later. And shortly after, the mont the giant spaceti machine was finally completed, Cider realized.
'It's a failure.'
Complete failure.
Why? He had even endured refining to remove 'unnecessary functions' from the magic stone to prepare for magic power waste. He had attached twelve magic power amplifiers. But looking at the amount of magic power needed, even having 120 would be useless.
'Then Mother is...?'
While saying it was pure curiosity, deep down he had thought that if his dead mother returned, everything could go back to how it was before. He looked at his first failed research.
Dead people don't co back. By any thod whatsoever. Cider realized this fact only after seeing the failure of research that had poured in the finest technology, genius, and rare magic stones.
Dead people don't return, and the world moves forward. The count who lost his wife slowly regained his laughter, and the boy who had wandered after losing his mother lost track of ti absorbed in research that interested him. The mansion that lost its mistress also established a new system.
Sixteen-year-old Cider closed the door to the warehouse specially built to house the spaceti machine. Locking away the failed research and his mother's death, so that he too could move forward with the world.
'This is purely a personal story.'
He had no intention of recounting all these inner stories in detail. Especially not in front of that Cyrus.
He continued in a businesslike tone.
"Since it was originally designed to summon things from outside into this world, all magic power structures unnecessary for that task were completely removed. Unless the sa type of magic stone is discovered again, even if we rebuild the machine, it would be impossible to send things from this world to the outside world."
Cyrus and Daria would have searched earnestly for such magic stones for thirteen years. And as you can see, there were no results.
Esperanza, who had been listening quietly, suddenly asked.
"Then how did we co to this ti period thirteen years ago?"
"Moving internally is entirely possible. That's the essence of the spaceti machine."
"Wait. Avondale, then isn't it impossible for us to move from this world to the outside world? But we've done that thousands, tens of thousands of tis."
Cyrus's question received a sowhat unfriendly answer.
"It's probably a zero-point adjustnt issue. Sending back what was summoned is different from sending out things of this world."
Before he could ask what that ant, Cider turned his head toward the machine again.
"Anyway, I don't know if this machine actually works either. It's never been operated. Just the magic power needed for simple operation is roughly estimated at 5 million torts, and there's no way to push that much magic power into the machine at once."
Wait. 5 million torts?
Almost simultaneously with a question arising in Esperanza's mind, Cider turned around and asked the two mages.
"But. Is there really no way?"
She had a hunch it was a question with a predetermined answer. The two mages looked at each other.
Could it be?
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