“What do you have for , Uriel?” Yuki asked as he shut the door to his guild office. The lights within the room dimd as the glow of devices and screens replaced them.
“Information,” Uriel replied. Her voice ca from a large glowing mass of golden particles that floated in the middle of the office. “Didn’t I say that?”
“Ah, yes. Information. The best description you can ever have,” he said with a smirk. “What is the information on?”
“So glad that you asked~,” Uriel said. “It’s about the laser weapon. I dug through the information we got so more and I also did so searching around with other sources of information I have access to.”
“Tiar is a source of information to you?”
“Yeah.”
“Fair enough,” Yuki shrugged. “Tell
what you got.”
“Will do. With further analysis of the information I have, I have reached a few conclusions,” Uriel announced. Two files appeared in the air. “Which one do you want to go through first?”
Yuki curled his fingers and the two files flew to him. He read their labels. One was titled “Location” and the second was labeled “Ti Fra”.
“Location seems like a good start,” he said.
“Then I’ll begin with that,” Uriel replied. The file opened up and pages flew out into a grid for Yuki. “This file pertains to the possible location of the weapon being developed by Mason Incorporated with the likely sponsorship of the Shikaku. I compiled various relevant pieces of information into that file that included the properties owned by Mason Incorporated, the specifications of the weapon from the blueprint we found, and a few other factors.”
“I see,” Yuki muttered as he scanned through the pages. “And what did you conclude? I’m sure you don’t want
to read through all of this right now. I will later.”
“Well, do you want
to tell you just the conclusion or the reasoning behind the conclusion as well?”
“The reasoning would be nice. A quick version though. I’m planning to go out later today to buy so things.”
“You got it,” Uriel said. “Well, first let’s breakdown the weapon itself. It’s an energy laser that utilizes elental mana in order to destroy targets. It’s big. The laser is also big. But it has one glaring fault and that is the lack of control.”
“Lack of control? You an the cannon is hard to aim?” Yuki asked.
“The laser is hard to aim,” Uriel corrected. “The cannon just takes a really long ti to move and lock into position.”
“The laser,” Yuki repeated. He thought for a second before understanding dawned on him. “I see. It’s the size and the trajectory.”
“Correct~. The main problem though is the trajectory. The beam is a giant laser and lasers will fire straight unless there is sothing to direct the path. Looking through the blueprints and the materials they had on hand, they do not seem to have anything that would be able to do such a thing.”
“Mmm. I can see where you might be going with this, but please continue.”
“Of course,” Uriel pulsed. “So since they lack a way to redirect the path of the beam, they would need to find another way so that their beam could reach the target in such a way that it would mainly strike the target. To do that, they built high.”
“So that they could aim down,” Yuki finished.
“Yup. Obviously, I then looked at the properties that Mason Incorporated held in order to find a place that would be suitable for such a weapon at such a scale,” Uriel continued. A particular holographic paper made its way in front of Yuki. “This was the one that I landed on.”
The picture shown was a forest where a mountain rose up from the ground, it’s tip covered in snow.
“A mountain,” Yuki said. “Which one is this?”
“Giant’s Peak. Not a terribly creative na if I do say so myself,” Uriel replied. “But it is the highest point within Libra and is fairly close to the center of the country.”
“Oh, it’s the peak we can see from here.”
“Yes it is. Mason Incorporated has a bit of in its portfolio. It’s not a large portion, technically, only enough room for a small facility on one of the many little flats on the side of the mountain.”
“So they’re just digging into the mountain without permission?”
“Probably. If their weapon works, I don’t think they’ll need to worry about permits,” Uriel said.”
“Fair enough,” Yuki shrugged.
“So what do you think? Is there any fault in my logic?”
“Not from what I can see right now. Is that the only location Mason Inc. has that could function as the base for the weapon?”
“They have a few towers, but it would be nearly impossible for them to fit a weapon of such a scale in that,” Uriel replied. A few images appeared of such towers. “They’ll have to put it underground, but since their properties are within tropolitan areas, it would have a high chance of being discovered.”
“Makes sense. So the mountain is the best option. That’s the only mountain they have, right?”
“Yup.”
“They didn’t bother buying more land in other peaks to disguise their location,” Yuki observed. “Because they thought their weapon wouldn’t have been found out?”
“Most likely,” Uriel agreed.
“Mmm. Okay, what about the next file?” he asked.
“About that file,” Uriel started, the other screens disappearing until all that was left was the file being discussed. “It’s filled with my assumptions and reasoning, so do take it with a grain of salt.”
“I do love salt in my food, so no worries. Tell ,” Yuki nodded while bringing the file towards him. “Ti Fra. Does that refer to the ti fra of when the weapon will be finished or when it would be fired? Or sothing else?”
“All of that,” Uriel replied. “It’s all of that. I compiled a tiline of all the events, filling in the gaps as I went through it. Then once I reached the present, I began to create predictions of the future.”
“Oh, I see. Surprise ,” he said.
“I don’t think you want that,” Uriel laughed. “But let’s see if I can. Since you want this to be quick, I’ll generalize the past. Research for this weapon seems to have started around ten years ago. The idea probably ca into fruition a few years before that. Originally, the device was made with more innocent intentions. It was research that was the product of curiosity. However, the research of two small scientists soon attracted the attention of powers bigger than them.”
“Who? The Shikaku or Mason Incorporated?” Yuki asked.
“Mason Incorporated originally,” Uriel answered. An image of a group of people in suits appeared, smiling at a cara. “But the board mbers of Mason Incorporated before were quite different from the ones now. Their intentions with the research the two researchers had were to show them to the Libra governnt and ask for a grant in order to develop it. It was for the defense of the country in their eyes.”
“I see. When did that change?”
“Three years ago. That was when the Shikaku beca a large part of the board of directors for Mason Incorporated. This was based on Mason Incorporated’s history of operations and how it changed over the years.”
“Then I’ll trust your analysis on that for now. It’s in the file, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Continue then,” Yuki nodded.
“Three years ago, research this weapon seed to ramp up in scale,” Uriel said. “It beca a priority. The governnt seed to support this change. So that brings us to right now. Based on the blueprints that I was given, it seems that their research has been completed, and because of the materials that they have been stockpiling, construction has already begun.”
“Makes sense.”
“Now I get into my assumptions,” Uriel warned. “They may not be accurate.”
“I’ll risk it. Tell .”
“I believe that construction should be completed in about a month,” she said. “An announcent will be made about said construction within the month after that. There seems to be an announcent schedule already for the second Friday of next month. It will include mbers from the governnt and Mason. Before then, I expect that various tests will be done to ensure that the weapon works correctly before said announcent.”
“So we have a two month ti fra here?” Yuki asked. “Before the finalization of the weapon?”
“A little less than two months, but yes. But the chances of the weapon failures appearing before then is very low based on what I saw,” Uriel replied. “So I believe that the weapon will be online before those two months.”
“I see.” He quieted as he processed the information. “Then what is the expected fire date?”
“When the weapon will be fired for the first ti?” Uriel asked. “Do you an when it would be fired in general, or when it would be targeted at sothing with the intent to destroy?”
“The first.”
“Then two months as well,” she said. “I expect the weapon to be first fired on the day of the announcent. As an example.”
“So we really have only two months to figure out a way to stop the weapon.”
“Possible.”
“That’s wonderful,” Yuki sighed.
Two months to find out a way to shut down a weapon that had never been seen before. Two months to destroy ten years of research.
‘Well. They do say that it’s easier to destroy than it is to create.’
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