Chapter 169: The Commission
Newton had gone, and Evan returned to his teaching. Most of his free time he spent in the laboratory. Ever since he'd grasped the true nature of magical feedback, he'd thrown himself into experimentation without delay — advancing to legendary rank demanded an enormous store of resources, and writing papers served two purposes at once. First, running real experiments deepened his own accumulated knowledge; his understanding of physics topped out at a high-school level, more than sufficient for this world for now and further-reaching than anyone else's besides, but he wanted precise, verified results all the same, so that the corresponding magic would take root naturally in his subconscious. Second, the magic points earned from publication served as a resource in their own right, buying access to scarce materials otherwise out of reach. Evan wasn't yet at the threshold of legendary rank, but preparing well ahead of time seemed wiser than scrambling later.
At the moment, Evan was running experiments on electricity, hoping to demonstrate Ohm's Law properly — that in a single circuit, current through a conductor is directly proportional to the voltage across it and inversely proportional to its resistance. Resistance itself wasn't yet a recognized concept here. Using a bank of Melo Cells as his power source, he ran into trouble measuring current directly.
He set the experiment aside for the moment, realizing the effect linking electricity and magnetism hadn't been discovered in this world yet. Fortunately, he already understood electromagnetic induction himself, and decided to tackle that first — no great obstacle for him, since he already knew exactly how it worked. Before long, a new paper of his appeared in the latest issue of Magic: On the Conversion Between Electricity and Magnetism. This paper introduced, for the first time, the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction, establishing that an electric field generates a magnetic field, and a magnetic field in turn generates an electric field around it.
The paper also laid out, for the first time, the operating principles behind motors and generators, deriving the governing equations and formally linking electricity and magnetism together as one unified subject.
Buried within the paper, unnoticed by anyone at the time, lay the seed of another question entirely — electromagnetic waves.
The paper sparked a wave of inspiration among mages and alchemists alike. Various current-measuring instruments, motors, and generators followed in short order, though no one yet had much sense of what practical use such devices might eventually serve.
Evan found, meanwhile, that his own understanding of electromagnetism had settled somewhere deep in his bones — clear confirmation that he'd achieved a genuine breakthrough in electromagnetic magic. Only then did he turn his attention properly to working out Ohm's Law.
By late June, something interrupted his research entirely. Prince Elleaner, the third prince of the Norma Empire, extended an invitation for July, inviting Evan's group to visit the Norma National Theological Academy and the Kaiwang Knight Academy.
The trouble lay in exactly who Elleaner had specifically invited — the same people who'd once protected him. Declining outright would be a real breach of courtesy, but accepting would be a genuine joke in poor taste — sending a lich to a national theological academy was practically an invitation to be burned at the stake. Evan refused at once.
"You really won't go?" Ortlando's eyes glinted with something crafty, fixed steadily on Evan. "Fine by me — but what excuse should we use?"
Ortlando flipped idly through a stack of letters on his desk. "Ah, here — you should make a trip to the mainland to see the headmaster of the Solomon Academy. They're on break too, but they've captured some strange creature — no one's quite sure what it is, not even certain it counts as a living thing at all, and they're studying it now. They've asked us to send two people. Might as well be you. I'll backdate your departure by a day, so you'll have already left yesterday, as far as anyone's concerned — that ought to keep Prince Elleaner from making much of it. Take Jessica along too; the two of you work well together."
Evan nodded at once. "Understood. I'll get ready."
"Bring Xiaoshuang along as well — good cover on the mainland," Ortlando added, with particular emphasis. Evan took note and went off to pack, missing the meaningful look on Ortlando's face — one that might have given him pause, had he seen it.
Back home, he packed his bags, storing most of his belongings in his ring while pulling a few items out. He changed into a long overcoat, a top hat, and kept his usual cane in hand. Xiaoshuang, thrilled at the news of a trip, perched happily on his shoulder.
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Outside, Jessica was already prepared — no mage's robe this time, but a simple, pale-colored dress, a lady's hat with a thin veil draped over her face, a small leather case in hand.
Evan smiled. "Why not put the case in your ring?"
Jessica smiled back. "Carrying everything in a ring rather defeats the pleasure of traveling properly."
Evan didn't fully understand the sentiment and didn't press it. "Let's go, then. To the transport array."
At Shrimp Peninsula, the array lit up, and Evan and Jessica stepped through. A student greeted them. "Where's Professor Mikoyan?"
The student led them to a room where Mikoyan had just woken from meditation. "Welcome, welcome! Getting a bit crowded around here these days, and I owe some of that to you two. Here to check on the mine?"
Mikoyan had misread their reason for visiting, assuming they'd come to survey the magic gemstone operation. Evan smiled. "Not quite. Jessica and I are only passing through, on our way to the Solomon Academy for an academic conference. Thought we'd stop and see you along the way."
"Ah, that explains it. Good timing, actually. Not much else going on here besides gemstones these days — can't offer you the magic ones, of course, but I can spare a few ordinary ones. Nothing else to do out here, honestly. I'm turning into a gem-cutting specialist at this rate," Mikoyan said.
Everyone laughed. There was genuinely little to occupy anyone in this posting, and with Mikoyan's own considerable standing, meditating all day would have grown tedious fast, so it made sense he'd taken up other pursuits. Still, no one expected gem-cutting specifically to have caught his interest. For a properly trained mage, cutting gems wasn't especially difficult — mages already had a deep grounding in sigil-lines and geometry, and their skill at inscribing arrays translated naturally enough into gem-cutting work.
The quality of the cut, though, had little to do with magical skill and everything to do with personal aesthetic sense. Mikoyan led them into another room, where a workbench held several unfinished gems.
He opened a drawer full of finished jewelry, sorted through it for a moment, and pulled out a strand of beads, tossing it to Jessica. "Your outfit's lovely, but it's missing a necklace. Put this on, and you'll look positively regal."
Jessica accepted it without hesitation, clasping it around her neck with a small smile. "Thank you — I've wanted a necklace for ages, just never had the time to shop for one. This is lovely. I'll keep it."
Xiaoshuang, watching, stared fixedly at the drawer full of jewelry, plainly envious. Mikoyan caught the look and said with a smile, "I'll give you a strand too. Pick whatever you like."
Xiaoshuang dove straight into the drawer, sorting through everything with great care. She already wore one necklace, crafted from a magic gemstone — though far too small by anyone else's standard, it was still a proper protective implement.
But seeing all these gleaming, faceted gems — cut and polished, unlike raw stone, each one throwing off color from every angle — she found them far more beautiful than anything uncut could ever be.
After a long deliberation, she held a necklace in one hand and a pair of earrings in the other, asking hesitantly, "Could I take a bit more? Just these two pieces — is that all right?"
Mikoyan laughed. "Of course. That whole gem vein was your discovery in the first place. Take both."
Xiaoshuang cried out in delight, clutching the necklace and earrings, and flew straight to Evan's shoulder. "You're such a wonderful person — a hundred times better than Wang!"
She showered Mikoyan with praise, taking the opportunity to slight Evan in the same breath, gazing happily at her two new treasures — both far too large for her to actually wear, though what exactly she planned to do with them remained unclear.
"Thank you," Evan said. "Is there something you need our help with?"
He knew Mikoyan wouldn't give gifts like this without reason. Sure enough, Mikoyan let out a sigh. "In my younger, more foolish days, I left a debt of the heart with a woman. She ended up marrying into a fallen noble house. I haven't had the courage to face her since. Since your trip to the Solomon Academy passes close by her home, I wondered if you might make a stop and deliver these jewels to her."
He gestured toward the drawer. Evan roughly estimated its worth — somewhere around two or three hundred thousand gold. A considerable sum, and that Mikoyan meant to use it to settle an old debt of conscience said a great deal about how deep that debt ran, or how much the woman had once meant to him.
"Under what pretense should we present it?" Evan asked.
"Say it's repayment of an old debt with accumulated interest, now settled through the jewelry trade — he's gone into that line of business, tell her. Give her this box as well." Mikoyan produced a small box from nearby. The moment Evan touched it, he sensed a finely cut magic gemstone within, and something in him stirred slightly before he tucked it away.
Mikoyan filled them in on the woman's circumstances. Evan learned she was Baroness von Rosenkram — a barony without any actual land attached, purely honorary by now. Her husband's ancestors had once held real territory, but generations of decline had whittled it down until, by the current baron's time, nothing remained but the title itself, a faint echo of past glory.
Once Evan had her address confirmed, he nodded. "Don't worry. I'll see the jewels delivered safely into her hands. Anything you'd like us to tell her?"
"Nothing more. Everything that needs saying is in the box," Mikoyan said.
Evan stored the jewelry away in his ring. Mikoyan had already sent someone down the mountain to fetch a carriage, and before long it arrived — a somewhat worn coach, though the finest the town could offer. Evan and Jessica climbed aboard and waved their goodbyes to Mikoyan.
The carriage rolled north along the forest road.