Chapter 108: Possibilities – Part 2

Chapter 108: Possibilities – Part 2

Something suddenly pokes my soul and points me to a certain memory.

At first, I get confused about the who and why, but I'm now familiar enough with it to recognize this influence, so I accept it and start to ponder, "If your calculations are correct, then maybe the model is what's wrong. Are you sure that the orbits of the sun, the moon, and the realm are all correct? These three bodies could influence each other in very complex ways."

The scholar stares at me dumbfoundedly, then he glances at Arantos, who nods with a very excited smile, and realization strikes the scholar. "But of course! We must study the orbits more! Thank you, Grand Wolf Ryder," he declares, then bows in his seat and spins around to continue working, ignoring the dozens of annoyed glares he earned due to the noise.

I shake my head and return my thoughts to their previous track.

I guided Lyle to invent actuators and switches, yes, but they were simple electromechanical devices, which don't even compare to a Godsdamned electronic calculator. I don't even remember what I actually said to him that led him to discover... whatever this is...

I turn to Arantos and question, "This 'Wolf's Gate,' is it an electrical switch that lets electricity pass only if a third input is energized?"

He grabs his chubby chin in thought and answers, "I don't know the particulars of it since there are many variants of a Wolf's Gate, but I think it's appropriate to say that it's the physical construction of a 'logic gate' as described by Lylean Logic."

"Do you have a book on 'Lylean Logic' here?"

He nods positively. "We do. I'll ask Logan to find a copy to gift to you."

I smile excitedly. "I appreciate that very much."

I also ask to look inside the electric "Lylanine" and discover that it's jam-packed with finger-sized cylinders, all connected by thick wires.

Its overall construction is quite delicate, so neither the scholar nor Arantos want me to touch it. I notice a lack of proper insulators, like rubber, and they seem to have used wood and leather instead, both of which need to be kept completely dry to act as insulators, so this device needs delicate care to not end up frying itself.

The internals of each "Wolf's Gate" are visible, which reveals to me that they are, indeed, diodes and transistors. They're disks of different metals stacked together, and putting a few points in [Metal Appraisal] reveals that they're all made of silicon with something else added to modify its properties.

As far as the girls know, this world actually has managed to build an Analytical Engine, a huge, mechanical, general-purpose calculator, but they hadn't developed electromechanical components yet.

Electric engineering is an underdeveloped field in this world because anything it can do, magic and enchanting can do better, and that's why I guided Lyle towards the actuator and switch. If he made something useful with those two inventions, then it would open up the field for further research.

I don't exactly remember what I said to him that led him to discover the diode, but I do remember mentioning something about silicon and logic. To think that he went as far as jumping directly to electronics with just some vague words from me is amazing, really.

I do have to make a correction, though.

I lightly touch the calculator and state, "An electric calculator would be something that could be constructed using solely [Electric Magic], but this isn't that. The use of logic gates sets it apart from the typical electric device, so I think this calculator needs a new adjective."

"How about simply 'logic calculator'?" The scholar suggests.

I shake my head negatively and explain, "Too abstract. If we find other ways to physically build logic gates without a 'Wolf's Gate,' then the name will be misleading." And I try not to cringe at the usage of my name.

"How about... 'electrolf'?" Arantos suggests with a sly grin.

I immediately shut that down, "Horrible suggestion. How about 'electronic'?"

"Why the 'ic' suffix? What does it mean?" The scholar asks confusedly.

Fuck...

My knowledge of Latin and Greek isn't good enough to answer that one.

"It's also too similar to 'electric,'" Arantos points out, and I start to regret bringing up this topic.

"What about 'wolfic' or 'wolfical'?" The scholar gives another horrible suggestion.

But this time, Arantos also agrees with me. "I don't think that's a good one. There could be a way to build a Wolf's Gate that uses mana or some other form of energy, so joining 'electron' with 'Wolf' seems like a more proper choice."

"'Electrolf' it is, then," the scholar agrees with a nod, and I just stay quiet, silently cringing.

After we talk to Logan about the books I want, I invite him for lunch with us, and he seems a bit happy at the prospect of talking to Lina again. He helped her a lot back when I had asked her to study this world's history, so I guess they kind of became friends from that.

Once we're outside of the temple, Arantos suggests, "I've heard a few concerning things about you and heretics, so may I suggest that you complement your escort with a few Templars?"

"I'm fine with that," I readily accept. Although Teresina asked us to, we didn't bother to bring the Templars from Escanso with us, so these will do.

Azador goes to the castle to deliver a message to Silvane, and the girls take a Space mage transport to the other parts of the town, but I want to have a little journey, so I suggest to Yunia, "How about we take a walk to the Nobles' Quarter? I want to take a stroll through the town."

"Sure, as long as you [Massage] my feet later," she replies with a subtle smile.

I smile back as the remembered taste of her feet gives me a boner. "Didn't even need to ask."

We walk hand in claws as I casually tell her of our adventures in this town, then she frowns concernedly as I describe the multiple times when we almost died.

"I'd like to say that you had a nice and simple life here, but even for someone like me, your life has been quite eventful..." She comments with a slightly pitying look.

"I guess it was a sort of trial for me. It helped reforge my mind into how it is today," I soothingly reply and gently kiss the back of her hand.

She clutches my hand and caresses my mirror-like scales. "I'm glad that these memories didn't leave a wound on your soul."

I look ahead and let my eyes wander as I absentmindedly think out loud, "One or two of the memories make me feel a bit bad about the way I behaved, but at least I don't feel anything negative when I think about this town. The people here are nice as long as you pull your own weight, and they don't judge you too much unless you try to stand out. I was just unlucky, which is what earned me my nickname..."

She gives me a subtle smirk and whispers, "You hate that nickname because it's the truth..."

"I do..." I begrudgingly admit.

After a casual stroll, we reach the Nobles' Quarter, and our escorts relax a bit since there's little traffic here.

We stop by a sweets shop to buy a few small Gorgon fruit sweets for us and our escorts. These sweets aren't stupidly expensive like the ones from the capital, so they accept the gift without any of the awkwardness from last time. They taste like blueberry and lychee, so they're a pretty good light snack.

Then we soon reach the Ryzek estate, and we stop before the black metal gate to talk to the guard in shining chain mail.

"Ah... Mister Lyle Rizek left for the High Forest a day-cycle ago," the guard explains, and we take a moment to process this information.

"This is quite convenient, I guess," Yunia comments with a wry smile.

"Surprising, too, but if he named an invention after me..." I mumble with a frown as my tail stiffly waves about from my mixed feelings.

The guard bows and offers, "Would your Lordship desire to come in? Signeur Horvath and Madame Helena are currently within."

"We'll pay them a short visit, then we'll return to the temple," I decide.

The guard presses a button, apparently an electrical one since I didn't sense him feeding it any mana, and a butler comes out to greet us.

After confirming our identities, we're allowed in, and Sebastian, who I don't even need to use [Sense Soul] on to confirm his name, leads us through the familiar estate.

I feel like the yellow-bricked mansion was plucked straight out of Mac Gantus with how perfectly it follows imperial architecture. Its vibrancy clashes a bit with the pastel colors of the rest of the mansions in the Nobles' Quarter, but that just makes it more interesting to admire.

The roomy interior is decorated with yellow and blue tiles with flowing patterns, and the air is magically conditioned to be perfectly fresh. It feels like imperial houses are designed to be like huge ballrooms.

Worrying about something I can't change, at least for now, would get both Wolfy and Yunia to chastise me.

I also don't want to worry them while they're sharing a happy moment together, so I smother this negative emotion and focus on the now. There's still a long way before I can turn this blessed Fate of mine into something more than just happiness for myself.

Sebastian serves me the cocktail with a smile, and in the drink, I can see an uncountable number of globules of different liquids that refuse to mix with one another, like oil and water. A traditional dwarven Cycle.

I thank him and sip on it slowly, trying to figure out all the different flavors within it. The first one I manage to identify is Dwarven Coffin, which makes me a bit happy. When the guilt eventually subsides, I should ask Armanpoosh to procure a bottle of it for me.

A minute later, Gimbo comes in together with his wife. He still looks the same as he did before with his youthful face, his shining dark hair, and his tired-looking eyes, though now, they're filled with happiness from his wide smile.

Nala's gentle, smiling face seems to have gained a few more wrinkles, but her lustrous and wavy light brown hair is still just as stunning as I remember. I'm almost certain she has some elven inheritance.

The two quickly walk towards me with linked arms, and I stand to receive them.

"Gimbo, Nala," I politely greet and nod respectfully. I really wish that I could bow to them, but I can't anymore, not even to them.

They don't stop at the sofa before me and continue walking forward, then they unlink their arms, and Nala wordlessly pulls me into a hug, stunning me into speechlessness.

"We couldn't believe that it was you when we heard the news, but it is, it is..." Gimbo softly blurts out, his voice breaking up, then he hugs me, too.

After a moment where I still can't move, Nala pulls back and caresses my cheek as she confesses, "We were worried about you because you were always so harsh and tense. We didn't think you were ready for a life of adventuring, but how wrong we were, oh, how wrong."

"Though you still do seem a bit tense..." Gimbo adds with a wry smile.

I sigh and calm myself down, then I give them each a quick hug. After facing armies of monsters and heretics, showing some gratitude to the couple that so kindly took care of me and worried about my well-being should be a simple thing.

I lay my hands on their shoulders and smile as I confidently declare, "Thank you for everything you did for me. I wouldn't be here without your guidance..."

Announcement

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Prince PreownedFIN.

Prince Creamy Spinach.

Lord Andrew Meyers.

Lord Novgarod.

Lord Michale Erwin.

Lord Bakerdea.

Lord Maurice.

Lord Empyrean.

Lord Mattirro Draca.

Lord Fullmoon.

Lord Sean Drake.

Lord EESDESESESRDT.

Lord FrostyCube.

Lord Mike Bartter.

Lord Cardinal Steiner.

Lord Warwulfv.

Lord Jorge Franco.

Lord Khristopher Welsh.

Lord DJ.

Lord Philip.

Lord Tenebris Lupus.

Lord The Tallest Joshua.

Lord Copey Dunt.

Lord Dracopuppy23.

Lord Chris Carter.

Lord Paul Daval.

Lord Bradly.

Lord Aubrey Powell.

Lord AnderyUC.

Lord Cidant.

Lord Tmac.

Lord Krawn.

Noble Salty Panda.

Noble Mild Fracas.

Noble Aclys.

Noble CarlBaxter.

Noble Yeuromain.

Noble Brandon Lai.