The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 109
The door to the mansion creaked open.
A stooped old man with graying hair greeted us.
“Are you Professor Van, who contacted us? Please come in. The master has been waiting for you.”
Passing through a hallway covered in cobwebs, a figure appeared.
Count Armand.
However, his expression was odd.
Contrary to my expectation of a warm welcome, he was glaring at us fiercely.
“Van the Trash? Have you come to scam me as well?”
“!!”
I realized one oversight and made a troubled face.
A whole decade.
Enough time for a romantic dreamer to turn into a cynic.
‘He must have been scammed by all sorts of mages by now. He won’t believe a word I say.’
Count Armand growled menacingly.
“Had it not been for the assistance from His Excellency in the past, I would never have agreed to meet you. Get out now.”
Luckily, I used to be a king of sales.
I had plenty of experience being treated like a scam artist.
Pushing for trust here would be a bad move.
Instead, I needed to take the opposite approach.
I simply nodded.
“Understood. If that’s your wish, there’s nothing I can do. Lindon, let’s go.”
“Professor?”
“We don’t have time until our next appointment.”
“Ah, right! That’s true. You mentioned your theory, Professor, and how other companies were ready to offer tremendous guarantees. We came here to discuss it with Count Armand first.”
Typical Lindon.
Cleverly crafty in a way only he could be, perfectly syncing with my rhythm.
I looked at Count Armand with just a teaspoon of regret, no more, no less.
“Unfortunately, it seems it wasn’t meant to be. I found a solution to the ‘separator’ issue between the poles and thought of you first, Count. But unfortunately, it appears we’re not fated to collaborate. My apologies.”
As I turned to leave briskly, Count Armand grabbed me.
“Wait.”
“Why, may I ask?”
“Cut the nonsense. You’re trying to provoke me into falling for a scam, but who else would you go to? Everyone else has given up on developing automobiles.”
The voice was still full of doubt, but there was a significant difference from before.
After all, Count Armand had stopped me.
He might not have realized it, but the roles of buyer and seller had reversed.
What came next was crucial.
“Currently, no one is developing automobiles. Now, that is.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think if the issue with the separator is resolved, other companies will just stand by? Everyone will jump into automobile development.”
“!!”
My gaze met Count Armand’s eyes, looking deeply into them.
What filled his eyes wasn’t doubt but the wounds accumulated over the past decade.
I faced those wounds head-on and struck at his ‘weakness.’
“You know better than anyone, don’t you, Count? How great an invention the automobile will be. It will change the world.”
His weakness.
It was his dream about automobiles.
“…….”
Count Armand’s eyes faintly trembled.
He was unsettled.
Of course, my ‘sales pitch’ didn’t end there.
“The automobile will change the world, but sadly, it won’t be you, Count, who will be remembered as the king of automobiles. You will remain a failure who turned away his own opportunity.”
“Ha! Don’t make me laugh! You, solve the separator issue? How could that possibly be?”
The engine using the polarity theory had a critical issue.
The strong heat energy produced by the repulsion between the poles of mana.
Therefore, a separator was needed to protect and block between the two poles of mana.
‘The separator needs to allow mana particles through while perfectly blocking the heat energy, requiring a membrane that is both delicate and robust.’
Delicacy and strength.
Both attributes were necessary, yet they were difficult to combine.
If you block the heat, the mana particles can’t pass through properly, and if the mana particles flow smoothly, you can’t block the leakage of heat energy.
However,
“I will show you myself.”
“…What?”
“With the multi-layer theory, creating a membrane with more than ten layers to balance delicacy and strength… But you’ve probably heard plenty of convincing theories before, haven’t you? Instead, I’ll just show you a ‘miracle’ directly.”
“!!”
“Let’s head to the garden.”
Upon reaching the garden, I signaled to Lindon.
Whish!
When Lindon opened the large spatial bag he brought, an astonishing object was revealed.
It was an automobile.
‘It looks like a buggy car of an amusement park in size and shape.’
For your information, Hans, who has now become a Level 6 magical tool specialist, handcrafted it.
“Please, Count, take a seat.”
“Me?”
“It’s the world’s first automobile. It’s a moment that will go down in history, so naturally, you should be the first to test it, Count.”
“Ha! As if such a thing could move!”
Yet, he promptly climbed into the seat.
“Use this round handle to steer, and the pedals below to accelerate and decelerate.”
“Surprisingly detailed. Still, it’s useless if it doesn’t move.”
Count Armand scoffed and pressed a button.
Fizz!
Instead of an engine sound, the sound of mana stones resonating filled the air.
“Ha. Now the circuit will break due to the repulsion energy between the poles. I know that much.”
That was the moment.
Count Armand fell silent.
The automobile began to move.
Slowly, but unmistakably.
“What is this?”
“Be careful. It will start to speed up.”
“Wha? What??”
Count Armand’s face turned blank, as if he had lost his ability to speak.
Meanwhile, the vehicle gained speed.
“Slow down.”
“What?! Wha!!! What?!!!”
“Step on the brake!”
But Count Armand wouldn’t listen.
“We’re going! It’s really moving!! It’s moving!!”
“Careful! Stop now!”
“Quiet! It’s moving!!”
Fortunately, no accident occurred.
Perhaps because Count Armand had been waiting for this moment for over ten years, he drove the automobile like a natural-born driver.
I watched Count Armand with some relief.
“It’s moving! Moving! I wasn’t wrong! I wasn’t wrong at all!! Hahaha!!”
Tears were streaming down Count Armand’s face.
* * *
Count Armand stopped at a secluded part of the garden.
There was a small grave.
A scene that seemed to carry a story.
‘Count Armand initially delved into automobile development for his deceased son.’
Count Armand’s son was born unable to use his legs.
The son dreamt of automobiles, and Count Armand embarked on developing one to fulfill his son’s wish.
“……”
Count Armand didn’t share this story with us. Nor did I ask.
I simply waited for Count Armand to finish his conversation with his son in the grave.
Then,
“…I’ve shown a disgraceful side. I am truly grateful for helping me achieve this dream of this Armand.”
His tone and atmosphere had changed 180 degrees from before.
“It’s not done yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t yet decided to proceed with our deal.”
“!!”
“Of course, I would prefer to work with you, Count. You understand the value of automobiles better than anyone. I believe you also recognize the value of the multi-layer theory.”
It was a statement implying he should pay a worthy price.
‘I can’t give it away for free!’
“Haha! Fair point. Let’s sit down and discuss this further.”
We went inside to discuss the specifics.
“As you know, there are two types of arrangements in magical technology trades: guarantees and royalties.”
Though slightly different from Earth’s system, simply put, a guarantee is a lump sum payment, and royalties are profit-sharing based on a percentage.
‘Usually, guarantees are preferred. mages often need a large sum upfront, and no one knows whether the product will actually succeed.’
“If you prefer a guarantee arrangement, I’ll pay 300,000 penas in a lump sum.”
Count Armand looked apologetic.
“Truthfully, I’d like to offer more, but even if I took out loans, I couldn’t possibly gather more than that amount.”
Though he said it apologetically, it was, in fact, an enormous sum.
‘Based on my current salary, it’s almost over a hundred years’ worth. Of course, I’m currently a temporary employee, so my salary is quite low.’
In the pricey free city, that amount could buy several houses, or with some stretching, even a small building.
I crunched the numbers a bit more.
‘Considering the usual practices, it’s a good offer. I didn’t develop all the technology for the automobile engine, after all.’
The core of the mana automobile engine was the polarity.
This was something Count Armand had perfected over ten years.
Contributing just to a part of the engine, the separator, 300,000 penas was quite a generous valuation.
However,
“I’ll go with royalties.”
“Haha! Yes! I knew you’d say that. Automobiles will cover the whole world, so why fuss over a mere guarantee?”
Exactly as he said.
This was a life-changing opportunity.
‘It’ll take some time, but once automobiles are commercialized on a large scale, my financial worries are over! I’ll become a tycoon!’
Then, Lindon hesitantly spoke up.
“Can I just take the guarantee?”
For your information, the multi-layer theory that Lindon submitted to the Mage Tower and my current theory only shared a name; their contents were entirely different.
Still, since I was inspired by it, I shared some of the stakes with him.
“Lindon, you’re not thinking…?”
“I won’t do stocks! I won’t! My account is already suspended; I can’t even if I wanted to. Anyway, I want a guarantee, please. Heh heh.”
‘…He seems like he might cause trouble.’
But I had no right to intervene in that matter.
“There are a few more things I’d like to request from you, Count.”
“Just say the word! I’ll grant whatever you ask!”
I made several requests, and Count Armand looked surprised.
“You? Hmm, I see. Haha. So the rumors were true.”
Count Armand gave me a meaningful look.
“I’ll be looking forward to the ‘accident’ that Van the Legend will cause with great anticipation.”
Having achieved all our goals, we returned to the academy.
I then took various measures for the next phase of the plan.
Time passed, and my contract’s end date was drawing near.
“Who do we have here? If it isn’t Professor Van?”
I ran into Viscount Werner, the chairman, head-on.
The right-hand man of Duke Volman.
He wasn’t alone.
‘The department heads are with him too.’
Flanked by notable figures standing as if to guard him,
there was Slayman, the head of the Magic Department,
and Diego, the head of the Swordsmanship Department.
‘Quite the show of power, having department heads follow around like servants. And yet, aside from the Chancellor, they hold the highest positions at the academy.’
This encounter didn’t seem coincidental, especially given the smirking comment.
“It looks like you’ve been quite busy lately, not sure if you’ve had time to pack your bags.”
“……”
“You do know you have just two days left until your contract ends, right?”
I nodded.
“Yes, I’m aware. I’m waiting for it, too.”
“…Waiting for it?”
“Yes, looking forward to it.”
Two days.
D-day was near.
The climax of the plan was just around the corner.
t/n – The ‘D’ in D-Day stands simply for ‘day’ and the term was used to describe the first day of any large military operation. Simply put, something big is going to happen.
