EP.14 Necessity is the Mother of Invention
The regressor, who had been glancing back and forth between me and Aji with cold eyes. After using all my powers of persuasion, I succeeded in convincing her. Though she still didn't drop her guard against me, the regressor sheathed her sword again, perhaps having decided to observe for now.
I let out an inward sigh and, suddenly curious, asked.
“By the way, Trainee Shei.”
“What.”
“What brings you here? You didn’t follow us, did you?”
“Follow you! I was looking for you and just followed you here!”
With Cheon-aeng floating above her head once more, the regressor crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly.
“Tirkanjaka was curious. The lesson you mentioned. When and where it would be held.”
“Huh? You really meant that?”
‘You said you would do it!’
The regressor glared at me as if dumbfounded. I flinched and just nodded.
“Ah, okay. I’ll just prepare, then.”
“Prepare well. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Turning her back to me, the regressor added one more thing.
“Of course, I’ll be listening too.”
Me, who had been scraping by in back alleys, giving a lesson? I have no knowledge worth teaching anyone.
Though I’m considered among the highly educated here, at best I graduated from an elementary civilian school and dropped out of a secondary military school.
Having advanced to a secondary military school, I did receive a higher level of education than an ordinary Level 1 citizen. But that was thanks to reading the mind of the school’s second-ranked student with my mind-reading skill. If it hadn’t been for that legal mind-reading cheating, my education would have ended with civilian school graduation.
Why did I read the mind of the second-ranked student? Because I was the first-ranked.
It wasn’t purely by my own skill. It was possible thanks to the entire student body showing me their thoughts during exams. All test-takers, lend me your knowledge!
To the students whose ranks each dropped by one because of me, I convey my gratitude and apologies.
As I continued reminiscing, old memories came to mind. Thanks to my excessively high scores, the instructors hailed me as a genius who would bring glory to the Military State, but I floundered miserably in the practicals, so the senior officer academy went down the drain. So I dropped out as if fleeing. And here I am, in this state.
As those who have aged poorly often do, I murmured while recalling my student days.
“Perhaps that was the golden age of my life?”
The days when I coasted solely on mind-reading ability. How I miss them.
Even old memories that I thought had lost all their flavor gain some chewiness when rechewed. The problem is, I can’t remember any of the things I’m supposed to teach.
As I fiddled with my pocket unconsciously, a thought suddenly struck me, and I clapped my hands.
“Ah! I had that!”
This will do. I smiled inwardly.
The first to third floors of Tantalos were cells for holding prisoners. A typical prison would evoke a stifling atmosphere born of oppressive order, but Tantalos, a prison with only inmates and no guards, deviated subtly from the archetype of an ordinary prison.
In that the stone walls were collapsed and the iron bars were bent at will.
To the prisoners held here, iron bars and stone walls seemed to be no obstacle. The stone walls were broken, the steel doors were flattened like thinly spread dough, and the iron bars meant to confine prisoners were twisted this way and that like taffy. A spear made of three twisted iron bars was embedded in one wall, and one cell had been cut out in a neat square and was lying on the ground. The iron bars are twisted and an entire room has been carved out.
Crazy.
It seems this place’s prisoners treated the prison as nothing more than a toy.
It’s chilling. How did ordinary laborers survive in a place swarming with such monsters?
Ah! They couldn’t survive, so they all died!
Having uncovered that secret, I climbed the stairs with a much lighter heart.
From the fourth floor up were the laborers’ quarters. It was also where I, having nowhere suitable to stay, was living. A place with doors that couldn’t be locked but could be opened and closed freely, with amenities like a cafeteria and laundry room, at least for show.
I headed to the laborers’ education room at the end of the fourth-floor corridor.
“Hello!”
There, the ‘trainees’ were waiting for me.
A coffin emitting an ominous aura floated, having pushed desks and chairs aside. The regressor sat with arms crossed and legs crossed, glaring at me defiantly. Aji was lying on her belly in a corner of the education room. That one seemed to have just come to hang out.
With everyone’s eyes on me, I stood at the podium. Though it was a modest classroom with only one person, one corpse, and one dog, standing at the front made me strangely nervous, which couldn’t be helped.
Before I began to speak, I took a deep breath and composed myself.
It’s fine. I’ve had plenty of experiences like this. Think of it like selling medicine to a pushover and be at ease.
In reality, it’s not much different.
“Now. First, I’ll explain the educational objective. From what I’ve observed over the past two days, you, who possess superhuman strength, lack common sense. If I send you out into society as you are, you’ll only be unable to blend in with people and end up on the fringes. But then you’d just return here, wouldn’t you? So.”
[Wait.]
An eerie voice came from inside the coffin. The vampire spoke in a displeased tone.
[…You, who came to teach, what is that attire?]
“Huh? What’s wrong with my clothes?”
A Military State issue shirt and shorts with built-in underwear. It’s a light outfit, but it’s common enough.
However, to a thousand-year-old stick-in-the-mud vampire, even this lightness apparently displeased him.
[Teaching is like water. It must flow down from a high place for those below to receive it. Therefore, an educator must always possess such authority. Do you expect anyone to feel like listening in such an undignified getup?]
“That’s ridiculous. I never thought I’d have my attire criticized by someone who’s in a coffin.”
[...This is.]
“Ah, I know, I know. It’s like a wheelchair. I don’t mean to make a big deal out of it.”
*Cough! Cough!*
The regressor, who had been listening quietly, turned bright red and began coughing violently. She must have burst out upon hearing ‘wheelchair.’ It wasn’t my intention, but in any case, her improper posture has been corrected, so let’s be satisfied.
‘...Wheelchair? He’s spouting nonsense again... But what is that? It feels somehow unpleasant.’
Good. I must never explain what a wheelchair is from now on.
I gripped the podium tightly and put on a threatening air toward the floating coffin.
“And Trainee Tirkanjaka, there’s a reason I came in this attire. Don’t doubt the instructor even before class has begun.”
[Very well. Show me. I hope those words are not merely to save face.]
“Don’t be shocked into fainting.”
I would show this outdated vampire the greatness of modern technology. I stretched out my left arm to the side.
“Citizens of the Military State undergo a collective biometric registration at age 18, around the time growth is complete. Height, weight, body type, skeletal structure, even the thickness and length of limbs. Everything is recorded and engraved into the body.”
With a flick, I turned my wrist. On my left wrist was a hole that looked out of place. The groove carved into the skin seemed as if it absolutely needed something inserted into it.
“Thus, the Military State possesses the most advanced personal identification system, and along with that, it has created inventions with several utilities.”
I took out the item I had found with Aji in the management office. A small bead glowing with dark blue light, just the right size to fit into the groove on my wrist.
By now, most had caught on. Even the regressor, who already knew its identity, and the vampire, who realized the hole in my body was unnatural.
They had roughly deduced how this bead was used.
“The Military State’s technology is the world’s best. This is the Military State’s alchemical clothing technology, at the cutting edge of alchemy.”
With those words, I inserted the dark blue bead into the hole on my wrist. A click sound was heard as it snapped into place.
In that instant, blue threads covered my entire body.
Along my skin, thick and sturdy fibers formed the framework and drew guide lines. Between them, fine blue threads crisscrossed in layers. Based on the alchemical pattern, the clothes were instantly constructed. The threads became fabric, and the fabric became material, piling up neatly.
Thinking I should do so, I spun around on the spot. After about three turns, a perfectly fitting instructor’s uniform enveloped my entire body.
In an instant, I had the appearance of a seasoned instructor. I saluted according to protocol and said,
“The clothing packet.”
The time it took for the crisp instructor’s uniform to wrap around my body: a mere 10 seconds. A revolutionary invention that transforms into perfectly fitting clothes based on the data recorded in the bio-terminal.
Even if it tears, even if it gets dirty, just wipe it off with a packet and it’s done.
The clothing packet, a creation that vies for the top spot among the seven most successful inventions of the Military State.
I pinched up the shoulder line with my fingers and showed off to the fullest.
“With the invention of the clothing packet, the citizens of the Military State were freed from the curse of laundry. Also, the cost of buying clothes dropped dramatically. With just two or three clothing packets per person, you can keep alternating and wearing them.”
[Hoh.]
“Now you understand, Trainee Tirkanjaka? Why I came in light attire. It was to demonstrate donning the clothing packet. It’s best to wear only the issue underwear.”
From the coffin, only a ‘Hmm’ sound could be heard. But I could clearly hear the vampire’s thoughts.
‘Amazing…! So much has changed while I slept!’
As I thought, he liked it.
It’s a misconception that older people struggle with new technology. Rather, they are more proactive in embracing it and show deep interest. Because curiosity naturally explores what is not taken for granted.
The only problem is that, whether out of nostalgia or familiarity, they say ‘But the old taste is still there.’ and circle back to the original.
The vampire’s interest was now directed at the bio-terminal and the clothing packet.
“An instructor’s uniform... Hmph.”
The regressor looked at my outfit and frowned as if it were unpleasant. The vampire asked the regressor,
[Child. Did you not have such a thing on your wrist?]
“I don’t have something like that implanted.”
The regressor answered sullenly.
“That’s for surveillance. It’s a product of controlism created to monitor and manage all citizens of the Military State.”
[Controlism?]
“It means watching the entire populace and monitoring their every move. Because you need a bio-terminal to access major roads or institutions. If someone goes to a road they’re not supposed to, it’s to arrest them immediately.”
[...What’s wrong with that?]
The regressor, who had seen the future, might not understand well, but that vampire is truly an ancient person. He’s been alive since a time when the monarchy didn’t even function properly. Would there have been such a thing as human rights back then? If there were, he wouldn’t have died at that age and become a vampire.
Realizing that fact, the regressor clicked her tongue lightly and added,
“Moreover, the bio-terminal has a much bigger problem than that.”