Will My Power Transform Her Inventions?

“Ah, of course. Natasha is Cecilia-san’s younger sister, so have you met her before, Nova-san?”

Shia nodded as though it made sense, but I shook my head.

“No, this is actually the first time I’ve met her. I’ve only seen her older sister, Cecilia-san, a handful of times too. But they have a similar air about them, and when I heard her name, it clicked.”

I’d heard somewhere that Cecilia-san had a younger sister, but I hadn’t known she was talented enough to work as a researcher at the Royal Capital Research Institute.

“Um… well… Brother Zeroad has been in your care?”

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say in a situation like this, so I ended up saying something a little off the mark.

Perhaps because of that, Natasha-san grimaced openly.

“Don’t. I don’t even want to hear that bastard’s name.”

“S-Sorry…”

Apparently it wasn’t my words themselves that bothered her, but Brother Zeroad’s name.

Still, just what had Brother Zeroad done?

For her to hate him this much… Actually, considering the kind of person he was, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’d done something to deserve it.

“W-Well, let’s set matters between your two families aside for now. Today, please treat this simply as Natasha, who provides assistance to House Ark Gate, and Nova-san, who is my husband.”

“…If that’s what the family head says.”

“P-Pleased to meet you…”

It seemed Natasha-san didn’t think particularly highly of me either.

Since I was that brother’s younger brother, perhaps that couldn’t be helped.

“Nova-san, Natasha is also an inventor who’s created all sorts of things for us. The magical stationery we use so often is one of her inventions.”

“Really…? Natasha-san, thank you very much!”

Gratitude welled up inside me, and I bowed to Natasha-san.

When Shia had disappeared through the gate right in front of me, if it hadn’t been for that stationery, I wouldn’t have been able to ask Aurora-chan and Yuti-san for help.

I might have reached Shia much later than I did.

“…D-Don’t worry about it… But I’m glad it was useful.”

“Yes, it’s extremely convenient. We use it all the time.”

“I-I see.”

In fact, that stationery was one of the most revolutionary things I’d ever seen.

Ah, though there was also Shia’s gate magic, so maybe it was about on the same level as that.

“The stationery lets me communicate with Nova-onii-sama, so it’s incredibly useful. I’m grateful to Nata-san too.”

“…Thanks. Though the problem is that you still need as much mana as someone from House Ark Gate to use it.”

“The reason we called you here today, Nova-san, is because we thought you might provide some new breakthrough for Natasha’s inventions.”

“…A breakthrough? But I don’t know anything about inventions or magic.”

I was confident I understood less about those things than anyone else here.

I probably couldn’t even compare to Aurora-chan.

I wondered how someone like me could possibly provide a breakthrough, but Shia was smiling.

“What we want your help with isn’t making something. It’s using it.”

Natasha-san, still seated in her chair, said that as she pulled something from a drawer and handed it to Shia.

It looked like a glass tube with a blue frame.

Visually, it resembled an hourglass, though there was no sand inside.

Shia accepted it and opened her palm.

Before my eyes, the glass tube gradually changed from transparent to blue.

“This… can store mana!?”

“Yes.”

If what Natasha-san said was true, this was incredible.

It meant they could store Shia’s mana, the greatest in the entire country.

“It’s a failure that can only be filled with mana.”

“Huh…? A failure?”

I thought it sounded like an unparalleled masterpiece, but Natasha-san sighed.

“You can put mana into it, but no one can take it back out. …Aura.”

With that, Shia handed the device to Aurora-chan.

Aurora-chan took it, but the glass tube remained dyed blue and nothing changed.

“Technically, the family head can draw it out again. But no one else has ever managed it. Not Aura-jou, not even Yuti-jou.”

“If all I can do is put my own mana in and then take my own mana back out, it isn’t particularly useful.”

“That’s why it’s a failure.”

Shia smiled wryly, while Natasha-san gave a dry smile with lifeless eyes that was honestly a little frightening.

I thought being able to store your own power was impressive enough, but apparently the two of them didn’t see it that way.

“But Nova-san might be different.”

“Ah, because of Shia’s mana.”

According to Shia, ever since that snowy day, the mana inside her had submitted to me… or something like that.

If Shia could draw it out, then perhaps I could too.

“Nova-onii-sama, here.”

“Thanks, Aurora-chan.”

I took the device from Aurora-chan.

Strangely, the palm-sized object felt warm.

“Um… what do I do with this?”

“Try gripping it. As long as you squeeze hard enough without breaking it, you should be able to draw the mana out.”

Following Natasha-san’s instructions, I gripped the device tightly.

The instant I did, my vision seemed to flash brilliantly, and I felt power surging up from deep within my body.

It was the same sensation I’d felt when Shia had used her magic on me before.

When I slowly opened my hand, the inside of the glass tube had become transparent again.
Which meant…

“It worked! It worked! It worked!!”

The high-pitched shout made me turn my head instinctively.

Natasha-san was staring at me with sparkling eyes.

She looked like a child who’d just been given a new toy, and I could practically feel the sheer joy radiating from her entire body.

“N-Next… Aura-jou… try touching Nova-san. You might be able to… transfer the mana…”

“Nova-onii-sama, excuse me. I’ll take your left hand.”

The moment she took my free hand, I felt as though a tiny bit of strength had drained out of me.

Power was still surging from deep inside my body, but it felt as if just the outermost layer had been skimmed away.

When I looked at Aurora-chan, she was grinning proudly.

“Nata-san, this is amazing. It feels exactly the same as when Onee-sama gives me some of her power.”

“～～!!”

Apparently too delighted for words, Natasha-san let out a soundless cry and pumped her fist.
She was so excited that the quiet impression she’d given me when we first met had completely disappeared.

“We couldn’t extract the mana from the device before, but now we know that once it has been extracted, it can be shared with Aura as well. In that case, the same should be possible with Yuti. This should allow several of Natasha’s inventions to move forward.”

“Several inventions?”

“Yes. I’ve asked her to create something that reflects exchanges through the stationery instantly, as well as something that can activate a gate without me. As for the latter in particular, I’ve requested one that even you could use by yourself, Nova-san.”

“That’s amazing…”

The already convenient stationery would become even more useful.

That really was impressive.

But what about the other one?

I tilted my head in confusion.

“But can you really make a gate too? I… don’t understand magic at all…”

Shia’s gate magic.

Even Aurora-chan and Yuti-san could barely use it by working together, so I couldn’t imagine someone with no knowledge at all like me being able to use it.

“The mechanism has already been established. We just need to build a device that performs it in your place.”

But Natasha-san dismissed my concern immediately.

“Gate magic itself isn’t actually difficult. It just requires an enormous amount of mana.”

“More specifically, Onee-sama is simply the only person who can provide that much mana all by herself.”

Aurora-chan gave a wry smile as she said that, and for the moment, I accepted her explanation.

“…Magic is surprisingly simple in terms of how it actually works.”

“Mm. Only House Ark Gate’s magic. Other magic isn’t necessarily like that.”

“…Oh.”

“Yes.”

I’d learned something new again.

Apparently, Shia and Aurora-chan’s magic was different from ordinary magic.

Maybe it was magic unique to House Ark Gate?

“There’s… a lot to this, isn’t there?”

“It’s hard to give an example… but think of it like paint. If you have red paint, you can paint a sunset, right? House Ark Gate’s mana contains every color. That’s why we can easily paint a sunset. But if all you have is red paint, you can’t paint the same rainbow you could with House Ark Gate’s paints.”

“I… think I get it?”

Aurora-chan had tried to explain it with an analogy, but I wasn’t sure whether I understood it or not.

Before I could even process the explanation itself, I found myself amazed by how smart Aurora-chan was.

Aurora-chan really was clever.

“Some people might actually have more difficulty painting a sunset if they had too many colors to choose from… But either way, if you possess the same kind of mana as us, then reproducing something on the level of gate magic is relatively easy.”

“…I see.”

“Hehe. Perhaps that’s enough complicated discussion for now.”

I more or less understood what they were trying to say, but not the finer details, so I was grateful.

Shia smiled mischievously and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Now then, I have some business in the other rooms and at the royal castle, so let’s split up for a while. I imagine it’s been a long time since either you or Aura came to the Royal Capital, so please enjoy some sightseeing.”

With that, she grabbed several devices from Natasha-san’s desk and held them out to me.

Resting on her small palm were four devices with their glass tubes dyed blue, apparently filled with mana in just that brief moment.

“Use these to help you get home later. With this many, you should be able to travel freely between the Ark Gate manor and your own manor.”

“Um… Natasha-san, is that okay?”

“I don’t mind.”

I checked with Natasha-san just in case, but apparently she had no problem with me taking them.

They looked fairly complicated, but perhaps they were surprisingly easy to make.

I carefully put the devices into my pocket and looked toward Aurora-chan.

“Then, Aurora-chan, shall we go have some fun in the Royal Capital? Though I haven’t been here much myself, so I don’t really know my way around.”

“Oh? Then leave it to me. I know a good place.”

Apparently Aurora-chan, at fourteen, was going to escort me instead of the twenty-year-old me escorting her.

Being shown around by a girl six years younger than me felt a little awkward, but I decided to rely on her.

“All right, Shia, we’re heading out. Natasha-san, thank you too.”

“Yes, have fun.”

“You should enjoy yourselves… Also, just call me Nata.”

“Huh? Are you sure?”

Judging by her attitude when we first met, I’d thought she disliked me.

“Everyone I’m close to calls me that. I don’t mind. Besides, that bastard may be a good-for-nothing, but you seem different.”

“…Th-Thank you?”

I had no idea what had caused Natasha-san’s attitude toward me to soften, but apparently things had worked out.

At the very least, this was far better than the outright dislike she’d shown me at first because of Brother Zeroad.

“Then let’s go, Nova-onii-sama.”

“Yeah. We’re off, you two.”

“All right. Have a good time.”

“Have fun.”

I waved to the two of them as they went back into the room, then left the laboratory while Aurora-chan tugged me along, unable to contain her excitement.