Inspecting The Research Complex.

In the Polia Kingdom, there had been many ships leaving the mainland, but there were also quite a few ships coming toward it. Even though the continent was in the midst of a major war, other countries still had to carry out economic activity, and so various goods and raw materials were loaded onto cargo ships and sent here to the Polia Kingdom.

Among all these numerous vessels, one ship was just then approaching the harbor of Pullea, the capital of the Polia Kingdom. It began its berthing maneuver, was taken in tow by tugboats, and at last showed the sight of safely mooring at the pier. The ship arriving this time was not a cargo ship, but a kind of passenger liner carrying people.

A countless number of people were already coming down the temporary gangway that had been connected. The ones welcoming them were none other than soldiers and civil officials. Every one of them wore the same sleek white coat and had a gas mask covering their face.

Inside the Polia Kingdom, the plague had almost been brought under control, but outside the country it still raged unabated. Because of that, the many people who came here were subject to a week-long quarantine. This had been explained to them in advance before departure, so there were not that many who became agitated.

Even so, there were still some who showed signs of unrest. There was a bit of commotion, but when the civil officials and soldiers stepped forward, the noisy atmosphere began to calm down. In the midst of that, the process of guiding people onward began.

“From now on, please line up and move in an orderly fashion! If you are a family unit, move together. If you are not family, you will move separately!”

Interpreters who had been standing by faithfully repeated these words in each country’s language, stringing the same message together almost word for word. According to their instructions, the people were split into groups, and in that flow a family of four was moving.

The family consisted of a man and woman who looked to be in their mid-thirties, and holding their hands were a young boy and girl. As the family walked, a man approached to a certain distance and spoke to them.

“Would you happen to be Dr. Jellas?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Then please come this way apart from the others.”

“I understand…”

The man addressed as Dr. Jellas seemed to know what this was about, for he immediately took his family and followed, entering a separate tent that had been set up. Inside, three men were already seated.

Perhaps because of the heavy atmosphere, the children were frightened and clutched both of their mother’s hands tightly. Seeing this, one of the men spread his hands open in a welcoming gesture and spoke as if genuinely pleased.

“Welcome, Dr. Jellas. How was your voyage?”

“I had a bit of trouble with seasickness, but I am fine now. More importantly, what will happen to us?”

“First of all, you will need to be quarantined. As you were told in advance, in order to enter this country you must unconditionally spend a period of one week in quarantine. This is a rule that must be followed even by nobles without exception. Ah, but do not worry. During your quarantine, we will provide you with enough entertainment that you will not be too bored.”

At these words, the man called Jellas nodded and spoke.

“Is that so? In any case, I hope the quarantine ends quickly so I can get to the research institute I am supposed to go to.”

“That is how it will be. One week is not such a very long time.”

The man spoke with a broad grin, and at his words Dr. Jellas nodded. In truth, he was a chemist from the Doicheun Empire. Among chemists, he had made a name for himself as quite a brilliant genius. The reason he had come here was the plague.

His parents had already died of the plague, and he was tormented by the thought that he never knew when his children might contract the disease. Then one day he read in the newspaper that the Polia Kingdom had largely eradicated the plague. In that situation, when the Mauter approached him in secret, he accepted the offer without hesitation.

The secret police known as the Mauter had, even up to this very war, continued to secretly approach doctorate-level personnel and persuade them to come to the Polia Kingdom. In this way, from the Doicheun Empire alone, including Dr. Jellas, as many as 189 people had defected.

Among them were many famous geniuses of considerable renown, and because of them, the Polia Kingdom’s pace of scientific development had increased dramatically. The important point was that it was not only the Doicheun Empire; the same approach had led to many people defecting from the Moria Empire, the Magnia Empire, and the Noma Empire as well.

All of this was possible because, as a neutral country, Polia could freely pass through those nations’ sea lanes. Of course, when it came to the Noma Empire, passing through its waters was extremely troublesome, so they had only been able to bring out fewer than ten people.

Nor had they hesitated to bring in people from kingdoms rather than empires, so long as the person’s name was well known and their ability outstanding.

Thus, Dr. Jellas and his family were sent to a quarantine zone that had been prepared separately, and the moment it was confirmed after a week that they were not infected, they would leave the quarantine area and live out their lives in the Polia Kingdom, staying in a small house provided by the state.

January 13th.

Ian was currently out on an external inspection. In a way, it was the first time in a while he had gone out like this, and even that was because of the plague. In the line of vehicles moving along in convoy, the car carrying Ian was among them, and in the back seat of that car he sat staring intently out the window.

‘Maybe because this is the outskirts of the city, there are quite a lot of fields.’

He could see farmers working to plant crops. No matter how much the capital was developing as a city, areas like this could not yet take on a fully urban appearance. In any case, since the kingdom lay in the southern part of the continent, it was not all that cold even in January.

Although yields here were worse than in other months, the very fact that they could farm in January at all was, compared to other countries, quite a blessing.

‘So I’ve already turned twenty-five, have I?’

It was already coming up on twenty-six years since he had started his new life. In this situation, his mother had gradually begun to ask him when he was going to hold his wedding. Some time had passed since his engagement ceremony with Princess Adrina, and now Princess Adrina herself was eighteen and entering the year when she would hold her coming-of-age ceremony.

‘I suppose I really do need to hold the wedding soon, don’t I?’

Of course, as promised with Princess Adrina, it would end up being a fake wedding. At the same time, though, he also began to wonder if it wasn’t about time he found a woman he truly loved. He said he wanted a natural encounter, but to be honest, there was absolutely nowhere he could maintain such a natural relationship.

‘Maybe that really is just greed on my part.’

He wondered if perhaps he was still being immature. In any case, while he was lost in these thoughts, their destination appeared: a vast research complex on a quiet spot on the outskirts of the capital, surrounded by high walls.

This was the site of the research complex where various laboratories had been deliberately concentrated so that a wide range of research could be carried out. Everything had been planned out and then built on a large scale. Work had in fact begun five years earlier, and it had only been completed quite recently. In other words, it was a place Ian had planned to create from when he was twenty-one.

Of course, at first the scale had been smaller than it was now. Then, as the war went on and the sale of munitions vastly increased his assets, he immediately expanded the scale of the laboratories through massive investment. From the very beginning of his reign, Ian had not indulged in any personal luxury, and instead he poured money into places like this as if he were dumping it in.

Perhaps influenced by his previous life in Korea, he believed deep down that what mattered most for the future of a country was its human resources. He had already begun in earnest to implement a plan to cultivate outstanding scientists through those people, and through them he intended to promote scientific development.

Starting from basic science, which could be called the central pillar, he planned to nurture it step by step, and to foster scientists in fields ranging from materials science to many other disciplines, attaching them to these laboratories so that the state could support them in carrying out various kinds of research.

‘So there are not only domestic experts here, but a whole crowd of doctorate-level personnel brought in from abroad as well.’

Of course, not everyone was gathered in this one place. There was always the risk that this site might be attacked, and losing it would mean losing an enormous pool of research personnel and thus sacrificing the future. With that in mind, they had already created two other research complexes of similar scale out in the provinces.

In total, they had created three such research complexes. In any case, this research complex was protected by high walls and guarded by a large garrison. When they arrived at the main gate, Ian could see around a hundred soldiers standing watch.

Every one of them stood ramrod straight. Since word had gone out in advance that the king would visit in person, they had had no choice but to prepare everything from top to bottom. Ian could not help but think they had worked hard. The uniforms they wore were probably their finest, and they must have gone to a lot of trouble polishing their boots to a shine.

‘I’ll have to send them plenty of tobacco, liquor, and meat later.’

If there was anything soldiers liked, it was luxuries like tobacco and alcohol. If he sent meat along with it, that day would surely become a delightful little party for them. At any rate, as the line of cars passed through, they finally entered the interior of the research complex.

He could see a large number of people already assembled. At a glance, there were thousands. Considering that all of them were researchers, it showed just how important this place was. Looking at this group made up of people from inside the kingdom and of defectors from foreign lands, Ian could not help but feel a warm sense of pride.

‘Through them, we’ll eventually be able to rise into a nation with the very best science and technology.’

As that thought crossed his mind, the vehicles came to a halt, and a moment later his secretary Mardin opened the car door for him. When he stepped out, he saw the lined-up royal guards and those gathered people applauding him.

It was the scientists’ formal reception for their king. Feeling a little guilty for putting them through so much trouble, he nonetheless approached them and spoke.

“Thank you all for coming out like this to welcome me.”

“Is this not something we are of course obliged to do? Welcome to the Jamila Research Complex, Your Majesty.”

The man who bowed with his back bent almost to the waist had a receding hairline. He looked to be in his mid-fifties, and he was in fact the one serving as the head of this research complex. Ian patted him on the shoulder and spoke in a tone that showed he knew him.

“Director Dubein, I believe you will lead this place well. Do your best going forward.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Just as in Your Majesty’s will, we will devote ourselves, again and again, to research for Your Majesty and for the nation.”

As one could tell from the sincerity in his voice, the man named Dubein was actually someone whom Ian had subjected to Mental Manipulation. As much as possible, Ian did not use Mental Manipulation on the true geniuses. He had no idea what effect his ability might have on those with such bright minds.

However, when it came to people in positions of responsibility like the man in front of him, Dubein, he had applied Mental Manipulation thoroughly. Security was one reason, and another was that he wanted to test his ability’s potential for enhancement.

He wanted to know what role his power would play not in physical capability, but in research work done through the brain alone. So he had selected people with a certain level of intelligence, summoned them, and cast Mental Manipulation on them while also applying ability-enhancing effects.

From what he had heard so far, they had shown quite outstanding performance. In particular, they had produced really striking results in mathematics. In other words, their calculative abilities had become extremely impressive.

‘On the other hand, it does feel like there still haven’t been any truly brilliant flashes of inspiration yet.’

Since only a few years had passed since he began, he thought that it would take at least a good dozen years to properly see the results of enhanced scientific ability through Mental Manipulation. In any case, after talking for a while with Director Dubein, he then took a look over the remaining scientists.

They were all looking at their king with a wide range of emotions: respect, awe, tension, curiosity, and more. In truth, the tension and curiosity were emotions shown by those who had come from abroad. For them, meeting the king who represented a nation face to face like this could only be a daunting experience.

“Among those here, there must be some who have come from foreign lands. I imagine it must feel very strange and difficult to start anew in such an unfamiliar environment.”

At Ian’s words, about a hundred people spoke up to show that this did not apply to them, but their reactions made it clear who was who. Seeing this, Ian let a faint smile curl his lips and spoke.

“If there is one thing I can promise you, it is that I will provide you with more than enough support for the research you have undertaken to succeed. I believe you have all come here either to pursue research or to live better lives. Because of that, this country—and I, as your king—will stand behind you so that you can fully achieve those goals.”

Even though they listened through interpreters, the fact that the king himself spoke these words made the people who had come from abroad feel strongly reassured. There were many times when they could not communicate, and they constantly felt awkward in this unfamiliar country, but in the end they had accepted the persuasion to cross over here in order to conduct more research or to live better lives.

“Well now, it seems I’ve kept everyone standing here at the entrance far too long. I would like to take a look around the laboratories first.”

At these words, Director Dubein finally stepped forward to personally act as guide. Ian nodded, and the inspection of the laboratories began in earnest. When they entered each research institute, he could see many different research facilities.

Because they had prepared without skimping, there was almost nothing lacking; all the experimental equipment needed for research was in place. Seeing this, Ian felt satisfied. He believed that the materials and research results that would emerge from here would change this nation and the world.

As he walked around, something suddenly caught his eye. It was not that large, but a cylindrical metal object about two meters long was standing there.

“What is this?”

“This one, Your Majesty?”

As he said this, Director Dubein turned his gaze to one person and beckoned him over.

“Dr. Aventod, come quickly and explain this to His Majesty.”

At these words, a man who had been standing off to the side hurried over. He was slightly thin and wore glasses—a man in his early forties with the classic look of a scientist. He quickly bowed his head to Ian in greeting.

“I greet the Ruler of the Great Ocean. I am Aventod, Your Majesty.”

Whether because he had been taught in advance, he offered a greeting with a certain degree of formality. Ian pointed at the object in question, pretending not to know even though he did, and asked.

“What is that?”

“Ah, that is the subject of my research. It is called a rocket.”

“A rocket?”

“Yes, by expelling flames generated from combustion, it is an object that can launch itself high into the sky.”

“Oh, that sounds like a very impressive line of research.”

“Not at all. For now, we are only in the beginning stages, so we have not obtained any particularly good results.”

“You said your name was Dr. Aventod, correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then continue your research into this ‘rocket’. I very much wish to see it completed with my own eyes. Whenever it is finished, call for me.”

“Th-thank you, Your Majesty.”

He could not help but say thank you, because the king personally expressing a desire to see the completed product meant, quite literally, that the research itself would be supplied with enormous funding. It meant he would be able to work in the best possible environment as a researcher.

Thus Ian toured the laboratories, discovered several more projects—like the rocket—that were likely to develop into great achievements in the future, and with words of interest and encouragement, he arranged for generous research funding to be provided for them as well.