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[Meanwhile in Saishi…]
"I must say, Your Highness, this is brilliant!" Hiroki chirped as he read the contents of the paper. "This is…this is…"
"I know, I know." Tachibana chuckled, leaning back into his chair. Both he and Hiroki were in his office, going over the various elemental combinations. Using his knowledge of the fictions from Earth, Tachibana left no stone unturned, however, the success rate of these combinations are yet to be determined.
Hiroki continued to look over the contents before saying, "Yuri, I'm still a bit confused at some of these."
"Which ones?" Tachibana pushed his swivel chair around the table to be at Hiroki's side.
"This one," The Water Mage indicated. "How do Water, Earth and Lightning Magic produce Crystal?" he asked with a raised brow. "And how does that even help in battle?"
Tachibana shook his head. "I myself have no idea. Some of these here are a sure thing, but for others, I'm experimenting. So until we have those practice runs, we'll know what we can actually use from what we can't."
"I see. Then it is fitting that we get onto this matter as soon as possible, right?"
Tachibana nodded. "Which brings us to yet another of my oh-so brilliant ideas." The young Japanese grinned as he pulled out a drawer from his desk. He took out three sheets of paper, all of which have annotated sketches.
"Yuri, what...?" Hiroki trailed off as he looked at the sketches. He examined them as best as he could, his eyebrows furrowing in the process. Tachibana wondered if maybe this time, he might've gone too far. "I get what you're trying to do here, but Yuri, things like these should be taken to the Engineers down in Tech Support. Battle Mages like me won't be able to do shit, you know?"
"Engineers? Tech Support? What are you talking about?"
Hiroki face-palmed. "You know, not everyone in the military are Youma slaughtering junkies, right?" Tachibana nodded even though he was truly ignorant of this fact. "Right, so there are people who the Youma slaughtering junkies will need to repair and create weapons, or service the technology we use etc. These people are Engineers." Hiroki took the three sheets of papers and waved it in front of Tachibana, "This..." He started, placing an index finger on one of the diagrams, "…is what they're here for. Every Division has them."
"Oh." Tachibana nodded. "So what are we waiting for? Let's head to Tech Support!"
"Your Highness..." Hiroki sighed. While he didn't mind the 'Prince's' new behaviour, Hiroki felt that Tachibana was little too overexcited about this whole venture. Still, the good about this is that if Tachibana's plans succeed, there will be a drastic change in how ―not only the Military but the entire Self Defense Force in Saishi uses Magic. "I'll lead you to the lab."
"Yay!" Tachibana perked. Hiroki was somewhat stunned, as it's been a long time since the Prince acted his age ―like the child he was. "Let's go!"
...
...
Tachibana followed behind Hiroki closely as they walked to the elevator at the end of the hallway. Once inside, Tachibana felt the elevator move downwards and was tempted to ask Hiroki why they didn't teleport. But then he remembered when Akira told him that that feature is only located in hospitals and other medical facilities.
Exiting from the elevator, the young Japanese was left in awe. Before him was a grand space with various machines and holographic projectors and AIs prancing about, something that he knew Earth wouldn't have anytime soon. Mages walked leisurely to and fro, Tachibana noticing that even though they were Engineers, they still dressed like Hiroki and the other Battle Mages.
"Yo, Taro!" Hiroki's bellow took him out of his thoughts and almost deafening him in the process.
One Mage who was passing by looked into their direction, "Hiroki! Be..." The words of the Mage died on his lips as his eyes caught the young man standing next to the Vice Division Leader. "...quiet?" Seeing Tachibana present was a real shocker. "Your Highness, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Did His Majesty withhold your allowance in exchange for your presence here?"
Tachibana sighed. Yuri's reputation was really terrible. "Ah no," he replied softly. "I have some ideas that I'll need your help with."
The Mage's eyebrows rose in confusion.
"Just go get Taro, will you?" Hiroki piped up. "His Highness doesn't have all day."
"Oh please." The Mage rolled his bright amber eyes. "School's on holiday, he has all the time in the world."
"What a feisty fuck." Hiroki hissed while the Mage simply smiled smugly before walking off.
Not before long, a tall male strode up to them with a really irritated look. His hair was slicked back revealing his green eyes. As is customary, he addressed Tachibana first before greeting Hiroki. "So what brings you here, Yuri?" he asked. He was Eitaro, the man in charge of the Engineers, more informally known as 'Taro'.
Tachibana noticed this ever he came here, that ordinary people address him by his given name without honorifics. Sure, sometimes they call him 'Your Highness', albeit a little playfully, but what he expected is something completely different from reality. But maybe, he surmised, that the Royal Family were just really cool people.
"I have some ideas. Hiroki told me that you were the only ones who could help because the 'Youma slaughtering junkies' upstairs are useless in this department."
"So what is it do you need help with? We're pretty bored here ourselves."
"This." Tachibana handed Taro the three sheets of paper first before giving him the list of Elemental Combinations. That said, the older Mage's eyes widened with shock before looking between Tachibana and the sheets paper within his hands. Hiroki grinned mischievously, folding his arms in the process.
"Pretty good, isn't it?" Hiroki smirked.
"Good doesn't describe it properly." Taro replied, seeming to be breathless from it all. "This is...this is pure genius."
Tachibana didn't know how to react to that. They weren't his ideas, he just 'copied and pasted' from the fictions back home.
"But the issue I'm currently having is that we're not a hundred percent sure about some of these combos. We'll have to do some trial runs first before ―"
"Say no more, Your Highness." Taro cut him off. "Aika, I need to make an announcement." He said, addressing his AI.
Within seconds, there was a 'dong' sound, after which Taro addressed the entire Lab. "Everyone, head to Practice room 1; Mikoto, Hisao, take the floor immediately."
"You're going to have a test run now?!" Hiroki gasped. "You can't! The other Mages need to see it too!"
Taro looked unperturbed. "We can record it you know, or have them watch it real time from where they are. You're supposed to know this."
"Well excuse me for forgetting since I have been keeping this Division in order in Yuri's absence." Hiroki spat with sarcasm.
"Well, Yuri's here now, so there's no need for you to stress yourself out that much anymore." Taro responded coolly. "Now let's go. There's not many Engineers, so we needn't dilly-dally."
The two men walked off, with Tachibana trailing innocently behind. His eyes wandered around in utter amazement at the advanced technology. ⎾When will Earth get to this level?⏌Tachibana thought. Before all this, he'd always thought that Earth's technological advancements have come a mighty long way, but since he's been here, he's realized that compared to Sekai, Earth could still be classed as 'primitive'.
"Your Highness, are you alright?" Taro asked, with a concerned look on his face. "You seem a bit...sad."
"Ah, no," Tachibana quickly said. "I was just moved by all this that you've done. It's amazing."
Taro and Hiroki exchanged glances before breaking out in hearty laughter. "Yuri, there's nothing you should be moved by. This is nothing compared to the other divisions." Taro said.
"Really?"
"Yes really. Which means you should start swindling some hefty money out of your father's pockets to improve the place." The Scientist added, shamelessly.
"I'll try." Tachibana replied with uncertainty.
Soon, they reached Practice room 1 and there the Mages were already present, waiting on their arrival. The practice room was similar to that located in the Palace, a closed off grand room with spectator seats before it. The trio made their way to where the microphones were while whispers rose in the air due to the sight of Tachibana.
"Taro, what are we going to be doing?" One of the Mages down in the battle area started.
"This is something that Your Highness thought up." He started. "So, I'll let him take over."
Tachibana nodded. "Uh, hello. The main purpose of this exercise is to see how effective my elemental combinations are." He began, but before he could be questioned, he continued, "Elemental Combinations are self-explanatory ―combining two or more elements to make another."
The audience erupted in a series of gasps and 'oohh'. Tachibana ignored them and continued on, "And as such, I'll give you instructions on how to do it."
Mikoto and Hisao nodded their understanding.
"Alright, let's begin."