Ludwin shook his head and tried to get back on track. "Anyway, I've brought
some important guests to see the place today. Let us in."
"Important?" Genia asked. "Okay. I'm opening it up now."
The closed shutter began to rise on its own. Was it switch-operated, maybe? It
felt more and more out of place in this world.
When the shutter had opened fully, there was a set of stairs leading down
underground. It seemed this garage really was just the entrance. With no regard for
my surprise, this Genia person said in a cheery, singsong voice, "Okay, Luu, and my
guests, too, come on in."
We descended the stairs into the underground and soon came to an open space.
From what Ludwin had told me, this wasn't a particularly huge dungeon. It was
like a large six or seven floor building, only buried underground. What was more,
the House of Maxwell who owned this dungeon had taken out all the walls and floors
between levels to secure more space, so it was just one big rectangular space now.
The massive staircase that stretched out along the walls of that massive space felt
like being at the edge of a sheer cliff face, and it was pretty scary. I wished they had
at least put in railings.
The walls also seemed to be made of metal. Liscia had described dungeons like
this as "bizarre spaces with metal walls," but to me, it was like being inside a
futuristic spaceship. The metal walls seemed to give off a faint light. The way that it
wasn't dark, even though we were underground, felt futuristic, too.
Internally, I was shocked to see this incongruously advanced technology, but
Liscia and Ludwin didn't seem to be bothered by it. Apparently the two of them
thought the walls were shining because of magic or something like that. Because
magic could do anything, perhaps the people of this world didn't have much of a
sense of wonder.
As we descended the stairs, I asked about the House of Maxwell.
"The Maxwells were the noble house that originally ruled over this area," Liscia
explained. "It must be in their blood, because the House of Maxwell has produced
many great researchers, and it's said that they have greatly raised the level of this
country's civilization. They're particularly well recognized for their analysis of
technologies discovered in dungeons. It was the Maxwells who discovered how to
use simple receivers for the Jewel Voice Broadcast."
Wow... I thought. So it was the Maxwells who discovered how to use those simple
receivers, huh?
"Wait, huh?" I burst out. "I think they're using them in the Empire, too, aren't
they?"
"It was a fairly long time ago, after all," Liscia said. "One king a number of
generations ago sold the knowledge to various foreign powers."
"Hmm... Well, it's hard for me to say that was a bad move, I guess," I said.
It was scary to see cutting edge technology leak out, but if the technology would
have little effect and someone else was going to discover it eventually, selling the
knowledge while it was still worth something might be okay, maybe. That, or
exchanging it for knowledge of something else.
"For that achievement, they were given this ruined dungeon and the land around
it to rule," Ludwin said. "However, the Maxwells, passionate as they were about their
research, showed no interest in managing the land. With the understanding of the
royal family, they delegated management of the land to us, their neighbors in the
House of Arcs. Half of what they earn from the land is given to the House of Arcs,
while the other half goes to supporting their lifestyle and funding their research.
That's the system that we adopted."
"That's... pretty amazing, in a way," I said. Managing the lands of their fief was a
noble's duty. To think they were neglecting that to spend their days on nothing but
research... "But, wait, isn't the House of Arcs losing out on that deal?"
"Because the House of Maxwell's contributions were so great, it was allowed,"
Ludwin said. "Besides, if their research brings us new knowledge, the country will
prosper even more. Though, that said, as the times have gone by, the Maxwells' lands
have been incorporated into the Arcs fiefdom, and now we're treated as their
patrons."
Basically, while their house had been allowed to continue, their lands had been
reduced to just this dungeon. And the House of Maxwell was being supported
financially by the House of Arcs.
"...Huh? You're the head of the House of Arcs, aren't you?" I asked.
"Yes. I am."
"And this Genia person is the only one here?" I asked.
"Yes. Genia Maxwell. At present, she is the last of the Maxwells."
"In other words, right now, you're paying to support this Genia, right?"
"Urkh..."
When I asked him that, Ludwin was at a loss for words. That was when I
remembered those rumors that maybe Ludwin was facing financial difficulties.
"Don't tell me, the reason you eat the cheapest bun the cafeteria has to offer is..." I
said slowly.
"...Genia is five years younger than me, and we were raised like brother and
sister," Ludwin began with a far off look in his eyes. "The amount of support to be
paid to the House of Maxwell is set at a fixed rate, but, well... Both my parents and
Genia's have already passed away... That makes each of us like the only relative the
other has left... and, well... I'm a sucker when it comes to things my little sister asks
for, and I can't help but draw from my own salary, too..."
I was speechless.
I clapped Ludwin on the shoulder.
When we reached the bottom, I finally got a grasp of the scale of this space.
Up until that point, while the walls had been emitting light, the center of the
space had been dark, and I hadn't been able to see. Here at the bottom the floor also
glowed with the same faint light, so I could tell that the space was split up with the
same sort of cloth dividers you would see at a construction site.
First, there was one massive divider that split the space into two halves.
In the remaining space, there was one medium-sized area that had been divided
off, a number of box-like objects with cloth over top of them, and a (two floor) log
house.
I wondered what was behind the massive divider, but seeing a house that looked
like it belonged in a forest here inside this metal space, it looked like a joke. That
house had probably been the living space (and experimenting space?) of the owners
of this dungeon, the House of Maxwell.
Ludwin knocked on the door to it. "Genia, it's me. I've brought guests, so please
open up."
When Ludwin called out, a vapid sounding voice responded. "Okie-dokie. I'm
opening it nooooow."
Then the door opened, and out came a woman in her early twenties wearing a
wrinkled lab coat. She looked a bit underfed, but she had regular features, and if she
had taken proper care of herself, she would probably have been reasonably
beautiful. However, her clearly unkempt semi-long hair ruined it.
This, I presumed, was Genia Maxwell. The small, round glasses resting on the
bridge of her nose looked just like what I'd expect a researcher to be wearing.
"Hey, Luu," Genia smiled. "Glad you're here. ...Who're they?" She tilted her head to
the side.
Seeing her reaction, Ludwin hastily bowed his head in apology. "H-Hey, you're
being rude! I-I'm terribly sorry, sire, princess! Genia! This is His Majesty King Souma
and Princess Liscia!"
"Oh, hey... you're right," Genia said. "That's the face I'm used to seeing on the
Jewel Voice Broadcast."
In contrast to Ludwin's panic, Genia seemed relaxed. She lifted up the hem of her
lab coat as if it were a dress and curtsied to us. "We haven't met before, Your
Majesty. My name is Genia Maxwell. Welcome to my messy home."
I couldn't tell if she was being respectful with that greeting or not, but she didn't
seem to be trying to insult us, at least. She was a little off, but this was probably her
doing her best at being respectful.
I introduced myself. "I am the (provisional) King of Elfrieden, Souma Kazuya.
This is my fiancée, Liscia."
"I'm Liscia Elfrieden," Liscia said.
"Hee hee! I am aware," giggled Genia. "I do humbly note my pleasure to find you
in good health."
Ludwin buried his face in his hands, unable to watch. Her attempt at polite
language was so bad, she came off like a clown.
"If you're not used to it, there's no need to stand on formality," I said. "We're the
ones who dropped in unannounced. Feel free to talk whatever way is easiest for
you."
"Y'sure? Well, that's what I'm gonna do, then."
"G-Genia!" Ludwin exclaimed.
Ludwin started to protest at Genia's sudden shift to a more easygoing tone, but I
held up a hand to stop him. "It's fine. We're the only ones here."
"B-But... when you consider why we came here..." Ludwin stuttered.
"Oh, we can leave that for later," I said. "In the short time we've talked, I've more
or less become convinced that she's not the type to be plotting anything nefarious.
Before that, I think I'm more interested in hearing more about her."
"I-I see..." Ludwin seemed deflated.
Genia chuckled. "Well, no point standing at the door all day. Come in! Even in a
house like this, I can at least serve coffee."
She led us inside to a living room of sorts. When we sat at the table there, Genia
brought out four mugs of coffee. She apparently had no cream or sugar.
When Genia had finished giving everyone their coffee and had taken a seat, she
introduced herself once more. "Once again, I am Genia Maxwell. I'm the head of the
House of Maxwell, the owner of this dungeon, and also a researcher, scientist, and
inventor. Oh, I'm technically a mage in the Forbidden Army, too. I was originally in
weapons development, but I did some stuff, you see..."
It started as a relatively smooth self-introduction, but Genia had gotten vague
with that last part.
"You 'did some stuff'...?" I asked. "Just what did you go and do?"
"She created something outrageous." Ludwin said with a frown.
Genia hastily explained. "Hey, you know how wars are always laying waste to the
land? Well, to make sure the land is full of greenery after the battle, I made these
arrows with fast-growing plant seeds loaded into them."
"Planting trees on the battlefield?! Isn't that idea way too far out of left field?!" I
exclaimed.
Oh. But while that wasn't an idea that should have been coming out of the
weapons development department, it felt a little weak as a reason to drive her out.
As I was thinking that, Genia seemed to be deep in thought.
"Hrm... I think it was a good idea, just that maybe it was a mistake to enchant
them with light elemental magic to encourage growth. They started growing
incredibly fast, you see. Ahaha... I never thought that the one test shot I fired would
engulf the training grounds, and the lab attached to them in a sea of tress."
"That was you?!" Liscia shouted in surprise.
It seemed to have happened before I came to this world, but it might be a rather
well-known incident here.
...Yeah. I could see how she'd gotten thrown out.
Genia was laughing it off, but Ludwin was clutching his head in his hands.
"Well, I didn't like the atmosphere in the development department much
anyhow, so that was fine by me, really," said Genia. "They're all just sort of going in
the same direction. Wouldn't it be better if they were more free in the way they
think?"
"No, in your case, I think you were a little too free," I said.
"No, no, I think a superior culture or civilization can only be born from freely
pursuing ideas," she insisted. "If you ask me, development is an explosion!"
"That's the one thing we don't want to let explode!"
Please, let art be the only thing that's an explosion. I mean, if whatever you're
developing explodes, that's just an accident.
It wasn't just Ludwin now; Liscia looked exhausted just from listening. "It feels
like having three Soumas here."
"Huh? Does that mean dealing with me is half as exhausting as dealing with her?"
I asked.
"Ever since we were betrothed, you've been running me ragged," she said.
"Though... lately, I'm starting to feel that's not so bad."
"Ahaha!" Genia said teasingly. "I'm glad to see the future royal couple are so
close."
Liscia turned bright red and looked at the ground.
"We had a good atmosphere going there, and now you've ruined it," I complained.
"Sorry about that," said Genia. "Well, anyway, that's about all there is to say about
me. By the way, Your Majesty, have you heard what kind of pedigree the House of
Maxwell has?"
"Your house distinguished themselves by studying artifacts discovered in
dungeons, right?" I asked.
"Precisely!" Genia declared, with a snap of her fingers. "My family has been
researching dungeon artifacts for a long time. These are things that go well beyond
what this world's technology can replicate, and we've studied them for generations.
And so, in the long time we've spent researching, we've vaguely come to see a
certain thing."
"A certain thing?" I asked.
"It's a principle of this world, separate from magic."
A principle that's separate from magic? I thought. What's that?
"I hear that you're using the Jewel Voice Broadcast." Genia put on a meaningful
smile, then asked, "Do you understand what sort of thing it is?"
"If I recall... it's an artifact from the dungeons, filled with the magic of the sylphs
and undines. The jewel is a tool to send out images and sounds it picks up... right?"
"Yeah," said Genia. "That's the answer about 99% of the people who know about
the Jewel Voice Broadcast would give, I'm sure. But there are two mistakes in that
understanding."
"Mistakes?"
Genia nodded solemnly. "They're found in the dungeon. That part's fine. Mistake
number one is the 'filled with the magic of the sylphs and undines' part. You said it
like it was a given, but have you ever seen a sylph or undine yourself?"
"Well, no, I haven't, but... I'm not from this world, but weren't they supposed to
exist here?" I asked.
"Okay, let's ask the princess next to you, then. Princess, have you ever seen a
spirit?"