Every evening in the Kingdom of Friedonia, a number of variety
programs aired on the Jewel Voice Broadcast.
Depending on the day, it may be a singing program, or a serialized
drama, a performance program centered around comedy and tricks, but all
of them had a firm grip on the people's hearts. With the high praise those
programs received from the people of the kingdom, the number of fixed
broadcaster receivers kept rising. Now they were even placed in small
towns, and in the large cities there were multiple installations, increasing
the number of places where people could watch. There were no means of
recording, and all broadcasts were live, so there was a lack of freedom
there, but broadcasts had taken solid root as part of this country's culture.
Out of all those broadcast programs, there was a documentary drama
currently on that had become a hit with the people.
The name of the program was Nameless Heroes.
[Nameless Heroes Episode 3: The Closers of the Gap]
What set this drama apart was the black curtain set up at the back of the
screen.
Because the Jewel Voice Broadcast still only allowed for live
broadcasts, drama programs involved the actors acting out the scripts the
moment the broadcast began. Because of that, it was normal to have a
proper set (backdrops, and such) behind the performing actors, to make it
feel as little like a play as possible; but this drama was shot in front of a
black curtain.
The other thing that stood out was that the characters all wore black
hoods like the kuroko stagehands in a kabuki production. This, despite
them wearing outfits appropriate to their role from the neck down.
Now, as for the effect this had: In combination with the black curtain, it
made them appear to have no faces. Because it was a thin black cloth in
front of their faces, the actors could see well enough to act, but the viewers
watching the broadcast couldn't see the actors' faces.
I believe you will see why this manner of presentation was used as we
watch the program.
Now then, on the stage for today's drama there was a scene
overflowing with the sorts of things seen in an experimental laboratory.
There were two young researchers, a man and a woman, wearing white
coats, who were using a set of balance scales to measure out an amount of
powder, or peering up into a round-bottomed flask being heated with an
alcohol burner.
"Oh, geez!" The male researcher who had been measuring with the
scales pounded on the table.
"Hey, Toto, those chemicals are dangerous, so don't go shaking
things," the female researcher said critically when she saw how her junior
colleague was behaving.
The male researcher she called Toto wasn't done being angry yet. "But,
Momo! When we graduated from the Royal Academy, we entered Cosno
Labs out of a passionate drive to develop something that will help the
people of this country! Like Madam Genia of the House of Maxwell does!
And yet... the work that comes our way is always just to 'research her
research'..."
Unable to refute his words, the female researcher called Momo sighed.
"...It's true, Genia has produced a lot of incredible inventions. But didn't
Dr. Mattis always say that basic research is just as important?"
"Yeah, see, I can't accept that!" Toto's knuckles were white with
frustration. "Dr. Mattis is a great researcher! A great researcher who's
produced results with slow, steady progress... but the only one who gets
public praise is Genia, for her string of eccentric inventions!"
"...Yeah," Momo said. "Well, I can understand the feeling..."
"Were you talking about me?" While the two were talking, an elderly
male researcher appeared.
This person was also wearing a black hood. In order to bring across the
idea that he was elderly when the audience couldn't see his face, he wore
his white coat a little more loosely than Toto or Momo, as if he was used
to it, and he was wearing worn-out shoes, too.
""Dr. Mattis!"" Toto and Momo cried out in unison.
This man was the chief researcher of this lab, Mattis Cosno.
Seeing the two of them stand bolt upright, Mattis laughed. "Please,
don't praise me so highly, Toto. I know better than anyone that Madam
Genia's imagination is far greater than my own. It suits me better to slowly
build upon my studies, rather than come up with revolutionary ideas like
hers."
"But, Doctor!"
Toto was about to say more, but Mattis held up a hand to stop him.
"You want 'to develop something that will help the people of this
country.' You just said that, didn't you? The greatest wish of researchers
and engineers is, and ever shall be, to create the things that will make
tomorrow better than today. I can't say we don't want to be praised for
what we do, but it's not our primary motivation."
"Doctor..."
"Now, if you understand that, let's work hard on our research again
today. I hear we've just received another object of research from the
capital." With that, Mattis placed some sort of lump on the table.
Looking at the reddish-black object that was kind of like a brick,
Momo furrowed her brow. "What is it, Doctor?"
"This, here, is a shock-absorbing material."
"Shock-absorbing material?"
"Yes. When His Majesty asked Madam Genia, 'I'd like you to develop
a system for reducing the amount of shaking on the rhinosaurus train,' she
came up with the idea of using these sorts of shock-absorbing materials on
the wheels.
"Madam Genia again, huh..." Toto's voice had a displeased tone, but
Mattis laughed it off.
"That's the researcher from the House of Maxwell for you. Keen
insight, as always... However, because this shock-absorbing material uses
the flesh from the inside of the giganto armadillo's hard armor shell, it
can't be mass-produced. It is hoped that the rhinosaurus trains will develop
as a means of shipping freight, and of travel for the people. But without the
ability to mass-produce them, they're meaningless. The research request
we received was to develop a viable alternative for this material."
It might seem like he was overexplaining things, but the fact was that
Mattis's lines were explaining things to the viewer.
Momo banged on the shock-absorbing material. "It's awfully hard,
isn't it?" she commented.
"With that level of force, you aren't going to do anything to a lump of
this stuff," said Mattis. "More than that, if a powerful force is exerted on it,
it will change form to disperse the shock. In other words, the important
properties of this material are toughness and elasticity."
"Tough, but elastic... Wait, isn't that contradictory?" Toto exclaimed.
Mattis laughed. "Contradictory or not, we're looking at it. The task
entrusted to us is to find a mass-producible alternative to this material. I'll
be counting on you two for your help."
""Yes, Doctor!""
With that, all the members of Cosno Labs (though, for the purposes of
this play, there were only three actors) searched for a material that could
be used as a replacement for this shock-absorbent material. However, they
tried every material they could think of, and still couldn't find it.
Tough, but possessing elasticity. If they tested things with toughness,
they lacked elasticity, and didn't function as shock absorbers. If they tested
things with elasticity, they might function as shock absorbers, but they
quickly broke.
These were parts to be used on freight and passenger cars drawn by
massive rhinosauruses. If they failed one in a thousand, or even one in a
million times, it would be a great tragedy. Because of that, they had to
choose the materials carefully and strictly.
The three of them gradually showed greater and greater signs of
fatigue.
There was a fade to black, and when the lights returned to the stage,
Toto collapsed on his desk. "It's hopeless! We just can't find a material
that's both tough and elastic!"
"Yeah," Momo said with a sigh, putting a hand on Toto's back. "I'm
starting to think it was a miracle that this material was found in the first
place."
Seeing the two of them so exhausted, Mattis let out a wry laugh and
tried to encourage them. "Now, now, there's no need to be in such a hurry.
If you push yourselves too hard, you're not going to come up with good
ideas. Let's try having a hot cup of milk, okay?"
With that, Mattis rose from his seat... and it happened.
"Hm? ...Whoa?! D-Doctor!" Toto shouted and suddenly fell out of his
chair.
"Wh-What's gotten into you, Toto?!" Momo cried.
"Is something the matter?" Mattis asked.
When Momo and Mattis came over next to him, Toto was pointing in
one direction, seeming frightened somehow. What he was pointing at,
incredibly, was a pen that had fallen to the floor, and was seemingly
floating in midair. The other two were flabbergasted.
"No way... Is this magic?" Momo asked.
"No, we shouldn't have any mages in this lab who can use gravity
manipulation magic," said Mattis.
"B-But, Doctor, that pen is floating as we speak!"
"Hm... But the way it floats is strange. As if it's been caught by
something."
With that said, Mattis got closer, and passed his hand over the top of
the pen. When he did, the pen moved with his right hand, as if it were
attached to the bottom of it.
""Huh?!""
"I see... So that's it."
While the two researchers were reacting with surprise, Mattis nodded
sagely. Then, grasping the floating pen with his left hand, he had them take
a good, close look at the space between the bottom of his hand and the
pen.
"Look closely. Don't you see something in between?"
"...Ah! It's very fine, but I do see something like a thread!"
"Hey, you're right! It's super thin, but there is a thread!"
Hearing the two of them say that, Mattis smiled and nodded.
"Precisely. This is a spider's thread. If I were to guess, I'd say that the
falling pen got stuck to a strand of spider silk hanging from the desk.
"O-Oh... It surprised me..." Toto collapsed and exhausted to the
ground. "But a spider's silk is amazing, you know. Even though it's so
thin, it can hold up a pen."
"I know, right? Even though it's so soft, too."
"...Ah!" Mattis acted as though a jolt of electricity had rushed through
his head.
They had been working with objects with a fixed shape up until this
point, but what about this thread? Spider silk was tough, but also elastic.
What if they were to try hardening it?
Fortunately, this world had all sorts of spiders, large and small, and
there were other creatures that produced silk, too. If they could find a
viable candidate for the shock-absorbing material from one of them, it
might be possible to mass-produce.
"We've found it! We've found it at last!"
As Mattis shouted that, the screen faded to black.
◇ ◇ ◇
When the stage lit up again, the scenery had changed.
They were in a place that looked like a reception room, with two people
sitting on chairs facing each other.
This time, the two people weren't actors, and both their faces were
visible.
One was Juna Doma, who was known widely as the Prima Lorelei, who
recently took up singing for children on the educational program.
The other was a relaxed man in his forties who was wearing a white
coat. He had a bushy gray mustache that matched his hair. This was the
real (not played by an actor) Head Researcher, Mattis Cosno.
Juna held a black lump in her hands and asked Mattis, "So, after that,
you created this shock-resistant material, right?"
"Exactly. When we tested the silk produced by a variety of creatures, a
certain type of silkworm's was found to be the most suitable. That would
be what you're holding there," Mattis responded confidently.
Now, the dialogue segment with these two began.
The earlier drama had been a reenactment of events. This documentary
drama, Nameless Heroes, had a two-segment format. First, the
achievements of the person being focused on in that episode (in this case,
Mattis) would be explained with a reenactment, and then the person in
question would have a dialogue with Juna.
"Now then, Mattis," Juna said. "Is it possible to mass-produce this
material?"
"Yes. It uses the cocoons of silkworms as its base material, so massproduction is possible, just like with silk. However, it responds poorly to
heat and flames, so we apply an anti-fire, anti-heat process to it as part of
the processing. As for the method... That's considered a national secret."
"I see. Cutting-edge technology is a national treasure, after all.
Honestly... I think you've made something wonderful here. His Majesty
must have been very pleased."
"Yes," said Mattis. "When I was summoned to the castle, I wondered
what it might be about, but I was then praised for my work in developing
this material. It's not common for us researchers to see recognition for our
work, but that time... Yes. I'm glad to have done the work on this."
Hearing Mattis sum things up, Juna bowed her head. "Thank you for
taking the time to have this important talk with us today, Doctor."
Mattis was hooked by that into bowing himself.
When Juna raised her head, she turned to the Jewel Voice Broadcast
jewel and said, "Now then, we will have a reenactment of the time when
Mattis met His Majesty, King Souma, and then close out this program."
When Juna said that, the screen faded to black again.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Good work, Big Sister Juna," said Roroa.
When the broadcast was finished, Juna said her goodbyes to Mattis,
then headed off stage to a spot where the broadcast jewel wouldn't show
her. She was greeted there by a smiling Roroa.
Juna returned the smile with one of her own. "Thank you, Roroa. How
was I?"
"Ya did good. It's a cryin' shame we couldn't let Darlin' and Big Sister
Cia see it."
Souma and Liscia had currently left for the Star Dragon Mountain
Range with Naden. They were apparently going to confront a "storm" that
was about to hit the Star Dragon Mountain Range.
Roroa and Juna were worried about Souma and the rest, of course, but
these two who had been left behind in the kingdom had their own things to
do, and they would hold down the fort while Souma and the rest were
away. This program that she embarked on in that spirit had turned out to
Juna's satisfaction.
It seemed Roroa was disappointed about one thing, though. "Oh, but
the guy playin' Darlin' who came out at the end? I wasn't so keen on
him."
Roroa was talking about the "Souma" who appeared in the final
reenactment scene, calling out Mattis and his team to shake their hands
one by one, and to praise them for developing a mass-producible shockabsorbing material.
Roroa crossed her arms and said, "That actor, he was wearin' a crown,
he had a fancy cape on, and he was holdin' a scepter in his gloved hands,
ya know? I ain't never seen Darlin' in a getup like that."
"That was, well... to make it easy to understand."
The coronation ceremony had yet to happen, so the former king Albert
was still holding onto the crown, and Souma didn't like capes and scepters.
That said, if the actor had worn Souma's usual casual outfit of a shirt and
pants, it would be hard to think of it as a scene about an audience with a
king.
"Ya got a point," Roroa said with a laugh. "Still, this Nameless Heroes
program's lookin' mighty popular."
"I think, for the common people, it must be easier to identify with a
highly capable craftsman like Sir Mattis than it is to identify with a true
genius like Madam Genia," said Juna.
Normal people had an easier time empathizing with those who came by
their gifts through hard work, rather than those who had natural talent.
"Well, I think it's a good thing," said Roroa. "When ya look at Darlin's
policies, it feels like they were all made possible by a small group of
geniuses, but the public should know there're actually these sorts of
'Nameless Heroes' workin' behind the scenes, too."
"Yes. I think you're absolutely right."
I hope the people get it, they both thought, looking at one another with
a smile.