While waiting for Cecilia and the others to finish their afternoon classes, Randy and Liz returned home to pick up a souvenir for Corey.
"Huh? You're back early today," Harrison said, blinking in surprise.
"Forgot something," Randy replied, pointing to a large bug cage left near the front entrance—though it looked more like a prison cage. The cage, made of iron and wood from the forest, appeared empty.
Harrison glanced at the cage, then nodded knowingly. Though nothing was visible inside, he could sense that something was there.
"Taking that thing with you is fine, but won't it draw a lot of attention?" Harrison said with a wry smile.
"That's true" Randy agreed. If they borrowed Harrison's carriage, Rita would likely tag along as well. But Rita deserved her free time, and Randy didn't want to take that away from her.
As he mulled over the problem, an idea struck. "Why don't I just carry it directly?"
"Well, since it's invisible, that might work, but…" Harrison's expression soured.
"What if it attacks people on the way?" he asked, glancing again at the cage.
"Alright, then we'll knock it out first. Help me out," Randy said and strode over to the cage. Without hesitation, he removed the lid and reached inside to grab the invisible Varyon. Nothing was visible, Randy's actions looked like pantomime.
Harrison, however, could feel the presence of the creature. He moved closer and stared at Randy's seemingly empty hands.
"So, how exactly do you plan to knock it out?"
"I'll just punch it—"
"Don't. If you punch it, its brains will splatter everywhere," Harrison said, frowning.
"Then what's your suggestion?" Randy snapped, pursing his lips.
"Didn't you ask about its weaknesses?"
"Nope," Randy replied, shaking his head.
"Are you serious?" Harrison groaned, looking to the sky.
Hunting an unknown magical beast without any prior research? Only Randy would attempt such recklessness.
Despite having consulted an expert, he had apparently forget to gather the most critical piece of information.
"Hey, don't look at me like I'm an idiot."
"I'm literally looking at an idiot, so I can't help it," Harrison muttered without thinking.
Realizing his slip, he stammered, "Ah—"
"Alright, grith your teeth—-" Randy growled.
"Just kidding! As expected of Young Master, your style of 'I don't know anything but absolute power' is magnificent !"
"You're still mocking me!"
As the two bickered loudly at the entrance, Liz and Rita watched them with exasperated yet amused expressions. Realizing this could go on forever, Liz sighed and intervened.
"Randy, if you don't hurry, you'll keep Cecilia and the others waiting."
At Liz's reminder, Randy clicked his tongue but stopped arguing. That didn't solve the issue, though.
"So, how are we knocking it out?" Randy asked again, thrusting the invisible Varyon toward Harrison. Randy had been told not to hit it, so he assumed Harrison had a clever idea.
"Hmm. Maybe I'll just flick it on the forehead and see what happens?" Harrison suggested.
"You think a flick from you is enough to knock it out?"
"How rude. A creature like this—hey! Damn it, it just attacked me with its tongue!"
The commotion resumed, with Randy and Harrison loudly arguing while wrestling the invisible beast. Naturally, the magical beast was completely invisible to Rita, as well as to everyone else.
"Milady… are those two okay?" Rita asked, glancing skeptically at Randy and Harrison.
"Rita, they're just seeing something only they can perceive," Liz replied.
"Something only they can see? Like… a ghost?"
Liz began calmly explaining the situation to a confused Rita, while Randy and Harrison continued their chaotic antics with the invisible magical beast, seemingly having the time of their lives.
☆☆☆
"You two are late!"
Cecilia stood with her arms crossed in front of the club building. Randy raised a hand casually. "Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. We had to grab a souvenir."
He lifted his seemingly empty hand, but Luke, the only one able to sense its presence, tilted his head and asked, "Is it dead?"
"Nah, just fainted," Randy replied.
After brainstorming with Harrison, they had finally decided to have Liz zap the creature with a mild electric shock, successfully knocking it out.
The group of four soon arrived at the Magical Beast Research Club, where Corey was waiting—not that he was aware of their visit.
Randy remembered he hadn't made an appointment when he got here. Luckily, he sensed someone inside—for some reason, there were two presence.
Maybe they were doing something? Whatever
Randy knocked the door anyway, if he was bothering them, he could just come back another day.
The knock echoed, and shortly after, the door opened. The face that appeared belonged to Corey, Annabelle's childhood friend and the sole remaining member of the Magical Beast Research Club.
With his round glasses and bowl-cut hair, Corey was short and thin student in his first year. He'll grow up a lot from now on.
Collie looked up at the group, tilting his head in curiosity. "Oh? Senior Randolph, what brings you here?"
"I wanted to ask for your opinion on something. And… I brought you a souvenir," Randy said, lifting his empty-looking hand again.
Collie tilted his head once more but quickly lit up with understanding, likely thanks to his expertise.
His face broke into an enthusiastic smile. "Let's discuss this inside!" he said with a voice that was more energetic than you'd expect from his appearance.
Led by Corey, the group entered the clubroom. They were greeted by an unexpected…. No, expected person.
"Ah, good afternoon, everyone," Annabelle said with a slight bow.
"Lady Annabelle, you're here too?" Randy asked, his demeanor suddenly changed to formal.
No one commented on his change in tone, though Luke couldn't suppress a chuckle.
Shooting him a glare, Randy quickly regained his composure.
"If we're interrupting, we can just leave this thing and come back later," Randy offered, gesturing to the invisible Varyon.
Annabelle immediately shook her head. "No, not at all!" she said hastily. Corey also nodded vigorously. "It's no problem at all!"
"Alright then," Randy said, though he couldn't shake the feeling that they were just being polite.
Without further ado, he reached into his magic bag, pulled out some materials, and swiftly constructed a cage for the Varyon. Tossing the creature inside, he turned back to Corey and Annabelle.
"I've got something I'd like you to look at," he said, showing the prototype camera and demonstrated it.
"This… is amazing," Corey said, eyes sparkling.
"Y-yes, it could revolutionize so many things," Annabelle added, equally fascinated.
The two excitedly speculated about its potential, from creating encyclopedias of magical beasts to developing ghost recognition systems.
"Sorry to kill the mood," Randy interrupted with a wry smile, "but this thing's still a long way from being finished."
"Oh, right," Corey said sheepishly, scratching his head.
"I'm trying to find a way to fix the colors so it doesn't disappear." Randy explained, glancing at the Varyon in the cage.
"It changes color when exposed to light... What about adjusting the concentration of its body fluids?" Corey suggested. "If you can make the color change more reactive to light intensity…"
"I've already tried that," Randy replied with a shrug, going on to explain his trial-and-error process.
The Varyon's body produces a light-reactive fluid, which it secretes through sweat gland to change its skin color. Randy had wondered if this could be used as a photosensitive material.
However, Randy's knowledge was really vague. He only knew knowledge like "if you shine light on something that changes color, it becomes a photograph."
Through experimentation, he had developed a prototype film that struck a balance: diluting the fluid and applying a protective coating thick enough to prevent evaporation, but thin enough to maintain color sensitivity.
"This current balance gives the best color output when I focus light through the lens," Randy said. "If I make it any thinner, the colors don't change at all. And the coating's thickness matters too."
Annabelle hesitated for a moment before suggesting, "What if you increase the amount of light coming in?"
"Like modifying the lens?" Randy asked, intrigued. It's true that normal camera would have multiple lenses.
"Yes, but also by using light magic stones to make the light even stronger," Annabelle explained.
"Interesting. You think that'll work?" Randy asked.
"Absolutely. It's like creating a bundle of light beams inside the camera," Annabelle said, referencing the ghost-capturing devices she'd seen.
Randy stroked his chin thoughtfully. If they could amplify the light effectively, it might just work—but it would require careful adjustments to prevent the camera's internal mechanisms from overheating or malfunctioning.
"Firing a flash inside the camera… my eyes are going to explode," Randy said with a wry smile, prompting everyone else to tilt their heads in confusion.
After all, even if light were generated inside the device, at most, it would leak out through the camera lens.
"No, see, eventually, I want to add a peephole to determine the angle," Randy explained, borrowing paper and a pen from Collie.
He sketched out a rough design, which resembled a single-lens reflex camera (SLR) when viewed from the side.
There were the murmurs of admiration that rose from the group as they studied the drawing.
"But if the peephole is here," Luke pointed out, immediately spotting the issue, "you won't be able to see the image accurately, right?"
He gestured to the peephole that didn't aligne with the lense. Randy himself wasn't entirely sure why the peephole was placed there.
"If you use mirrors, it could work," Liz suggested.
"Yes, by reflecting the image from the lens with a mirror," Cecilia added, arriving at the solution immediately.
"Great, you two are in charge of that," Randy said, tossing the internal design problem to them without hesitation.
Given the task, Liz and Cecilia began annotating Randy's simple drawing, adding details about the direction of light, mirror angles, and the necessary structure.
"Eventually, I want to make it so you can see the scene through the camera," Randy explained.
"But if the light flashes inside, it would damage your eyes," Liz pointed out.
"How about temporarily closing the peephole during the flash?" she suggested while continuing to draw lines on the diagram.
"Doesn't that make it too complicated?" Randy asked with a chuckle.
"It's worth a try," Liz replied.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you," Randy said, raising his hands in surrender.
When the mechanism became this complex, it was beyond Randy's ability to handle.
He wasn't sure the mechanism how pressing a button would result in light hitting the film while simultaneously closing the peephole. And the idea of mirrors directing light yet still letting it reach the film baffled him even further.
"For now, let's focus on generating light," Randy said, crossing his arms. "But even then, we'll still need something to keep the image from disappearing."
That was the real issue. Even if they created a material that only reacted to strong light, it would still react whenever different strong light hit it. They needed some way to keep the image in place to prevent that.
"Keeping it…" Corey and Annabelle both pondered the idea deeply.
As Randy, Corey, and Annabelle fell silent, an unexpected voice chimed in.
"Funny how ghosts stick around without anyone asking them to," said Luke, leaning against the wall.
"Ghosts? Sure, they linger in this world, but…" Randy trailed off, remembering the time he'd fought a wraith in the church basement. Despite defeating it, it hadn't left behind any useful materials.
"Those things don't even drop anything—"
"They're usable," Liz interjected.
"What?" Randy turned to her, startled, only to find Liz looking at him with a faintly conflicted expression.
"It seems like they can be used. Ghosts…," she said hesitantly.
From her tone, Randy realized that the ancient great magus had spoken. Whatever the answer was, it had to be something extraordinary.
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