"Wait."
Carl and Lyra looked up.
"Isn't she the Baron's daughter?"
"Yes," Carl replied.
"Then why on earth is she running around collecting research reports and local property listings for you?"
The two of them just stared at me, completely blank-faced.
"Because he asked for help?" Lyra answered.
Huh. Back in my world, the noble daughters in anime are always way too arrogant to help commoners with their errands. I guess Lyra is just built different.
..that isn't the main point of discussion right now. We have a potentially radioactive wasteland for sale! Should I actually buy it? Even if I buy it, how am I supposed to make it useful? Nobody in this world knows anything about radiation, but I do. Well... at least a little.
If that place really is radioactive, then with the right setup it can be used to create one of the deadliest weapons from my world. If I realize its true value before everyone else, I can probably become one of the richest men on the planet.
But then again, do they even need something like that here? These people already have spiritual powers. They can throw fireballs, summon storms, and do all sorts of ridiculous things. Compared to that, would anyone even care about a nuclear weapon?
Wait... having nuclear options is always a good backup plan. And more importantly, we can use it to generate electricity! Hell yeah! In this world, I won't let corporate greed destroy the conquest of clean, green energy!
While I was drowning in visions of a green-energy revolution, Carl and Lyra shifted their attention back to the stack of research projects desperately seeking funding.
Meanwhile, my brain was still drowning in visions of a green-energy revolution.
Hold on, we don't have electricity here. Absolutely everything runs on spiritual energy. The people of this world have never even conceived of electrical currents. But using electricity would be infinitely easier.
It can be completely renewable, and you wouldn't need to constantly buy expensive spiritual stones just to power basic appliances. Wait a minute...I might actually be cooking.. Electricity would be dirt cheap and available to every single citizen for a fraction of what they currently pay for spiritual stones!
Hell yeah.
First electricity.
Then we worry about nuclear energy.
But wait…I'm not a scientist. I have absolutely no idea how to actually build and generate electricity. I literally just got accepted into a medical college back home, went to a fresher party, and then visited my grandma's place to relax before the semester started. I have zero engineering knowledge to make this happen. I just have the conceptual idea.
As I sat there questioning my entire plan, Lyra suddenly mentioned something that caught my attention.
"Mr. Carl, there is another funding request."
She flipped through a document.
"The researcher claims that with sufficient funding, she can generate thunder inside a room without requiring spiritual stones, spells, or inherited spiritual abilities."
"According to her proposal, she uses rotating magnets, specially refined metal wires, and a device that converts motion into thunder."
"Basically," Lyra continued, "it would function independently of direct spiritual power."
Holy shit.
That's electricity.
Carl barely looked interested.
"What is the purpose of thunder besides killing people?"
He pointed at another document.
"Next."
My eyes went wide under my mask. Oh, I know exactly what to do.
"Wait!!" I shouted, slamming my hands on the table as I bolted upright.
My voice was loud—loud enough to violently startle the quiet library patrons who were minding their own business studying in the other sections. Several heavy glares shot our way, but I didn't care.
Carl and Lyra turned their heads toward me, utterly bewildered.
"Now what, Darcy?" Carl sighed.
"I want to invest in that girl. And I'm buying that cursed land."
To be completely honest, I didn't have a single shred of concrete proof that Decayspire was actually enriched with radioactive materials, or if it truly was just some weird magical curse.But right now, I was going to blindly follow what my gut was telling me.
Carl pinched the bridge of his nose.
Lyra looked shocked.
Carl slowly stood up.
"Are you trying to become homeless?"
"What?"
"If so, transfer your money and house to me first."
"No, trust me! It's going to make an absolute fortune if it works!"
"If it works..." Carl emphasized. "Alright, suppose it does work. Explain to me how exactly lightning in a room and a cursed wasteland are useful."
I pointed toward the research proposal.
"Thunder can be used for much more than killing."
Carl raised an eyebrow.
"What? Roasting potatoes?"
"Yes."
"....."
"And many other things."
I ignored his expression.
"You could heat houses during winter."
"Cool them during summer."
"Boil water."
"Light entire towns at night."
"Power machines."
"Hold festivals without spending ridiculous amounts of money on lighting."
The more I talked, the more excited I became.
"We could literally turn night into day."
Carl stared at me.
"And how exactly do you know thunder can do all of this?"
"..."
Good question.
"It's a visionary instinct."
"A what?"
"A visionary instinct."
I nodded confidently.
"I came into this world with it."
Carl looked completely unconvinced.
"And the land?"
"It can help produce thunder in a more sustainable way."
"How do you know that?"
"..."
"Another excellent question."
"It's also a visionary instinct."
Carl looked like he wanted to throw a book at me.
Carl let out a heavy sigh. "I'm warning you, this will require enormous investments."
He pointed toward the documents.
"You can probably afford the research project."
Then he pointed at the Decayspire file.
"But you can't afford that land."
"You don't have ninety million Lochu."
And neither do you," I fired back.
"How are you buying land?"
"I took a loan of twenty million Lochu with six percent annual interest."
My jaw dropped.
"And borrowed another hundred million from the Baron."
My jaw dropped further.
"Three percent annual interest."
I turned toward Lyra.
"...Wait. Miss Lyra."
"Yes?"
"Are you all secretly rich?"
She laughed.
"No need to be so formal anymore, Mr. Darcy."
Then she smiled.
"After everything we've been through, I think we're beyond that."
Fair enough.
"And yes." She nodded.
"My family owns businesses outside Dunford."
"A few in the Imperial Capital as well."
"Mostly textile-related."
That explained a lot.
"Alright."
I sighed.
"I'll stop being formal if you stop calling me Mr. Darcy."
"Deal."
She didn't hesitate for even a second.
"Alright, Darcy."
Wow.
Straight to first-name basis.
No warning.
No hesitation.
Everyone in this town really was business-minded.
"So..."
I smiled awkwardly.
"Can I borrow ninety million Lochu?"
"Of course."
Wait.
That was easier than expected.No wonder she was helping Carl so much. She's essentially acting as our walking bank.
"You need it for Decayspire, right?" Lyra asked while shuffling through her papers.
"I'll handle the paperwork. All you need to do is sign two documents. One for the loan and another for ownership of the land."
Perfect.
"And what about the researcher?" I asked.
"Don't worry, I'll contact her for you." Lyra picked up another document and skimmed through it.
"What exactly are her basic requirements to get started?"
Lyra flipped through the applicant's paperwork, skimming the lines. "Well, she is requesting a fully equipped laboratory—a large one, if possible—and a flexible monthly allowance depending on the materials consumed by the project each month."
"And where is she currently located?"
"She actually lives right here within our kingdom, which is fantastic news," Lyra said. "Though, her town is roughly a week's ride away by carriage."
"...That is way too far," I muttered, frowning. "Is it possible to summon her here to Dunford? We can easily arrange a custom laboratory space for her right here in town and provide everything she needs."
"I can write a letter... wait, there's no need for that," Lyra corrected herself, noticing a glowing ink mark on the page. "She has actually provided a signature of her unique spiritual frequency. We can communicate with her directly through a transmission stone. The notes say she is only available to take calls between eight and ten in the evening, so I will ring her tonight."
"Thank you, Lyra. Seriously."
Carl tapped his knuckles against the dark wood of the table. "Now that Darcy's financial ruin is safely secured, would you mind helping me finish my selections, Miss Lyra?"
"Of course! I'm so sorry, let let us take a look at the remaining files," Lyra replied brightly, turning her attention back to Carl.
In the end, Carl wound up selecting a highly advanced medical research project focused on creating artificial spirituoglobin—a synthetic compound that the report promised would have a ninety-six percent structural similarity to natural human blood. Perfect for a closet vampire, obviously. He also locked down a prime real estate listing located right in the heart of the Imperial Capital.
As for me? I leaned back in my chair, a smug grin forming beneath my cloth mask. I had reached a completely different conclusion.
It was time for revenge.
Spiritual energy this, spiritual energy that.
Everything in this world revolved around spiritual energy.
Need power?
Spiritual energy.
Need transportation?
Spiritual energy.
Need communication?
Spiritual energy.
Need to breathe?
Probably spiritual energy.
Well, I was getting tired of hearing about it.
I would show this world that spiritual energy wasn't everything.
I would show them the power of modern science.
Electricity.
Industry.
Technology.
Innovation.
All the things humanity had built without magic.
Sure, I had absolutely no idea how to build any of it.
That was a problem.
A very large problem.
But problems existed to be solved.
And if I wanted to drag this world kicking and screaming into a technological revolution, I couldn't do it alone.
I needed scientists.
Engineers.
Researchers.
People willing to chase impossible ideas.
I was going to prove to this entire civilization that magic isn't everything. I was going to show them the sheer, unadulterated power of modern science.
Because if there was one thing I had learned since arriving in this world, it was that impossible things happened surprisingly often.