Chapter 324 Amazed By Excellence Again
When Rihito and Theofrastos left, the library became quiet all at once.
"I'm sorry about my father this morning."
"It's not Alicia's fault. If anything, I think it's Rihito's laziness."
"But I understand how grandfather feels. Honestly, it's annoying."
Alicia called Rihito 'great-great-grandfather,' but since Rihito said it sounded too formal, they settled on 'grandfather.'
"Of course, when the popular Ms. Aristos says it, it sounds convincing. You're now recognized as the leading expert in magic stone research by the royal family, right?"
Actually, after the academy's professors were dismissed, an official apology letter arrived from the king and the academy's president. They even asked to hold a meeting at the academy with Alicia, but since it wasn't a royal order, they said they would respect Alicia's decision, so for now, she's holding off on replying.
"Most of that research is grandfather's work, though. The real inventor of the Spieluhr is grandfather."
"But the magic tool Rihito made is the one that records what you say, right?"
"The principle is the same."
"The Spieluhr has separate tools for recording and playback. Originally, it was one tool, and Alicia split it into 2. I think that kind of flexible thinking is important."
Actually, the Spieluhr is based on a magic tool like a voice recorder that Rihito invented. However, the Spieluhr reduces the amount of magic power needed by focusing only on playback.
Sara thought it was better to focus on regeneration for selling products. She was considering renting magical tools for recording from the Sophia Merchant Guild soon, and she had already received inquiries from bands and bards. Depending on the situation, it might be good to ask them to create content and consider selling it through the Sophia Merchant Guild.
"Even the research on magic stones is based on my grandfather's achievements, right? Plus, I think it's amazing that I can do experiments on magic stones so freely. It's all thanks to Sara pouring in a lot of money and magical power."
"Of course, it's normal to spend money on product development."
"The scale is different!"
"Ahaha. But the fact that the Sophia Merchant Guild can use money so freely is also because we can create magic stones freely now. When you think about it, it becomes a pointless debate about whether the chicken or the egg came first, so maybe it's better to just say we worked hard together."
While Sara and Alicia were giggling, Maria came in with a tray carrying Sara's breakfast.
"You both look like you're having fun. Since you were here, I brought breakfast. Would you like some tea too, Lady Alicia? Today, I made warm milk tea instead of herbal tea. There's plenty!"
"Well then, I won't hold back."
Being considerate, Maria had prepared extra tea food for Alicia after confirming that Theofrastos had left. Thomashiina came in from behind Maria, carrying snacks and light meals.
Sara noticed that breakfast was Eggs Benedict and got really excited. Actually, it was her favorite dish from her past life. When she shared the recipe from her favorite restaurant during her Sarasa days with Hannah, Hannah managed to make it even tastier. Sara couldn't help but admire Hannah for baking the English muffin-like bread. Of course, the hollandaise sauce was also amazing. Sara was completely won over by Hannah's cooking.
By the way, the only place where they could eat eggs raw or soft-boiled was at Maiden's Tower. Sara used magic to clean the fresh eggs, and Alicia and Teresa stored them in a commercial refrigerator they made together. They also had a commercial freezer.
Hannah started to worship Sara like a goddess, bringing in unknown recipes and letting her use all kinds of ingredients. In a way, it was a wonderful mutual admiration. Recently, Sara seriously considered signing an exclusive contract with a farmer because the meals at Maiden's Tower were incredibly delicious.
"By the way, today is a school day, right, Maria?"
"That's correct. I believe everyone will be here soon."
"Thinking about it, I really overslept."
"It's rare for early riser Milady Sara to sleep in. You didn't even exercise this morning."
"I stayed up late last night."
"That's true. You came back quite late. It was more like a midnight snack than dinner, and you looked so sleepy I was worried you might fall asleep in your soup."
"After that, I was half asleep in the bath."
"More like completely asleep. Thomashiina was strong and helped a lot."
"I'm honored to be of help."
When Maria expressed her gratitude to Thomashiina, Thomashiina smiled gently. It was such a natural smile that, unless told, no one would realize she was a golem.
"By the way, Milady Sara, you should take it easy, or you'll wear yourself out."
"I know. I think I overdid it a bit yesterday too."
"You always say that, but your work just keeps piling up."
"Yeah, I know... I want to be more efficient, but..."
Recently, Maria had been pointing out Sara's increasing workload more often. She understood, but the merchant guild's tasks were only growing. Plus, considering the fierce competition in the wheat market coming up, they couldn't afford to be too relaxed.
Grandchester is known as a cold region even within Avalon. Now, it has become a part of social life, but the main reason for holding a hunting tournament at this time is to prepare for winter.
Because of this climate, the wheat harvest season is different from other regions. While most wheat in Avalon is harvested in early summer, most of Grandchester's wheat is harvested from late summer to autumn. Grandchester's winters are harsh, and many types of wheat cannot survive the cold. They have to wait for the snow to melt before planting seeds, so they can't harvest until at least the end of summer.
This year, the wheat in the Grandchester territory was abundant, but the harvest was a bit late compared to usual. Sara, who had just arrived in Grandchester, didn't notice, but many wheat farmers were worried about the slow growth of the wheat. She had heard from the agricultural bureaucrats Pollux and Wasato that the harvest was delayed, but the fact that wheat was being harvested late in Grandchester, known for its grain storage called Avalon, was affecting the wheat market. The price of wheat had already started to rise.
"Hey, Thomashiina, you guys use magic stones to communicate with the Magi, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"How far can you communicate? And how much information can you exchange, and at what speed?"
"I'm not sure what unit to use to show the amount of information, so it's a bit tricky to explain."
"What format do you use to handle the information?"
"To put it simply, we convert it into signals that indicate the states of '0 (None),' '1 (Exist),' or 'superposition (both exist and do not exist)'."
'Quantum computer!?'
"Did Alicia understand it properly?"
"If she didn't understand, she wouldn't be able to make a Magi."
"Hmm. We have a genius here!"
Sara held her head for a moment, deciding to leave the difficult stuff beyond her area to the experts.
"I was a bit shocked, but I'll pull myself together. If we were exchanging the content of a bookkeeping textbook, how much would that be?"
Sara created a base, and in the end, Thomas helped her polish the textbook, which has about 1.2 million characters. To make it easier to understand, there are a lot of illustrations, so if it's digitized, it should take up a decent amount of space.
"Is it okay to exclude the time for processing the content?"
"Yes, that's fine. Just the communication time."
"If it's just exchanging content, I think it will be under 0.01 seconds, but if we're sending the entire page as an image, it might take about 0.05 to 0.1 seconds."
"Does distance not matter?"
"If it's within the capital, I think it's within the margin of error."
"Oh, I see."
Sara realized that her headache was increasing because the Magi and golems were more powerful than she expected, so she decided to stop thinking too deeply about it. Still, it was clear that they should use the golems more for work, and she understood that it was time to consider disaster recovery, including backups.
"Still, Alicia made something amazing."
"That's because the basic theory is from my grandfather. Plus, when I get stuck, it's usually Sara's ideas that help me change my thinking. I feel like I can't do anything on my own."
"My ideas are just random, but it's not easy to infer and prove from there and properly apply it to technology and theory. Alicia is just being greedy. You don't realize her own talent."
"If we're talking about being unaware of talent, Amelia definitely wins."
"Ah, that might be true. Amelia should have a bit more confidence in herself. Still, even if it's by chance, Maiden's Tower has only excellent women. Don't you think I'm really lucky?"
"That's my line! I get to do what I love in such an amazing place, and the pay is surprisingly high!"
"Oh, since the end of the year is coming, we'll get our bonuses soon."
"Bonuses?"
"It's a reward separate from the salary. The merchant guild is making a lot of money, so they should give back to the employees. I think many people need extra money at the end of the year, so I plan to distribute it. By the way, the evaluations for each employee are done by No. 17, so it's fair. Although, the fact that evaluations are happening is a secret."
Alicia and Amelia's bonuses are definitely going to be very high since they are closely linked to the sales of the Sophia Merchant Guild. Teresa is also part of Maiden's Tower, but she is not registered as an employee of the Sophia Merchant Guild; she is the owner of a workshop contracted by the merchant guild. Her workshop, which includes metal processing for lipstick containers, is also doing quite well.
Rihito is on a salary system, but if he makes any discoveries or inventions that benefit the Sophia Merchant Guild, he will receive an incentive. There is no limit on research funds, so Rihito was excited to the point where his nostrils were flaring. It really ruined his handsome look.
"Hey, there must be a lot of people who want to work at the Sophia Merchant Guild, right, Sara?"
"Right now, we aren't hiring, but we will probably open branches in the future, so we will need to hire then. I think we will hire in the territories where we open branches."
"I wonder if there will be people who do something dishonest."
"Even though every branch has a golem attached to it? Shouldn't we praise that kind of courage?"
"Wow, that's scary! But I think you can't connect to Magi in other territories, right?"
While cleaning up Sara's dishes after the meal, Thomashiina wore a cheerful smile.
"Right now, Sir Rihito is considering the redundancy of Magi in the basement of the Secret Garden. Later, Milady Sara will be asked for a large amount of magic stones. Magi recommends an active-active setup, but Sir Rihito seems hesitant. At least, we agree that we should quickly consider a backup system for storage."
"If we set up Magi in an active-active configuration, will the Three Wise Scholars argue?"
"No, it's just redundancy while load balancing, so it will remain with the Three Wise Scholars."
"Is the load so high that we need to consider decentralization?"
"At the moment, we aren't even using 10% of our resources. However, if the goal is disaster recovery, each Magi will need to be placed in physically separate locations. If communication between them is cut off for some reason, it's better for each to continue operating as independent Magi. The ones who would be in trouble if the golem suddenly stopped are the Sophia Merchant Guild."
"I see. If that's the case, should we increase the number of Magi?"
"That comes with the risk of others finding out about the Magi. What will you do?"
"...For now, let's stick with just 2 and think about a relay."
"That seems like a wise decision at this stage."
Alicia, who was listening to the conversation between Sara and Thomashiina, suddenly stood up from her chair with a clatter and shouted.
"Why is Grandfather having so much fun all by himself! Invite me too!!"
Alicia quickly gulped down the tea left in her cup, put on her coat, and hurriedly ran to the Secret Garden.
"Today is really a busy day."
"That's so true."
Sara and Maria murmured with wry smiles in the room where Alicia had just left.
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