Volume 5 Chapter 23 It's Common For The Creator To Not Notice Things
"Alright, now that the mood is set, let's get to the main topic."
Cedric's confident smile made Randy tighten his face. It reminded him of the important people he had seen many times in his past life.
"Let me ask you straight. This idea of the Saintly Lady... do you really think it will work?"
Cedric leaned forward, his gaze probing. Randy felt a bit pressured under his watchful eyes and nodded slightly.
"I wouldn't say there's no chance."
Cedric chuckled with a "Hmm" and sank deeper into the sofa. He was completely passive, waiting to hear more. Randy took a deep breath to clear his mind.
He had only told Cedric that he was working with Catherine to develop and sell new heating equipment.
Where should he start?
Various words floated in Randy's mind and disappeared... in the end, he decided on:
"Sir Cedric, can I turn off the heating stove?"
It was the simplest way to demonstrate. There was little chance that long explanations would resonate with someone smarter than him. So, it was better to let him experience it directly.
Noticing Randy's intention, Cedric said, "Sure," and turned off the heating stove, looking back at Randy. His expression seemed to ask, "What's next?"
Randy stood up and opened the office window wide.
The cold winter air rushed in, quickly lowering the room temperature.
"The camera, the beauty serum... oh, and the axle was also a live demo sale."
"I don't have the skills to convince someone just with words."
With a sigh, Randy said, "And you know what they say, seeing is believing," as he took out a prototype and cloth from his magic bag, feeling the drop in room temperature.
Just to be safe, he had reserved a set and informed Catherine and Liz. There's no stand to fix it yet, and no tools to attach the cloth. Still, with Craft's quick work, a prototype device was set up under Cedric's desk.
"Now, just flip the switch──."
Randy checked the operation and encouraged Cedric to sit down. Cedric, who had a rough idea of how to use it just from the setup, moved smoothly.
"I see... this feels quite interesting."
Cedric smiled and looked down at his feet. A small space covered with cloth was gently warm. Since they had turned off the heater and changed the air, his upper body felt a bit cooler, making the warmth at his feet feel even more noticeable.
After enjoying that feeling for a while, Cedric stood up with a thoughtful expression, saying, "Interesting... but."
"I admit it's compact and can target cold feet effectively. I can see there's a certain demand for it in places like the Knight's station or border forts."
As he said this, Cedric removed the cloth from his feet and turned off the prototype device... at that moment, he froze, noticing something.
"This is..."
Pulling out the prototype and staring at it closely, Randy whispered, "Impressive."
"Can it be taken apart?"
"Yes. Once it cools down, we can disassemble it."
Unable to contain his curiosity, Cedric opened the window wide to help the prototype cool down faster. The cold winter air flowed in, rustling the papers on the desk and Cedric's notes.
"...Does Liza know about this mechanism?"
"Yes. She didn't notice just by glancing at the blueprints, but she's been working on the prototype."
"I see. It's worth having Liza and you support it..."
Randy nodded silently at Cedric's words. In fact, just last night, he and Liz had been excitedly discussing how the device worked. For Cedric, who had only seen the actual device, it must be a mystery how this copper grill generates heat.
"Is it about time?"
Cedric, feeling restless, nudged Randy to take apart the top part of the prototype. What he found there was a chunk of metal, like a copper bar, surrounded by magic circuits.
The whole thing was covered in copper, but this bar looked different. It had strange circuits carved into it.
Cedric picked up the bar and said, "It's still hot," then rolled it on the floor, staring closely at the engraved magic circuits.
"These circuits are messy. Wait, is it on purpose?"
The base where the bar was placed had a nice circuit that flowed energy from a magic stone, so Cedric realized there was a reason for the messy circuits on the bar.
"If you do this, the flow of magical power will be bad──."
Just then, Cedric finally figured out why the prototype was heating up.
"Could it be that the blocked flow of magical power turns into heat?"
"Maybe it's the natural heat from the material due to magic resistance."
Randy's explanation made Cedric think, "Is that really possible?" It was a perspective that only Randy and Catherine, who knew about electric resistance and ceramic heaters from modern Japan, could have.
In this world, the common sense is that magical power should be transformed into something useful, and its flow must not be blocked.
Whether it's magic or a magic tool, magical power is a source of energy, and blocking it means losing energy.
To make life easier, the key is to not block the flow of magical power. That's what really matters, and that's why magic circuits were created.
So, what's needed is just to judge whether this material easily lets magical power through or not. There haven't been many experiments on what happens if you keep pushing magical power through materials that resist it.
If any experiments were done, they were mostly about how much magical power can flow and how much it can take before breaking.
Catherine's kotatsu, which ignores common sense, raises resistance and uses the heat created from the magical power and friction of the materials as heating. For people in this world, it's a complete twist of thinking.
By the way, heating only the copper bar is also for energy efficiency and safety. It's better to adjust the temperature with just the bar than to raise the magical power resistance of the whole grill, making it safer and more efficient.
"Really... Miss Catherine did this?"
"Yeah, I don't think she realizes its true value."
Randy shrugged, and Cedric smiled wryly, saying, "Just a coincidence..." It's probably just a coincidence. Catherine only used her knowledge from her past life to create a more efficient heating equipment, which led her to develop the kotatsu.
But as a result, what she created was...
"An interesting technology."
...a new technology that even made Cedric impressed.
Heating equipment like stoves basically converts magical power extracted from magic stones into flames. In that process──like adjusting the size of flames or wind──complex and advanced magic circuits are needed. Although manufacturers have succeeded in making them smaller every year, Catherine's kotatsu is so small it seems to mock them.
Plus, its energy efficiency is definitely better.
Earlier, he said that if resistance goes up, magical power is lost, but that's when magical power is converted into something else.
Like flames.
Like wind.
Like light.
When converting to those things, if the material has high resistance, the magical power doesn't transfer well, causing energy loss. That lost energy turns into heat due to friction with the material and gets released.
But with Catherine's kotatsu, the magical power that usually gets lost──something that would normally count as a loss──directly turns into heat. So, in theory, the loss of magical power for the purpose of 'heat' is 0. ...Of course, there's some loss before it reaches the resistor, so this is just in theory.
"Really interesting... and very versatile."
Cedric nodded, and Randy whispered "as expected" again. Ever since Cedric felt something off with the prototype, he must have been thinking about how to use this device. It could be used as a small heating equipment that doesn't use fire.
"If we could make this device a bit more compact..."
Cedric was talking about ways to use it other than as a kotatsu.
In the northern countries, there's a custom of wrapping heated stones or charcoal in leather and sneaking them into beds or pockets. Of course, that keeps you warm, but they cool down over time, which is a downside.
Plus, if it gets too hot, there's a risk of burns or even starting a fire.
But with this device, you could use it as a kotatsu, and also bring it to bed as a hot water bottle. Sure, the prototype is too big to use as a heated stone, but making it smaller is easy. After all, it generates heat with just a resistor and a magic stone.
"I see... there's definitely a chance of success."
Cedric picked up the rod again and examined it closely. Right now, it has a circuit that forces the copper to increase resistance, but if they use a material with high magic resistance from the start, they can skip that hassle.
High productivity is also a strong point of the product.
"If there's one problem..."
Cedric muttered, but then he nodded to himself, saying, "Ah, I see," and gave Randy a sigh mixed with a smile.
"Winter is almost over. I thought that would be a downside, but... maybe it's good that it's ending now."
"That's true."
Randy nodded, and Cedric sighed again.
"Off to the north for copper supply requests... and with the prototype in hand, huh?"
Cedric put the rod back and looked at Randy with a curious gaze, as if probing.
"Just a coincidence."
Randy shrugs, but it's clear that it's truly just a coincidence.
Winter is almost over. Yet here they are talking about heating equipment... but that's okay. After all, they still don't have their production system set up. So, all they need to decide is whether they can invest in it or not.
And the manufacturers of heating equipment probably never thought anyone would be foolish enough to start selling new heating equipment at this time.
In other words, while their enemies are relaxed, they can decide whether to seriously push this project based on the presentation results to the northern nobles. If it feels good, they can expect a lot of orders by next winter.
Once they have their system in place, they can also open up sales channels to the Empire and other continents. This time is just for the presentation, and if they think the real battle is next winter, they still have plenty of time.
"...So? What are you planning to do about the production system and opening up sales channels?"
"Well, that's... still──."
Randy thinks about how nice it would be to get help from Braubelg, but that feels a bit too hopeful. So, he can only respond with vague words, and seeing this, Cedric sighs.
"I'll talk to Father."
Surprised by the unexpected suggestion, Randy looks up and thinks, "Is that okay?"
"Is it okay? Liza is involved, right? Then Braubelg's name will come up. Plus──."
"Plus?"
"I think it's just right to make a splash in the country."
"A splash in the country? Are you talking about cornering the local nobles?"
Randy tilts his head, and Cedric smiles, saying, "Well, that's part of it."
"If the Saintly Lady... or rather, the Church, benefits, then we can undermine the real purpose of the Church's estates that the country took over."
Catherine's developed kotatsu. Why would that be a blow to the country? Randy will find out the answer a bit later.
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