Principia, the Metric System, and Through the airship, Isaac Upperhills became a god. Of course, this was only in a metaphorical sense among the mages of the Magic Tower. No one was mad enough to genuinely believe Isaac was omniscient and omnipotent.
This was because mages were mostly atheists, or they considered magic itself to be a god. The dark history of magic, which had seen to the annihilation of disobedient theologians, was proof of this. When new mages from commoner backgrounds gathered, a similar topic often came up.
"Back in the day, the religious folks used to say that the movements of the celestial bodies were governed by God, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then, to those people, is Sir Isaac a god?"
"Hmm... even without them, isn't Sir Isaac closer to a god than a human?"
"... That's true. He's on a completely different level from that Howard fellow who only reformed an army."
"I agree."
In this day and age, it was stranger for a mage not to revere Isaac. Especially in schools that dealt with solids or motion, they were beginning to doubt if there was anything left to research at all. With the appearance of Principia, every single project underway at the School of Telekinesis had collapsed.
A researcher from the School of Telekinesis asked their supervising professor.
"Professor, what are we supposed to do now?"
"There's nothing for us to do. Go and read Principia one more time."
However, it was said that Isaac himself detested this kind of reaction. There was one person who could no longer stand by and watch this situation: Professor Gedrick, the Acting Head of the School of Ideal Gas Magic. Of course, it was not that Isaac had requested he handle the situation.
Isaac had only confided this fact to Giuseppe in his own lab.
"Honestly, I've been feeling a bit burdened lately."
"You must endure it, junior. That is the duty of the strong."
"... Pardon?"
Naturally, Giuseppe kept the secret... But he never imagined someone would be listening to their conversation from beyond the wall. 'By chance,' a researcher from the School of Ideal Gas Magic happened to be pressing his ear against the wall on the School of Magical Surveying's side.
Of course, no one would ever know if this was truly a coincidence. In any case, Acting School Head Gedrick did not turn a blind eye to the hardship that had befallen the 'founding school head (provisional).' For this reason, he had been carrying out a peculiar campaign behind Isaac's back for the past semester.
It was called the 'Let's Not Admire Him' campaign. One day, in the student lounge after a calculus study session.
"Let's not admire him."
A master's student from the School of Ideal Gas Magic began with a solemn face.
"Of course, I know that no matter what you try to research now, Sir Isaac's theories will pop up. You probably want to worship him out of habit."
A murmur spread through the room.
"However! At least within the Magic Tower, this hall of learning, let's put that feeling aside for just a moment."
He spoke as he flared his lats, as mighty as a great mountain.
"If you admire him... you can never surpass him, can you?"
"...!"
A wave of heated emotion spread through the students, who were all devoted to calculus. The majority were persuaded by the Pathos embedded in his words. And though they were a minority, there were also those persuaded by the Ethos generated by his overwhelming muscle mass.
Logos?
There was none of that. This was the student lounge. Logos was something you only needed to use well in the lab.
In any case, this campaign was surprisingly effective. Thanks to it, the number of people who shouted "Wow! Isaac!" upon encountering him in the hallway had decreased significantly.
And now.
The Magic Tower's student cafeteria, quiet for the vacation. The commoner mages who remained at the Magic Tower were desperately holding back a 'Wow, Isaac!' Because he was there, at a corner table.
The Hero of the Capital. The Coordinator of the Celestial Spheres. The One Acknowledged by the Dwarves.
The One Who Rose with the Sun of the Empire. The Standard of the Empire. The Nightmare of All Spies.
And so on... The great Isaac Upperhills was eating beef stew by himself. It was said that only one who could eat that soup, as red as blood and as hot as fire, could become his roommate.
The mages pretended to be engrossed in their meals as they whispered.
"Sir Isaac... doesn't he look like he has something on his mind?"
"I know, right? He's frowning."
"Could there be a problem with the airship's construction?"
"No. Maybe... maybe in that single bowl of stew, he's conceiving a thesis that will turn the world upside down."
Everyone watched with bated breath. What great thoughts were swirling inside that genius's head right now? The truth of the universe?
The origin of magic? But what was actually filling Isaac's mind was... 'Can a child be born between a human and a dwarf?'
It was something he could not quite say openly in front of others. Isaac scooped up the stew's broth with a serious expression. The researchers who saw his expression were once again filled with admiration.
"To have that level of concentration even outside the lab..."
"As expected... he doesn't waste even a moment of his mealtime."
Last night, I drank with Tobin, Callen, and Balkan until late. The reason was nothing special. According to Callen, it was to commemorate a 'love that transcends species.' ...
It was a bit strange that the couple in question wasn't there, but it was fun as we drank, so we went all the way.
Ugh.
My stomach was aching from the drinking. So I came to the student cafeteria for some hangover relief, but my head was still a mess. In fact, a train of thought had been following me since yesterday.
First.
Is it alright for someone who is 16 in human years to work and marry? Legally, it was fine. At that age, both marriage and labor were permitted under Imperial law.
If I were to make an issue of this and forbid it, countless couples in the Empire would have to divorce, and a wave of unemployment would follow. I had no intention of forcing the standards of my past life onto this world. In a world with less to teach, children naturally become adults more quickly.
Of course, a teacher getting involved with someone so much younger seemed a bit... risky, but if they were both happy, it wasn't my place to say anything. 'I should tell them not to reveal her age in human years.' More important than that was the second problem.
'Just how does interspecies genetics work in this world?' Centuries had passed since dwarves and humans had been cut off from each other. Because of that, there was almost no data left.
There were some records on beastmen, and it was said that their mixed-blood children also had reproductive capabilities. 'So they're not sterile hybrids like ligers. Does that mean they're genetically quite close?'
If that was the case, did it mean that between those two from yesterday, a 'mage who intuitively feels the structure of metal' could be born? 'Isn't that basically Magneto?' I was dying of curiosity.
I had never regretted so keenly that life sciences weren't my major as I did today. I wanted to start by thoroughly investigating beastman hybrids, but since the beastman nation and the Empire had severed ties, finding a mixed-blood child was like plucking a star from the sky.
"Will I be able to travel around a bit once the airship is built?"
I stood up from my seat, lost in useless thoughts. Just then, I heard whispering from nearby.
"See! I told you it was about the airship!"
"Damn, I thought it was a thesis."
Before it got any louder, I quickly exited the cafeteria. I headed for the workshop inside the boarding school. When I opened the door and went inside, Moebel was busy repairing various things.
"Do you perhaps need any help?"
"Ah! It's the Chairman! Nothing you need to help with. I'm fixing it on my own."
Moebel replied, wiping away sweat. His way of speaking was quite peculiar. Calling me 'Chairman' must have been at the recommendation of his wife-to-be, but all the honorifics were missing.
It was strangely funny. I said to Moebel.
"Still, since you'll be teaching children, don't you have any questions? About the curriculum or anything."
"Hmm... My fiancée says the children will pester me to tell them the story of my first love. In that case, I'm debating whether I should talk about my fiancée, or about the time I first succeeded in a perfect tin plating."
"... That certainly would be a dilemma."
I remembered being asked a similar question during my special lecture a while back. Suddenly, I became curious as well.
"Come to think of it, I'm really curious. How on earth did you two meet?"
As if he had been waiting for my question, Moebel's beard twitched.
"It started... with a request to give an interview for the Upperhills Newspaper."
Ah.
So she was one of the ones who moved to the foundation's newspaper division. It's a relief she's not a teacher anymore. Anyway, while writing a newspaper article, she had come to the workshop for a story and had persistently thrown questions at the gruff dwarf craftsman.
"We fought a bit at first... but then a decisive moment came."
"What was it?"
"It was when we were making your statue, Chairman."
"Hmm?"
"So I'm grateful to you, Chairman. Thanks to you, I met my lifelong partner."
Moebel smiled shyly. Seeing that innocent smile, I suddenly felt ashamed of myself. 'What have I been thinking all this time about a person like this?'
My plan had been to earn Moebel's favor by helping him, and then periodically take his blood for research purposes. All to solve the secret of interspecies genetics. 'I should stop this...'
I must reflect. And reflect again. It would be revealed someday, but at least for now, I didn't want to be the one to turn their pure love into a research subject.
I decided to put aside my curiosity as a researcher for a while.
"... From now on, if you need anything, please tell me. I'll help with anything I can."
"Hm? Ah, mm. I understand. Thank you."
Moebel wore a look of utter confusion.
Returning to my lab, I rested my chin on my desk and sank into thought. Moebel, Balkan, and the other dwarves. The more I got to know them, the better their personalities seemed.
It was to the point where the Dean's explanation of them as a 'secretive and irritable race' felt like malicious slander. 'Aren't they only irritable with elves?'
Anyway.
As I spent time with the dwarves, I found myself wanting to properly fulfill their dream of exploring the 'sky island.'
"A sky island..."
Balkan had said that the sky island was not in a fixed location. A ghost island that constantly drifted through the skies above the continent.
An island.
And yet, a strange one with no witnesses... But an island the dwarves were certain existed. Balkan had said that once the airship was complete, he would find it even if he had to scour the entire continent.
But that was too crude a method. Besides, flying an airship all over the continent could disrupt the 'luxury tourist airship' promotional plan that the princess had devised. People on the ground would be terrified at the sight of a chunk of metal floating in the sky.
It would be the airship version of the Sputnik shock. In other words, I had to find the location of the sky island before the airship took flight.
"Head of the Doloren school."
I called out to Doloren, who was rolling around on the cot.
"Hm? Why?"
"Are you interested in finding a sky island?"
"Wasn't that just a baseless rumor?"
"They say it exists. The dwarves have guaranteed it."
Dwarves do not make false promises. Doloren would at least know that much.
"What? For real? It actually exists?"
Doloren's eyes sparkled.
"Of course I'm interested! Let's go right now!"
Doloren shot up from the bed. I knew the school head would accept. But there was no need to go right now.
I said to Doloren.
"We don't need to go now. That would be too inefficient."
I hated doing things the hard way.
"Let's find an expert to help us."
"An expert? Who?"
I pointed to the room next door.
"They say the School of Ideal Gas Magic specializes in studying the weather."
If the sky island also moved using floating stones, it would constantly affect the surrounding weather.
"So if we analyze their data, we should be able to find a clue."
"Oh... that makes sense."
I immediately headed to the neighboring school's lab.
Knock, knock.
"Co... Come iiiiin!"
A reply, somehow filled with tension, came from within.
What?
Is there some kind of problem? I opened the door and went in, seeing three or four researchers. Unfortunately, Gedrick was nowhere to be seen.
He must have gone on a business trip to another Magic Tower. The researchers, who looked new, froze like ice the moment they saw me.
They muttered.
"He really came!"
"I told you I heard it right..."
One of them squeezed his eyes shut and repeatedly mumbled.
"Don't admire him... Don't admire him..."
"... Pardon? Don't admire who?"
When I asked back, the researcher's eyes flew open in alarm.
"I, I was just reviewing the teachings of our Acting School Head! But what brings the future school head here?"
"Ah, it's nothing much... Is there anyone here who'd like to look at the sky with me?"
At my words, he responded instantly.
"If it's data for the search for the sky island, I will risk my life to find it!"
"Um...? I never said a word about a sky island."
"Ah..."
Tears welled up in the researcher's eyes.