Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 121
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Chapter 51: Zephyr’s collar and mana detection
“Hmm…”
“Kyuun?”
I fold my arms and stare Zephyr.
Perhaps it was strange to be stared at, Zephyr is also looking back at me, tilting its head like a human.
… No, really, this child makes human-like gestures every time… I wonder who it’s imitating.
I’ve been thinking about it.
Why does Zephyr feel attached to us?
Uru and others say things like “Isn’t it because Rion’s food is delicious?” But even if that were the case, it doesn’t explain why it was friendly from the beginning… At first, I thought that it instinctively knew that it couldn’t compete with Uru, so it submitted, but eventually it grew attached… But now I don’t think that’s the case.
During the game, there were no events where monsters became friends.
There were only two types of monsters: those that couldn’t communicate with the player and were just hostile, and those that could communicate, but were so malicious that the player had no choice but to be hostile.
… Actually, just like there are bad people in Asteria that weren’t a thing in the game, there may be friendly monsters that didn’t exist in the game, it might be just that simple.
However, I don’t want to stop thinking and end up in a situation where someone other than me, who is responsible for deciding to bring Zephyr home, and Uru, who could easily defeat Zephyr, could get hurt.
That’s why I have to carefully assess… But…
“… Kyuu?”
… Oh no. It’s so cute.
No, no, no, I shouldn’t be fooled so easily.
That being said… Isn’t it obvious?
I can tell by looking at its eyes.
Zephyr, unlike other monsters, certainly has an intellect.
It may be selfish sometimes ?? Or rather acts like that ?? But it’s no different from what a young child would do.
And so far, it has continued to follow my first orders, and no one has been hurt.
… Maybe it’s time to let down my guard and start trusting it properly…
Zephyr wouldn’t feel good if it was always under suspicion.
Rather, it may be more important for me to take the initiative and show that I trust Zephyr so that Zephyr can also trust me.
“Alright, Zephyr.”
“Kyuu?”
“Shall I put a collar on you?”
“… Kyueeeeee…?”
“… Umm, Rion-sama, why did you put a slave collar on Zephyr…?”
As expected, Fricka was the first to show disapproval of Zephyr’s collar. Although the tone in her voice was just that of being confused, if I wasn’t the one on the other end, she might have clearly expressed disgust.
Well, she’s a victim of that… I think it can’t be helped to react that way. But if I don’t clear up the misunderstanding first, I’m afraid I’ll lose Fricka’s trust before Zephyr’s.
“It just looks like a slave collar, but it doesn’t have any effect like forcing people to obey. In fact, it’s enchanted with protection magic.”
In other words, it’s like a collar-shaped amulet.
So, why did I go through the trouble of making it look the same as the slave collar… To put it bluntly, it is just a disguise.
In the future, I would like to travel around the world on Zephyr.
At that time, of course, there is a possibility that the residents will notice it.
If you just look at it normally, Zephyr is just a monster, and moreover, it’s a dragon, so for ordinary people who don’t know anything about it, it would be nothing more than an object of fear.
Therefore, by intentionally giving it a slave collar (just a look-alike), I can just say “This dragon will listen to my commands.” Even if I was foolish and honest and say, “You can trust this child.” How many people would believe me? It is easier to show some form of ‘reassurance’ than to try to persuade people each time.
… Well, there are probably many people who don’t know about the existence of slave collars, But they will think that it is under some degree of control when they see it wearing a collar… I hope so. If there’s too much trouble, I will have no choice but to change things flexibly, such when I have something to do in a village, I will make Zephyr land nearby, but ask it to wait at a distance… I have no choice but to change things according to the situation demand.
Since it’s just a collar, it can be removed easily, and it will be remade as Zephyr grows, so it shouldn’t be a burden.
When Zephyr first put it on, perhaps because the collar felt strange, it scratched its neck, but after a while, the collar didn’t bother it much.
Fricka was convinced by my explanation, I think… Aren’t you acting tough, are you?
Perhaps my anxiety was showing in my face, she gave me a wry smile and said, “It’s fine.”… In that case is okay, right?
“Currently, it only has a protection enchantment, but I would like to be able to track its location someday.”
I would like to be able to make this function not only for collars, though.
On future trips, this will make easier for meet up with the others in case if someone becomes separated from the group.
In times of danger, we can just use the return stone to return home, but there will be cases where someone can’t use one just like Uru, and even if it’s not Uru, in some places you can’t use one due to miasma.
Uru’s ability to know where I am seems to be just ‘intuition’ and it’s not helpful, so I wonder if I could make something able to emit or detect signals or auras? Well, I don’t know anything about how wireless things works…
“… No, wait?”
I remember that Fricka said before that she felt a repulsion from the Return Stone that I made because it contained my mana.
If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be possible to detect the mana and identify who it belongs to by putting the mana directly or using the mana of a magic stone…?
“Hey, Fricka, is there a difference between my mana and other people’s mana?”
“?… No, I don’t really understand the difference that much.”
Hmm… If that’s the case, does that mean that mana doesn’t have any information that can identify individuals like fingerprints? It’s just that you can differentiate between your own mana from the mana of others.
Hmm? However, since there is a repulsion, it means that there is a difference… Is it a kind of difference that cannot be seen or put into words? Hmm…?
Putting mana aside, how about trying something that might have personal information other than mana??
It wasn’t until much later that I realized that Fricka was watching me with a warm gaze, as I groaned as if something was about to dawn on me.
… Huh, I didn’t mean to leave you alone… Eh? It’s fine, it always happens? Ah okay….
“It’s done!!!”
I succeeded in creating a transmitter (tentative) and a receiver (tentative).
By impregnating mana into blood to amplify the biological information, and then by fusing that blood and a magic stone with my skills, It becomes a transmitter. When you put a mana into it, it sends a mana wave.
The receiver is also a magic stone imbued with mana, and when it detects the mana wave emitted from the transmitter, for example, if I use it, the magic stone imbued with my mana will react. A short line of light will manifest, from its size and position you can roughly tell which direction and distance the transmitter is.
Note that the reason for (tentative) being attached is because both have short effective distances. It’s just strong enough to pass through obstacles, or rather, in first place if it couldn’t go through obstacles, it’d be completely useless…
However, the reason why the mana wave passes through obstacles is because mana has such a property, or because I imagined something like radio waves when I made it… Which is it?
Well, no matter what, the fact that it was ‘It’s done’ is important. Improvements can be made from now on.
Hehehehehe, I can do it, I’ll do it…!
“… Rion is acting strange today too… She’s sounds energetic as always.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Well, I guess that’s true.”