Group 7
—
So, the idea of having materials immune to Authorities was an idea from a friend. He's a big chemistry junkie and I liked the idea. Although, I had to research most of this stuff, which kinda sucked. Also, subscripts don't work.
—
Deep within his bedroom, our more-protagonist-than-the-other-protagonist was muttering to himself. It seemed like incoherent mutterings to the two who watched him.
"This hunk of rheniite, ReS2 if I remember correctly. But which one is it? Rhenium or some obscure impurity? Sulfur didn't work, so it has to be one of those"
"What is Betty even here for, in fact?"
Meiss turned to face the spirit, who was sitting on his bed with the half-elf, who was immensely curious. Emilia is happy to just watch. Let's not pay attention to how she doesn't understand anything Meiss is saying, neither does Beatrice for that matter.
"You… are here because I have no feasible way to test this outside of sulfur."
Meiss pointed to a lump of yellow rock on the table, which had a blackened hole in the center.
"I'm seriously hoping it's the Rhenium and not an impurity."
Meiss spun to face the wall, gesturing to the large piece of paper he had drawn on. He dramatically spread his arms and presented the poster to the duo.
"This is the periodic table. A genius piece of artwork."
"It is mere blocks with names, hardly artwork I suppose."
"Well I guess you're right, hardly the best looking... but but but, what it can accomplish is extraordinary!"
Emilia clasped her hands and stared in awe at the less-than magical properties of the grid.
"The periodic table is a collection of all the known elements, ordered and grouped ingeniously. This is the halogens, this is the noble gasses, all the way over here is the alkali and alkaline-earth metals, this giant block is the-"
Meiss froze. Beatrice had an interested glint in her eyes now.
"Sorry, I seem to have caught myself in the early stages of a lecture."
The half-elf tilted her head, trying to remember the small amount of information.
"What are we going to do with this, Meiss?"
Meiss pointed to Re, the block representing Rhenium.
"We need this element. It is called rhenium, the other ingredient in this rock. Problem is that like almost all the other metals it is grey, and also happens to be extremely rare. True shame, for it is extremely durable when made into an alloy. Used in stuff like airplanes."
"Airplanes?"
"Oh yeah, forgot. Airplanes are like giant metal carriages that fly without magic. Lots of them beyond the waterfall."
Beatrice stood up abruptly, her brows scrunched. Emilia looked at Meiss questioningly.
"Beyond the waterfall, you say… You wouldn't happen to from that very place, now would you I suppose?"
"Yeah, I am. From a whole other world. Much different from this one. Anyways, I have an idea as how to-"
"YOU CAN'T JUST BRUSH IT OFF LIKE NOTHING, I SUPPOSE!"
"Ok Beatrice. ANYWAYS, I have an idea as how to get some rhenium. But first, I don't think I told you what the rheniite does, Beatrice."
Beatrice huffs and tries to grab Meiss' collar, and succeeds since he is so short. There was only a six inch difference in their heights, so it was no hard feat. Beatrice swung him around by the collar, and Meiss struggled to stay upright. It was super amusing for Emilia to watch this. Two people shorter than her fighting was surprisingly funny. She suppressed a giggle.
"Wow, you've only known Beatrice for two days and you already get along so well. I'm quite envious of you Meiss."
Beatrice swiveled her head to glare daggers at Emilia. She opened her mouth to refute her, giving Meiss an opening.
"WRYA!"
"KYAAAH!"
Meiss held Beatrice away from him with an Acedia wire, temperature obviously low. Beatrice tried grabbing at Meiss, failed because he was so far away, and started clawing at the Acedia. Meiss picked the lump of rheniite up, positioning it over the Acedia wire that sprouted from his hand.
"As I was saying, this rock has a special property."
He dropped the rheniite, severing the Acedia holding back Beatrice.
"It nullifies Authorities."
Beatrice stopped struggling when the Acedia was severed in a puff of purple and black smoke. She stared at the rock so carelessly dropped on the floor. She said something so low that nobody could hear it.
"If we had this back then… The past is unchangeable, I suppose."
Meiss leaned over and offered his hand to the spirit. She slapped his hand away. Meiss raised an eyebrow and pointed his thumb at the periodic table.
"I'll teach you all about it if you help me, I'll even throw in an extra favor later."
—
Off-key whistling echoed off the walls as Subaru trudged along. He had resumed his butler duties and odd-jobs around the mansion. The wait for their departure to Sanctuary was unbearable. The bucket he was holding swayed at his side, the mop draped over his shoulder dug into a sore spot. He sighed to himself.
"YES!"
Subaru tilted his head to the side. What? Who would suddenly scream loud enough to be heard down the hallway? He noticed an ajar door further down the hallway. That's Meiss' room, right? All the way at the end too...
Subaru curiously made his way over to the blonde's room. He made no effort to be sneaky, but the cheering was louder than his footsteps. Cheering? What the hell is going on in there? Poking his head in, Subaru almost wished he hadn't.
"COME ON, YOU'VE GOT THIS BEATRICE!"
"Good job Bea- Oh wow! It's sparking!"
"HA HA~! TRY AGAIN!"
Subaru watched silently as Beatrice wove her hands around dramatically. Meiss was cheering her on loudly, while Emilia watched with wide eyes. Sweat dripped down Beatrice's forehead as she concentrated on what she was doing.
As for what she was doing…
Four clusters of grainy yellow rocks floated in front of Beatrice, along with one lump of dull grey metal. She flicked her wrist, and the dull metal became mirror-like. The little girl waved her arms closer together, and the rocks collided once more. Beatrice strained herself a little more, and the rocks seemed to overlap each other. Sparks started to fly as soon as the smallest sliver of overlapping occurred.
"YES YES YES! A LITTLE MORE!"
Beatrice finally scrunched her face up, and her hands plunged together. It was as if all resistance was removed, allowing her to completely overlap the rocks. The air around the combined lump seemed to pulsate with fiery air, and the substance itself glowed white hot. Beatrice exhaled, and the metal cooled into a smooth, silvery-grey metal.
Meiss plucked it from the air, catching Beatrice with his other arm as she collapsed. The blonde's arm wavered under the weight of the baseball-sized metal lump. He tucked his arm holding the metal under Beatrice's legs and lifted her onto his bed. The little girl grinned weakly, and started muttering something about wanting to learn about tables.
Meiss looked fondly at the metal in his hand. His arm still shook slightly, it must be heavier that it looks. Then his arm rippled with glowing color, Subaru recognized it as Dolorem. Strange though, his hand was bare as he lifted the rock above his head, purple and black smoke continually flowed off the edge of the ability.
"At last, the unknown secret of group 7… We... HAVE... RHENIUM!"
Subaru watched all this with blank eyes. Meiss started to giggle uncontrollably, and then started to laugh maniacally. Subaru closed the door and continued on his way.
—
"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA HA HAUuuuh…"
Meiss set the heavy lump of metal on his table. Damn, he knew Rhenium was heavy, but not that heavy. Well, the stuff is super rare beyond the waterfall, he had only held a few small pellets in his hand once.
"Man, I didn't think it would actually work. Forcefully smushing atoms together like that must have taken a fair bit of energy."
Meiss turned to the weak Beatrice, who was being propped up by Emilia.
"The entire process is quite weird I suppose. Instead of one use of mana, it is a continuous flow of mana consumption in fact. My body is not used to such a thing. Although it requires quite little mana, which is peculiar considering the state I am in now I suppose."
Meiss sat on the edge of the table, thinking.
"Meiss, what did we do exactly?"
Meiss looked up at Emilia's query. He got off the table and walked over to the grid on the wall.
"What we did was take four of these atoms right here, Sulfur, and one of these over here, Sodium. We forced them together to make the Rhenium. You see, these are the smallest divisions of anything we can make, the building blocks of the world I guess. But we can break them down even further. Each atom has a set amount of protons. We merely took the previously named atoms and added their protons together into Rhenium."
Beatrice closed her eyes. Emilia was still smiling, not understanding anything but fascinated nonetheless.
"That was extremely messy, that grey metal kept getting that film on it and wanting to light on fire in fact. Not to mention how hard it was to make them not explode when fusing them together. You better have a very big 'thank you' planned I suppose."
Meiss sighed with a genuine smile on his face. If they could refine this process, then isolating elements for future projects may be child's play.
Meiss had a moment of clarity. Future projects… there were so many things he could bring over from beyond the waterfall. Meiss inhaled, still smiling. But… this place is amazing, beautiful, untouched by the innovations from beyond the waterfall. Meiss decided small things, only small things should be brought over. Like washing machines.
Meiss picked up the rhenium and transitioned himself to the bed with Emilia and Beatrice. He stretched out his hand, giving the rhenium to Beatrice. She grabbed it from him, nearly dropping the heavy metal before she scrutinized it.
"All that for something so lackluster I suppose?"
"Ah, don't be so mean. Almost every metal is grey. At least have the consolation that it is extremely likely this is the largest chunk of pure rhenium in existence, whether here or beyond the waterfall."
Beatrice harrumphed and set the blob next to her on the bed. She climbed over and started staring at it, then touched it. The metal elongated into a straight blade about two feet long, ending in a rod for a handle.
"I assume you wanted something like this I suppose."
Meiss blinked at the shortsword before picking it up and examining it.
"No, well, yes, but not... no. Um… pure rhenium as a weapon would be a bad idea. It's hard, yes, but it's very bendy and easy to shape."
Meiss activated dolorem on his arms, and the purple-black smoke drifted off his wrists once more. He bent the weapon near ninety degrees. Then tried to bend it back into shape.
"Pretty bad, right? Stuff could never hold an edge in sustained combat."
Meiss walked over to the table and placed the bent sword on it, before gesturing back over to the periodic table, using acedia like a pointer.
"Which means we either need to make an alloy, or test manganese. You see, each column of elements has similar properties to the ones in their columns, So it stands to reason that manganese would also have anti-authority properties. Not to mention manganese is much lighter."
Emilia squinted for a second.
"I feel like there is some sort of problem."
Meiss sighed, he remembered how they acquired the sodium. Him leaning out of the window holding a cup of table salt while Beatrice separated the chlorine from the sodium. He would gladly do that again, but manganese would be difficult. They had gotten the chunks of sulfur from Roswaal's study. They were placed neatly in a stack on his desk.
"Well, unlike with rhenum, there aren't any easy-to-get elements we can smush together. Aluminum would be the best bet, but that goes one proton over, making iron. The next element I would try is either boron or oxygen. Neither of which we can get or isolate. So we're stuck."
"Why don't we just remove one of those proton things?"
Meiss froze. How had he not thought of that? He would have to explain the structure of an atom to Beatrice, but…
"That… is an amazing idea Emilia, Thank you."
Meiss slowly turned to Beatrice, trying to form some sort of offer in his head for her.
"Hmph, no need to ask I suppose. But you will teach me more of this 'periodic table' stuff in fact."
"Heh, I already said I would. Now, what we need to do…"
—
Ram toiled away in the kitchen. Her knife splitting steamed potatoes with practiced ease. Simultaneously, her wind magic mixed a batch of mayo.
"Hmm, the ones who went to the capitol have returned days ago. No doubt those in Sanctuary are getting restless. I may have to check to see if everything is running smoothly over there."
Ram stopped with a knife halfway through a potato. Why hadn't Roswaal returned with the villagers? Or at least sent a messenger to tell of his absence? Loath as she was to admit it, even to herself, she was worried.
"HA HA! MAN-GA-NESE!"
"Ah!"
Ram flinched at the sudden noise, jerking the knife awkwardly. As a result, the lower half of the potato became smushed.
Ram looked at it indifferently.
"That one can be Barusu's"
—
Ah, dinnertime. A most magical time for bonding over great food.
Meiss stared at the great spirit down the table. His face was blank, his mind having already resigned to his fate. He picked up his plate and made his way over to Beatrice. Wordlessly, he scraped half of his steamed potatoes onto her plate. She drew a sphere of metal roughly three inches in diameter from her robes and handed it to him.
Meiss spotted Ram glaring at him from the head of the table where she stood. Her gaze went from him to his plate of steamed potatoes.
"I'm not trying to skimp on your potatoes Ram."
"The silly boy merely lost a bet, in fact. Do not worry, your unparalleled steamed 'tatoes will not go to waste I suppose."
Meiss ignored the sound of giggling coming from Emilia and returned to his seat. He ate in silence, resting his head on his hand. He heard Ram inhale and turned to face her before she started to speak.
"Well, as a notice, I am going to Sanctuary to observe the state of affairs. Roswaal's silence on- get rid of that face Barusu, it lowers my intelligence faster than being in the same room as you."
Subaru was staring at Ram, flashing his dejected puppy eyes. Seems like he wanted to go with her. Unfortunately for him, Ram is immune to the puppy eyes technique. She glared at him and he retreated with a defeated look on his face.
Otto waited for the exchange to end before standing up to deliver his bit.
"I have already talked with Ram, Patrache and Ferho needed some rest after all that's happened, but ground dragons regain strength quickly. We will make the journey tomorrow in the morning. Sorry for such a short notice, but Ram wanted to leave as soon as possible."
So, a sanctuary, huh? Or rather, the place had been referred to as just "Sanctuary." If the name actually meant something then what was it guarding, or guarding against? Then again, it could just be a name. Meiss opened his ears to see if anyone would say any more… Nothing.
Out of everyone here, the maids were the most likely to know something. Problem though, was that Ram and Frederica were standing silently at the head of the table. Rem was trying to make herself as small as possible next to Subaru, while sneaking glances at Ram. Meiss scooped potato into his mouth. He was new here too, they probably wouldn't trust him with that sort of information anyways.
So Meiss turned back to his experiments with Beatrice. The ability to remove a proton took more mana than combining atoms together, but it didn't have such a toll on Beatrice. The spirit had asked about the other two elements in the column, which had Meiss frantically telling her to not try to make them because they would kill everyone.
Meiss thought about how to utilize the properties in a weapon. Rhenium was too bendy and malleable. Manganese was brittle and would break after a few strikes if he was lucky. So the only option would be to make an alloy with either rhenium or manganese. Meiss bit down on a potato with annoyance. He had a feeling something bad would happen, regardless of Subaru not saying anything with his foresight. Damn consecutive incidents, extremely annoying.
—
Whew, can't wait to get into the meat of this arc. I think I'll call it "Sabbath of Greed" Yeah, that sounds nice. Weird to think up an Arc name after writing the first two chapters, but I guess it doesn't really matter.