The Magic Academy's Physicist
Chapter 271: The Demon King (1)

Chapter 271: The Demon King (1)

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[Eightfold Way Seventh Form ─ Nuclear Fission]

The uranium bomb that I had planted beforehand exploded.

And the following great heat and gamma rays evaporated the seawater in an instant.

The explosion kept growing bigger and bigger. Where the red glow faded, a white mushroom cloud bloomed.

When the explosion stopped after a while, a crater hundreds of meters in diameter formed around ground zero.

The outpost that the Demon Army had built over centuries had lost its function in vain.

“.......”

“.......”

Cecil and Vermel, who had been floating in the sky with levitation magic, both bit down on their lips like an agreed thing.

Cecil, not having known what an atomic bomb was, was clearly shocked, and Vermel wasn’t much different.

“Oh, my god.”

Cecil spoke heavily.

Her lips twitched a few times, her face looking like she wanted to comment but couldn’t.

“What on earth is that magic?”

“Think of it as Fire combined with Elec.”

“Elec...?”

Cecil whipped her head towards me and stared.

“Then the Golden-Eyeds are....”

“That’s right.”

Disguise removed, my eyes shined gold.

She was someone who became the academy president so she should be able to figure out this much.

After humming for a while, Cecil soon nodded like she got it.

“...Let’s talk about the details after we get back.”

There were probably more than a couple questions Cecil had right now.

Why an undercover Beast like me was siding with them, what my relationship with Vermel was, why there was an Elemental floating above my head.

It would take more than a six-hour lecture to explain from start to finish.

I was already exhausted thinking about having to explain the whole story.

“Has the Sea Dragon died?”

Cecil asked.

“He’s dead.”

Alice confirmed.

“The malice I felt until a moment ago disappeared completely from this world. He probably vanished without a trace due to the heat.”

Alice then lowered the strength of the radiation-shield magic a bit.

She must be tired.

“Huu.”

I dusted the uranium powder off my hands and opened my mouth.

“Let’s go back.”

The other two didn’t have any objection to this. Rather, an awkward silence persisted as we made our way back.

“.......”

“.......”

Vermel was probably keeping his mouth closed due to worrying about the Demon King, and I wasn’t sure about Cecil.

[Do you want me to tell you, sister?]

As I was guessing what Cecil was thinking from her expression, Alice suddenly spoke up telepathically.

What is it.

[I spoke briefly with the president’s Elementals. She seems to be wondering what kind of impact the weapon you made will have on the world.]

What will become of the world?

Is she thinking about after the defeat of the Demon King?

[Think about how the world changed on Earth after the invention of the atomic bomb.]

At that one sentence from Alice, it hit me.

If the Demon Army was the Axis powers of WWII, then Kaurelia and the Philiut Empire were pretty much the Allies.

Even if I returned to my original world, the existence of atomic bombs would still remain in this world.

How would the Empire and elf country treat each other in a situation where their common enemy, Demon King, was gone?

“Screw this.” “귀찮아.”

I didn’t want to think about it.

In the first place, I was a person... no, Beast of academia. I didn’t want to think about politics  or diplomacy.

Why. Because that was who the girl named Aether was....

While I was lost in such thoughts, we were able to get to the ‘first island chain’.

[Brrrrrrrrrrr.]

Some girl was squatting on the island sands, trembling.

Her eyes looked like matcha and mint ice cream mixed together, and her head was draped with luscious grass.

Her hair was long enough to drag on the ground like Rapunzel, which made it hard to tell what she was wearing from the back.

“Uh.”

When I moved closer to see her face, I blinked, taken aback.

This kid... wasn’t wearing anything.

She seemed to be wearing a see-through on closer look, but she was basically naked.

What is this.

“A slut?”

When I blurted that without thinking, President Cecil rushed over and forced me to bow.

“What?”

“Do you know who this is...! How dare you say such a thing...!”

Yeah, so who the hell is it.

Seeing the way President Cecil, who had formed contracts with Elite Elementals, was acting, she must be an Elemental King or something.

If it’s the Elemental Kings, I already knew their faces since I had already met three of them. The Fire King Ifrit, the Earth King Gnome, the Water King Secuel....

And.

[The Wind Elemental King, Aerial.]

Ah.

[Whip.]

Having stopped shaking, the girl glanced back and gave me a sharp look.

Even her bangs were see-through.

“Lady Aerial, why are you here?”

Cecil spoke up first to cover my blunder. The Wind King let out a big, deflating sigh, as if saying there was no point in getting angry at a Beast who surrendered.

Then followed a brief conversation between Cecil and the Elemental King.

[Shake, shake.]

“Ah....”

That was how the conversation went.

The Wind King would make all sorts of gestures, and Cecil would understand them and relay them to us.

It was as if a programmer who learned machine-language was interpreting what a computer was saying.

“In summary, it’s because of you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, Asteya.... No, Winter Heaven Aether. You.”

Cecil kept going.

“She was shocked by the bomb you detonated. Thinking that the thing was actually dangerous, she first took refuge here and watched the progress.”

“Just because of a single 10 kT bomb?”

“......?”

Cecil and my face both turned dumbfounded.

No, think about it.

If a being like an Elemental King was struggling with one atomic bomb, why was past me, the one who hated Elementals, trying to make Dark Day?

“What in the world did the Demon Army make?”

“A bomb.”

“So what kind of bomb is it, Lady Aerial is asking.”

“It’s just a bomb made with magic.”

“...?”

“...?”

I already said that it was an explosion magic with Fire and Elec combined, so what was the problem?

Unable to keep watching, Vermel slapped his forehead and started moving his mouth. Yeah, you should explain it instead.

“It’s a bomb made by concentrating low-grade mana stones from the Pitchblende Mountains in the west of Philiut of Empire. Although it uses various theories learned in Fire or Elec Magic, it’s closer to a natural phenomenon from the Goddess than magic so it can be casted without Elementals.”

“......I see.”

What a good explanation.

Something made me want Vermel as my TA, but I held back.

[Nod, nod.]

The Wind King must have understood as well, regaining her composure.

[Whoosh, whoosh.]

Giving Vermel a light smile, she slowly hovered around him. The scuff, scuff of stepping on grains of sand could be heard.

“Lady Aerial prefers those who are good at speaking. She seems to be interested in you, Vermel Horde.”

Cecil said this with a pleased smile, although Vermel looked away, flustered.

Anyway.

Although there was a minor incident after defeating the Sea Dragon, we were able to return to Bruglium Island without much trouble.

I thought about what I had to do as soon as I got back.

That’s right.

Now it was time to save Lotte.

After a whole fight with Pasmo, Jǫrmungandr was in the middle of cursing her head off while breaking all the furniture in the castle.

“You crazy bastard!”

Jǫrmungandr was angry for two reasons.

“Why did you keep it a secret from this one or the others!”

The first was because Spring Heaven had led an operation alone.

Being a dragon, Jǫrmungandr had a sense of belonging in the Demon Army. While not too pleased, she thought of Pasmo and Gilach as her allies.

But since Pasmo had went and did something on his own–

“True comrades always discuss and decide large matters together! Was this one so untrustworthy to you?”

“.......”

“Say something.”

Jǫrmungandr had already been raging for hours.

And in response, Pasmo stayed silent.

“If this one’s relative dies, that day will be your last.”

Here was the second reason for Jǫrmungandr’s anger.

The conversation with her dragonkin Leviathan had suddenly cut off. Although she had fiddled with the device and attempted to call multiple times, there were no more signals.

“It is dark, just as it is for this one.”

Jǫrmungandr touched her gold eyes that lost their shine and made a mournful face.

How long did it go on like that?

“Autumn.”

Having finished thinking, Pasmo spoke up.

“......What is it.”

“I have two things to tell you.”

“I give you permission.”

Jǫrmungandr, exhausted from having howled the whole day like a baby wolf who lost its mother, waved her hand while sitting listlessly on a chair.

The actual reason why Pasmo had been silent this whole time was to exhaust Autumn Heaven, meaning now was the perfect time to speak.

“Do you remember what was heard through the last radio call?”

Jǫrmungandr gave a slight nod.

That sound... was definitely an explosion.

“I received info from the operation site that Winter betrayed us. It was probably that bitch’s magic.”

“...So you’re trying to accuse her by slandering right now.”

Aether wasn’t one to betray; if anything, she would be the one betrayed. At least, that was Autumn Heaven’s perception.

Deciding that Pasmo was trying to frame her, Jǫrmungandr clenched her teeth and scowled.

“We cannot have more people like you in the Demon Army. To think that you’ve gone so far as to sell out your comrades.”

“What would you do if it was true?”

“Do you have proof?”

In response to Jǫrmungandr’s snapping, Pasmo grinned, baring his yellow teeth.

“Yes, of course.”

It wasn’t 100% certain that Leviathan died, but there was video footage of the moment he was about to enter the second line of defense.

Press.

Pasmo played the video that Castle Bravo sent.

In the footage, there was a Sea Dragon swimming like a snake towards the dock.

“You there.”

Knowing that Jǫrmungandr was cursed with blindness, Pasmo called a few Golden-Eyeds and showed them the video as well.

“Explain what is happening right now to Autumn Heaven.”

“Understood.”

Pasmo continued playing the paused video.

Soon after, the base was destroyed with a BOOM!

“.......”

“What happened?”

The staff of the Demon Army couldn’t close their mouths.

“Octavus....”

“–was caught up in the mushroom cloud.”

“A-and seems to have died.”

“Spring Heaven!”

The Golden-Eyeds who were summoned stuttered their words. They weren’t acting. Jǫrmungandr had very sharp ears and could determine precisely whether their words contained lies.

“...I-is that really true?”

Jǫrmungandr’s complexion suddenly turned pale.

The staff dare not lie in front of the chief of the Demon Army.

“I-it is true.”

“Sea Dragon Leviathan looks to have been killed by Dark Day....”

Jǫrmungandr’s body trembled.

“Th-that can’t be.”