Retire 244

244 Civil Complaints (3)

“Mana pen?”

“It’s just a provisional name. It’s intuitive, isn’t it?”

Gamble raised her eyebrows.

In front of her sat a thick wooden stick and a mana stone smaller than a pinky nail.

“I don’t know about intuitive… You do something with mana? What does it do?”

“It’s simple.”

The mana pen was a device painstakingly developed by the mana engineering researchers at Dayeon. Shaped like a portable fountain pen, it included features like hand-shake correction to make drawing runes easier. It wasn’t exactly cheap, but considering what it could do, the price wasn’t high either—not enough to make hunters hesitate to buy it. And as runes became essential, not only hunters but also mages began using mana pens.

What’s more, Dayeon even published the principles behind the mana pen. While the mana pen itself was a proprietary product, anyone could make a simple version with a small mana stone and a stick to mount it in. These makeshift mana pens sometimes became a lifeline for hunters, since the official pens weren’t very durable and were considered consumables.

Plenty of people knew how to draw runes in a pinch, but not many hunters could skillfully reproduce those complex runes without the pen’s correction features. So, even after Dayeon published instructions for making a basic mana pen, it didn’t really cut into their sales. In fact, hunters who survived a close call using the makeshift pen often bought the official ones in bulk, calling it the price of their lives.

Looking back, I wondered if Father’s influence had something to do with Dayeon publishing the mana pen’s principles… There were more than a few things that man handled behind my back. For Dayeon, it was a good move—they could boost their corporate image without sacrificing much in the way of sales.

I took the prepared stick and used a box cutter to carve a long groove down its length. It was best if the stick was made of a material that conducted mana well. Hunters often used branches from the red birch trees found in dungeons. Since those trees could be found in dungeons everywhere, whenever I found one, I’d cut off as many branches as I could and stash them away.

Back when I was running dungeons with Han Taekyung, I’d found some red birch branches myself. The inside of the dark red branch was pure white. I carefully scored it so it wouldn’t split, then this time, I cut my own finger.

“Eek!”

Gamble jumped in shock, even though I was perfectly calm.

“Wh-why are you doing that?”

“I need it for something.”

“Blood…? That’s a lot, isn’t it…?”

“This isn’t much at all.”

I let the blood bead up at my fingertip and drip into the groove I’d carved, making sure it soaked in thoroughly.

An Awakened’s blood always contains at least a trace of mana.

I smeared some blood on the mana stone as well, then pressed it firmly into the end of the branch. If you mixed in glue or anything else, it wouldn’t work right. As long as it stayed in place, that was enough.

That was all the preparation needed.

My fingertip was still bloody as I picked up the mana pen. The blood in my body had to resonate with the mana pen, which is why you had to grip it with your wounded hand.

I drew a rune on a sheet of paper—one of the ones published by Daseon. A light rune.

“A rune…? Isn’t that something only mages can do?”

“What about Hope? Monsters use them too.”

“No, he can’t use them now. He says using mana in a human body is too limited… Besides, he hates sitting still and drawing runes.”

So monsters really did use runes.

“That makes sense. But he still knows some runes, doesn’t he?”

“He says humans can’t use them. There aren’t many types, anyway.”

“Can’t Michel use them?”

“Supposedly not, because of her body structure… She probably researched them, though.”

Gamble didn’t seem to realize what she was saying, and judging by her expression, she wasn’t going to figure it out anytime soon.

“Anyway, runes are supposed to be for mages only, but with this, ordinary Awakened can draw them.”

I set the mana pen down. Even a light tap shattered the mana stone. If Dayeon’s mana pens were consumables, this was strictly single-use.

I squeezed another drop of blood onto the rune.

“……!”

The rune shone brightly.

“Wh-what… What… Is this for real?!”

Gamble’s linguistic skills skyrocketed—she was switching between Korean, English, and Spanish.

Still, compared to Kim Chaemin, who’d grabbed Hong Seok-young by the collar, this was a much milder reaction.

Gamble flailed her hands in the air, then hovered around the mana pen.

“Can I—can I try?”

“Yes, go ahead. I was going to show you anyway. But the mana stone’s broken now, so you can’t use it again.”

“The mana stone… is it completely useless now?”

“The mana was drained in an instant. If you grind it up, you might still find a use for it.”

“Ah, right… Still, using a mana stone as a single-use item…”

Gamble took the pen apart.

It was such a simple structure that there wasn’t much to examine, but she studied it with great care.

“So, the Awakened’s blood…”

She started rattling off technical terms. Even in Korean, I wouldn’t have understood, and now she was switching to English and Spanish. Gamble, born in the US to Mexican immigrant parents, was as comfortable in Spanish as in English. I decided to let it go.

Still, I wasn’t a total layman, so I caught a few terms—Awakened’s blood, medium, mana stone… Since I already knew the answer, I could tell she was working out her own theory from this crude mana pen.

Genius is genius, after all.

I let her go at it for a while before she finally snapped back to herself.

“Oh. Sorry…”

“No, it’s fine. Did you get a good look?”

“…Can I look some more?”

“Later. Let’s talk first.”

Gulp.

Gamble swallowed hard. No need to be so nervous—I’m not going to eat you.

“About this mana pen.”

“Y-yes?”

“Let’s say you invented it.”

“Y-yes… what?”

I tapped the table. The mana pen rattled in response.

“You know Daseon is researching runes, right?”

“Oh… the announcement last year?”

“You know about it?”

“It was a big deal over here too… People were wondering if runes could be applied to mana engineering. But since you need a mage, it didn’t seem practical. With this, though, it’s a different story.”

I hadn’t thought about that. It wasn’t just hunters in dungeons who’d been affected by the development of runes.

“But why me as the inventor?”

“This was originally used by the Ark.”

Gamble’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. I’d expected her to be surprised, but this much made me feel a bit guilty.

“To be precise, it was a method used occasionally by some of the field staff… the cleaners.”

“Oh…”

“As you can see, it’s too useful to just leave lying around. Since Daseon is developing runes too, I’m just going to make it public.”

I gestured toward the lab door.

“I’m planning to teach runes to the students as well.”

“Hmm… So, you need to launder the source, right?”

Gamble immediately grasped what I was after.

“If that’s what you want, wouldn’t it be better to use Daseon? They’re researching runes too.”

She frowned.

“And you seem to have a pretty close relationship.”

Maybe it was because she’d been captured by the Association’s hunters, but Gamble seemed oddly uncomfortable around Lee Miseon. Whether it was discomfort or dislike, I couldn’t tell…

If Lee Miseon, who still regretted losing Gamble to us, knew about this, she’d be mortified.

“That won’t work.”

“So firm.”

“We’re not looking to profit off this.”

“…Heh.”

Gamble let out a strange, defeated sound.

She blinked, then took off her glasses, fogged up from slipping down her nose, and wiped them clean on her shirt, first one lens, then the other.

I waited patiently.

Once she’d checked for dust and put her glasses back on, she asked,

“You’re really not looking to profit from this?”

“That’s right.”

“Not at all?”

“We’re a guild. We’re not in this to make money.”

I added,

“At least not for now.”

What Gamble might invent in the future is another story. Mana meters, or mana meters, or… mana meters…

“Of course, we’ll file for a patent. That’s important.”

“Yes, it is.”

“But we won’t be selling it. If Daseon or Dayeon want to make something with it, I won’t stop them.”

“Huh… So you’re really just going to make it public?”

I nodded.

“It’s what Mr. Hong wants, too. Imagine if hunters could use runes without mages.”

“…Better than nothing, I suppose?”

“Do you think the only runes Daseon has are the ones they announced last year?”

“……!”

“Mr. Hong and I want to raise the survival rate of hunters. Runes are one way. For that, the mana pen is essential.”

Gamble bit her lip, deep in thought.

But she didn’t take long to decide. Someone like her would understand the importance of what I’d said right away.

“…All right. But! Not my name.”

“You just said all right?”

“I respect you and the guild master. I really do. But this is a matter of pride. A matter of conscience.”

She spoke firmly.

“I can’t put my name on something I didn’t invent.”

She was clearly determined not to budge. Maybe it was academic pride. Considering there are people who steal others’ research, it’s an admirable attitude.

But this was a problem.

Still, if I dropped Hong Seok-young’s name, she’d probably have no choice but to agree…

I stopped myself, remembering how I’d thoughtlessly acted like I was still at the Agency. Kim Chaemin had said she felt left out by things like this. Gamble was the same. No matter how it started, we’d need a good relationship if I wanted to pick apart her mana meters—develop her mana meters—without trouble.

The Agency was a vertical public institution, but now we were Hong Seok-young’s private guild…

“How about this, then?”

A good idea came to me.

“Instead of crediting it as your personal research, we announce it as research from Guild Mimi.”

“…The guild?”

I nodded, glancing around the lab. It was a mess. Several desks were covered with equipment whose purpose I couldn’t guess.

Even considering the size of the equipment, it seemed too much for one person. Surely, among the new students at the training school, there would be some interested in mana engineering…

Someday, we’d need more researchers.

So this could serve as bait for that, too.

“More precisely, we’ll release it under the name of Guild Mimi’s affiliated lab, Pharos.”