chapter 23
23 – Enya’s second law of thermodynamics
A deep silence settled throughout the auditorium.
But that was just before the storm.
A reporter asked me a question, and interest in me started to explode.
– Mr. Edgar Fixes! Can I ask you a question about the test you just took!?
-What is that weapon?
-Are you dealing with special skills?
The three major newspapers representing the empire.
They all rushed forward to me with a small sound amplifier (microphone).
A difficult question to answer.
A question I don’t want to answer.
A question that doesn’t matter if you answer this neatly.
Such questions were mixed at once, forming an atmosphere like a market hall.
I feel like I have become a corrupt politician that I only see on the news.
What to say to the questions pouring in all at once.
“What kind of fuss is this now?”
Fortunately, Elena stepped in just in time and was able to block them.
She told me that she was still in the middle of the exam and had no access to the cadets, adding that if she had any questions, she would ask them through herself, the representative of my official sponsor (Academy Talent Development Foundation).
Certainly Elena comes in handy when you’re in an awkward situation like this.
“Hey, Sir Fix! What the heck is that? A new weapon that makes a key-yeeing sound!”
However, even Elena could not block the students’ access.
All of the attention of the countless cadets around me belongs to me.
“You just tore Marx? It was great.”
“The strategy is amazing! To be honest, the team members that Lord Pix was with were nothing special.”
“Hey, Ed. Are you also studying martial arts?”
“Can you give me that weapon? I’ll pay any price!”
“What is the alternative principle? There are mana stones embedded in the bracelet. How many spells must be mixed to achieve such a form transformation?”
“hey! Sir Pix! Look here too!”
Numerous questions that cling to me and pour out.
It was just as difficult.
As a typical mechanic who likes to touch machines, the countless attention pouring in all at once was overwhelming.
“Ah- that’s filthy noisy.”
But at that moment.
A woman’s voice pierced my ears through the countless noises surrounding me.
And it wasn’t just me who heard that shrill voice.
It is because it is a powerful voice.
“Will you be quiet? The exam isn’t over yet.”
The owner of the voice is Isabella.
Her purple eyes glared at the crowd.
As a result, the crowd began to go back to their seats, watching the crowd stealthily.
-Umm… o’clock, exams are in full swing.
-hahahaha. There should be no fuss.
-Where was my seat…
The crowd quickly dispersed as soon as they caught Isabella’s gaze.
That’s how there was no one left around me other than my original teammates.
As soon as Isabella checked it, she let go of her angry expression and smiled slightly at me.
swish
Then he turns around and returns to his seat.
Was he trying to help me when I was in a difficult situation?
“Hey, Edgar Fix.”
While I was looking at Isabella’s back, one of my teammates called me.
It was Pio, a fallen nobleman.
“I’m sorry I ignored you before the game. My family’s situation is not good… I think I took my anger out on you for no reason. I’m so insignificant, but you, a commoner, are doing well unlike me. I think I was jealous too.”
P.O. scratches the back of his head and apologizes to me.
The guy who ignored me with the red all-back hair that broke his ribs.
But now he was apologizing to me with a 180-degree attitude.
“I won, so it’s okay. Thanks to Pio-nim’s cooperation, we were able to win like this.”
“hahahaha. I just did what you told me to do Rather, just call me comfortably. It was only for a moment, but he was a comrade on the same team.”
“Um, yes. Let’s do it.”
It would be absurd for me, a commoner, to speak ill of an aristocrat, but if the other person allowed it, it wouldn’t matter.
It’s comfortable for me too.
Then Charlotte spoke.
“Um, can we just let go of everything? This, this, this, this, it’s a relationship.”
Charlotte blushes with her signature round glasses shining.
It must have been a very courageous statement for a timid woman.
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Let’s all eat friends together.
However, it was an atmosphere that everyone readily accepted.
“yes. Let’s say hello often in the future.”
“It was an honor to fight together. You will succeed no matter what you do.”
“I-I was also happy to be able to work with Ed-nim.”
So we said goodbye to each other.
Because the next test will be held as an individual competition, not a team match of 5 people, there is no reason to be together anymore.
After saying goodbye, we went to our respective seats.
After that, 6 more matches were played, and finally the winners and losers of the first match were all divided.
“The first leg is over. From now on, I will announce the second game.”
When the first game ended like that, the supervisor came up to the podium and started announcing.
The announcement was that the second leg would be held at the same time tomorrow, and that it would be played in a tournament format.
“Well done everyone. let each one dissolve”
***
After the instructor’s order to disperse, I went straight to see Enya.
Because he had promised to visit her earlier.
That was when I left the 7th hall of the Department of Basic Tactics.
“Ed.”
The voice of someone calling me.
The owner of the voice was Enya.
She was already waiting for me near the entrance.
“ah. Princess Cruel. I was just about to go find you.”
“Whoops. Do you know where I am?”
“When the schedule is over, you go home in a carriage. I was going to go where the carriage was coming.”
Yes.
Enya was commuting to school.
With three friends who hang out all the time.
“Ah, you knew we were going by carriage. But, it’s a bit like meeting them at the same place. Friends who don’t understand my hobbies.”
“I guess you don’t like bald materials?”
“Because I don’t have an eye for art.”
“I lost my life.”
“Puhh. Iknow, right.”
Enya wiggled her hands and laughed bashfully.
Then, perhaps because she was conscious of the attention of the people around her, she glanced back and then looked back at me and said,
“Hey, shall we move first? It’s too messy here.”
“Yes. Yes. There’s a place I know well. It is very secluded and quiet.”
“Oh, where are you?”
“This is my personal studio. Would you like to take a look?”
“…!! Yeah! miss you!”
“hahahaha. Then I will guide you.”
*
Technique Analysis/Combination Faculty, Section 3, Room 207.
Ed brought Enya there.
This is because this is a private laboratory prepared only for you.
Of course, giving away an entire room at the academy to a commoner would be absurd.
It’s not even a small warehouse, and as you can see, it’s a super-luxury laboratory with all kinds of equipment and facilities.
According to common sense, such a lab could be used only by professors or managers of large projects.
Because of this, Elena played an administrative trick.
After registering this place as his sub-lab, he assigned Ed as a working scholarship student here.
As a working scholarship student who checks equipment or cleans the laboratory.
So, I informed Ed that if there were any professors who would object to the use of this lab, he could reply with ‘I’m cleaning?’
It took a bit of fighting to steal (?) this lab, so there are probably one or two professors who will often quarrel with you.
However, it was Elena who added to Ed that there was nothing to worry about as she would take care of it herself.
“Hey, Ed. What are these shiny things?”
Then, Enya called Ed.
As she looked around Ed’s lab, her eyes lit up at the sparkling blue light inside the test tube.
Before long, Ed stood next to Enya and said:
“It is mana.”
“…M-Mana?”
“Yes.”
“You can see mana… How amazing.”
“I made arrangements to make it visible. I received a lot of help from Head Professor Elena.”
“ah···. Head Professor.”
“Yes. And in fact, the blue light you see now is made up of hundreds of thousands of mana. One mana is too small to be seen.”
“…this little light, tens of thousands of mana?”
“Yes.”
“···How amazing. How did you find out about that?”
“Because we are studying, the nature of mana, the characteristics of mana, the energy conversion formula of mana… I’m trying to find out about the secret of mana.”
Enya nodded with a thoughtful face.
Then, he looked at Ed’s face, which was filled with the blue light of mana, and said.
“Ed seems to be a greater person than I thought. The gauntlet I was wearing today must have been made through such efforts.”
It’s an effort.
Ed smiled and scratched the back of his head.
There is obviously his own effort, but it is because he received help from cheat keys called ‘engineering thinking’ and ‘hand technique’.
Then Enya looked at the test tube and said.
“I am curious about the secret. What kind of efforts did Ed put in to make such a great thing?”
Ed’s secret.
In other words, Enya was curious about Ed’s mental world.
With what kind of spirit and with what kind of mindset should we work hard to create such an incredible thing?
Ed muttered something incomprehensible.
“Well, I was just trying to reduce entropy.”
“······Yes?”
The term ‘entropy’ casually muttered.
This is a term that penetrates the second law of thermodynamics and is the most important concept that can explain the universe.
It is a concept that explains the direction of natural energy flow.
“Oh, that’s-“
However, there was no way Enya, who was not a major student but a local in another world, knew such a concept.
So Ed decided to explain it in an easy way so that Enya could understand it.
“So, entropy is, uh… um, is it a term I coined?”
Of course, I didn’t make it myself, but I decided to just say that to make it easier to explain.
“Hmm… so what is this? Degree of disorder? I guess you could say that.”
“A degree of disorder?”
“Yes. Shall we give an example?”
Ed said that and pointed into the test tube.
As Enya turned her gaze to the test tube, Ed immediately continued his explanation.
“If you look at the test tube, the mana inside the test tube is moving around, right?”
As Ed said, the mana in the test tube was moving randomly, colliding with each other.
Enya nodded, and Ed continued his explanation.
“I am looking at this state of mana in disorder. They are moving randomly without forming any shape.”
“Uh… is that so?”
“Yes. Then I will make this mana orderly.”
Ed said that and drew an enhancement formula (ꇔ) on the board connected to the test tube.
Then, on one side of the test tube, a spell in the shape of an enhancement spell drawn by Ed appeared.
Ed immediately imbued mana into the strengthening ceremony (ꇔ).
“ruler. In this way, the mana that has been wandering randomly in the test tube will take shape according to the shape of the reinforcement ceremony (ꇔ).”
Just as Ed said, the mana that wandered randomly in the air was trapped in a groove shaped like an enhancement spell (ꇔ) and emitted a blue light in the shape of an enhancement spell (ꇔ).
Understanding this, Enya nodded.
“I express this as a decrease in entropy. Mana, which had been wandering in disorder, nestled in the strengthening spell (ꇔ) and formed an order in the form of the strengthening spell (ꇔ).”
“····Well. So, what Ed said, since mana has an order in the form of an enhancement spell, you think that the disorder of mana has decreased? That, Ent…?”
“Entropy.”
“Yes. entropy. This is what we mean when we say that entropy has decreased. Is that right?”
“Exactly. You understand quickly.”
When Ed praised Enya, she smiled faintly.
After a while, Enya took a deep breath and looked back at Ed.
“Then Ed-sim, you mean that Mana has been working hard to have a specific form. Because I said it only reduced entropy.”
“Yes. Exactly. Because mana moves in the direction of increasing entropy.”
Ed said that and pressed a certain button.
Then, the ‘ꇔ’ pattern drawn on the board disappeared, and the ‘ꇔ’-shaped spell drawn on the wall of the test tube also disappeared.
At the same time, the mana that formed the shape of ‘ꇔ’ began to scatter randomly.
“look. If you remove the order in the form of an enhancement ceremony (ꇔ) like this, mana will be randomly scattered again. That is, entropy increased.”
“····Yes.”
Enya nodded as if she clearly understood.
Ed, who was excited about this, opened the test tube and said.
“Mana always moves to increase entropy. If you remove the frame of the test tube, mana will wander throughout the laboratory like this.”
Enya stepped out of the test tube and saw a sparkling blue light spreading throughout the lab.
Ed didn’t stop there and opened the window of the lab and said.
“And without the frame of a laboratory, it would wander throughout Hall 3, and if it escaped Hall 3, it would spread throughout the Academy. That’s how the entropy of mana keeps increasing.”
The concept of entropy, which seems understandable at first glance, but is not well understood.
At that time, Ed poured a glass of water and said.
“It’s not just mana that increases entropy. Even water neatly placed in a cup spreads out when it loses its shape. If you spill a perfume bottle, the smell that was holding the incense spreads all over the place and gradually loses its scent. Hot iron will gradually lose heat and cool down over time. The heat will spread in all directions.”
“····Well. I hear and see it.”
“Yes. The laws of this universe are designed to increase entropy. Anarchy is constantly increasing.”
“mmm… a universe with ever-increasing chaos… It is difficult.”
Enya scratches the back of her head and smiles bitterly.
Ed thought her reaction was natural.
Because she wouldn’t know that this universe is still expanding.
You wouldn’t know that you’re reaching a thermodynamic death state.
So, I decided to just say what I think.
“hahahaha. Did I explain it too hard? I mean, I was trying to find one order in a world full of chaos. Technology is supposed to progress when it finds its order.”
After hearing Ed’s explanation, Enya nodded.
One order found in chaos.
I felt like I could understand something.
“If that’s the case, swordsmanship is similar. It is called ‘swordsmanship’ by giving a standardized framework to thousands of tens of thousands of stabs and cuts.”
“Yes. Enya has a tremendous talent for finding that order. Enya-sama can easily learn any swordsmanship.”
“·····Well. However, foot art is different. It just doesn’t come easy.”
“hahahaha. It’s a swordsmanship that only exists in comics.”
“·····Yes.”
“Well, that’s why I think it’s a more attractive swordsmanship. No matter how talented Enya is, she has no choice but to go through trial and error in order to learn the sword art, right? Perhaps, Enya-sama is enjoying the process of finding order, called ‘Baldojutsu’.”
Enya remembered.
From the moment he grabbed the sword, his talent was so outstanding that every swordsmanship felt trivial.
The only thing that made her heart flutter was the unknown swordsmanship called ‘Baldojutsu’.
And that pursuing it is one’s ideal and romance.
“Maybe we are… the same people. Someone who wants to find order in chaos.”
“hahahaha. is that so? Well, if you think about it, yes. I seek order in mechanics, and Enya-sama seeks order in swordsmanship.”
Ed seeks order in mechanics.
He himself seeks order in swordsmanship.
Enya liked Ed’s expression.
So, in Ed’s words, I wanted to get closer to him.
“Ed.”
So, Enya made up her mind and called Ed.
With a blush on her cheeks, she looked at his handsome face.
Then, as Ed tilted his head to look at her, Enya said.
“Well, then… Ooh, why don’t we also look for order between us…?”
“····Yes?”
“According to what Ed said, ooh, the entropy between us is still high, right? Ah, we don’t have any kind of relationship yet…? Ho, chaos… is it?”
“…?”
“So, I want to lower the entropy between us. First of all… our relationship, which may bounce off… Chi, friend! It fits into the mold of being friends.”
“…?”
“And… and then…”
Enya blurted out her back with a flushed face.
Then, realizing what he was about to say, he hurriedly waved his hand and said:
“Oh, oh, no! There is nothing after that!”