43. Leah

+++

 

 

 

“Leah, I don’t want to let you go. Aran probably feels the same way.”

“I… I don’t want to leave either.”

After stabilizing the collapsed Rose to some extent, Cornelia quietly spoke with Leah.

 

“Like Aran said, leave the mission or whatever it is to those men.”

“But…”

“If they participated in this plan, they must be outstanding elites, right? Though it’s hard to believe that men can be elites.”

 

Leah couldn’t readily answer.

Her life with Cornelia, her life here, was important, but the mission was just as important.

 

A plan that sacrificed hundreds of billions.

They bet everything on this plan and willingly gave their lives.

 

Most of the civilization’s resources were used to reincarnate Leah here, and all remaining resources were used to select scientists and create and send a miniature ark.

 

Therefore, they couldn’t resist and all lost their lives.

 

Leah was one of the most important figures in the plan, even though she was one of the fewer than a thousand survivors.

 

“You’ve lived here for over 20 years for that mission, so shouldn’t you live your own life now?”

“But so many people sacrificed themselves.”

“They sacrificed themselves so you could spend 20 years like this. That’s enough. You don’t need to be bound any longer.”

 

Cornelia continued to persuade her.

Either way, as long as Aran was here, she couldn’t go anywhere, but there was a clear difference between being forced to stay when she wanted to leave and giving up on leaving from the start.

 

She was still her daughter, so she wanted her to live according to her own will if possible.

 

“That bastard Aran is becoming more and more of a rogue, but he’s still good to his people.”

“Mother, I…”

“Even if it’s not marriage with that guy, your life here has many paths. Let go of the mission that only has duty and sacrifice.”

“….”

 

Leah pondered.

 

In fact, she already knew.

That this Q&A was almost meaningless.

 

Aran had already declared that he would only send the men out and leave the women here to seek development.

In this situation, there was no way he would allow Leah (Clara), one of the most important scientists who was also a woman, to leave.

Even if it was her sister’s wish.

 

‘The Roses are already all Aran’s… Haa… What should I do?’

 

There was nothing she could do. In the end, she wouldn’t be able to leave without his permission.

Wasn’t she a Baemgeunil in the first place?

When an order was given, she had no choice but to carry it out.

 

But even so, she still had the thought that she should make a decision internally.

Her body would inevitably follow, but her mind would clearly maintain its intention. That’s the kind of feeling it was.

 

 

“And another thing. Staying here isn’t just abandoning the mission.”

“Pardon?”

 

She had just told her to abandon the mission, so what was she suddenly talking about?

 

“You said there was an enemy you couldn’t face. A monster that slaughtered an unbelievable number of people…”

“Ah… yes.”

“That monster will come here too, right?”

“Someday.”

“Then being with Aran would be more advantageous for your purposes.”

“?”

“There’s no law that says magic and science can’t be combined. Aran happens to be proficient in magic. You said you’re proficient in science, so if you work together, you can come up with countermeasures more easily.”

 

Indeed.

Her words made sense.

 

Aran would teach her about magic,

Leah would teach him about science.

 

If they complemented each other’s shortcomings and proceeded with development, it would definitely be much faster than if Leah and the scientists were doing it alone.

 

Moreover, the development of science and technology wasn’t possible with just knowledge alone; there had to be a foundation of facilities. Aran’s magic would also be helpful in providing that.

 

 

As a result, being with Aran would allow her to get closer to the ‘mission completion’ she spoke of more quickly.

 

“That… that’s true… but I feel sorry… for them.”

“That’s not a problem you can do anything about anyway. And that guy won’t listen to anyone about it.”

“Haha…”

“The answer is to let go of worrying about what you can’t control. What’s the point of worrying when you can’t do anything anyway?”

 

Leah nodded and gave a bitter smile.

 

In the end, the scale tipped in her heart as well.

Both realistically and ideally, it was better to be here.

It would be nice if the male scientists could stay too, but Aran was adamantly exiling them, so that couldn’t be helped.

She could only hope that they survived well.

 

“I understand. Mother.”

 

 

 

+++

 

 

 

“Hello! I’m Muning! I’m your fan!”

“….”

 

Rose glared at the frantic woman in front of her.

 

She had just woken up after fainting from the absurdity of the situation, and now this woman was babbling on.

 

“My dream is to fly in the sky without magic! Everyone laughed, but I believe it! Someday, I’ll be able to fly in the sky without magic!”

“Yes. You can fly. Are you done now? Can you please disappear?”

“Ah…! Really? I can really fly?”

“…You were sure of it, weren’t you? Why are you asking?”

“But humans want to constantly confirm what they believe in, right? Hearing that it’s possible makes me feel so emotional. You’re not lying, are you?”

“Then if you can fly around in space, what’s the big deal about the sky?” “Hehe….”

 

Muning smiled happily.

 

She could fly in the sky.

She could fly in the sky without mana.

 

Although she didn’t know the method yet, she felt like she had gained everything just from that.

 

‘I knew it. That’s what it was!’

 

She smiled broadly and took out the latest gun she had developed and held it out.

 

“This is a new product I developed a week ago. What do you think?”

“…Of what?”

“If you were to give it a score from a scientific point of view, how much would you give it? Out of 100 points.”

“….”

 

Rose sighed and took the gun from Muning, who was very excited.

Then she looked at it from side to side, examining the finishing touches and the applied technology.

 

“Hmm….”

“What do you think? What do you think?”

 

She looked like she would hit her if she didn’t answer quickly.

Rose said a cold score as if to crush her joy.

 

“3 points.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s too primitive. You can’t do anything with this.”

“Ugh… I, I guess so.” “….”

 

Only 3 points out of 100.

Muning hung her head at the shocking score.

 

Perhaps she felt sorry for her.

Rose opened her mouth again.

 

“…That’s the technical score… If it’s a score for the idea, I’d give it about 90 points.”

“Really? R, really?”

“It’s easy to make 2 from 1. The many weapons and automatons we’ve used so far, they could all be improved to 2 or more than 10 because there was already a 1. You’ve just improved something that already exists. Anyone can do that. But… not just anyone can make 1 from 0.”

 

She handed the gun back to Muning.

 

“You’re the original developer of this gun, right? And the gunpowder too.”

“Yes… yes…”

“Certainly, this gun and your black powder are very primitive. By my standards, they’re really useless. But, by developing this, a new history of human development has begun to be written. I can’t give it a low score.”

“Hehe… This is making me shy.”

“…It’s still primitive, so don’t be too happy.”

 

She turned her head slightly.

It seemed like she felt a little awkward.

 

“More than that, you… you want to fly in the sky?”

“Yes. My dream is to create a machine that can fly in the sky without magic.”

“…Shall I help you? I can make one right now-”

“No.”

“?”

“I’m going to achieve my dream myself. Without giving it to anyone, only me.”

“…You’re taking a difficult path. I’m trapped here anyway. I’m only saying it because helping you would be like a hobby for me.”

“I don’t want to learn. I want to achieve my dream.”

“….”

 

Rose stared at her for a moment and then nodded slightly.

 

“You’re a great scientist. You are. I hate the Aran gang, but I’ll acknowledge you.”

“Hehe. Thank you.”