Ch.100Rap Tour (3)

One week after the lab tour began.

I had a hard time rejecting the countless love calls from professors.

There were interesting labs and not-so-interesting labs, but none worth joining.

The problem was that my current interests lay elsewhere.

How to create a gravity resonator-

“So our lab focuses more on theory and coding rather than experiments… Eidel? Are you listening?”

“Yes, what?”

I flinched, having been lost in thought.

I was thinking too deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. Eidel probably knows everything already, so it must be boring.”

Professor Feynman smiled. I’m currently touring his lab with other prospective slaves.

Why waste time on this mandatory tour?

The lab didn’t have any remarkable research equipment.

At best, just a few supercomputers with graphics cards more expensive than a postdoc’s annual salary. A typical feature of theoretical physics labs.

“Shall we go get something to eat?”

Professor Feynman knocked on the door of the adjacent room.

Three haggard-looking men tumbled out.

“Food! Food!”

“Huff, huff!”

“Here’s the company card, Professor!”

The prospective graduate students’ expressions hardened.

“Let me introduce them. From the left, Ian, Mercury, and Frans. Friends from our lab.”

Hmm, what a mess.

Even while moving to the restaurant and ordering food, I continued my train of thought.

“Eidel. Eidel?”

“Yes, what?”

“Please choose your menu.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll have this.”

I randomly pointed at something and passed the menu.

Meanwhile, in my head, Cartesia was wailing loudly.

I needed to appease her somehow.

“……”

When I closed my eyes, the world turned silent.

I felt water at my feet, then opened my eyes in a fluctuating mental landscape. And there she was, an outer god skillfully manipulating glowing tentacles like limbs.

“Hey, kid.”

Cartesia.

She approaches.

“Now you’re wandering through my domain like it’s your own living room.”

Step, step.

“I don’t like it.”

Her fingertip aimed at my chin.

Whoosh!

Cartesia bound my limbs with tentacles and brought her face close to mine.

“If your integrity and mental strength were like that of a normal human, I would have killed you instantly.”

I couldn’t see her face, but I felt her smirking.

“Well, that’s what makes you interesting.”

“……”

“Now, kid. If I wanted, I could trap you here forever. I could stop you before you even plan to trap outer gods like me in a gravity resonator.”

That’s probably not an empty threat.

Cartesia is powerful.

I observed the other outer gods beneath her feet.

“Master, please give me coins. Coins.”

“Heck, hack.”

“Aah, good. Aah.”

Those once lofty and arrogant outer gods.

In human form, wearing maid uniforms, panting like slaves at Cartesia’s feet.

A miserable life, surviving day by day by squeezing out pron.

It was disgustingly pitiful.

“No need for sympathy. They tried to kill you.”

Ting!

Cartesia flicked something like a coin. The spinning object landed on an outer god’s tongue.

“Thank you, Master! Thank you!”

“Give it here, it’s mine.”

“Do you both want to die? She bestowed it upon me!”

What a mess.

By the way, what Cartesia just threw was…

“A coin?”

“Yes, a coin, kid.”

“Where did it come from?”

“Want to know?”

Squeeze.

I felt pressure on my bound limbs.

“I’ll tell you if you swear not to create that technology.”

“Really? Then don’t tell me.”

Cartesia’s expression loosened. Not in a good way. Though I still couldn’t see her face, I could feel her anger.

“So, this is where we stand.”

“Leaving?”

“There’s a saying: if you don’t like the monk, leave the temple.”

“That’s backwards.”

“Here, I am the temple, human.”

“Then I’m a rogue monk.”

Cartesia frowned.

“Fine, let’s do this.”

I couldn’t just let my calculator… I mean, my small precious outer god leave like this.

I hastily added:

“This research is only meant to keep Saphaul or other outer gods in check. The gravity bomb research will take a long time. We need a contingency plan in the meantime, right? Do you agree so far?”

“…Well, yes.”

“So I’ll swear. Even if I make the resonator, I won’t use it to trap the Alpha Centauri black hole.”

“How can you guarantee that?”

I answered with a smile.

“<Binding>.”

“Right. That exists.”

Cartesia smiled back and flicked her hand.

As the tentacles released me, my consciousness returned to where it belonged.

And then.

“Your mint pineapple omelet, sir.”

“What.”

An abomination that could barely be called food appeared before me.

“Why did you order that?”

“I wonder.”

I mumbled evasively and took a spoonful.

“Hmm.”

Better than expected.

***

Skill <Binding>.

A top-tier Descartes-type technique that connects outer gods with outer gods, outer gods with constellations, outer gods with humans, etc. through contracts.

Once activated, it remains in effect until both parties agree to terminate it.

Its effects include absolute compliance with the contract terms and severe penalties for violations.

True to its name, it forcibly creates a situation where neither party can betray the other.

[─<Binding> has been established.]

[─ ‘Eidel Rheinland’ must not use gravity resonator technology on the ‘Sgr A*’ black hole.]

[─ In return, the ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ must not leave ‘Eidel Rheinland’s’ cerebral cortex until his death.]

[─ If ‘Eidel Rheinland’ violates this, he will be eternally trapped in the black hole where the ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ resides and serve her as master.]

[─ If the ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ violates this, she must surrender all pron acquired from ‘Eidel Rheinland’.]

An incredibly unfair contract.

But think about it.

Has there ever been an outer god who accommodates this much?

Any way you look at it, I got a good deal.

[“Make sure you keep it.”]

As I was about to board the orbital ascension ship, taking Cartesia’s admonition to heart…

“Eidel!”

Professor Feynman called out to me.

“Huff, huff. It is you, Eidel. Where are you going now?”

“Ah, well…”

I quickly racked my brain.

“I’m worried about my girlfriend.”

“…Girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Student, you have a girlfriend?”

Actually, I don’t.

“May I ask who she is?”

“That’s a secret.”

“If it’s a secret… I can’t help it.”

“Professor, of course research is my top priority.”

I emphasized the word “research.”

“Haha.”

Feynman winked.

“I remember what I told you when you first contacted me.”

“You said I should try dating, right?”

“Seems you’ve done it properly.”

No?

I was dumped before anything could even begin?

Though I have spent a few hot nights with research papers.

“Professor, did you ever date during your school days…?”

“Almost never.”

The deceiver’s—I mean, the professor’s dating stories went like this:

1. Receives confession.

2. Rejects due to stalled research.

1. Receives confession again.

2. Rejects due to looking for paper publishers.

1. Receives confession yet again.

2. Rejects due to conference attendance.

“……”

“Like you, research came first for me too.”

What kind of person is this?

“Do you regret it?”

“Half and half.”

“Was there someone you liked?”

“There was one person, but we never dated.”

“Why?”

“That’s a secret.”

Since he wouldn’t say, I guessed it must be a story that would damage the other person’s reputation. I decided not to ask further.

“Anyway, student. Please be careful.”

“The wind is cold. You be careful going home too, Professor.”

That’s how we parted.

Sonia sat beside me on the ascension ship.

“Young master, is it really alright to say such things?”

“It’s fine. I’m just going to check something quickly and come back.”

Thus began a half-day space journey. After passing through several warp gates, we arrived at—

“So this is Iryuel Academy.”

Someone was waiting for me barefoot at the entrance.

“Rheinland, you came!”

It was Professor Kallis Stranov.

“It’s cold outside, isn’t it? Please come this way quickly.”

Sonia and I entered her lab through a high-pass entrance.

Professor Stranov hurriedly brought us cocoa. Usually, this kind of task would be assigned to an overworked master’s student. Well, at least her personality passes.

Taking a sip, I tasted sweet and mellow flavors. It also provided warmth against the sudden drop in space temperature.

“So. How was last week’s colloquium?”

“It was really good.”

Stranov brightened.

“Rheinland, are you close with Professor Feynman?”

“Yes.”

“I see. He’s known for his good character.”

She unpacked compliments about Feynman like opening a bundle while guiding me to her lab.

“I do both theory and experiments. Mostly experiments though.”

The lab Professor Stranov showed me was magnificent. It was as spacious as an orchestra hall with gleaming research equipment lined up.

She even had many rooms under her control.

“This device measures gravity with extreme precision. That one over there is for discovering gravitons through Aether fusion reactions, and that’s a gravity tweezer we used for research on reinforcing the Aether Belt.”

“Ah, Professor, about that paper…”

“It’s fine. Academia is competitive.”

She says that, but I can see her eyebrows twitching.

“What do you think of our lab?”

“It’s nice. Well-equipped and well-funded.”

A smile bloomed on her face.

“Rheinland. We’re scientists. Let’s skip the roundabout talk and be direct.”

She grabbed my shoulders and pressed close.

“Would you consider joining me?”

Like an anaconda constricting its prey, she enveloped me and whispered:

“Here you can do both theory and experiments as much as you want. The lab atmosphere is friendly. Full funding, and a much wider research spectrum than Professor Feynman’s.”

She’s as smooth as the serpent tempting Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, with the added bonus of throwing shade at Professor Feynman.

“Even just for your master’s would be fine.”

Professor Stranov spoke as if she might bite my ear.

“Would you like to do your graduate studies at Iryuel Academy?”