Chapter 146

Episode 146. The Power Within the Box (3)

****

Escrom let out a sigh of relief and shook off as much snow as he could from his cloak. There was nothing to be done about the parts that had melted or frozen, though.

“We’ve made it to the village, so we’ll survive. At least I don’t have to worry about freezing to death in the snowfield anymore.” Even through the blizzard, the warmth of the torches radiated clearly.

Escrom thought the torches smelled good. Dogs followed them too.

Not only did they provide light and heat, but these torches had small baskets tied to the end of branches with butter inside—something common in the north.

“So…the torches smell like butter, huh?” Escrom followed the villagers’ torches with the dogs.

“How far have you come?”

“Enough for thousands.”

The village elder looked at Escrom, who clutched the package as if it were an infant or a treasure of gold. It must be filled with medicine.

“Is this it?”

“Yes.”

“There are more than just a few sick people in the village. Some city-trained healer mentioned bacterial pneumonia spreading viciously in the north.”

“Well…now that the medicine has arrived, everything should be fine. I brought it here.”

“We’ll take care of the puppies. Quickly, take this to the church. There are patients there.”

The villagers led the sled dogs, potential saviors of the region, to the village hall’s stable.

Escrom immediately headed to the church at the center of the village where the patients were gathered.

As he moved away from the torches, the cold crept back, but Escrom paid it no mind. People would be waiting.

The church doors opened, and Escrom was greeted by a warm breeze melting the frost on his eyebrows and hair.

Conversely, those inside would feel the cold draft now. The man rushed in.

“Hey, close the door quickly!”

“Could it be…the medicine has arrived?”

Exhausted, Escrom leaned against the wall and nodded. The healers in the church hurriedly tore open the newly arrived parcel from the palace.

It took quite some time to unwrap it. To prevent any holes that might ruin the contents, the package was tightly wrapped in multiple layers of paper and string—a fitting decoration for its precious cargo.

Once one of the healers used a knife to cut through the paper envelope, they finally reached their goal: hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of white pills inside.

“Phew. That’s a relief.”

“If you had been a little late, it would have been disastrous. Thankfully, you made it in time.”

One of the healers pulled out the package containing the medicine and read the instructions card.

-Penicillin. Administer one pill daily to patients suspected of having bacterial infections until two days after improvement. Be cautious with elderly patients.

-Aspirin. Anti-inflammatory painkiller. Administer one pill every four hours as needed. Maximum of eight pills per day. Use caution with the elderly.

Escrom looked around.

Though the church was still filled with sick people, the scent of buttery torches and the relieved expressions of the villagers created a warm atmosphere.

“Is this the right package?”

“This is the new medicine the palace recently developed. Though I didn’t expect such valuable goods to make it all the way here. Ah, truly fortunate…”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Oh, thank you so much.”

The box carried by the man at risk of his life contained something that could be called miraculous. No one knows how many lives this medicine saved today.

****

I, Istina, and Professor Bernstadt were gathered in the Academy’s physics department lab.

In the center of the lab stood Volta’s battery connected to wires. An experiment to transmit signals over long distances using electricity.

“So…this is it?”

“Yes.”

Professor Bernstadt scratched his head.

“The idea is to send signals through wires connected to the battery. But can information really be transmitted just by sending signals through wires?”

“Of course it can. As long as both sides share the same signal system, words or sentences can be transmitted with just a switch.”

“Is that so?”

I sat across the lab and connected a switch to the wire. A structure where metal screws touch to complete the circuit.

I pressed the switch a few times.

“Does it work?”

“Yes, probably?”

Istina nodded.

“A bulb would be helpful, but there are other ways to transmit signals besides bulbs.”

For now, we’re using a somewhat primitive method of carefully observing the electric pulses at the wire junctions, but solutions will come later.

“Here’s the thing, Professor Bernstadt.”

“Go ahead.”

“A single wire can either turn on or off, sending one of two signals. How many signals would we need to distinguish 32 characters?”

“I don’t know…”

“If we assign a number to each character, then as long as we can indicate numbers 1 through 32 on the wire, we can send characters. Do you follow?”

Professor Bernstadt pulled out a notebook.

“If the first switch can send two different signals, and the second switch can also send two different signals, combining them would allow for four distinct combinations, correct?”

This is the theoretical basis of Morse code.

Actually, since Morse code allows for different signal lengths, four slots would suffice, but that’s something to consider later.

“Ah, I think I understand now. We need five signals to represent 32 characters?”

“Yes.”

“Do we need five pairs of wires?”

No. I shook my head.

“To send character signals all at once, we’d need five strands, but realistically, the receiving side would have to manually separate them into groups of five.”

Istina and Professor Bernstadt nodded as if they finally understood.

I moved on to the next point.

“Just creating batteries and wires isn’t enough. To attract investment from the palace or the empire, we need to explain not just the concept but also how to implement it—in terms even a child could understand.”

Professor Bernstadt chuckled slightly.

“Well, explaining to bureaucrats is one thing, but children won’t understand.”

That’s a problem we can think about later. I planned to go to the palace and persuade them to lay telegraph lines throughout the country.

Istina pulled out her notebook, scribbled something, and looked at me with curiosity.

“You seemed like you weren’t saying something at the symposium. Were you hiding this?”

“Not exactly hiding…”

I hadn’t gone into detail about Morse code due to concerns about technological leakage and because I doubted they’d understand anyway.

“Didn’t you mention the possibility of something like this at the symposium? Though it wasn’t a physics or engineering symposium, so I didn’t elaborate.”

“That’s true.”

“Well, let’s wrap this up. Professor Bernstadt, instead of writing a paper, prepare a presentation for the palace about this technology.”

Professor Bernstadt nodded, then suddenly looked at me with realization.

“But how will you present it to the palace—oh! Isn’t Princess Minaletia your girlfriend?”

Professor Bernstadt clapped his hands together. I opened my mouth to respond but closed it again, simply nodding.

“That’s correct.”

Since it’s true, there’s no need—or means—to explain further.

“It’s fortunate that someone who can enter the palace anytime and present their discoveries did so—what a curious coincidence.”

I awkwardly scratched my head, and Professor Bernstadt chuckled again.

“Now I understand why so many people think Professor Asterix is a fraud. If someone doesn’t fully grasp the academic aspects, they’d likely think it’s impossible. Even I find it hard to believe sometimes.”

“That’s how it goes.”

These days, even when accused of being a fraud, I don’t really have a response. If our positions were reversed, I’d probably think I was the fraud.

In the end, the only option is to demonstrate academically that this is practical and feasible technology. Of course, proving it through technology might make those people even more incredulous.

****

I returned to the research lab after finishing the experiment. I need to inform the palace about this discovery…

I gripped my pen and pondered what to write in a letter to the prince. He didn’t seem to believe the invention of aspirin either.

‘Again? Are you pulling a scam?’

I doubt the prince would listen if I tell him about the invention of electricity. Mint could probably help somehow, but I don’t want to rely on her.

I decided to just write it out first.

-Respected Prince,

-Good day,

-During our recent research on the structure and function of nerves at the academy, we invented a way to stably supply power without magic and use it to transmit information over long distances.

-I will visit the palace to demonstrate this technology for your consideration.

I paused, pen in hand. No matter how I think about it, this will look like a scam.

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