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“Alright then, let’s try playing it already! You said if you understand the principles, you can play it, right, Master!?”

As she said that, Melua connected the guitar to a small amplifier the instrument shop owner had lent us for testing, along with an aether supply cable. But before she could even play a note, a horrible grinding noise—like sand being crushed—rang out.

“Oops. There’s noise in it~. I bet some of the stuff I shaved off with earth magic got into the jack.”

Melua hurriedly unplugged the cable and cleaned the connection port with a cotton swab soaked in alcohol. When she connected it again, the guitar finally produced a gentle, beautiful tone.

“Oh. That sounds really soft and warm! It feels kinda different from the guitars I know.”
“I adjusted the simplified formula so it could resonate with Hom’s emotions.”

When I casually explained the little modification, Melua stared at me in shock and blinked several times.

“Huh!? Just because you figured out the structure, you can do something like that!? And it actually works!? Seriously, Master, you’re unbelievable!!”
“Well, Estea’s was custom-made to begin with. Rather than simply repairing this one, I figured it’d be better to tailor it to Hom.”
“I mean, sure, but… no, seriously, Master, can you stop calling yourself a Third-Class Alchemist already!?”

After flailing around dramatically to express her emotions, Melua suddenly leaned toward me with a completely serious expression.

Ah, right. Come to think of it, I had made a promise with Director Ludsef when I went home. Since it was just the two of us right now, this was probably a good opportunity to bring it up.

“…About that—I want to take the qualification exam for Special-Class Alchemist. Could I ask you to recommend me, Melua?”

From what I had researched, taking the Special-Class Alchemist certification exam required a recommendation from an existing Special-Class Alchemist.

“There’s no way I’d refuse a request from you Master! I’ll write it right away!”
“No, next year is fine.”

Melua agreed instantly, but I told her I didn’t need it immediately. The reason was simple: to obtain the qualification of Special-Class Alchemist, the thesis submitted for evaluation had to be both useful and innovative. That was why bringing it up now mattered—I needed to establish the appearance that I had spent an entire year preparing a paper on the suppressant (demi-nectar) for The Black Stone Disease.

“Next year? Why?”
“There’s something I want to present, and I’m still preparing it. So I’d like you to write the recommendation letter to coincide with that.”
“If you’re okay with it, then I don’t mind at all!”

Moments like this made it amusingly obvious what did and didn’t interest Melua. Even though I still had to be careful regarding alchemy and magic-related matters, the guitar repairs were done and the matter of the Special-Class Alchemist recommendation was settled. In that case, maybe I should grant Melua’s request too.

“Thanks, Melua.”
“We finished way earlier than planned thanks to your help, so is there anything I can do to repay you?”
“…In that case, I want you to help me build a magic cannon~”
“A magic cannon?”

Her unexpected answer made me repeat the words back to her. Being Melua, I had assumed she’d ask me for some kind of magical device again.

“So, like~ last year, when I asked Marie what she wanted for her birthday, she gave me this suuuper overloaded customization request. And I kinda carelessly told her, ‘Anything’s fine,’ so there was no backing out of it. But before I could figure out what to do, Marie got dragged into the military, right!? So now it’s turned into a birthday present that’s been delayed for a whole year. I seriously can’t keep putting it off any longer, so this year I absolutely have to give it to her!”

As an alchemist, I found myself genuinely intrigued by the kind of request from Marie that could leave even Melua troubled.

“Can I hear the details?”
“Not just can you!! I seriously feel like this is absolutely impossible unless I borrow your genius, Master!!”

Saying that, Melua pulled a notebook from a shelf in the atelier and opened it to the relevant page for me to see.

There were plenty of notes showing she had already given the matter a great deal of thought herself, but Marie’s customization requests still looked troublesome enough that none of her ideas had solved them.

One request was for something that could hit faster than a bullet without using bullets—most likely because Marie wanted to eliminate the need to reload. And the other was apparently for something capable of achieving twice the range of existing magic cannons.

Once Melua explained that Marie specialized in sniping, it immediately made sense. Having gained real battlefield experience in the military, she probably wasn’t satisfied with merely doubling the range anymore. I understood that well myself from the Great Human-Demon War in my previous life—the more advantageous you wanted to be on the battlefield, the more capable your weapons had to become.

“…I see. Definitely not something you could buy in a shop.”
“Right!?”

Melua nodded repeatedly in agreement at my comment.

“But if it’s you, Master, it feels like you’d make something way beyond those specs!”
“Well, maybe. The true goal lies beyond simply fulfilling the request, after all.”

That relentless drive for exploration was something I’d possessed ever since my days as Glass. But in this life, I now had companions who acknowledged it and aimed even higher alongside me. Creating something for someone else while borrowing the strength of others—that was something only the current me could accomplish.

The fact that I could listen to even seemingly troublesome matters with genuine interest probably meant I wanted to know more about those possibilities… and see just how far they could go.