Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

The Professor’s lab, where I was led, was located underground in a separate building near the university division’s hangar.

There were only about two doors along the wall, which suggested the room would be quite spacious—but the sight that greeted me when I stepped inside left me stunned.

“Well, it’s a bit messy, but please, come in.”

The room, which should’ve been spacious, was crammed with unfamiliar magical devices and mechanical parts, piled high into mounds. Narrow pathways, just wide enough for a single person to pass through, wound through the clutter like ant tunnels. The Professor made his way along one of them, pushed aside a stack of documents, and gestured for me to sit on the sofa that had been buried beneath them.

“It’s fine, really… no need to go out of your way.”

If I sat down here, I felt like I might get buried under all the magical devices, machine parts, and bundles of paperwork. As I looked over the piles, some as tall as I was, I noticed that many of the items were from quite an old era, neatly grouped together.

At first glance, it looked like complete chaos, but there seemed to be some underlying order to it all. Perhaps this was intentional—meant to conceal some research he didn’t want others to see. In my previous life, I had a meticulous nature too, though I’d made the mistake of creating a hidden room—an obvious choice for hiding things.

“Well then, let’s get straight to the point. The final issue this time is implementing a thruster system that can endure—or even replicate—Hom’s Blitzraid, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”

Since I’d already entrusted the blueprints to Isaac and Romeo, I wasn’t particularly surprised he’d deduced that. But when I saw the stack of papers he handed me in response, my expression changed.

“Plasma propulsion…?”

The bundle of documents he passed to me—these papers weren’t from alchemy or magicology studies. They dealt with a lost form of science, one considered taboo in this world.

“How did you…?”

I suddenly remembered the goddess, and an unpleasant sweat trickled down my spine.

“No need to worry. I possess these, and yet I remain quite unharmed. There’s no reason to be so tense.”

The Professor tilted his head slightly, urging me to relax—though he couldn’t possibly know about the circumstances of my previous life’s end.

“Let’s get back on topic. The technique Hom uses—Blitzraid, was it? It’s based on the theory behind a linear railgun, isn’t it? I hear there’s still a ruin of a railgun turret somewhere in the Canado region.”

That was indeed true. In Master Tao Ran’s homeland, the massive turret supposedly still remained to this day.

Hom’s technique was modeled after the mechanism of the railgun—an enormous weapon that had been passed down to her by Master Tao Ran. She used her own body and magic to replicate it, but the same effect could be achieved using the actual weapon itself.

“I’ve heard of it…”

I didn’t know what the Professor was trying to draw out of me with this line of questioning. But the words of Master Tao Ran echoed in my mind: that the New Humanity had forsaken science, abandoning it at great cost.

“This plasma propulsion system is a product of science. But don’t you think the theory behind it could help invent a new type of propulsion system—one that combines jet propulsion with Blitzraid?”
“…Yes… I think so.”

Magical devices were inventions of the New Humanity. Yet, identical concepts already existed in the inventions of the Old Humanity. To borrow Master’s words, what the New Humanity was doing now was simply recreating those inventions through different means.

“There’s no need to be so wary. I’ve had a feeling about you for some time now—that perhaps you’d brushed up against the remnants of science. And after this conversation, I’m convinced of it.”
“…What do you mean by that…?”

I couldn’t follow his train of thought and felt a chill of nervous sweat as I asked.

“That’s why, for the sake of your future development in Mecha Soldier production, I’ll share one of my secrets. My real name is Christopher Perenoel. I’m an agent of the Arcadia Empire’s Public Security Third Special Division.”