Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero

71 – Lecture #2

When someone walks up on the podium, the lecture hall becomes quiet and everyone’s eyes are focused.

Marian was a little, no, quite surprised. It was because the person on the podium was a pretty young woman.

She was told that she was a genius engineer, so her image was very different from what she had vaguely imagined. She wore a lab coat and had quite a few dark circles around her eyes, but for her rare appearance, she was a recognizable beauty with long, curly hair.

‘Couldn’t it be that the Dr. Brown I’ve been hearing about was a woman?’

A commotion broke out in the lecture hall, with most people in shock.

President Heinkel stroked his beard and tilted his head curiously, and Schurz also frowned and made a strange expression.

At that time, a woman in a white coat caught everyone’s attention, shrugged her shoulders, and grabbed the voice amplification magic tool.

And with a trembling voice, he carefully opened his mouth.

“B, Dr. Brown… You haven’t arrived at the lecture hall yet.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

People’s gossip grew louder.

Marian was equally confused.

You know the woman in front of you isn’t Dr. Brown, but what would today’s lecture be like if Dr. Brown hadn’t arrived yet? Should I go back like this?

The woman on the podium continued her speech with a trembling voice as the people’s gossip grew louder.

“Joe, if you wait a little longer, it will arrive soon. So please excuse me a little… We are doing our best to find….”

One of the students sitting in the lecture hall raised his voice.

“Wait a minute. Are you looking for it? Could it be that you disappeared without a word before the lecture?”

“Huh! I-I said something… ! Well, it’s absolutely not like that, and it’s clear that the doctor has some circumstances… So please wait a little longer….”

Unfortunately, her voice was so muted and indistinct, even with great amplification. So most of the people couldn’t pay attention to her words and started talking among themselves.

Isn’t that why the lecture is canceled? Even for a genius engineer, isn’t this a bit harsh? Isn’t it a problem that so many people are waiting and not keeping their promises? I deliberately took the time to come, but I think I came for no reason….

Discontent turned to anger, which was directed at Dr. Brown, who did not show up.

I could have waited if it was a little late, but disappearing without contact at all means that I have to wait without a promise for someone who might come at any time.

As people’s reactions were unusual, the expression of President Heinkel, who hosted the lecture, gradually hardened.

A few students, including Marian, were looking around with anxious expressions when a sudden thumping sound was heard.

It was the sound of a window on the classroom ceiling opening.

“Heeheehee! I guess I’m too late!”

Along with a male voice with an eccentric tone, a loud voice echoed much louder than that.

The sound was like a dragon’s cry, or like a hurricane.

The harsh and loud sound sent everyone’s eyes to the ceiling, and then they could see.

A middle-aged man was descending from the sky with a huge machine on his back. The huge noise was the sound of the motors coming from the machine.

Most people didn’t know that it was what Dr. Brown had tentatively dubbed the ‘Magic Jetpack’, but they did know that the machine was something they’d never seen before.

At that time, a woman with curly hair who had been staring blankly at the ceiling belatedly opened her mouth.

“B, Dr. Brown is here! I ask for your warm applause… !”

“Wowaaa!!”

At that moment, Dr. Brown’s perception completely disappeared from people’s heads. Rather, they reacted more strongly to Dr. Brown’s unique appearance and to his previously unseen object.

Of course, while descending, it repeatedly ascended and descended, the motor trembled, and at the end it emitted black smoke, showing a very dangerous appearance, but in the end, the doctor landed safely from the ceiling onto the podium.

“Oh my gosh. Sorry to keep you waiting. Heehee, I couldn’t help it because I was preparing for the lecture. That guy is unnecessarily stubborn….”

‘That guy?’

Marian was momentarily concerned about who he was referring to.

– Rattle!

“Eh! It’s still a prototype, so it’s a problem. It needs more stabilization.”

Dr. Brown set the machine on his back to the floor and sprinkled white powder over the machine, which emitted even blacker smoke than before. Then the trembling machine became quiet and came to a complete stop.

He looked around the classroom with a pleasant smile.

“I’m not too keen on it, but let’s start with a lecture.”

***

“All those who claim to be modern intellectuals are idiots with good looks. They are obsessed with superficial knowledge and are missing fundamental values and creativity. You must be original and creative beyond the boundaries of thinking, not confined to the framework of the existing education system!”

Dr. Brown’s lecture.

In one word, it was very radical.

“If you stop thinking, what difference remains between humans and monkeys? The empire now is no different from a blind man’s paradise. Progress in technology and science is a epoch-making means of leading to true progress for mankind, but most of them are unaware of it. What do you do when you create great technology? Nobles don’t see anything other than playing with money and power with it! It’s like making stew with the finest fish and making milk soup with famous tea from the Orient!”

Dr. Brown raised his voice enthusiastically throughout his lecture.

He looked so full of energy that I wondered where he could get such energy at his age.

“There is no difference between the imperial family and the administrative offices! The purpose of giving me money is the same! Pure technological progress is not the goal, just one-“

The complexions of the people sitting in the lecture hall turned pale in an instant.

He seemed terrified that he might be dragged away by the intelligence department after sitting here listening to a lecture.

Fortunately, the curly-haired woman appropriately cut Dr. Brown off.

“B, Dr. Brown! Up there! I can’t say more than that!”

“Ehh? The assistant is making a lot of noise. I can’t help it, I’ll end this story here….”

Dr. Brown put on a look of regret that he was lost in the middle of his talk. And he cleared his throat briefly and continued his speech.

“In that sense, there are geniuses that I acknowledge. A real genius with a proper creative power that mankind has never surpassed. The red-haired student there. Who do you think it might be?”

“Yes? Me, me?”

Marian, who was suddenly pointed out, answered in surprise.

Marianne pondered for a moment before she spoke in an uncertain voice.

“Ummm….”

To be honest, the first person that came to Marian’s mind was her grandfather.

The Marquis of Karlstein rescued 90% of the human allied forces in the face of annihilation during the last great war, prepared an opportunity for a counterattack in the war, and successfully carried out numerous other operations, being evaluated as a genius of military strategy.

This was never a generous evaluation because it was her family, it was an objective evaluation to the last. It really was.

But to bring up her grandfather’s name at a place like this was to paint her own face with gold, and Marianne was a little ashamed of it. So she deliberately pretended not to know and brought her out.

“Well… I’m not sure….”

“Huh. I think I was thinking of something… I wish I didn’t know.”

At that time, Schurz raised his hand next to Marian. Dr. Brown winked as if to speak, and Schurz nodded his head and opened his mouth in a calm voice.

“Are you referring to Philion the Great?”

“Heeheehee! I had a friend here who read my thoughts exactly. Yes, that is the correct answer.”

Dr. Brown looked around the classroom and smiled.

“The great emperor who created the present empire. Everything we live, breathe, and enjoy has already been touched by his breath. The tram, the radio, the airship that I created… It’s all just a belated realization of an idea conceived before the death of Fillion the Great, hundreds of years later.”

That was certainly a fact acknowledged by most of the people of the Empire.

His influence on the continent was so great that it is said that the history of the continent is divided into before and after the advent of Filion the Great.

Aside from his feat of ending an era of strife and founding an empire, he also brought great changes to the continent’s culture and way of life.

A student raised his hand during the lecture. Although he was not allowed to speak, he suddenly opened his mouth and asked the doctor a question.

“Doctor. Didn’t you think of making a weapon with such technology? If you had the idea of Filion the Great and your technology, couldn’t you have made a great weapon and won the war earlier?”

“… Hmm. What is your name?”

From noble mtl dot com

“This is Quill von Keitel, Year 3 of Diamond White.”

A diamond white student wearing a white cape proudly stood up and introduced himself. Marian was also the eldest son of a fairly old noble family, whom he had met a few times in the social world.

Dr. Brown replied with a serious face, sweeping down his sparsely-grown chin.

“Yes, it could have been. Although he didn’t reveal it openly, Filion the Great left behind the idea for the weapon before he died, and it’s still in the possession of the imperial family. I read it too.”

“Then-“

“But I am not interested in weapons. I haven’t thought about making it until now, and I will in the future.”

Dr. Brown replied with a sullen expression.

“Guns, bombs… If you make something like that, it’s obvious that you’ll end up aiming at the same person. Humanity can still kill thousands or tens of thousands of people at once with magic. All I would do would be to increase that number to hundreds of thousands or millions.”

Dr. Brown said firmly.

“I discovered true value in the process of creation. Like building a moving train and a flying boat, it’s much more fun and worthwhile to challenge things that humanity previously thought impossible. In that sense-“

Dr. Brown took out a communicator for video transmission from his pocket. And when he activated it, a screen using magic appeared at the back of the classroom and a certain image was displayed in the classroom.

“Heeheehee! I’m going to show you a demonstration prepared especially for the people gathered here today. My new invention to succeed the airship, the first prototype!”

Marian couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw a familiar figure in the video.

There, Instructor Ion was sitting on top of an iron block with two wheels.

-“Ha….”

Instructor Ion in the video was sighing deeply with a hard expression.