3 second casting of sleep magic! If Nobel prizes existed in Kornos, then he would be nominated for that instantly!
In his surprise, Kyle’s hands started shaking.
‘Even though my hands never trembled this violently in my life……..’
Compared to that, Abel was nonchalant.
“Even the most time-consuming but simple calculations need 1 second. What happens if you add 49,987 2,467 times? It’s~”
Abel seemed to have fun seeing Kyle being so surprised as he kept continuing.
“Tada! It’s 123,317,929.”
He was practically the show-host of must-have items.
Thud!
Kyle felt as though his heart just fell and rolled out of his body. Of course, such simple calculations did not mean that it could be used for complex magic, but that speed was unsurpassable by humans.
Kyle widened his eyes as he uttered a series of questions.
“Th, that’s an amazing item! That must be very important in the place called Earth, right? Do they sell those things? How much do they cost?”
Actually, not that precious.
“Well, it differs according to the type, but the cheap ones goes for around 20,000 won (20USD), while mine goes for around 100,000 won (100USD) because it has a graphing function. The expensive ones go for around 300,000 won (300USD)!”
To Abel 300,000 won was plenty large amount.
“Hur, so it is a very expensive item! 100 thousand gold…….”
Not gold, won. Kyle wouldn’t know about Korean currency though. He was in a complete misunderstanding.
“It is still worth it to buy it!”
In Kyle’s eyes, even if it was a million gold, or ten million, he would buy it. If it came down to it, he would sell his territory…….
“Do you perhaps have any plans to……. Hoho, I went too far.”
In his over 80 years of life, he thought himself to be freed from worldly desires, but after looking at that awesome item, ‘greed’ started blossoming again. It couldn’t be helped. He thought that with that, he would be able to cross the boundary into the realm of 9-circles.
‘It’s the sole item that is with him in his unfamiliar place. To think I’d be greedy over that, you are foolish, Kyle!’
Kyle became somewhat embarrassed.
“Can I have a look at it?”
Even so, he was curious about it.
“Sure, go ahead.”
When Abel handed him the calculator, Kyle started looking at it while treating it like the most precious treasure in the world.
‘…???’
However, he couldn’t understand a single thing. The symbols written on the buttons weren’t things he had seen before.
He asked Abel for help.
“What are these pictures on each of these little pieces?”
“Hmm… the ones in the middle are mathematical functions so you won’t know even if I told you, and the ones below it are the numbers. This is 1, this is 2…… this is 9, and this is 0!”
“0? What’s 0?”
“WHAT???”
What in the world…?
Abel’s voice became higher as he thought that Kyle was teasing him.
“It’s 0, I mean, zero! Don’t you know 0? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, zero!”
“After 9 is the number ten (X). Does this ‘0’ mean ten?”
“Eh…? No, you know, the thing you add when you have more digits. 10, 100, 1000, zero!”
“Don’t you write ten as ‘X’? A hundred is ‘C, and a thousand is ‘M’.”
“Oh my word……!”
Yes, oh my word. Abel thought that these people were at the level of grade schoolers, but no. They were… people from before the common era!
‘They still haven’t found zero!’
This was beyond just a cultural shock. It was a destruction of common sense! The existence of magic seemed to have made these people go stupid instead.
Compared to the level of civilization here, the level of numbers was so far behind.
Abel thought back to the contents he learned in mathematical history class.
The numerals 0~9 that the Earth currently uses right now were symbols that ‘Indo-Arabians’ came up with. The most historic and meaningful discovery was the discovery of ‘0’. Considering that, he thought he knew why there was no zero here.
Perhaps it was because there were no Indian people here?
‘Pitiful people… they won’t know what curry tastes like either.’
Now he understood somewhat. No wonder these people were so bad at calculations! And then…… he felt bleak. He couldn’t understand how to make these people understand mathematics. This world may be zero-less, and Abel felt –less too. Speech-less.
(T/N: I’m surprised they can do quadratic equations without zero… or anything else for that matter)
After thinking about it for a while, Abel thought up of a backup plan.
“Old man! I’ll be honest with you! I think there’s about 2000 years difference in the level of mathematics between here and where I’m from, okay? You said you wanted to learn, right? If you really do, then prepare yourself to learn for around 20 years. Reduce your time spent on research too. But you know what, I think that’s really inefficient. So, what I’m thinking of is that you should just tell me when your research gets stuck. Then, I’ll calculate things for you and tell you. Now, choose.”
It would be easier if there was a textbook at least. Heck, even comic books about maths would suffice. However, nothing like that existed here.
Having lived over 80 years meant that he was practically a sage. Moreover, Kyle was someone who had fought in the dark in the political domain. He knew how to differentiate people, and he could realize if someone was lying or not pretty much immediately. He had good eyes for people.
In Kyle’s eyes, Abel was really thinking about him. He could really feel that Abel wasn’t forgoing teaching him because it was bothersome, but it was because it really wouldn’t help at all at this point.
“Hoho, if I was just a little younger, I might have tried. It’s a bit of a pity. But I can’t decrease my research hours! There are more things for me to research into than the hours left in my life…….”
But he felt good since Abel said that he would take care of the complex calculations. Kyle spent all of his life without an assistant. That is, up until this point. If all complex calculation hours were gone, his research time would at least halve.
“Oh… and that thing you promised me? You can’t take it back, okay?”
Looking at Abel’s face, he somehow suddenly became suspicious.
“Hahaha, you mean your pocket money? Don’t worry about that. I can’t use you for free, can I?”
“Yay! Now that the lesson hours are over, I can go, right?”
“You must come back before sunset! The outside world is much more dangerous than where you used to live.”
“Thanks!”
Finally, he was out. Abel was all excited thinking about eating meat.
Northanc Tower was a place that raised battle mages required for national defense as well as a place of magic research and development. So, most of the administrative affairs were done in the inner castle of Sellion, and the person in charge was Perelman.
Abel was currently strolling towards the inner castle to meet Perelman. To get his pocket money.
‘Wow, magic is really convenient for things like this.’
He teleported directly down to the entrance of the tower from the 89th floor. It was a much better system than elevators.
Northanc Tower was located on the outskirts of Sellion City, the capital of Tardema dukedom. It took around 30 minutes to get to the inner castle from there. However, it wasn’t so bad walking there since there was a large road connecting the two.
That big road, named ‘Majhorn Road’, was the biggest, and most well paved road in Sellion City. Therefore, the rent around this road was the most expensive, and the selling products here happened the most.
Abel was currently walking on that road.
‘Wow. This is completely European!’
It was very similar to the streets of Firenze that he only saw through screens. Large stone buildings made in an architecture style similar to Baroque charmed him.
Europe. A place where any ordinary youngster in Korea would want to visit at least once. However, the ones who could actually go there are few and far in between. To the modern people who had a busy life just scraping by, the price of flights to Europe was astronomical.
Abel was like that as well. The only time he went outside of the country was when he went to Osaka as his graduation trip with his college friends. And that felt like yesterday… and now, he felt as though he was in Europe.
At the same time Abel walked down the streets, he scanned the shops like an eagle watch for prey.
‘Maronier Steak House! I decided on you!’
Looking at the large number of people, it seemed like it was a famous shop.
Thinking about various things, he had already arrived at the front doors of the inner castle.
Abel carefully spoke to the gatekeeper.
“Uh, excuse me… I’m here to see Perelman.”
Like the guards at Buckingham Palace in England, the gatekeeper suddenly stared at him after hearing his words.
“How dare you! He’s not someone the likes of you can meet. Get out!”
“……?”
What was that for? Kyle said he would tell Perelman beforehand, but perhaps due to dementia, he seemed to have forgot as the gatekeeper kept blocking Abel’s way.
Of course, Kyle had already told Perelman about it. It just didn’t reach the ears of the gatekeeper yet.
“I’m actually quite close to Perelman, you know? Can’t you just tell him?”
“You? You’re a mere trainee. Where do you think you’re entering!”
Yeah, the problem was the clothes. It was very similar to the gym clothes he had worn for all of high school. Very bland, no colors, and casual. Anyone would look down on him with that on. It also seemed like his 15-year-old appearance also played a role in this.
“Wow, this makes me mad…… can’t you just talk to him once? We really do know each other…….”
“I said no!”
Abel’s attitude seemed to annoy him, as the gatekeeper’s voice rose. At this rate, he would kick Abel away.
At that moment,
“What is happening here?”
A girl that looked to be around Abel’s age (the younger one) approached the gates. From her very neat and tidy clothes, it seemed to remind Abel of a certain someone.