Child Rearing Journal of the Strongest Wiseman～About My Daughter Being the Cutest in the World( Saikyou Kenja no Kosodate Nikki ～Uchi no Musume ga Sekaiichi Kawaii Ken ni Tsuite～) - Chapter 16

A Second Helping of Black Tea
While such an exchange was taking place in the principal’s office at the Leangrad Magic Academy, the person in question arrived at the said academy.

The magic academy was in the outskirts of the Duchy capital Ishureen. It’d probably take 30 minutes by carriage to the centre of the capital.
There was ample land to learn magic.
Because if there hadn’t been enough land to chant even《Fireball》magic, it wouldn’t have even been established.
If a stray ball of fire hit a crowded residential district it was likely to cause a fire.
Moreover, one of the branches derived from magic is the study of Alchemy.
As a result of Alchemy, medicine and explosives; both can be prepared with equal ease.
As for those processes and their results, they’d often lead to explosions.
If that happened in the heart of the duchy capital, there’d be no need to bother creating an Academy there at all.
Thus, the Leangrad Magic Academy was established not in the heart of Duchy Capital, but in its outskirts.
When I gave my personal opinion on it, my silver-haired maid agreed with it.

「Master too has blown up the laboratory many times.」

Saying so, she chuckled.

「Well, there’d have to be some sacrifices for advances in Alchemy.」

Explaining myself, I went towards the academy’s secretariat.
In there was a girl similar to Chloe.

「Its your relative.」

When I said that, Chloe grumbled.

「Chloe does not wish to be put together with any ordinary run-of-the-mill machine doll.」

Seems like she’s angry at me.

Perhaps my expression seemed to say “Where am I wrong at?”, for Chloe seemed to look at me with accusatory eyes.

「It is master who created Chloe, right?」

「That is the case, but.」

My reason for giving a vague answer was because it wasn’t me who created Chloe’s body.

I was the one who created the core circuit, but her body was a commonplace one created by a dollmaker in the imperial capital.

Chloe’s body was not something worth special mention amongst machine dollsAutomaton.

It wasn’t as if she was made from special magic ingredients either, and nor was she an article that received God’s Blessings. Of course, she wasn’t equipped with transcendent skillsO-Parts[1] excavated from an ancient civilisation either.

However, parts of the highest quality made by the doll craftsmen of the imperial capital were certainly used, and its cost was akin to that need to construct a whole mansion.

I shouldn’t group her together with those mass-produced models.
Moreover, she insisted.

「Other dolls move with the help of magic stones prepared by using miracle drugs and secret medicines, but Chloe moves due to the Philosopher’s Stone. There’s a clear distinction there.」

「It’s not a Philosopher’s Stone, but a pseudo-Philosopher’s Stone. If I’d succeeded in creating a Philosopher’s Stone, I’d have long become a Great Wiseman.」

「That’s true. There hasn’t been a sorcerer who has succeeded in making a Philosopher’s Stone to perfection.」

「I’m afraid to say, in that respect even a Homunculus is the same.」

I continued.

「If we had come to know of a technique to produce Homunculi perfectly, we could have lived without having to escape, lying about our identities.」

「I agree. The reason why our, no, Fiona-sama’s life is being targeted is mostly due to the fact there hasn’t been a technique to perfectly produce Homunculi discovered as of yet.」

「That is true. Once a perfect production technique has been properly established, we can live in peace without fearing for Fiona’s life.」

I, making sure that Fiona was playing far away, replied so.

「Really, even though humans are peacefully continuing their research, both the Empire and the Church are impertinently causing trouble……」

Remembering the faces of the Emperor and the Pope whom I haven’t even met, I let out a string of curses.
The Emperor was 68 years of age.

With his age starting to show at long last, he had begun showing signs of obsession over his life, or so were the words of my master. In order to obtain the secret to immortality with his body not that of a sorcerer, he had begun researching Homunculi a few decades ago.

On the other hand, the Pope did not wish for the creation of life from that manner of fundamentalism. Preaching “Only God could create life.” to his followers, he strictly forbade research on Homunculi.

My daughter was threatened by the senile Emperor obsessed over his life, and the bigoted and senile Pope.

「Really, I only wanted to raise my daughter while searching for the truth of magic peacefully.」

「Even though it’s quite a simple wish.」

Chloe supported me.

Actually, many sorcerers research on magic to quench their inquisitiveness or to whet their hunger for fame.

Who will find the perfect secret of immortality first?
Or create the Philosopher’s Stone?
Succeed in creating a Homunculus?
Open the doors to another world?
Find a way to warp time?
Search for the origin of life?
Find what lies beyond the stars?
Or maybe search for the existence of God?

Sorcerers are all demanding answers for those questions. Day after day, they devoted themselves to studying, but surprisingly, sorcerers who chased after money after solving these questions were few and far between.

Of course, there were a bunch that schemed to make a killing turning base metals to gold, but their number was quite small.
Most sorcerers are a nothing but a bunch of scholars brimming with curiosity.
Now, thinking about such things, the machine doll at the academy’s secretariat began talking me.
Not Chloe, but the academy’s machine doll.
It was a mechanical girl for the purpose of performing simple tasks such as deskwork, greeting guests and also be tasked with guiding them.
She was wearing maid clothes just like Chloe, but they were of a different style.

Chloe’s maid outfit had a huge ribbon on the chest, and she wore something of an Alice-band[2] typical of maids too.

On the other hand, the academy’s machine doll had a simple design and didn’t have anything especially elaborate.
Stressing on functionality, she didn’t wear an Alice-band like Chloe either.
While I compared both of them, Chloe corrected my mistake.

「No, this isn’t an Alice-band but a maid’s brim[3].」

Saying so, she modestly insisted that both were completely different things.
I felt both were the same, but Chloe was quite insistent when it came to maid outfits.
She saw two-pice maid outfits as improper and only approved of one piece ones.
Furthermore, she had no scruples claiming that the maid outfit was officially an 「Apron Dress」.
Also if the skirt’s hem or the sleeves did not have frills, she would not feel like putting it on.
I won’t say it out loud, but even if someone wore the exact same outfit, there were bound to be differences.
Actually, I only knew to the extent that the outfits that the machine doll girls in the academy wore were of a different style.
I could care less of what they were called.

However, the mechanical girl belonging to the academy’s owner too opened her mouth, shown least bit of concern over the outfits, just like me.

「Are you perhaps Kite-sama, who is to arrive at this academy today?」

「……Yes, that’s right.」

I gave a gentlemanly reply, but for a moment I felt a sense of incongruity.

It was because she spoke in a monotone. As expected, it was unusual for a machine doll to possess feelings like the one beside me.

She was an extremely ordinary mechanical doll who could do nothing but administrative work and follow orders given by her master.

I understood the reason why Chloe did not want to be grouped together with her in the beginning. Both had the same mould of a doll girl, but their essence was poles apart.

Unlike Chloe, she could laugh when happy or cry when sad; she was a mechanical doll to the T.

While giving a robotic smile, she bowed.

「Thank you for coming all the way. You must be tired from the long journey.」

The girl at the reception said that, and we were led to the dorms.

Those words of appreciation were not a result of her feeling budding, but due to the manual input in her.

Even the tea we received on reaching the dorms seemed dry and tasteless.
I felt Chloe tea was much more delicious.
As a result, I had Chloe pour the second cup.

「De-Delicious.」

Tasting the black tea poured in my cup, I exclaimed.
Meanwhile, it seemed just to Fiona’s tastes and she showed similar appreciation.

「The tea Chloe poured is delicious right, Daddy?」

My daughter smiled brightly.
Chloe, gazing at that scene with satisfaction, lightly bowed her head and said.

「It is my pleasure.[4] It’s my honour to receive such praise.」

Only these few words.