Chapter 280: It’s Time to Run

"It’s... that simple?"

"It’s that simple," Jilannis said, brandishing the sword in her hand. "Your subordinates probably can’t understand, but you should."

"The vast majority of so-called research drags on for ages without results. The root cause is a lack of sufficient manpower and funding. As long as you have the people and the money, many difficulties can be easily overcome."

"..." Ron was silent for a moment. "Yes, on that point, I agree with you."

"Especially when it comes to the tedious, repetitive experiments and trial-and-error. A lack of personnel and funding ties researchers’ hands."

"And they never give you enough time," Jilannis snorted.

"And there are always all sorts of interruptions," Ron chimed in.

"To realize some half-baked idea they came up with on a whim, we’re forced to use other methods for verification—or even just resort to conjecture! We have to keep simplifying things until the final result is riddled with holes. And when the outcome inevitably fails to match their expectations, they push all the blame onto us!" Ron grew more agitated as he spoke, unpleasant memories perhaps flooding his mind. In front of this Otherworld Elf who had thrashed his team and even taken his Spellbook, Ron started to vent all his frustrations.

"How is anyone supposed to produce real results under those conditions? Then they use the lack of results as an excuse to cut our benefits and tighten the deadlines even more. It’s a vicious cycle!"

"All talk and no action!" Jilannis deeply sympathized with Ron’s plight. "Our foolish King Laine was alright at the beginning, but he completely panicked when it came to the critical moment! The empire only had so many researchers and so much money in the treasury. Designing seven Decisive Weapons at the same time? What was he thinking!"

"Hah, noble lords," the two of them exclaimed in unison.

"So, you just left without a word in the end?" Ron looked at the Chief Grand Mage. "You’ve got some real nerve. I’m stuck in my position for life. If I leave, all my past work will go down the drain."

"Ah, I get it. You know that Dwarf, Elden, right? Which academy was he from? Theses, dissertations, advisors... an endless list of annoyances," Jilannis said with a wave of her hand. "Too bad you’re human. I did eighty years of research in those academies. I had all that stuff taken care of before my coming-of-age ceremony."

"You son of a—"

"But speaking of Laine’s so-called Decisive Weapons, I pulled a fast one on them," Jilannis said, changing the subject on her own. "That amethyst slate and those Gemstones... Saran was a good lad. I lobbied the higher-ups to let him take a team to Delusional Land. If he had actually managed to bring something back, he might have been able to turn the tide."

"But obviously, he failed. Everything ended up in your hands."

"You deceived the Laine Royal Family," Ron said. "Delusional Land is not a place you can just wade into."

"That’s not my problem anymore. I was just making a reasonable deduction and drawing a conclusion," the Elf said, a mocking smile on her pretty face. "That’s what those vermin told me when I asked them to change strategies and reallocate funds and personnel."

"I made them at least seven Magic Items. They didn’t help one bit in the end, but at least I submitted the results."

"But I don’t understand. Why did you include your own Spellbook?"

"Because of that ridiculous review system, of course," the Grand Mage said with a pout. "If the overall ’mystique’ didn’t meet the baseline standard set by those idiots who haven’t even finished a single Magic Canon, I’d be the one held responsible."

"Well, I have a question."

Ron suddenly took a few steps forward, standing right in front of Jilannis. The latter, finding their conversation rather engaging, had no reaction at all. She even took a step closer herself.

"Ask away, human. If you’re willing to be my volunteer, I’ll have plenty of time for your questions later."

"Setting aside the ’results’ you cobbled together to fool the Hailan Empire, in the hundred years before the empire’s fall, did you ever create a *real* Decisive Weapon?"

"Oh, that? Of course I did," said Jilannis. "I borrowed from the Dwarves’ gunpowder techniques and created a set of bombs and flying machines. They were simple and easy to operate, and could have compensated for the empire’s lack of air power. After all, training either griffins or hippogriffs takes a huge amount of time."

"I’ve never heard of any of that!" Aive looked at Quest. The Spy shook his head as well. "I’ve never heard of them either. Weren’t they put into practical use?"

"Of course not," the Elf said, turning to Quest with an angry huff. "It’s a real shame you never had the chance to witness their power! They were rejected before they even went into production—by the Laine Royal Family, the finance minister, and even the minister of war, all at once!"

"They thought those little gadgets were tools used by inferior races, that noble Elves shouldn’t operate such crude things. So after they were rejected, to prevent them from becoming a stain on my record, I threw all the finished and half-finished products into the Fire Elemental Plane and burned them to a crisp."

She said that, but Jilannis was clearly still bothered by the matter. She whipped her head around. "So, have you made up your mind or not? If you’re willing to be a volunteer, I can teach you the most profound Arcane Knowledge. If you can’t finish learning due to your limited human lifespan, I can even turn you into a Witch Demon!"

"I’ll even give you the Weaving Introduction! I’ve never been able to get this research to the mass-application stage. You figured out a way on your own, and you’re a researcher yourself. Maybe you can help me find what the problem is!"

The Weaving Introduction floated beside its former master, rapidly flipping its pages in protest, only to be smacked aside by Jilannis. "So what do you think? Worried about how to clean up this mess? I can also—"

"No, I’m not worried about that at all." Ron smiled at Jilannis, then suddenly raised his hand at such close range. An Alchemy Medicine exploded between them, engulfing both Ron and Jilannis in a cloud of dust.

"You—COUGH COUGH!" The Grand Mage was completely stunned. "What are you doing?"

She immediately checked her body, only to find that this Alchemy Potion wasn’t the explosive type, nor did it have any malicious transformation Magic effects. As for poison...

’Poison?’

Jilannis staggered and fell to the ground. She struggled, but found she couldn’t muster an ounce of strength.

’I’m the Chief Grand Mage of the empire! Even if I’ve been reduced to being the Lord of a small city-state, I still have the necessary permanent Protective Magic active. What is this stuff, that it could do this to me with poison alone?!’

"What... is this potion?" Using the last of her strength, Jilannis fought to stay conscious, wanting to hear the answer.

"It’s not too late to ask after you wake up," Ron said, crouching down to look into her lake-blue eyes. "This is the moss extract I used against Ming Datiss before. My Alchemist and I further purified and modified it to enhance its specificity against Elves."

"Why would you... put so much effort into this?" Jilannis’s eyes could barely see, but she still wanted an answer. "It’s not... worth the trouble..."

"You’re the empire’s Chief Grand Mage, so of course you wouldn’t care about some unknown moss from an unknown cave," Ron said with a small smile. "But perhaps the education I received was a little different. When I encounter something born of coincidence or luck, I usually try to investigate its principles and find a way to standardize it, to see if it might be useful to me."

"You see, luck is a part of strength. But turning coincidence into certainty, converting luck *into* strength... that’s also—ah, what a pity. I think we can continue this discussion after you wake up."

Ron stood up. "Come give me a hand. Tie her up and send her to the military barracks in Klade."

"Quest, you’ll take her form and go to her residence. Take the alchemy bag and pack up everything you can carry. Don’t forget to check for any possible Secret Doors or hidden rooms!"

"Aive, go inform Uncle Daniel and the others. Our business here is done, and we even had an unexpected windfall—it’s time to run!"