Steam is power.
Even massive boulders that people would never dare try to move, and long logs left behind by land-reclamation projects.
With a steam engine, they could be transported with ease.
'When I was little, I only thought it looked cool......'
There was something beautiful about gathering endlessly weightless steam and using it to move something enormous and heavy.
It was only natural that Sophia, the daughter of a steam alchemist, had become captivated by steam alchemy.
Even looking back, it had been a profession with quite good prospects.
At least when she was young, the Empire had been vigorously pushing land-reclamation projects in its unexplored territories.
A steam engine was cheaper than a haughty mage and more powerful than a laborer who reeked of alcohol!
In fact, there had once been a time when steam alchemy was one of the key national technologies the Empire actively promoted.
That was when Sophia was young, of course.
- W-What do you mean? You are suddenly saying that you are going to stop the land-reclamation projects?
- It is not as though I want to stop. The country says it will not expand its directly governed territories any further.
The kingdoms and nobles who had fought one another as though they were mortal enemies, as well as the monsters that hated every living creature between them.
They had stopped fighting as though it were a lie.
The era when one had to redraw the lines on a map every time one woke up had come to an end.
That did not mean the steam-alchemy technology accumulated until then vanished like smoke.
It was simply, quite naturally, pushed aside.
Steam engines, weaker than superior mages and more expensive than laborers one could hire simply by paying them.
Had become a technology no one sought in the frigid grip of capitalism.
'I pity you all for not knowing how cool steam is!'
Even so, Sophia's resolve did not waver.
That resolve led her to the Imperial Capital.
She could not research steam alchemy among hereditary nobles with no interest in new technology, or at mage towers that treated everything but magic as a mere trick.
Though she had to work as an Academy assistant professor to pay for her experiments.
If she could create more powerful and more cost-effective steam engines through steam alchemy.
Then someday, the world would once again be captivated by the power and charm breathed out by white smoke.
That was why.
"Depending on Professor Cotiar's choice, we could have a very good relationship."
Sophia could not easily refuse Lloyd's offer.
Chapter 02 - Wise Preparations for Enrollment
On the morning with only two days left before the Academy opened.
I headed to the Imperial Patronage Association as soon as day broke.
"Ah, good morning."
"Hm? What brings you here, Lloyd?"
Wegner's question was not merely a literal one.
It contained the question of whether things had gone well with Marta.
The suspicion that perhaps we had failed to reach an agreement, or that I had come to demand something more than an adjustment to my grades.
And the discomfort of the fact that I had come to him directly without going through the reporting channels, even though he was the chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association.
'It feels like a mix of roughly those things.'
It was the sort of instinct one developed after spending years as a National Assembly member's secretary.
Based on that instinct, I answered one piece at a time as though solving a puzzle.
"You readily granted my request, so of course I had to come and thank you in person."
There were not many lunatics who would spit on someone smiling as they thanked them.
And the odds of such a lunatic rising to the rank of Court Count under Solarian III approached zero.
"Hoho, you are quite polite for a young man these days."
Wegner's solemnly stern expression thawed by about fifteen percent.
"So, how did your conversation with my daughter go?"
"I had my suspicions, but it really was so!"
"You had your suspicions, but it really was so?"
"I was wondering what family the fair and beautiful interviewer from the Imperial Patronage Association came from, and she turned out to be Your Excellency's daughter."
There was no way I could not have known.
Marta and Wegner both had the surname Inglebert, and Marta had called Wegner Father yesterday.
Naturally, I had realized they were father and daughter.
Even so, I answered with the most innocent expression I could manage, as though I had only just learned it.
"What? Fair and beautiful? My friend, you should say that sort of flattery to the person herself."
Aide Art, First Form: Breathless Sucking Up.
"Flattery? My parents always taught me to live honestly."
"Hahahaha! What a shame Marta is out on assignment right now. And why would you call me Your Excellency? Just call me Chairman."
Faced with twenty-first-century rhetoric pushed beyond the limit, Wegner's cheekbones softened like a road the day after snowfall.
"By the way, Chairman, I happened to learn about a certain system."
"A system?"
Fortunately, I could smoothly change the subject.
"I mean the Individual Sponsorship System, which allows one to designate a recipient through the Imperial Patronage Association."
"Ah, such a system does exist."
Much like asking a seller to write 'office supplies' when ordering e-cigarette liquid.
There were quite a few people in high places who thought, 'I would rather not sponsor my illegitimate child in my own name......'
"There are always people who, for personal reasons, are somewhat reluctant to sponsor someone directly."
Such people supported them indirectly through various patronage associations.
And the reason I had come today was to arrange an Individual Sponsorship.
"But why would you need the Individual Sponsorship System? Surely, you are not......?"
"No."
"How do you know what I was thinking?"
"Anyway, no."
"Hmm......"
I answered Wegner, who was looking at me as though I were some kind of beast.
"The recipient of an Individual Sponsorship does not necessarily have to be a student, right?"
***
Contrary to what people often misunderstand, steam alchemy was not a miracle that transmuted gold.
It was closer to an honest technology: burn fuel, boil water to obtain steam.
And receive power in exchange for that steam.
Of course, there were various ways to obtain steam, which was why it bore the modifier alchemy.
In any case.
Sophia had lived her whole life as a steam alchemist, and she had come to realize that life itself was not all that different from steam alchemy.
'Everything comes at a price.'
The first time could perhaps be called luck.
A young nobleman who had just come up to the capital might suddenly have taken an interest in steam alchemy.
When had nobles' hearts ever been anything other than fickle?
That was why Sophia.
Had happily welcomed Lloyd's arrival when he came into her workshop and swept up all kinds of goods.
'When he appeared the next day too, I was honestly excited.'
And when he appeared again and bought even more goods than he had the day before.
She even began to hope that perhaps she, too, had found a noble patron with money to burn.
Whenever she heard news from her colleagues or spoke with them from time to time, there was no backing more dependable than a noble patron.
But one could not simply wait for luck forever.
Sophia gathered the results of research she had achieved through her own skill and effort, then headed to the Imperial Patronage Association.
Today, with two days remaining before the Academy opened, was the final review for next semester's research-funding support.
Just as she anxiously waited for her turn like a merchant awaiting a loan review.
'Huh?'
Sophia had no choice but to doubt her eyes.
- Well, I respect your choice. You have always chosen nothing but unpredictable things from the very beginning.
It was not because Wegner Inglebert, chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, whom she had met face-to-face only once until now, had appeared.
Beside him.
- And is it not all possible because the Chairman has shown understanding as vast as the sea?
- You will do very well in public service.
Beside him was the person who had made Sophia dream sweet dreams over the past few days.
Lloyd Schultz was coming down the stairs with the chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, laughing and chatting.
'...That explains why he looked so rich.'
Up until then.
Sophia did not suspect Lloyd. Or perhaps she had refused to let herself suspect him.
He was merely a rich young nobleman who had come to the capital, and he happened to have business at the Imperial Patronage Association.
Or, if neither was true, perhaps he and Chairman Wegner had known each other beforehand, and they had simply happened to appear together.
He could not possibly have approached her with some sort of intention.
'Please, please.'
Sophia closed her eyes with a wish that was nearly self-hypnosis, but.
"Professor Sophia Cotiar?"
Lloyd's voice was courteous and gentle, yet precisely because of that, unwavering as it called her name.
"Ah."
Sophia's suspicion finally became certainty.
"We meet again. There is something I would like to discuss regarding sponsorship for your research. Would you have a moment?"
That Lloyd had approached her knowing who she was, and why she had knocked on the Imperial Patronage Association's door.
She knew he had known all of it.
***
"Coffee? Tea? I did not buy them, but the Imperial Patronage Association's staff kitchen is of rather good quality."
I held out a sweet coffee to Sophia.
There had been experimental results showing that people were more likely to answer yes when they drank coffee during a conversation.
There was a reason every lawmaker's office pantry in Yeouido was stocked with instant coffee in every brand.
"...What do you want?"
As expected, pseudoscience was no more than pseudoscience.
Still, I decided to think that good things were good.
Why I had appeared openly at the Imperial Patronage Association, smiling and laughing with its chairman where Sophia could see us.
Why I was holding the sponsorship-related documents instead of an Imperial Patronage Association employee.
"You understand quickly, so you save me the trouble of explaining."
Sophia seemed to have already caught on to the general idea.
"How did you know I was an Academy professor?"
"More precisely, you are an assistant professor."
I knew thanks to the documents Wegner had sent through Marta. This was why connections mattered.
"...That is right."
"And the assistant professors are scheduled to proctor the Academy entrance placement test two days from now."
"Surely not."
"Professor Cotiar."
This was why conversations with perceptive people were convenient.
If she wanted research sponsorship, she would provide a little 'convenience' so that I could do well on the placement test.
Sophia's expression showed that she had already figured out what I wanted from the few keywords I had mentioned.
Even though she knew she should not.
Like someone who had already figured out that she could secretly buy a sweet waffle if she took money out of the piggy bank.
That sort of expression.
"Steam alchemy is a very expensive discipline."
I held out the 'imaginary waffle' to her: a Sponsorship Decision Notice for research funding.
"I think Professor Cotiar's passion for continuing her research in such difficult circumstances is very admirable."
I did not bother to add the unspoken words: 'That is why you will not be able to refuse this.'
She would have heard them anyway, whether I said them aloud or not.
"No wonder you were so wealthy for someone your age. You belonged to the Imperial Patronage Association."
"I am not sure what you mean."
This, too, was a misunderstanding I had intended to create.
A suspiciously wealthy outsider.
Or an agent belonging to the Imperial Patronage Association and secretly auditing sponsorship recipients.
It was obvious which of the two she would find more trustworthy.
"Otherwise, there would be no reason for Mr. Schultz to be carrying an Imperial Patronage Association Sponsorship Decision Notice."
"Ah, I see. This document certainly is a Sponsorship Decision Notice, but."
Sophia seemed to have mistaken the kind of waffle it was, so.
I personally peeled back the wrapper and held it out to her.
"Strictly speaking, this is not sponsorship from the Imperial Patronage Association."
"...Pardon?"
"It is an Individual Sponsorship through which I am personally sponsoring Professor Cotiar."
"I-Individual Sponsorship?!"
"Naturally, it is separate from sponsorship by the Imperial Patronage Association."
Once Sophia realized that the waffle I had offered was not an ordinary waffle but an organic-honey 17-grain tiramisu waffle, her eyes grew twice as large.
"I do not know whether the Imperial Patronage Association will support Assistant Professor Cotiar. But."
"...But?"
"I did have a conversation related to Chairman Wegner."
It was not a lie.
When I said I would personally sponsor Sophia Cotiar through an Individual Sponsorship, Wegner had jokingly said, 'You have one leg in six patronage associations. You must be rolling in money, huh?'
'This is probably how my words will sound to Sophia.'
If she did not join hands with me here, sponsorship from the Imperial Patronage Association might be cut off.
But there was no need to press her too hard.
"Depending on Professor Cotiar's choice, we could have a very good relationship."
As Han Gyeong-su, the leader of a lawmakers' fishing club, had said.
Just when one thought the fish was caught, that was when one needed to let it have some slack.
"The sort of relationship where we help one another through the barren, difficult life of the capital."
"Does that not ultimately mean you want me to leak the placement-test answers?"
"No. I would like our relationship to continue not only for the placement test, but until I graduate."
"......Huh."
"If our relationship continues until I graduate......"
For all that people said, profit was what moved people in the end.
"You will not need to worry about research-funding sponsorship during that time."
I slowly slipped the Sponsorship Decision Notice on the table before Sophia into its envelope.
After confirming that she was staring intently at the envelope.
"However, I have no intention whatsoever of forcing an unreasonable request upon you, so I will take my leave now."
I rose with an attitude as though I had no regrets.
In truth, it did not matter if Sophia refused. There were plenty of Academy insiders who would join hands with me for an appropriate benefit.
But the reason I had specifically chosen Sophia from among the candidates for an insider was because she researched Steam Alchemy.
'It is a money-devouring hippopotamus now, but it will be different later.'
If one steadily raised the Steam Alchemy tech tree, one could create powerful non-magical items from the middle of <Jjam Academy> onward.
But conducting the research personally was not cost-effective, so most players sponsored related NPCs or farmed their favorability.
Sophia Cotiar was exactly that sort of person for me.
Someone who would fill the gaps in my martial ability, which lacked talent for magic and swordsmanship, through another method.
Of course, that was not a story for right now.
But she was also an investment with high potential. She simply had not realized it herself.
"W-Wait a moment!"
Sophia stopped me so urgently that her voice even cracked.
"Even if, if I have a good relationship with Mr. Schultz!"
"Even if?"
"You could not get into the Knight or Magic School that way."
It seemed that she was troubled by the idea of placing a cheater in the Academy's most popular schools with her own hands.
I was more than willing to absolve such guilt.
"Who says I am aiming for either of those schools?"
"...Pardon?"
I was like a candidate ushering a wandering voter into the voting booth.
With a smile fit to send straight into a candidate debate, I breached Sophia's final line of psychological resistance.
"I am aiming for the School of Administration."
As though she were under a spell, she clutched the envelope I held out to her.