"I can do this. I don't even need to fly—I can throw the explosive up high and let it fall back down. It'll have the same effect!"
Seeing that I didn't seem particularly interested, Adrian quickly stepped forward and volunteered to take on the grunt work.
To be honest, he'd already heard me and Cyra talk about Reed's experiments countless times. Not only was he unafraid—he'd always been curious. Now that he finally had a chance to take part personally, there was no way he was going to let it slip by. Besides, replenishing ammunition for his golden Gatling depended on Reed's help, so his attitude was unusually eager.
"You definitely can't."
Reed flicked her eyes at him and, to his face, shook her head without the slightest courtesy, flatly rejecting his suggestion. Clearly, she'd realized we'd misunderstood what this "experiment" actually meant. With a sigh, she explained to me again:
"What I need is a power test. Based on previous results, we can already confirm that as the dark-element ratio increases, the boost to the propellant's power rises exponentially. That earlier explosion might be enough to deal with mid- to low-tier opponents, but we still can't be sure it would have the same damaging effect on true experts above Tier Six."
"So I need high-ranking angels for further testing—the higher the rank, the better. You've already reached Ten Wings. In theory you're even more blast-resistant than Mia—ah, I mean, more suitable. Next, all you need to do is stand there and not move."
"I just remembered I still have other things to handle… Let's talk about this next time!"
Now I finally understood why Mia had run faster than a rabbit earlier. Reed was planning to use me as a test subject again—and not just as a subject, but as a literal target. If I didn't leave now, when would I ever?
"Alfred?"
But as I tried to refuse and hurried out of the workshop, I turned and saw a familiar swordsman walking straight toward me.
"Feliciana! Long time no see. I heard you were involved in that Imperial 'otherworld invasion' incident and finally came back. And you even made it to Ten Wings—impressive, impressive!"
"Ah, right—where's Adrian?"
It really had been a long time since I'd seen Alfred, ever since Parristol. After a quick round of catching up, I couldn't exactly keep running from his questions, so I answered honestly, forcing myself to stay put.
"I came to find Reed. Adrian's inside with her."
"Perfect—I'm here under the King's orders to check on Lady Reed as well," Alfred said. "How is she after that explosion? Was she hurt? Does she need any help?"
From the way he spoke, it sounded like Alfred had been assigned by the kingdom's military to liaise with Reed. After something that big, of course he had to come ask what was going on.
At that moment Adrian also came out to greet him, but with Alfred's arrival stirring things up, it was even harder for me to keep slipping away. In the end, I could only grit my teeth and go back inside to face Reed again.
"I'm fine. This was just a small accident," Reed said calmly. "The explosive power depends on the dark-element ratio being extremely precise—one mistake and it becomes an overdose. But I'm short on experimental data… and short on test subjects…"
Since they'd worked together for a while, Reed and Alfred clearly already knew each other. Hearing why he'd come, she merely lifted her eyes briefly, then lowered them again to continue her work.
"The King said if you need anything, you can tell me," Alfred declared immediately. "However many people you want, I'll transfer them over right away!"
That was the wrong thing to say.
"That's not a manpower issue. Sending ordinary humans here would just be sending them to die," Reed replied flatly. "I need high-ranking angels for testing. The higher the rank, the better."
"But there aren't many high-ranking angels in the capital. Can you get Lady Elara to come?"
"Uh…"
It was obvious that, despite his calm face, Alfred couldn't casually agree to that. And with me trying to duck out earlier, Reed was clearly in a less-than-great mood. The attention in the room quickly shifted toward me—then, to my disbelief, Adrian even tried to egg me on:
"Why don't you just agree? Reed promised me the test process absolutely won't be life-threatening if you're the one doing it. And if she finishes this sooner, we'll get ammunition supplies sooner too. Isn't that a win-win?"
I was so furious I could've exploded on the spot. This was the same guy who'd just boldly proposed to me in front of Elara—yet now he was already siding with someone else!
Still… I knew he wasn't entirely wrong. Reed was probably trying to avoid unnecessary casualties, and she'd already said it this far. In the end, I had no choice but to nod and agree—reluctantly.
With the earlier disaster as a warning, we moved the testing site to a remote wilderness far from the city for safety.
At first, because the bombs weren't very powerful, it really was as Reed claimed—they couldn't hurt me at all, not even scratch my skin.
But as she recorded data and increased the dark-element infusion ratio, the later "upgrades" started to become harder to endure. Finally, a massive mushroom cloud rose from the ground—
This time it was me who took a long while to crawl out of a crater dozens of meters deep, covered in blood and so weak I could barely stand.
"Stop testing—this is enough!" Adrian rushed over to heal me the moment the smoke cleared, then shouted through the magic communicator at Reed, who was still standing far away. "You've collected enough data by now, haven't you?!"
He was clearly shaken by the earthshaking blast. He hadn't expected things to escalate this far. Several kilometers of surrounding forest had practically been flattened. If I hadn't known what was happening, I would've thought some kind of catastrophic disaster—something like a nuclear explosion—had gone off.
Once I recovered enough to move, I immediately went to find Reed to settle the score.
When I reached her, she and Alfred were standing on a mountaintop outside the blast zone, having watched the entire process from beginning to end. After receiving my condition from Adrian, Reed finally nodded in satisfaction.
"Rough estimate: that final blast reached an equivalent of several hundred tons of TNT," she said. "It's already very close to the power of a small tactical nuclear weapon. And it proves that an enhanced bomb at this level is enough to deter most high-tier combatants."
"Excuse me… what does 'TNT' mean?" Alfred asked, only now snapping out of his shock. "And what is a 'small tactical nuclear weapon'?"
"Using only a few dozen kilograms of black powder and amplifying it to this world-ending level of power—this is nothing short of a revolutionary invention!"
He looked as if he worshipped Reed's knowledge. "But you're only a lowest-rank, two-winged angel. Why do you know so much?"
Reed glanced at him, apparently unused to being asked that, but she still answered honestly.
"Those are terms from another world. I read them in books. If you want to know more, you have to read more—knowledge comes from accumulation."
"Books from Earth?" Alfred seized the chance, clearly excited. "I heard you personally went to Earth. I'm actually very interested in their world's history. It feels like they're far more advanced than we are in many ways."
"It's just a shame I was too far away back then and never met any Earth people. Could you teach me some knowledge about their world?"
"You want to learn? Sure," Reed said. She actually hesitated for a beat—as if surprised someone would ask—then agreed without hesitation. "We brought back plenty of books from Earth, but the premise is you have to learn their language first."
"Learn my ass!"
Seeing those two acting like none of this involved them, my fury boiled over. I dropped from the sky and immediately tore into Reed.
"If I hadn't realized something was off right before the explosion and cast a Sanctuary of Light, I might've been blown to pieces! I can't believe I trusted you—this was multiple times stronger than the previous test. This is straight-up fraud!"
It didn't do much.
Reed casually wiped the spittle off her face, completely unfazed, and replied lightly:
"Aren't you alive and well? You've still got the energy to talk this much—and fly this fast."
…Fine. After she said that, I couldn't even be completely sure anymore whether I would've survived without the protective spell. Honestly, despite how miserable I'd looked, most of the injuries were superficial. I had to admit that at my rank, an explosion of that level was still hard to make truly fatal.
In the end, it was the mental shock at the moment of detonation that was the worst. Even now, thinking back on it left me uneasy.
"I'm fine because Adrian's healing arrows are effective!" I snapped. "And what about your 'gradually, step by step' promise?!"
Even if the logic was technically sound, I wasn't about to let her off that easily. She'd gone too far. If I didn't argue it out properly now, who knew how badly she'd set me up next time?
"…I probably just… shook my hand a little by accident," Reed said.
Then, apparently unable to endure my relentless scolding any longer, she finally admitted she'd indeed added too much dark-element material.
"Relax. The testing is over. The Gatling ammunition production line you want will be easy to build. I'll arrange it for you."
With that excuse—"I have to get back to work"—she shot up into the air and fled at top speed, vanishing in an instant.