The atmosphere inside Chaldea these past few days was a bit suppressed. After all, while they were discussing how to rescue a comrade who had been suddenly Rayshifted, that comrade had found his own way back so quickly. That's right. Under the circumstances of not knowing the time or space, for a person to return in a year's time was indeed much faster than they had imagined.
This was proof that they had not yet completely conquered the Rayshift.
Marisbury was not that surprised. While he was surprised, he was still worried about the huge amount of funding that Chaldea needed. What was truly causing the low pressure that permeated the entire Antarctica were the technical personnel who were researching Rayshifting and even Imaginary Number Dives. These technical personnel, who it was unknown whether they should be called magi or scientists, had the common failing of all scientists in their hearts.
From the not-so-distant past, compared to the birth of this planet, from a monkey walking from the trees to the ground, from humans beginning to use fire and stones, the steps of humanity in exploring the unknown and expanding civilization had never stopped. If they failed in the process of this exploration, that could only mean one thing: they were not yet strong enough.
Whether it was the exploration of the path of magecraft or of science, the regret of not having completely conquered them would only push the researchers to continue to move forward.
No matter what the result, do not turn back, do not stop, do not regret!
Even though they were researching magic on one hand and science on the other, which in the eyes of many old magi was simply a violation of taboos and heresy, for the civilization of humanity, when humanity's research reached a certain bottleneck, wasn't it a necessary thing to violate taboos? From the magi who foolishly wanted to control the great work of the gods, to the ordinary people who finally used science to achieve some of the miracles that only magic could achieve, what they were doing now was also opening a new era.
The successful return of Aslan this time did not mean that they could put down their existing research and not go deeper. It did not mean that the existing research could already satisfy them. In fact, for them, this was a failure.
"Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Unlike Aslan, these researchers were genuine humans. Therefore, in some of their values and choices, they were also slightly different from Aslan. Aslan was, in the end, no longer human. Compared to his years as a human, his years as a long-lived species were clearly much longer. Therefore, under the influence of the long life of a long-lived species, Aslan was somewhat of a "take things as they come, muddle through" kind of person.
On one hand, it was because his own dragon life was truly too long. On the other hand, it was also because he had too much strength. As long as he didn't provoke some of the existences at the very top, he could completely and comfortably live out this life, and could even live until the end of this world. So for Aslan, there was nothing he particularly wanted to pursue.
Humans are different. It is precisely because, compared to long-lived species, the lifespan and strength of modern humans can hardly reach an unprecedented level. Since bidding farewell to the Age of Gods, humanity has been climbing higher and higher step by step, relying on their own pace, without ever stopping.
And faced with these increasingly enthusiastic technical personnel, Marisbury was actually very troubled. The reserve funds were flowing out like water. Even if he were to sell his family's property now, he might not be able to quickly stop this outflow of funds. But was it wrong for these staff members to want to complete their research sooner?
No!
And that was the key point. He couldn't just dampen the work enthusiasm of his own employees. He turned his head to look at the calendar by his hand. He looked at the calendar, which showed that it had only been a little over a year since the end of the last Holy Grail War, and that there were still about eight years until the next one was expected to begin.
At the thought that he still had to wait eight years to get a large amount of startup funds, Marisbury wanted to smash his own head against the wall. How was he supposed to get through these eight years?
Could it be that he also had to enter some markets that ordinary people could not touch? Although it was true that selling some weapons was very profitable, this market had basically been completely eaten up by a certain white-haired "queen." Although he had a lot of scientific research results on hand, these research results were not something that could be casually taken out and sent to the world of ordinary people to make money. Just think, whether it was the homunculus technology for Heroic Spirit vessels, or the Rayshift technology, especially the technology of Rayshifting, which crossed time and location, he was afraid no one would believe it if he took it out. And to hand it over to the world of magi was not the result he wanted.
It was better for something like saving the Human Order to be separate from the Mage's Association. Everything had to have a balance of power. No matter which family of the Mage's Association were to grasp Chaldea, it would form a situation of one family dominating. The current him, trying to maintain Chaldea's independence, was already under a lot of pressure. If he were to give in at this critical moment at the Mage's Association, it would be difficult later. The old geezers of the Mage's Association were all guys who would eat people without spitting out the bones. He could still suppress them. But if something were to happen to him in the future, Chaldea would be in danger.
Compared to him, his own daughter was a person who was very easy to believe in others. She was also a person who was arrogant on the surface, but in fact, cared a lot about others. Such a person might be a very good friend, but as a leader, she was also very easy to be deceived. Chaldea was not some happy-go-lucky little club. He was still a little worried.
If I could bind Aslan and Chaldea together, that would be great. He had to think about what he should do. A hard approach was definitely not going to work. Then he could only use a gentle approach.
And Aslan, who was being thought about by Marisbury, was at this very moment being fiercely pestered by a little girl. And that was his nominally adopted little sister—Sakura. As for why she wasn't his daughter, that was, of course, because Aslan's own perception of his appearance was that of a big brother, and not a weird uncle!
At the thought of himself, with a face that was just about 20 years old, being called "Dad" by a little girl, maybe it wasn't so out of place now. But Sakura was, in the end, a human. Perhaps according to Sakura's current appearance of wanting to research weapons, it was possible to achieve mechanical ascension or something. But in 10 or 20 years, to be called "Dad" by a grown woman... as expected, that would be very perverted!!
Sakura herself did not have much of a sense of security. He and Melusine had disappeared for more than a year. Although Akuta Hinako had also stayed here, in the end, there were very few familiar people. It had also been hard on this little girl.