Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Little More Comfortable.
“Thanks.”
The tea Noah brews is always delicious. He always picks out a crisp, refreshing blend that suits my taste perfectly.
Drinking this tea clears my head, which makes it especially easy to organize my thoughts when I’m working on magic tools.
“Today’s tea is great too.”
“Thank you very much, Master Finn. I’m glad it’s to your liking.”
Noah gave a bow, then quietly left the room.
Alright, time to get straight back to crafting.
Since the main unit of my first air conditioner prototype was designed as a freestanding, desktop-sized model, I’d need to draw the magical circuitry a little thinner to match.
Too thin, and the flow of magical energy would suffer. Too thick, and it wouldn’t fit inside the unit.
Good thing I’d bought that fine-tipped pen-style magic tool earlier — this should let me draw even the finer circuitry without any trouble.
Letting magical energy flow steadily from the pen’s tip, I carefully traced the magical circuitry onto the main body. Since this was essentially the same circuitry as the fan, aside from a few minor differences, it came together surprisingly easily.
I’d watched Grandpa work in his workshop countless times as a kid, after all.
“Don’t rush the circuitry — one stroke at a time,” was the very first thing he ever taught me.
Stroke by stroke, without rushing, I traced the magical circuitry into place.
It took a bit of time, but there wasn’t a single flaw in the circuit.
Just as I was about to fit the magic core into place and double-checked the layout—
Hmm… this spot’s a little too cramped, isn’t it.
At this rate, the magical energy flow for cooling and the flow for airflow would end up colliding. Not only would efficiency drop, but the cooling performance itself could suffer too.
“Can’t be helped… guess I’ll redo it.”
Using a circuit-correction pen, I erased just the problematic section. An indispensable tool for any artificer — lets you make partial corrections to circuitry without redoing the whole thing.
I’ll route this part of the circuit slightly higher than before… keep the flow straight so it doesn’t intersect — no, wait, I should curve it gently around this next corner so the energy doesn’t stagnate there…
…
—
…Alright.
“Let’s try fitting the magic core in.”
Just as I picked up the magic core, it suddenly hit me.
—I’d completely forgotten to add a switch.
Well, these things happen sometimes.
Adding a simple switch directly onto the main body would be easy enough. But it’d be a lot more convenient if I could operate it from anywhere in the room.
Guess I’ll go with a remote-control design after all.
That should also make fine adjustments to temperature and airflow much easier.
For the remote’s material, something lightweight and comfortable to hold would be ideal… wood’s probably the easiest to work with. And considering it’d help keep costs down too, Uncle Alec would probably be pleased about that.
Alright, I’ll make the remote’s casing out of wood.
If I sandwich a thin iron plate for the magic circuitry inside and secure it in place, the magical energy flow should stay stable — perfect for remote operation.
Building the remote’s outer casing is simple enough, shouldn’t take more than five minutes.
The real challenge is how to fit the remote-control circuitry into such a small housing.
I need something that can function like infrared.
In this world, magical-energy communication using non-attribute magic is probably the closest equivalent. If I incorporate a remote-operation formula, I should be able to simplify the magical circuitry considerably.
Which brings up the question of whether a small magic core can maintain stable communication. Actually, no — if I use separate magic cores for the main unit and the remote, that should prevent any magical interference and keep things running stably.
Using a separate core for each will bump up the cost a bit, but given the usability and comfort it provides, it’s a necessary expense.
Yeah, I’ll just have to let Uncle Alec work his magic on the sales end.
As far as the magical circuitry goes, there’s no issue left to solve.
What remains is fine-tuning the magic circle that controls cooling and airflow.
A new type of magic circle had just recently come onto the market.
But its performance is almost too good — a bit unwieldy for the tool I’m currently building. Considering the magical energy consumption and the size of magic core it would require, it’s a bit premature to use it here.
Might have a use for it in whatever I build next, though.
Using a magic circle incorporating non-attribute magic as the base, I laid out the formulas for cooling and airflow. I then added the characters needed to control them. Adjusting the existing magic circle, I confirmed its connection with the magical circuitry.
All that’s left now is fitting in the magic core, and it’ll be complete.
“Alright, finally going to be able to live comfortably…”
As magical energy flowed through, the cooling magic circle began glowing faintly.
Following that, the airflow magic circle responded as well, and a quiet hum began emanating from inside the device.
Cold air began flowing out.
…Success.
This means I won’t have to suffer through the heat anymore.
Thinking this, I continued making fine adjustments to the temperature when—
“Brother Finn——”
“IT’S FREEZING!!”
“…Eh?”