Chương 67: 65 - Dinner Conversation

Oliver's proclamation was met by shocked stares from all around the table. Then a few seconds later, almost everyone started talking at once. Igrette looked mildly annoyed at him, but didn't say anything herself, choosing to wait for things to calm down. Haley was looked rapidly back and forth between Jonny and Oliver, asking if the old researcher was certain, and asking Jonny if it was true.

The twins tried to say it was impossible, and asked Jonny how old he was, and the little girl next to Oliver was asking how he did it. Samuel was saying something, though he clearly had no idea what was going on, and was just babbling because everyone else was. Alden Smith said nothing, but he stared at Jonny with enough intensity that it became uncomfortable. When things finally calmed down and everyone realized they were talking over each other, it got quiet, and Igrette finally spoke.

"Yes, it's true, yes, it should be possible for someone else to do it, and no, we don't know much about it. That's why we're here. To talk to Oliver about it."

"So you don't know how it happened?" asked Haley.

"We know what happened. We just don't know exactly how or why, or how to… safely replicate it."

"So it's not safe?"

"Not the way Jonny did it."

"But that doesn't mean it's not safe overall," interjected Oliver.

"Many great discoveries start this way. Why, the very same magic that turns your cow's dung into fertilizer started with an explosion!" Haley glared at him.

"…and was very rapidly made much safer," Oliver added hastily.

"But with Jonny, we can study what already happened. Jonny was the explosion, and Emily will be the safer version."

"You will not be doing any dangerous experiments on our daughter."

"Of course, of course, I would never," said Oliver, holding his hands up.

"We won't try anything without fully consulting with you and explaining everything, and, of course, I would never attempt anything risky with a girl as young as her. If it comes down to it, and we can't find a safe way to test anything, I will travel and look for consenting adult volunteers for the next phase of the research. We won't try anything on Emily until we're absolutely certain it's safe."

"Good," Alden grunted.

"Also, young Jonny here is clearly more than alright, so it can't be that dangerous, right?"

"Would you consider causing a mana surge in your own lungs dangerous?" asked Igrette drily. Oliver's face fell, but he quickly corrected to a smile as he looked over to Jonny.

"Well, I'm sure there's a safe way to do it. But you're saying that it was a mana surge that caused it? Specifically in his lungs?" Igrette nodded and opened her mouth to say something, but Oliver just bulldozed right on, leaning down to give Jonny a closer look.

"What were you doing that caused that? Was it voluntary, or did someone force you into it? Did you feel anything strange leading up to it that made you think it was a good idea? Was there—""Oliver," said Haley sharply. Oliver glanced over at her, stopping mid-sentence. He glanced down at Jonny, who was leaning back slightly to get away from him, and seemed to realize what he was doing. Leaning back, he cleared his throat, having the decency to look ashamed.

"Ah, my apologies. I supposed that sort of thing can wait until later. But this is still excellent news! With this we have a starting point, and I can already think of dozens of tests—very safe ones, mind you—to run and see if we can figure out exactly what happened. And then…" He glanced over at Igrette raising an eyebrow.

"You want something else, don't you? You've never really been the researcher type, Iggy."

"People can change." Oliver's eyebrow stayed raised.

"But yes, we were hoping for your help. What happened with his lungs is something we believe may be possible for his heart as well, but we need a safe way to figure that out. Obviously we're not going to risk another mana surge."

"Of course," said Oliver, beaming.

"I think that Jonny here might be exactly what I need. He's already made a breakthrough that I have been chasing for decades. Once I figure out how he's done it, we could make decades of progress in a very short amount of time. In fact, I've already had theories about something similar to what he describes. My theories were more. He glanced around, then cleared his throat again.

"Ahem. But we can go over that later. Now is a time for meeting with friends, not discussing business. Err…"

"I don't think Emily got a chance to properly introduce herself," prompted Haley.

"Ah, yes, you're right," said Oliver, turning to the little girl.

"Emily?"

"I'm Emily," she declared, leaning forward so Jonny could see her.

"I'm eight years old, and I'm gonna be strong enough to lift up Stella one day."

"Stella?" asked Jonny.

"She's a cow. She's won the cow competition."

"The… cow competition?"

"For biggest cow," said Emily, as if that was obvious.

"She's really big. And I'm gonna be able to lift her up. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Uhhh… I see." Jonny did not see. He was very confused. He looked to Igrette for help, but she seemed just as confused as he did. It was only when he looked to Alden or Haley that he finally got some kind of answer.

"At the county fair, they have awards for certain categories." She was clearly holding back laughter. Alden and the oldest daughter, Olivia, were stifling smiles on either side of her.

"Stella won the size competition. She is quite– quite large."

"Okay…" said Jonny.

"But why…?"

"Two years ago at the fair, there was a traveling circus," said Olivia, filling in for her mother, who was starting to crack.

"One of the members was a strongman who was able to lift full cows, and toss around stones the size of himself""His name was Maximus!" said Emily.

"It wasn't–" started Olivia.

"His stage name was Maximus, and afterward Emily asked–""I asked if he could lift Stella, and he said yeah!" Emily interrupted.

"And then he did! Stella wasn't the biggest cow yet back then because the Morrisons still had Beatrice, but then they sold Beatrice, so now Stella is the biggest. And Maximus lifted her right up!"

"Not physically," Olivia added.

"He had a harness attached to a rope that went over a pulley and lifted a platform with Stella on it."

"It was cool!" said Emily.

"And he didn't even cast any spells! He just used his body and internal mana! Uncle Ollie says I can do that someday too!"

"That's right!" said Oliver.

"And now that we have Jonny, that day might come sooner than you think!" Jonny felt he had a better understanding of Emily's motivations, at least a little bit. They didn't fully make sense to him, but they made sense enough. Lifting a cow still seemed like a weird goal, but she must have latched onto it because it was something that she potentially could do, even without being able to cast spells. He then got distracted wondering if he could lift a cow.

He was certainly stronger now than he had ever been on Earth by quite a bit. He didn't actually know how heavy a cow was, though. His trainer never let him fully max his lifts, but he could rep 375 for deadlifts. He could definitely outdo that now, but would that be enough to lift a cow, let alone the one that was apparently the biggest cow?

He got so lost in thought that he didn't notice that Igrette had changed the subject of the conversation, and Haley and Alden were now telling her about the county fair, and how it came to be. Jonny listened intently, as he had actually been wondering that as well. He thought county fairs were an American thing, but apparently they had them there too. They weren't quite the same, though.

The county fairs here were more of a gathering of farmers and other livestock owners so they could trade and share information and also let their livestock breed. It had evolved a bit to become a more official thing, with competitions like the biggest cow competition. There were also other events, like a pie bake-off, and usually some activities for the kids to do. It wasn't quite like the county fairs he was familiar with, but he could see that it was kind of turning into that.

It was still mostly livestock-based, though, and the entertainment parts were just a sideshow. From there, the conversation turned to more boring topics, like how cattle farming worked. Jonny was pretty sure Igrette only asked to be polite, but the usually-silent Alden was unusually talkative about this subject, and Igrette kept prompting him for more, which he enjoyed. Haley stayed involved in the conversation too, probably to be polite, but everyone else started visibly tuning out.

"Psst." Jonny turned to see the twins leaning forward to talk to him.

"Are you really second layer already?" asked one of them. Jacob, maybe?

"Yeah," whispered Jonny back.

"How?" Jonny shrugged.

"I just am."

"How old are you?" asked the other twin.

"T– almost ten. I'll be ten next month" The twins looked at each other, then looked bakc.

"You're lying," said the first one.

"I'm not," said Jonny.

"It's not possible to hit second layer before you turn ten," said the other.

"Yeah, Mom says we're prodigies, and we didn't get second layer until we turned eleven."

"Boys," Haley snapped without even looking. The twins leaned back, falling silent, but they didn't stop shooting Jonny suspicious glances. The conversation about cow farming continued a bit longer until everyone had finished their meals, at which point Haley found an opening to expertly steer the conversation back to Igrette and Jonny. Igrette had already given their prepared backstory, but Haley's new line of questioning focused on what they planned to do now that they had found Oliver.

Specifically, she asked if Igrette planned to work as a healer here, implying that she would do well, since the town did not have a resident healer at the moment.

"I could," said Igrette.

"I never thought about it."

"We had a healer staying here for a few months, but he… left," said Haley.

"Left?"

"The apothecary's wife got sick. He wasn't able to heal her, despite promising he could. He wasn't kicked out, but he probably would have been if he stuck around any longer. So the position is available, if you want it."

"I can only do injuries," said Igrette, waving her hand.

"I was trained for the battlefield, not a hospital. I can't do diseases."

"I'm sure your services will still be appreciated," said Haley.

"Farming incidents aren't uncommon, and even if it's just small wounds, I'm sure you'd get plenty of business."

"Hmmm…" said Igrette, stroking her chin.

"Bah, they don't need business," said Oliver.

"I'll cover all their expenses. My treat."

"You don't have to do that," said Igrette.

"Iggy, I don't think you realize how valuable you and Jonny are right now," said Oliver seriously.

"Just the notes I take from observing him will turn the scientific community on its head. His mere existence will create a dozen new research institutes. I'm not paying for you out of friendship. I'm paying to keep you exclusively all to myself for a few years so I can collate it all into one report and prove all those close-minded idiots wrong.

"Haley, is it alright if they stay here? I'll pay the same I pay for myself."

"Of course. Though…"

"I can still do some healing work, as needed," said Igrette.

"But at my age, I don't know if running a business is for me…"

"That's great!" said Haley, beaming.

"Actually, a friend of mine…" The conversation took another turn as Haley talked about her friend's injury, giving far more backstory than Jonny cared about, and when she finished and Igrette agreed to take a look, she was thanked profusely. Jonny was worried that the conversation would continue after that, but apparently, Oliver was worried about the same thing, because as soon as they were done, he suddenly stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor as it slid back.

"Thank you for the meal as always, Haley," he said.

"I hope you'll forgive me for not helping wash up tonight, but I'd like to show our guests my study. I have a lot of questions, and not enough time before bed." Haley blinked in surprise and looked around, seemingly only just then realizing that everyone else had finished eating long ago.

"Oh. Of course!" she said.

"It's no trouble at all."

"Thank you," said Oliver, bowing his head, then turning back to Jonny and Igrette.

"Shall we?"