Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

Chapter Past Arc ?

「Our country hereby declares that we shall withdraw from the International Energy Organisation.」

At this international summit that a large number of countries were participating in, such declarations had already been issued too many times to count. The International Energy Organisation is an international organisation that deals with various energy resources such as oil and coal, and until now had centered around the countries that produced those resources. Its role was to facilitate the undisturbed exchange of energy resources, establishing rules by which negotiations between producer countries and consumer countries could be smoothed.

However, since the start of the summit there had been a proliferation of countries withdrawing from the International Energy Organisation. That was despite the fact that by withdrawing from the International Energy Organisation, that was in effect a declaration that they didn’t need resources such as oil and coal.

Since the announcement of Potimas Hyphenath’s MA Energy theory, the number of countries making this declaration had multiplied. Most of them were small and medium sized countries, those countries being under the burden of particularly strong energy measures, but amongst them were also large countries that weren’t suffering from poverty. The countries that had issued the declaration had all similarly solved their energy problems by using MA Energy, meaning that they no longer needed resources such as oil and coal.

At first there had been many voices that had doubted the very existence of MA Energy, but by now it was confirmed that simply by following the method outlined in the thesis, it really was possible to produce energy from nowhere. Also, that was with no side-effects on the environment. Unlike existing methods, there was no pollution of the atmosphere from burning oil or coal, nor was there any radioactively, and large-scale power generation facilities were unnecessarily as well. So long as you have the equipment it was highly practical for anybody to be able to produce energy. In addition, small scale versions of the equipment was small enough that it could even be carried. Even large scale versions were able to be transported on large trucks. Every household could have one.

The equipment was so simple, that it was easy to obtain energy that had until now required considerable amounts of money. Developing countries scrambled to make use of it.

The President of the country of Dazdoldia frowned while looking at the representative of the country who had made that declaration. He had predicted that such things would occur. However, even so he stubbornly refused to allow MA Energy to be used within his own country. Because of that his approval ratings had fallen sharply, but he had no intention of changing his opinion.

The dream-like energy that could be produced from nothing. Such a thing cannot exist. Since that energy actually exists, then it must have been taken from somewhere else. That “somewhere else” is a problem, and whether that energy really is harmless is another problem. After all, it was an unknown energy. Who knows what kind of effects it could have on the human body. It was also unclear if the method for the evolution of the human body that was announced at the same time was truly safe. The President believed that he had the duty to validate such things. So long as those things could not be validated, he had no intention of lifting the ban within his country, no matter how convenient they were for people to use.

However, that only applied to his own country of course. He wasn’t able to stop foreign countries from endorsing the new methods. While he could exert influence on them, ultimately it was up to the politicians of the foreign nations to decide. The President had repeatedly warned about the possible dangers, but as to whether or not his warnings were heeded to was revealed by the current situation. Even if something might be dangerous, people don’t feel a sense of danger unless they encounter that danger themselves. Rather than being scared of a danger that can’t be seen, they would make use of the convenience right before them. All the more so because that convenience was significant enough to completely change the entire world.

Of course, not all countries jumped at the chance. Countries that produced oil and coal lost their greatest source of foreign currency, and vigorously appealed against the use of MA Energy. There was also quite a lot of advanced countries who kept calm and took a wait-and-see approach.

Nevertheless, the global trend was heading in one direction. That was because the risks of MA Energy were unproven. No matter how much was used it never ran out, and it also came from nothing. And yet, no flaws had been detected for the time being. It truly was a dream-like energy. The countries who first made use of MA Energy developed rapidly. There weren’t many countries who could endure observing such developments without doing anything.

And thus the trend in public opinion was in favour of MA Energy. There was also a method to evolve the human body with MA Energy. All human abilities could be improved, and above all, there were many people who desired to lengthen their lifespan. However, the medical procedure to achieve that, required the use of MA Energy. Unless the country approved the use of MA Energy, that medical procedure wasn’t available. That being the case, it was inevitable that many members of the public desired for the bans to be lifted. This trend was particularly obvious within advanced countries.

Developing countries pinned their hopes on using MA Energy for development, and advanced countries were captivated by the potential evolution of the human body. There was no longer any method to stop this trend. Even the President did not think that he would be able to stop the usage within the country of Dazdoldia forever. Although he had some time yet before his term in office ran out, even that wasn’t certain. It was possible that could be dismissed from office.

The President gave a sigh of grief. Did they actually understand? These two theses were published by Potimas Hyphenath. By that criminal who was wanted internationally for the repeated use of cruel experiments on living people.

Then there was the other reason. One that gave the President particular cause for concern. That was, the opposition to MA Energy from two particular powers.

The first was from the dragons. Unless there was human interference, it was rare for the dragons themselves to make contact and proactively make a declaration. They said, don’t get involved with MA Energy. Those dragons did! At that moment, the President could only have a bad premonition.

The second was from the Sariera Society. The president, Sariel, issued an opinion in opposition to MA Energy.

This was a warning from all the living creatures who were within the bounds of common sense of humans. The President considered that ignoring that would unwise. However, not even that stopped the global trend. It couldn’t be stopped.

Later on, the President would come to deeply regret that he hadn’t resorted to the extreme choice of using military force to stop it. However, time could not be rolled back.