After breakfast, the four of them decided to set out. Their destination was, naturally, where Kahina's friend lived—
House Menck.
The carriage rolled along, and after a while they entered a famous plaza in the capital.
It was called Durand Street.
This area was one of the capital's industrial hubs. Many well-known craftsmen, sculptors, artists, and the like were gathered here. The district sprawled wide and bustled with noise and people.
A bit farther ahead stood the gates of House Menck.
Luke looked up—and saw that the gate was actually cast from petricite. White stone pillars linked together in a line, carved with intricate patterns, imposing in a way that made you straighten your back without thinking.
Kahina walked in front and tugged the rope by the entrance. Before long, someone appeared.
Seeing it was Kahina, the man immediately bowed. "Miss Buvelle, what brings you here?"
"I'm looking for Navis. Is she in?"
"Lady Navis should be," the gatekeeper said. Then, as he lifted his head, his gaze landed on Luke behind her. He frowned slightly, as if the face was familiar—then his body snapped into a deeper bow at once, his tone turning even more respectful. "Your Highness. Greetings."
"Mm," Luke replied.
When the gatekeeper raised his head again, he spotted a girl with radiant blond hair and delicate, lovely features. He lowered his head yet again.
This time, when he bowed, he also stole an extra glance. "Miss Crownguard. Lady Laurent. Greetings to you both."
The gate swung open.
"You probably know where Lady Navis is. Would you like me to lead the way?" the gatekeeper asked.
"No need," Kahina shook her head.
The four of them stepped into House Menck's estate, and Luke looked around.
The place was impressive—not just at the gate, but inside as well.
A five-story building rose at the heart of the manor. With it as the center, other structures spread outward across the entire grounds. The style leaned a bit more modern than most Demacian estates.
They hadn't walked far before reaching a main courtyard. In the middle stood a white statue.
It was clearly carved in Durand's likeness: a mild-looking, refined middle-aged man. He didn't look powerful, but his face had an easy, approachable warmth.
As they walked, Kahina said, "In this generation, House Menck's direct line has five brothers and sisters. The Navis we're here to see is Lady Sheila's daughter—the youngest."
On the way, Luke got a brief introduction to Navis from Kahina.
Navis was the daughter of Sheila, the youngest among the five siblings.
Sheila had married an ordinary craftsman. By noble custom, she was meant to marry out anyway.
But Navis's father—Sheila's husband—died not long after Navis was born.
So Sheila's mother brought the two of them back home.
"My friend's… kind of a recluse," Kahina said as they went. "I honestly don't even remember the last time she went out."
By then, she had led them to Navis's residence.
Kahina raised her hand and knocked.
A timid voice immediately came from inside. "Who is it?"
"Me. Kahina."
"I'm coming—wait!"
There was a burst of frantic crashing and scrambling, like a small hurricane had formed in the room. Bare feet slapped against the floor. Not long after, the door flew open.
The girl in the doorway wore an unflattering brown outfit. Her hair was tied into two casual braids, and a pair of huge round glasses covered nearly half her face. She stood there barefoot—though, oddly enough, her feet were actually quite pretty.
Behind her, sheets of paper whirled through the air as if the room itself couldn't decide where anything belonged. The interior looked like a battlefield of notes and sketches.
This was Navis.
She clearly hadn't expected so many people. Startled, she tried to slam the door shut—but Kahina had anticipated it and blocked the door with her body, forcing it open just enough to wedge herself in.
Navis was obviously no match for her strength. In the end, she had to yield, stumbling back.
Still flustered, she hurried off to put on her shoes.
Once inside, Kahina introduced everyone.
"Y-Your Highness… hello," Navis said, lowering her head to Luke and giving a stiff, anxious bow.
Luke studied her without speaking. For some reason, he felt like he'd caught onto something the moment he saw her.
When Luke didn't respond, Navis kept her head down, frozen in the bow, too nervous to move.
Lux and the other two watched, confused.
Then Luke started circling Navis.
After one full lap, he suddenly—recklessly—reached out and took her huge round glasses off her face.
Navis's expression instantly turned to panic. She looked like she might faint on the spot.
Luke took one look… then put the glasses right back onto her.
The girl visibly exhaled, relief loosening her shoulders.
Luke then pressed one palm to one fist with a sharp smack, looking thoroughly satisfied, like a man who'd just solved a mystery.
The bizarre behavior finally made Lux snap. "What is wrong with you?"
"Exactly," Luke muttered to himself, as if answering her anyway. "With a girl who looks that plain at first glance, the whole point is the reversal."
The moment he'd seen Navis, he'd had that feeling.
Take off the oversized glasses, and there it was—a delicate face, a little pale, a little frail-looking, but with genuinely beautiful features.
That was the "reversal."
Well… not entirely. There was a portrait of Navis's mother, Sheila, hanging in the room from her younger days. It was obvious she'd been a stunning beauty.
So as her daughter, Navis was never going to be ugly.
Hearing Luke's muttering, the three girls looked equally speechless.
"You can't call a girl plain to her face," Lux said, shooting him a glare—and as if she could already predict what he'd say next, she immediately added, "And don't you dare do it behind her back either!"
Luke stared at her in surprise. Can't even leave me an exit, huh?
Miss Crownguard… you're getting better at this.
"See? You were all fooled," Luke sighed, wearing the expression of someone who understood the universe. "You think I'm stabbing her in the heart. But the day she actually dresses up properly, you'll be the ones getting shocked."
Lux couldn't be bothered. She simply pulled Navis away. "Ignore him. He gets these random brain glitches."
Navis hurriedly waved her hands. "N-no, I don't mind."
She truly didn't mind. She'd heard people say she looked plain plenty of times.
But this prince… he was definitely strange.
When nobody paid Luke any attention, he shrugged and started wandering around the room.
There were all sorts of odd little objects, and papers scattered everywhere, covered in messy drawings and notes.
After a while, Luke arrived at a conclusion:
Navis was the kind of engineering-obsessed homebody.
Then he noticed something. He picked it up—two horn-shaped pieces connected by a line.
He turned it over curiously and asked, "Navis, what's this?"
Navis, trapped in the middle of the conversation and forced to socialize, jerked upright the instant she heard a question about her work. "Y-Your Highness, that's something I invented… a sound transmitter."
"A sound transmitter?"
Lux perked up too and walked over.
Luke handed one of the horns to her.
Lux took it, then walked to the farthest point the line allowed—about seven or eight meters.
Then she leaned toward the horn and said, "Hello? Can you hear me?"
Luke didn't even bother lifting his horn. He just looked at her and said, "Isn't that obvious?"
Lux blinked, baffled. "Then what's the point of this thing?"
They weren't far apart. They could talk normally.
Navis made an awkward face and admitted, "So… it doesn't really have a point."
Luke looked around at the rest of the little inventions in the room. Most of them seemed to be Navis's work—and most of them also looked like they didn't really do anything.
"So you've stayed home all this time and researched a bunch of junk?" he said.
Navis lowered her head, voice small. "Yes."
Being called "junk" stung, but she couldn't deny he was right.
Luke continued, "Honestly, I think you just have too many ideas."
Navis looked up, confused that he wasn't done.
"It doesn't seem like you've ever truly focused on one thing."
Luke picked up a sheet from the floor and glanced at it. The notes covered several different projects—and the dates were close together.
That meant Navis would build something, realize it wasn't useful, abandon it decisively, and throw herself into the next idea.
Because of that, she'd never produced a truly useful invention.
Hearing this, Navis only bowed her head further, cheeks burning with shame.
Luke kept scanning the room. Truthfully, he could see a few small devices that would absolutely become useful if she just kept working on them.
But she'd never followed through.
"Like this sound transmitter," Luke said, lifting it slightly. "Do you know why sound can travel between these two horns?"
"Because… there's a medium connecting them," Navis answered instinctively.
"Right." Luke nodded. "The line is the medium carrying the vibration. But did you notice that once the distance goes beyond a certain point, the sound stops coming through?"
Navis nodded. Every attempt she'd made ended the same way.
"Because when the distance gets too long, the signal gets interfered with and dissipates," Luke said, idly turning the horn in his hands. "So—do you know how sound travels?"
Navis thought hard, then said, "I think sound needs some kind of substance to move through."
Luke was a little surprised she could get that close. He added, "Exactly. In air, sound travels through a substance. We call that a medium."
At that moment, Kahina, Lux, and Fiora sat off to the side, watching the two of them talk, and suddenly felt like they had no way to join in.
"A medium?" Navis repeated, looking a little lost.
"There are many kinds," Luke said. "Solids, gases, even liquids. Have you ever tested whether sound can travel in a place with no air at all?"
Navis shook her head.
"I'll just tell you," Luke said. "Sound can't travel in a vacuum. It only travels through a medium—and the air we breathe is one of those media."
He paused, then asked, "So do you understand now why it stops after a certain distance?"
Navis thought it over. "Because… the medium's effect isn't strong enough? Meaning the line can't keep carrying the sound over a longer distance."
Lux, Kahina, and Fiora: (⊙⊙)
They didn't understand a word anymore. Their heads tilted as their minds drifted somewhere far, far away.
Luke kept going anyway. "Then do you know why sound can be high or low—what determines that?"
"What… determines it?"
"Vibration," Luke said.
As the conversation continued, a spark slowly appeared in Navis's eyes behind those oversized lenses.
"You can imagine sound like ripples on water," Luke explained. "As it travels, the larger the vibration's amplitude, the louder it is."
"So the reason the sound transmitter fails past a certain distance…" Navis said, "is also because the vibration's amplitude isn't strong enough?"
"Exactly."
Seeing the look of dawning clarity on her face, Luke felt fairly satisfied. This girl had real potential.
So he kept explaining, answering her questions as they came up.
Thirty minutes later…
"That's about it," Luke said, throat dry. "Do you understand?"
He couldn't teach it like a full set of college lectures, one class at a time, with endless explanations.
All he could do was pour out what he understood in the simplest way possible.
And he definitely wasn't touching anything from the later age of electronics.
If he kept going, it would turn into an episode of MythBusters.
By then, the considerate Kahina had poured him a cup of water and brought it over.
Luke took a sip and looked at Navis, who still seemed to be processing everything.
"I get it!" Navis suddenly lifted her head, her voice rising without her noticing. Her face lit up with realization. "Over a huge distance, sound can't travel through, because the medium isn't sufficient—and the sound dissipates along the way.
Even if I wrap it in copper piping to reduce how much the sound spreads out, it still won't work."
She started reasoning aloud, stood up, and yanked a book off the shelf, flipping through pages so fast it was questionable whether she was even reading them.
Finally, she stopped on a page and stared at the illustration. "But… if the normal method doesn't work, this will."
Luke walked over and took a look.
It showed a spiral, layered shell-like structure.
"A triangle crab's shell," Navis murmured to herself. "It's an incredibly sturdy shell. People usually use it to make simple tools…
But it can also serve as a medium for sound. If it can capture sound, then it can pass it on.
When the sound reaches it halfway, it can be preserved—and when it's sent out again, it won't be affected the same way. It can keep traveling. And when sound passes through the shell, the vibration amplitude gets amplified a second time."
At this point, Luke didn't need to say anything.
Navis already had the answer. Her eyes shone brightly. "That way we don't have to worry about the sound failing halfway because the medium and vibration aren't enough!"
Luke watched the girl in front of him, talking herself through the solution.
He couldn't help but marvel.
Genius.
Navis might actually be a genius.
A shame she was born in the wrong place. If she'd been born in Piltover, her future would be blindingly bright.
Piltover was known as the City of Progress, gathering countless brilliant inventors—technology at the very forefront of Runeterra.
But Demacia rarely had dealings with Piltover. You could almost say it had none at all.
Otherwise, Demacia's industrial level might have risen even higher.
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