Named Mob Monster Summon Candidates (Engineering)

[Tier-Group 3, Conference Room]

"Mint, what shall we do about the engineering side?"

"The Faculty of Engineering breaks down roughly into five fields: information, electrical, mechanical, construction, and materials. Going by the summon list, that's electrical, mechanical, architecture, civil, applied physics, applied chemistry, and applied bio-chemistry, plus shipbuilding and aeronautics as extras, so nine. Since the Director is here, we can drop architecture, which still leaves a minimum of eight."

Mint laid out the eight. For the record, Mint herself, the self-styled Super Peppermint, is from the Department of Information Engineering, so information can't be double-summoned.

"In other words, it'd be ideal to summon a Doctor of Engineering for each of the five main fields, but information can't be summoned. We'll think of something for that later. Depending on the world there are grandes écoles and the like, but we'll treat those as equivalent."

"Marie-san, electrical first, then. If there were some poisonous plant that gives a tingling jolt…"

"When we say poisonous, it's mostly the upset-your-stomach kind, you know. Or insulating oil, perhaps… Speaking of oil, there's egoma, perilla oil, which is used in paints, but as for insulation, I wonder. There's a district called Ebara off to the south, so the name Ebara will do. The place-name itself means 'an egoma-producing area,' after all."

"I'll leave the naming to the aide-de-camp scribe-dono."

Mint tossed the naming wholesale to someone else.

"Next, mechanical. Is there even a shiso connected to machinery? For civil engineering you'd just pick the 'wood,' I suppose."

"They do write civil engineering with the character for 'wood,' so there's teak, the most renowned tree in the Lamiaceae. Or, for the sand-stopping property, the beach vitex, a coastal plant. Shall we make beach vitex civil engineering and teak mechanical?"

"Marie-san, let's go with that. And then, the names. Beach vitex grows in Japan too, and it grows on sandy shores, so Hamada, the 'beach paddy,' or thereabouts?"

"The barren stony ground that makes up most of a desert is also called hamada, so that'll do. A sandy desert with dunes is called an 'erg,' though. As for how you'd write that in characters, who knows."

"Teak, on the other hand, is Southeast Asian, isn't it. Shall we use Thai or some such?"

"Teak is native to Southeast Asia, with three species ranging from India to the Philippines. Teak in Thai is sak, so, Sakku. Thai personal names are usually absurdly long Sanskrit affairs, but everyday they go by short nicknames, so 'Sakku' will do."

"I don't know any Thai. They can use Japanese, I trust."

Mint can speak only Japanese and English.

"This dungeon's base language is Japanese, so since we're summoning them, I expect they'll be able to use Japanese."

"So then, Marie-san, Mint, next is applied physics and applied chemistry, isn't it."

"These are tricky fields to handle as well. They're so named because they apply physics or chemistry to industry, but with this dungeon's current industrial capacity, I think applied physics should be put on hold, and applied chemistry should be lumped together with agricultural chemistry under 'chemistry.'"

"Since summon slots are limited, I've no objection."

"Mint's consent secured, so, chemistry. There's a kind of lavender, Lavandula latifolia, broadleaf lavender, whose oil has all manner of uses. It's also known as Portuguese lavender, so a Portuguese name, Leonor. A name a kappa might have, granted. And French lavender, by the way, Anne detests, so we'll leave it out of the running."

"Right, the etymology of harenchi, 'lewd,' was French, wasn't it."

"Indeed, it's a coinage of the late-shogunate-to-Meiji period, so there's a good chance it was deliberately made to resemble 'French' as a bit of wordplay…"

"Next, applied bio-chemistry, biotechnology. A technique used in everything from fuel to medicine."

"Marie-san, biotechnology centers on microbes, doesn't it. And speaking of microbes, that means alcohol."

"For liqueur there's hyssop, and for beer, before hops came into wide use, marjoram was used as well. As for pickles, umeboshi is salt-pickled, but shibazuke involves fermentation. Red shiso, mind you, is the same species as egoma."

"Red shiso… is it red or is it purple? Come to think of it, there was a place called Soga in Chiba. In ancient times there were the likes of Iruka and Emishi, but it's a different age entirely, so no problem there."

"Next, for shipbuilding, the semi-aquatic plant mizu-toranoo, water tiger's tail, will do."

"Water tiger's tail… tora-o… Torao, would it be. Somehow, that sounds like the name of a fan of a ball club that can't win the pennant even with a seventy-percent win rate and a winning record against every other team in the league. And it's not even a surname. Mizutora… Mizuto… Mito?"

"Ibaraki, eh. Natto, then."

So said Mint.

"Next, aeronautics… a Lamiaceae that flies… is there such a thing?"

"There's a Mexican plant called Salvia divinorum that's said to give you hallucinations. Only, plants like that pose a danger to the residents. Our immediate aim is drones anyway, and the word 'drone' comes from the honeybee, while lemon balm, being a bee-plant in ancient Greece, is also called 'Melissa,' meaning honeybee, so plain old lemon balm will do nicely."

"The name can just be Melissa, then, I suppose. I don't think it's odd, culturally speaking."

"You, the Master, saying something sensible about cultural spheres?"

"Director-dono, that gives us, for engineering, doctorates in mechanical, electrical, and civil, and master's in applied bio-chemistry and shipbuilding and aeronautics, for six. Plus chemistry. That's the lot."