Act 06: Magic Bestowal "Magic bestowal?"
"Huh? You didn"t notice?"
It began with a single word from Jude early one afternoon.
Apparently my hair ornament was bestowed with magic.
It was only natural. I"ve never seen things that have been bestowed with magic in j.a.pan, so naturally I didn"t notice.
"Can you tell what kind of effect was attached?"
"I don"t know but I can tell that magic was bestowed to it. It"s reacting to Sei"s magic power."
"Reacting? You can tell that kind of thing?"
"Yeah, it takes some practice."
"Really?"
When I ask Jude in detail he told me that you couldn"t find out what magic had been bestowed without using a magic called 『Appraisal』.
There were very few people who could use appraisal magic. There was a big firm in town with some people who could and even within the Court Mage Division there were only a few people who could use it.
By the way if the level of appraisal magic was high enough, it seems that it could be used on people as well.
However, if the person who casts it doesn"t have the consent of the person they are casting it on, it could repel. It would almost always repel if the person it was casted on was high levelled.
And now, magic bestowal.
Magic can be bestowed on things like weapons, armour, accessories, etc.
The core of things like gems are used as a premise for magic bestowal. The magic is embedded into the core and it becomes a magic bestowed tool.
Of course it"s okay to insert the magic embedded core into tools.
The effects of the magic bestowed tool manifest themselves by reacting to the magic of the person in possession of it.
There aren"t many people who could use magic but magic power itself vary greatly and everyone seems to have it.
Therefore those who have trained their magic perception can sense when something has been bestowed with magic.
Jude practiced it when he was at the Royal Academy and even now, in order to help his family business he never skips practice.
He"s so diligent.
"It sounds interesting, doesn"t it?"
"What does?"
"Magic bestowal."
"Eh? Don"t tell me you want to try it out?"
"Ara, you understand me well."
Jude looked subtly disgusted so I smile sweetly at him.
What"s with that face?
I couldn"t bestow magic in j.a.pan so it shouldn"t come as a surprise that I want to try it.
"It"s not easy to bestow an item with magic."
"Really?"
"First of all, the cores are expensive."
There are various core materials like gems and rare crystals so it seems that even though they"re small they"re quite expensive.
Also since magic is needed to bestow an item with magic, there are only a limited amount of people who can do it.
Therefore there was a huge difference in price between items with that have been bestowed with magic and items that haven"t.
Yes, there was a huge difference.
And this hair ornament was bestowed with magic.
"Why"re you making a racket?"
The Director spoke to me as he was walking pa.s.sed when I was thinking about the price of my hair ornament.
"We are talking about magic bestowal."
"Magic bestowal?"
"I heard that this hair ornament was bestowed with magic, so I was a little interested in magic bestowal."
"Oh."
The Director acted as if nothing happened, but he noticed this hair ornament was bestowed with magic, didn"t he?
Because your eyes shook when I said, "Hair ornament".
Neither the Director nor Liz told me how much it was but I wonder if this is one of those things that aren"t expensive to aristocrats.
I don"t know if the items at the store front were bestowed with magic but since there"s a huge difference in price they probably weren"t, huh?
If I think like that then I dreaded the price of my hair ornament.
How do I return his grat.i.tude……?
While I was at my wits end thinking about it, the Director came up with an unexpected proposal.
"Do you want to try it?"
"Eh?"
"Magic bestowal. You"re interested, right?"
Jude and I were flabbergasted at the Director"s proposal.
Eh? Is it that easy to do?
When I look at Jude, who was next to me, he shook his head as if he knew what I was thinking.
"I have connections. What do you want to do?"
"I will do it."
It was a great proposal so I went with it.
I am interested in it.
The place that the Director took me to is the Court Mage Division"s barracks.
Err, we"re bestowing magic right?
Ah, is it because it"s magic?
Since this is the Mage Division, there are a lot of people wearing robes everywhere. The Director and I am a bit out of place.
Now that I think about it that robe… The people who summoned me here were also wearing those robes, right?
As I thought, the people here partic.i.p.ated in the ceremony, didn"t they?
The Court Mage Division"s barracks is quite far from the research inst.i.tute, so the Director and I rode a carriage here.
It was further than the 3rd Knight Order"s barracks so it would be difficult to walk here.
Because of the Director"s order, Jude is house-sitting.
He said he preferred to work, but was it okay for me to come?
The norm of this world is a mystery.
"Sei, it"s this way."
"Yes."
I stand at the entrance of the room and look at the Director, who had entered ahead, he beckons at me.
The room I am in has a workbench like the one at the research inst.i.tute. The Director stands in the middle of the room, in front of the workbench.
Standing on the other side of the Director at the workbench is a robe wearing man who looks like a Mage.
When I bow and say, "I look forward to working with you" to the nervous looking Mage, he also bows in a rush.
Huh? What are you afraid of?
"Well then, I will explain about bestowal."
The Mage smiles a little stiffly and began explaining about bestowal.
Why is he stiff?
Well, it"s not like I can do anything about it even if I worry.
On top of the workbench on the side was a divider box.
It seems that there are a variety of small gems and crystals in the box.
In order to bestow magic, you have to hold the small core in your hands, think about the effect you want to bestow and expose it to your magic.
The magic bestowed differed depending on the magic attribute of the person bestowing it. For example someone with fire attribute magic would bestow fire magic; someone with magic attribute magic would bestow water magic.
For effects that raised offensive and defensive power, commonly referred to as support type, it was necessary to use holy attribute magic.
There also seemed to be compatible materials for the kinds of magic bestowed. The Mage told me, "If you want to bestow support magic then I recommend these gems here".
"What kind of effects will you bestow?"
"Let"s see……"
What should I do?
Support magic, support magic……
"Is it possible to bestow magic nullification?"
"Magic nullification……?"
I think about it and suddenly remember about the Salamander that appeared in the West Forest.
It looked like a lizard that blew out fire. I thought it wouldn"t be possible to make something that would defend against that fire.
After thinking for a while, the Mage said, "It might not be possible to nullify magic but I think it is possible to reduce the effects".
I see.
Then let"s think of a way to reduce the magic attribute.
"Then I"ll do that."
"Then you probably want the gems around here."
I receive the core material from the Mage and cover it with both my hands.
Even if I said I covered it, the core itself was only about 3mm in diameter, so when I put my hands together you can"t see it at all.
I imagine the effect I want to bestow and expose my magic to it.
Instead of just reducing fire magic, I might as well reduce all magic.
If I do that, could I raise magic resistance?
Yep, I think I can do it.
I image it and expose it to my magic power.
*Crack*
I, it broke?!
Yup, it"s broken.
It"s broken.
The impact runs through my palm and I timidly peak inside. It was just as I had felt, the material had broken in two.
While I was worrying about what to do, the Mage asked me, "Is something wrong?"
"Mhmmm, it seems that it has broken."
It"s no use even if kept it quiet, so I timidly told him the truth and showed him the broken core. He looked at the core and said in surprise, "Eh?!"
The Mages all simultaneously looked our way when they heard his exclamation.
Eh, what"s with that, it"s scary.
Don"t look over here.
The Mage looked at my palm and muttered in surprise, "It is broken", while all the other Mages and the Director was frozen.
And while still muttering, the Mage also stiffen.
No, anyone"s fine, so someone do something.
"Did you try to bestow magic reduction?"
A heavenly voice came from behind me and I turn around. There stood an Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama. He had a familiar pair of blue-grey eyes and silky silver hair.
I inadvertently added "-sama" because of his cool aura and that heavenly voice that called out to me.
Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama ignored my glance and picked up the core from my palm. He closely examined it.
"You really just bestowing magic reduction?"
"Ah, no……"
He glances at me coldly and I spontaneously straighten my back.
The feeling was like that of a student and teacher.
"What did you try to bestow?"
"Mhm, well…… I thought that raising the magic resistance would have nothing to do with the magic attribute, so I……"
"Then this material would be insufficient."
Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama said as he chooses a different material from the box on top of the table.
He chose a black gem around 5 to 6 mm in diameter.
It was twice the size of the gem from before. Is it alright for me to use something this big?
A gem this big must be really expensive, right?
I look at the Mage, who"s also surprised.
The Director was surprised too.
"Is it alright for me to use this?"
I ask while comparing Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama"s face with the materials. He nods and presents the materials before my eyes.
I received it and just like before, I wrapped my hands around it. I prayed for increase magic resistance and exposed it to my magic.
The materials instantly heated up before settling.
Was it successful?
I timidly open up my hands and this time it wasn"t broken. The materials were still in one piece.
Since the material looks the same, I"m uncertain if it actually succeeded.
I stare at the material and Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama picks up the material in my palm just like before.
"『Appraisal』"
The magic that he quietly chanted was one that few people could use, appraisal magic.
I heard that only a few people here at the Court Mage Division coule use it and Intellident gla.s.ses-sama was one of them.
As expected of him.
I stared at him after the remainder of his heavenly voice and a smile slightly appeared on Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama"s expressionless face that was like a Noh mask,
His faint smile quickly disappears and his face is like a Noh mask again then he said, "It was successful".
The surrounding Mages heard that and cheered.
That"s good, I was successful this time.
I, who was feeling relieved, was quickly presented with another core.
The person who presented it to me was of course, Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama. I tilted my head in confusion and he said, "Next is……"
Eh, we"re continuing?
For the time being, I received it and it was as big as the first core I used.
"Poison reduction."
"Yes."
He said in a voice that I couldn"t refuse, so I inadvertently nodded.
This time I properly bestowed it with the effect he told me to.
Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama"s judgement was correct. The magic bestowal finished without the gem breaking.
When I finished bestowing, I opened my palm and Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama picked up the finished core and used appraisal magic on it.
The bestowment must have gone without a hitch because he nodded in satisfaction and presented the next core to me.
I took it and he frankly told me what effect he wanted me to bestow.
I obediently bestowed the effects he wanted. I must have done well because Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama handed me materials one after the other in the same way.
Thus I continued bestowing the effects he wanted one after another.
He casted appraisal magic on the cores I bestowed with magic and confirmed that the effects were all bestowed correctly.
We continued this routine work the whole time.
Well, magic bestowal didn"t take up that much time, you know.
What are you going to do with all these?
He initially told me to bestow them with reduction types like poison reduction and attribute reduction but before I knew it, he"d mixed in nullification types such as poison nullification and paralysis nullification. It ended with bestowing two effects simultaneously.
My MP was exhausted while I was bestowing magic and when they had noticed, someone placed an intermediate MP potions in front of me.
It seems that the Mage who was watching this series of actions, gave me the MP potions.
Five of them……
It was a really good amount of MP potions but I drank them all.
While taking a break.
Well, since potions don"t acc.u.mulate in my stomach I can drink as many as I want without worrying.
Even so, there was quite a few of them.
Yes.
There was someone waiting next to me holding the next material while I was drinking.
I was chugging it down, you know. I was chugging it down.
"How long am I going to continue doing this?"
After bestowing many gems with magic, I thought I should head back to the research inst.i.tute and called out to Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama.
The magic bestowed cores were carried to him like a conveyor belt and were all beautifully lined up in front of him.
Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama looked at the number of cores and nodded his head before moving. He went to a locked shelf by the wall and took out a large material from the shelf.
It was a transparent stone over 1 cm in diameter.
It"s not a diamond, right?
The size of the material presented to me made the surrounding Mages gulp.
Director, your mouth is open, you know?
"This is the last of it. I want; abnormal status nullification, magic nullification and attack nullification."
Eh? Three of them?
Moreover they"re all nullification?
I was surprised when I heard that and the surrounding Mages were also surprised.
I wanted to tell them that if they opened their eyes that big their eyes would pop out, you know?
For the time being I think about whether I could do as I"m told, but it"s unlikely that both magic nullification and attack nullification would be compatible.
Well, if it was magic and attack resistance I could probably bestowal all three onto the jewel.
"It is unlikely that both magic nullification and attack nullification would be compatible. But I could probably raise magic and attack resistance."
"I see. Let"s do that."
I was told that my suggestion was okay so I went ahead and bestow it with abnormal status nullification, magic resistance and attack resistance.
The heat in my palms is higher than before and it took a long time to cool but it seems that I was successful.
I gave the completed core to Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama and he casted appraisal magic onto it to confirm that the magic was bestowed onto it.
He smiled slightly so it seemed that I was able to bestow the effects he told me to.
I sighed in relief and the Director said, "Good work".
Yeah, I was feeling more tensed than usual and I more tired than usual.
I want to return to the research inst.i.tute soon to have a cup of tea.
"Today"s reward."
When the Director and I tried to leave the Mage Division"s noisy barracks, Intelligent Gla.s.ses-sama gave me a black stone.
It"s the stone that I first bestowed with magic resistance.
Reward…… If this was for sale then it"ll be really expensive, right?
Is it fine?
"Are you sure?"
"I don"t mind. You worked quite a bit today."
"Is that so?"
He said it was fine so I receive it, gratefully.
I have a feeling the gem in my palm momentary flashed.