Vvvvmmm...
Inside a Western Imperial ship on the Simmons Harbor, a pattern began to float above a parchment sprawled over the floor. Then, with a flash of light, a person appeared from nowhere. With its work complete, the glowing pattern quickly dissipated with a low vvvmm sound. It flickered a few times, then all the lights went out as though it had run out of fuel.
“Tch. Looks like this one’s dead now.” It was Saint Juana, who was supposed to be at the castle. On the parchment was a transportation magic circle drawn with crushed magic stones that had been mixed in water. The magic circle for transportation magic was a groundbreaking development discovered over a decade ago. Juana had been one of the people who developed it. A mage on their own could only teleport a few kilometers, but with the magic circle, they could teleport over several thousand kilometers depending on the amount of magic stones they used. “Oh well. The departure circle in the castle is just scrap paper now too.”
Transportation magic circles required a pair of circles and were generally one-way. The castle had the departure circle, and the one in the Western Empire’s ship near where Juana was standing was the arrival circle. Since they worked as a pair, they lasted the same amount of time.
“I suppose I’ll have to make another magic circle... No, for the sake of this mission, I’ll make as many as I have to.” The Western Empire’s magic stone reserves were beginning to run dry. It was the largest of all the countries in the land, thus it also had many veins of magic stones. However, with all the research and development on magic tools (magic circles included), that stock was steadily being depleted. Even just the circle that Juana had used was composed of several hundred stones.
Four men who weren’t even bothering to hide their annoyance greeted Juana. “You’re awfully late, Juan. Er, sorry. You’re Saint Juana now, right?” She was supposed to have met them the day they’d arrived at the harbor. “The mission was just to fire these cannons and head right home. The hell were you doing? How long were you gonna make us wait?! We’ve already been here a whole day, and the sun’s already about to set!”
All the men waiting for her were mages as well. They normally would have been spending all day and night on magic research. In other words, they were desk workers who were far from the type to be attacking a foreign country. Even if it was to get magic stones, which they needed for their research, these were all people who had never even been sent out to strengthen the barrier in monster-prone regions.
Currently in the Western Empire, there were more mages than there were usable magic stones. Mages were the same as any other kind of person; the more you had around, the more the differences in their ability became apparent. The less capable mages were sent to the borders while the more capable ones were generally sent to study in the imperial capital. As such, these mages had never left the capital since their appointment, so it was only natural that they’d be high-strung about all this.
“Calm yourselves. I was waiting for the sun to set.”
“Why?!”
Juana plopped herself onto the couch and tried to soothe the men. Though she looked several times younger than them, she was the one in charge.
“It’s been over thirty years since the kingdom has had a mage. But their magic technology isn’t thirty years behind—it’s more like a century behind us. In other words, even in the capital, they manually light the street lamps with fire when it gets dark.” Juana scoffed at how old-fashioned the whole place was.
“They don’t use light magic for their street lamps?!” No matter how rural a place was in the Western Empire, magic stones imbued with light magic would automatically illuminate the area.
“They only have wells to draw water from. And any time they need to cook or take a bath, they have to light a fire with firewood and everything.”
“I-It’s like something out of a period novel...”
Juana had heard the rumors, but having to live there herself really was the greatest inconvenience she’d ever experienced. In the castle, she had to ask a maid for everything. If she wanted to wash her face, she had to get a maid to bring her water. If it got dark, she had to ask a maid to light a lamp for her. It was full of little annoyances she’d never had to deal with back in the Western Empire. While she could make water to wash her face magically, it would cause a lot of trouble if people started pestering her about where she got it from. As a result, any time she was in her room in the castle, the maids were constantly coming and going to take care of her, which was practically the same as being monitored twenty-four seven. She didn’t have nearly as much freedom as she’d expected, and it was a real hassle trying to find any time alone. The other mages were complaining about how late she was, but she’d only barely managed to find a time where she wouldn’t get caught.
One of the more perceptive mages realized what Juana was trying to say and his eyes widened “Wait... So we’re going to wait to attack until the street lamps are lit?”
“Indeed. We’ll have more fire from their lamps at night, after all. Makes it a lot more efficient, doesn’t it?” The Western Imperial military had instructed Juana to utterly annihilate the kingdom. The fire from the lamps would add to the destruction, as there were lamps all throughout the capital.
Juana smirked. A country like the kingdom without any magic likely didn’t have any decent fire extinguishers. If things went as planned, the capital would be burning for days on end.