“Ooh...” I snapped my fingers.
“You really hadn’t thought of it...” Lardon’s exasperation was evident in her voice.
“Because it’s a job that I accepted. There are a lot to make too.”
“And that is why you were planning to do it by yourself?”
“Yeah.”
Lardon chuckled. “I see, I see.”
Before I could ask what was so funny, I felt her presence withdraw further within me. She didn’t plan on continuing this conversation.
“Um...”
“Huh? Oh.” I turned my attention back to Grace. “Sorry ’bout that. I didn’t mean to ignore you... I might have a job for you sometime soon, actually.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah. Until then, I want you to get used to life here and make sure you’re ready to work soon.”
“Got it!”
Grace broke out into a bright smile. She looked elated to finally have the chance to repay me. It seemed Lardon was right after all—I’d best assign this job to Grace and the dark elves.
I left the dark elves to Grace and told her to call me if more banshees came. After returning to my room in the palace, I took out a blue ant bead from my item box and stared at it intently.
“How do you plan to use that?”
“I don’t, actually. But it can serve as a reference. I’m trying to come up with a way to store magic, just like how this stores heat...” Come to think of it, there was something I’d been wanting to ask Lardon. “Do you know any material that can do that?”
“Unfortunately, no,” she answered. “A blue ant’s nest is already a rather miraculous creation, to be able to store heat—in other words, pure energy—inside it.”
“I guess so...”
“Magic is far more complex than just pure energy. Yet you wish to make something that not simply emits mana upon touch, but casts a spell on demand? And it must be simple enough for the dark elves to craft?” Lardon chuckled. “Greedy, are we?”
“I wouldn’t call it greedy...” I cocked my head. “Think about it. Sheila ordered a million of these arrows. Shouldn’t we make the crafting process as simple as possible?”
“Fair point. Any ideas, then?”
“Seven, actually, if we’re just talking methods.”
“Oh? I should’ve expected no less of you.”
“But the problem is figuring out which is the simplest.”
“There are two types of simplicity,” Lardon began. “For example, if you were told to sing a song that would move people’s hearts, what would you do?”
“Huh? Um... That’s impossible for me.”
“What of that lass, Amelia?”
“Amelia? Of course she could do it.”
“And there you have it. Some matters are simple for all, whereas some are simple with the right people.”
“Oh, I get it. Well, my choice is obvious—I need the former.”
Our task at hand was to mass-produce a million magical arrows. Naturally, I needed a crafting method that anybody could use.
A spell that will store offensive magic like Magic Missile...
“Hmm?”
“What is it?”
“Well, come to think of it...”
I slowly rose to my feet and took a look around my room. It was minimally furnished, with no more than the bare necessities like a table and a couch, because I spent a lot of my time in here just thinking about magic and testing my spells.
I stood at the center of the empty space and raised my hand. “Ice Needle!”
An icicle—only as thick as a finger and as long as a leg—stabbed into the floor.
“What is that for?”
“Well, it just came to me... Some spells can create tangible objects, right?”
“Certainly. Just like that icicle.”
“Well, I was actually considering two methods. One was to materialize the spell Magic Missile itself...but now I realize it might be better to just make a magic tool for it.”
“Aha, I see. A blind spot, but not so unconventional. However...would that be simple to make?”
“No idea.”
“Oh?” Had Lardon been standing in front of me, I could imagine her raising an eyebrow.
“I just came up with the idea, so I won’t know till I try.”
After a pause, Lardon chuckled. “I suppose not.”
“Time to give it a go.” I chanted an aria to amplify my mana. Working from the spell of Magic Missile, I visualized a new spell—one that would make a magic tool for Magic Missile. “Magic Seed... Hmm?”
“What’s the matter now?”
“I... I did it. That was surprisingly easy.”
It was anticlimactic, even. The moment I chanted the spell, a palm-sized ball manifested in my hand. It was just the perfect shape and size for throwing, exactly as I’d visualized it.
I threw it into the air, where it transformed into a magic missile and flew off.
The spell’s complete. Now all I need to do is...
“Magic Seed!”
By night of the next day, just half a day after I’d introduced this new spell to Grace, she managed to make the exact same thing—a ball containing Magic Missile.
As it turned out, this spell was as easy for Grace to use as it was for me.
✦ ✦ ✦
Another day passed. In the early afternoon, I stood in the palace’s front yard with Sheila’s clone. Around twenty elven maids were lined up a short distance away, each with a cart carrying around ten Magic Missile balls each.
“Can we start?” I asked Sheila’s clone.
“Go right ahead,” she said.
After receiving my signal, the elven maids each took a Magic Missile ball from their cart and tossed them forward as thoughtlessly as they would a pebble—exactly as I’d instructed. Between the lackluster launch and the parabolic trajectories, it was hard to say if they would even reach ten meters.
However, at the peak of their course, the balls flashed brightly and transformed into magical arrows, flying straight ahead almost as if they’d been shot from a master archer’s bow.
Twenty arrows flew through the air. Before they even landed, the elven maids threw a new batch of Magic Missile balls, repeating the process and creating a new wave of arrows.
Once all the balls were spent, the maids turned to me.
I nodded. “That’ll do. Great work, everyone.”
The elven maids beamed at my praise.
Meanwhile, I redirected my gaze to Sheila’s clone. “Well? How does it look?”
She blinked silently for a while. “Goodness... This goes beyond my expectations.”
“Really?”
“Of course. The magical arrow alone is astounding, but the speed at which it can be rapidly fired took my breath away. By my estimate, this could replace ordinary bows and arrows, while showcasing three times their speed—and that’s by a conservative estimate.”
“That much, huh?”
“Compared to taking an arrow from the quiver, nocking it onto the bow, and pulling the string back... Yes, throwing this magical arrow takes much less time.”
“Oh, that’s true... It’s way more efficient, isn’t it?”
“Moreover, with an ordinary bow and arrow, the archer gradually loses the strength to pull their string. The string itself wears down as well. Much sooner if used to shoot in rapid succession.”
Sheila’s clone looked increasingly fascinated. The two hundred magical arrows fired off by the elven maids had reduced a large boulder—the one we set up—to smithereens. Its power alone was impressive, but she seemed far more enamored by its capacity for rapid firing. Not quite the reaction I had in mind, but overall it sounded like she was greatly pleased.
“Whatever the case, this means it’s all good, right?”
“Yes. I have no complaints whatsoever.”
“Nice. We’ll go ahead and mass-produce these.”
What I didn’t tell her was that I was planning to make the first few thousand for her myself. The dark elves were still busy settling into the city, after all.
“Hmm... May I have a word?”
“Huh? Is something wrong? You look serious all of a sudden.”
“Truth be told, I have a request. Allow me to be frank.”
“Uh, sure... What is it?”
Sheila’s clone—well, Sheila was the last woman in the world I’d ever expect to beat around the bush, yet she went out of her way to warn me for this. What could this possibly be about?
“I’d like you to sell these balls—no, these weapons exclusively to me, at least for the meantime.”
“Exclusively to you? Well, sure... But why?”
Sheila’s clone looked at me in shock.
“Huh? Did I say something strange?”
“My, my... You really have no clue?”
“Er... Am I supposed to know? Is it that obvious?”
“Yes, well...” Sheila’s clone slowly nodded.
What could it be? She said it should be obvious, but I really had no idea.
Lardon chuckled. “Forget it. This is impossible for you.”
“Is it now?”
“Indeed. Besides...” I could hear a playful smirk in Lardon’s voice. “As I always say, you are fine as you are.”
I cocked my head, more lost than ever before. I could tell that Lardon was in a bit of a mischievous mood, but the way she said that only confused me even more.
On the other hand, Sheila’s clone was a lot more straightforward. She answered me very clearly.
“This is an incredible weapon. Imagine—so powerful, so easy to wield, and available only to you. Quite the huge advantage, no? In a conflict, if both sides possessed it, the damage would be catastrophic.”
“Ohh. That’s why you want me to sell it only to you.” All right, I get it now.
Sheila’s clone nodded. “Please, I implore you. If you would allow me exclusive purchasing rights...I am willing to do anything.”
She had a frighteningly serious look in her eyes as she firmly met my gaze.