Chapter 117

I clapped my hands to get everyone’s attention, rousing them from their state of speechless shock. “Now, I know you all probably have a lot of questions,” I said. “Of course we do. Magicite doesn’t have many practical applications. I’m sure everyone is surprised… And that includes me,” Tilty admitted. “I’m not very familiar with magicite. What kind of uses does it have?” Charnée asked. “I’ll explain, but make sure you don’t share any of this outside this group,” I warned everyone. Charnée quickly put a hand over her mouth before nodding in agreement. The others likewise nodded. They all understood the importance of what I was about to tell them. “We should do this in order, so maybe you should start, Halphys?” I suggested. “I-it’s still a work in progress, though…” “It’s all related, and it’s necessary for the discussion about using magicite. If you don’t mind?” “…Very well. I’ve been conducting my own research, with some input from Princess Anisphia and Queen Euphyllia.” “I remember you mentioning your own private work a few times,” Garkie murmured, perhaps sensing where this was leading. Halphys nodded in confirmation. “My goal was to find a pure and simple form of magic, independent of the skill of the user.” “…What do you mean?” “Traditional magic is all about individual skills and aptitudes, so the same technique can manifest differently depending on who uses it, right? So I wanted to come up with something pure, simple, that removes individual aptitudes from the equation. I started by analyzing existing forms of magic.” “…In other words, you’re trying to get to the basest form of magic? Like the foundations underpinning it?” Navre asked. “Yes, that’s exactly right,” Halphys answered. Garkie tilted his head to one side as if he didn’t quite follow, while Navre let out an impressed sigh. Uncovering the simplest, most fundamental form of magic—that was Halphys’s research goal. “Establishing a system of magic unaffected by skill or technique. I thought it was an intriguing idea, which is why Euphie and I offered up advice where we could,” I explained. “It isn’t yet a fully formed theory… We’re still in the process of validating it,” Halphys added. “Still, it’s paying off. It’s certainly worth all the time you’ve put into it.” Traditional magic was inevitably at the whim of individual talents and aptitudes, and conventional teaching methods were based around praying to spirits and studying their natures so as to better visualize how to manifest them. But there were always those who simply couldn’t master such an approach. Halphys was a typical example, and after learning about magicology, she started to harbor doubts about the conventional system of magic. It all stemmed from her lack of skill in traditional magic. To her, magical tools must have seemed like a revelation. “Lady Anis’s magical tools are essentially a form of magic that exhibits stable performance regardless of the user, wouldn’t you agree?” “…I suppose that’s true.” “So I started wondering whether magic that doesn’t rely on the skill of the user would be any different from that activated with magical tools.” “I was taught that magic is only as powerful as your imagination, but you seem to have the opposite view, Lady Halphys,” Priscilla said, calmly assessing this quick rundown. Indeed, Halphys’s vision for a new system of magic was based on ideas antithetical to conventional wisdom. Rather than laboring to master magic, her approach was all about reducing it to the bare essentials. “I don’t think the old ways are wrong, per se. But there are people who can’t master magic with those methods. If magic could be learned from the most fundamental basics, more people might be able to use it.” “I see… I’m not very good at using magic, either. Now you’ve got me wondering if the problem was all in how I was taught,” Garkie murmured. I let out a soft chuckle. “Everyone visualizes magic in their own way. I think an approach that yields the same results regardless of who activates it would be very intriguing.” “…I see.” Navre nodded, impressed. “Even the simplest magic techniques can have dramatically different effects once mastered. Take the Mana Blade, for instance. It relies on simple magic to generate a blade of raw energy, but Commander Anisphia is capable of freely altering its shape. You’re saying it would be possible to do that sort of thing with magic?” “The basics are important, you know? You might say that today’s magic isn’t as refined as it could be at the foundational level,” Halphys noted. The others all turned back to her, watching on with newfound respect. Thrown off guard by this acknowledgment, Halphys feigned a cough. “I believe it’s difficult to achieve a shared understanding with traditional teaching methods, which leads to ambiguities and misunderstandings. So rather than rely on the traditional prayer-based approaches passed down through the generations, I would like to establish a more scientific system of magic derived from magicology. That’s my dream.” “It’s a heretical idea, all right. There’s no mistaking Anis’s influence. Yep, there’s never a dull moment around here,” Tilty said with a huge grin. She was clearly enjoying herself. Halphys leaped back in alarm, meeting Tilty’s intense gaze with a strained smile. “Others may call it heresy, but Halphys isn’t trying to deny conventional forms of magic,” I pointed out. “She isn’t saying that the methods passed down through history are wrong. Her dream is to devise a parallel system through which anyone can master magic.” “Th-that’s right…” She nodded. “It all depends on how you feel about it. As for me, I can’t wait to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea while watching those spiritualist traditionalists seething over,” Tilty quipped. “Yes, yes, you have depraved tastes, I know. Now, back to what I was saying. Halphys and I discussed the extent to which magic could be simplified and all the various factors that play a role in creating different phenomena. That’s when we came to an interesting realization.” “Interesting?” Charnée murmured, head tilted to one side. I let out a low chuckle, turning to Halphys. “Would you like to explain, Professor Halphys?” “Ugh… I’m still trying to validate my theory… And please don’t call me Professor…” “I know it’s hard to fully explain, but we are getting closer to the truth. I feel it in my bones. Go ahead. Consider this an order from a royal princess.” “…Very well.” Halphys sighed, repositioning her glasses with one finger. After pausing for a moment to catch her breath, she looked up at everyone gathered around. “As I said just before, I’ve been working on simplifying and streamlining magical techniques. Through those efforts, I arrived at certain questions, as well as a hypothesis.” “What sort of questions?” Charnée asked. “The basic premise of traditional magic is that we’re working with the blessings of the spirits, and that without the spirits, magic simply would not exist.” “Well, that’s just common sense?” Navre opined. “I had my doubts about that. Have you ever considered that there are certain types of magic that don’t quite correspond to the attributes of various spirits?” “…Magic that doesn’t match a spirit’s attributes?” Charnée tilted her head in confusion. “Attributeless magic, in other words?” Navre pondered, his chin resting on his hand. “Ah. I guess spells to boost your physical abilities or generate a magical blade don’t really fall under fixed categories, right? Now that you mention it, there are probably a lot of spells like that,” Garkie noted as he crossed his arms. At this, Halphys breathed a long sigh, adjusting her glasses yet again. “…So do you all sense the presence of these so-called attributeless spirits?” …Just like that, the room fell silent. I thought I was gonna go crazy waiting for someone to speak, but fortunately, Tomas voiced his thoughts first. “…Maybe I don’t really understand, seeing as I’m not a noble…but don’t all spirits have specific attributes?” “That’s just the thing. It seems like a huge blind spot, right?” I said jokingly, but the others were still reeling. “…It’s true, I’ve never sensed any spirits without an elemental attribute.” “Me neither.” “I can’t say I have…” “Now that you mention it…neither have I.” “Yes,” Halphys continued. “Those of us born into the nobility can sense the presence of spirits—but there’s no such thing as a spirit without an elemental attribute.” The cornerstones of the spirit world were said to be the primordial powers of light and darkness, as well as the four great elements of fire, wind, earth, and water, from which other variations were derived. There was no room in that cosmology for spirits without innate characteristics. Euphie had once said that it was the natural way of things for spirits to be attributed to one element or another. “What, then, is attributeless magic?” Halphys asked. “According to Princess Anisphia’s theories, magic is the result of spirits transforming when we impose our will on them. And yet non-elemental magic exists, even though we cannot perceive the presence of any non-elemental spirits.” “…I suppose that’s true,” Navre muttered under his breath. “Does that mean spells to boost your strength aren’t magic…? I mean, they have to be… Right…?” Garkie glanced around, growing more confused by the second. Indeed, there were few who could face this revelation without being shaken up by it, at least to some degree. The only members of our group who seemed unfazed were Tomas, who looked like he had no idea what was going on, and Tilty, grinning madly in response to everyone else’s panic. No doubt everyone had overlooked this simple fact because they took magic and sensing the presence of spirits for granted. Taking another perspective, one could find spirit stones that lacked elemental attributes of their own, but there was no such thing as a non-elemental spirit. How were we supposed to explain those conflicting facts? I suspected the others were all asking more or less the same thing. “One theory is that neutral spirit stones somehow lost their original elemental attributes. But then, how exactly did they lose them? No. Personally, I think there must be another explanation,” Halphys continued. “This was when Halphys came to me as an expert in magicology, and to Euphie as a spirit covenantor. Euphie has an intuitive understanding of these things now, but there are still a lot of things we ought to formally verify…,” I added. “That’s why I haven’t announced anything yet, so please keep what I’m about to tell you strictly confidential.” With this preamble out of the way, Halphys paused to clear her throat. “In short, what we recognize as a non-elemental magic doesn’t correspond to magic as defined by conventional classifications.” “Conventional classifications…?” “What does that mean?” “Magic is the result of spirits transforming into various phenomena, but just because certain spells or techniques lack elemental attributes doesn’t necessarily mean there are non-elemental spirits.” “But it’s still magic, right?” “People think of it as such, but we believe that it’s actually quite different from elemental magic. Yes, it is indeed magic, but strictly speaking, it isn’t the same kind of magic,” I added to clarify. To work, magic required the presence of a practitioner and a spirit to function as the medium. All creatures in this world contained spirits within souls. When those inner spirits resonated with others floating in the environment, the external spirits would transform in accordance with the practitioner’s—thus triggering what we regarded as magic. According to this system, there was no such thing as a non-elemental spirit, so it should have been impossible for non-elemental magic to exist. “What is neutral magic…?” Navre wondered aloud. “This is where Halphys’s research on devising a more streamlined system comes in. Basically, non-elemental magic, like what’s used in the Mana Blade, doesn’t actually transform spirits to produce its effect—it manipulates raw magical energy itself.” “…Raw magical energy?” Navre’s eyes widened in astonishment. He wasn’t the only one taken aback. Garkie seemed especially shocked—his eyes were almost perfectly round, while his mouth looked like it might get stuck in an O. “It’s a little difficult to explain,” I noted, glancing toward Halphys. “If we define magic as the phenomenon of transforming spirits at will, then it isn’t magic,” she continued. “But at the same time, such techniques cannot be activated without the use of magic, so it wouldn’t be wrong to classify it that way, either.” “H-huh? I’m definitely confused…” Garkie groaned, furrowing his brow. “…Ah, I see. So that’s how it is,” Tilty whispered under her breath. “Lady Tilty? You understood all that?” “You’re saying there are two separate systems that we lump together as magic, yes? One involves using magical energy to transform spirits, while the other changes the magical energy itself. I suppose non-elemental magic belongs to the second group?” “Yes, exactly,” I answered. First of all, it was necessary to assume that we all possessed magical energy. The second assumption was that spirits were essentially fragments of the world, and nobles had the ability to resonate with them and impart their will on them. Those two premises formed the foundation of what was typically recognized as magic. However, non-elemental magic didn’t involve transforming spirits themselves, but instead was about manipulating one’s own magical energy. As such, non-elemental magic could be described as simple magic that didn’t invoke spirits. “The sticking point is that you still can’t use non-elemental magic if you can’t use the elemental kind,” I pointed out. “…This is too much for me. Can someone please dumb it down a little…?!” Garkie groaned again. “Gark…,” Navre muttered, holding his head in his hands. “Then let’s address each point in turn,” Halphys suggested with a small smile. “As Tilty said, there are two separate practices that we consider magic. The common denominator between them is that neither can be used without the ability to manipulate magical energy.” “The distinction between the nobility and the common classes is based solely on whether or not one can use magic. But that depends entirely on their ability to consciously control their magical energy,” I explained. “Theoretically, even commoners would be capable of using non-elemental magic if they learned how to control their energy,” Halphys finished. “What?! Does that mean they could do it without magical tools?!” Charnée practically yelled. Her reaction was the strongest of all. I thought this would come as a huge shock to everyone, but they were mostly taking it surprisingly well. “Yep.” I nodded. “Assuming they can control their magical energy.” “But to use magic, you have to be able to use elemental magic, too, yes?” Tilty asked. “Are you saying that commoners can’t consciously manipulate mana, while nobles are only able to do so because of their grasp of elemental magic?” Navre asked. “It seems that way to me,” Tilty answered. “But are we both mistaken, I wonder? Anis?” “No, you’re right. My guess is the ability to control magical energy is a remnant from when the first king of the Kingdom of Palettia entered into his spirit covenant. In my mind, it’s kind of like a license.” “How so?” “The royal family and the aristocracy are descended from spirit covenantors, which gives them the ability to commune with spirits in the outside world via the ones that exist in their souls—which in turn lets them use elemental magic. Through that knowledge of magic, they’re capable of consciously controlling raw magical energy.” “…So it’s the other way around! Non-elemental magic doesn’t need the help of spirits, but you have to already know how to use magic in order to figure out how to do it in the first place…!” “Yep. Magic users take non-elemental magic for granted, and since both forms are all about creating different phenomena, they classify it together with elemental magic.” Even Euphie, a spirit covenantor, hadn’t consciously analyzed the differences between the two forms of magic; she considered them both as natural as breathing. If I had persisted in my belief that magic was brought about by spirits, I might never have understood it myself. It was only because of Halphys’s research that I began to have my doubts. “You can find non-elemental spirit stones, but strictly speaking, they’re more like clumps of raw magical energy, so it might make more sense to call them mana stones.” “…I can see this stirring up another controversy,” Tilty murmured softly. Yes, we were naturally concerned that this research could ruffle feathers among the more religious members of the nobility. That was precisely why Halphys knew better than to announce her findings prematurely, and why she had been pursuing this project on a purely personal basis. “I think practicing non-elemental magic should help one better manipulate their mana more generally. I’m currently running tests to verify this theory…” “That’s all very intriguing…but this is just a prelude to Commander Anisphia’s idea, isn’t it…?” Navre asked, glancing my way nervously. I gave him a wry smile, causing the others to slip into an uneasy silence. “It’s a long story. Maybe we should take a break first? Charnée, Priscilla, could you prepare us some tea?” I suggested, hoping to lighten the atmosphere. “O-of course! I’ll be right back!” Charnée responded, flustered. “It will only take us a moment,” Priscilla added with a polite bow, following after her. “There’s never a dull moment with you,” Tilty quipped. “Could you stop acting like you’re observing some exotic beast?” I shot back. “Perhaps you should take an honest look at your past conduct before you complain, no?” She snorted. I pursed my lips, unable to say anything in response. After a quick sip of the tea Charnée and Priscilla prepared for us, I continued with my explanation. “We haven’t conducted enough experiments yet to validate Halphys’s theory, not if we want to convince the wider public. Still, I’ll proceed on the assumption that it’s mostly accurate.” “Commander Anisphia, I just don’t see how Halphys’s research has any connection to magicite…,” Navre interjected. “That needs a little more clarification, so I guess we can start there. Thanks to Halphys’s efforts to devise a simplified, streamlined approach to magic, we now believe there are two separate systems at play. Does everyone follow this far?” “M-more or less…,” Garkie muttered weakly, wrinkling his brow as if fighting off a migraine. I didn’t want to lose anyone here, so I continued my commentary, keeping him in mind. “Basically, we can classify magical energy into two types.” “Mana, you mean?” “Yes. Both elemental and non-elemental magic rely on the movement of magical energy, or mana, as it’s also known. Where they differ is in whether energy is used to reach out to spirits. Let’s use color as a metaphor. Non-elemental magic would be colorless, while elemental magic would have the color of its associated spirits.” “Why are you bringing colors into this, Your Highness?” Priscilla asked. “That’s a good question. Because this is the key to unlocking magicite.” “The key…?” “Until now, no one has known how to put magicite to practical use. I have my own unique application for it, but there’s no way I could disclose that publicly. The method I’m about to explain opens up a world of opportunity.” “What kind of method?” “You all know how each piece of magicite possesses unique magical properties, right? I believe it’s an aberrant type of spirit stone that comes into being when monsters consume spirits.” “Artificial magicite was developed based on the same premise,” Tilty noted. “Exactly. Processing spirit stones and altering them to invoke a specific kind of magic.” Our effort to create artificial magicite was made possible only thanks to the combination of the knowledge accumulated in Lainie’s vampire magicite and Euphie’s intuitive understanding of magic after becoming a spirit covenantor. In short, we processed individual spirit stones into an appropriate form to output the desired magical effect. The same mechanism underlay our royal robes. There was no technical reason naturally occurring magicite couldn’t be used, other than the difficulty in finding a suitable biological medium to trigger the desired effect. Then there was the ether drug that I was presently taking to stabilize my own condition. The physical enhancements it provided were possible only because the magicite was using my body as the medium. That being said, it put the body under immense strain. I could see now that this creation of mine, devised with only a shallow understanding of the side effects and consequences, was truly dangerous. Euphie had been a terrifying sight when we finally confirmed that… “Ugh…! This is no time for unpleasant memories…!” I muttered under my breath. “A-are you okay?” “Y-yeah. I’m fine. Sacrifices are unavoidable when you’re doing research…” “Sacrifices…?” “Ah, no, it’s nothing. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Incorporating magicite spells into Halphys’s definition, I consider it to be a third branch of magic.” “A third branch? How exactly is it different?” “I’ll explain step by step. Diagrams should help,” I said, pulling out a portable blackboard and a piece of chalk. “The common denominator underlying all magic is the ability to generate phenomena using magical energy. The first branch of magic is manipulating magical energy directly to exert an effect. This is the type we’re calling non-elemental.” First, I drew a circle, writing the word mana in the middle. Below it, I added an illustration of someone with enhanced abilities and a magic-based sword, drawing a line between it and the circle. “The second branch of magic is the one we all know—elemental magic that transforms spirits into different phenomena. You could describe this as a state where magical energy and spirits are bound together.” I added another circle, again with the word mana scribbled inside. Next to it, I drew a circle around the word spirits, then drew a larger circle encompassing both. “Finally, the third branch of magic is found in the unique powers of individual monsters. The diagram is similar to the one for the second branch, but the difference is that it isn’t triggered by resonating with spirits, but by controlling them.” For the third diagram, I drew two circles, containing the words mana and spirits respectively, then added a larger circle around both, in which I added the word magicite. Next to the word spirits on the second diagram, I added resonance. For the third diagram, I added control. After scribbling in all these annotations, I turned back to my audience. “It is easier to grasp when you describe it that way,” Tilty remarked. “The first branch is about controlling magical energy itself. The second involves the combination of mana and spirits, urging them to transform into magic. And the third is about forcefully changing the spirits themselves into magic. Am I on the right track?”