Chapter 8

A few days had passed since we had started to share ideas through our makeshift lessons. By now, we had firmly established the format of these magicology lessons—I was the teacher, and Ilia was my assistant. Heh-heh, I was actually enjoying this! “So today we’re going to build a working magical tool!” “Oh? Are they really that easy to make?” “I’ve brought a simple one. See, one of those Thermal Pots you’ve been using so much!” Ta-daa! With a dramatic flourish, I placed the unassembled parts in front of Euphie, who stared down at them with great interest. “It isn’t all that difficult to put together,” I said, taking the parts in my hands. “But it does require a certain level of technique.” “Technique?” “Indeed. I’ve got a question for you now. What do you need to do to make a detailed mental image whenever you use magic?” “…Chanting?” “Correct! Or more precisely, conveying to the spirit what you want it to do.” That was something Euphie herself had described in one of our previous classes. Of course, she was fully aware of the necessity of creating mental images. “This part of the magical tool is extremely important. This is where your crafting technique comes in.” “…It isn’t as easy as I hoped, is it?” “It’s all about the process. It isn’t all that difficult to assemble, and the basic principles are fairly simple. Why don’t we give it a go?” I showed Euphie the base, which would provide the Thermal Pot’s core function of generating heat, and urged her to pay attention as I pointed to the base. “By placing a fire stone here, we’ll be able to make it generate heat. This is where the chanting technique comes in.” “A chanting technique…?” Euphie echoed, tilting her head to one side in curiosity. “The magical tool isn’t going to speak or anything like that,” I said with a smirk. “See? Take a look inside the base.” “…Is that an engraving? Ah, that’s the incantation?” “Something like that. So how exactly does a Thermal Pot work? How do you get it to do what you want? This is basically a circuit to provide that core function,” I said, tracing the engraved letters on the base while Euphie watched on in admiration. In the world of my past life, this might have been considered a program of sorts that served to activate the magical tool. “If you pass fire-type magical energy through these letters, you can activate it even without the fire stone. But not everyone has an aptitude for fire magic, so it’s better to use the spirit stone.” “You can do all that just by carving the words into it…?” “That’s why I said it requires specific techniques. For example, applying a special paint containing ground-up spirit stones to the engraved letters. Also, the base itself is an alloy with spirit stones in it, too. You know the spirit stones with no attributes? They’re only really used for decoration, right?” “They are…? Well, I suppose they don’t have many practical applications, but since spirit stones do have such a long history, aren’t they used in ceremonies and the like…?” “That’s what I mean. Decoration.” Euphie breathed a deep sigh. No, I understood where she was coming from. People in our society held immense gratitude and reverence for spirit stones. That applied even to those stones that possessed no functional attributes. However, since such spirit stones contained only raw magical energy, there was some doubt about how to make use of them. They were often ground up and sprinkled through the air in a powdery form in ceremonies and festivals and the like. They were used occasionally in medicine, too. If you poured magical power into such a stone and processed it into powder, the end result was a restorative medicine capable of replenishing magical energy. That said, the taste alone was practically lethal. I had tried such a concoction once myself, and I had no intention of ever doing so again. Aside from that, non-elemental spirit stones were still largely a mystery. Were they the remains of spirits that had crystalized before they could develop notable attributes? Or had they lost their original attributes due to overuse? That was an enticing question for future research, but I had put off investigating it in depth, as my priority was to make magical tools I could actually use. Perhaps I would have time to look into it properly one day. “Back to the topic at hand; it appears to take a lot of time to process…,” Euphie commented. “It certainly does. But anyone who possesses magical energy can make these tools work. This could lead to new opportunities for craftsmen, new employment, and new ways to make a living.” The Kingdom of Palettia had been blessed with an era of peace and stability. I’d heard the country had been going through a rough patch before my father took the throne, but he had managed to right the ship. But even if our world was at peace, there was still a divide between the rich and poor. In fact, I was aware of a slum for refugees in the capital itself, and there were untold numbers of poor and destitute subjects who had no means of securing food for tomorrow. I might not be able to save all of them, but if demand for my magical tools was to increase, the kingdom would need more manpower to satisfy it. I would have liked for my father to help promote the development of magical tools with the power of the state, but there was only so much I could do in my present position. The political struggle regarding who would succeed to the throne was truly a hindrance to my efforts. That was when I realized Euphie was staring again. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “…No, I was just thinking how you sounded like true royalty just then.” “I am royalty!” I exclaimed. Not even Ilia could suppress a snort at that, apparently. I glared at her, but she quickly wiped her mouth, trying to pretend nothing had happened. Maybe I should pinch her cheeks… “A-anyway! There are blacksmiths and craftsmen among the commoners we employ, so why not put their skills to use?” “Y-yes. That does make sense…” For some reason, the atmosphere had become rather awkward. I mean, I might not have been perfect, but I was still royalty, you know? I couldn’t be indifferent to the well-being of the people here. Who was I making these excuses for anyway? I set about assembling the Thermal Pot with Euphie’s help. Getting the parts ready might have been difficult, but the assembly stage was much simpler. All we had to do was connect the parts in the proper order. The base, which provided the main function of the unit, had to be connected to an exterior container that prevented the heat inside from escaping. Next came the fire-type spirit stone, which had to be inserted into the alcove in the base. After that, it was important to do a thorough safety check to ensure there were no mistakes in the engraved text. The last step was to pass enough magical energy through the unit to see whether it worked. “All right. Now we’ve confirmed it’s functioning properly.” “It’s surprisingly easy, just putting the pieces together…” “Creating the parts requires craftsmanship and skill, but after that, even a child could assemble it.” “…I’m convinced. These really are wonderful inventions.” “Do you actually think so?” “Yes, I do. Completely and utterly sincerely.” Euphie flashed me a smile, nodding. I felt my chest growing warm at this display of emotion. Ah, I was so grateful to her. Whenever someone praised my magical tools, though, I always got an itch to show them more. If she was so impressed by the Thermal Pot, what would she think about that other device? “All right! This time I’ll introduce my extra-special, secret magical tool that my father authorized!” “Special? Secret?” “Hee-hee… Ta-daa! Here it is!” I shoved my hand down the back of my skirt and held up the thing so my protégé could see it. Euphie stared back in suspicion. “Is that…a sword hilt? It looks a little strange.” It was indeed—in my hand was a bladeless sword hilt. There was a depression at the base of the hilt, inside of which was a spirit stone. Other than that, the rest was nothing but a regular sword hilt. To all appearances anyway. “As you can see, it’s modeled after the longswords commonly used by our knights.” “Why only the hilt?” “Why indeed? I’m especially proud of this magical tool. You’ll be amazed how useful it is. Behold!” “E-er…?” Euphie, taken aback by my outpouring of enthusiasm, took my invention in her hands. She looked down at it doubtfully, checking its weight and feeling it in her hands. Finally, she turned her attention to the spirit stone embedded in the hollow at the base.