I watched Yuri as I continued making ink in silence. When I didn’t need to be the ink production line, I spent my time reading the books he’d acquired.
All the books in his room were about talismans. I was reading the basics to start with, and it was all pretty fascinating. A good way to kill time.
Zara started helping me on the third round of ink making. After pouring the ingredients into the dish, it looked like I wouldn’t have enough resin for another batch, so I left that job to her.
In the end, all I was doing was channeling magic while kneading the ingredients. Did this really count as helping out? I felt like Zara’s job was way harder.
Also, while I successfully made more ink on the second round, I failed several times after that. According to Yuri, this was because I had accidentally enchanted the minerals with a spell instead of my power in itself.
I guess I shouldn’t have been thinking about what kind of spells I’ve used in enchantments past.
There were two kinds of screw up: accidentally enchanting the composing materials, and accidentally channeling the wrong thing. In the former case, there was a kind of zap in my fingertips.
How many times was I stunned by the sensation of that zap? Well… My heart hurt a bit when I thought of all of the ingredients I had wasted with my mistakes.
As I made the ink, Yuri referred to his books while drawing talismans in silence. I looked over the talismans he’d left out to dry and saw that some were of the same design, while others varied. It looked like he was making different kinds. Perhaps he was just going in order as they were presented in the book?
Once in a while, I heard him utter the word for an Appraisal spell. I assumed he was checking each one as he drew them. I also assumed the experiment was going well, as I had just turned my attention to a book when Yuri said something disquieting.
“I had a feeling this would happen. The ink you make is very potent, Lady Sei.”
The ink I make is what now? I turned my head so slowly in his direction that I practically creaked.
Yuri had a thoughtful hand to his chin as he considered the talisman he had just finished. When he noticed my gaze, he smiled at me. “There is a considerable difference between the effects produced by the talismans I made and what the book says they should be.”
“You don’t say?”
“Just to make sure, I tried making a talisman using the sumi ink I bought and the result was just as the book described.”
At the mention of sumi ink, I looked down at his hands to see an inkstone and a block of sumi ink. Since the liquid ink in the inkstone was the same color as the ink I was making, I could assume they were made of the same mineral.
When in the world had he made that? But more importantly—he had described a difference. Combined with his comment about the potency of my ink, he was probably referring to my good old friend: the 50 percent bonus curse.
I didn’t think it would go as far as to affect even ink… How long have I suffered under the yoke of this thing? My cheek twitched as I stared into the distance.
As I busily did my best to disassociate, Yuri delivered the final knockout blow: The talismans Yuri made using my ink were all 1.5 times stronger than they should’ve been. Just as I suspected.
And so, with that, not too long after…he directed me to change the type of ink I was producing. The mineral he wanted me to use next was for much stronger support spells. That being the case, he was presumably going to try for stronger talismans as well.
This new ingredient involved using much more magic power than the last one. I supposed it was because the material itself was of a higher grade, but nevertheless, the demands were insignificant in the face of my maximum MP. I got to work with no problems whatsoever.
Meanwhile, the designs of the talismans the grand magus began to draw gradually grew more intricate. When I asked him about it, he confirmed my suspicion: These talismans were more powerful. As such, he also gradually reduced the number of times he cast his Appraisal magic.
How many minutes has it been since I last heard him speak? I looked up from the book I was reading and met Zara’s gaze as she too looked up from her book. She had noticed as well. We nodded at one another before turning to look in Yuri’s direction.
Writing brush in his hand, Yuri looked lost in thought.
Should I say something? But what if I just interrupt whatever he’s thinking? After a moment of hesitation, I decided it was best to say something after all. I inhaled deeply—which was when Yuri began working again.
The way his brush moved so smoothly, without hesitation, made it seem like he hadn’t been stuck at all. When he was done drawing, he heaved an enormous sigh, as if to say he had just accomplished something of great import. But after checking his work with an Appraisal spell, a perplexed smile crossed his lips.
That was not a look of satisfaction. Had he failed?
“Did it work?” I asked cautiously.
Yuri’s expression didn’t change as he answered, “Yes, it worked all right. However, it wasn’t as potent as I was hoping.”
What does that mean? Did he actually fail, then? Was it even less powerful than the book said it should be? These questions raced through my mind, but just as I was about to voice them, Yuri channeled his magic into the talisman he had just finished.
The talisman glowed for a moment before a familiar sensation passed through my body.
“Was that a talisman for increasing defense?” I asked.
“Indeed. It seems that it cast on you too.”
It had felt just like when I cast that kind of spell myself. However, the sensation was much fainter. I doubted it was especially effective.
Wait a minute… I balked. “Did you just say it cast on me ‘too’?”
Yuri nodded and explained that this was an area-of-effect talisman.
No wonder it hit me as well, I thought as Yuri asked if Zara had felt it too.
She answered affirmatively. Yuri nodded to himself and scribbled a note on a nearby piece of paper. He was using the same brush he had used to draw talismans. Was that safe? I was a bit worried but decided not to point it out. It was probably fine.
“I didn’t realize that talismans can cast area-of-effect spells.”
“So they can. I tested the limits based on how much water I could conjure as rain within a limited area, and it did appear that I could make talismans cover a certain range.”
I had assumed the area-of-effect talismans had always existed, but something was weird about Yuri’s phrasing. Surely he wasn’t trying to think up his own talisman designs, was he?
“So that design wasn’t written in any of the books?” I asked, having a feeling I wasn’t going to like his answer.
“Indeed, it wasn’t,” Yuri said nonchalantly. “I combined a number of patterns.”
Combining existing patterns to make something new meant he was creating brand-new designs, didn’t it? Although he didn’t make it sound like anything especially new.
Meanwhile, this whole time Zara had been listening with her mouth agape in open shock.
“Pardon me, but may I cast an Appraisal spell on you?” Yuri asked her.
“Huh? Sure, go ahead.”
“Appraise… It appears that the effect was spread equilaterally across all of us. However, it falls short of the effect we would expect from a single-target spell.”
Based on what Yuri was muttering, the area-of-effect talisman was weaker than its single-target cousin. Maybe this was why area-of-effect talismans for support spells didn’t already exist? In which case, surely, the design he’d come up with already existed and just wasn’t listed in the books.
Unfortunately, several days later I was to learn that this line of reasoning was only wishful thinking.