“These are our finest, handpicked products. I can confidently recommend any of these designs,” the employee said. He then went over each one of the magic items. Though they were all magic communicators, they had wide variation in both size and shape. One of them was a large rectangle that could fit in the palm of your hand, there was another that looked like a pocket watch, and there was even a one that looked like a piece of jewelry that hooked over the top of your ear.
“There really are a lot of different kinds,” Yui remarked.
“Yes. Right now, one very popular design among our female customers is this ear hook model. In contrast to the conventional models that you hold in your hand to use, it frees both of your hands, and it’s lightweight. It has a beautiful design, so you can also use it as an ordinary accessory. If you’d prefer something besides the ones here, we also offer custom-made designs.” As he had said, there were some pretty ones that had more subdued designs, and some others with cutesy ornamentation. They all looked like normal jewelry and not at all like magic items.
Yui painstakingly thought it over, then chose a communicator with a cute white flower motif. “Hmm, then, I’ll take this one,” she said. She was satisfied with her choice, and it was also within her price range.
“Thank you for your purchase. There are some final adjustments that need to be done, which can take up to an hour. Would you be able to wait in the store?”
Yui turned around and called over the others from where they were standing a short distance away. “Umm... Papa.”
“Yes, what is it?” Layce asked.
“He said it’ll take an hour to adjust it and asked us what we’ll do.”
“If it’s only an hour, then let’s wait in the store. Time will pass before you know it if you look around at the other magic items here.”
Yui had been curious about what else was there, so she eagerly welcomed Layce’s proposal. Of course, Layce had known that when he’d suggested it.
“Please enjoy yourselves. We also have plenty of brand-new models in stock. If you ever wish to take one in your hand to look at it, please don’t hesitate to ask a nearby associate.”
“Okay,” Yui said. The employee left holding the earring, and Yui went to look around the store.
Each magic item was quite expensive. Some of them were decently affordable for a regular family, but cheaper ones were plainer and had fewer features, and they tended to be of poor quality. If you wanted something powerful that performed well, the price inevitably rose. Even as the daughter of a count, Yui, who lived with her commoner grandparents, would never have been able to afford one. She had never been in a store like this, especially not one with so many high-quality magic items in one place, and she had fun browsing around and seeing the novel and surprising variety on display. However, as she continued browsing, a certain thought suddenly crossed her mind.
“What is it, Yui?” Carlo asked. “You look really serious.”
She realized she had been lost in thought and had been frowning. “Hey, at magic academies, there’s an elective where they teach you how to make magic items, right? I think you can take it starting your second year.”
“Yeah, you can. Cecil and I are taking that class right now.”
“How do you make one?”
“Well, to put it simply, first you begin by casting a spell. You let your magic take shape, but then, in the spell’s inactive state, you affix it to an inanimate object. If you do it right, the spell’s function will be etched into the material. But at the academy, they only teach you how to make basic magic items. The more complex the formula, the harder it gets to affix magic to an object. Why do you ask?”
Yui wondered whether it was okay for her to say it here. She lowered her voice so none of the employees could hear her. “You know, looking at the magic items here, I think I could make them. Listening to your explanation, it sounds pretty easy, and I think even I could do it.”
Saying that she could make such high-quality, expensive magic items was basically picking a fight with the store, and normally, Carlo would’ve said, “Don’t be ridiculous,” and flatly rebuffed her. But, this was Yui. She had created a spell that all the country’s researchers hadn’t been able to discover, so if she out of all people was saying it, then Carlo couldn’t deny the possibility that she might be right. “Hm... Well, why don’t you wait until you take the magic item elective next year?” he suggested.
“Good idea. I guess for now, I’ll think of some formulas and features of items that I might want to make.”
Yui looked like she was really looking forward to next year. She was speaking so excitedly that Carlo couldn’t bring himself to tell her the magic item elective was divided into four levels—beginning, intermediate, advanced, and expert—and that each of the courses took a year to complete. Creating magic items was only for the advanced class and up, which meant that she had to be at least a fourth-year to take it.