“That being said, I do think it’d be going too far to keep you bound to this town. You are your own person, after all—regardless of how blessed you are with talent, it would be inhumane to infringe on your basic freedoms. Especially considering that you clearly have the power to take care of yourself.”
“Right. I’m sure that if I erect a barrier around my house with a magic artifact, I won’t be attacked by monsters very easily.”
“A barrier, you say?” Claus’s eyebrow twitched. Was he interested in them?
“I was planning on installing something around my house that can emit a permanent, physical barrier. If I tried making something that detects magecraft or electrostatic energy or heat, people and even regular animals would end up getting caught in it, so that won’t do.” Though, strictly speaking, “regular” animals pretty much didn’t exist in this world, or at least not in the same way. If livestock were kept outside, they’d be literally snapped up by monsters. In this world, cattle and pigs and chickens were all kept within the safe confines of the town streets.
So I was most concerned about monsters. If I could just keep those out, then I wouldn’t have been too bothered if I’d had to use a heat detector or electrostatic device. But there were still birds that could get caught in something like that, and it’d be terrible if other adventurers approached the barrier and were mistaken for monsters. So instead of using a detection method, I’d settled on just having a physical barrier that was up all the time and would prevent anyone from entering. It wouldn’t be too hard to do either.
“A permanent barrier, is it? Would the maintenance not be too difficult?”
“Right, there’s maintenance to consider too, I guess. Basically, the dark monstrite needed to power artifacts is only found in dungeons. It wouldn’t be cost-effective to keep the barrier running around the clock too.” Artifacts and I were naturally at odds, since they cost so much money while I wanted to save. “Still, there’s a way to manage it, and it’s a simple method at that.”
“How so?”
“I just have to make it so it’ll run on spellcraft energy. While other artifacts naturally run on monstrite, I just need to design the artifacts I create to use whichever of the three energies I’d like them to. Simple solution, right?”
Claus didn’t seem entirely convinced. “Perhaps. The world would certainly be a different place if craftsmen around the world could do as you suggest. But just as there’s a reason for everything that exists, there is also a reason for things that don’t.”
“Right. I’ve heard it’d be terribly difficult to create an artifact of that specific design. But I’ll do it, I promise. I haven’t missed a single day of spellcraft training, after all.”
“There are other considerations to make as well. Supposing that even if you could use any of the three powers as a source of energy for an artifact, where would the energy to sustain it long-term come from? Even those who have deep reserves of power can only sustain use for a few hours.”
It was exactly as he said. Running an artifact twenty-four seven for 365 days a year would require a staggering amount of energy—enough to make a person faint. It only made sense to use artifacts that ran on monstrite instead. But that calculation ran on one false assumption—that my energy output was that of an ordinary person.
“You said so yourself, didn’t you, Lord Lycoris?”
“Hm?”
“That I was the most beloved of the goddesses in history.”
“Ah, yes... I suppose I did. What of it?”
“That’s a very important point. The amount of energy I can use is actually several times greater than that of the average person. I can naturally regenerate more energy than it would take to power an artifact.”
This was the honest truth.
The goddesses furnished me with energy during training, since it’d be a waste of time to wait for my energy to naturally replenish itself. But even if they didn’t, it only took a few hours for it to recover. The energy needed for artifacts was just below my natural regeneration rate. I could recover an hour’s worth of energy in a mere five minutes, so I could supply energy in perpetuity.
At least, I could in theory.
“I see... Ha ha! How silly of me to have forgotten my very own words. You are a special case, and I really can’t gauge you based on my own presumptions.” Claus laughed awkwardly. He must’ve judged my claims to be accurate. “Now that I’ve heard your ideas, I actually don’t think I could stop you from leaving. There’s no issue at all, I suppose. But what about you two, Miss Armeria, Miss Cosmos? You are his sisters, after all.”
Claus’s gaze moved to my two sisters, who were sitting beside me. They hadn’t said anything so far, but they clearly looked like they wanted to. They must’ve been seriously debating whether to try to stop me or to just let me go. Finally, they decided on their answers. “I’m still worried,” Armeria said. “Hisui saved us, that much is true. He even cured my illness and took us away from our terrible old home, so I have nothing but appreciation for him. If it were possible, I’d love to help make his wish come true. But as much as I want that for him, I still don’t want to see him go...”
“What about you, Miss Cosmos?”
“I agree with Armeria. I don’t want Hisui getting up to anything dangerous. No matter how strong he is, if he ended up dying... I don’t think either of us would ever recover from that.”
“There you go, Hisui. You of course have the right to do as you wish, as your own individual—and legally speaking, no one would be able to stop you. You already have residency here in Lycoris, after all. But what do you think of your sisters’ feelings?”