“Congratulations, dear one. That was an excellent display of spellcraft. And even though it was only your first attempt, I see not a single flaw... Yes, this is a perfect specimen.”
“Good job, Hisui. I was wondering what form you envisioned this artifact taking... The result is rather unusual.”
“Congrats! You’re really getting better by leaps and bounds. Even though spellcraft isn’t my specialty, I can still tell just how amazing you’ve gotten!”
The three goddesses congratulated me in turn, with Cult first praising me, then Aruna expressing her curiosity, and Fouré finally gushing with compliments. The whole situation made me feel incredibly awkward, but I did feel pretty good about making a magic artifact.
Scratching the back of my head sheepishly, I thanked them all. “Anyway, that was just the prototype,” I went on. “I’m going to make a lot more so I can improve on it.”
“Chirp?”
“Huh? When did Dandelion get here?” I wondered to myself when I heard his familiar chirps. Looking around from atop my bed, I spotted him nestled beside me. Had he escaped Cosmos and fled here? Though... I guess I probably shouldn’t describe it as “escaping,” really.
“He came in while you were making your barrier artifact. He likely slipped from your sister’s grasp.” Aruna explained in response to my confusion.
“Oh, okay. Thanks for watching over Cosmos, Dandelion. And I know this is coming pretty late, but thanks for warning me about the dragon back then too.”
I gently stroked Dandelion’s tiny head. Although we hadn’t been together for long, Dandelion had really helped me out. He’d saved Cosmos’s life once, and he’d also known exactly where to find Claus and his retinue when they were being attacked by the dragon.
It was enough to make me wonder just how useful godcraft could be—although, I didn’t have to ponder the question too hard. It was obviously really useful no matter its exact limits.
“Chirp! Chirp!”
Dandelion squinted his eyes shut in pleasure at being petted. He was so adorable that the goddesses began to crowd around to pet him as well.
“Huey? I know it’s important to give Dandelion attention, but are you sure you want to skip out on your spellcraft training?”
“Ah! I guess petting him was just so soothing,” I sighed. “Honestly, it’s your fault for being so cute, Dandelion.”
With that half-hearted complaint, I gave Dandelion a final pat on his cheek. That was that for now—time was a-wasting, and I could always play with him later. He looked pleadingly at me as if he were reluctant to part.
I coughed once to clear my throat, then tried activating the artifact I’d created. A translucent shimmer began to spread from the object in a circle, and continued permeating through the floor and walls until it brightened in color ever so slightly and stopped moving. I estimated it had stopped about fifty-ish meters away.
“Wow! So that’s the barrier artifact... Or, rather, the actual barrier itself? So it worked?” Fouré pointed at the barely visible wall outside the window, shooting off rapid-fire questions in her excitement.
“Hey, Hisui. I have a question,” Aruna abruptly asked.
“What is it?”
Much like Fouré, she was gazing at the barrier as well. “The activation was indeed successful, but I’m wondering about its durability... It’s a barrier that physically wards off intruders, after all, so how was it able to pass through you and Dandelion—and indeed, the entire room?”
“Oh, that? Well, when I was making the artifact, it suddenly hit me that if it functioned like a physical barrier right off the bat, then it’d just break things or knock stuff over in the area as it expanded. So I adjusted it a little.”
“How so?”
“I made it so it wouldn’t actually function as a barrier until it finished expanding about fifty meters. That way we can set it up safely and we won’t break anything.”
“I see. But that does introduce a flaw.”
“I knew you’d notice. Because the barrier takes time to fully activate, it can’t keep out anything that’s already within its activation range, right?” This was an issue I realized just as I was finishing the artifact.
If I made it so the barrier would only form once it had reached a specified range, then anything close by when I switched the barrier on would still be able to get to us. If I tried activating this outside, for example, and there turned out to be monsters less than fifty meters away, then that’d be a big problem.
Since the design was fairly simple, the barrier itself would only block things outside from entering. It would still be possible to exit it from the inside...but there’d be some risks to doing that.
“So, what will you do? Disregarding the manor itself, if you mean to keep your powers secret, you’ll need to expand the barrier to its full range and make sure there aren’t any people around, won’t you?”
“More or less. I know this is kind of a brute-force solution to the problem, but I was just planning on defeating any monsters within its range once it’s deployed. As long as I make sure to take out everything beforehand, no one can enter the ward unless it’s destroyed or I remove it.”
“I figured you’d say that.” She didn’t say anything more—probably because she’d reached the same conclusion as I had.
After a moment, Fouré finally tugged at my clothes. “Hey, if you’re done answering Aruna’s questions, we should go test how strong the barrier is next!”
“I know, Fouré. Aruna, can you do the honors?” I decided to have Aruna do the all-important durability test, given that she was the strongest warrior among the goddesses. From a pure power level perspective, Cult probably had more capabilities, but Aruna’s power was far more intimidating on the offense. That’s why I figured she’d be perfect for stress testing a protective wall.
“Leave it to me. I’ll be sure to adjust my strength as needed when I give it a good whack.”
“Oh, you’re just going to hit, then...” That was definitely something I expected her to do, but the way she said it was reminiscent of something an elementary or junior high schooler would say—even though she was hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years older than me.
“Hisui? You’re not thinking anything weird, are you?”
“Huh?! N-Not at all! I would never!” For a moment, I startled myself, thinking I might’ve accidentally spoken my thoughts aloud. Aruna scowled at me as I hurriedly covered my mouth with my hand, but her gaze drifted away from me before long.
“Fine. Anyway, I’ll measure the durability of the barrier for you.” She gently floated upward and then headed outside, passing through the wall as she did so.
The moment I had the thought that I wanted to see Aruna do her test from up close, Fouré and Cult got on either side of me and lifted me up. Once again I felt like a hapless alien snatched up by curious humans, much like when I’d previously been caught by Azalea and Cosmos. Sandwiched between the two, I was carried outside through the window.
“Um, surely there’s a better way to carry me, right? Fouré, Cult?”
“What? Nope, no way—this is the only way I get to carry you in my arms. So there.”
“Hee hee. Please, do accept our cuddling, little one. I too would like to hold fast to you like this sometimes.”
“I feel like you ‘hold fast’ to me like...every day, though.”
“Chirp!” Disregarding my discomfort, Dandelion chirped joyfully from atop my head and waved his right wing toward Aruna. He was perched upon his throne again, and he was now getting a free ride.
“Hisui! I’m starting the test now!” shouted Aruna. Some distance away, Aruna had arrived at the edge of the barrier. I managed to wave at her in reply even though Fouré and Cult had my arms held aloft.
“Please do, Aruna!” Upon hearing my response, Aruna returned her gaze to her target and tightened her hand into a fist. Drawing her elbow back just a little, she rapidly threw out some simple forward jabs.
Her fist came into contact with the barrier. Then...
“Whoa!”
A violent gale rushed past us.
Though we were still quite far away from Aruna, the wind pressure nearly blew us away. Had Fouré and Cult not been holding me as tightly as they were, I was sure both me and Dandelion would have plummeted to the ground. Or, maybe just me—Dandelion could fly so he’d probably have been fine.
I grimaced. The wind was so strong, it felt like I was being hit in the face. Finally, I heard a shrill crash ring out, announcing the shattering of the barrier. It was a tinkling sort of crack, much like the sound of shattering glass.
“Down in one impressive go. I wonder if she actually held back like she said she would.”
Fouré laughed awkwardly. “Aruna was holding back quite a bit, I think. If she really meant to do damage, the shock waves would have obliterated the ground too.”
“Right... I can see that.”
Evidently, I still wasn’t able to accurately estimate Aruna’s extraordinary might. Of course I couldn’t—I’d never actually seen Aruna fight at full strength before. Had she done so at any point, I’m sure Clematis would have been reduced to a barren wasteland immediately.
Her inspection finished, Aruna turned back toward us with an unreadable expression. Slowly, she drifted over.
“Nice work, Aruna. So how was my barrier?”
“Not too bad. If it took about twenty percent of my strength to break, then even something as strong as a green dragon shouldn’t be able to penetrate it. You should be proud.”
“T-Twenty percent...” Considering that was twenty percent from the world’s strongest being, I knew I should be happy about the assessment, but I just couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed at the low number.
But since the barrier could withstand an attack from a green dragon, it had plenty of practical use, especially for Claus. Since he lived in town, he’d be able to keep strangers from slipping into his residence with this. Besides, nothing stronger than a green dragon should be appearing in town anyway.
“Thanks, Aruna. The barrier’s perfect for our needs, then. I can hand this off to Claus without a problem.”
“Is the range good enough?” she asked.
“It’s probably fine,” I mused. “At its current activated range, it’ll just barely cover up to the walls surrounding the estate.” If the barrier ended up extending to the streets, then I’d have to modify its effective range, so it was more convenient if it stayed confined to Claus’s property.
“I see. Then let’s return—the night is still young,” remarked Aruna.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Can I ask you two to bring me back inside, Fouré, Cult?”
“Okey dokey!” chirped Fouré.
“At once,” nodded Cult.
And so, I was carried back into the manor, still sandwiched between the two goddesses.