Side Story:
Researching Arte’s Magic
ARTE WAS A DEEPLY KIND AND GENTLE PERSON. To all appearances she was at her happiest having tea with me or Till. That personality of hers made me hesitate to send her to battle. I wanted her to live in peace in Seatoh Village.
Of course, I wanted that for myself too.
But Arte’s puppet magic was particularly well suited to combat. The irony wasn’t lost on me, given her personality, but her actions had cemented the rapid-fire machine bow squad’s position in battle. Arte’s magic gave her control over all kinds of things, and currently, she used a pair of wood block puppets equipped with mithril armor: the two silver Aventador knights.
I didn’t know if it was because they were made of light materials or what, but those wood block puppets had supernatural mobility. Their mithril armor was also specially made, designed for maximum mobility without compromising protection, and they wielded immense swords more than two meters long, boasting slender forms and top-of-the-line sharpness. These supernatural puppets could race to the heart of an enemy formation, heedless of any damage they sustained.
They posed a monumental threat to any opponent, able to create distractions that helped the rapid-fire machine bow squad provide effective long-range support. The enemy could not ignore the silver knights once their ranks were infiltrated, leaving them wide open to a shower of bolts and arrows—which, helpfully, were so powerful that not even silver shields or armor stood a chance against them. In the enemy’s shoes I’d do anything I could to avoid facing those projectiles head-on; anything else was suicide.
That was how strong Arte’s magic was, and that was why I couldn’t ignore it. In fairness, it would also be beneficial for Arte to know how to protect herself if something were to happen, so I made the call: she needed to learn how to use her abilities properly. But what was the best way to train her? The standard magic curriculum consisted of beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses. I couldn’t be certain, having never experienced it for myself, but I figured it covered how to control one’s magic, more clearly visualize what you wanted to do, and make your reserves last longer.
There was just one problem: nobody had a clue what the curricula would look like for my production magic or Arte’s marionette magic. Khamsin’s thieving magic posed a similar problem. All three aptitudes were scorned by noble society, so there was no publicly available research into how to improve these skills. Production magic was generally considered useless, marionette magic had been used in the past to perform assassinations, and thieving magic was notorious as a skill for criminals.
It was unfortunate that research had been stymied on those fronts, but I had a decent idea of what to do. We needed to explore the scale of the magic and its effects, compare affected targets to each other, and analyze all of it.
“Marionette magic enables the user to control organic and inorganic matter. In other words—hmm, let’s see, the easiest point of comparison would be something inorganic… Mithril is easier to use than iron, so wood is also easier than iron. Right?” I asked Arte, the person who actually used that form of magic.
She put her hands on her knees and nodded seriously. “Yes. Objects made of wood are much easier to control. Oh, and smaller objects are easier as well.”
“Hmm.” I scribbled down notes on a piece of paper. “How many objects can you control at once?”
“In terms of wood puppets, three… No, four, maybe. I can only simultaneously control two iron puppets. And with iron, the overall duration is much shorter.”
“Hmm,” I said again, putting together a simple chart. I separated the materials and number of simultaneous targets into distinct categories, then drew up empty boxes into which to insert times. “All right, then let’s give this a shot.”
“R-right!” Arte said, getting to her feet.
Her determination put a warm smile on my face. Together, we exited the building and walked to the small plaza in front of the manor.
Villagers called out to me while I put together some practice puppets. “What are you up to today?”
“Lord Van, what’s going on?”
“Ah, Lord Van!”
Before I knew it, we had a crowd around us. “We’re practicing magic!” I replied, completing puppets of wood, iron, and mithril.
“Whoa! You used so much mithril!” cried an observing adventurer.
“You could make an entire mithril armor set with all of that,” said another.
“I wonder how much that’d cost.”
“If we’re talking raw materials, a whole damn lot. When you add its value as a piece of art, well. Whew!”
The peanut gallery motivated me to give the puppets a bit of aesthetic flair. Focusing on realism would make them creepy, so I designed them after patterned drawing models. They looked like ceremonial dolls at that point, but the mithril reflected the light in a way that made them feel a bit divine.
All the while, Arte stood next to me with her gaze cast downward and her fingertips trembling. Our audience was only increasing her stress levels.
“Okay, all set,” I said. “Let’s get the ball rolling. Can you start with the wood puppet?”
Arte activated her magic, glancing at her surroundings. “Here goes…” she whispered, and almost instantly the wood puppet rose to its feet.
It looked just like a human standing up from a seated position, and it set the onlookers abuzz.
“Wow!”
“It’s like it’s alive!”
It was unclear whether Arte could hear the spectators. She seemed focused, bringing both of her hands up in front of her and making the puppet somersault first forward, then backward, like an acrobat. Then it kicked off the ground, launching itself into the air. Next, it kicked off the side of the building and spun through the air like a gymnast.
Its jumping abilities far exceeded anything a human could achieve. This world had knights and adventurers, people like Dee, who were capable of insane displays of strength. My guess was that this had to do with magic, a type of power that didn’t exist on my Earth. But even compared to them, Arte’s puppets were on a whole new level.
It probably helped that this puppet was made of wood, but still.
To adventurers who regularly threw themselves into battle, the puppet’s movements proved particularly surprising. “Incredible…!”
“If that thing had a sword, there’d be no defending against it.”
For something like two minutes, the wood doll danced about, performing all kinds of acrobatics. I checked that Arte was still okay, then called out to her, “Okay, we’re good! Could you take control of the iron puppet next?”
Arte blinked and turned around. “Ah…of course.”
I guess that was shorter than she expected? I plan to quantify the aggregate amount of magical power she’s using later, but for now, output tests are the priority.