Chapter 67 - Chapter 66: It's Too Early for a Courtesy Call
Tuesday of the 4th Week, 1st Month of Earth.
The year had changed, and it was now less than a month until Mika and the others would begin attending the Magic Academy in Sarbengeal.
It takes eight days by shared carriage from Sarbengeal to the Royal Capital.
They would leave Sarbengeal two weeks early to be safe, and it seemed the carriage would be provided by the Academy.
Before that, there was a four-week vacation, so attending the Academy would last until Saturday of the 4th Week, 2nd Month of Earth.
Mika was sitting at a desk in a dimly lit room.
He placed a small figurine of a goddess, about 30 centimeters long, held in his left hand, onto the desk.
This was one of the cursed items he had received from the old woman at the Appraisal Shop Owner's shop a few days ago.
It harbored a fairly strong curse, but he had solved the puzzle within two days.
Recently, even curses that the old woman strongly warned against were being solved within a few days, so it felt somewhat unsatisfying.
Still, being able to enjoy it to a certain extent until it is solved is probably the good thing about puzzles.
Even if one says they got bored because it was too easy, if there is a new puzzle, one becomes eager to challenge it.
Originally, he had a nature that liked puzzles quite a bit, so no matter what he said, he felt a little happy when he obtained something new.
And then, once it was solved, he felt a little regret.
Mika moved his chair and put the goddess figurine away in the top drawer of the dresser.
Inside the drawer, various things were rattling around.
Bracelets, necklaces, rings, brooches, knives, silver cups, coins, figurines, divine statues, and so on.
About thirty items were stored there, and all of them were things that had once been puzzles.
(I have to return this before leaving the dormitory. Should I bring some hand-made sweets as a thank you gift?)
Even though he had received them, the agreement was to return them when they were no longer needed.
He had no intention of unilaterally breaking that promise.
Until now, he had not returned them at all to avoid letting anyone know that the curses had been lifted, but it was probably time now.
He thought he would go back and return them with some tea snacks just before returning to his hometown.
He put the chair back in its place, crossed his legs and arms, and rested his chin on his hand.
He had been fiddling with various "cursed items" for over a year and a half, but in the end, he thought it was a phenomenon he still didn't understand well.
Since he could interfere with it using magic power, Mika had predicted that the curse might also be manifesting through magic power, but in the end, there was no proof.
Trying the method the old man at the Magic Tool Shop had said, "investigate the contained magic power," might add a little to the evidence, but naturally, he did not have such tools.
Well, what interested Mika was not the curse itself, but rather, "magic power can do such things?"
He had realized and manifested spells as he thought of them, but the idea of a curse had never occurred to him.
In reality, he was more interested in blessings than curses, but he had never seen anything that harbored a strong blessing.
Perhaps if there was a "Holy Sword" somewhere, it might harbor a strong blessing.
Could it be that blessings can be solved just like curses?
(...If I did that, I wouldn't just get scolded.)
If he turned a Holy Sword back into just a sword, the owner would surely hate him to death.
He felt a bit like touching it, but even if the opportunity arose, he thought he should stop while he was ahead.
However, why do the effects of blessings and curses continue permanently?
Magic power dissipates immediately after manifesting its effect.
At least, Mika's magic was like that.
But curses maintain their effects forever.
And why can't everyone dispel curses?
There must be plenty of people with more magic power than Mika.
If someone with excellent sensing abilities noticed it, it wouldn't be strange for others to have noticed too.
(Is it because they don't have enough magic power even if they notice?)
Mika tried to forcibly dispel it while recovering magic power with [Absorb].
There were magic recovery potions, but surely no one would foolishly challenge it by chugging down a potion that cost ten thousand Rats per bottle.
So, it meant that even if they noticed they could interfere, no one knew what would happen if they actually interfered.
(Is there no one around here who knows about this?)
There was a limit to doing it alone.
More importantly, he had no choice but to live a life centered around the Academy.
He couldn't concentrate only on what he wanted to do.
(Anyway, why is everyone so obsessed with [God's Miracle]? Why not just make magic however they like?)
Despite being able to create and customize [Customize] so freely, no one was trying to do it.
Of course, it might be that everyone was doing it normally, and Mika just didn't know, but it was never mentioned in classes or literature.
He had read some literature in the library in the school building, but all of them wrote that "[God's Miracle] cannot manifest unless prayers are sent to the gods."
(No, no, no! It has nothing to do with prayers! It should be more like a mechanism, a device, right!?)
By chanting incantations, magic power is taken away automatically.
That is how it is constructed.
The concept of "word spirit" existed in his original world too, a mechanism where power works by putting words into them.
In this mysterious world, he could only think of one cause for such a thing to be possible.
Magic power.
Words holding magic power.
That must be the true nature of incantations.
He had no idea at all about the logic of why such a thing was possible, but someone had noticed it.
Magic power could be placed on the words themselves.
That was why such things existed.
Incantations that manifested [God's Miracle].
Kifrod had said that [God's Miracle] could not be made free in various ways.
He felt the same even when looking at the literature.
Probably, the effects were determined by the incantations.
The parameters that could be tinkered with were power... probably just the output.
The power could be changed by the amount of magic power consumed, but aside from that, the effects were likely fixed by the incantation.
(It's just like a Dynamic Link Library.)
Just as programmers call necessary processes from DLL files, mages were simply utilizing a process named [God's Miracle].
Call it with an incantation, give arguments [Magic Power], and get return values [Effects].
That was all there was to it.
(...Someone must have designed [God's Miracle] and limited it to its current form. But why...?)
It was common for things to be too free and thus hard to use.
That was why preparing a certain form [Preset] was understandable.
He had thought of the same thing when introducing one of the "conditions" he was doing, the "spell name."
(But why did it end up like that? Why don't anyone consider the possibility of magic other than [God's Miracle]?)
If normal magic existed, there should have been at least some description in the literature.
But there was none at all.
It didn't even touch on that possibility.
As if magic other than [God's Miracle] did not exist at all.
He had learned in the Kingdom History class at the Academy that before the Academy was established, [God's Miracle] had been passed down like oral tradition.
In that long history, it seemed magic other than [God's Miracle] had completely fallen into disuse.
To the point where its very existence was not even recognized.
(As for the reason why everyone can't think of it, maybe it's faith?)
They had been taught that way since birth.
Everything was thanks to the gods, and [God's Miracle] was also the power of the gods.
Unless there was a trigger like magic manifesting suddenly for someone like Mika, they might not be able to suddenly overturn their values.
(Still, it wouldn't be strange if one or two contrarians did it.)
There were always people who rebelled against values imposed everywhere.
He thought those people might have manifested magic on their own.
He exhaled with a "fuuu..."
It had taken two years, but what he had learned at the Magic Academy here in Sarbengeal was not in vain.
Not only was it not in vain, it was significant that he had acquired the rare [God's Miracle] called [Physical Enhancement].
In the Royal Capital, he would be bound for six years.
He hoped to gain something commensurate with that.
(...But there's also a possibility that I pulled an SSR right away?)
Even if the probability was one in ten thousand, one could hit the jackpot on the first try.
Mika's luck in lotteries was not something to expect much from, but since it was probability, such a thing was possible.
He should stop dreaming that he would definitely get something better than this in the Royal Capital.
Rather, it was too lucky that he had obtained something as useful as [Physical Enhancement].
(Maybe I should think of it as having used up eight years' worth of luck combined with the Royal Capital?)
Thinking such thoughts, Mika climbed onto the bed.
Sleeping here was also for less than a month left.
Looking up at the familiar ceiling in front of him, he burrowed into the futon.
(...Should I buy some tea snacks for the Trelens people or the Cafeteria Ladies working in the dormitory?)
They had been arranging the beds every day, cleaning, doing laundry, and preparing meals.
While thinking about whether to pay his respects little by little to the people he had been helped by in Sarbengeal, he closed his eyes.
■■■■■■
Sunday of the 5th Week, 1st Month of Earth.
Mika was improving [Stone Bullet] in the forest.
When fighting against En Batamos, he couldn't hit them at all, so to speak.
Until then, the basic size had been fist-sized, which was just the right size and power to crush the head of Sou-Labi.
But it was completely useless against En Batamos.
So, he decided to pursue speed to the extreme.
The volume remained unchanged, but he shaped it like a rifle bullet and aimed to exceed the speed of sound.
Honestly, if he raised the power too much, he wouldn't be able to collect Sou-Labi's fur in a beautiful state.
However, a situation arose where he couldn't say such things.
Even when the Marquis's daughter was kidnapped, he wasn't confident he could hit the thin man with [Stone Bullet] even with a surprise attack.
It was all because the speed was not enough.
If he had thought of this earlier, he might have been able to defeat En Batamos much more easily.
Well, in that monkey's case, Mika's bad illness was the main cause.
Mika picked up the surrounding sounds with [Big Ear] and fired [Stone Bullet] at the presence of Sou-Labi he thought was nearby.
In this way, he was practicing aiming at Sou-Labi that charged in after announcing his presence, using a long range.
"...This is about one hundred meters, isn't it?"
He aimed at the Sou-Labi that charged in response to the intentionally fired [Stone Bullet].
"[Stone Bullet]."
A sound of tearing the air went "bashun!", and the Sou-Labi burst.
With increased speed, the impact of the [Stone Bullet] shattered the Sou-Labi's body.
Probably, since the material was stone, the [Stone Bullet] shattered upon impact, causing this phenomenon.
It seemed he was unintentionally getting effects similar to soft-point or hollow-point bullets.
Unfortunately, with this, collecting the fur would be impossible.
"Uu... n. Just charging in isn't much practice."
It was easy to hit because the target just looked smaller, and there was no lateral movement.
"Well, I can't ask for luxury up to that point."
For now, he prioritized increasing speed above all else.
If possible, he wanted to increase the size while keeping the rifle bullet shape and aim for further power improvement.
After practicing [Stone Bullet] with Sou-Labi as targets for about an hour, he headed off to collect Red Lizard Stones.
He exchanged the Red Lizard Stones at the Guild and paid a slightly early farewell greeting to Yunressa.
"I can come here until Sunday of the 3rd Week next month, or Saturday of the 4th Week. I was helped by many things you taught me, Rosalinde-san. It's a bit early, but I wanted to let you know. Thank you for your help."
Mika bowed politely.
He had taught him various things in detail, even though he had no experience at all.
She had a nagging side, but she was truly worried about Mika.
He wanted to pay his respects properly.
"So much time has passed already. ...I see, you're going to the Royal Capital this time."
Yunressa looked at Mika with a solemn expression.
"Then! Good luck in the Royal Capital too, Mika-kun!"
Just then, a black-haired short-haired onee-san from before cut in, waving her hand sharply.
She was the person who had said Yunressa was "Mika's handler."
"Wait a minute, Rosalinde! That hasn't been officially ordered yet, has it!"
"Eh? There's no way we're turning back now. We're just stretching it out until you come right away."
"That's why, you shouldn't say it yet!"
Yunressa warned the black-haired onee-san, Rosalinde.
(Yeah. We shouldn't spread the news about the preliminary offer.)
However, was this person Rosalinde also going to the Royal Capital?
"Are you going to the Royal Capital too, Rosalinde-san? A transfer? Or rather, a promotion?"
Since it was a transfer from a provincial city to the Royal Capital, he felt there was a high possibility of a promotion.
"A promotion? That's ridiculous! ...Just a fire-fighting personnel..."
Rosalinde answered weakly to Mika's question.
...Fire-fighting? What happened at the Guild in the Royal Capital?
The energy she had until just now vanished in an instant, and the light disappeared from Rosalinde's eyes.
"Then, please take care of me in the Royal Capital. Rosalinde-san."
Mika called out to her, trying to cheer up for the moment, and Rosalinde suddenly grinned.
"Oh my. Mika-kun's handler is Yunressa. I told you before, didn't I?"
She said that and winked.
(Is that story still valid...?)
He had been told not to trust Yunressa.
However, even if told that, Mika was going to the Royal Capital in spring, so naturally, the handler would change.
If there really was such a thing as a handler, that is.
Mika was sticking his face with "I don't understand," and Rosalinde took Yunressa's arm.
"Since Mika-kun is going, of course Yunressa will go to the Royal Capital too! Right!"
"Huh?"
What is this person saying?
I don't understand.
Rosalinde was grinning happily, but Yunressa seemed flustered about something.
What was going on?
"As personnel for counter duties, the two of us from Sarbengeal are going to the Royal Capital! So in the Royal Capital too, Yunressa will continue to be Mika-kun's handler! That's great, Mika-kun!"
"Rosalinde!"
Yunressa warned Rosalinde, but Rosalinde didn't care at all.
It was rare to meet someone who didn't listen to people's words this much.
Was the Guild in the Royal Capital really okay with pulling in such a person?
Or was the situation that bad?
"I thought it was quite noisy, but it's you again, Rosalinde."
A stern old man with a mustache came from the back, frowning between his eyebrows.
(Does 'you again' mean this person Rosalinde is always like this?)
That must be difficult for a superior.
"By the way, this Chirensta-san is also going to the Royal Capital. This one is a real promotion. He's been offered the position of Vice Branch Manager."
This person had openly revealed it in front of a superior.
Was there no one she feared?
Mika and Yunressa were dumbfounded.
The old man with a mustache called Chirensta sighed with a resigned look.
"Ah... Mika-kun."
Chirensta called out to Mika.
"I would appreciate it if you could keep this matter in your chest until the proper time comes. Well, it's not a big deal even if it gets known."
Mika nodded vigorously.
"Thank you for your cooperation. By the way, a new branch was established in the Royal Capital a few years ago. We are transferring there. From the Magic Academy, that branch is probably the closest. Good luck in the Royal Capital, Mika-kun."
"Yes. Oh, congratulations on your promotion."
When Mika said that, Chirensta smiled bitterly.
"It's not really feeling like a promotion, but... well, thank you."
Chirensta replied like that and tightened his expression.
"Anyway, this matter ends here. Then, Rosalinde, come here."
Chirensta glanced at Rosalinde and headed toward the back room.
Even at this point, Rosalinde was grumbling about something.
This was entirely Rosalinde's fault.
"A, ahahaha..."
Yunressa spilled a dry laugh.
"Well, that's how it is, so please take care of me, Mika-kun."
"Yes."
This time, Mika might have paid his respects a bit too early.
However, a somewhat interesting topic had come up.
"Does the Royal Capital have a Guild branch? Isn't the headquarters in the Royal Capital?"
Sarbengeal was also a large town, but there should only be a Guild branch here.
"Before, there was only the headquarters, but the number of adventurers increased and it became cramped. So, while keeping the headquarters functions, they made a large branch for counter duties and pickup windows. But even that wasn't enough, so they established a new branch a few years ago."
"There are that many adventurers in the Royal Capital?"
"Yes, there are many. So, honestly, I'm not very keen on transferring to the Royal Capital. Because it's obvious it will be busy."
They were expanding branches to cope, but even so, they didn't have enough hands, so they were gathering personnel from the provinces.
That was probably why she said "fire-fighting personnel."
It was a fitting term.
Or rather, they say it everywhere, calling the personnel deployed to difficult sites "fire-fighting personnel."
"Then, right now, does that mean there is the headquarters and two branches in the Royal Capital?"
"Yes. The Royal Capital is wide, you know. I think expanding and dispersing branches is a good method. Rather, shouldn't we make each branch smaller and increase the number? It would require more manpower, though."
Was the Royal Capital that wide?
Sarbengeal was also quite wide, five kilometers vertically and four kilometers horizontally.
"Sarbengeal here doesn't have the leeway to spare that many people either... Well, on Sundays, there is enough leeway to talk a little like this."
It seemed many adventurers had the idea of taking Sundays off.
Indeed, when Mika came to the Guild, it didn't look that crowded.
It would be helpful if the same tendency existed in the Royal Capital.
He had become a little curious about what kind of place the Guild in the Royal Capital was.
Having received information that the newly established branch was closest to the Magic Academy, he returned to the dormitory with a little excitement.