Chapter 4: Spring Palace (part four)

You know what? Because I’m so excited I’ll post this now~ We’re nearing the exciting part of this arc~ Enjoy the chapter! And next up, the preparation for battle!

TL: clover

ED: clover, eristol

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After that, I somehow escaped Klaus’ pursuit and headed for the dinner party.

As soon as Klaus brought up the matter of the ruins during dinner, Duke Hafan stopped him with a solemn reprimand.

It couldn’t be helped. It is not a place where a 10-year-old child can go.

When the topic about the ruins came out, I found it secretly amusing that my older brother looked unruffled on the outside but was feeling anxious on the inside.

It is a good thing that I forbade Klaus from speaking about the matter of Eduard-oniisama going into the Ruins of Visitor~

When the dinner party was over, Eduard was about to head to the basement of the Spring Palace to use the transfer gate there to teleport to the Royal Magic Academy in Lindis at the central part of the continent.

Transfer gates can be found in the basements of many important establishments. They connect spaces with magic, allowing users to warp between them. These are a kind of spatial doors which connect to various points of spaces via ley lines. Operating a transfer gate requires the use of a one-time key. These keys are managed by whichever ruling noble is in charge of managing the gates, so they cannot be produced elsewhere. During a war many years ago, all the ley lines and transfer gates in the west were destroyed. The Visitors Clan eventually restored them. Therefore, House Aurelia holds a monopoly over the teleportation throughout the region. 

My older brother received a key from father after the dinner party.

A sudden feeling of unease crept up in my mind due to my previous conversation with Klaus.

Wanting to find out about the magic embedded in the star crystal, I caught up with my older brother who had just finished packing his belongings.

“Onii-sama, I’m sorry to hold you up when you are in a hurry, but may I ask you something about this necklace?”

“Hm, what about the necklace, Erica?”

“Klaus-sama was concerned about the magic inside this stone. He said it was a very rare magic.”

“Oh? A rare magic, is it…could you let me borrow it for a bit, Erica?”

With his eyebrows slightly furrowed, my older brother stared hard at the star crystal.

Then he swung open his leather briefcase on the floor while crouching on the spot.

“Is that your Wunderkammer…?”

The reservoir of materials and items an alchemist has prepared is called a Wunderkammer.

The leather bag seems to have an expanded interior space.

So my older brother set up a Wunderkammer inside it.

“Well, the magic for expanding space was very expensive…”

“That is to be expected, onii-sama…”

My older brother said so with distant eyes.

Incidentally, even the materials and wands stored inside would cost an enormous amount of money.

I guess this was quite a splurge, Eduard-oniisama.

I cannot estimate the specific price, but even if I just roughly guess, I believe that he would have to sell off one or two silver veins that he would inherit in the future to pay it off.

“Well, time to take a look.”

Out of the numerous wands in the bag, Eduard picked out a wand made from a branch of sugar maple.

A piece of emerald was embedded at its top.

The ornament on the grip was embellished with mother of pearls to imitate the sheen of a peacock.

Perhaps the core material was a peacock’s feather.

The length of the wand was just about the length of a conductor’s baton.

Such a small tool can hold around fifty charges of magic, although a wand of the finest quality can hold over a hundred.

How convenient~ I thought, but each one can only contain one type of magic.

To deal with every situation, many different wands are needed simultaneously.

So preparation is important for the western alchemists.

Eduard-oniisama swung the wand like a conductor of an orchestra.

A magic circle was deployed around him, enveloping him in a pale green light, before converging on his eyes.

With this, Eduard-oniisama’s eyes were temporarily put under the effects of Glam Sight.

The magic of an alchemist in this world is all done manually. With Glam Sight, he could see everything about the magic: its construction, range, duration, creator and practitioner.

“I see. This is amazing.”

“How is it?”

“Since I found it at the Ruins of Visitor, I assumed that the magic was from that era. But in reality, it seems older. At least from before Ignitia conquered the southern part of this continent.”

It was around 650 years ago when the founder of Aurelia arrived at this continent.

It was 150 years prior to that when the invading Ignitia destroyed Casketia and placed the southern part of this continent under their control.

That makes this magic at least 800 years old.

Casketia was a country of vampires.

It was a dark nation where the vampire royalty and aristocracy dominated human beings like livestock—at least, that is how it was reported.

That means there is a high possibility that the magic put on this stone likely comes from a vampire of Casketia.

How ominous.

“It is likely to be a vampire’s magic.”

“Aah, I see.”

At this point, vampires are considered phantom beasts from eight centuries age who have long since gone extinct.

But I heard that in the scenarios which I had yet to complete, vampires still lurked in waiting.

“Fortunately it is safe for us. Because we, western people are all resistant to magic of this kind. But—I’m afraid that both the eastern and northern people are sensitive and will be affected by it.”

“What kind of magic was put inside the stone?”

“I will say that it’s close to a type of fascination magic, but…yes, it seems to be spelled to evoke one’s desires…it would be better for me to hold on to this stone for now.”

Magic that evokes desire, huh?

Suddenly I remembered the tragedy of Klaus and Ann in 『Liber Monstrorum』. In the first place, why would the very polite Ann want Erica’s necklace?

—It was probably because of the desire evoked by this necklace.

“Erica, I don’t know if it will help you, but here.”

I was given the key of my brother’s wonderful Wunderkammer.

The stored items of a Wunderkammer is equivalent to a lifeline for an alchemist. Although it is a spare, it is still very precious.

“Onii-sama, why are you giving such an important item to me?”

“Because you seem very uneasy. I have to go to Lindis Magic Academy for my friend. Actually, I’d like to be by your side…but I’m also needed there for an emergency.”

“Onii-sama…”

“It’s alright, if there is no drastic turns of event, I should be able to return by tomorrow morning.”

And with those words, Eduard was off to the transfer gate and on his way to Lindis.

I headed toward the guest room of Spring Palace.

It was to confirm the safety of Klaus and Ann.

Paying no attention to my long dress getting tangled with my legs, I ran through the dark palace corridors at night.

Events that occurred today crossed my mind one after another.

Ann’s smile, with flushed cheeks among the blossoming flowers.

Klaus’ glimmering eyes while looking at the magic of my star crystal necklace.

The necklace imbued with ancient magic—a faint but bewitching blue light.

I want to see Ann’s smile and Klaus’ scowl as soon as possible to put my mind at ease.

☆

The guest rooms provided for the children of Duke Hafan had been decorated with ample flowers from the garden of Spring Palace.

A fragrant scent of flowers permeated the air.

However, Klaus and Ann were nowhere to be seen.

All the maids serving the Duke of Hafan were put to sleep by magic.

I made sure that Ann was not lying confused among the sleeping maids, but she was most certainly not present.

—Perhaps this is Klaus’ doing.

Although he is only a ten-year-old boy, Klaus’ magical abilities are exceptional.

These women aren’t just regular maids; they are maids who serve the Duke of Hafan.

In other words, they have decent knowledge about magic.

If so, they should also have a moderate magic resistance.

I believe the maids were taken out by a powerful sleep magic so that he could sneak away.

I wonder when this magic was used.

It is also concerning that the one who disappeared is not only Klaus, but Ann as well.

A person like Klaus must have headed for Ruins of Visitor.

Ten to one, no doubt.

For Ann, if fortune is on my side, she might be with the Duke and Duchess of Hafan.

(I should hurry report this to the Duke of Hafan and my father, shouldn’t I?)

It won’t be good if this situation becomes widespread and panic occurs.

I closed the door, crossed the corridor and headed for my father’s room.

I walked for about fifteen minutes.

I should have reached my father’s room a long time ago, but I ended up reaching the original room I set out from.

At that point, I understood that I was lost in a familiar place.

A magic that was cast to turn the palace into a labyrinth.

However, no matter how much of an excellent mage Klaus is, he shouldn’t be able to use space distortion magic at this age.

This is probably a Phantasmal Maze.

A magic that messes out people’s sense of direction, traps them under an illusion and forces them to wander about as if they were in a vast labyrinth.

Because of this magic, Spring Palace seems to have been divided into several compartments.

I can’t even go to the Duke of Hafan or my father, the Duke of Aurelia, and the adults would never reach their children’s room.

For a ten-year-old to be able to master this complex magic…

I couldn’t hide my surprise at Klaus’ talent.

(I mean, this is too much, Klaus! What a misuse of talent.)

Taking a deep breath, I decided to calm down and think.

“Eduard-oniisama, it seems that I’ll have to use it sooner than I thought.”

I looked at the key to the Wunderkammer that I had received from my older brother earlier.

Putting it into the keyhole of a suitable room, I turned .the key.

This key itself is a magic item that can turn any door in this palace into a door connected to my older brother’s Wunderkammer.

When I opened the door, the Wunderkammer of the alchemist Eduard Aurelia appeared before me.

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So if you don’t understand the work of a wand, the amount of magic inside a wand is depending on the maker. For example, a wand is charged 100 times with magic, that means the user can only use that wand for 100 times. And each wand could only be powered with one type of magic.

Edit 16/11/18: so I deleted the explanation about Phantasmal Maze since I thought everyone understands. But apparently not, therefore I will put it here again.

The Phantasmal Maze divided the palace into compartments. A person from one compartment can’t go to another compartment. That’s why Erica can’t ask for the adults’ help. As seen here, when she wants to go to her father, the corridor becomes infinite and she won’t reach him. But, the basement where the transfer gate, Eduard’s room, and Klaus & Ann’s rooms are within one compartment, that’s why Eduard can go to Lindis, Klaus and Ann can go to the transfer gate, and Erica can go to Klaus & Ann’s rooms from Eduard’s room.

I hope this clear things up.

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