Chapter 67: Crucible Street (part four)

Finally, we have more information about the fraud, and more. Enjoy the chapter!

Also! Guys, I’m super excited about the fifth arc! From the teaser in the author’s page, it seems that there will be more romance than usual! So I will post this in celebration of the fifth arc!

TL: clover

ED: clover, xtostos, eristol

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“Good grief, when I was in the academy, I should have learnt a little about wands……”

 

Even after arriving at the testing site, Gilbert was turning over the pages of a book which seemed to be a textbook about wands.

In the textbook, there are many scraps of vellum papers instead of bookmarks and memo papers and it seems that he has done his best for this lecture.

It might be better to give him something as thanks before returning to the Aurelia territory.

 

“Which school did Aniki go to? Was it a local alchemy school?”

“Hm– it was Lindis.”

“What?! The magic academy city!? How nice, I also want to go there.

I wish my father would let me……”

“Aah, if you want to incorporate Hafan-derived magic into the wands in the future, that would be better.

If you go there, you can learn comprehensively including about the unusual power of other areas.”

 

While preparing the golems, I was listening to the conversation between the two of them.

I will be enrolling in Lindis, so I was anxious about gathering any information about it.

 

“I was mainly majoring in Alchemy and Magic Creation System.”

“Huh? Master permitted your admission properly. But you didn’t major in Wand?”

“I went to Lindis after I ran out of the house.

My old man didn’t have any say in this……I talked too much. Move your hands, Botchan.”

“Okay, okay.”

 

Certainly, was there something he wanted to make?

His reminiscence matched with the story Tirnanog heard from the Turm elder.

Anyway, if he didn’t enroll as a son of Viscount Turm, was he a scholarship student?

Or maybe he found some aristocrat to become his patron and entered as a scholarship student.

 

“Alright, it’s in this page. Yeah, it seems that the image is important after all.

First of all, try imitating from this page.”

 

I looked into the page Gilbert had opened.

Examples of how to conceptualize the magic inside the wand were posted.

A method to conceptualize it as an aggregate of fine sand, as a paint, as a metal in a crucible—

I also thought about it by myself yesterday, but looking at this, it seems that it is fine to be more free with my ideas.

 

“If you find something that fits your taste, it would be better to study using that method.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, but I guess there is no actual wand. Oo~i, Botchan.”

“Yes, yes. Good grief~ you work your personnel too hard~”

 

After Harold finished making the golems, he brought over some wands.

How rare of Harold, these wands are very ordinary.

 

“If it was me, I could have made wands with a more outstanding ability.”

“Since this is a user’s skill practice, why would you make her use a special wand?”

“That is, well, that’s true.”

 

I chose the Wand of Magic Missile from among them.

Among the offensive wands, there was an impression that this was not the go-to wand.

 

I tried several images with the wand in my hand.

Sand, paint, crucible, plant seed, brick, clay.

Each one had a slightly different impression.

 

And one of the last posted in the textbook.

Coincidentally, it matched with the method I came up with last night.

 

Yarn.

 

I came up with an image of the yarn used for knitting.

But what was posted in the textbook was about the thinner handicraft yarn.

So, I decided to go further and think of a thinner, silky yarn.

To be honest, among the things I saw yesterday, there was a nice image source.

 

Based on the image, I drew out the power charged inside the wand.

 

“Ohh……!?”

“What is this!? Erica!?”

 

A thin golden thread of magical power surrounded the wand I had in hand.

I tried to imagine the thread of light which the Rainbow Strap gave out when Harold used it.

 

“No way, we can see the image of Ojou-san withdrawing power from the wand?”

“……Rather than that, she really seems to be pulling out the magical power.”

 

I unraveled the thread of magical power which was pulled out and weaved it again in the desired shape.

When I made some knots and stitches, suddenly I felt like the wand hated it, there was a feeling as if it was struggling in my hand.

I guess this is the limit.

 

I put the magical thread inside the wand once again and aimed the wand towards the golems.

Now then, the first shot.

 

Three layers of magic circle expanded from the tip of the wand.

The magic circles fused while twisting and turning, and it became one distorted magic circle.

When I waved the wand, the magic circle promptly formed one magic bullet.

 

I heard a small sound from afar.

One sandbag stuck on the other side of the wall was pierced and smooth sands were spilling out.

When I looked closely at the golem in front of the sandbag, there was a small hole in the part corresponding to the heart.

 

“What an amazing penetrating power……this, is this truly Magic Missile?”

“Huh? That sandbag, doesn’t it have increased durability by means of special processing?”

 

I actually aimed for the emet characters.

It seems that I got slightly misaligned when I saw a place which didn’t collapse.

As expected, I should practice the accuracy of my aim.

 

Second shot. Rather, the last shot.

I waved the wand towards the ceiling.

One gigantic golden magic circle was deployed overhead.

 

“Geh!? Wait, wait!”

“What is this, uwah!?”

 

Harold and Gilbert retreated back to the entrance instinctively, looking at the magic circle expanding on the ceiling.

Ah, I should have explained first that it was aimed properly towards the golems.

Oh well.

I released all the magical power inside the wand and activated the Magic Missile with range extension.

 

Flashes of light were pouring down.

The pierced golems were crumbling.

Dense cloud of dust was rising.

 

When the field of vision was cleared, all five golems that became targets were destroyed and returned to a mountain of soil.

I nodded after seeing that the chest part of all five golems were pierced.

 

“Even though it got extended extensively, it seems that the element of the original Magic Missile that aims at the targeted part remained properly.”

“Wait……I feel like you just said something amazing!”

 

The two people who were evacuating came over to marvel at the destroyed golems.

 

“How amazing. I cannot do something like this without leaving any trace. If I do this during the creation time, the wand will break.”

“To think that you will get the hang of it in just one day. What an amazing talent.”

 

It was a storm of high praise.

It is both scary and convenient that I can do anything with it depending on the image.

I felt some resistance of the wand while using it, so that had to be the load.

Although it went well, I thought over it as something to reflect upon.

When I return, it seems better to summarize it in a notebook.

 

After finishing the evaluation meeting inside my brain, I decided to ask Gilbert what I was interested in since a while ago.

 

“Gilbert-san, can Alteration only be applied for offensive wands?”

“No, it can be applied for various things. I think it is effective even if you tinker with the vision, space, or location information.”

“What about past vision or future vision?”

“Well, if you tinker with time and space, as expected the load will also be high.

Before that, it costs huge amounts of money only for one use of past vision or future vision, so we cannot try it at a moment’s notice.”

“I see……so that’s how it is.”

 

How regretful.

I thought it would be useful if I could look into the past a year ago or if I could see six years in the future.

But, even if I deduct those, this Alteration might be a quite useful technique.

For me who has a high possibility of meeting or visiting a phantom beast from now on, it would be better to increase my attack power as much as possible.

 

“But, well, how enviable that you don’t have to worry about injuries even if you use an extended-range wand~”

“Yes, if it’s only this much, it seems to be within my scope.”

“The one I recommended to Ojou-san is the type of wand that can be charged with spells in large quantities.

It’s versatile and relatively inexpensive.

Oh, that’s right.”

 

Gilbert pounded his hand and drew our attention.

 

“How about improving Botchan’s wands while having Ojou-san try out the limits of the wand Alteration?

Botchan’s hobby is profitable, surely your research about special wands will give rise to large amount of money.

You can make more variety of wands with that money, and Ojou-san can also use a lot more wands.”

 

I see.

If Harold can make prototype wands, my supply of weapons will also be easier to get.

If the compensation is not monetary but a report to Harold instead, then that will be even more great.

 

“That is an attractive proposal.”

 

I stared at Harold and nodded.

 

“Ahaha, I did it, Botchan. A wonderful collaborator has been made.”

“Aniki……!”

“See, when you make a proposal, you must appeal not only to yourself but also to your partner.”

 

Harold turned red and pushed away Gilbert who was slinging an arm around him.

Well, there are differences between adults and children, so I don’t think they would need to be shy.

I wonder if I can extend the bargaining power now.

 

“Isn’t that great, let’s get along well.”

“Yes, please take care of me.”

 

Harold grasped my hand with both hands as he smiled and said so.

 

“Alright, with this you have become my partner!”

“Yes……”

 

‘Partner’ is somewhat an exaggeration and kind of embarrassing though, but, oh well.

With this we have become coincidental partners of interest.

 

“Good, good.

If that is the case, Earl Nibelheim will be pleased as well, right, Botchan?”

 

Harold responded to the words of Gilbert who was looking at our exchange with a smile.

I felt that Harold’s expression became somewhat cloudy.

 

“No, about my father. He doesn’t want me to use a wand or create it.”

“Eeh~ why is that. Why is the Nibelheim family like that?”

“My father doesn’t like wands very much.”

 

Speaking of which, Harold seems to have said similar things before.

Gilbert said to Harold with a knowing look.

 

“Haha, since the previous Earl Nibelheim made a profit with the munitions, did he and the current Earl not get along well?”

“My father and grandfather were very close.”

“Eh~ I thought they would have a troubling parent-child relationship.”

“Rather, in my house, my relationship with that person is pretty strained.”

 

Harold closed his eyes while sighing as if in resignation.

 

“But, well, I’m pretty sure that was my fault.”

 

Then, Harold began to talk bit by bit about the accident that occurred to himself.

 

 

Harold, who was a 3-years-old, was a curious child.

Apparently, he loved to secretly sneak into his father’s Wunderkammer at that time.

 

It was a mountain of treasure for a small child.

Lots of alchemy materials, used compact athanor, brand new beakers and test tubes for compounding, lead solidified by casting and shavings of brass.

Harold said he could spend hours just watching the Wunderkammer.

 

The day when that accident occurred.

A special wand that happened to be familiar to the Nibelheim family was rolling on the floor.

Earl Nibelheim was always carrying it around for self-defense.

Perhaps since he wasn’t using it, he planned to charge it at that time, and maybe that was the only salvation.

 

The curious three years old child loved his cool father’s wand.

If you see your favorite adult’s treasure falling on the floor, everyone will surely do the same thing.

 

Harold’s father, who was surprised by the loud sound, came running only to see the ruined room and the figure of his son who fell down limply.

His right hand was burned red, and the magical power was still smoldering like a flame on his skin.

 

Harold’s father hurriedly brought him to a healer’s house for first aid.

The healer who finished the treatment told Harold’s father to give up on his complete recovery.

Although the superficial injuries would heal, it was difficult to pull out the extraneous magical power that was stuck inside his body.

Therefore, this child’s right hand will remain limp for a while, he said.

 

Harold’s right hand couldn’t even twitch for about two years.

After that, he earnestly requested Turm Elder, who had started his retirement, to perform medical treatment for a year.

Finally, when he was about six years old, his right arm could move like that of ordinary people.

 

“Since then, that person ceased creating wands that he was doing as a hobby and even stopped carrying a wand for self-defense.”

“That’s……that’s a heart-breaking story.”

 

The topic that was casually brought up was unexpectedly heavy.

Gilbert scratched his head but didn’t look sorry.

 

“However, while I was at my Master’s store, I became completely addicted to creating wands.

After that, that person and I kept passing each other.

I admire him and I love him, but……

For that person, I seem to be a difficult child.”

 

Harold rubbed his right hand with his left hand.

Perhaps there is still an after-effect, or maybe that is a habit when he feels uneasy.

 

“Well, he is busy at work, so I haven’t gotten a chance to speak properly with him.

Now there’s hardly any reason to talk.

He has been struggling for the mining rights of the new silver vein for the past year.”

“Mining rights……?”

“Aah, it seems the silver vein in the Nibelheim territory has ended up withered and the quality has deteriorated.

If we cannot gather any ore at all, there’s no point in developing a new refining method, right?”

 

A warning bell was ringing in my head at the words ‘mining rights of the silver vein’.

Although the collapse of the County of Nibelheim was involving the silver vein fraud, I wonder if it is fine.

 

“But the mining rights of the silver vein……there’s going to be a big money fluctuation.”

“We have only bought the mining rights of the high-quality silver vein recently at last. We borrowed money with the territory as a collateral.”

“Hmm, high-quality, huh. Where is the silver vein located?”

“At the County of Argene. There seems to be an unspoiled high-quality silver vein which was originally part of the royal territory.”

 

County of Argene.

Those are words I have heard before.

And if that is certain, then Earl Nibelheim has already been scammed.

Well, since I was already chasing after the scammer, the topic was never brought up.

 

“No, the rights to dig up the silver vein of Argene is never going to be sold.”

“What?”

“Hmm, what do you mean, Ojou-san?”

 

Harold and Gilbert stared at me with a surprised expression.

 

I know that the mining rights of that silver vein was never put out for sale.

That is because I plan on inheriting it from my deceased mother.

 

“The heiress who is going to inherit that territory and the peerage hasn’t reached the age of ten years yet, so she shouldn’t be able to exercise her rights.”

 

All of a sudden, I felt as if the temperature dropped a few degrees.

I could see blood drained from Harold’s face.

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Have you noticed? Aurelia –> Aurum which means gold, and Argene –> Argentum which means silver.

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