Kays Translations

Chapter 11: What is Magic?

Immediately after lunch, they began a lecture on magic in Isamu’s room. By the way, he had checked with Nicolette if it was okay for a young girl to enter a man’s room, but apparently, there was no issue at all.

“This is a book written in magic script with spells for basic water magic. It’s commonly referred to as a ‘spellbook,’ and we use it to refer to the type and grade of the magic. This one, for example, is a basic water spellbook.”

Annemarie brought a well-bound book. It appeared to be a manuscript, and it must have been quite valuable, probably due to the underdeveloped printing technology.

“As I explained earlier, the process of using magic consists of three steps. The first step involves concentrating your magic power. The second step is about visualizing the desired result for the magic and altering the quality of your magic power accordingly. Finally, the third step is to chant the spell to manifest your imagination into reality, activating the magic. If you follow this order and have sufficient magic power, the magic will work.”

“I see…,” 

Isamu had heard this before, and the process itself didn’t seem too complicated. While some aspects like concentration and visualization sounded abstract, the actual difficulty was unclear.

“Now, let’s delve a bit deeper into each of these steps. First, the first step: Concentrating your magic power. Magic power flows throughout your body, and you use it to perform magic. However, to cast magic effectively, you need to gather your magic power to a certain concentration. Unless you have the exceptional power to keep it at that concentration while it flows throughout your body, which the  legendary magician could do, it’s not normally that concentrated. That’s why you need to control the flow of magic power and gather it at one point. Any part of your body will do, but it’s usually best to gather it in your hand for beginners.”

“I see. So that’s why you were holding your hand in front of your face.” 

“Exactly. When you cast the magic later, you’ll also need to imagine from where you want the magic to emanate, so for most people, it’s their hands. On a side note, it’s said that the legendary magician could shoot magic from their entire body.”

Isamu found that surprising. Shooting fireballs or lightning from your entire body turned you into a living weapon. It seemed like the legendary magician was an extraordinary individual.

“Next, the second step: This is what we did when we investigated Isamu-san’s skill. When you have a clear image of the magic you want to use, the quality of your magic power transforms to match that image. For example, for a ‘Water Ball’ spell, it will become water magic. If this transformation doesn’t occur, your magic power won’t become the magic you intend to use.”

“That’s a critical point. By the way, why does the quality of magic power change just by having a clear image?” 

“Unfortunately, we don’t know. It’s a fact. There’s a gap of at least a thousand years in Ethersia’s history, as we’ve learned from our research. Magic, as well as other subjects, was believed to have been thoroughly developed before that gap. Regrettably, we don’t have much information about magic before that period. So, we only know magic as it existed after that thousand-year gap. Magic research from after the gap is based on the limited materials that miraculously survived and predictions. In simpler terms, it’s a process of ‘we’re not sure how it works, but it works if we do it.’ That’s the foundation of our magic knowledge.”

“I see…”

It’s quite surprising. I thought that, given the widespread use of magic, there would be advanced magic studies.

I didn’t expect it to be a matter of getting used to it rather than learning it.

“Then, finally, the third step: Chanting the spell in magic language as written in this book. If the spell you chant matches your visualization and the transformed magic power, the magic will activate. If you’ve managed steps one and two, step three should be easy since it’s just about memorizing the spell. Well, it might be a bit challenging because these magic words are entirely different from our everyday language… By the way, the only piece of information about magic language that was miraculously excavated from a ruin dating back a thousand years ago, pre-gap, is only about pronunciation. Without that, we probably wouldn’t be able to use magic. However, the material found only covers pronunciation, so we mostly guess when it comes to the meanings. Since phrases from similar families of magic share the same phrases, it’s assumed that, at the very least, it must be related to water. However, there’s no way to verify it for now…”

“What… Memorizing spells is like memorizing sounds, isn’t it? Certainly, that might be quite challenging…”

They both shrugged with wry smiles.

This was the second astonishing revelation. Who would have thought that spells were just plain memorization? It would have been easier if they at least had some meaningful phrases, like “Open Sesame,” or “Infinite life” to make them easier to remember. With this thought in mind, he casually flipped through the spellbook, thinking there was no benefit to it.

This Is a spell book right? Surely the pronunciation is written in the common language of this country.

Below that, the magic language is written…?

“I’m sorry, Annemarie. These spells are written in the common language, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“I see…”

Muttering to himself, Isamu continued to scrutinize the spellbook as if he had fallen into a deep hole.

“What… What’s the matter?”

Worried, Annemarie inquired.

“Uhhh… Please don’t be too surprised. Annemarie. I think I understand the meaning of this magic language…”

“Eh!?”

Annemarie was left speechless, scratching her head.

“Haha… I wonder if it’s because of my Skill…”

A dry laugh was all he could muster. The air became stagnant for a moment. Then, it exploded.

“W-Wh-What do you mean!?” 

Annemarie’s scream, which would later be known as “the loudest scream in the history of young ladies,” echoed through the room.

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