Chapter 17: Anytime, Anywhere

—Apparently, the Underboss Candidate is completely infatuated with Lady Garnet.

While doing my absolute best to pretend I couldn’t hear the utterly baseless rumor being whispered among the servants, I made my way to Garnet’s alchemy workshop inside the estate.

Depending on the research being performed, many alchemy workshops troubled the surrounding area with noise or foul odors. Her workshop had probably been isolated in a separate building across the courtyard for that very reason.

“Lady Garnet, I’ve brought the Underboss Candidate.”

The instant I entered the workshop, an overwhelmingly sweet smell nearly choked me. I see. Perhaps isolating this place was unavoidable. She was certainly working hard.

Garnet had said she was researching sugar, hadn’t she? Something about breeding improved varieties of sugar beet. Sweets were this city’s specialty, so her work was probably related to that.

The servant who’d guided me hurried away, leaving me to enter the workshop alone.

When I reached the back of the room, I found Garnet there for some reason, her bottle-bottom glasses rattling as she stood in a nightgown.

“I-I ventilated it as much as possible, but I think the smell is still rather severe. A-are, are you all right? Um… well…”

What in the world had Gatango told her, and how had he said it?

My whole body sagged with exhaustion, and I told her to put on some clothes. I was ten and she was twelve. I had no intention of doing anything improper in the first place, and that wasn’t why I’d come, so I wanted her to relax.

I took a cube-shaped wooden box from Storage.

“Now then. From this point on, you’ll be leaving your alchemy workshop and becoming my subordinate. But a single backpack’s worth of alchemical tools obviously won’t be enough for everything you need.”

“Y-yes. If possible, I would certainly be happy to bring equipment and books from this workshop… but I can’t carry a huge amount of luggage while accompanying the Winter Tour. I did my best to carefully select what I brought.”

“Yes. And I have a way to solve that problem.”

With that, I began explaining the magic tool.

“This cube-shaped magic tool… More precisely, it isn’t a magic-arts tool but a personal-magic tool. It contains part of my subspace magic’s functionality.”

Yes, magic tools came in several varieties, and magic-arts tools and personal-magic tools in particular were constructed quite differently.

A magic-arts tool’s functions were determined by spell circuits, allowing anyone to reproduce the same phenomenon. A personal-magic tool, on the other hand, turned an individual’s unique magic into a tool. Naturally, the second kind was more difficult to create.

For an alchemist, equipment and tools were like hands and feet, while books were the mind itself. Asking her to abandon everything but one backpack’s worth would be cruel. Since I was taking her as my subordinate, I intended to cooperate as much as possible.

“Um, Underboss Candidate. I thought placing magic inside a tool was lost technology. And aren’t the magic jewels capable of recording magic extraordinarily expensive?”

“Natural magic jewels are expensive, but artificial ones can be made rather casually, can’t they? You simply refine them while melting magic stones together with magical metal. I think almost all the personal-magic tools excavated from ancient ruins contain artificial magic jewels.”

“Wh… Is that true?”

Well, I’d obtained knowledge like this from old books sleeping in the deepest reaches of noble and alchemical libraries. Perhaps it was hidden from the general public.

Moreover, each individual source contained extremely fragmentary information, and many couldn’t be deciphered without combining them with books from other places. A great deal was written in ancient languages too, so even I’d struggled a little to interpret it…

In that case, it was only natural that Garnet, a twelve-year-old low-ranking alchemist, wouldn’t know.

“I imagine a high-ranking alchemist would know. You see, knowledge is often kept secret. Even if people generally believe something has been lost, there are probably individuals who quietly know it after all.”

“I-I don’t think this is on that level… Wait, magic jewels can be made?”

“Of course. Basically, a personal-magic tool is created by replacing the spell-circuit portion of a magic-arts tool with a magic jewel. Naturally, there are all sorts of differences in how the circuits must be arranged, and mana consumption tends to increase when someone other than the original owner of the magic uses it, so personal-magic tools aren’t as versatile as magic-arts tools… But placing a magical ability inside a tool certainly isn’t impossible with present-day technology.”

While I explained, Garnet overturned a desk, pulled out note paper, and recorded every detail of my words at tremendous speed.

Um, this really wasn’t anything that extraordinary. I thought her devotion to study was wonderful, but still.

“By the way, Garnet, what did you think magic jewels were?”

“Um… I believed they were protective amulets owned by royalty and the nobility. If powerful magic is placed inside a magic jewel, even someone who doesn’t possess that magic can draw it out and use it once. Their number is limited, so I thought they were truly rare treasures.”

“I see… That use is certainly possible, but it feels rather wasteful.”

Garnet appeared astonished, but physical examples existed in ancient ruins, and records remained in literature. There had undoubtedly been an era when personal-magic tools were treated as ordinary technology.

The situation probably changed during the era when the Spirit Temple’s power expanded until it ruled the entire world—the so-called Temple Age.

During that era, some alchemical knowledge was apparently condemned as heresy for “contradicting the teachings of the Spirit Scriptures.” Various technologies were then hidden under strict secrecy… so that was probably why the method of creating magic jewels had never become public.

“Well, let’s leave history for later. For now, this box-shaped magic tool—”

“Y-yes. You said it allows someone to use your magic—subspace magic, was it? Judging from your explanation, is this box a storage tool? Does it hold more than an expanded-space storage container while remaining easy to carry?”

Ah, a magic tool resembling Storage. It was certainly possible to make something like that.

“Sorry, but this box is a little different.”

The magic placed in this tool was Home.

It constructed a subspace large enough for people to enter and live inside.

When someone poured mana into the box, a gate connecting to the subspace opened beside it. The interior had more than enough room to contain this entire workshop, so Garnet could bring everything she considered necessary without holding back.

When I looked at her, Garnet had frozen with her mouth hanging open.

“Garnet. From now on, this box-shaped magic tool will be your mobile alchemy workshop. You can bring everything you need and conduct research anytime, anywhere. Since the space itself is isolated, outside conditions won’t affect it, and you won’t need to worry about your work affecting the surroundings. I can help with the move if necessary.”

When I offered, she nodded stiffly again and again, like a broken tin toy. Was she all right?

I intended to connect it to Library later so she could enter that too, but I worried she might foam at the mouth and collapse.

Hmm. Would she truly be all right?