Chapter 176: Ancient Documents
“Your Majesty, the punishment has been completed for the time being, but there’s one unclear matter.”
“Is there some problem?”
“There’s no issue with Your Majesty’s approval, but there’s something concerning in the testimony of the ringleader who caused the incident.”
“Something concerning?”
“Please dismiss the others.”
Chancellor Brighton glanced briefly at the Royal Guard knights.
Finding the request unusual, I ordered the guards to withdraw and looked at Chancellor Brighton.
“The testimony of one of the ringleaders interrogated by Count Arkwright—that man’s statement is the problem.”
“There was no problematic description in the report from the Count, I believe.”
“Yes, but the count’s report couldn’t include every word spoken during the interrogation. Certain troubling statements appear in the full record.”
“How intriguing. Speak.”
“Small orbs of light, and repeated healing with Healing Magic. When the interrogator asked what he meant, the man said, ‘While that fellow was torturing me, I saw orbs of light repeatedly use Healing Magic to close the wounds.’ He also spoke of countless lights.”
“Orbs of light… the legend of the elven village, was it?”
“The ancient records describe them that way. I had the archives and surviving traditions investigated. Among some adventurers and in elven villages, beings called ‘presences’ or ‘spirits’ are known. On the rare occasions when they reveal themselves, they appear as orbs of light.”
“And Leon has those spirits, or whatever they are…”
“Apparently in no ordinary number. Elven traditions say that presences, also called spirits, accompany magic and skills and help them grow.”
“If that’s true, Leon should be skilled at magic.”
“Yet when we investigated him during the beast disturbance and dragon subjugation, nothing like this was reported. He appears to have improved during the roughly two years he was away from Lynas. The Berna incident also occurred during that period.”
After everyone moved away, I launched a stone with [Strong Wind!], and a thunderous crash echoed.
The barrier tilted slightly but held. “Heh-heh. How about that?” the woman said, puffing out her chest.
“Then I suppose I’ll get serious too.”
I placed a stone about the size of a child’s head into [Vertical Ring!], built up its rotation, and hurled it underhand.
Another solid crash rang out, though slightly lighter than the first. A hole opened in the barrier, and it vanished.
“What was that! I was surprised by the first one too, but spinning a stone around and throwing it out like that!”
“Huh, I just put a stone on wind magic and threw it out. By the way, if you throw a stone into a whirlwind, the prey inside becomes torn apart.”
“Heyyy, don’t say such scary things.”
“Hmm, quite some power. But my shield is different.”
The man who called out seemed extremely confident.
I knew barriers were among the easiest defensive spells to learn, but I wondered why no one here used shelters or domes.
The earth barrier he was so proud of slanted backward, a clever design that deflected frontal attacks upward, but it still had a weakness.
Recalling the number of remaining stones, a mischievous heart welled up, so I thought I’d tease him a bit.
I brought out a stone forty or fifty centimeters across with a thud, wrapped it in a whirlwind, and sent it charging forward.
He stared dumbfounded at the stone spinning inside the whirlwind. He seemed to realize what I intended and pointed at it, but no sound came out.
Before he could react, the spinning stone slammed into the barrier and smashed it apart.
“You! Is there such an attack method!”
“That’s completely reckless!”
“Beasts don’t always attack from the front. Some leap down from trees, and others attack in groups. You need a more practical defense than a simple barrier.”
“Then what about your dome?”
“That one was only for target practice. I normally use domes for camping. Even mine can withstand an Armor Buffalo’s charge.”
“Then what’s this practical defense you speak of? Show me a bit.”
The lady seems quite interested, or rather, greedy for magic improvement.
I had the two men stand beside me and demonstrated a lightly made [Shelter!] with a little dust mixed into it.
“So this is a shelter. Forming it instantly with a one-word shortened chant is impressive.”
“Is this the same strength as that dome over there?”
“Of course. I don’t want to die, so I’m careful about safety.”
The two men suddenly burst out laughing, what rude fellows.
“What are you laughing at? A one-word shortened chant is absurdly short. You really are skilled with magic.”
“It’s mostly habit. To shorten the chant you use now, think about which parts can be removed. Keep trimming unnecessary words, and it’ll become shorter and shorter.”
“But your chant is just ‘Shelter!’ in one word, right?”
“That single word already contains the size and position of the shelter I intend to make. You could say those details have been fixed through practice. Your barrier chant names what you want to create, but you don’t recite its size or hardness every time either, do you?”
“That’s true but…”
“Remove the unnecessary words for location and size. In my case, everything else has become a familiar procedure, so the single word ‘Shelter’ is enough.”
“In other words, since the place to make it and the size are decided, there’s no need to say them.”
“To be able to do such a thing… no, you’re doing it right before my eyes so you can do it.”
“This is more important than the magic competition. I’ll reconsider my chant once.”
The two defensive mages became obsessed with shortening their chants, leaving me with nothing more to do.
The attackers who had been testing my dome also came to ask about shortened chants, but I played dumb and said that [Whirlwind!] was the only wind attack I knew.
The same applied to [Tornado!]. Bringing it out here would only cause another commotion, so I kept quiet.
The magic contest descended into chaos, but at least everyone agreed that my dome was nearly invincible.
Lunch started a little late. Sham and Golden Goat meat formed the centerpiece, alcohol was served, and the meal turned into a banquet. I ended up slightly drunk as well.
During the banquet, Elder Norlandiska offered to introduce me to a group specializing in medicinal-herb gathering. We arranged for me to accompany them three days later, which left me very satisfied.
When I arrived at the meeting hall for the herb-gathering trip, the six women introduced by Elder Melvinska made my eyes widen.
I could tell at a glance that all six were elves, but hearing that they were older than Felica surprised me all over again.
“The shortened-chant advice helped me. Thank you. I’m Deliphinska, but call me Fin. I use ice magic.”
“You’re Felica’s grandson, right? I’m Bertie, an earth mage. Teach me more about magic later.”
“Your magical ability is impressive. I’m Seraphie.”
“I’m Luce, a fire mage. I hear you’re a capable hunter too.”
“This is my first journey with a child far younger than my grandchildren. Call me Granny Lidia.”
“You call yourself granny?”
“I got used to being called that by my grandchildren.”
“I’m Elvie. You may call me Big Sister.”
“How shameless, calling yourself ‘Big Sister.’ And the one with the long name still hasn’t introduced herself properly.”
“It’s troublesome.”
“That’s true. Everyone calls Felicinka ‘Granny Felica’ too.”
“Three mages among six people is impressive.”
“Unlike the men, we lose in physical contests.”
“We simply gather medicinal herbs together whenever we’re free. This time we’re going somewhere too distant for a day trip, so we’ll be away for around ten days.”
Bertie served as the scout, while Seraphie also possessed Detection and took turns leading the group.
Three of them used magic and two had Detection, but Seraphie also seemed to have learned Presence Sense.
I couldn’t tell whether Presence Sense had become a formal skill for her. Her range was smaller than mine, but still impressive, and I understood why the group could undertake long herb-gathering expeditions.
Since they were older than Felica and knew the forest well, I felt no anxiety about traveling with them.
After a day’s walk, we reached our campsite. They immediately began comparing their earth domes with mine to decide which would be more comfortable to sleep in, and I could barely keep up.
“Hey Leon, how do I make my dome the same strength as yours?”
“The simplest method is to add more mana while wishing for it to become as hard as rock. Try sending mana into the dome you just made with that image in mind.”
“To this? It’s already made, how do I…”
“Use it just as you would when casting magic. Send mana into the dome while imagining it hardening like stone.”
“Bertie, you try it.”
“That’s right, if you can do it well, I can strengthen my shield too.”
“[Dome! Harden… hah!]”
Fin burst out laughing behind her, but Bertie struck her own dome, confirmed that it had become stronger, and proudly puffed out her chest at Fin.
“No way. With such a simple thing…”
“Fin, make an ice dome and test it. If you can strengthen it, an ice dome could protect you during camp as well.”
“Camping with an ice dome, that’s ridiculous.”
“A party I know has an ice mage responsible for both attack and defense. They use ice domes while camping and say the cool interior is pleasant in summer.”
“Wouldn’t it melt and soak everything in summer? And what would you do in winter?”
“They sleep on simple beds, so a wet floor isn’t a problem. In winter, they build a fire inside and stay warm.”
“It’s no good, talking with this child throws me off.”
“But if you can do what you just heard, you can feel even safer.”