Chapter 15 (1/2)
Lady Mystia of the Water 2
After Sirius sent the n.o.ble girl back to her room, there was something that needed confirming, he said and headed to a room.
「Welcome, Sirius. I thought you would come. You could sense magic so well, after all. Liliana is a student worth tutoring, right?」
While the sunlight s.h.i.+nes down incessantly, the one who stands as if s.h.i.+ning, a beauty that anyone would praise, Viscountess Oliviria.
I, who am allowed to pa.s.s through the borders of all countries, have higher standards for beauty than humans.
Her beauty is of course inferior to the supreme beings, but in the human realm is worthy of being beautiful enough to cause wars.
「I thought that Madame would be most familiar with Liliana-sama’s magic power.」
「It will be a long story. Have a seat.」
She sits with composure on one of the three seats in the room.
Sirius says “Excuse me.” and also grabs a seat as she said.
(Then, I guess I shall also impose on her.)
I took the last seat.
(Now, can you please start?)
Sirius said, waah, under his breath.
What a rude man.
「Why has Madame taken off Liliana-sama’s magic seal?」
「Ufufu, it looks like quite a bit has been exposed.」
She said as if she was a child that had just had their prank found out.
「Because of that I made a mistake. There’s always signs of magic around Liliana-sama. In other words, Liliana-sama doesn’t only use magic temporarily, she is in a state where she is constantly utilising magic. Yet Liliana-sama didn’t realise about not just the magic seal, but she didn’t even notice the existence of magic. So in the last year since she had her magic seal removed, she seems to have been constantly using magic, I think.」
「That’s right. That much is not wrong」
(It’s true that from the n.o.ble girl, I was constantly sensing small amounts of magic)
「And with that, you would have to be constantly replenis.h.i.+ng your magic power. Depending on the guess some calculation mistakes are bound to appear, but that would consume quite a bit of magic power. And, only young children and holders of high-cla.s.s magic power magic stones can use magic without having to consciously quantify it.」
Sirius, one by one, lines his words up looking at her, as if he was checking his answers.
「Young children, to prevent their bodies from growing up, they invoke magic power in the form of emitting it. Magic stones are stones being used to store magic power. High-cla.s.s magic power owners, because their magic power is inexhaustible, even if utilised never runs out. That is why they are able to unconsciously use magic without the need to visualise it as a quant.i.ty. From the fact that the magic seal is removed, Liliana-sama can be evaluated as a high-cla.s.s magic power owner I think.」
(Well, it’s understandable to be thinking like that.)
「To understand the risks behind Liliana-sama’s unconscious use of magic, I used the elementary practice of creating ripples. “If she could come to consciously knowing with this…”, I thought. The result was out of my expectations. If a single wrong move was taken, there would have been a crisis of magic power rampaging.」
(It really was rash. To think she had that much magic power. I underestimated how bad even elementary practices could get.)
(That magic power really was absurd. Out of my expectations.)
「Right and wrong, it’s fifty-fifty. That thought process is already embedded too deeply into your head. Then let’s talk about the correct answer.」
She giggled.
(If I wasn’t there, the magic power would have rampaged, probably causing serious damage yet, to be laughing is…)
(Stop that, Mystia. The Madame knew this, yet didn’t tell me, who is educating Liliana-sama. In other words, everything is playing out in Madame’s hand. We were being tested.)
I unintentionally grimace.
「The stone which works as the core of the sealing magic is a white pebble you could find lying anywhere along the road, and is just called a sealing stone. Sealing stones have the properties to absorb and seal magic power. Sealing stones that absorb magic power eventually turn into magic stones, holding power. The stronger the child’s magic power, the stronger the strength of the magic power packed in the magic stone.」
She suddenly stood up, walking to the desk. She pulled out a small casket from the drawer and came back.
Sitting back down, she unlocked the casket and took something covered in a very soft cloth out.
「This was a sealing stone, used as the core for a sealing magic but Liliana-chan’s emitted magic power was absorbed into and transformed this stone into a magic stone.」
What appeared from the casket was a necklace embedded with a three centimeter long, amethyst-coloured, spherical magic stone.
「This is the sealing stone that Liliana-chan had worn from when she was born to when she turned seven. Please, confirm it.」
Saying that, she handed the casket containing the magic stone to Sirius.
Normally, you can’t sense magic power unless the magic is in use.
That’s why you can’t measure an individual’s magic power.
The reason why, even if the amount of magic power is low, if it is imagined right, the power can become stronger.
But, there is only one way to measure magic power.
That is magic stones.
If you look at the quality and amount of magic power stored inside their magic stone, you can figure out how much a person’s power is.
The created magic stone’s colour is determined by their disposition and their specialty magic’s attribute’s colour.
If the sealing stone absorbs someone’s magic power even once, then that person can use it but if it absorbs someone else’s magic power then it can no longer seal magic power.
That’s why, by using a magic stone as a medium, a person can use another person’s magic power.
When the magic power stored in a magic stone runs out, it goes back to its original ‘sealing stone’ form, able to be used as the next person’s sealing stone core.
That’s why we can’t run into a deficit of sealing stones in this world, they can just be found lying on the roadside.
「This colour is…… on top of that, normally you couldn’t tell the stored amount and quality of magic power in a magic stone without touching it. But I haven’t even touched it yet and just from looking, I can tell it’s a magic stone overflowing with power.」
Sirius timidly reaches his hand out.
The instant he touches it, Sirius lets go of it as if he was being repelled by something.
「What a terrific crystallisation of magic power. With only seven years of magic power emission, to think it would get this far. But this is too powerful for someone as powerless as me.」
I look fixedly on the magic stone that Sirius, who is sitting next to me, holds.
(What excessively beautiful and pure power. The more I look, the harder it is to look away, it’s entrancing.)
Even though I’m still looking, Sirius hands the casket back to her.
(I wanted to look at it more.)
(You’ve looked enough, haven’t you?)
「It’s a considerably splendid stone, isn’t it. I am the reason Liliana-chan was to remove her sealing stone.」
She put the casket back in the desk in the reverse order she took it out from, and sat down.
「I didn’t want Liliana-chan to die.」
「What do you mean by that?」
Sirius froze.
(For someone who had no interest in things and people, you’ve changed quite a bit.)
Sirius must have been pretty shaken up as he did not respond.
「Think of magic power as water. You pour water into a cup, and what spills out gets absorbed by a magic stone (sponge), but the amount is too excessive and it can’t catch up. The magic power, with nowhere to go, goes back to the cup which is Liliana-chan’s body. Also, until the body gets used to it, the magic power is constantly in a state where it is emitted. That’s why Liliana-chan has, since she was young, had fevers and had to stay in bed a lot. It was because Liliana-chan’s magic power was too strong.」
She looked far away as if remembering that time, wearing a sad expression.
(All sealing stones’ magic power absorption rates are the same. That’s why even if it was exchanged for a new one, nothing would change. Magic power would endlessly acc.u.mulate, yet since they all have the same absorption rate, she would have no doubt been impatient.)
「Liliana-chan probably doesn’t remember because her consciousness was faint, but occasionally her lifeforce scared us. Desperately fighting, suffering because of her magic power…… Liliana-chan could have been lost…… I can’t forget the fear from that time. That’s why I removed Liliana-chan’s magic seal. If I did that, then the unabsorbed magic power would not return back to the body.」
「In other words, Liliana-sama is still in the emission stage, is that right?」
(I thought it was a possibility ,but to think it was really like that.)
(The n.o.ble girl is eight now, right? That’s rare.)
「That’s right. Normally, the body gets used to and stops emitting at three. The current records state that the longest emission stage lasted until seven years of age. That’s why we were constantly praying ‘It’ll end soon, It’ll end soon…’, but it never did. Then, when Liliana-chan turned seven I took the magic seal off. I couldn’t take it any more.」
(It’s that, ‘A parent’s heart thinks of their child’, right. Even though people all die eventually.)
(The fear of eventually being visited by death, to try to escape from that curse is the destiny of humans.)
「There was a reason we didn’t teach her magic. We determined that the only reason that Liliana-chan was still in her emission stage, her body still unadapted at seven was because she had to be an owner of high-cla.s.s magic power. It’s still fine now. Magic used unconsciously has been using only the emitted magic power as a source after all. The only reason for worry is when her body gets used to the magic power, and she starts utilising the inexhaustible supply of magic power as a source for the subconsciously used magic.」
(Inexhaustible supply…… terrifying.)
「The majority of high-cla.s.s magic power owners wear magic seals for their subconscious utilisation of magic. Since the absorption can’t catch up, like in the water a.n.a.logy, it was returned to Liliana-chan’s body. But it’s the opposite for high-cla.s.s magic power owners. In the case of utilising magic, the magic power volume (water volume) is immediately poured into the sealing stone (cup). It’s fine if the magic power volume (water volume) doesn’t exceed the maximum capacity of the sealing stone (cup). But if it does come to exceed the capacity of magic power volume (water volume), then the sealing stone (cup) will break. Anyway, emission occurs in a slow stream of magic power, but magic comes cras.h.i.+ng out like a flood of water. If that happens then the magic seal will become unable to complete its role. The worst case would be when a strong wish imbued with almost all a person’s magic power is used for and activates magic. It seems like a lot of those cases end up with a magic power rampage.」
「A man-made calamity. If you open up scrolls of the past, then it’s not like you wouldn’t find anything like that.」
(Talking about this and that, that time must really have been such a catastrophe for you.)
(As expected, you haven’t lived long for no reason.)
(Whatever could you be talking about?)
I glare at Sirius, but he feigns ignorance.
「Power that is too strong will stay away from people. Once long ago, I was allowed to read a book that is prohibited to anyone but the royal family, but it was awful. The royal family are a clan from descendants of G.o.ds. Blood gets weaker as generations pa.s.s. Yet there are a lot of high-cla.s.s magic power owners in the family. But occasionally in the family’s genealogy there have been those born with magic power that is far superior to the others. Those royal children’s destinies end up too cruel. That is why those books were designated as prohibited.」
(The royal family of Shelfield Kingdom are descendants of the G.o.ddess of beauty, love and bountiful crops, that’s why it’s not strange that one or two powerful magic power owners appear.)
「The previous child was, for having too much power and before being able to come to understanding the world, was locked in a white room, never coming to develop a human consciousness and heart. One child, being too kind, in fear of causing harm to tose around them, stopped thinking and damaged their own vocal cords to the point that they lost their voice. As a result, they lived. But their consciousness broken, they were in a state equal to death. Could you really call that living?」
(People fall into fear at the sight of an overwhelming power in front of them. Spirits, on the other hand, can perform their role with more power, and be praised. It doesn’t go so well, with humans’ frail bodies.)
「Liliana-chan is such a kind, smart child. When she comes to realise the risks of magic and recognise her own huge amount of magic power, can she keep that smile up?」
「Liliana-sama is, certain to blame herself. When she realises that possibility, she will probably follow in the footsteps of the royal children of the prohibited books.」
She looks at Sirius and smiles sadly.
「Sirius seems to also care for Liliana-chan. Thank you.」
「That is not the case.」
(With a face like that, I’m surprised you can say that. I really want to show you a mirror right now.)
Sirius wore a very bitter face.