Chapter 442 - A Trump Card-Ready Magical Artifact? Registration and Review
A few days after that awkward practice match, today is when we'll register our magical artifacts.
The new rules for Magic Doll battles allow only one magical artifact to be brought into a match. This artifact has to pass a prior review, which can be requested from the Federation at any time.
However, once an artifact is registered, it cannot be changed for six months. This rule demands careful consideration and decisive action when choosing what to register.
As the club's representatives, the president and vice-president, dressed in their usual gray uniforms, have come out for this task, with me accompanying them to the nearest Magic Doll Federation Branch.
We’ve been under scrutiny, so we don’t know what kind of trouble they might try to give us.
Ordinarily, a teacher wouldn’t accompany students for routine administrative procedures, but the registration of a magical artifact is a crucial matter for the club. As the advisor, I need to be ready to counter any baseless accusations.
No matter how much they dislike us, I won’t back down without a satisfactory explanation. To that end, I’ve thoroughly studied the rulebook.
With a determined mindset, I scan the surroundings as we move through the building.
"This is my first time at a Federation Branch. It’s surprisingly empty," Hermira remarked.
The building felt more like a branch office of a government agency, lacking any sense of luxury and instead giving off a cheap impression.
I’ve infiltrated the Federation Headquarters before, but this is my first time at a Branch. Hermira and the others have visited a few times for various meetings and briefings.
"It’s not a place that typically draws a crowd," Mildree explained.
"There are no students from other schools either. It’s early to apply for reviews, isn’t it?"
The timing of the review is a significant consideration.
Since the use of magical artifacts during practice matches doesn’t require a review, most schools probably register them at the last possible moment.
This is part of the strategic game.
Every school cares about which magical artifacts their rivals will use in the official matches. It’s generally considered crucial information.
Even if a school aims to keep their artifact a secret, registering it with the Federation almost guarantees that the information will leak. Anticipating this, Saint Emeralda Girls' Academy plans to register a few mundane artifacts today.
While the rules allow only one artifact to be brought into a match, up to three can be registered. From these three, the one to use is chosen.
Our school will register two artifacts today, leaving one slot open.
The meaning behind this is clear: those who try to gather information illicitly will overthink it.
They’ll likely assume the third artifact is the real deal, even though we might never use it in practice matches.
Whether they view the unregistered artifact as the real one or see this as a bluff, our goal is to confuse them. We might even show off several potential candidates for the third artifact, keeping them guessing, and then register an artifact we’ve never used at the last moment to throw them off.
I think it’s ultimately a waste of time to overthink which artifact will be the real one.
Regardless of when an artifact is registered, once it’s officially registered, it must be treated as a serious contender, and you must be prepared to counter it.
What if the information you gather through spying turns out to be a decoy? You could end up at a disadvantage.
I personally believe that a single artifact allowed in the match isn’t powerful enough to be a game-changer. It’s often seen as a trump card, but it’s really just a support tool.
Overthinking it is a waste of time, and I’d rather leave that to our enemies.
We’re intentionally visiting to register two artifacts now, with a time delay to frustrate those who try to gather information illicitly. It’s a form of harassment.
We arrived at a simple room within the mostly empty building.
There were no other visitors, and only two receptionists were present.
"We would like to request a review of our magical artifacts," Hermira said.
"Please provide the documents and the artifacts," the receptionist replied.
We handed over the prepared documents and artifacts, and the process went smoothly. Club President Hermira’s efficiency is commendable.
One receptionist started reviewing the documents, while the other took the artifacts to another room for testing. We just had to wait in our chairs.
There was no particular atmosphere for conversation, so we waited in silence.
The two girls quietly started reading their books, and I closed my eyes for a short rest.
Hm. Despite the Federation’s reputation for incompetence, the criteria for magical artifact reviews are well thought out. Evaluating magical artifacts should be extremely challenging.
Magical artifacts can vary wildly, with any number of possible effects.
The rules for Magic Doll battles explicitly prohibit offensive magical artifacts, which are not allowed to pass the review.
Judging what constitutes an offensive artifact is, in itself, a difficult task.
For example, it’s clear that directly shooting fire at a doll is not allowed, but what about using fire to block a path?
If an artifact is designed to dig holes and slow down progress, what happens if a doll falls in and gets damaged?
Where do you draw the line between offensive and non-offensive?
The way an artifact is used can change its nature, and even if it’s not intended to be offensive, it might become so by accident.
It would be challenging for referees to make such calls during a match, especially with spectators present. The Federation would want to avoid such disputes.
Hence, the pre-match review process.
However, it’s a heavy burden for the Federation’s staff to accurately assess the vast array of possible magical artifacts and decide which ones to approve. Even experts in magic might make different judgments.
Such detailed rules can’t be set in stone, and it’s impossible for one person to make a definitive call.
Thus, clear rules have been established.
First, artifacts that strongly suggest direct attack are prohibited. For example, an artifact that emits fireballs would not be allowed. Even if someone argued it wasn’t for attacking, no one would buy that excuse, so it wouldn’t pass the review.
Second, artifacts intended to cause destruction are also prohibited. The matches take place in training grounds lent by the Knights, and any artifact that could damage these grounds is naturally banned. This means artifacts that burn foliage or dig holes would not pass the review.
During the review, if an artifact is used in an unanticipated way to cause burning or digging, the user would face penalties, regardless of the artifact itself. This is a clear rule violation.
Additionally, the performance of the magical stones used as power sources in artifacts is capped. This ensures that no artifact can produce effects that exceed the designated limits.
The rule is clear: direct attacks and destruction are forbidden, and there are output limits. This leaves room for creative applications while maintaining balance.
In practice, this means that indirect attacks using magical artifacts are allowed, but actually using them for attacks is difficult.
As a result, the choice of artifacts is somewhat limited.
Popular choices tend to be artifacts for concealment, detection, or movement hindrance.
"We’ve completed the review of Saint Emeralda Girls' Academy’s two magical artifacts," the receptionist announced.
"Thank you," Hermira replied, standing up gracefully.
Hermira and Mildree went to the reception to collect the documents. Mildree’s cheerful smile suggested the review had gone smoothly.
Seems like they didn’t try to nitpick.
It’s a relief we didn’t waste time on nonsense.
"Let’s go," Hermira said.
With the review completed, we left the room, and the girls followed quickly.
"It’s good that we’ve successfully registered two artifacts, even though we still have one slot left," Mildree said.
"I was a bit nervous that they might say something," Hermira added.
"Well, we didn’t rig anything, so it should have passed. Besides, the artifacts were so ordinary that the reviewers probably found them boring." My comment earned a somewhat awkward look from Hermira and Mildree.
"...The second artifact might be boring, but is it really fair to call the first one ‘ordinary’?"
"Yeah, the first one is definitely not ordinary. I think it’s quite interesting. Are we really going to use it?"
"I suggested it because I think it’s effective. You’re the ones who decided to adopt it, and you’ll ultimately choose which to use in the official match. I’ve been saying from the start that relying on a limited artifact isn’t going to help much. Honestly, I don’t care much about it."
"True, our strength lies elsewhere. We’ve finally come to realize that."
"Well, if we have to bring one, I’d prefer something useful."
The Saint Emeralda Girls' Academy Magic Doll Club places a heavy emphasis on basic training, which some might consider extreme.
We dedicate half of our long daily practice sessions to fundamental drills.
Our strength lies in our proficiency with mana sensing and manipulation. This means we don’t need magical artifacts for detection or concealment. Each member’s magical skills are sufficient for these tasks.
Thus, the magical artifacts we find most useful tend to be those that hinder movement or have unique capabilities.
For now, we’ll observe how quickly the information about our registered artifacts spreads.
We’ll decide on the final artifact once we have a better idea of the situation. There’s still time before the official match, so we might come up with something interesting.
Our club is becoming stronger as we lay the groundwork. The anticipation for the official matches grows each day.
We returned to the Academy by vehicle and resumed our usual practice session.
In the upcoming practice match, we might use the magical artifacts more actively to confuse our rivals and gather information.
However,
The practice match we had scheduled for days, which had been confirmed, was suddenly canceled.
Moreover, when several such cancellations occurred in quick succession, it became clear something was amiss.