Chapter 203 - Seventh Story: How to Learn Magic
Unfortunately, I was the only one who learned a new magic, and the results of the other three's delusions were postponed.
The new one I learned was [Sight], a holy recovery magic; essentially, it seems to improve visual acuity. While not as much as Flora, I've become able to see further.
When I told the Headmistress, who had accompanied us, that it was a basic spell, she replied, "I thought so."
"The spells Jeanne learns are often special ones. Like they don't have a rank. You learned [Heal] and [Holy] at the same time, right? After that, [Purification] and [Thought Communication]. In other words, once you become an intermediate mage, the spells you can use now will level up all at once. Usually, one leans toward one or two of the recovery, attack, or support systems. Those then level up. You, in addition to those three systems, are learning four systems simultaneously, including a rare one. So, until you learn a certain amount of basic magic, you might not rank up to intermediate."
Eleanor-sama seemed to have the same view.
"In exchange, once you become intermediate, it'll be amazing. Because various spells will level up all at once."
Generally, learning four types of basic magic is equivalent to the magic control of an intermediate mage with one slot. I've learned thirteen. That makes me about equal to an intermediate mage with three slots.
If I learn three more types and become equal to an intermediate mage with four slots—in other words, equal to a high-level mage with one slot—I might be able to become an intermediate mage. And at that time, if I've learned four types of spells without a rank, I might be able to become a high-level mage with one slot immediately, I was told. I've reached my seventh type. Though, if I can't move up to intermediate, I'll just end up as a plain handyman.
"The pace is different for everyone. All four of you in the rearguard are learning at different paces, right? It's the same even if you rush. It'll work out. It's okay."
For now, I have no choice but to believe the Headmistress's words.
After parting with the Headmistress and Jennifer-sensei in front of the orphanage, I went to the church with Beatrix. When we visited the secretary, Harris-sama was there.
"Yo, studying magic circles? Impressive, impressive."
He encouraged us to sit, offering chairs.
The secretary brought out wine in cups.
"Are you taking lessons once a week?"
"Yes, lately I'm only free on Thursday evenings because of that training."
On Fridays, I have to go to Regnentes. Cutting wood takes half a day, but with other things, it takes a whole day. Lyudmila, who is bad at transcription, turned me down.
"Harris-san, can you read ancient characters?"
The ill-mannered mage was asking the Bishop of the Royal Capital's Great Church.
"To some extent. I am a Bishop, after all. It's mandatory."
"Then, in the future, you'll become an Archbishop somewhere."
"No, I'm not suited for that kind of thing. I'm thinking of becoming an unaffiliated church priest when the time is right."
If he becomes a "stray" to protect the country, does that mean he'll become a mercenary and act with the army?
"Ah, that's also good. But actually, I haven't thought about what I'll do. I'll probably think of something when the time comes."
It felt quite haphazard, but it might be just like Harris-sama.
"Um, will the investigation of the mountain reveal things about monsters or the Demon Lord?"
Wasn't the original goal to find hints for defeating the Demon Lord?
"You caught on well," he said.
If possible, he must have wanted to start the mountain investigation before the Demon Lord's subjugation.
"It would be good if we found out, but in the end, it's just my wish. Whether we'll know even after searching the whole island... For now, I'm just doing what I can."
He said with a sigh.
The subjugation of the Demon Lord is the highest priority for the church. They've dispatched a great number of priests to the subjugation army. Consequently, various money-making businesses have stalled. Because of that, they've apparently become pressed financially. Moreover, the national finances are also strained, so the Royal Palace also needs to complete the subjugation as quickly as possible.
"By the way, how is it? Did you learn any new magic?"
"Unfortunately, Jeanne only learned one basic spell, and the other three came back empty-handed. Mary's pseudo-success experience acquisition method suffered from a lack of experience this time."
"Pseudo... experience...? What on earth is that?"
When we explained it this way and that, he leaned in, saying it was interesting.
"So that means, if you just think about the magic you want to learn, you can learn that magic?"
"That's what Mary said."
He was crossing his arms, humming.
"Harris-sama, how did you learn magic?"
After all, he is someone who aspired to exterminate monsters and became a high-level holy mage. It would surely be a good reference.
"Me? I, well, what can I say. Anyway, I only thought about exterminating monsters with [Holy]. It won't be much of a reference."
"But you can use recovery magic too, right?"
"Well, yeah. Wasn't that just a coincidence? No, wait. Come to think of it, when there was a magic I strongly craved during battle, I might have learned magic of a similar system. For example, when an ally was taken down, thinking 'If only I could use [Heal]!' or something like that."
I kind of understand. The thing I reflected on most in this training was allowing the Wyverns to get close.
"Then, wouldn't [Shower] magic be difficult? You don't crave sprinkling water during battle."
Normally, it would be as Beatrix said. [Shower] magic doesn't have much utility during battle. In the first place, it's not hot now, so there's no craving. The older sisters and the dogs must be doing fine.
"But that girl imagines midsummer in March and breaks a sweat, so isn't she fine in that regard? If she gets cool in her imagination, the sweat recedes."
"That's true too."
We laughed for a while.
"If we systematize what you just said, it might be possible to organize it as an efficient way to learn magic."
"Wasn't there anything like that until now? Like a secret tradition of the church?"
"There are some, but after all, those are direct transmissions. Since they're passed from individual to individual, they're mostly oral and haven't been made very public. It would be good if there were something like a book of doctrine, or a textbook."
"Make one. You could just ask open people like the Headmistress or Eleanor-sama and summarize their personal experiences."
"Calling a former Queen 'open,' are you?"
He was laughing loudly. In another country, one might be thrown into a dungeon.
"But it's worth a try. We happen to have experimental subjects like you. I'll also consult with Eleanor-sama and Catherine-sama, who are open... no, who treat everything with generosity."
"Please do. If there were something like that, it would be a big help."
"Are you talking about that Regnentes village?"
"You know about it?"
The Jaegers probably aren't involved, but it seems what we're doing is leaking out in various ways.
Harris-sama lowered his voice slightly. He beckoned us with a "come here, come here" gesture.
There probably wasn't anyone listening, but he was letting us know he was going to tell a secret. We huddled our heads together.
"Actually, there was an inquiry from the Royal Capital's Great Church in Regnentes."
They apparently wanted to know our aim.
"There is no aim. I just don't want the people living in the village where I was born to stay poor."
"Sorry, but I've heard the story. I think I mentioned this to Priest Jeanne before, but the church's intentions carry great weight in Regnentes. And the church is an institution that values traditional methodologies. In other words, they don't like accepting new ideas."
"Are we not allowed to do it? We have the lord's permission."
"I'm not saying you're not allowed. Subvert it."
"Subvert it?"
He grinned. It was a wicked look. I heard he used to be an intimidating man, and this must be why.
"I am also a priest. I understand the feeling of wanting to save poor serfs. However, it's better to think of that as a line spoken by those who have a track record."
"A track record?"
"For example, people like Bishop Catherine or Bishop Harrison. Once you reach that level, whatever you say is, well, forgiven. However, for you—especially since Beatrix isn't a priest and hasn't been knighted—it's better not to say things that could be seen as a critique of the system."
"I don't remember ever critiquing the system."
"I know. It's just that our country denies the class system, right? In other words, the very fact of being a citizen of our country is an eyesore to the nobility and churches of other nations. The statements of such people will be picked apart. The shortest way to make serfs wealthy is to give them land and make them free farmers. However, this is a denial of the serfdom system. If that happens, in the worst case, it could even affect lords who are understanding."
"Then, what should we say?"
Here, Harris-sama paused for a moment.
"For now, I've told the Regnentes side this: In order to reclaim the honor of the cursed land, they likely want to increase productivity through unprecedented methods. If they can maintain the traditional system and gather serfs who cannot use magic, yet still pay more taxes than before, their honor will surely be restored. To that end, it is necessary to educate serfs who cannot use magic so they can use it, place them under the lord's management, and increase production efficiency under that guidance. That's likely what they thought."
"In other words, we just have to appeal to the fact that it will benefit the nobles and the church?"
"Exactly. In the end, people are swayed by profit."
The people Harris-sama referred to as being swayed were the church in Regnentes.
At a statement so unlike a priest, the secretary and I involuntarily looked away and decided we hadn't heard it.
"If it's something that benefits them, opinions will even emerge to reconsider old customs. The point is to just become the majority. The tax system in Regnentes is to till the lord's land and hand over a portion of the harvest as rent, right? If magic is managed by the village as a labor service and made into the property of the whole village, the efficiency of farm work will also increase. If that happens, the cultivated area can also be increased. As a result, the lives of the serfs will improve, and it will also benefit the nobles and the church who are skimming off the top. Anyway, if the result is the same, you might as well accept the current system as it is and just change the work efficiency. Otherwise, the tax rate might go up. After all, all the Archbishops in Regnentes come from noble families. Just tell the lord something like 'It is all thanks to your great influence' and keep them in a good mood appropriately."
It was all rather unsettling, but he was likely right.
If the tax rate goes up, it'll be a disaster. Improving life would be completely impossible. It seems better to listen to what Harris-sama says here.
"I understand. Thank you. From now on, instead of escaping poverty, I'll set the goal as increasing the village's harvest efficiency. But the village priest and the lord already know the truth."
"That point should be fine. Fortunately, you were blessed with a good lord and priest. You just shouldn't speak of it henceforth. Just settle down and do it slowly without rushing. Act with the belief that by the time you've become an old woman, the world will have become a little better."
" I can't make such a long-term plan."
"First, it's enough if the villagers can eat their fill even after paying taxes, right?"
"Well, yes. I understand. I'll only think about that. Thank you."
After receiving Harris-sama's advice, it was time for the magic circle creation lecture. That said, since it's still at the elementary stage, we're only doing the acquisition of ancient characters.
What we do is, in essence, transcription. We compare the modern characters and ancient characters written in the textbook, understand the meaning of the ancient characters, and copy both to memorize them. Since there's no need to speak, only read and write, I'm just grinding away, writing on the parchment. Since the textbook is prohibited from being taken out, what I copy becomes my own textbook as it is.
The ancient characters to memorize are only the phrases used in magic circle creation, so it's only a small part of the whole, but even so, I have to write the names of the spells in ancient characters, so just memorizing them is hard work.
After writing for about an hour, my hand started to hurt, so I took a break. I'm finally halfway through.
"How is it? This is the third time."
The secretary asked. Beside him, Harris-sama, who had stayed behind under the guise of spectating... no, observing, was smirking.
"It reminds me of my orphanage days. Jeanne was excellent at transcription, but I was bad at it."
Come to think of it, she often stayed behind. Or rather, to be precise, the three of us—Beowulf, Will, and I—often helped our other companions.
"It's not that I was excellent, I just liked reading fairy tales."
"I liked fairy tales too. I always had Jeanne read them to me, though."
The secretary and Harris-sama looked at each other and laughed.
"Now we're the ones having Jeanne read to us."
He's likely talking about that investigation. It's true that I'm speaking out and conveying the information that has entered my head.
Speaking of the investigation, I have one question.
"Um, there's one thing I'd like to ask Harris-sama."
"What is it?"
"King Griffith had his face painted blue. Apparently, there was such a culture. Marcelo-san said he might have come from Finis in the north. If so, do the people of Finis inherit the ancient culture?"
He crossed his arms, humming.
"It's a possibility. However, it's far away and the sect is different. Those guys are always at war, so there's almost no exchange between churches unless it's the Medioland Royal Capital's Great Church. They're a poorly understood existence."
"The fact that the sect is different means the underlying mythology is the same, right?"
"Yes. The son of the great Goddess we revere is the god revered by Finis. The god of war. However, there are people of that different sect in this country too, though only a few; the priests paint themselves blue during rituals, but normally they're just as they are. Well, they're basically the same thing. Since we don't particularly oppose or discriminate against them, daily life is the same. It's just that the priests in the churches they attend are different."
"Could it be the people on the islands of Uminohara?"
"Oh, you know a lot."
The dwarf was saying such things to Fiona.
"Now, most of them have converted, but there are still those who revere that male god."
"Do those people inherit ancient culture or something?"
"Yes, rituals, characters, and some words remain. However, it is said that the so-called lost ancient magic and technology do not remain. Large-scale investigations and explorations have been conducted in the past, but nothing was found."
Investigations and explorations, huh... The church even has a dark history. They probably did all sorts of things, like torture and forced searches.
"That's right. So, we can just say there's nothing left. If we delve any deeper, it'll get complicated again. That's the church's current policy."
"In other words, on this island, the only ones left are Finis."
"To be precise, the Ruined Town and Finis. But why are you so interested in that?"
I showed him the Black Stone attached to my hand.
"I received this from King Griffith."
"Ah, the one that was in the report."
"According to Eleanor-sama's story, she thought it might have been made with lost ancient technology."
"Previously, when I went on the mountain investigation, I went to the Medioland Royal Capital's Great Church. To find a way to deactivate that barrier, I was researching the ancient documents kept there during the winter. At that time, there was a description that seemed relevant. Apparently, there are five. They represent the Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, and Water. You know the five-pointed star used in things like the Evil-Breaking Array? It's the same as that. The one Jeanne has is likely the Sun."
"Does it have some meaning?"
"It seems it was something passed down to five Priestesses specially chosen by the leaders of the ancient people. I don't really know what it was used for."
"Priestesses?"
Could it be that the reason the Goddess spoke to me then was because I had this stone?
"That might be it. You might find out something if you go to Finis or the Ruined Town, but you might find it unexpectedly easily in the mountain investigation. Well, before that, it's transcription."
Harris-sama pointed to the textbook and laughed brightly.