Episode 14: Paradigm
Late at night.
Even the castle’s maids and servants were mostly asleep.
But Illianne’s room was still lit.
“Ugh…”
These days, she simply could not sleep.
Every time she lay down, her eldest brother Perseta’s words echoed through her mind.
“The mystical realms have not abandoned us. It’s just that, by chance, right now it’s harder for their natural resonance to occur.”
That day at the fairy farm…
His words replayed over and over, winding like a snake in her thoughts:
“Modern magic isn’t working well because Almagest’s coordinate calculations are off. The resonance frequency is misaligned.”
What on earth did he mean by that?
Night after night, Illianne pored over the original text of Almagest, reading from cover to cover, aloud to herself.
It was her habit when troubled: reading Almagest—the great book that supposedly described the entire universe, the movement of its “eight realms.” Rereading that book’s beautiful, orderly system usually calmed her mind and allowed her to sleep, no matter what problems weighed on her.
But now it didn’t help. In fact, it made things worse.
No matter how I think about it, Brother’s words imply that… Almagest is wrong.
An error in its calculations, the misalignment of resonance frequencies, the idea that the mystical realms aren’t truly gone, just temporarily out of sync… None of that was covered by Almagest. It meant that everything Almagest supposedly explained was incomplete—that a phenomenon it failed to predict now existed, meaning Almagest itself had to be flawed.
Yet Perseta’s magic always worked.
Perseta was the “true wizard” she had dreamed of becoming: a miracle worker who could discover and achieve anything.
That made her wonder, was Almagest really incorrect?
But if so… what was left?
She had a vision of the entire cosmos collapsing into chaos: the solid ground she relied on crumbling like sand, turning the whole world into a boundless void with no up or down, no start or end.
“Why is this happening?”
She had longed for freedom, for the power to do anything, when she decided to become a wizard. Almagest had given her hope for that.
Now look at her: trembling in terror over its possible meaninglessness.
“Phew…”
Unable to stand it any longer, Illianne left her room and climbed up to the castle’s rooftop.
Under the white moon and starlight—how wonderful it would be if the “Mana Sun” and those other dimensional worlds also shone in the sky, like stars or the moon, plainly visible.
She couldn’t hold back her lamentations:
“What is Almagest…?”
“What exactly is wrong with Almagest…?”
She nearly jumped out of her skin to hear someone else speak at the same time.
They hadn’t realized they were both there on the rooftop.
“S-Salinelle?”
“I-Illianne?”
They stared at each other awkwardly, both embarrassed to have exposed their private worries, yet also feeling a surge of kinship at discovering their concerns were the same.
“I can’t sleep… I haven’t slept well lately,” Illianne admitted.
“Your older brother’s… that kind of man, yes, a wizard to his very bones,” Salinelle sighed.
Indeed, his troubles mirrored hers.
Illianne let out a small laugh.
“Exactly. He could just explain plainly, but whenever I ask, he won’t answer—he just gives me this cryptic smile.”
Grit…
Under the bright moonlight, Salinelle ground his teeth in annoyance.
“Precisely my problem… That’s why I will find the answers on my own—discover what he’s hiding. I’ll expose it all!”
Illianne gazed at him with admiration. To her, Salinelle was a “realistic” genius mage, whereas Perseta felt like some unreachable figure she, a fellow wizard, still couldn’t fully comprehend—like he was on a different plane entirely.
“You can do it, Salinelle. I believe in you.”
Salinelle frowned at her words.
“Why are you speaking as if you’re not involved?”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you a mage, too? This includes you! Let’s figure it out—what Perseta’s hiding.”
“Ah…”
You’re also a mage.
That struck a chord in Illianne. She still felt as though her world was collapsing, no sense of up or down, but that declaration helped her find the courage to face it.
Yes. She was a mage, too.
Despite his best intentions, Perseta couldn’t help sighing now and then.
The gap between his magical knowledge and this era’s practice was simply too great. He was a seeker of deeper truths, but seeing how far behind everything else was, it felt like it would take a thousand—or maybe two thousand—years before “modern” magic reached a level where it could contribute to his research.
My goal is to reduce that to maybe two hundred years… but still…
He sighed anyway. So to help move things along, he’d thrown himself into improving the barony. Even small, slow progress was still progress.
Fortunately, his mother had stopped dragging him to every high-society event, so he had more time.
“We have seventy-six thousand denars left. How to use it…? Stashing it away seems like a waste…”
He’d been advising his father on how to best use the funds.
“Father, first there’s a place we need to spend money.”
“Oh? Where?”
“We should buy high-quality tools from the capital and distribute them for free to the villagers who need them.”
“What? Free tools?”
“Yes, tools are crucial. We need many exportable specialty goods if we want to keep boosting trade. Though Salinelle has upgraded some things, we still lack the overall skill to truly compete.”
“Ah, so that’s why you want tools…”
“Exactly. Good tools make good craftsmen, and good craftsmen produce specialties that sell. Those sales create more craftsmen and more tools in turn.”
“But if we give them out for free, then nobody will buy locally made tools, correct? That would undermine Salinelle’s push to develop local artisans.”
“Short term, yes. But it’s vital for long-term competitiveness.”
“Competitiveness…?”
“Yes. Once people here have experienced these superior imported tools, their standards will rise. Our local artisans, in turn, must improve their skills and adopt better tools themselves. That’s how technology evolves.”
“Huh… But you’re a wizard— how do you know so much about this?”
Perseta scratched his cheek.
“Well, Master taught me a lot more about history, economics… that sort of thing, rather than magic.”
“Hahaha! Excellent. We’ll try it your way.”
“Thank you, Father.”
So that was one plan for improving the barony. There was still a long way to go.
Even for the future equipment Perseta hoped to build, local artisans alone wouldn’t be enough; they’d need an advanced, academically-minded approach—true engineering.
I need more experts. A better pool of talented craftsmen and mages. I have an idea…
“Father, there’s something I want to try, on my own.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“I want to build a magic school.”
“A magic school?”
“Yes. The domain’s growth depends on high-level human resources, and typically, that means wizards.”
Baron Plian nodded, but concern lingered in his eyes:
“Founding a mage academy costs a lot. Even with our new funds, can the barony handle it long term?”
“That’s why I said ‘personally.’ Don’t worry, Father.”
“You have the money for that? Wait— you do, right?”
“Yes. I’m thinking of naming it ‘Glaube Magic Academy.’”
Perseta smiled as he recalled that affable merchant who’d given him a forty-thousand-denar “bribe.”
Perseta’s first goal was simple:
“Overthrow Almagest.”
Make people question that revered text and eventually surpass it. Once that happens, real magic will have a proper foundation.
Everyone saw Almagest as obvious truth, never questioning it. Perseta wanted to shatter that unquestioned premise—to show them a “paradigm shift,” though he couldn’t find an exact name for it.
He remembered a Greek term meaning “model” or “pattern,” “paradeigma,” and decided.
“Yes. Let’s call it a ‘paradigm shift.’ Let them realize such paradigms exist, so they’ll start to question them.”
That was his objective.
“So then… why’d you drag me out here in the middle of this cold night?” Salinelle grumbled.
He and Illianne had come to the castle rooftop, summoned by Perseta.
“Brr… it is cold,” Illianne mumbled, stamping her feet.
Perseta waved a hand.
“Oh?”
“W-what? You’re casting magic with just a flick of your hand?”
A sudden warm breeze enveloped them, startling Illianne. Salinelle frowned deeply.
It was late autumn, and the nights were chilly, but suddenly the wind grew soft and hot, making them shed their cloaks.
“So… Salinelle. When do you plan to release your book?”
“Book?”
“You know, the one you wrote—Emendatum, right? The biggest breakthrough in magic since Almagest?”
Salinelle’s face twisted in displeasure:
“Are you mocking me? You already knew all the content— how can I claim it as my own discovery now?”
“Publish it anyway. My book is about more than that.”
Salinelle seethed. By Perseta’s words, his life’s work was but a footnote in Perseta’s bigger agenda.
“It’s my research. I’ll decide what to do with it.”
Perseta looked a bit troubled.
“I want you to publish—and to run my magic academy. Emendatum is enough to attract top students from across the continent.”
“A magic academy?”
That piqued Salinelle’s interest, as he did crave recognition. But he refused to simply go along with Perseta.
“Why should I? My deal with the barony didn’t say anything about that.”
“I’ll teach you more magic.”
Salinelle’s eyebrow twitched.
“I don’t need you to teach me. I’ll figure out your secrets myself!”
“I wasn’t offering those secrets. You need to find that on your own.”
“Then…?”
“I’ll show you a few techniques.”
Perseta stepped back a few paces, then glanced at Illianne.
“Illianne, watch carefully.”
“Huh? O-okay, I will!”
She widened her eyes as Perseta spread his hands.
Vrrrr…
Something intricate glimmered in front of his chest— a magical construct emerging.
“W-wait! That’s…?!”
Sensing its energy, Salinelle gaped in shock.
Perseta grinned.
“Nicely crafted, right?”
Snarling, Salinelle grabbed his prized “Mana Wave Detector” from his bag. He studied Perseta’s construct vs. his device, then trembled with anger.
“What did you do?! Why does your magic have the same wavelength as my device…?!”
Perseta just smiled and stared at the sky:
“If you measure it now, you’ll see the Spirit Realm at 9.8, the Illusionary Realm at 8.8, Fairy Realm at 5.7 or so, right?”
Salinelle hurriedly activated his device, body trembling:
“R-right… How?!”
“Simple—I built an observational device within my ‘mental schema.’”
“Inside… your mind?!”
“Yes. A mage’s mental world should contain many such constructs. The first being an observational tool—proper observation is where all study begins. One day you’ll need actual physical gear, but until you reach that level, intangible constructs are more flexible and precise.”
“I—I’ve never heard of such nonsense!”
Illianne felt the same. Since the earliest magic texts like Idea, a mage’s mental realm was supposed to remain calm and clear, not cluttered with constructs. Yet Perseta was directly contradicting all that.
“That quick gesture to cast magic was similar. I used a ‘tool’ in my mental world. Observing and experimenting with it constantly will become your guiding star, leading you to see why Almagest is wrong.”
“Oh…!”
Illianne blurted a cry. “Guiding star” resonated with her. If she admitted Almagest was wrong, she felt the world collapse around her. But if there was a star to guide her across that darkness, maybe it wouldn’t be so scary.
Salinelle likewise felt fearful yet thrilled. Perseta’s words rattled him.
“So then, Salinelle…” Perseta spoke again, “Please establish the magic school. I’ll teach you this.”
“Hah!”
Salinelle snorted so loud it echoed off the rooftop, then spun around to leave.
“Where are you going?”
Perseta asked, confused. Salinelle, seething with anger, replied:
“I’m going to plan out the academy’s curriculum!”
His pounding footsteps faded away into the night.
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