Episode 22: Change of Wind
The forum is already in its third week.
The mages’ fervor has not cooled in the least.
Salinelle has presented all the major themes of his theory and is now dealing with the minor topics that branch from those themes.
The mages, while verifying each point themselves, stay endlessly busy brandishing every spell they know with mana-wave meters in hand and running experiments of their own.
More than two full weeks have passed, yet no one is in a hurry; they simply enjoy this leisurely moment of observing and testing everything.
Perseta is the same.
Just watching is fun, and it fills him with anticipation.
Through this process, the knowledge Salinelle discovered will strike deep roots among mages.
Those roots will topple and upon them will bloom anew.
It also helps the domain’s development in many ways.
At first the mages had planned to stay at most one month, but now they predict two months at the shortest, three at the longest, and so have begun to spend money and conduct research in earnest.
The money they spent sparingly at first was already enormous for this little barony’s economy, and now even the scale itself is different.
Nor is that all: once the mages started researching their own magic in earnest, all sorts of useful secondary effects began to appear.
The single greatest beneficiary was the fairy farm tended by the farmer Gillian.
“Oof… there are so many fairies now I can hardly keep up.”
Gillian let out a sigh of delight.
These days the barony seems as though the whole of it has become the Fairy Realm.
In the name of testing resonance frequencies, the mages set up resonance circles everywhere, linking wildly to the Fairy Realm, the Spirit Realm, even the Illusion Realm, so meeting fairies, spirits, and yokai everywhere has become daily life.
Among them the number of fairies is overwhelming.
The Barony of Verite itself is a place naturally prone to resonate with the Fairy Realm. Hence keeping a fairy farm had long been a main source of income.
The countless overlapping resonance circles draw in ever more fairies in a virtuous cycle.
Now every townsman has at least one fairy friend.
Yet the good news does not end there.
“All right! Move it, everyone, quickly!”
At Gillian’s loud command, the village’s young men loaded the piled-up magical refuse in front of the magic school onto carts in perfect order.
Magical refuse came in many forms.
Gem dust that had been used and discarded. Metals whose color had faded and crumbled. Ritual tools broken after ceremonies.
Gillian made sure not to miss a single piece, packed everything neatly onto carts, and headed for the fairy farm with the youths.
A smile never left his face.
“Next year’s crops will be a bumper harvest.”
The number of fairies, already large, has multiplied several times. That alone is encouraging, and if the magical waste is well ground and spread on the fields, it will turn directly into the finest fertilizer.
Magical fertilizer that strengthens the connection to the Fairy Realm.
Seeing magical refuse pile up endlessly on the farm naturally makes one feel secure.
And there are so many young people.
Farm work with fairies, once shunned by all, is now the job every youth longs for.
To Gillian, every single day truly tastes sweet as honey.
– It’s Gillian!
– Hi, Gillian!
– Aaah! Too fast! Wait for us!
– The last one gets the penalty of being stuck inside a flower bud for one minute! Hurry!
Over a hundred fairies flowed past Gillian like a wave of light while he watched with pleasure.
At the very front is a particularly pretty fairy.
These days the fairies spend all their time following that one around.
Almost like a neighborhood boss who rules all the fairies.
Out of curiosity Gillian stared fixedly at that fairy.
Nothing about her seemed special.
A pair of clear wings. A shirt and trousers.
She looks like an ordinary fairy, yet strangely it is hard to take one’s eyes off her.
Is it because her hair color stands out a bit?
– Come with us, Hinari Ririane!
– Too fast!
– I can’t be last! Stuck for a whole minute? That’s too cruel!
It is curious that the always self-willed fairies follow only that one.
Gillian gazed at the sight until the wave of fairies disappeared far, far away.
Fairy Princess Hinari Ririane has been enjoying every day lately.
It is thanks to the countless fairy resonance circles that now brush her wings wherever she goes around her contractor, Perseta.
Because of that, Hinari Ririane can flit all over the barony all day long, playing with every kind of fairy.
Before, she could stay near Perseta only if he summoned her… Now she can pop out even if he does not call and may travel quite far beyond the barony.
She must return before a certain time, but still, what freedom!
It is the thrilling freedom created by the princess’s own power plus the layered resonance of countless magic circles.
Only, to avoid trouble she goes in disguise.
She hides the two pairs of wings and rainbow sheen unique to a fairy princess, throws off her dress, and wears only a shirt and trousers.
Thus disguised, Hinari Ririane sped across the barony and flew into the magic school nestled in a small wood.
– Perseta! Persetaaa!
“Ah, you have come.”
Perseta, watching the mages’ research with satisfaction, raised a hand to chest height and bowed his head in greeting.
Hinari Ririane alighted gently on his finger and began chattering about everything she had seen today.
– Perseta! Guess what I saw!
“You traveled far again today?”
– Yep! I toured the whole barony and even visited the next domain, Viscount Felix’s place.
“Your energy overflows.”
– Yes, and it was you who kept such an energetic me locked up all that time.
“But… we never had enough power for our research.”
– Really! Not once do you say something pleasant!
Hinari Ririane sprang to her feet on his finger and gave it a sharp kick with her tiny foot.
Tap! Tap!
Of course it did not hurt at all.
But knowing her mischief would grow if he failed to react, Perseta knit his brow and pretended to be hurt.
“Ow. That hurts. Please stop. So, what did you see?”
When he smoothly shifted the topic, Hinari Ririane followed it like a cat after a toy.
– Ah! Right. I saw something amazing. Did you know a kirin is in your domain right now?
She spoke as if preening.
And the story was worth preening over.
“A kirin?”
– Yes! A kirin pulling a carriage!
“Hmm… that kind of carriage belongs only to the sage of the empire. So the sage has come? He was so late I thought he wouldn’t, but that’s good news.”
– How is it? My news is pretty useful, right?
“Yes, yes. Thank you.”
– But there’s more.
“News of that scale, and there’s more?”
– Sure is! I said I went to Viscount Felix’s domain too!
Hinari Ririane switched back to a friendly tone and spoke softly.
– There I found a girl who smelled like an angel! She was surrounded by people in white clothes, and from them too came a faint angel scent.
“Angel?”
Perseta was startled.
Mages who follow have difficulty linking with the five Upper Realms.
In particular, linking with the Divine Realm is of extreme difficulty, so great that even Archmage Ptolemaios could not do it at will.
Well, the reason is not actually so grand.
All Mystic Worlds orbit around the Human World, so it is natural that one cannot catch the exact frequency of the five Upper Realms.
‘In truth the Mana Sun lies at the center, and the Divine, Demon, Beast, Myth, Nether, and Human Worlds circle the Mana Sun in that order.’
Unknown to them, but simple if known.
The Divine, Demon, Beast, Myth, and Nether Worlds all orbit beyond the Mana Sun.
Yet in those five worlds are depicted as orbiting around the Human World; from that comes the wrong conclusion that they never stray beyond a certain distance from the Human World.
What is reality?
Because the Mana Sun is the center, the Upper Realms cross beyond the Sun and return, following orbits where they grow distant from and then approach the Human World. Thus, the Doppler effect makes their frequencies change considerably. Failure to measure frequency accurately is inevitable.
Moreover, as worlds close to the Mana Sun, their powerful mana waves add great noise to the already imprecise frequencies.
To capture such frequencies, precise orbit and coordinate calculations based on are necessary.
So communication with the Divine Realm ought still to be impossible… and yet there are people who smell of angels?
‘If such people exist… they must be theologians of the Holy Church and a saint.’
Using the political knowledge learned from his master, Perseta could deduce why they had come even to Viscount Felix’s realm.
‘They sensed a demon summoning.’
Indeed, the makeshift defenses must have been insufficient.
– But they looked really serious, you know? Perseta, you didn’t do anything wrong, did you?
At that, Perseta smiled and shook his head.
“No, it will be all right.”
– Really? They kept talking about punishment and such because they’re sure a demon was summoned.
“Those people are nothing to worry about.”
– Why?
“Because all I need do is summon one angel for them.”
– Ah, that’s it?
“Yes, that’s it. Anyway, thank you for the news.”
Perseta grinned and shaped a thumbnail-sized magic object, handing it to Hinari Ririane.
– Yay! Delicious! What flavor is it today?
Hinari Ririane held the magic object in both hands as if it were bread and munched happily.
Perseta watched her, then as if recalling something asked,
“Oh, by the way, did you see Zwart?”
– Your brother? I did.
“Where is he now? I have something to discuss.”
– Mm… he was training swordsmanship on the hill behind the school.
“Ah, thank you. I’ll go see him for a moment.”
– What! Take me too!
“It’s a family matter. No.”
Perseta gently yet firmly refused and flicked Hinari Ririane from his finger.
The airborne fairy flapped her wings in irritation.
– Hmph! Do you think I’ve no one but you to play with? I’ll play with Salli!
“Just don’t bother busy people too much.”
– Hmph!
With a snort, Hinari Ririane vanished out the window.
Perseta watched her go, then slowly put on his coat.
He thought of Zwart.
‘These days… it must be tough.’
He was the kind brother who had truly rejoiced at Perseta’s return.
Yet imagining how his brother must feel pained Perseta’s heart.
‘Since I came back, Zwart’s role has disappeared.’
Wasn’t he the one who had refused every good post and come home to save the family?
But Perseta cleared the family’s debts, and the important decisions guiding the house now mostly passed through Perseta.
Using what he had learned from his master, he knew that people usually feel alienation at such times.
‘I should have realized sooner…’
Having learned even human relations from books, Perseta was a bit late to grasp this.
Still, he would solve it well from now on.
Perseta resolved silently and set out.
His goal was his good brother Zwart.
A time to remake the young man, now feeling alienated, into the family’s steadfast guardian knight, a knight whose name would resound across the continent.
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