Magic (5)
He had told me to come back in two days, but I got so absorbed in my alchemical work that I arrived late. Not that I felt particularly sorry about it. I was planning to sell Scrap Iron in bulk, after all.
Seven whole ingots of Scrap Iron! Last time, a similar amount had gone for twenty-five gold. Surely he would give me roughly the same?
My sister was already waiting out front first thing in the morning.
"Why are you just standing there? Come inside."
She didn't answer.
"Well then—shall we go pick up the weapon?"
She nodded, so I got ready at once and we set out. She kept her silence the whole way, but she was following properly enough. Nothing to worry about.
The smithy was as busy as ever when we returned. Work starting at the crack of dawn?
The moment we stepped inside, the blacksmith from before appeared.
"You're here."
"Were you waiting for us?"
"Of course. The weapon's owner never showed."
Looking thoroughly pleased with himself, he held out the finished piece.
"The color's nothing special, but it'll serve you well."
A spear in a deep charcoal gray… At a glance it looked more like a staff than a spear. The elaborate metalwork just below the blade only strengthened that impression.
I tucked my alchemy rod into my pocket and took the spear as well. I lifted the gray-gleaming weapon carefully and ran my hands over it.
All right… I took a stance with the spear.
"A little short, maybe…"
The spear I used to carry had been far longer than I was tall. This new weapon, closer to a short spear, felt slightly awkward by comparison. Then again, I was shorter now myself. It didn't feel that short.
"Why don't you go try swinging it over there?"
The blacksmith pointed toward the far side of the building, opposite from where we'd come in.
"Is that all right?"
"If there's a problem, I'll have to fix it, won't I?"
I hadn't expected this kind of custom service. I nodded, and under his guidance we stepped outside into what looked like a drill yard.
"Are we really allowed to use this place?"
Men who were clearly soldiers were training there. What I had taken for something like a drill yard was simply a drill yard.
"Going past that line would be a problem. Up to here is fine."
The area he indicated was unmistakably part of the smithy's grounds.
A blacksmith blessed by the god Vulcanus. His standing here wouldn't be low.
"In that case…"
Honestly, I wanted to leave for an entirely different reason. The moment we stepped out, sticky, unpleasant stares poured over us.
The stares belonged to the soldiers training in the yard. That up-and-down once-over… It made my skin crawl.
There was no way those looks were aimed at me alone.
Worried, I glanced quickly at my sister—only to find her watching me with perfect calm. She even tilted her head, as if puzzled by my reaction.
"You okay, Sis?"
No answer came. She simply nodded.
Was she dense… or just oblivious…?
I gave the spear a few experimental swings, then settled into a stance and thrust. Using reach the way I had with my old spear would be difficult, but it was more than usable.
I paused, shifted my grip near the butt end, and swung again.
"I could even use it a bit like a sword."
The entire shaft was iron, so it couldn't cut—but it looked perfectly capable of delivering a solid blow.
"Oho. You handle a spear better than I expected."
"Do I?"
"Better than those half-baked soldiers, at any rate."
The Instructor had told me these soldiers had only been training for about a year. I, by contrast, had trained for a solid five years and spent another year living as an adventurer, building real combat experience. Of course there would be a difference in level.
Being praised felt good enough that I threw myself into the demonstration with even more enthusiasm.
I tried channeling Holy Power into it as well. The force transmitted cleanly, and the balance was excellent. A fine weapon.
"Satisfied?"
Looking at that smug face of his, I almost wanted to say it was mediocre. But his skill left me no choice but to admit it.
The spear settled into my hand as if we had been together for years.
"Well, it's usable enough."
"Hahaha! Don't you want to see the other weapon I forged from the iron you brought?"
"You made one?"
"I did."
The blacksmith fetched a sword and showed it to me. It was a rapier. Not the kind that flexed like the fencing foils I remembered from my previous life—just a sword with a narrow blade.
Unlike my spear, he seemed to have used Scrap Iron only for the blade itself; the crossguard and grip were made of different materials.
"It's a sword."
"Heh. The strength of a blade forged from that iron turned out better than I expected."
When he compared it against the iron they normally used, mine had come out just a fraction tougher, he said.
"Is that so?"
"It is. Part of me wanted to tell you to go fetch more."
That good? Music to my ears. I carefully pulled the iron from the bag I had brought.
With every ingot I produced, the blacksmith's expression shifted.
"This much?!"
"Yes. What do you think?"
"With this, plus what I had left over… I could forge two more blades…"
The stares from the people around us grew even heavier. So blatant it was almost enough to give me chills.
Why on earth were they looking at us like that?
The blacksmith glanced at me and squinted.
"Let's talk inside."
Once we were back in the smithy, the stares vanished and the unpleasant feeling subsided. Hah… Finally I could breathe.
The blacksmith first inspected the condition of the Scrap Iron.
"All the same quality."
"Is that right?"
"Twenty-five gold should do it?"
I saw no reason to haggle.
"Yes."
"Hah. Much obliged."
Was the iron really that good? I had named it Scrap Iron, of all things… I had collected the money and was about to leave when the blacksmith spoke up again.
"Ah—don't hold it against the soldiers too much."
"Pardon?"
What was he talking about all of a sudden?
"Ahem. They haven't seen a woman in nearly a year. Try to understand."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
I played dumb, but having once been a man myself, I understood perfectly. Young men in their late teens and early twenties, overflowing with that particular kind of energy, stationed for over a year in a place without a single woman. And then, out of nowhere, women appear right in front of them?
Of course they would react like that…
"Ahem! Just keep that in mind."
I couldn't help frowning at his response.
"I don't care. We'll be leaving for somewhere else soon enough anyway."
In a few more months they would be transferred elsewhere. So I decided not to give it another thought.
"Right. Come by again sometime."
The blacksmith had become remarkably friendly—hard to believe he had been so unwelcoming at first.
Back in the village, I headed to the self-defense force training grounds. I wanted to break in the new weapon and get used to it. The Instructor was startled when he saw it.
"A short spear?"
"It doubles as a staff, too."
A man who had lived as a Knight for many years, the Instructor examined my weapon with meticulous care.
"Well made."
"Is it?"
"You've gotten yourself a fine weapon."
I still wasn't fully accustomed to it, but the Instructor's endorsement was reassuring. Honestly, I had worried it might be too ambiguous—not quite a proper spear, not quite a sword, not quite a staff—but it seemed I could simply use it as it was.
After a light warm-up, I went home and told my sister I was thinking of making another trip to the city.
"Again?"
"Yeah. I want to buy some books, and some equipment too."
The village had a carpenter, but he wasn't particularly skilled, and there was no blacksmith at all. Even when I needed something, there was often no way to get it.
Glassware, especially, was impossible to find. Every window in the village was made of wood—that said it all.
So I needed to go to the city, or at least a more developed town, to buy what I required.
"Can't you just wait for a merchant?"
"Who knows when one will come, and there's no guarantee they'll have what I want."
Of course, I could place an order when one arrived. But there was no telling how long a round trip would take, so I had ruled that out.
"Then I'm coming with you."
With my sister…?
"Fine by me."
Having her along would be a hassle, but it would also be a help. The question was whether Father would allow it.
My adoptive parents agreed to the city trip more readily than I had expected.
After several leisurely days of packing, we set out. The journey that had once taken more than ten days was now cut in half.
The power of Holy Power was incredible. I could run faster—and for longer! It was an outright cheat!
The city we arrived in looked much the same as before. Nothing had really changed.
"It's only been a few months. Why does it feel so good to be back?"
The moment we arrived, I started hunting through shops for everything I needed. First on the list: glass bottles.
Flasks, test tubes, and stands to hold them all… Since mages used them for experiments, they weren't hard to find.
The prices, though, were terrifying. Not the kind of thing you bought in bulk without thinking.
"I can't believe a handful of these just wiped out a quarter of the war chest."
My adoptive parents—the village chief and his wife—had given me funds to support the village after seeing how useful the salves and poultices from my Alchemy were, and on top of that we had the money from selling the monster loot my sister had brought in. Our funds had doubled… and it still ended up like this.
"Glass really is expensive."
I packed the purchases with extreme care. Even wrapped thoroughly in leather and cloth to keep them from breaking, I couldn't stop fretting.
After a solid night's sleep at the inn, I woke to find my sister already ready and watching me.
"Where to today?"
She asked where we were going.
"The bookstore."
I planned to start at the used bookstore and look for books on magic and Holy Magic. Once the plan was set, I got ready to leave at once.
I went to the used bookstore I had owed a debt of gratitude to during my time living here. Time had passed, yet nothing about the place had changed.
"Hello."
I stepped inside with a greeting for the same old proprietor.
"You…?"
The bookstore owner looked at me in open surprise.
"One thing led to another, and here I am again."
"You've gained power, I see."
Huh? How had he noticed so instantly?
"Heh heh. Surprised?"
"Uh—well, yes."
"I noticed because I am a great mage, of course."
Ah. I had suspected as much—the sheer number of magic books, the depth of his knowledge—but it seemed he really was a mage.
More to the point, wasn't it embarrassing to call yourself a "great mage" out loud?
"What brings you here?"
"Well, I, uh… I've obtained Holy Power."
"So it would seem."
"But I don't know anything about magic or Holy Magic, so I wanted to try learning."
"Learning?"
What was that? Why did he look so delighted?
"So. You wish to learn, then?"
"Yes. That's why I came to buy some books."
"What would you say to learning from me?"
He would teach me? I was honestly tempted. There was no way I could simply read a book and start casting magic overnight. It would be enormously difficult… But if someone taught me in person? Wouldn't I pick it up much faster?
"Ah—but I'm not alone…"
"I see… And the one behind you?"
"My older sister."
"Oho? So both sisters possess power."
He had noticed that my sister had mana. More importantly—I had clearly said "older sister," so why was he calling us both sisters? Did he already know I was a woman?
"I wouldn't mind teaching you both, as it happens."
I looked at my sister.
"Yuli?"
"What do you think?"
Her face looked expressionless, but her eyes were trembling wildly. The unfocused gaze told me she was flustered.
"Child, don't fret so much. And if you care for your younger sibling, is this not an opportunity?"
I wanted to accept. Even a single month of study would change something, wouldn't it?
"Yuli, do you want to learn?"
"W-well… yes. And if I learn Holy Magic, it'll help the village too."
If I could learn Holy Magic, then in an emergency I wouldn't be limited to bandages and salves—I could heal people directly.
"All right. But I'll tell Mother and Father."
My sister spoke with a grave expression. She always got long-winded at serious moments like this.
"You're going to go tell them yourself?"
She nodded.
"Heh heh. Excellent, excellent."
The bookstore owner looked genuinely overjoyed, beaming as he headed straight for the shelves. He returned and set a carefully chosen stack of books in front of me.
"These are essential."
Among them were books I had already read.
"And you said what you obtained was Holy Power?"
"Yes."
"Let me see."
I showed my new teacher my power.
"This is…?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No. Holy Power of the goddess Metis."
He could tell even that?
"Experience teaches one such things."
When I asked him to explain further, he said that Holy Power varied subtly depending on the nature of the god one served. Come to think of it, the books had said the same thing, hadn't they?
The bookstore owner left me with nothing more than instructions to start reading, then excused himself—he had a great deal to prepare, he said.
"Want to look through them with me, Sis?"
"Mm."
Together, my sister and I immersed ourselves in the magic texts.
Honestly, the prospect of learning magic on my own had felt bleak. I had gotten lucky.
Opportunities like this were rare. I had to make the most of it. Yes—properly, thoroughly, without fail! I was going to learn magic.