Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: The Mage's Heart (4)
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"I..."
Diana hesitated.
Elemental Magic was the signature magic of her Lebius family, after all.
Originally, she had wanted recognition from her main family branch.
How satisfying it would be to see the faces of those who looked down on her as a sideline twist in agony.
That was why she wanted to attend the Academy and become a renowned grand mage.
If she hadn't met the knight that day, Diana would probably be interning at some magic tower by now, working to earn a letter of recommendation.
And next year, she would have enrolled as a freshman at the Academy.
But after being saved by the knight that day, her thoughts changed.
She didn't even want to catch the eye of her main family anymore.
So she abandoned the familiar magic and switched her path to alchemy, which her main family would ignore no matter how much she achieved.
There was also the thought that, if she ever reunited with the knight someday, she wanted to show him a more feminine silhouette.
If she kept going down this path, she was confident she could achieve success as an alchemist.
But now, they wanted her to try Elemental Magic again?
"Diana."
Arthur's voice reached her as she shrank back in fear.
"Someday, you will have to confront them and win. You know that, don't you?"
The reason I was so shocked when I saw Cynthia was because her personality had changed drastically from the original work.
It's true that characters in the original story sometimes follow slightly different paths.
But a person's fundamental personality doesn't change that easily.
And in the original, Diana was a proud sub-male (or female) lead with high ambition and a strong desire for recognition, haughty and aloof.
Even if meeting me had derailed her from her original path a little, would someone like that truly wish for a quiet life?
I didn't think so.
And the way Diana's eyes widened confirmed my guess was right.
Diana opened her mouth.
"...You said the one who does better between me and Tiona gets a special prize, right?"
"Yes."
Diana snorted.
"Fine. I accept that challenge!"
"That's more like you."
Tiona, who had been dragged into this unexpectedly, let out a strange noise.
"Hic...?"
"Don't worry, Young Lady. With your current knowledge, you can definitely create one Elemental Magic spell."
"R-Really...?"
The way she asked without even adding '-ssayo' showed how anxious she was.
Having spent so much time together, I could now infer most of her emotional state just from her subtle gestures.
"Really."
So I said it as if it were obvious, with a slight smile.
This attitude worked best to reassure Tiona.
"You can do it, Young Lady. I'll teach you the method."
"Uh, okay... I'll try."
"Excellent."
"Hehe..."
Tiona beamed, while Diana's expression soured a bit. Was this a zero-sum game?
Anyway.
"Shall we begin, then?"
Just as the mindset of mystifying numbers was essential when first creating Numerology.
The mysticism needed to create Elemental Magic was a curiosity about the origins of all things.
"Lady Tiona, close your eyes and picture any object you like."
"...My bear doll?"
That bear doll she insisted wasn't an attachment plushie, even though it was worn and frayed from years of hugging, on the verge of becoming rags, yet she never threw it away and brought it all the way here.
"Alright, then think about what that bear doll is made of."
"...Fabric and stuffing? And thread too."
"And what are those materials made of?"
"...Thread? Fabric is thread, and stuffing is... thread too?"
"Good. Now, what is thread made of?"
"Hmm..."
To create advanced Elemental Magic, you have to keep breaking it down like this, until you can't decompose it further.
Usually, the endpoint is something like the four elements represented by hot/cold, heavy/light, and so on.
The core of Elemental Magic is stacking those elements to produce various phenomena.
And the more detailed the classification and decomposition, the more phenomena you can create by reassembling them in reverse.
A mage who has mastered advanced Elemental Magic could, given enough time and mana, recreate virtually any object in the world.
If magic is defined as altering the world using mana, then Elemental Magic is the most 'magical' of all magics.
Conversely.
If a slightly less impressive magic system is fine, you can stop the decomposition midway.
"That's enough. For you, Lady Tiona, we'll use thread. Diana, what about you?"
"I'll go with... that animal pajama you lent me last time."
That rabbit pajama, huh.
Seems like everyone liked it quite a bit. If there's another pajama party next time, I should bring them out.
"Good. Then Diana, break it down the same way."
"Thread... and color. Dye."
I broke it down the same way and gave her thread and paint.
"Alright. Now, Diana, Tiona, using what you've decomposed so far, each create an Elemental Magic spell."
And then.
"Using only that magic, recreate the object you decomposed in your mind."
Magic is a method.
The surest way to evaluate a method is to have them produce a result with it.
"You have 30 minutes. The special prize goes to whoever has the higher completion rate."
I flipped the hourglass I had used for the cake earlier.
"Begin. I'll be in the kitchen for a bit."
As soon as Arthur disappeared into the kitchen, a tense air hung between the two girls.
The special prize Arthur promised to give.
They were probably imagining the same thing for what it might be.
"...I won't go easy on you."
"You don't have to. I'll do my best too."
She moved forward.
She restarted the clock that had been stopped until now.
For the knight's sake, erase any ties to the main family as much as possible?
It sounded right at first glance.
But in the end, it was just running away.
Suppose she did meet that knight. If she wanted to marry him, wouldn't she eventually have to reveal that she's a woman?
Or live with the knight while disguised as a man? Never show affection in public, get pointed at as suspicious for two men wandering around, unable to have or raise children?
She didn't want that.
In the end, the issue with her main family had to be settled someday.
If she wanted marriage, instead of fleeing from forced marriage, she had to fight even harder against those trying to force her into one.
And she wanted to contribute to that settlement herself.
'Arthur.'
He would surely help. Just like how he reclaimed the research results Shakra stole this time.
This series of words and actions now could be understood in that light too.
But.
This time, she didn't want to rely only on Arthur's help.
She wanted to fight alongside him.
And after everything was over, she would ask him. A question she already knew the answer to.
'You're my knight, right?'
She would only allow answers of 'Yes' or 'That's right.' She would become a great enough mage to impose that on Arthur.
Then.
The marriage registration she had kept hidden away for so long would finally see the light.
The wedding would be in a grand cathedral, in a splendid wedding dress.
Diana resolved herself firmly, imagining herself in a wedding dress kissing Arthur.
As the first step.
She would win this match against Tiona right now.
There was no way she would lose.
Because she had a secret weapon that Tiona didn't.
Diana had learned Elemental Magic but quit; her knowledge wasn't erased from her mind.
Five Elements Magic.
One of the most advanced Elemental Magic systems, refined through long research and optimization, began to shine at Diana's fingertips.
.
.
.
And 30 minutes later.
"The winner... is Lady Tiona."
"Sob...! Sniff...!!!! Hic...!!"
Diana wiped her tears with a handkerchief. Actually, it wasn't a handkerchief—it was a scrap from the pajamas she had tried to recreate.
In contrast to her, Tiona's bear doll showed a high completion rate, even if some parts were rough.
Arthur sighed.
"That's what I told you. Use the magic you just created and the materials I gave you."
"But!!"
Advanced Elemental Magic can recreate all things. Just like how you can make far more with plastic than with Legos.
But what Diana had done was like starting from plastic molding for an assignment to assemble a Lego model, with only 30 minutes.
"To lose this miserably...!"
"...Diana, were you perhaps underestimating Lady Tiona too much?"
"Well, yeah, but it's Tiona!"
"Now that you mention it, you're right. I can't logically refute that."
"Arthur? Diana? I can get mad too, you know?"
"Sorry. That was too much joking."
To soothe her, I patted Tiona's head. Her puffed-up cheeks deflated with a huff.
"Anyway, congratulations, Lady Tiona. The special prize is yours."
"Ehehehe!!! "
Tiona rejoiced, and Diana started crying again. My marriage plans!
"But... could I perhaps give a little special prize to Diana too?"
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
Tiona and Diana blinked.
"Was that... something you could share?"