The Magic City and the Great Detective
After saying those words, she picked up the mask and began conducting all sorts of experiments, pacing around every corner of the room. After bustling about in a state of high excitement for quite some time, she finally removed the mask, set it down on Seong-il’s desk, and turned to him with her answer.
“Wow… It’s truly perfect. How is this even possible?! You don’t happen to have another copy of that scroll, do you?! If you can get one for me, I’ll do absolutely anything you want!!”
Elysia—no, Luphtesia—lunged toward Seong-il with terrifying intensity. Faced with her overwhelming enthusiasm, a terrified Seong-il trembled as he replied.
“Uh… H-how am I supposed to get another one? I only managed to obtain it by sheer luck myself…!”
“Where?! How!! By what means!!”
Unwilling to accept his excuses, Luphtesia pressed right up against him, interrogating him with rapid-fire questions. Flustered by her reaction, Seong-il began spouting whatever came to mind.
“Um…! At an antique bookstore? By coincidence? While I was using an emotion artifact?”
“Khh…”
Luphtesia let out a groan of disappointment and hung her head. Seong-il tried to console her as he continued.
“I’ll… give you one if I find another good item later… Don’t be too disappointed…”
“Really? You mean it? You really promise?”
“Uh? Y-yeah…”
At his words, Luphtesia beamed brightly, threw her arms around him in a tight hug, and kissed him. Sluuurp… Mwah… The deep, passionate kiss continued for a long time. By the time it finally ended and she pulled her lips from his, she spoke again.
“You promise, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Hehe… Then! Try wearing the mask now.”
“Huh? Oh, okay…”
Following Luphtesia’s suggestion, Seong-il naturally put on the magic mask. It clung softly to his face and settled perfectly into place.
Whoa… It doesn’t feel like I’m wearing anything at all…?
“How does it feel?”
“Wow… It really feels like I’m not wearing anything. This is incredible…?”
“Yes. That’s one of the mask’s greatest advantages. It even has a Clean magic enchantment inside that takes care of sweat.”
“No way…”
Seong-il was astonished by the unexpectedly meticulous magical features. Seeing his reaction, Luphtesia smiled gently and continued her explanation.
“Not only that, it has voice modulation, mask shape transformation, and ultra vision effects, allowing perfect visibility even at night.”
“Ooh…”
“It’s enchanted with powerful magic, so it won’t scratch from ordinary impacts. And even if it breaks, as long as the core remains intact, it can self-repair.”
“…Core?”
“Yes. Would you like to take the mask off?”
At Luphtesia’s suggestion, Seong-il removed the mask and placed it on the desk. She picked it up lightly, flipped it over, and showed him the back.
“Look at the back of the inverted mask. See the red gem embedded in the forehead area?”
“Oh…! Is that…?”
“Yes. That’s the core. When you wear the mask, the wearer’s thoughts are transmitted to this core. That’s why the user can command the mask with nothing but their thoughts.”
“Whoa…”
“Of course, to be precise, you need to mentally chant the activation word. But you’re in luck, Detective Assistant! This is a kind of secret language that only I in the whole world know! If you hadn’t asked for my consent beforehand, I would never have taught you the activation words. But since you bravely told the truth and sought my agreement, I’ll teach you~”
“Ooh…! Thank you!!”
“Hehe… You’re very welcome.”
After saying that, Luphtesia explained the activation words for the magic mask. After listening to her kind explanation, Seong-il put the mask back on and attempted to command it by reciting the activation words as she’d instructed.
“Oh… It… It works!!”
He transformed the mask so only parts remained, changed it to his desired style, and even modulated his voice. As he played with the mask like an excited child, Luphtesia gently stopped him.
“That’s enough for now~ Shouldn’t we try other things?”
“Yeah! We should!”
“Alright then… Shall we get to the main topic? You asked about automata before, right?”
“Yes!! Automata!!”
“First of all… Do you know what an automata is…?”
At Luphtesia’s question, Seong-il flinched before answering.
“Um… A clone technique? A puppet?”
At his pathetic response, Luphtesia let out a deep sigh and replied.
“Just say you don’t know.”
“Okay. I don’t know.”
His cute and immediate change in attitude brought a slight smile to Luphtesia’s lips before she began explaining about automata.
“First… Automata is magic that utilizes a unique spell cast on the mask. More precisely, on the mask’s core.”
Soul Gem
“Unique? What is it?”
“It’s a spell called Soul Gem.”
“…Soul Gem?”
Having prided himself on thoroughly playing The Magic City and the Great Detective for the sake of collecting CGs since it was one of his favorite games, Seong-il was puzzled by this new setting he’d never encountered in the game. He questioned Luphtesia again.
“Yes. Soul Gem. It’s a magic gem artificially created by forcibly infusing various types of gemstones—rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and so on—with the magic power of the magic mask’s owner.”
“Hmm…”
“The infusion method uses one of the activation words I mentioned earlier. To use it, wear the mask, pick up the gem, and continuously chant the spell in your mind until the gem is filled with magic power.”
“….How do you know when it’s full of magic power?”
“You just know. If you keep chanting, at some point you’ll encounter two phenomena.”
“Two?”
“Yes. The first is mana depletion. As you’d expect, since a human’s mana isn’t infinite, continuously projecting power into the gem will naturally deplete the caster’s mana. In that case, you need to recover your body’s mana before trying again. As a reference, you can continue the attempt later. Whether you finish it all at once or in multiple sessions, the effect is the same, so don’t worry.”
“I see.”
“The second is that after a certain point, even though your body still has sufficient mana, you’ll feel that the power is no longer flowing into the gem. That’s when the charging is complete.”
“Ah~~”
“Hehe… Does that make sense? Also, the amount of mana charged is proportional to the size of the gem. The larger the charge, the stronger the automata becomes and the longer it can remain active.”
“Oho….”
Having said that, Luphtesia took out a ruby the size of a fingernail from her bosom, showed it to Seong-il, and continued.
“For reference, a gem this size can power about two hours of activity when fully charged.”
“I see… I think I get the general idea. While we’re at it, can I ask a few questions?”
“Of course~ Go ahead.”
“What level of capabilities does an automata have? Intelligence? Is that the right term…?”
Luphtesia nodded at Seong-il’s question and began to explain.
“Surprisingly, as long as there’s sufficient mana, there’s almost no difference from the main body.”
“What!?”
“That’s the amazing part of this magic. Since an automata is a doll bound to the caster’s soul, it naturally acts according to the caster’s thoughts. It can even sacrifice itself without hesitation for its owner.”
“Wow….”
“However, if it goes beyond one kilometer, it loses control. In most cases, the automata simply stops, but…”
“But?”
“There are occasional reports of it going berserk.”
“Berserk?”
“Yes. However, for that to happen, the gem would need to be enormously large with an absurdly massive mana charge. So it’s not something you need to worry about.”
“Huh… So having a large charge isn’t unconditionally good…”
Luphtesia nodded at Seong-il’s comment and replied.
“Half right. It’s true that excessive mana can overload the automata, leading to variables like berserk mode, which is definitely a serious drawback. However, the larger the gem and the more mana charged, the stronger the automata becomes. Especially if the owner is a powerful being.”
“…What does the owner’s strength have to do with it?”
“Well… If the owner is strong, it’s natural that mana consumption increases. Using magic is obviously impossible. With the size of the gem I showed you, it can only perform ordinary actions.”
“Aha!! I understand. So with a small gem, mimicking an ordinary person’s behavior is fine, but performing actions like using magic would be too much.”
“Close enough.”
At Luphtesia’s words, Seong-il felt a surge of excitement in his mind.
This… has endless potential uses. Even if I don’t use it for combat, there are so many ways I could apply it in different fields…
While Seong-il was deeply pondering the mask’s applications, Luphtesia looked at him and continued.
“Also, it’s possible to share the automata’s vision for reconnaissance. I mainly use it as a diversion tactic when stealing items, but I use it more often for exploration when investigating ruins.”
“Oho…!”
“Of course, when sharing the automata’s vision, the caster can’t move and must focus entirely on the automata. But despite that drawback, the advantages are tremendous enough to make it worthwhile.”
“That’s true. It seems that way!!!”
“Hehe… You must be happy to have obtained something so good~ My dear detective assistant Seong-il?”
“Of course…!!”
Seeing Seong-il rejoicing like a child, Luphtesia smiled softly. She moved closer to his side, gave him a light kiss on the cheek, and continued.
“Ah! And! The doll doesn’t have to be large. Even a fist-sized doll will naturally grow when you cast the spell and attach the gem.”
“Ooooh…!”
“So you don’t have to carry around a big doll everywhere~”
The more he heard, the more useful the mask’s automata magic seemed. He was greatly satisfied with having used the duplication scroll on the automata mask and asked Luphtesia about additional points he was curious about.
“By any chance… what happens if I remove the mask while using automata magic?”
“I experimented with that too. It seems the automata continues to act freely according to the commands given when the user was wearing the mask. Then when you put the mask back on, it listens to new commands.”
“Oho!!!”
After hearing Luphtesia’s explanation, Seong-il thought with admiration.
That means I can create a clone with the automata, set its behavior pattern, and remove the mask, and it will still function to some extent…
Having finished his thoughts, Seong-il asked about one final point that had been bothering him.
“By any chance… is it impossible to create a clone of another person?”
At his question, Luphtesia frowned slightly before beginning her answer.
“It’s… possible, but it’s a bit strange.”
“…Strange?”
“It works. But the weird thing is, when you create an automata in your own form, it acts extremely intelligently and cleverly. But when you make it in someone else’s form, it becomes incredibly stupid. I don’t know the exact reason either…”
“Hmm… How stupid are we talking?”
“Um. About the level of a three-year-old toddler?”
“…So it’s not usable in other people’s forms?”
“Right. I don’t know the reason. Though I do have a rough guess…”
“A guess? Can’t you tell me?”
Luphtesia nodded at Seong-il’s question and began to answer.
“It probably has something to do with the fundamental nature of the gem magic.”
“…Fundamental nature?”
“Yes… The spell for creating a gem infused with mana is called Soul Gem, after all. I suspect that while infusing the gem with mana, it copies the caster’s soul and inserts it into the gem, which is why the word ‘soul’ is included…”
“Hmm…”
“Therefore, I think Soul Gem is a spell that essentially replicates the caster’s soul. So when you use Soul Gem to create someone else’s appearance and mimic their behavior patterns, it might be recognized as damaging the essence, which is why the automata spell’s effectiveness drops sharply…”
“Damaging the essence, huh…”
“Yes. Surprisingly, that’s an important aspect of magic. I’m not a high-level mage so I don’t know the principles, but that’s what mages say.”
“I see. So it’s a magic with many hidden secrets.”
“Yes. Even though I’ve used it a lot and discovered quite a few things, it’s such an amazing spell that I suspect there are even more applications to be found.”
“I see…”
“Hehe… So make good use of it from now on, okay? It’s a spell so incredible that it could change your life as a detective assistant depending on how you use it.”
“Yeah!! Thanks! Elysia!!”
“Don’t mention it~ If you’re grateful, just give me lots of presents later~”