Foundations of Magic (1)

"Alright, even if it's cold, you need to start by washing your face and scrubbing your hands thoroughly with soap. Put these aprons on completely. Cover your hair with a cloth so nothing falls in, and trim your nails too."

The farmers I'd gathered had terrible hygiene. The bigger problem was that they didn't even recognize their current state as filthy. Teaching them to make pizza came with its own headaches. Aside from the two with any kitchen experience, none of them were suited for cooking or sales. Like the saying that only those who've eaten meat know how to enjoy it, I decided it would be better to hire people who already had some foundation in cooking rather than training farmers from scratch.

"You're looking to recruit people who've worked in noble house kitchens and buy up the surrounding land?"

"Yes, that's correct."

The Herio Guild Master already knew about the tomato rumors spreading through Booktoria, so he understood immediately.

"Is the land purchase for growing tomatoes?"

"Yes. Even though I distributed seeds to the nobles, I don't think the supply will meet demand, so I plan to cultivate them right next door."

"Hmm. So you're settling down here permanently, Jinwoo-nim?"

"No, that's not it. I'm not settling down just because I have things to do."

"Then who would manage the land and the farming if you buy it?"

"..."

I couldn't answer the Herio Guild Master's question. Only then did I realize how shortsighted I'd been.

"If you were planning to settle here, Jinwoo-nim, buying land to cultivate tomatoes or other crops would make sense. But if that's not the case, I wouldn't recommend purchasing land."

His words, born from years of experience, hit me like a slap. If I wasn't settling down, buying land to farm it myself made no sense at all.

"Then it would be better to find people who can cultivate the tomatoes and supply them."

"In the current situation, yes. If you had a proper fief and loyal retainers, direct cultivation might work. But without those preparations, it's smarter to simply buy tomatoes and flour."

I'd thought I knew plenty about business and the food industry, but it was obvious I'd never actually run one. The problem was that I'd approached it too simply, relying only on what I'd learned in school entrepreneurship classes.

"Thank you for pointing out what I was missing."

"Not at all. I'll look into recruiting those who've learned cooking from noble families and find reliable people who can cultivate and supply tomatoes in your place. You'll provide the seeds, correct?"

"Yes. What I gave the nobles was only a small amount, so please tell them I'll supply a large quantity."

"Then please wait a few days. I'll find trustworthy people for you."

After listening to the Herio Guild Master, I realized I'd been trying to handle everything myself.

I couldn't trust people... No, I couldn't trust NPCs.

In the end, if I wanted things to be easy and to test properly, I needed to delegate to someone. And even if it all went to hell because I left it in their hands, it didn't really matter. They weren't real anyway. What did it matter? It was right to leave the business to Aunt Michelle, Tilt, and Jack, whether it succeeded or failed. In games, grinding repetitive labor was standard practice to assign to NPCs.

I bought a building right next to the main road, repaired it, and created the cleanest possible environment for baking and preparing pizzas. Then I taught the recipes to the former maids that Michelle and the Herio Guild Master had found and sent over.

"Master. In the end, tomatoes are the key ingredient in both the pizza and the other dishes. Without your magic, won't we only get one harvest a year? Wouldn't that mean we'll run out of tomatoes and won't be able to sell anything?"

"Tomatoes are harvested once, but if we don't sow them like wheat and instead plant one stalk at a time with two-month intervals, we can keep harvesting steadily for nearly four months."

"Ah, so without magic, the harvest timing shifts depending on when the flowers bloom and fall."

"Exactly. And if we process the harvested tomatoes into ketchup, bottle them in glass jars, and store them somewhere cool, they last more than five months."

"Then we can use tomatoes for nine months."

"Right. And since Cezanne and I are working on magic to preserve them even longer, we'll be able to make and sell tomato-based dishes all year round."

Only then did Michelle finally look relieved.

"Just a moment. So does that mean there are preservation magics on the Arean Continent that can keep things even longer?"

We'd spoken casually while making pizza, but the moment magic came up, Cezanne started adding polite endings to her sentences.

"There isn't a specific magic that extends shelf life to match your question, Cezanne. But there are spells ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with similar effects."

"Similar effects?"

"Yes. I'm thinking of digging underground and installing a magic circle that emits cold air. The low temperature should let us preserve the tomatoes much longer."

"A magic circle? You can install magic circles?"

Cezanne looked genuinely shocked. This was because magic circle techniques had been completely lost after the Magic Circle Contention War.

"Huh? You can't do it, Cezanne? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was counting on you."

"Magic circles are among the most closely guarded secrets. As I mentioned before, after the Magic Circle Contention War, that entire school of magic vanished. Not just spatial magic, but fixed-position magic circles as well—their lineages were all severed."

"Damn. I was thinking of engraving cold magic circles to make refrigerators and sell them, but that won't work."

I'd had the idea of creating fridges by carving cold magic circles into them, but it seemed impossible now.

Wait, now that I think about it, I hadn't known that was missing.

Thinking about magic circles brought another resource to mind: the complete absence of stones that contained mana—called magic stones or mana stones. The goblins and red-mane wolves I'd killed hadn't dropped any. And I remembered that when the mercenaries' guild posted prices for herbs or monster parts, there had been no listings for magic stones or mana stones at all.

Then what powered the old magic circles?

Until now I'd assumed the magic system here was the same as in typical RPG games, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but it seemed fundamentally different. I had no choice but to ask Cezanne about the magic of the Entrick Continent to get a proper ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠grasp of the concept.

"Ah, they say there used to be separate magic circles that absorbed mana from the air. All the famous spatial magic bags with known names have those mana-absorption circles engraved on them."

"That mana-absorption magic circle must have been lost in the war too."

"Correct. They say the Plantar Magic Tower, the Adhibitio Magic Tower, and the Witant Magic Tower still preserve some legacy of magic circles, but outsiders wouldn't even be allowed to look. So does that mean materials related to magic circles remain on the Arean Continent?"

Cezanne's eyes sparkled with hope that magic circle documents might still exist on the Arean Continent.

"I keep telling you the magic systems are completely different. On our side, we don't learn magic. We inherit it by embodying it in our bodies."

I started feeding Cezanne the lie I'd prepared in advance.

"Inherit it into the body? That means a master can only have one disciple."

"Yes, exactly. You can have multiple disciples from one master because you teach in towers, but we can't. Even this spatial magic can only be inherited by one person."

"Then when that person dies, the entire school is cut off?"

"That's right."

"Wow, how is that even possible? Just keeping the school alive without it being severed is already incredible."

"One of the reasons I came to Entrick was to learn how such magic manifests. Cezanne, can you teach me the basics of magic here?"

"The basics of magic?"

At my request, Cezanne recalled all the behavior she'd thought was just me messing around.

'Cezanne, light this on fire for me, quick!'

She'd assumed I was deliberately bothering her by making her do things even though she was a mage herself, but now she realized it hadn't been a joke. She also found the completely different magic systems of the two continents fascinating.

Cezanne had personally witnessed me growing tomato seeds and casting healing magic. That had definitely been magic. The spell I'd used to heal the holy warrior and the one I'd cast when she collapsed were real mana-based magic. It was almost comical that I could use higher-level spells than the basics like creating fire or cold, yet couldn't even produce a simple flame.

"You definitely possess mana, right?"

"Of course. That's why I'm a mage."

"Hmm. Then while I can't teach you the unique secret techniques of the school I learned at the Fire Tower of Tulcherus, I can teach you some very old foundational magic that's generally known."

I felt excited at the prospect of learning old foundational magic, even if it wasn't secret techniques.

"However, I'm only teaching you simple mana arrangements, so don't get your hopes up too high. I can't teach you spells like Fire Bolt either, since they're school secrets."

Cezanne really was planning to teach me only the absolute basics.

"Um. First, do you know about elemental attributes?"

"You mean the five major elements that compose the world?"

"Yes. Fire and water, earth and air. And the separate ether that moves the world—these are the elements that make up everything."

Seeing five elements including fire, water, earth, air, and ether, it seemed the setting was based on Aristotle's five-element theory.

"Mages usually have mana that's friendly toward one of these five major elements. In short, they have an aptitude that matches."

"Then how do you find out which one?"

"Usually, when you enter a magic tower, they teach you breathing methods to gather mana. Your aptitude reveals itself through that breathing. But since you already have mana, we'll skip that. Let's try meditation."

Since she said meditation, I naturally started to sit in a lotus position, but Cezanne made me stand, moved me to an open area, and had me spread both arms wide while closing my eyes.

"Relax your mind, feel the world, and imagine. First, picture a blazing fire."

It was the association technique—one of the classic cliché training methods.

"When you think of fire, does the mana inside your body feel like it's burning? If so, imagine pouring out that burning hot mana through both palms."

I snapped my eyes open at the sudden rush of heat from both hands. Flames were surging upward as if gas valves had been attached to my palms.

"How did you do that?"

"I just did what you told me to."

I'd imagined the mana burning hot inside me, then tried to pour that hot mana out through my palms. The flames had burst forth like a gas stove.

"Now gather the mana back in."

When I pulled the mana back from my hands, the flames died down and went out.

"Jinwoo-nim, you are absolutely fire-attuned! In a proper magic tower, they would teach you the incantations to rearrange mana of this attribute. Depending on the incantation, the same mana can become a Fire Bolt or a Fireball."

"Aha. So that's how the setting works. Then I can just use the same association method to check for water or the other elements, right?"

"Yes, that's correct. But you probably don't need to continue..."

Cezanne had assumed that producing flames this strong meant I was definitely fire-attuned, so she was about to say there was no need for further tests. But before she could finish, a cool energy flowed from my hands and water poured out. She was left speechless.

"Does this mean I don't need a water bucket anymore?"

"No, how... how is that possible..."