Endless Memoir - Seraph Wedd (read a book .TXT) 📗

wasn’t strange. Especially on villages off the border like this one.

“Well, there are bandits, yes. Also, demons.”

Was bandits even considered as demons for them? Poor soul.

When the sound of the bell became louder, Mary and Nina brought me outside to the village’s center.

There are a lot of residents standing idly around it. Some have large crates on their sides, probably containing the goods that will be sold.

After about half an hour of wait, the long caravan of the merchant came into sight.

Rather than a caravan, it looked more like a long train made of wood. Also, it wasn’t being pulled by horses rather it moved using magic.

Really, magic seems so handy in this world.

When 2 minutes more passed, the over 200 meter long caravan stopped after forming a semicircle around the plaza. I’m amazed to see over a dozen carriages linked with each other.

I couldn’t help but imagine how they would manage when turning on sharp corners. Probably, they would rather choose a route without those though.

Soon, a rather fat man with a lot of luxurious looking accessories around his body came up front and spoke. He was undoubtedly the merchant in lead of this parade.

“Under the king’s orders, we have come to do our bid. The products to be collected as taxes, pile them in front of the last carriage. To those who are selling their wares, pile them near the front most carriage.”

He spoke in a very commanding tone. The flab under his chin moves accordingly for every word he said.

After the merchant’s speech, the sides of the other carriages opened, revealing a wide variety of goods.

“We will be staying here for the whole afternoon. Until then, you are free to buy goods from us.”

The fat man said before turning around and walking back to the first carriage.

“Let’s split up here then. I’ll go and check for papers. How about Nina?”

“Me? Maybe I’ll go and check the jewelries. I heard that a new skilled craftsman is presenting his works.”

Mary seems to prioritize the acquisition of paper while Nina intends to go window shopping. What should I do?

“That sounds good. How about Nazo? What will you do?”

“Hmm… Maybe I’ll go around and check everything. Don’t mind me.”

“Are you buying anything? If you are, I can lend you some money.”

“It’s okay, I only plan to look around.”

I can’t possibly ask for more as I am already in debt. After discussing for a short while, the two headed off to different directions. Walking back and forth was inefficient so I decided to start from the first carriage.

“Welcome~!”

A young female attendant greeted me with a wide smile. I felt slightly embarrassed as I won’t be buying anything.

The wares on the first carriage seems to be clothes. They have all assortments for different sizes and colors.

They even have boots, gloves, mantles and hats. The prices of each are ranging from 3 Large Silver to 1 Gold. A bit expensive in my opinion.

Ignoring the smile of the attendant, I walked away and to the next carriage. Similarly, another young female attendant was standing there and greeted me with a smile.

Are all carriages here being attended by such employees? I am starting to feel pressured to buy something out of guilt. What a frightening sales technique.

The second carriage seems to showcase weapons. Staves, scythes, hammers, lances, javelins, swords and shields. Each and every one of it looks strong. However, the price seems to be ranging from 1 Large Gold to 10 White Gold. There’s no way I can buy such things.

While browsing, one of the swords caught my attention. It was a gaudy sword with a large piece of ruby inlaid on the hand guard of the sword. However, what gathered my attention was not that but the magic circles drawn on the bottom of the blade.

“Excuse me. Can I ask what these are for?”

Since the drawn magic circles weren’t that familiar to me, I asked the attendant. She answered with a smile without wasting a second.

“Those are magic circles to enhance the blade. The topmost is for providing extreme sharpness, the middle one is to prevent the blade from chipping and the last is to make the sword feel lighter. They are all inscribed by the best magic artisan within the capital so the level of workmanship is high.”

So there are other jobs that is related to magic circles? Mary didn’t tell me about that. Also, the magic circles used here are fundamentally different.

“… Are there books being sold pertaining these sort of magic circles?”

Due to my curiosity I couldn’t help but ask. The attendant still answered despite my words indicating my intention of not buying anything.

“Of course. Books and papers are sold on the third to the last carriage. I believe that there are books on magic circles there.”

I quickly bowed and gave my thanks then left the carriage. I ran towards the said carriage and hoped that Mary was still there.

Luckily, she was.

After hearing my words, she helped me look for such a book.

My debt increased tenfold in an instant. I convinced myself to pay her back in the not so far off future.

Chapter 7: New Equipment

After going back home, I immediately immersed myself in reading the new book that Mary bought for me.

I was amazed after doing so.

As I had thought, the concept, patterns and theories pertaining it is different from the magic circles that I know.

If the magic circles used by the magic artificers are named “Nature Magic” then these magic circles should be called “Modification Magic”.

If Nature Magic manipulates natural elements and use it to interfere with the laws of nature, Modification Magic on the other hand modifies the medium upon which it was inscribed itself.

After reading up to half of the book, I stopped and started to think.

An idea suddenly came to me.

To realize this idea, I searched for any sort of wearable equipment. Not long after, I found a metal gauntlet. It is good enough for experimenting.

I took a bundle of papers and started drawing some magic circles from my memories and then tried looking at the new book for some specific ones.

It took me over 3 hours just to finish conceptualizing and setting proper protections.

Mary seems to be interested on what I was doing. She was watching silently from one side of the table while passing time through practicing writing. She’s really a diligent student.

After making sure that I got all sides covered, I started drawing it on the back of the gauntlet.

I need to be careful as even a small mistake here could lead to a tragedy.

Due to my increased caution, it took over an hour to finish drawing. After confirming that the circle was working fine, I nodded with satisfaction.

“What are you making?”

Nina suddenly popped on my side and asked.

“This? Just an experiment. Think of it as a cool equipment.”

“Huh? Oh…”

“Never mind that, do you know a wide space near here? I want to test this thing.”

I asked Nina as she looks like she would know one or two interesting places. As expected, my guess was correct.

A few minutes’ walk from the house, there was a small clearing with many stones scattered. If the day was sunny, it may be nice to hold a picnic here.

However, I ignored those details for a moment and wore the gauntlet on my right hand. I could clearly feel the weight of the pure metal equipment.

I flexed my fingers to check the fit. After seeing that everything was clear, I stood in front of a large rock. It was a sturdy looking rock that towers over 3 meters high.

I took a stance in front of the rock. Then, slowly, I applied mana to the magic circle of the gauntlet. I could clearly feel my mana being drained like there’s no tomorrow. Looks like I need to improve the mana efficiency of the circles. Knowing that there’s still room for improvement was good enough.

Afterwards, my clenched fist set by my side started to release a buzzing sound. After waiting for a few seconds, I quickly swung my fist into a straight punch.

A loud banging sound and a blinding flash of light covered the surroundings. I forgot to prepare against that. My eyes lost their function for quite a while. Even my right arm felt a bit numb. Nina and Mary who were watching started shouting and cursing.

“M-My eyes!!!”

“Waah! What happened? A-Are you alright?!”

I rubbed my eyes continuously.

Then, when my vision finally returned, what greeted me was a large charred hole that pierced through the rock in front of me. Arches and flashes of electricity lingers throughout the whole mini tunnel. Looks like some ionic metals got overcharged and conversely started releasing charges.

The damage done by one shot was above the degree I expected. It’s good that I decided to test it far away from other people.

“Wooah! Amazing! How did you do this?!”

Nina, after recovering, started making a commotion. Looks like she got excited after seeing the show. She was busily checking the hole on the rock.

On the other hand, Mary seems to be too shocked that her words got stuck on her mouth. As an apprentice magic artificer, she knows the basic range of capabilities of attack spells.

Based on her understanding, my display of destructive damage can be ranked around heroic strength level.

“… What did you do?”

As expected, she seems to have grasped the basic method that I used. However, she couldn’t guess what I did.

“If I say that I created a small scale thundercloud by manipulating hot and cold air then shot it out by the use of vertical lines indicating emission, you probably wouldn’t understand.”

Hearing my machinegun explanation, she nodded with a bitter smile.

“Then, I’ll simplify it as this: I summoned a lightning bolt using Nature Magic while protecting my hands with Modification magic. Basically, the first experiment can be labelled as a success.”

Her eyes widened with surprise.

“… Summoning lightning is the privilege of the gods. To think that you can summon such a thing…”

“Wait, Mary! Isn’t summoning magic supposed to be a lost magic?!”

Nina suddenly wailed. I have read about summoning magic but didn’t learn its magic circles. I immediately refuted her words before Mary could speak.

“No. What I did wasn’t summoning magic I suppose. It is just the application of natural laws and bending them forcefully. It is probably different from what you think.”

I said while taking off the gauntlets from my hand. Nina still looks unconvinced while Mary seems to have followed the concept that I explained. As expected from an honor student.

We then headed back while Mary and Nina are continuously discussing about my experiment.

We passed by several villagers that got curious when they heard a loud sound nearby. We explained the phenomenon briefly before finally reaching home.

Until the end of our dinner, Mary and Nina kept on questioning me about the magic that I made. Getting a bit fed up, I explained the whole concept and it took 2 hours. Nina fell asleep halfway through though.

I too decided to rest for the day but Mary seem to have something she want to test after hearing my small lecture about scientific phenomenon.

The next morning, what greeted me was Mary, who was slowly getting buried under piles of papers. Looking closely, there’s some large clouds under her eyes. She’s not accustomed to staying up all night it seems.

“… Oh… Nazo… I managed to finish it… In time… Please test it…”

She spoke in a somewhat bubbly kind of way. Her head swaying back and forth as if she would fall any moment.

“O-Ok… What did you make?”

For conversations’ sake, and also in response to her effort, I tried asking.

“… I tried to make a new equipment… I applied the… Protection magic… You used… Earlier…”

She was holding out a set of leather gloves. The pair of gloves had magic circles drawn on the back just like what I did on the gauntlets. The magic circles that she made was pretty complex that it made even me to look twice before noticing her intent.

“… Magic Tools…”

The common leather gloves of yesterday now turned into