Chapter 120 - The Magical Toolmaker and the Fairy Crystal
As Dahlia stumbled over her words while talking about her father, Ozwald personally brewed her a cup of tea.
Thanking him, she took the tea and continued the conversation.
“Um, is it dangerous to deplete my magic and drink a magic potion by myself?”
“Please don’t do anything reckless. Do you want to make me regret teaching you?”
“I’m sorry...”
The unexpectedly stern tone made her apologize immediately.
Ozwald shook his head and let out a shallow sigh.
“I’m the one who should apologize. I couldn’t help but see Carlo-san in you. You must be more shocked than I am...”
“No, my father was... well, he was a bit of a free spirit. He always did what he wanted.”
Looking back, her father had always been a free spirit.
She respected him both as a magical toolmaker and as a father, but he could be a handful in daily life.
“Speaking of magic levels, when was the last time you measured yours?”
“Almost two years ago.”
“It might have increased. Shall we measure it?”
Ozwald took out a magic-measuring stone from the shelf.
It was a long, dark gray ruler-like object with fifteen markings.
When Dahlia touched it with her fingertip, a faint light lit up on the left side of the stone. A white light slowly spread from left to right, filling the thin line engraved in the center.
She felt relieved when it passed eight, but it continued to rise.
“It’s about nine and a third. If you want to raise it, you should be able to reach eleven without issue. Just be careful if you get married. You can’t raise your magic level during pregnancy.”
“I don’t have any plans for that, so it’s fine.”
Ozwald smiled as he reset the magic-measuring stone with a paired stone. A faint light scattered as the magic dissipated, bouncing lightly on the table.
“If my magic level reaches eleven, will I be able to make magic tools like you, Professor?”
Carlo had been at twelve. Ozwald was likely the same or higher.
Using rare materials to make magical tools might require even more magic.
But Ozwald didn’t answer her question. Instead, he placed his finger on the measuring stone.
Like Dahlia, a thin white light spread to the right and eventually stopped.
“This is my magic level. Even with this, I can make most of the magical tools in my shop.”
“...?”
The magic level displayed on the stone was ten. It was close to eleven but didn’t reach it.
“I was born into a viscount’s family, but I had the least magic in my lineage. Even after raising it by four, this is my level. I couldn’t become a mage or a knight, so I chose the path of a magical toolmaker. Even with this magic level, you can still manage surprisingly well.”
“But isn’t it good that you became a magical toolmaker? You’re an amazing magical toolmaker now!”
Dahlia couldn’t help but raise her voice at Ozwald’s monotone response.
“An amazing magical toolmaker...”
Ozwald repeated her words, frozen in place. He seemed completely taken aback.
“S-sorry! That sounded childish, and my wording was off...”
“...No, it’s just that the phrase ‘amazing magical toolmaker’ reminded me of Carlo-san, so I was a bit surprised.”
Ozwald smiled as usual and put away the measuring stone. Then he brought out another magic-sealing box.
“Now, shouldn’t we also discuss the ‘fairy crystal’ used in Volfred-sama’s glasses?”
“Yes, please.”
“Fairy crystals are said to be solidified magic used by fairies to hide. They’re used in illusion lamps and such, but their most common uses are camouflage and disruption.”
“Camouflage and disruption?”
When Dahlia had explained the uses of fairy crystals to Volf, he had asked if she had connections to the Intelligence Division.
Perhaps that had been a natural concern.
“Recently, there’s been demand from the royal castle and other nations’ militaries, so it’s starting to gain attention. If you order multiple fairy crystals, people might assume you’re aiming for deals with the royal castle or high-ranking nobles, or that you’re moving into military equipment. If you want to avoid attention, you should be careful about how you acquire them.”
“Ah...”
It was too late. She had already ordered several from Orlando & Co.
Then she remembered.
When she had ordered the fairy crystals, Ireneo, the head of Orlando & Co., had said:
“I see. So you’re moving in that direction.”
He had probably assumed Dahlia was aiming for the royal castle or military-related work.
In reality, she was now dealing with the royal castle, so the misunderstanding might have deepened.
“Sorry, I need to consult you. I ordered four fairy crystals from Orlando & Co. to make Volf-sama’s glasses...”
“Four... That’s a bit hard to pass off as for research.”
Ozwald closed his silver eyes for a moment and placed a finger on his chin.
“Tell them you’re making fairy crystal lamps for the Zola Company. I’ll back you up. It’s better to have Mercadante-kun handle Orlando & Co.”
“Thank you. I’m really sorry for the trouble...”
“No, it’s not a big deal. If you need rare materials like fairy crystals urgently, consult me, Viscount Jedda, or Volfred-sama, just like with the sköll. It’s dangerous to ask other companies carelessly.”
“Yes, I’ll do that...”
In the end, she had ended up relying entirely on Ozwald.
From the very first lesson, she had been nothing but trouble. She should probably offer to pay more for the lessons.
“Shall we get back to the topic? Fairy crystal enchantments are possible from level seven, ideally eight. They’re a bit tricky and will take about half of the enchanter’s magic. Never attempt to enchant twice in a row.”
As she wrote down his firm words in her magic tome, Dahlia broke into a cold sweat.
She could never admit that she had enchanted two lenses in a row when making Volf’s glasses.
“Fairy crystals often cause intense hallucinations during enchantment. If you lose focus and fail the enchantment in their crystalline form, they’ll scatter into powder. The powder is still usable, but the crystal form is more effective. You’ll need to try enchanting both forms yourself to understand the difference. You’ll get a feel for it.”
“Understood.”
As she scribbled notes, she thought of her father.
What kind of hallucination had he seen when he lost focus while trying to enchant the window?
“Dahlia, may I ask what you saw when you made the glasses?”
“Well, a fairy appeared and died... I think we even had a conversation.”
“A fairy?”
“Yes. And during the enchantment, I felt like my father was beside me. If it was a hallucination, I wish I had taken a better look at his face...”
She caught herself and quickly shook her head. If she kept going, she might start crying.
To change the subject, she brought up something else.
“Um, excuse me for the sudden question, but I have something I’d like to ask. Is ‘composite enchantment’ difficult? I want to connect separately enchanted items together...”
“There are a few methods. The simplest is using magic-sealing silver in between.”
“Magic-sealing silver?”
Magic-sealing silver was a special ore mainly used for magic-sealing boxes.
But magic-sealing silver couldn’t be used on items that had already been enchanted.
“Yes. Instead of layering enchantments on the material, you shape the magic-sealing silver to fit the connecting parts. It requires fine magic control, but if you cover the joints with magic-sealing silver and ‘fix’ them, it’s possible. It can block low levels of magic.”
“What if the magic level is higher?”
“You can sandwich magic-sealing silver between the joints and direct the magic during enchantment to prevent it from repelling. The cold wind fan combines wind and ice enchantments by changing the direction of each enchantment and merging them through the connecting pipe, so it’s similar.”
It was like scales were falling from her eyes.
She had never thought of shaping and fixing magic-sealing silver instead of layering or coating it. It was within her capabilities, but the idea had never occurred to her.
Ozwald truly was a seasoned magical toolmaker.
“Another method is to sandwich or cover the joints with materials that have high magic resistance. This requires rare materials. For large capacities, you can envelop the entire item in magic like a barrier and then apply the next enchantment. This requires a lot of magic, so you’d need to ask a high-level mage for help.”
It was fascinating to think such large-capacity magical tools existed, but they were still beyond Dahlia’s reach.
“Let’s try it in practice sometime. Oh, if you want to experiment with ‘composite enchantments’ at the tower, it should be fine with regular materials. But I recommend having someone in the room with you, just in case.”
“...Yes, I’ll be careful.”
She had been planning to try composite enchantments as soon as she returned to the tower.
Feeling completely seen through, she straightened her back and answered.
“Now, was there anything you didn’t understand or found troubling?”
“No, it was very clear and enjoyable.”
“That’s good. People seem to dislike being told to ‘think for yourself.’ If I were as approachable as Carlo-san, it might have been different...”
Ozwald, who had been so kind and thorough in his teaching, couldn’t possibly be unapproachable.
Dahlia was a bit curious.
“I think ‘think for yourself’ is a given. My father, with his commoner way of speaking, often asked, ‘What do you think?’ or ‘Which do you think it is?’...”
“...Thank you. I’ve learned something from what you said.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been teaching the way I was taught, but my wording must not have suited my students. To not realize that until now, at my age, is quite embarrassing...”
Ozwald seemed to be having a moment of self-reflection. Thinking back on the conversation, Dahlia couldn’t quite grasp what he meant.
Feeling like she’d been led by the nose, she accepted a second cup of tea.
“Forgive me for saying this, but it seems your broken engagement was the right choice.”
“Um, why do you say that?”
The topic of her broken engagement hadn’t come up until now.
Dahlia couldn’t understand why Ozwald had brought it up so suddenly.
“I glossed over it earlier, but the most common hallucinations caused by fairy crystals involve the death or disappearance of someone important. Often, it’s a spouse, fiancé, lover, family member, or close friend.”
“But what I saw was a fairy?”
What Dahlia had seen was a translucent fairy. She didn’t know any fairies.
“You were focused solely on the fairy crystal, so you met the fairy.”
“So that fairy wasn’t a hallucination?”
“No, it’s likely the memory of the fairy that left the crystal. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen one myself, but my master said he saw them a few times when he was young.”
When he mentioned it was the fairy’s memory, Dahlia finally understood.
While enchanting the glasses, she had seen the fairy’s death.
It wasn’t a hallucination but the fairy’s final memory.
The fairy had been chased by monsters, terrified, and in despair. It had used its hiding magic until the very end, dying in the process.
That’s why its memory remained, and it had asked Dahlia to send it “beyond the rainbow.”
Had that fairy made it to the afterlife, or perhaps to another world like Dahlia? She couldn’t confirm, but she hoped so.
“Um, if I had looked beside me when I felt my father was there... what would have happened?”
“It’s better not to look, but honestly, I don’t know. What I see is always the backs of my wives as they leave.”
Ozwald answered quietly.
But beneath his voice, Dahlia could hear a deep bitterness.
“No matter how prepared you are, you never get used to it. On nights when you enchant fairy crystals, it’s better to have someone with you.”
“That’s a bit difficult for me, living alone...”
She could ask Irma or Lucia.
Both would come if she asked them to stay over.
But it would be unfair to call Irma for such a reason and leave Marcella alone.
As for Lucia, she would undoubtedly bring a mountain of clothes and turn it into a dress-up party. That was a no-go.
“Why not get a ‘guard dog’ for the tower? You could borrow one just for that night.”
“A guard dog? What kind of dog would be good?”
“How about a large black dog?”
“A large black dog... like a night hound? Walking it might be a bit troublesome.”
Night hounds were large, all-black dogs similar to German Shepherds from her previous life.
They were famous as guard dogs, fast-moving, with excellent night vision, and were highly valued for deterring thieves.
But a large dog would require long walks. It seemed like a lot of work.
“The royal castle has ‘guard dogs.’ You could ask Volfred-sama about it.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
At Dahlia’s answer, Ozwald nodded with great amusement.
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