Chapter 382. Magic (2)
Alon's birthday ended, having been noisy in its own way.
The next day, when Seolrang, who seemed annoyed about something, pounced on Yutia and ended up slammed against the floor with a “kueek!”... and after three days of those kinds of strange situations,
“Can you take care of these documents for a moment–?”
“Alright, brother.”
“And this too–”
“Ah, I’ll do it, Master!”
“What are you talking about? I was waiting first!”
“Huh? But I was the one who received the documents.”
“That’s because you cut in line!”
Even though his birthday had passed, the people who hadn't returned home were still there.
Alon was living through quite noisy days.
He looked at the situation in front of him.
A taut piece of paper about to tear, pulled from both ends.
With each holding one side, Ryanga and Seolrang looked at each other with hostility.
Alon let out an involuntary sigh.
Seeing other people in his office working instead of Penia and Evan—who normally helped him with documents—felt quite strange, and he didn't understand why they were acting this way.
Even according to Penia, this behavior was totally unusual for them.
Then, Alon discovered the cause of this strange(?) conduct.
It seemed to be due to the term “noona”.
......More precisely, because they wanted Alon to call them “noona”.
Naturally, Alon had no intention of calling anyone “noona”.
Given his situation from thirteen years ago, when he lost his memory, all the women seemed older to him.
But even so, using that title felt very awkward if he thought about his “previous self”.
When he first saw Yutia, the term “noona” slipped out instinctively, but having reached a certain “age”, he was too embarrassed to call someone that consciously.
Crash!
While he was thinking about that, Seolrang and Ryanga started throwing punches.
“…If they really have a goal, they don't seem to be acting according to it.”
Penia, who had joined the document task at some point, murmured while reading.
Alon nodded silently.
With the calm Magrina and Historia, the term “noona” had almost slipped out unintentionally, but with Ryanga and Seolrang, it was the opposite; it felt like that title was light years away from them.
“......More importantly, are we almost done?”
“Hmm… yes. If we process this, I think we’ll be finished.”
“It’s incredible, but there are too many documents. Did the ‘original me’ always have to deal with a homicidal workload like this?”
At Alon's complaint, Penia replied:
“No, there weren't this many before.”
“No?”
“No. I was there too, and besides, Alexion handled almost everything related to the territory.”
Ah, that guy…
In the game, he was a man living a life of disgrace in the slums of Laksas. How is it that here he lives like a responsible employee?
Recalling that thought, Alon nodded.
“Then, why are there so many now?”
“Well, I suppose you already know since you’ve been processing them: the majority are matters related to ‘Divine Land’ and ‘diplomacy’.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Alon recalled the contents of the documents he had processed so far.
Just as she said.
“In ‘Divine Land’, Silly has been handling everything, but it is time to create a system so it works even without Silly. That’s why there is more paperwork. And regarding diplomacy, it’s because of the Divine Blood.”
“The Divine Blood…”
“Yes. Actually, there are more reports than documents to approve, right?”
“That is true.”
Alon nodded.
The diplomatic documents that had arrived recently were almost all reports.
And they didn't seem to be in very good condition.
“It seems the Divine Blood are starting to move in earnest. You already saw it in the reports: they haven’t attacked anywhere yet, but there are more and more unusual individuals appearing.”
“In short, we must be careful.”
“Exactly. That is why you have more documents to review. Especially these reports, which must pass through your hands, so they end up piling on top.”
Penia pointed to the stack of reports, already the thickness of two finger segments.
Alon let out a murmur.
“…I must hurry.”
He tried to calculate the time and immersed himself in deep thought.
Three days later.
The people gathered at Alon's house finally began to leave one by one.
“See you, Master!”
“Yes.”
After seeing Seolrang off for the last time.
Alon processed a few more documents and then headed to the second office with Penia, faster than usual.
The day had finally arrived.
The day he would verify if the inspiration he got from Yutia had any use.
When they arrived at the second office, Alon sighed, and Penia, who was reading some documents beside him, said:
“First of all, there is no major problem with the magic formula.”
“And now everything depends on whether I can manifest the magic well.”
“…I suppose so. Although of course, our approach could be wrong, and then it wouldn’t manifest.”
Alon closed his eyes for a moment and then created a sphere in his hand.
A simple mana sphere that any First Circle mage could use, glowing dimly.
‘Don't they memorize the phrases to be able to use the laws? Then, is it really necessary to say them out loud?’
He remembered Yutia's advice.
Actually, the reason Alon couldn't find a way to improve his magic was simple:
Because he was obligatorily required to use Seals and Phrases.
Seals and Phrases inevitably increased casting time.
But he couldn't eliminate them either.
If he did, he would become a “common” mage.
So he was stuck, unable to advance.
Yutia's words gave him strong inspiration.
Her words widened Alon's vision, which had been trapped by the idea that he “had to” complement his current system.
“Fuu…”
Basically, Alon utilized Seals and Phrases for the power they provided. But if he went a little deeper…
The true reason he used both was to reach the laws inscribed by the Divine Lightning Body.
It wasn't the Seals and Phrases that increased the power, but performing them allowed him to connect with the “Law”.
And by using that Law, his magic acquired special properties.
In short:
Seals and Phrases were just means to reach the Law.
And what Alon was attempting now was:
‘Let’s do it.’
Changing that means.
Alon, looking at the sphere in his hand, closed his eyes and concentrated mana again.
What he was attempting was different from usual magic.
The magic he was creating now was simply to produce “sound”.
A sound very similar to Alon's voice.
That is, he wanted to test if he could replace his voice using magic as a “medium”.
Alon breathed calmly and adjusted the magic delicately.
To imitate his voice so exactly, he had to adjust many parameters in real-time.
That’s why he closed his eyes and concentrated.
Finally, the magic manifested with perfect tuning.
—Refraction.
With a slight sound of air breaking, a strange vibration propagated.
Alon opened his eyes.
“I think… it worked.”
Penia's voice sounded next to him.
And he saw.
The small sphere above his hand was distorting slightly, forming undulating lines.
“We already confirmed the hypothesis, what do you plan to do now?”
Penia asked after confirming the experiment worked.
“What do you mean?”
“About the direction of the research. If we already saw that magic manifests by imitating the phrase even if you don't pronounce it, are you going to research how to compress the phrases inside the magic?”
Alon replied:
“Of course I will have to research that, but I think that is only a part of the process.”
“…A part?”
Penia tilted her head.
“But if we manage to put the whole phrase into a single magic, wouldn't that already resolve the problem?”
“In a way, yes.”
But he wasn't listening to her.
If he managed to reduce the time required for Seals and Phrases to the minimum, he would solve the biggest problem of his system.
And the hypothesis just proven seemed to be the perfect solution.
“But that isn't the important thing now.”
“......It isn't?”
“What is really important is that, even if I change the ‘medium’, I can use magic all the same.”
The experiment also proved that magic could be used as a substitute for a medium.
But that was just a byproduct.
The truly important thing was the medium itself.
If magic could manifest using a medium other than the voice…
That was Alon's central point.
And it had worked.
That meant:
That the medium to reach the Law didn't matter.
And that implied…
“If what is important is reaching the Law regardless of the medium, then I can change the medium however I want, right?”
“What are you saying–?”
Changing the medium at will.
Hearing that, Penia went blank for a second.
“…Could it be that–!”
As if she suddenly understood something, her eyes widened.
Alon, instead of his neutral expression, showed a deep smile.
A smile full of confidence.
And at that very moment.
In the Kingdom of Fildegreen…
“Oh, Magrina hasn't returned yet, but you certainly arrived quickly.”
“I had a matter to attend to.”
Rine and Yutia faced each other with smiles.
And in a corner among the shadows,
Hidan observed the scene, trembling silently.
But the two didn't seem to care at all about Hidan's state; they kept looking at each other.
“So, what matter was it? You could have entrusted it to me.”
“Hmm, it’s something I can perfectly do myself.”
“Maybe you came to work… and to annoy me while you're at it?”
Rine's smile received another smile from Yutia as a response.
“What are you saying, Rine? Why would I annoy you?”
“I don't think you're asking because you don't know.”
“Are you talking about how you couldn't come to the Master's birthday? I have no reason to annoy you for that.”
“Really?”
“Of course. It's not like anything would have changed whether you came or not.”
“……It sounds like you are annoying me.”
“Oh, really?”
Yutia's words.
Apparently kind and innocent, but full of a dangerous undertone.
Hidan shrank even more.
According to his instinct, if they spoke a few more sentences…
He would have to flee.
However…
“Well, if you’re going to annoy me like this, there is no help for it.”
Contrary to his prediction, Rine didn't get upset. With a calm expression, she looked at Yutia and took something out.
And then…
[Yutia… noona?]
The voice of Marquis Palatio came out of the storage orb.
Yutia's relaxed smile vanished instantly.
And then.
“I was going to just give it to you, but–”
Crack…
The orb in Rine's hand began to crack.
“–it seems I should play a little too.”
She concluded with a refreshing tone.
