Today I had planned to go to the library to learn about the methods of acquiring magic and skills that Mika-chan had taught me. But first, I came to the Alchemist Guild to greet my master, Reinrich, upon my return.
Not that we ever really did anything master-and-disciple-like.
Incidentally, when I handed her some dried Eight-Eye as a souvenir, she was delighted.
Apparently, it was one of the ingredients for that medicine that knocked me out.
Please don’t ever make that again…
Right now, I was making small talk with Riito-san at the reception desk.
「Huh? You built an alchemy room to do your work in?」
「Yes. It’s just a simple shed, but it’s on my own land, so… was that bad?」
「No… as long as it has four walls and a roof, and there’s a reasonable distance from other people’s property, there’s no problem. But… did you handle any chemicals this time?」
「Chemicals… I don’t think so. I only did some material cutting and such」
Yeah. Kondo-san* isn’t exactly a chemical.
TN: Slang for condom
Maybe medical-use, at best.
「Wait… didn’t I explain this to you already? If you’re an A-rank alchemist, you’re allowed to perform alchemy outside, as long as it’s not chemicals」
「A-rank…?」
Oh, that’s right. I was technically an A-rank alchemist.
I remembered receiving the A-rank alchemist certificate during the Dadaril incident. In a hurry, I pulled the certificate out from my magic storage and read over the details.
Sure enough, it was written clearly.
Chemicals were forbidden since dangerous ingredients could be scattered by the wind, but as long as one observed public order and decency, harmless production-type alchemy was permitted.
Wait, what!?
Does that mean I was allowed to practice alchemy outside even before coming to the royal capital!?
「…No one told me that」
「Ahaha… sorry. But normally, people read through it themselves, don’t they?」
Well, yes! Yes, that’s true, but still!
That information is way more important than the fact that the alchemy room fee is waived!
Aaaaagh!
If I had realized this earlier, my work would have been so much easier!
I could have made the rocks much smoother already!
Well, fine. I’ll just fix that the next time I go.
I’ll make it way more comfortable!
-0-
Now then, next was the library…
But Reinrich suggested that if I was going to try anything, it would be better to do it slowly at home.
So I decided to borrow two books, one on the basics of magic and one on skill acquisition. After also purchasing the necessary materials, I returned home and immediately began reading.
I wasn’t exactly good with dense text, so it was tough…
But since nothing would begin unless I read this, I silently pushed myself through it.
To sum up the key points,
『・Magic is divided into the four basic attributes of fire, water, wind, and earth, the two special attributes of light and darkness, and everything else falls under non-attribute.
・Each person has one or more attribute aptitudes.
・An aptitude is necessary in order to use magic.』
…And so, this crystal is what determines one’s attribute aptitude.
On the desk before me were six crystals.
Red for fire, blue for water, green for wind, yellow for earth, black for darkness, and white for light.
At first glance they looked like ordinary magic stones, but apparently they were slightly different.
Incidentally, I bought these at the library.
Each was a high-grade one-use item that cost twenty thousand Nohl, just to test your aptitude.
From the image I had of fantasy worlds, there were usually fewer mages compared to warriors, and this world seemed much the same. But the price of these crystals probably played a part in that.
Being able to use magic would certainly broaden one’s work opportunities, but just to check required twenty thousand Nohl. Six at once meant a hundred and twenty thousand Nohl, which was a steep investment.
Anyway,
「Alright, let’s start by checking my attribute aptitude」
Opening the beginner’s magic textbook I had borrowed, the explanation said all I had to do was hold the crystal and pour magic into it. So I decided to try right away.
For the record… surrounding me were Aina, Sorte, Renge, Wendy, and Shiro, all five watching intently.
Ever since I had started reading the book, they had been fidgeting, yet none of them said a word, simply holding their breath in anticipation.
…Guess I’ll start with fire.
Huh? Aina? What’s with that especially serious look in your eyes?
It’s nothing big, you know? I’m just checking my attribute aptitude.
…Well, I’ll ignore it and keep going.
Careful not to accidentally slip into alchemy out of habit, I poured magic into the red crystal.
At once, it shone with a red glow.
「Yes!」
「Oh, huh?」
Before I could even exclaim “Ohh!”, Aina leapt to her feet, clenching her fist in a triumphant pose.
The others, watching her, looked on with envy.
「Ooh… first one out, huh. That’s nicessu」
「My liege! If you can use fire magic, then I shall teach you! We’ll start with simple spells, but let us train together!」
「O-oh. Thanks, but it’s not decided that I can actually use it yet, right?」
Having an aptitude didn’t necessarily mean one could use magic.
Apparently, there were plenty who had the aptitude but still couldn’t cast spells.
「Master! Next, try water! Please, test the water!」
「No fair! The next one should be wind! It has to be wind, right?」
「Earth wouldn’t be so bad either, you knowssu?」
The three of them pressed me eagerly, but honestly, since I was going to test them all anyway, did the order really matter?
Huh? Wait, what about Shiro?
「…Shiro’s attribute is darkness…」
「Is darkness bad?」
「Hmm. Normally it’s an attribute learned by races like Vampires or Dullahans. Black Catkin have a natural darkness aptitude. Cloak of Black Shadow is a unique spell Black Catkin developed by modifying dark magic. Shiro just happened to have a darkness aptitude… but I can’t imagine a human lord would」
「I see… Well, I bought it already, so I’ll give it a try」
「…hmm」
It seemed she thought she wouldn’t be able to join in this round of the “magic instructor candidate” contest, and was sulking a little.
I’d have to make sure to cheer her up later.
-0-
And so, after testing them all…
「My liege… this is…」
「…Impossible…」
「Yeah… I can’t even make sense of thisssu…」
「Ugh… what a wasted chance…」
「False hope…」
Yeah… sorry, everyone…
I did have aptitudes.
Just not light.
But all the other five.
Five attributes! That’s huge, right?
Everyone got so hyped about it.
『Incredible, my liege! Five attributes!』
『I’ve never seen anyone with five before…』
『This way, all of us could take turns teaching youssu!』
『Hmm! Shiro could teach lord too!』
『As expected of you, Master!』
The mood soared.
I got carried away too, thinking maybe I should pursue the path of a mage…
Good thing I didn’t say that out loud.
Because, well… as you might have guessed.
I had no magical aptitude whatsoever!!
The looks of disappointment on everyone’s faces… I’ll never forget them.
We even had them show me a level-one spell so I could try it right after, all fired up… and nothing.
Nothing at all.
That burning excitement cooled, bit by bit, as if someone was dousing the room in cold water.
Their cheers dwindled, one by one, until silence hung heavy.
You could clearly see their spirits sink the moment they realized I couldn’t use magic.
And before I knew it, though nobody had told me to, I was sitting in proper seiza like a kid being scolded.
Five attributes, and still no magical aptitude.
In another world, and I can’t even use magic.
…Well, wait. Technically, there was one thing.
I ‘can’ use space magic!
It’s considered non-attribute for now, but hey, it’s still got “magic” in the name, so it counts!
The research on it isn’t advanced enough yet, so it’s treated as attribute unknown… but still.
「…Sorry, everyone」
I couldn’t bear the silence anymore and ended up apologizing.
At that, everyone looked up in a hurry.
「N-no, it’s fine! We don’t usually use magic ourselves anyway!」
「That’s right! Muscle! If you train your body, there’s no problemssu!」
「Y-yeah! There’s even a chance you’ll be able to use it someday if you don’t give up!」
「Hmm! If lord gets too strong, it’ll be bad. Shiro will lose chances to be praised」
「You’re still you, Master!」
Wow… they were totally trying to comfort me.
But still, why couldn’t I use it?
I had plenty of MP, and it didn’t seem strange if at least one attribute had worked.
On top of that, they even said my divinity was considerable, but I had no light attribute.
I guess divinity came from the Goddess when she granted me that unique skill.
-0-
At least I could still acquire skills normally.
There were two ways to learn them. The first was simple, spending level-up points on a skill.
The guild card showed which skills could be acquired, so that part wasn’t a problem.
However, just because you could acquire one didn’t mean it would keep growing.
Depending on talent, some skills stopped at level one.
That was why guild masters needed the ability to judge a person’s potential.
The other way was relentless practice.
That way didn’t cost points, but nobody could say how much time it would take.
Sometimes, a skill would appear on the guild card later if you trained enough.
It seemed the whole process of skill acquisition wasn’t fully understood yet, though status apparently influenced it too.
So I tried it out.
On the way back from Yutopola, with Aina’s advice, I had leveled up twice and saved the points.
Normally I’d put them into MID, but this time I tried acquiring the [Sewing] skill.
I couldn’t help worrying it wouldn’t work, after all, magic hadn’t.
But it went through without a hitch.
Wendy muttered, 「Ugh… now there’s one less thing you’ll need to rely on me for…」
But when I said, 「You’ll have to teach me a lot, okay?」 she quickly perked up again.
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