Istria

In my room, as usual, I was practicing my magic. Transitioning from the magic aura state, I fixed the magic power in my right hand through concentration.

The light resembled a white-colored lamp, but the intensity was not that high. It was dazzling to look at, but in terms of brightness, it was probably about as strong as a small lightbulb.

Still, the fact that the human body was emitting light was pretty amazing. The transition from magic aura state to magic gathering was becoming smoother.

The problem was that there were still residues of magic power throughout my body, and the magic couldn’t gather completely into one point.

Some amount of magic power would always remain. Even when I concentrated the magic in my right hand, other parts of my body were still dimly lit. Is it impossible to completely gather it into one point?

“Hmm, maybe I’m doing it wrong… I should stop and rethink my approach,” I thought.

Creating something new wasn’t easy.

There’s no textbook to follow, and there are no other knowledgeable people to consult. I’ve to think, hypothesize, and come to my own conclusions.

The algorithm is simple, but there’s a big gap between the hypothesis and the conclusion.

First, let’s consider magic.

I’m calling it magic for now, but we don’t really understand what magic is. What I know for sure was that magic is created by the body, and that coming into contact with someone who has magic power will have some kind of effect.

There are other details, but that’s the general idea. So, let’s think about it for a moment.

What exactly is magic?

Even if I think of it as life energy, it’s impossible to visualize it. Why is it possible to do so? Let’s put that aside for now. It’s a field that I’m unlikely to understand even if I delve into it. I think science is the same way. We analyze the process from the results and actively use it.

The world is bound by physical laws, and we can only combine things that already exist. We learned to use them by observing some kind of reaction or phenomenon that occurred.

The discoverer didn’t create fire because they wanted to. Fire was born for some reason, and they had to figure out how to start it.

Magic is the same. As a result, magic exists and is visualized. But, magic itself only exists vaguely. For now, that is.

…I’ve no confidence in explaining magical power itself. It’s just been discovered, and the part of what it’s remains unknown. I’ve no choice but to gradually experiment and learn about it from now on.

However, there are things that I already know at this stage. Considering Ettentraut’s case, it’s clear that magical power is being used as a communication ability.

However, that’s just conveying the fact that it seeks a mate by creating a cluster of magical power, in other words, producing the light orbs. It’s no different from saying “I love you” in words. It’s questionable whether magical power itself is being used effectively.

Even considering the fish behavior, it doesn’t seem likely that I’ll figure out how to convert magical power into magic. However, I’m interested in the fact that the fish is creating orbs of magical power.

In the magic gathering state, it’s only collecting it in one part of the body. In other words, it cannot be maintained without contact between magical power and the body. It’s necessary to release it outside the body.

The state of holding magical power is something that arises by strongly conscious of emotions. Collecting magical power is also something that moves magical power with consciousness.

To maintain both states, there must be consciousness that feels joy when magical power is gathered in one part. The part of joy could be replaced with anger or sadness. It’s just that joy was the most suitable for me.

First of all, it takes a considerable amount of magical power to release it outside the body. It’s been proven difficult from the magic gathering state. Perhaps the amount of magical power is too small, and it disperses before it can be released.

In other words, it’s necessary to collect magical power in one part and then release it. This makes things a little more complicated. You need the thought “I want to release the magical power gathered in my right hand outside my body.”

Of course, I tried it. The result was that it disappeared without being released. It’s not entirely impossible, and there was a moment when magical power was about to leave the body, which could be seen.

However, it’s impossible to float it several meters above the ground, completely separated from the body like the fish does.

Do I need considerably advanced skills, or am I doing it wrong? Even if I can release it outside the body, it is not useful, but I feel restless if I can’t do it.

If others knew, they might think I was being obsessed with such a thing. But, I want to achieve it. No matter what anyone says, it doesn’t matter.

I want to do it.

It’s been over six months since I discovered magic.

But so far, the only progress I’ve made is being able to emit light from my body and move it to some extent with my own will. Still, that’s a pretty significant discovery. But if someone were to ask me, “What’s the point?”, I wouldn’t know what to say.

I’m not a researcher, and while I do get excited about new discoveries from time to time, it’s only because they’re aimed at using magic. Right now, my research has hit a wall, and I need some kind of trigger. I’ve no idea what that could be, so for now, all I can do is keep practicing gathering magic.

At first, I could only enter magic aura state a few times, but now I can do it up to around twenty times.

To maintain the magic aura state, magic must be emitted from the body. This is called internal magic, which refers to the “total amount of magic power” I possess, and determines how long I can maintain the magic circle state.

It’s like MP in a game, but the increase in the value is slowly decreasing. However, I feel like I can release a little more magic power at once than before.

It seems that there’s a limit to how much my total magic power can increase. Anyway, I want some progress soon. I’m starting to lose motivation.

As I was thinking about what to do next, someone knocked on the door. Although I didn’t expect it to be my sister, I answered anyway. It turned out to be someone unexpected – my father.

“Are you studying?”

“No, I’m okay. What’s up?”

“Well, I was thinking about going to Istria. Do you want to come along, Theon?”

Istria. It’s a city in the Etten region, the closest medium-sized city to our home. Though, our country, Listia, seems to be quite a small country, so I can’t expect too much.

I don’t know the exact population, but there are only about 100,000 people in the entire country. The land is not extensive, and the villages are scattered. There are only two places that can be considered major cities, Istoria and the capital city of Listia, Sanostria.

“But, is it okay? Didn’t you say you’re the only one going to the city?”

I wanted to go to the city too. I wanted to investigate magic. However, my father stopped me, saying that it was dangerous to go to the city, no matter how much I begged.

“Today’s different. Not just me, but several cart drivers are also going shopping in the city, so it’s a perfect opportunity. I have other things to do there, too. So, how about it? Do you want to go?”

Carts are expensive. While some people who run livestock might have ox carts, they are not suitable for travel, and they are slow. Therefore, carts are the primary means of transportation for shopping. However, carts are expensive, and the maintenance costs are not negligible, so few people own them.

Some people seem to operate a rental cart business, but there are none in our village. In any case, to travel to a town at some distance and return within a day, a cart is essential. Shopping in the city is always necessary, as it is difficult for a village to be self-sufficient.

In most villages, they jointly purchase carts, or relatively wealthy people buy them and demand a fee for management and shopping instead. In our village, my father lent money to purchase the cart and is gradually getting paid back.

It seems that he didn’t adopt the method of buying and lending carts because he disliked being too dependent on the lord. If the cart is fully repaid, it will become the village’s property, so it can be kept even if something happens to the lord. My father seemed to be seeking a lifestyle where the villagers supported each other while promoting their independence.

That being said, my father’s proposal was much appreciated. Well, I don’t think there will be any books related to magic since there are no convenient things like libraries in this country. I also want to see the town.

“Okay, let’s go then.”

“Sure. But make sure you get ready quickly, we have to be back before it gets dark, and Marie and Mother are coming with us.”

“Got it. I’ll prepare right away.”

Dad headed back to the living room. It’s only a three-hour walk to Istria, which is relatively close. However, if we’re going shopping, we’ll have a lot of luggage, so we definitely need some kind of transportation. While a cart or an ox-cart might be an option, they would be too slow.

If we get too late on the way, we’ll have to camp out, but that’s very dangerous. Monsters in this world become ferocious at night, and camping out is known to be risky. If we have mercenaries, an army, or a large group, we can set up a watch to deal with the danger. Nevertheless, nighttime travel and camping are generally not recommended. Of course, for ordinary people like us, camping out is a death sentence, so we have to always arrive in the village or town before it gets dark.

Monsters, huh? What kind of creatures are they? Because I’m obsessed with magic, I’ve only focused on related information and history. I don’t know much about monsters or fairies, and for some reason, people don’t tell me much about it. Perhaps they don’t want to scare children. But I’ve been warned many times that monsters are dangerous and not to approach them.

I also need permission from my parents to go outside, as this world seems to be more dangerous than I thought. “Well, as long as I don’t do anything reckless, I should be okay. Dad is with me, after all,” I thought.

And with that in mind, I grabbed my backpack and left the room.