"Hey, Ameli~a! Over here!"
"Morning, Reis. Any alcohol left in your system?"
"Nope, not a trace."
I ignored her look of disbelief as she checked me over. I felt bad for dragging her out so early; her hair was a bit of a mess. Then again, compared to us—who are basically naked every day—bedhead is nothing. Now that we're in a civilized area, I should probably ask for clothes, but ten years on the Plateau has completely eroded my sense of shame.
Besides, if I start wearing clothes, the kids will want them too. Can you imagine? Helping 300 people get dressed every morning? Someone would definitely bolt halfway through. They probably don't even understand the concept of clothes. So, until it becomes a necessity, we're staying as we are. Compared to that, messy hair is cute.
"Still, there are 'corpses' everywhere... the chefs, that shady merchant, and your flock is just... shivering over there."
"Ahaha... Oh, right. Where's Matilde?"
"Her? I asked her to bring 'that thing.' It piqued my interest during the cleanup yesterday."
Speak of the devil. I saw Matilde running toward us from the town. True to her warrior nature, she was in full armor again. Isn't that heavy? She wore it through the whole banquet too. If she's not tired of it, fine, but if she needs a change of clothes, I could give her some of my feathers. I can't spare many, though, so it would only cover the... important bits.
Clank, clank, clank! She was making a racket but moving at an impressive speed for a human. In her hand was a yellow, egg-shaped object. ...I felt like I'd seen that somewhere before.
"Apologies for the wait! Lady Reis, Lady Amelia, did you sleep well?"
"Perfectly!"
"Not really," Amelia sighed.
She mentioned her party members were still asleep. Sorry for stealing your precious rest, Amelia! I'll let you squish Dere's cheeks later as payment. ...Wait, you're going to do that anyway? Smart. I won't stop you as long as Dere doesn't mind! In fact, do you want to sign an employment contract as Dere's exclusive caretaker? We can discuss terms—
"I'd love to, but that would eat into your magic lesson. This is a rare opportunity, isn't it?"
"True!"
"Then let's start with the basics."
Matilde and I nodded. I sat down with my knees tucked to my chest, ready for class.
"First, 'Magic' is the act of consuming 'Mana'—which all living things possess—to influence the world. Like this... creating water, or making a seed grow rapidly. Magic allows you to do what is normally impossible."
She held out her left hand and formed a sphere of water. Then, she pulled a small seed from her pocket and tossed it into the sphere. The moment she muttered a word, the seed sprouted and grew at a visible rate. Before we could even process it, she tossed it to the ground, and a small tree instantly took root.
""Ooooh!"" (Clap, clap, clap)
"That's one type of Elven magic. Now, to use magic, you need Mana, and you need 'Affinity.' Right... I'll use the same metaphor I used for my former apprentice. Let's think of it as a Shop."
...Wait, is this going to be a long explanation? Let me try to change my internal narrator voice... Ahem! (CV: Amelia) Here we go.
_______________
The Magic Shop Metaphor
When we want to use magic, we need to go shopping at the "Magic Shop." Payment is made using "Mana," our currency. However, everyone's "currency" has a different shape or size. You don't know if the Shop will accept it until you try.
This is because the Shopkeeper doesn't make the magic alone; they place orders with Craftsmen of various elements. The "Fire Craftsman" might love square coins, while the "Water Craftsman" hates round ones. If you pile up enough money, any craftsman will eventually take the job... but I don't recommend it. They'll rip you off.
"I have affinities for 'Plant,' 'Water,' and 'Earth.' I can use 'Fire'—which I used for the cleanup—and 'Lightning,' but my fuel efficiency for those is terrible."
"Huh. How do you find out your affinity?"
"Grit. You try everything until something sticks."
"Eeeh..."
"You can get tested at a church, but no priest in a backwater town like this can do that. Finding a teacher and trying every spell they know is the fastest way. ...Oh, Lord Matilde, I'm not insulting Plaque. It's a physical fact."
"I understand, but... it still stings. I want to develop this town more..." Matilde muttered.
"Anyway, back to the point. Once you find your element, you place an order. You have to explain to the Shopkeeper exactly what you want. This 'explanation' is done through 'Chants' or 'Inscriptions.' You heard me whispering earlier, right? That was my order. I paid the Mana, and the magic happened."
"There are many ways to order, but I'll teach Reis the Imperial Style chant. You project Mana into your voice and declare your intent to the world. Imagine it like that."
"It's actually the easiest method. The Empire started as a tiny peninsula shaped like a boot, but it became a superpower partly because of this chanting style. It's simple, powerful, and customizable. Compared to the 'fossil' Elven chants, the Imperial Style is much better. It's all I use lately."
"Heh... (The Empire sounds more terrifying the more I hear about it.)"
"Hmm, a history lesson as well. Truly, listening to one's elders is beneficial," Matilde noted.
"Now, for the chant—actually, Reis? Just a hunch, but..."
"Eh? Yeah, what?"
"With your level of Mana—which honestly makes me doubt my own eyes—if you just fire off a spell, I don't know what will happen. At worst, this whole town might vanish."
"...For real?"
"For real. You might intend to cast a 'Mini Fireball' but end up with an 'Explosion.' If that's what you want, go ahead... though I forget where I heard that line from."
"It's NOT okay! Don't do it, Lady Reis!" Matilde shouted.
"So, the first thing you must learn is 'Mana Manipulation.' Master this, and you won't blow things up. Plus, you can use it to boost your physical stats. By circulating Mana at high speeds, you pull out your body's hidden potential. I had an apprentice—a monster of a kid—who learned Mana Manipulation before he could even swing a sword properly. He ended up pulling a house's support pillar out of the ground."
"I almost died because of that. I never want to be buried under rubble again. ...Anyway, I'll teach you the knack of it. Give it your best."
"If you can manipulate it, you can control the output. I have a feeling you're the same type as my old apprentice. You'll get it once it clicks."
______
"Ugh, ughhhh! Why! Amelia! This won't budge at all!"
"...Maybe your Mana is just too massive. I thought it would be a bit easier than this."
I'd been trying to follow Amelia's advice for 30 minutes, and my face was beet red. No results. Amelia said she could feel the force I was applying to the Mana inside me, so I have the talent, but because the "mass" of my Mana is so huge, it's not moving.
"It's like a shoulder that's been stiff for 300 years. Like an Elf who falls asleep for centuries and wakes up to find trees have grown around them, trapping them."
"What kind of horror story is that?!"
Is that a long-lived species joke? Wait... it's a common social issue for Elves? They hibernate like animals for hundreds of years, and people find "dried-out Elves" while clearing forests? And they revive if you pour water on them? What kind of biology is that? Ostriches are weird, but Elves are on another level.
"Well, the force is there, and it's getting stronger. You understood the concept of Mana immediately... if you keep at it, you'll get it eventually."
"H-How long will it take?"
"Maybe ten years?"
The long-lived species time scale strikes again! This is exhausting! It feels like my human soul is trying to push a skyscraper made of reinforced concrete!
"Still, why is your Mana capacity so high? It feels like it exceeds the limits of a living creature."
"Is Lady Reis's Mana really that vast?" Matilde asked.
"Yes. It's probably more than the Demon Kings in fairy tales. Not that I've seen one. ...Reis, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but have you ever wandered near the brink of death?"
The brink of death? ...Wait, was it that? The "Brain Explosion Parade" when my memories returned. My ostrich brain couldn't handle the data of a human life and kept exploding and regenerating. I was a vegetable for six months. I guess that counts. Usually, when your brain explodes, you die.
"I thought so. ...It doesn't happen to everyone, but sometimes, after a near-death experience, Mana can skyrocket during 'super-recovery.' You probably have that kind of constitution, Reis."
Amelia added that my Mana levels were "disgusting" in a way. Thanks, I think? I can "perceive" my Mana now, but I only see the edge of it. I can't even see the whole picture...
Still, if that vegetable state gave me this much power, maybe it was worth the agony? I kept my intelligence, too. But none of it matters if I can't use it!
(And it wasn't even a reincarnation cheat. It was just trauma recovery.)
"Alright, Reis. I'm going to change the subject, but keep practicing 'Mana Manipulation' while you listen. You need to be able to do this as naturally as breathing if you want to use it in battle."
"I'll... I'll try..."
"Good. Good luck, young one. Now, Lord Matilde. May I have that thing?"
Matilde handed over the yellow, egg-shaped object. ...Oh, I remember now! The Nagan soldiers had these! My kids spent a lot of time stomping them into the dirt, but I'm surprised one survived in such good condition. Everyone who had these also had mage staffs. Is it a Magic Tool?
"Correct. I noticed it during the cleanup... it's quite impressive."
"In what way?"
"It's locked to Lightning magic, but it allows even someone without affinity to cast Lightning spells with minimal Mana consumption. It also boosts power. If you put this up for auction, you could probably buy a small house."
Amelia channeled Mana into the tool, calmly analyzing it. Now that I could perceive Mana, I could see the difference in our skill. I was grunt-pushing my Mana like an ostrich—"Urrghh!"—while Amelia's control was exquisite. The Mana flowing from her fingers into the tool was as fine and shimmering as silk thread.
"Based on their gear, they were Nagan regulars. ...Is Nagan really that advanced?" Matilde asked.
"It seems so. And... this. Every attack has a 'Penetration' effect. That's the big one."
"What?!"
Wait, is "Penetration" that bad? Matilde looked like she'd seen a ghost. I got hit by a bunch of those attacks and I was fine. It didn't even hurt. I bet my kids would have just felt a little tingle.
"Wait, really?!"
"Mind your tone, Lord Matilde," Amelia teased. "These kids are 'Exceptions.' If you compare yourself to them, you lose. Anyway, about the 'Penetration' effect."
I remembered it too—electricity and metal don't get along. Unless you use a massive amount of power, electricity usually gets dispersed by metal armor without doing real damage. In a world where iron armor is standard, Lightning magic was traditionally rated very low for anti-personnel use.
But someone changed that.
"One of the Empire's Special Strategic Assets: Henrietta Maniscala Custos Apulia... let's just call her Henri-chan."
Apparently, this Henri-chan figured out how to make Lightning magic "Penetrate," ignoring the damage reduction from metal. She even developed an "Arc" effect that jumps to nearby metal-wearing enemies without losing power. At age 12, she invented this, skipped onto a battlefield, wiped out 20,000 soldiers, and went home for tea.
Essentially, these tools were "Mini-Henri-chans." They had lower power but reproduced the effect.
"Her achievements reached Heed, but to think Nagan turned a 'reproducibly impossible' chant into a mass-produced tool..." Matilde whispered.
"Henri-chan's magic had infinite chains, but this tool can do three at most. The power is cute compared to hers. But against normal soldiers, it's unstoppable. It's a good thing Reis and her flock were the ones facing them."
"See? Ostrich-chan is amazing. ...Even if I can't move my Mana at all."
I see... there are some scary people in this world. I thought the Plateau was bad, but human society is rough too. Especially that "Empire." Definitely a scary superpower. Note to self: if I ever meet them, don't pick a fight. Lock the doors...
"Wait, Lady Amelia. I know of Henrietta; she's a high noble of the Empire and effectively the number two person in the country, the Duchess. Why do you call her 'Henri-chan'?"
"Hmm? Oh, I used to be her teacher. She was my first apprentice. Reis is my second."
"EHHH?!"
Matilde's face was priceless. Did she just say the Number Two of the Empire?! The superpower's second-in-command?! Amelia... No offense to Matilde, but what are you doing being an adventurer in a backwater like this? You definitely shouldn't be wandering the Plateau with that kind of resume!
"Is it that surprising? That was nearly 40 years ago... Henri-chan is a grandmother now. She sent me a letter with a drawing from her grandson recently. I only taught her for a few years. I spent nearly four digits of time training magic, and she surpassed me in six months... I might not have been a very good teacher."
...What kind of insane genius is that?
"Lady Reis. You included... people like that, who exist outside common sense, are called 'Special Strategic Assets.' They aren't just powerful; they are 'monsters' from a different world."
H-Heh...
Go for it! The Nagan Strategist! (Part 2)
"Phew. Finally, some peace..."
I enjoyed a moment of calm as the carriage swayed. I wanted to sleep during the trip to Heed, but the work was piling up. There was no time to rest. Because of the delay caused by the nobles, the carriage was flying at top speed. Sleeping in these vibrations... I could do it, but I'd wake up with every bone aching.
"...Is everything on track?"
Now that I've left the Nagan capital, all that remains is to negotiate the treaty with Heed's Queen and ministers. That is the real challenge. Thanks to the spies, the request should have reached them already. But what lies ahead is unknown. No matter how good our spies are, getting into the heart of a foreign government is difficult.
"They know I'm coming. They won't turn me away given the content of the treaty... but how much time can I save?"
The goal is a military alliance on equal footing. At worst, I'll accept a 6:4 split in their favor. Given how we've treated them as a potential enemy, their goodwill will be low. The King gave me permission to accept a skewed treaty as "apology" for past tensions.
"...No, I shouldn't overthink it. Let's review the cover story."
The fact that we attacked first must remain hidden until the very end. I need a clear reason why Nagan suddenly wants an alliance.
"The 'Dark Zone'—the uncharted area to the south—launched a massive monster invasion that caused undeniable damage. Meanwhile, relations with the Republic of Tram to the north and the Lima Union to the west are deteriorating. We want to secure our eastern border. Yes, that should work."
The monster-infested region south of Heed and Nagan is a mystery; no one ever returns from there. It's called the "Dark Zone." People whisper about terrifying monsters or man-eating tribes, but no one knows the truth. Thus, a lie like this is believable.
(It sounds exactly like something that could happen.)
And it's true that relations with Tram and Lima are bad; we were planning to invade them after taking Heed. I'm not technically lying.
If the threat of the "Ostriches" is higher than expected, we might need to annex those two countries during the treaty period to secure more "Special Strategic Assets" and resources. My cover story might actually become the truth.
"The Queen of Heed is young but said to have the makings of a wise ruler. Her Prime Minister is an experienced former Foreign Minister. ...I must stay focused."
Come to think of it, I haven't heard from Alan in Plaque yet... He's a professional, so I doubt he's been caught, but... I'm a little worried. This "Ostrich" group is a new variable. He's our only source of info on them. I hope he's safe...
Intelligence Report from Alan (The Future Ostrich Catering Manager)
Information Gathered:
Reis loves alcohol and is a heavy drinker.
The "Ostriches" are gluttons. They already ate all the food in the guild's warehouse. They really like eating.
If you attack Reis, the flock goes berserk.
They are very strong and scary. They might eat me.
Information NOT Gathered:
The "Muscle Pain" after going berserk. (Alan was away getting beer when this was discussed, and was unconscious during the morning after.)
The reason for their Lightning Resistance. (He saw it happen but doesn't know why.)
Reis's Mana Capacity. (He was unconscious during the magic lesson.)
Note: Because he was used as an extra chef during the banquet, Alan currently smells like delicious food. When the Ostriches recovered from their muscle pain, they woke him up (by stomping on him) demanding "Food? Food?" just like the other chefs. He is now forced to make brunch. If he refuses? He might actually get eaten.