Alright, let’s get to training with 【Light Magic】.
Basically, for magic spells, anything at Skill Level 2… or in magic terms, ‘Second Tier’ or higher, you either have to become an apprentice to a master like that woman did, or join the Magician’s Guild and buy the magic you want to learn.
The exception is nobles, who attend Magic Academy, where they’re taught basic magic.
So how do you learn basic magic if you don’t even know your affinity? Well, it seems that only the First Tier spells, at Level 1, are sold as books by the Magician’s Guild to increase the number of magicians.
Even so, it’s an academic book, so it costs five small gold coins, but nobles usually buy it and parents teach their children the basics.
That woman’s master also had that book, and she was ordered to make a copy of it as part of her lessons… though she sold it off as soon as she became independent.
Training in elemental magic starts with accurately memorizing and chanting the spell.
At the same time, you have to memorize the meaning of the spell and understand how that meaning affects the world, or the spell won’t activate… or so that woman’s master said.
First of all, ‘spells’ are simplified… well, to put it bluntly, degraded versions of ‘Spirit Language,’ the language Spirits use to interact with the world, which was adapted by the ancient Elves for humans to use.
Even though it’s been made for humans, it’s still the language of beings with completely different thought patterns, so it takes months for humans to understand… or even years, depending on the person.
That woman barely remembered the meaning of the spells she used, but she did remember the meaning of the Light Magic spells (though she didn’t understand them).
The First Tier Light Magic spells are 【Heal】 and 【Cure】, so let’s do a quick review.
【Heal】 restores stamina and forcibly accelerates the natural healing of the body. So if someone without knowledge uses it, bones can heal crookedly, or scars can be severe.
【Cure】 isn’t natural healing, but closer to regeneration. It completely heals wounds without leaving scars, but the range is small, it takes time, and forcibly healing deep wounds can consume stamina and lead to near-death.
Well, 【Heal】 is enough for most common injuries, so the reality is that some people, like Feld, don’t even bother learning 【Cure】.
The spell for 【Heal】 is—
‘Ritīwārusutorizahiīkā’
Its meaning is said to be, ‘Heal that target.’
…Isn’t the spell a bit long? It’s short when put into human language, but is there a reason why the spell is long? Did it become strained because Spirit Language was made into words that humans can use?
The spell for 【Cure】 is—
‘Ritīshuwāruborudeanosutorīsuten’
Its meaning is, ‘Return the body to its original state.’
…Both are a bit hard to remember. According to that woman’s “knowledge,” the magic wouldn’t activate if the pronunciation was slightly off.
It seems that rhyming while chanting made it easier to activate, but the ultimate answer is what that woman’s master kept nagging about.
‘Understand the meaning of the spell correctly and chant it accurately.’
For now, let’s try chanting it once. Fortunately… or perhaps I should say, living in the Forest means there’s no shortage of minor injuries.
“…Ritīwārusutorizahīkā…”
…A little different? As expected, there’s no sign of any magic activating, and the Appraisal Orb shows that my Mana hasn’t decreased.
Normally, you’d say 【Heal】 at the end, but ‘Heal’ isn’t Spirit Language, but Common Tongue, and it’s not part of the spell, but an ‘activation word.’ In other words, it’s something you chant to clarify the image, and it can be omitted.
Even so, even with non-attribute magic, 【Body Enhancement】 aside, most people can’t activate 【Combat Art】 without speaking it aloud, so it might be better to include it while I’m still not used to it.
Whether it was the pronunciation or a lack of understanding of the meaning, the first incantation failed.
Since then, I’ve tried changing the pronunciation slightly several times, adding ‘Heal’ at the end, but there’s still no sign of the 【Heal】 magic activating.
“…………”
I’ll delve into my “knowledge” a bit.
The 【Heal】 that that woman’s master used and the 【Heal】 that Feld used are the same, but when I recall them, the impression of the pronunciation feels slightly different.
Feld said it took him about half a year to be able to use it. All he did during that time was repeat the spell incantation.
So how did he become able to use it? Is it that he learned the accurate pronunciation by repeating the pronunciation? I vaguely remember and compare the 【Heal】 that Feld used and the 【Heal】 that that woman’s master used.
…There’s a slight difference… I think. In fact, the spell that the master chanted seemed to have some parts that were slightly shorter than the spell that woman remembered.
“…Could it be?”
…Is she shortening the spell? Does it still activate even then?
I’ve come up with a hypothesis. Even in the Common Tongue that I use, it’s slightly different depending on the region, and words are shortened in daily life.
Even if it’s not formal writing, if both the speaker and the listener know the accurate meaning, the shortened words still make sense.
That’s why it’s necessary to ‘understand the meaning correctly’ when chanting spells.
Perhaps the spells that the ancient Elves passed down were in ‘correct sentences.’ Why were they shortened?… It must have been because they were “too long.”
To be precise, it was “too troublesome” to use them in everyday life, so they were shortened.
In the process, the ‘correct sentences’ may have become unused like “old texts,” but that’s not all bad.
Even with the current Common Tongue words, some people remember them incorrectly. On the one hand, it’s become harder to understand the correct meaning, and the more someone knows the meaning, the more incomprehensible it becomes, resulting in a ‘conversation’ failure, but if you properly understand the meaning, modern language should allow for more expression than old texts.
Magic has evolved and regressed in that way.
It’s become harder to remember and easier to make mistakes, but once you properly understand it, it should be easier to use than the original magic.
That’s the premise, and here’s my hypothesis.
Spells must have been ‘sentences’ at first. How did they change?
For example, in Common Tongue, ‘Heal and cure all the injuries on that person’s body’—becomes,
‘Heal and cure the injuries on that person’—becomes,
‘Heal the injuries on that person’—becomes,
‘Cure the injuries on that person’—becomes harder to understand,
‘Heal that person’—it has become.
…I’m being extreme and forceful, but could a similar phenomenon have occurred?
Depending on the situation and pronunciation, the meaning barely gets across. But if you don’t even know the meaning in the first place, even a slight accent turns it into a meaningless “sound.”
—That’s the hypothesis I’ve come up with, but what do you think?
Of course, when learning spells, there’s also the method of repeating and memorizing until you get to a “plausible pronunciation,” like Feld did.
But I felt uneasy about that method. Because I can’t even realize that I’m wrong with words that I don’t even know what I’m saying.
“Power” is needed to live.
I’m a woman and a child. If I do the same things as a normal… a man with a blessed physique like Feld, I’ll lose in an important situation someday.
I’ll use any means necessary. I’ll become strong. Even if it’s a little roundabout, I want to gain true strength with my own power.
Assuming that the 【Heal】 spell—’Ritīwārusutorizahiīkā’—is a sentence, it should be divided into several words.
Among them, there are words that have been shortened. There must also be words where the previous word and the following word have been mixed together.
If I knew other spells, I could search for similarities and research them, but that woman only knew Light, Fire, and Water spells up to the Second Tier. I’d like to tell her that it’s amazing that she remembered that much, but I can’t praise her too much because she didn’t remember the spells she didn’t use often.
I’ll change the way I learn spells.
First, I’ll search for “words” hidden within the spell. Even so, I won’t know if I’m right even if I chant randomly, so I decided to search for a word that definitely exists—”heal.”
The spell, ‘Degraded Spirit Language,’ has no effect just by chanting it. Of course, you have to understand the meaning properly and say it aloud, but you also need to put Mana into the words.
This isn’t that difficult when you try it. It might be difficult for magicians who have just started learning, but in short, if you activate the Mana in your body, the act itself seems to contain Mana.
In my case, the Body Enhancement state, where I circulate Mana throughout my entire body, is similar to that. I think it’s necessary to eventually activate it without Body Enhancement, but I decided to search for spell words in parallel with Body Enhancement and combat training.
I extract what seems like a word from the 【Heal】 spell and try chanting it while thinking “heal.”
I repeat it many times without worrying about failure. However, I carefully move my body, being careful not to let the combat training become sloppy for that purpose, and say it out loud while thinking “heal.”
On the first day, there were no results. I didn’t expect to find it so easily in the first place, but the simultaneous training of mental concentration and the body seemed to be more burdensome than I thought, and I slept like a log that day.
No results on the second day either. Maybe, but there are missing letters to pronounce it. Currently, it might only be “Iya” from “Iya-su” (heal), so I try mixing in various sounds as well.
Third day, no results. However, my HP decreased slightly, and my maximum HP increased by 1.
Fourth day, I’ve gotten used to doing it simultaneously. There are no results, but I notice that Mana is being consumed just a little.
Fifth day, I search for words that consume Mana. Perhaps because I’m constantly using Mana, I feel like the efficiency of Body Enhancement and Utility Magic has increased.
Sixth day, I’m starting to worry if I can really find words with this method.
In the first place, if words could be found so easily, other Magicians would have found them. Perhaps because I was thinking about that, I cut my fingertip on a rabbit bone. Ouch.
Seventh day…
“Rityl Hikar.”
When I said that ‘word,’ Light Magic faintly glowed from my hand.
…I was mistaken. The word “heal” does not exist in the 【Heal】 spell.
I had assumed that 【Heal】 was a healing Magic. I think most Magicians would answer that way if asked. But it’s different. When I recall the effect of 【Heal】, HP is restored, and at the same time, wounds close and gradually heal.
That’s right… this is a recovery spell. Injuries are just being healed in the process of restoring HP.
“Rityl” and “Hikar”—these were words that consumed just a little Mana. There were similar words, but by combining these two, a Magic-like effect was finally activated.
Perhaps, but these two words correspond to “heal.”
But it’s not accurate. There’s a different meaning. If the 【Heal】 Magic has a recovery effect, then ‘HP’? Or maybe ‘Life Force’? If there were a word that used that… maybe it’s ‘Return.’ ‘Return’ ‘HP’? …From the way it sounds when chanted, it might be ‘Rityl (Return)’ ‘Hikar (HP).’
After that, I gradually changed the pronunciation, changed the meaning to similar words, and repeated it many times.
Because Mana is subtly consumed, I couldn’t do Body Enhancement training using Mana, but I concentrated on Magic for now.
And two days after that…
“Rityl Wahlstrizar Hikar… 【Heal】”
When I chanted the spell, my hand faintly glowed, and the small wound on my fingertip that I had injured a few days ago disappeared.
“…………I did it!”
The meaning isn’t perfect yet, and the effect of the Magic is weak, but 【Heal】 was certainly activated, and 【Light Magic Lv.1】 was added to my Status, which I saw with the Appraisal Orb.
【Aria (Alicia)】【Race: Human Female】【Rank 1】
【Mana Capacity: 24/65】13 Up【HP: 32/37】1 Up
【Strength: 3 (3.3)】【Endurance: 4 (4.4)】【Agility: 5 (5.5)】【Dexterity: 6】
【Stealth Lv.1】【Night Vision Lv.1】
【Utility Magic x6】【Light Magic Lv.1】New【Non-Attribute Magic Lv.1】
【Mana Control Lv.1】【Detection Lv.1】
【Overall Combat Strength: 26 (During Body Enhancement: 28)】2 Up
The Kingdom of Claydale, a major power in the Searth Continent, annexed the Duchy of Dandole in the north 150 years ago, followed by the Duchy of Melrose in the south 120 years ago.
However, it was by no means a peaceful annexation. They continued to exert pressure in terms of politics and economy, and finally, by using military force for Intimidation, the Kingdom of Claydale “invaded” the two countries.
The royal families of those two duchies—Dandole and Melrose—were neither destroyed nor killed, but were left in the form of ‘Margraves’ who governed the north and south.
The reason the two royal families were left was a political issue. The Kingdom of Claydale, which surpassed the two countries in various fields, did not have enough military power to forcibly invade and manage them, and the power and “name” of the former royal families of Dandole and Melrose were necessary to suppress the dissatisfaction of the people and noble families of that land.
“What should I do… this is the world of ‘Silver Love’…”
The eight-year-old girl, the granddaughter of the Margrave of Dandole, one of the former royal families, and the first daughter of the Margrave of Dandole’s heir, had been suffering from a high fever for several days, and when she woke up, she had regained the memories of her ‘previous life,’ which were different from her own.
The memories and ego of herself, who had lived to the age of eight, remained. On top of that, the “self” of her previous life was mixed in, and she finally understood the situation from a state of confusion.
Clara Dandall, the Margrave’s daughter, eight years old. She would enter the Magic Academy at the age of thirteen, and at the graduation party, her engagement with the Crown Prince would be broken off, and she would be exiled or, in the worst case, “executed” as a ‘Villainess.’
Clara, who was originally a high school student, understood that she was that ‘Clara,’ wrote down the knowledge of the game in her memory in a notebook, stealing glances from the maids, and after worrying for several weeks to avoid the worst outcome, she came to one conclusion.
“…Maybe I have no choice but to kill the Heroine.”
Clara is, in a sense, a typical ‘Villainess.’
Another Villainess is planned to appear.
Next time, back to town again. The threat that awaits there.