"I would like to change locations to explain the research results I’ve gathered since our last meeting. How does that sound?"
I made the suggestion while pointedly ignoring the somewhat sympathetic looks they were giving me. Master Rosenberg and Sebas gave a quiet nod in response.
"Then please, follow me," Yudam said, stepping ahead to open the door.
I went outside to prepare the Emperor Scavenger Slime. Once I confirmed everyone had climbed aboard, we headed straight up the mountain slope.
"The atmosphere of this mountain has changed quite a bit in the short time since I last saw it," Master Rosenberg remarked.
It was just as he said. Previously, the trees and undergrowth had been thick and dark, but maintenance on the mountain had progressed significantly, allowing a healthy amount of sunlight to filter through the canopy.
"This is one of the results of the mountain maintenance I’ve been performing over the past month, which doubled as part of my training. I’ve also constructed a watchtower and a tunnel at the summit we’re heading toward. These allow us to check the status of the entire mountain—including the Miasma Land—from the peak at any time. If any abnormalities occur, we’ll find them immediately."
"By 'at any time,' do you mean you’ve hired personnel for a permanent watch?"
"I didn't hire anyone; the watchtower itself acts as the supervisor. I believe I mentioned this before, but I successfully used curse magic to summon Kormi, the house fairy who lived in the mansion within the Sea of Trees. By casting a spell on the watchtower, Kormi is now able to reside within the structure itself and report any issues. Even outside of emergencies, if I call out to him, he’ll check on things and transmit the information to me via Taming Magic."
"Splendid. Not only did you achieve your original goal through the development of that spell, but you are further utilizing it for the management of the Miasma Land."
Master Rosenberg praised me with sincere admiration, but Sebas, sitting behind him, seemed lost in thought. He likely knew that Kormi’s role and abilities went beyond mere observation. In truth, that facility and Kormi’s presence served more than just a monitoring function.
"By the way, I dug the tunnel from the side of the watchtower leading directly toward the Miasma Land. This allows us to avoid the path I took last time, which was difficult to navigate and carried a risk of falling. We won't need to use it anymore unless it’s absolutely necessary. Also, while we’re heading up the slope directly right now, I’ve built roads similar to the ones at the base, so it’s possible to bring in large quantities of materials by carriage if needed."
"It would normally be a massive undertaking," Yudam added, "but in the Owner’s case, he can dig through anything all at once with his slimes and magic. Since he’d already mapped out the mountain during the previous investigation, the work took less than an hour."
"Near the summit, the slope on the Miasma Land side is quite steep, so the distance required to break through wasn't that great. I performed foundation work to prevent any collapses, but thanks to the Huge Rock Slimes, it was perfectly safe. It was really just a matter of whether I was digging vertically like a well or horizontally."
As we spoke, the stone watchtower at the summit finally came into view.
"We’ve arrived."
A gaping tunnel entrance stood open in the mountain slope. Beside it sat a small cottage with the tower attached. All of them were stone structures designed with a singular focus on practicality, devoid of any ornamentation.
As soon as we dismounted from the slime in front of the inorganic buildings, Sebas spoke up.
"Ryoma-sama, could this watchtower perhaps be..."
"Did you notice? I used the watchtowers from the Town of Ghosts as a reference."
"No wonder I found the design familiar."
Though I had made some modifications, I had based the structure on the watchtowers that lined the perimeter of that city. When I was brainstorming the architectural design, those were the first things that had come to mind.
"Please, everyone, head into the cottage. I’ll go call Kormi."
I parted ways with the three of them and entered the tower, where a spiral staircase hugged the wall under a skylight. Because the exterior mimicked the Town of Ghosts, the interior happened to resemble the Execution Ground of Hunger and Thirst... but that was a mere coincidence, as the layout served a different purpose here.
"Kormi, we have guests. Are you ready?"
"Yup!"
Kormi appeared with an energetic reply. Floating through the air, he pulled back the curtain on the wall facing the cottage, clearly having anticipated the move.
"Oh?"
"Nice to meet you! I'm Kormi!"
"Ah, so you are Kormi-kun? You look remarkably like Ryoma-kun; quite a surprise. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Rosenberg."
The area behind the curtain was a hollowed-out section of the shared wall where a desk and chairs had been placed to facilitate conversation. It was a bit of an abrupt introduction, but the first impression seemed positive.
I sat down next to the innocently smiling Kormi and joined the discussion.
"Introductions aside, this child is the house fairy, Kormi. Though he looks like a child, his abilities are exceptional. Not much time has passed since we formed our contract, but he’s already become a great help in my research and studies—particularly with curse magic. For instance... regarding the lost magic for curse removal. With Kormi's cooperation, I have successfully reproduced the spell and used it to remove a curse."
"What?! You have already overcome the hurdles of that magic?"
Even if he had expected some progress, he clearly hadn't imagined I’d already reached the stage of implementation. Master Rosenberg raised his voice in a rare display of agitation, leaning forward with eyes burning with pure academic fervor.
"First, regarding the 'difference between the mana held by modern people and ancient people' that I suspected was the cause of my failure last time—that turned out to be the correct answer. As a fairy, Kormi’s ability to sense and manipulate mana is incomparable to a human’s. When I had him observe me activating the spell, he noted that the mana I emit actually pushes away the natural magic—the magic elements, or maso—preventing them from mixing."
"Then, was the method to mix them also in line with your previous hypothesis?"
"Yes. The specific method involves two steps during activation. First, I fire the curse removal spell toward a concentration of moonlight and intentionally disperse it into a mist. It’s easiest to think of it as casting a curse removal spell on my own emitted mana. However, this by itself is just a release of mana; it doesn't mean it has mixed yet."
"And that’s where I come in! I mix the magic elements!" Kormi added, energetically raising his hand.
"By absorbing natural magic elements, Kormi sustains his life as a fairy and recovers his mana. Because of that, he is able to perform the act of manipulating and mixing magic elements—something a human simply cannot do."
"So, while the reproduction was successful, the spell cannot be utilized without the cooperation of a fairy."
"To be precise, I can’t say for certain if it’s possible with other fairies, as I haven't tried lost magic with anyone but Kormi."
"Fairies are rare existences, so that is only natural. Succeeding with lost magic even once is a massive step forward. At the very least, it confirms that the historical records and our hypotheses were correct."
He seemed to have calmed down slightly, but the excitement hadn't left him. There was a noticeable intensity behind his words. However, since a demonstration required moonlight, I would have to ask him to wait until nightfall.
"Going forward, I intend to look for a way to activate the spell without relying on Kormi. For example, I want to see if the functions of a magic staff can be used to facilitate the mixing of magic elements."
"Since you are talking about a human attempting to manipulate magic elements directly, it is not a problem that will be easily solved."
"True... With a standard staff, you can handle your own mana, but you can't draw in natural mana, which brings us right back to the problem of being unable to manipulate magic elements. I considered developing a new staff specifically for this magic, but I still lack the necessary knowledge and experience. Since I’ve begun practicing staff-making, I’ll treat that as a long-term goal... Oh, and as an approach from a different angle, I'm thinking of using Magic Circle Studies as a reference."
I had first learned of Magic Circle Studies through my letters with Elia. She had mentioned a girl named Michelle-san, one of the friends she’d made shortly after starting at the Academy.
Since she’s a friend Elia researches with, her name comes up in the letters fairly often—usually when an experiment has gone wrong—but apparently, Magic Circle Studies involves using ink mixed with finely ground mana stones, which is similar to the paint used on staves.
Even if the ultimate goals differ, if there are similarities, there might be knowledge I can apply to staff-making. There’s also the possibility that magic circles are more suitable for utilizing lost magic than a staff would be. That’s why I want to start by learning more about the field.
I finished my explanation, but then added a caveat.
"However, I’m running into difficulties there as well. I’ve checked several bookstores and visited the Commerce Guild, but I haven't been able to find a single book related to Magic Circle Studies. I’ve put in a request for them, but there’s no telling when they’ll actually arrive."
As Elia had mentioned in her letters, Magic Circle Studies seemed to be an incredibly niche field. It apparently had some connection to alchemy and carried a somewhat poor reputation.
I wasn't really in a position to judge since I focused almost exclusively on slimes, but it seemed Michelle-san was quite the eccentric herself.
As I was pondering this, Sebas made a suggestion.
"Ryoma-sama, why not try relying on the Young Lady? She has a friend who is actively researching the subject, after all."
"I don't mind asking Elia, but would it be appropriate to ask a noblewoman I don't know well? I wouldn't want to cause trouble for Elia or her friend."
"For a noble, expanding one's network and utilizing those connections is a matter of course. Simply asking a friend to recommend some books would likely not be given a second thought. In fact, I believe the Young Lady would be delighted if Ryoma-sama were to rely on her."
"...In that case, I'll try bringing it up in my next letter."
I might have been hesitating simply because it involved a noble I didn't know. With Sebas’s encouragement, I found it surprisingly easy to make up my mind.
With that decision reached, the report on lost magic and our future plans hit a natural stopping point. Next, I moved on to a byproduct of the research: the "properties of mana in curse removal."
"This is also something Kormi taught me after observing the lost magic process. It seems there are distinct differences between how the dark and light attributes handle curse removal."
"Ho? And what would those be?"
"Light makes it barabara, and dark makes it dorodoro!"
"Kormi, please show them the image you made earlier."
"Ah, okay!"
A screen created by Kormi’s illusions appeared between us. It displayed black threads intricately tangled and knotted into a solid lump.
"According to Kormi, the mana that makes up a curse looks like this—a chaotic, tangled mess. Apparently, dark attribute mana is twisted by the negative emotions used during the casting. Curse removal is the process of untangling those threads and knots, and to do that—"
The screen split in two. The word "Light" appeared above the left side and "Dark" above the right. On the left, the threads were sliced into tiny, scattered pieces. On the right, the lump was dropped into a liquid and dissolved without a trace.
"As you can see, both methods are quite aggressive, but the curse removal is successful as long as the tangles are eliminated. The method used in lost magic seems to produce a much greater effect by repeatedly and simultaneously dissolving the mass to soften it while carving it into fine pieces. It does this over and over in a very short span of time—Are you all right?"
Master Rosenberg, who had been staring at the looping images, seemed to be in a daze. When I spoke to him, he snapped out of it and looked away from the illusion.
"My apologies. When I read a curse with my own spells, I feel those chaotic and intricate emotions quite strongly, so this makes intuitive sense to me. It is a well-known fact that dark and light attributes have different properties, and we often work in pairs with exorcists precisely because the way the effects manifest is different. I have never heard such an interpretation from a fairy’s perspective, but I believe it hits the mark. This has been an education for me as well."
"Thank you."
Incidentally, it had also come to light that the body of the Curse Slime that evolved during my last training session was essentially this lump of tangled mana. When it ate, it didn't completely dissolve the curses; instead, it neutralized them while absorbing the mana in its tangled state.
"By the way, regarding these moving pictures..."
Master Rosenberg was clearly still interested in the visuals, so I used the opportunity to present the status of the Miasma Land that Kormi had been monitoring.
I showed him various materials I’d prepared, including a 3D Hazard Map created by overlaying Kormi’s data on miasma range and volume with images of the mountain sent from my Rimul Birds. I also showed mapping data that depicted miasma concentration using black point density on cross-sections of the mountain.
As we went through the presentation, Master Rosenberg seemed to fully grasp just how capable Kormi was.
"I could tell you were serious about managing the Miasma Land the moment I saw the tower, but goodness... this place might be better managed than any other blighted area in the country."
"I'm glad to hear you say that."
With that, the status report and progress update on the Miasma Land were complete. All that remained was to review the "homework" from our last session.
"Since the lost magic demonstration has to wait until nightfall, could you first check the substitute I came up with so the 'Hand of Kesho' can be used in public? I also have some 'incense sticks' designed to make purification via smoke easier."
"Of course. Let us test them out immediately."
The reports were over; it was time for practice and experimentation. We set off once more to change locations.