The people of Marquis Seisole's House were on the move.
Rei heard the news, but there was nothing he could do about it right now.
At the very least, even if he went to the Marquis Seisole's House and asked, "Did something happen?" they wouldn't tell him under normal circumstances.
The fact that they were moving in secret in the first place meant they didn't want anyone to know.
Given that, the only things Rei could do right now were to spring into action immediately if something happened, and...
"How about this one, then?"
"Hmm... it's the effect. If it just produces water, I already have a similar Magic Item."
And so, the only thing he could do was negotiate with Remuria over gemstones with sealed magic as payment for what had happened yesterday—namely, handing over Set's fresh feathers.
Of course, Rei's attention was already focused on selecting gemstones that contained usable magic. The matter of the Marquis Seisole's House occupied only a corner of his mind.
"You say it only produces water, but the amount this gemstone yields is quite substantial. Enough to fill this very room, in fact."
Told this by Remuria, Rei looked around the room he was currently in once more.
This room was roughly thirty tatami mats in size.
Naturally, there were no actual tatami mats—it was just Rei's own sense of space, so the real dimensions might vary somewhat.
"Enough to fill this room, huh... I see. Thinking of it that way, there could be some uses for it."
What came to Rei's mind as he said this was fire.
With enough water to fill a room of about thirty tatami mats, while it might not work for a full-scale blaze, it might—perhaps—be enough to extinguish a small fire in an instant.
(But if it's just about putting out a fire, it'd be faster to tear down the surroundings of the burning building than to douse it with water.)
In fact, destroying the area around a burning building to prevent the fire from spreading was a well-known method, one frequently employed here in Elgin as well.
Naturally, such a practice left those whose houses or properties were destroyed feeling resentful.
If the fire was successfully extinguished before it spread, it was only natural for them to think their home could have been spared.
Still, since it was a quicker method than preparing water, it remained in widespread use.
"Hmm. This one doesn't appeal to you, then. Well, how about this one?"
The next item Remuria produced was a green gemstone that resembled an emerald.
Rei wasn't particularly knowledgeable about gemstones, so he couldn't say whether it was actually an emerald or not.
He examined it carefully.
The number of gemstones with sealed magic he could receive as payment was five.
Given that, he needed to be extremely selective.
"What's the effect of this one?"
"It fires a large number of Wind Blades—let's see, slightly larger than a dagger—in a specific direction."
"Oh, that's convenient."
In terms of launching blades, Rei's Death Scythe and its Flying Slash could be considered similar.
However, the slash released by Flying Slash had high single-strike power and a wide effective range—which was only natural, given that it was a strike from a scythe rather than a longsword—but it could only fire one slash at a time.
In that sense, the green gemstone Remuria showed him was by no means a bad choice.
It probably wouldn't be much use against powerful enemies, but against opponents that pressed with sheer numbers, like Goblins, it was undoubtedly effective.
...Rei specialized in wide-area annihilation magic, so he already had several similar methods of attack. Even so, it was better to have more options.
"What's the specific effective range? Since they're Wind Blades about the size of a dagger, the power of each individual strike probably isn't that strong, right?"
In response to Rei's question, Remuria shared what information she knew.
As Rei had expected, the power of each individual strike wasn't particularly great.
However, since it fired in a single direction, the effective range was fairly wide. And above all, the fact that it required no incantation—unlike when Rei cast magic himself—was extremely welcome.
The magic was already sealed inside the gemstone. All it took was the intention to activate it—just flowing mana into it the same way one would use a Magic Item.
It went without saying that chanting incantations was a troublesome affair for mages.
While chanting, one inevitably had to focus their attention on the spell, causing their awareness of their surroundings to slip.
For first-rate individuals like Rei and those above him, taking a hit mid-chant was almost unheard of—but it still wasn't an absolute guarantee.
...Of course, in Rei's case, he could ride Set and chant from the sky, well beyond the reach of enemy attacks.
Be that as it may, that only made Rei a rare exception. For an ordinary mage, chanting incantations was undeniably a hassle.
Given that, this gemstone—capable of producing magical effects without any incantation—was an extremely valuable item.
No, as a Magic Item that could be used even by non-mages, it was probably an incredibly convenient tool for anyone.
That said, acquiring one would undoubtedly require a considerable sum of money.
This time, he was receiving the gemstone as payment for handing over Set's fresh feathers.
But if he were to buy it outright, it certainly wouldn't come cheap.
Even considering just the base value of the gemstone itself, it was already substantial—and magic was sealed inside it on top of that.
There was no way such a Magic Item would cost less than an ordinary gemstone.
(I saw Pri use these gemstones back in Exil, and they seemed like quite convenient items. No—if something like that could actually be bought with money, that would be incredibly lucky.)
Setting aside items like Rei's Death Scythe, Dragon Robe, and Misty Ring, the Sleipnir boots, the Twilight Spear, the Dagger of Flowing Water... and the many other Magic Items he possessed were all highly rare.
Given that, trying to buy such Magic Items with money just because he wanted them would normally be impossible.
If so, being able to purchase Remuria's gemstones with money was nothing short of good fortune.
"Alright, I'll take one of these green gemstones for now. As for the rest... do you have any other recommendations?"
Several gemstones of various colors, shapes, and sizes were laid out on the table, but Rei couldn't determine their specific effects just by looking at them.
If so, it was only natural to think it better to ask Remuria directly.
"Let me see... how about this one?"
In response to Rei's words, Remuria pointed to a white gemstone.
It wasn't a transparent crystal, but a purely white gemstone.
If it had been cloudy, one might have thought it was the result of a failed attempt to imbue it with magic. But this white was clearly not cloudy—it was a pure, brilliant white.
"What about this one?"
"This gemstone has a fairly strong Recovery Magic sealed inside it."
"Oh."
Rei directed a deeply interested gaze at the pure white gemstone.
Recovery Magic was a spell that, even among the already scarce population of mages, even fewer could use.
Among the Crimson Lotus Wings that Rei led, the only one who could use Recovery Magic was Marina, who possessed extraordinarily high abilities as a Spirit Mage.
Simply having someone in the party who could use Recovery Magic was already a stroke of considerable fortune—putting it that way should make it easy to understand just how rare Recovery Magic users were.
"You said it's fairly strong Recovery Magic, but specifically how severe of a wound can it heal? What about fatal injuries?"
"It can't manage that. However, something like a fracture can be treated instantly."
"...A fracture, huh."
There were various types of fractures.
Depending on the location, some were quite difficult to heal, and even for the same area, the difficulty of treatment varied depending on how the bone was broken.
But that was only the case with normal treatment. If magic was involved, the situation changed significantly.
It wasn't that it could completely ignore such factors, but compared to conventional treatment, it was undoubtedly much easier.
"I'll take it. Give me ones with Recovery Magic sealed inside for all the rest as well."
"My, you're quite decisive about this."
Though she wore a slightly surprised expression, Remuria showed an understanding look at Rei's decision.
Since Recovery Magic users were scarce, one could never have too many recovery methods.
Aside from Recovery Magic, there were potions and similar items, as well as Magic Items that produced Recovery Magic effects.
But Recovery Magic was more effective than potions and superior in terms of treatment speed.
Given that, Recovery Magic was simply a higher grade.
"Well, having recovery methods available is convenient in all sorts of situations."
What Rei was thinking as he said this was likely about emergency situations.
He didn't know specifically when or how such a moment might arrive, but dying from an unhealed injury because he had neglected to prepare for emergencies was something he absolutely refused to accept.
Of course, this applied not only to Rei but also to the others he partied with... and even if they weren't in the same party, having a means to immediately treat Elena if she were injured would be significant.
(Well, I can't imagine a situation where Elena would be pushed that far into a corner, though.)
The Elena that Rei knew possessed considerable strength, having inherited the Ancient Dragon's Magic Stone.
Enough so that Vihera, that Battle Maniac, repeatedly challenged her to mock battles.
"Then... will these do?"
Saying so, Remuria handed Rei one green gemstone that fired multiple Wind Blades in a specific direction, along with four white gemstones containing sealed Recovery Magic.
Receiving them, Rei briefly checked the gemstones and gave a nod.
"Yeah, these are fine. ...By the way, I'd like to ask just in case—does this Jewel Magic change color depending on the attribute of the sealed magic? As far as I know, that wasn't the case."
So said Rei, but he didn't know everything about the Jewel Magic Pri had shown him in Exil.
Still, from what he had seen during his battle with Pri, the colors hadn't changed based on attributes.
...Given that Pri held an extraordinary love for gemstones, it was hard to imagine she would have tolerated the beauty of a gemstone being compromised as a result of sealing magic inside it.
"Hm? Ah, that matter. In the original—the Jewel Magic technique I acquired, that was indeed the case. But I want you to think of it as a change that arose from not using sacrifices."
"Ah... I see. If you put it that way, I have no choice but to accept it."
Rei couldn't grasp the finer details, but he understood the general idea.
The drawback of being able to seal magic into gemstones without requiring sacrifices was that the gemstone's color changed depending on the attribute.
(No, maybe I can't really call it a drawback? If it were Pri, it wouldn't be surprising if she could tell which magic was sealed in which gemstone. But for someone not well-versed in gemstones, being able to identify the attribute of the sealed magic by color is actually helpful.)
Of course, that also meant if an enemy had knowledge of Jewel Magic, they could easily figure out what kind of magic the user was about to employ.
"Alright, I'll be taking these gemstones. If anything else comes up, send a request my way. I'd be happy if you paid with gemstones containing sealed magic again at that time, too."
"Foh, foh, foh. In that case, I can't ask Rei for help so carelessly. This technique of sealing magic into gemstones takes a great deal of effort, after all. Unless it's an emergency like this time, I can't simply offer them as payment so easily."
Remuria said this in response to Rei's words.
In truth, Rei didn't know it, but the cost involved in sealing magic into gemstones was enormous.
...The fact that Pri had used sacrifices to create them, whereas this method did so without, was likely the primary reason for that cost.
"Then call me if you have a request where you can pay with those gemstones as compensation."
Saying that, Rei stored the gemstones into his Misty Ring and left the room.