Volume 7, Chapter 29 – Interlude

“Little Fia learned faith magic? Who are you believing in?”

Claire’s rather surprised voice rang through the living room of the Twilight Palace. It was currently two in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day, so everyone was idling inside—no one wanted to be exposed to a sun that felt like it would scorch the skin.

In contrast, the living room, stocked with large quantities of ice, was relatively cool. This was also a blessing for the maids working in the Twilight Palace. It was one of the few palaces in the Royal City exempt from the [Citadel of Silence], so as long as the maids finished their work, they could use magic to summon ice into wooden tubs to beat the heat, making the maids in other palaces green with envy.

As for the people in the room, besides the young duo of Liti and Milu, there was Anastasia and two maids in black-and-white dresses standing by the wall on standby.

“Err…” With her back to Claire, Fia, who was tinkering with a mana furnace by the door, gave a slight shoulder flinch before answering with feigned composure. “It seems the level of [Sacred Relic Analysis] is too high and my faith isn’t devout enough, so I only learned a little bit. I guess I’ll have to wait until my faith is more devout to master the full content.”

“But who is Little Fia believing in? You don’t seem like the type to believe in a god.”

There were very few people who knew Fia had killed the Elf God, and Claire was one of them. She didn’t think for a second that Fia would believe in an existence weaker than herself, let alone the Elf God—the way Fia had described that eyeball-shaped thing full of resentment didn’t sound like a god at all.

Claire’s remark instantly drew everyone’s attention. Even Anastasia, dressed in her lavender dress and playing cards with Liti and Milu, pricked up her ears. The playing cards weren’t something Fia had brought, but toys brought by a Holy Son long ago that had existed on the World Tree Continent for a while. As for the game, one could tell just by looking at the slips of paper stuck to Liti’s face as a penalty—it was the game of Old Maid.

Lying on the rug and kicking her legs, Liti looked up through the gaps in the paper slips covering her face toward Anastasia. Since Liti wasn’t a warrior by trade, her five senses weren’t as sharp as Milu’s or Anastasia’s, so she always ended up drawing the “Turtle” card. That said, Milu and Anastasia had paper slips on their faces too, the only difference being they had far fewer than Liti.

“Wasn’t Sister Anna with Sister last night? How come you don’t seem to know either?”

“Err… Her Highness only asked me to close my eyes. In truth, I don’t know how Her Highness achieved faith magic either. The Elf God hasn’t appeared for ten thousand years; even if one believed in him, there shouldn’t be a response…”

“It’s Liti’s turn.”

Milu, who had just drawn a card from Anastasia’s hand, faced Liti. Since Milu only had three cards left, the game had reached its most tense moment. Liti’s attention was instantly captured; she reached out with a serious face, pretending to draw a card while quietly observing Milu’s expression, hoping to discern which card was the Turtle through some subtle change. However, Milu was naturally lacking in emotional expression; no matter which card Liti’s hand moved toward, Milu’s face remained unchanged.

The truth was that even Fia didn’t want to be the one drawing from Milu; it was pure torture. Although Milu would sometimes intentionally lift the Turtle card slightly higher or flap her ears incessantly when she herself drew it to warn Fia, that bordered on cheating and bullying Liti, so Fia wisely refrained from joining.

While Liti and Milu engaged in a battle of wits, Fia’s side continued as she pondered how to answer Claire.

Last night’s faith magic had indeed been successful, but answering truthfully in front of Anastasia herself was far too embarrassing. It was true that Anastasia’s chest had released a golden light that filled the room, but only Fia could see that light. When Anastasia had opened her eyes, she had simply tilted her head in confusion and asked why Fia was covering her face with her hands.

Rеаⅾ οn КatRеαⅾіոgСаfе

“Well, actually, faith magic doesn’t necessarily require believing in a god to get a response. From my observations, there’s no fundamental difference between faith magic and elemental magic; both derive power from the rules that maintain the world’s operation. It’s more appropriate to call it the Heavenly Way or Natural Law.”

“In short, even if my object of faith isn’t a person but an object or a spiritual symbol, as long as my concentration is sufficient and my mind is undistracted, I can obtain knowledge related to that faith. So-called faith magic is just a beautiful coat those believers put on this magical path.”

That said, without an organized and large-scale institution like the Church, it was practically impossible for an ordinary person to start with faith magic. For instance, concentrating with an undistracted mind and devoutly believing in something was impossible without growing up in an atmosphere full of a goddess’s grace; one simply wouldn’t develop that kind of devout faith or the ability to focus on a single thing for a long time. Fia could accomplish it because her control over her body had reached the limit; as long as she intended not to be distracted, it was impossible for her to be.

First, one needed a sincere heart toward an object; second, a long period of intense concentration; and third, sufficient mana and mental strength to demand what they wanted from the Natural Law. The combination of these three points hindered people from discovering the truth of faith magic, leading them to believe that only those who believed in gods could use it.

“Then what is Little Fia believing in?”

“Mmm…”

What was with Claire today, constantly pressing for an answer?

Speaking of which, since she believed Anastasia’s “art piece” could increase her Faith Power, Claire’s should work too.

She had a feeling it would turn into a situation where touching Claire’s or Anastasia’s chest would make her Faith Power skyrocket, while touching the Eldest Princess’s own chest would cause it to vanish instantly.

No time like the present—she’d find Claire to try it tonight.

No—

Fia suddenly realized a fatal flaw.

She had told Anastasia not to leave her sight, even when sleeping or bathing. At the time, Anastasia had said this would lead Claire to misunderstand, and Fia had simply replied that they could just all sleep together, completely ignoring what she would do when it came time to foster her relationship with Claire.

She couldn’t exactly tell Anastasia to wait outside for a bit and then come back in after things were finished; that would practically be writing what they were doing on her face. Even without considering what Anastasia would think, Claire would definitely never agree. Claire seemed composed, but in reality, she was far more easily embarrassed than Fia.

This meant she couldn’t explore faith magic.

Dammit.

Rеаd оո КαtReаⅾіոɡСаfе

Since the night wouldn’t work, I’d find a chance to get lovey-dovey with Claire during the day!

With such thoughts in her heart, Fia dropped a magic crystal into the assembled mana furnace, stood up, and said in a light tone.

“That’s a secret. I’ll tell Claire when the time is right. For now, try this.”

As she spoke, Fia showed the people in the room the magical tool she had been tinkering with. Besides the half-man-high mana furnace, it was equipped with a horn-shaped device connected by a Demon Snake’s spine, looking at first glance like an old-fashioned gramophone.

Fia injected her mana into it, and immediately a strong wind capable of blowing away a stack of papers blew from the horn. The paper slips on Liti’s face even began to rustle.

“[Airflow Control]? Your Highness combined the mana furnace with wind magic?”

Anastasia immediately showed a look of surprise. There were similar magical weapons in the Aetherology invented by Calista, the difference being that the wind magic in Aetherology fired wind blades rather than a weak, powerless current like this. Her expression became hesitant, as if wanting to say something.

“If I may be blunt, Your Highness, a mere [Airflow Control] isn’t enough to cause damage to Chaos creatures. You should try an attack spell like [Red Flame Dragon-Serpent], like the Witches from the Witch Hall…”

In truth, Anastasia had even more hurtful words, like “such magic couldn’t even kill a slime,” but since the subject was Fia, she politely kept her mouth shut.

“I wasn’t planning on using attack magic, you know? This is a magical tool for beating the heat.”

Fia brought a large wooden tub filled with ice in front of the horn. The wind from [Airflow Control] instantly turned cold. The two maids positioned downwind looked surprised; they had never seen such a magical tool. The chilly airflow brushed past their faces, cooling the beads of sweat on their foreheads. If it weren’t for the rules of maid etiquette forbidding them from moving about freely, they would have already pressed their faces close like children looking at toys in a shop window. If they had this magical tool, they would never have trouble sleeping from the heat again.

As the creator, Fia puffed out her chest with confidence.

“Hmph. As long as I add a stand for the air outlet, a single magic crystal can guarantee a whole night of cool sleep. This is much easier than having a maid slowly fan someone. Later, I can improve it with composite magic—creating ice at the outlet while maintaining a steady airflow. Oh, and I can add an oscillating function too.”

“Sister, can I touch this?”

“Of course. Even if Liti drops it, it won’t break.”

“It’ll get crushed.”

Rеαⅾ oո КаtRеaԁіnɡСаfе

“Milu is a different story.”

The Stellacryst Beast was much sturdier than an Elf. After training in the Weeping Mountains, Milu was already a quasi-fourth-tier warrior; she could crush stones with her physical strength alone.

Liti and Milu knelt in front of the air outlet, which was as large as a wooden basin, doing something that perfectly fit Fia’s image of children—blowing into the outlet, trying to use their own breath to compete with the fan’s wind.

Anastasia, on the other hand, showed an adult’s reaction.

“A single magic crystal lasts for half a day. While [Airflow Control] is indeed a low-consumption spell… no, wait, that’s not the point. Using magic crystals for this is far too extravagant. Magic crystals and mana cores are rare resources in the Alliance; they’re usually not even enough for the battlefield. How can they be used for luxury? Besides, the Witches’ current mana furnaces can only melt high-tier magic crystals; those are things priced in gold coins.”

“The war hasn’t started yet. The scarcity of magic crystals in Anastasia’s world is likely because the major mining areas were swallowed by Chaos. Anastasia said the Cold Night and Silvar were the first victims, right? Both of those places are important magic crystal production areas. As for high-tier magic crystals… I made some improvements. Now, as long as the mana isn’t too cluttered, any magic crystal can act as power. The trade-off is that the power isn’t as high as with high-tier crystals.”

When Fia had prepared the mana liquid and sketched out the magic circles within the mana furnace, her [Hyper-computation] had come into play, greatly optimizing the redundant parts of the circles.

As a result, the restriction that required high-tier magic crystals due to the device’s own high consumption vanished. Now, lower-tier magic crystals could also power the mana furnace.

Though this brought some trouble—for example, lower-tier magic crystals weren’t pure enough, leaving behind some residue in the combustion chamber after burning. So, every once in a while, the device had to be dismantled and the chamber cleaned. Also, frequently inserting crystals with different mana concentrations caused the mana to fluctuate, which could easily damage the magic circuits. But both of these troubles could be solved by improving the device; the problem was far smaller than requiring high-tier crystals for power.

The first problem could be solved by having Laplace design a new structure that allowed users to use a piston to push residue into a pre-designed trash bin without dismantling the furnace. The second problem could be avoided by training users; if magic crystals were categorized by mana concentration beforehand and only a single type was distributed to soldiers, the mana within the furnace wouldn’t fluctuate.

Of course, Fia had an even more direct idea that could solve both problems at once.

That was to process the magic crystals into powder or a viscous substance and inject it directly into the mana furnace during use. This would effectively control the impurity content and eliminate concerns about fluctuating mana.

It sounded similar to petroleum; Laplace would definitely be interested.

But speaking of which, once a power source like the mana furnace was created, many things could be achieved. If there were enough time, perhaps even flying away from this world wouldn’t be a problem.

Being able to create something like the mana furnace to act as power was truly remarkable. It was almost worth naming the mana furnace after Laplace to commemorate his outstanding contribution.

“If lower-tier magic crystals can also act as a power source… can Your Highness pass that knowledge to me?”

Rеaⅾ οո KаtRеαԁiոɡСаfе

Anastasia took a step forward, hope and contemplation appearing in her deep blue eyes.

“I can, but what are you going to use it for? This is just an experimental version, not something for combat.”

“Then I’ll learn from you after you make a mana furnace suitable for war.” Anastasia’s voice grew softer as she bit her lip. “That way, when I return to my original world, I might be able to help a bit.”

“Return to your original world? Sister Anna is going back?” Liti, who was kneeling, looked back, unwillingness appearing in her violet-red eyes. “Didn’t Sister say that even if my Sister Anna comes back, you would stay here? Sister only learned faith magic because of that.”

“I’m just preparing for the off-chance. Just as I suddenly appeared in this world, if I should suddenly go back… if I take Her Highness’s technology with me, I might be able to save everyone in that world.”

“No, I don’t want Sister Anna to go back. I want two Sister Annas.”

Liti said almost categorically. If there hadn’t been two maids in the room, Liti would have already stepped forward and hugged Anastasia’s leg.

The past few days of spending time together had made Liti realize that the Anastasia before her was no different from the previous one. In fact, her background was even more pitiable—she would be reluctant to eat when she encountered delicious food, and only when no one was around would she cast aside her composure and feast on the leftovers like someone who hadn’t seen food in a long time. Those were traits that only appeared in people accustomed to living through hard times.

Facing Liti’s whining, Anastasia offered a wry smile.

“I don’t want to disobey Princess Liti’s command either, but this isn’t something I can decide. As long as there’s a possibility, I must make the corresponding preparations. To put it another way, the longer that world holds out, the better chance Her Highness has of saving everyone.”

“Anna.”

To everyone’s surprise, Claire’s voice rang out from behind Anastasia, as if to stop her from continuing. She placed a hand on Anastasia’s shoulder and gave her a deep look, smiling.

“Learning magic isn’t something that happens overnight. By the time Anastasia finishes learning, Little Fia will surely have already manufactured a vessel capable of holding Anastasia’s soul. At that point, there won’t be any need for Anna to continue learning, right? Rather than that, I’m more concerned about tonight. Once the sun sets a bit, we’ll head to the Netherworld together. The monsters there are no fewer than in the frozen lands, and we can also check the abyss created by last year’s earthquake while we’re at it—and show Little Fia the results of Liti’s and Milu’s training. Before Anna came over, they were always under the guidance of the Anna from this side.”