Chapter 68

He lit the tip of a thinly shaved wooden stick, then used it to light the leaves packed into a small cup-like thing with a mouthpiece.

Gerario drew smoke in through the mouthpiece with a satisfied look, held it for a few beats, then exhaled.

It was basically tobacco; no matter the era or country, people were all the same when it came to finding something enjoyable to indulge in.

However, it was not circulated in Jirenu Territory or the surrounding area, and importing it would be extremely expensive, so Gerario was probably the only one on the island who partook in it.

After taking in another drag of the thick, sweet-smelling smoke, Gerario said,

“This is the best thing for easing tension on the battlefield.”

“I do not like it, because it brings the battlefield back to mind.”

Tsatsaru said that resentfully, his nose sniffling.

Kururu also frowned, and kept rubbing her nose as if the smell was too strong.

They were in Gorgon’s house, and the homeowner was putting the tobacco Gerario had shared with him into a small ceramic container. Apparently it had effects like relieving pain and calming people down, so he would likely use it for treatment.

“So then, it was about the magic stones we use.”

The reason they had gone out of their way to gather in Gorgon’s house was because they were discussing something they did not want others overhearing.

“The same goes for Balan, but the ones we wear are magic stones for enhancing physical abilities.”

He raised a hand and showed them the magic stone set into his gauntlet.

Kururu, who had been grimacing at the smoke, instantly took on the face of a curious cat.

“So when you activate the magic stone, your hand moves on its own or something?”

“No, it feels more like your eyes open and you get fired up.”

Its effect might have been close to a narcotic.

Or, judging by stories of the dead reviving in the magic stone mine and lizards becoming dragons, perhaps it felt like vitality itself was flowing in.

“No one on this island knew a magic circle like this. Why do you know about it?”

It had not been included in the base manuscript of magic circles kept at the company, and the craftsmen in the workshop had been unfamiliar with most of the magic circles on the stones Gerario and the others possessed.

“There are actually quite a lot of circles of that sort. In short, they just do not pay for themselves.”

Gerario turned his wrist, looked at the magic stone set into his own gauntlet, and continued.

“If you gave a proper magician a magic stone like this and engraved a firepower circle on it, they could unleash a huge spell. So boosting your physical abilities bit by bit and then trading sword blows is idiotic, right? Work that savage should be left to muscle-brained idiots.”

Apparently the minimum setup for an adventuring party was a beastfolk frontliner, a support role, and a firepower mage.

And Tsatsaru, who had taken on precisely that savage work and as a result could no longer set foot on the battlefield, gave a wry shake of his shoulders.

“This magic stone was not something I had someone carve for me, either. You often find this kind of thing left behind in frontier ruins, and on battlefields they pass from hand to hand. I could scrape it down and sell it off, but gold coins will not kill the enemy for you.”

He deliberately chose not to ask how Gerario had acquired it.

He would probably end up hearing about some pitiable person who had never even had the chance to activate that magic stone.

“You said you wanted to analyze the magic circle, right?”

Gerario noticed the leaves were nearly burned out, hurriedly took in another pull of smoke, then exhaled it together with his words as if reluctant to part with it.

“If this were not such a backwater, you could probably find copied books with a wider range of magic circles if you looked. You could also get samples of magic stones. I can help you obtain them by following some old connections.”

“What about the legendary magic circles?”

At Kururu’s question, Gerario raised his brows a little, then grinned.

“People who have lost comrades on the battlefield always dream of that, driven by anger.”

When Kururu had first spoken of analyzing new magic circles, the very first thing she had said was that she wanted to blow away all the people who had hurt Iiria.

“But the ancient legendary magic circles are said to be almost certainly fake.”

Kururu was dressing that question up as childlike curiosity when she put it to Gerario.

So Gerario probably did not think that they were “seriously” trying to analyze them.

“Why?”

“First of all, the construction of the magic circles is strange. A lot of the time, they just do not add up.”

People like Gerario, who used magic with their lives on the line, were even more sensitive to magic circles than magic stone craftsmen were. If the magic stone they held had the wrong magic circle engraved on it, that would be the end of them.

Naturally, that made them knowledgeable.

“Besides, they use way too much ornamental script. It is written in a language no one understands anymore, but… did you know that the ornamental script on magic circles is meaningless?”

He nodded at that question.

“Yes. They will activate even without it.”

“Right. But ornamental script looks properly imposing and makes it feel more reverent, so even now it is always engraved on standardized magic stones. I mean, if that decoration were absolutely essential for activating a magic stone, you could never use one in battle.”

When he and Kururu looked at each other, Gerario, who had been staring mournfully at the charred remains of the leaves, sucked noisily on the mouthpiece and started coughing.

“Cough… because, come on. Something like that would chip right away if it took even a small hit.”

“Th-that is true.”

“In that respect, magic circles are pretty flexible. Even if they get somewhat damaged, they will still activate as long as the core part is intact. That is why everyone knows that those ridiculously huge magic circles left in churches are just there to scare ignorant commoners.”

Gerario sighed, threw away the leaves, wiped the small cup-like smoking device on the hem of his clothes, and tucked it into his breast.

“Besides, I cannot believe magic stones big enough to engrave something that huge ever existed. Even the largest one I have ever seen was only about this big. It was part of a massive spell from a famous campaign, the kind recorded in chronicles.”

Gerario gestured to a size about that of a baby being held. A first-rate magic stone, or perhaps something even greater.

In any case, a natural magic stone so large it would not fit even if you spread both arms around it still sounded like a fantasy.

“And beyond that, you just could not withstand the backlash.”

On Gerario’s left hand, there was a tattoo near the base of his thumb on the palm side.

“I have forgotten what it feels like to cast magic without tattoos, but what about you, Kururu-chan?”

Kururu had never received formal training as a magician, and when she had used magic a few times, the backlash had scorched her clothes and hair or blown her away.

That was why, during the dragon subjugation, she had gone into battle with a makeshift pattern drawn on her back.

He had felt for himself the power of that pattern, which apparently served as a path for magical power, while supporting Kururu from behind.

However, it seemed that smearing magic stone powder directly onto the skin had failed to open the path properly after all, and the moment she used wind magic, she had been struck by a sensation as if even her internal organs were being pulled out of her body.

According to Gerario, that was because the channel had been too shallow and too wide.

Apparently, making it narrow and deep like a tattoo would allow magic to be used much more smoothly and would also make delicate control possible.

At any rate, Kururu, who had likely experienced that sensation even more vividly than he had, said heavily,

“No one could possibly survive it.”

“Right? The circumstantial evidence says legendary magic circles are just legends.”

Even so, that was only speculation. They knew that if one had the knowledge of synthetic magic stones, the construction of the magic circles themselves was possible. The claim that they did not hold together as magic circles was likely the result of theoretical study, but no one could know what would happen unless one actually activated them.

As for the backlash… if the user was expected to stake their life on it, like a sacrifice, then perhaps it might be possible.

“That said…”

Gerario leaned back against the wall with his hands clasped behind his head.

Tsatsaru, who had remained quiet until then, suddenly laughed.

“Those who pursue the true essence of magic never cease. This Gerario was also quite passionate about the legendary magic circles.”

“Hey.”

When Gerario said that in rebuke, Tsatsaru’s shoulders shook.

“Reviving the dead, reversing time, or magic that returns everything to ashes… those are dreams anyone involved with magic has at least once.”

He did not know which of those Gerario had been chasing, but none of them were likely born from happy reasons.

“But analyzing magic circles costs money, and it cannot be done without the cooperation of magicians. Normally, that falls under the jurisdiction of the Empire’s Ministry of Magic.”

“The Ministry of Magic…”

“Wealthy people outside the establishment sometimes pursue it as a hobby, too.”

“That is no different from alchemists trying to turn lead into gold.”

What surprised him was that even in a world where magic existed, there were alchemists, and that here too they were seen as being only a step away from swindlers.

“Well, obviously, anything that looks doable has already been done to death. I think I heard that even the Ministry of Magic had already tried every possible combination of magic circles.”

There was a similar story from his old world that every problem involving figures drawable with a ruler and compass had already been settled back in ancient Greece.

The one who cut into the conversation was Gorgon, who had stayed out of the circle and had been quietly busy with various small tasks.

“When I was wandering in pursuit of the utmost reaches of medicine, I think it was in some frontier place like a desert. Every so often, I would pass people calling themselves magic researchers. They said they were searching for legendary magic circles left in ruins. Are those different?”

“Magic researchers is a grand name for them. They are people called magic stone scavengers. I saw plenty of them near the front lines.”

Gerario straightened up from the wall.

“That bunch is even dreamier. They believe that genuine legendary magic circles carved in the age of the ancient empire were broken into fragments and sealed away all over the place. I forget what part of the Ministry of Magic it was… some faction of the great nobility believes it. It is basically like a heretical faith in the church.”

The words ‘sealed fragments’ gave him a slight jolt.

If fragments could be combined to make a magic circle, then the idea of synthetic magic stones was only a little further beyond that.

Or rather, was there really such a great divide between combining magic circles of a certain size and the idea that by grinding up even badly shaped magic stones into powder and kneading them together, one could create a single infinitely large magic stone?

Or was it a belief that somewhere there slept an example of a large-scale magic circle that functioned correctly, engraved on ordinary stone?

In any case, he was struck by the realization that it would not be strange if someone in this world reached the truth at any time.

“So that is why I think spending money on analysis is a waste.”

When Gerario said that, his eyes had seemed strangely gentle.

Perhaps that was because the very first dream people had after realizing they could use magic was the revival of gigantic magic circles, or the search for magic no one had yet discovered.

“If you are going to spend money, it would be more productive to gather existing magic circles first. They do not circulate all that much through the Empire, but there are quite a few practical spells out there. Even if you do not intend to sell them, it would not hurt to keep them in stock.”

That was certainly true, and when it came to analyzing grand magic circles, the more samples of existing magic circles they had, the more useful they would be.

“May we ask for your help in obtaining them?”

“I do not mind. Tsatsaru keeps nagging me to make sure I owe you people one.”

“Do not use me as an excuse.”

Tsatsaru bared his fangs in irritation, but several teeth on the right side, including his canine, were missing.

Given that his injuries were concentrated on the right side of his body, he had probably taken some tremendous attack from his right flank.

“And then there is that other issue, right? The matter of bypassing the Bax Company.”

“Yes.”

The reason they were whispering in a place like this was not only because openly discussing magic was dangerous, but also because he had wanted Gerario’s advice on this matter.

“No small part of the island’s imports and exports go through the Bax Company, and what really scares me is that they control the magic stone trade in particular.”

“If you people were not already alarmed by that, I would be kicking your asses. On top of that, a dragon came out of the mine. If those bastards have brains in their heads, they will make some move to secure their control.”

That was why, as a form of deterrence, they wanted to join hands with another company as well.

But if they did something like that carelessly, they would earn the Bax Company’s resentment.

And if they remained weak, the new company they allied with might end up exploiting them too.

They needed some way to avoid this complicated problem.

“The quickest way would be to sell magic stones to a country right in the middle of a war.”

Gerario touched inside his clothes, took out a pouch stuffed with tobacco leaves, then hesitated and put it away again.

Tsatsaru seemed to sense that just from the movement, and gave a wry smile. Stories about soldiers returning from war becoming addicted to morphine as a painkiller were a staple of war films.

“Did you know that the Empire manages and monopolizes magic stone trade?”

At Gerario’s irritable question, made all the more sour because he was enduring without tobacco, he started to nod vaguely, then stopped.

“No. To be honest, I do not really know what happens after they leave the Bax Company.”

Gerario gave a weary shrug and explained.

“All magic stones are standardized, and only people licensed by the Empire can trade in those standardized stones. Anything else is illegal. And those trade licenses are basically vested interests. Only great nobles or people like archbishops of the church have them. Places like the Bax Company work for those bosses and gather up magic stones. The collected stones climb the ladder of power and are first concentrated in major imperial cities and the like. From there, some are sent to the imperial capital as taxes, and the remainder are auctioned off by local power holders and flow into various power structures. Records of who bought what and how much are entered into ledgers and sent to the imperial capital…”

As consumable goods that disappeared when used, and powerful weapons at the same time, magic stones were both an important source of funds and, from the rulers’ point of view, dangerous goods whose circulation they wanted to keep track of.

“But if you bought magic stones only through that proper route, it would not help lords who need as many magic stones as possible right this instant, and anyone plotting to kick in somebody else’s teeth would be making it obvious they were up to no good. So naturally, black-market trading happens.”

If they were going to fight the Bax Company, they would need funds and allies.

So if they could establish ties with a lord at war who wanted magic stones badly enough to drool for them, both of those problems might be solved at once.

Of course, since it would be black-market trading, there would be danger involved.

“Iiria-chan has agreed to this, right?”

Because absolutely everyone called her Iiria-chan, Kururu had recently begun giving up on correcting them.

“Iiria-sama places the territory above all else.”

Gerario shrugged and looked at him.

“Even the great Gerario-sama, who is connected to every underground market imaginable, does not have contacts all the way out in a backwater like this. Once we reach the provincial capital, I will need a little time.”

“Yes, of course. Naturally, the expenses for that—”

After saying that to Gerario, he looked at Tsatsaru.

“And do not forget to arrange a house where Tsatsaru-san and Balan-san can live.”

Gerario and the others had come all the way to this remote frontier in search of a place to settle down safely, leaving behind the dangerous adventurer’s trade for the sake of their wounded comrade.

What Gerario wanted was not earnings for Gerario himself.

“Count on it. Tsatsaru, while you are at it, why not have them make you some dentures too?”

“That is a fine idea. Your hollow head would be perfect for trying out the bite.”

Gorgon laughed at Gerario as he hunched his neck.

Kururu was watching Gerario and the others with an intensely serious expression, but perhaps she had been envying them.

After all, even he could not help thinking that this obvious sense of camaraderie was nice.

“Well then, that leaves your issue.”

At that point, Gerario suddenly looked their way and said that.

“Our issue?”

Gerario narrowed his eyes with a grin and made a face like some crude old man in a tavern.

“You should hurry up and stick it in Kururu-chan already.”

“—”

The way he put it! he thought, but the reason Kururu was in a bad mood was not Gerario’s vulgarity. Kururu wanted him to tattoo her so she could suppress the backlash from magic.

But naturally, he had never done tattooing before, and he had no artistic sense either.

On top of that, stabbing a needle into the skin of a girl like Kururu was not something he wanted to volunteer for.

“Would you like to use the needles from my place?”

Gorgon said that while holding a needle that was obviously far too thick for acupuncture.

It did not seem like the sort of thing an amateur should be doing, but from what he had heard, it was apparently not that difficult.

And if they were going to the provincial capital, Roran, then he understood that it ought to be done.

No one knew what might happen, and when it did, they would have to deal with it themselves.

“Yorinobu.”

Kururu grabbed the whole bundle of needles Gorgon had offered and looked at him.

“I held back on the frills.”

He had no choice but to accept the needles she pressed against his chest.