Chapter 16 - Magic Experiments

“This time, let’s continue developing this magic till dusk!”

“Yes.”

Yesterday, I ended our experiments early because I was enlightened to one truth of this world. That truth was too much for me to bear, and because of that, I lost my motivation to continue. It took me an entire night of weeping before I managed to move on and accept it as reality.

“The only thing we managed to make was a mana ball, right?”

“Yes. Also, last night, I discovered that I’m able to make those mana balls without chanting.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise and said, “Really?”

“Yes!”

Emilia, looking very excited, closed her eyes. A few moments later, three bluish balls formed and floated around her.

“Hee~, that’s quite handy. For now, let’s try to see if we can turn them into any of the five elements.”

“Hmm… I thought this was going to be a new sixth element.”

I raised my index finger in front of her face and waved it back and forth.

“That’s true, but don’t think it can’t become any of the five elements.”

A question mark seemed to float over her head.

“Think about it. These mana balls come from our surroundings, right? Then they must be able to become any of the five elements because those come from the mana we breathe. Well, it’s just a hypothesis, so don’t expect it to be true.”

“!”

It seems she finally understood where I was coming from. With that, I made a mana ball in front of me and imagined it becoming a fireball.

“...”

Nothing happened.

“Let’s try it again.”

I made the image in my mind more concrete and stable, but the mana ball remained a floating ball of mana.

“It seems my hypothesis was wrong… haaa~”

“Don’t worry, Lumina-sama. Failure is the mother of success.”

“That’s true.”

I stopped thinking of turning it into any of the five elements and moved on to other agendas.

“Then let’s see how many we can make at a time.”

“Yes.”

Emilia and I first made ten mana balls. I checked my internal mana pool and found it hadn’t decreased. I signaled Emilia to increase it to twenty, then thirty, then forty, and so on. Once we reached a hundred, it became harder to make more, so we decided to stop.

“It seems our mana pool won’t decrease no matter how many we make, but in contrast, its difficulty increases as the number increases. Let’s move on to the next one.”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s try testing its firepower.”

I made a dozen mana balls and had them hit a tree close to us. The tree shook a bit and made a rustling sound. I concentrated a few of the mana balls and made them the size of a tennis ball before having them fly towards the tree. By the way, the normal size of a mana ball is the same as a basketball.

*Creak*

My eyes became small black dots as I witnessed the tree falling to the ground.

“Lumina-sama, it seems like the power of this mana ball is dependent on how concentrated it is.”

“Uh-huh. I didn’t expect it to have enough firepower to break a tree.”

Normally, we’d run away after breaking a tree to avoid getting scolded. But because we were ‘general students’ and not ‘magic students,’ we were quite carefree about this. It’s because we ‘general students’ lack the magical ability to even break a tree like this. Also, this mana ball can’t be seen unless you can use it. We drew this conclusion when I managed to make a mana ball yesterday.

“Umm… How about we try testing its flexibility and durability?”

“Yes.”

I made another batch of mana balls and tried manipulating their shape. Then I used normal magic in parallel and had it collide with them. Emilia was also doing the same beside me, but instead of testing its strength by having it collide with another magic, she used physical strength to test its durability.

The results were quite shocking. Like how its difficulty increases as we increase its number, its durability also increases proportionally to its concentration. Also, because mana is plentiful in this world, it was up to us how concentrated it would be. I would also like to add that the time needed to increase its concentration is also proportional.

So the more concentrated it is, the more durable it becomes. And the more durable we want it to be, the more time we need to prepare it. Even though there are some disadvantages to this new magic, they are easily outweighed by its advantages. Just thinking about how strong it was gave me goosebumps.

It was also very flexible. The things we could make were only limited by our imagination. Emilia was able to make spoons, forks, plates, and more using this magic. Though they emitted a bluish glow, their details and craftsmanship were on par with the real ones.

I was also able to make things that normally don’t exist in this world. Though I was able to make gadgets, because they wouldn’t start up, I stopped making more. Thankfully, they diffused back into the atmosphere once they were no longer useful.

“… Lumina-sama… if we were to teach this to the other students—”

“… The social hierarchy of this academy would collapse, and chaos would follow, right?”

Emilia gave a meek nod beside me, confirming what I had just said.

“I think it’d be best if we kept this a secret from most of the students.”

“When you said ‘most,’ does that mean you’re still planning on teaching it to some?”

Her face became very worried when she heard that I still hadn’t given up on teaching this.

“Don’t worry, Emilia. I’m only going to teach it to those who are close and worthy of trust.”

“… Is that so?”

“Yep! More importantly, there’s something I want to do now that we’re done with all those tests.”

“Hmmm?”

I moved my left foot forward as if I were walking up a flight of stairs. I continued to climb, and with each step I took, bluish ripples spread out from where my feet touched. On my sixth step, I glanced sideways at Emilia and found her staring at me with wide-open eyes.

“Just imagine you’re climbing a flight of stairs and make it strong enough to support your own weight!”

Once she understood what I said, she slowly mimicked what I did earlier. With anxious movements, Emilia began climbing the invisible stairs. As her movements became more confident, I resumed my climb.

As I continued to ascend, I noticed that the students who saw us had wide eyes as they stared at us. Ignoring their attention, I continued to move up. Once I decided it was high enough, I glanced back at Emilia and found her following me a short distance away.

Once she arrived at my height, the royal capital came into full view. It was afternoon, and the sun was slowly sinking behind the mountains. The castle and the buildings of the town were tinged with orange. It was a very beautiful and moving scene to behold.

“Look, Emilia, isn’t the view beautiful?”

“… Y-yes! It… truly is…”

Her words were oddly spaced, and her voice seemed dry. When I turned to her, I found her sitting on the floor with tears flowing down her cheeks.

“What happened!?”

“I… I…”

“…”

Emilia took a handkerchief from her pocket and used it to cover her mouth before she continued.

“I’m sorry for showing you such an appearance, Lumina-sama.”

“I don’t mind. We’re friends, right?”

“YES!”

I returned my gaze to the castle town and sat on a chair made of mana. We didn’t say anything to each other as we continued to stare at the picturesque view of the castle town. Suddenly, Emilia made a declaration from beside me.

“Lumina-sama… would it be okay if I became your real servant?”

“?”

I stood up from my chair and faced Emilia with an amazed expression.

“Emilia?”

“Please, Lumina-sama… I don’t want to be a temporary servant anymore. I wish to be your servant even after we’ve graduated from this school. I want to dedicate my life to you.”

“This is quite sudden… why me?”

Emilia placed her left hand on top of her chest and closed her eyes as she spoke:

“You are a person I deem worthy of my respect. As we continued to spend our days together, my admiration for you grew. Today, when we created this new magic together, my admiration grew even more. Because of that, my desire to always be by your side became so strong, I can’t contain it any longer.”

“Fuu~ we can still be friends, right?”

“Of course!”

“Then kneel before me.”

Emilia did as I ordered and knelt down in front of me.

“Though it’s quite impromptu, I think it’ll be okay.”

Back when I used to read books in my father's study, I stumbled upon a book that described the procedure for pledging loyalty to someone. According to that book, the two people needed to be inside a magic circle. The magic circle’s purpose was to help solidify the relationship between the two, forming a connection that allowed one to always be aware of the other’s situation.

At first, I thought of approaching the school to perform this procedure. However, when I considered that we might be refused because we were 'general students,' I dismissed the idea and decided to make a ceremony of my own using this new magic.

I bit my finger and infused the blood with my own mana as it dropped to the floor. I quickly used the new magic to form a magic circle around us, with a few modifications. These modifications were things I added by combining my imagination with what I had read in books.

“

From this day forth, your life shall be mine. No matter what happens, my safety and orders will take the highest priority.”

“Yes.”

“I shall give you a new name in accordance with your oath to me.”

“Yes.”

“From this day forth, you shall be known as Emilia Sluga Chem.”

“Yes.”

The light of the circle glowed brighter and entered her body. This unexpected occurrence made me jump in surprise. Emilia stood up and bowed to me. When she opened her eyes, I noticed that her once red pupils had turned black, and the edges of her red twin tails had darkened.

I wondered if these were the signs that she had become my servant. Regaining my composure, I nodded slightly and gave her a smile. She returned my smile with one of her own.

“Take care of me, okay, Emilia.”

“That should be my line, Lumina-sama.”

“Hehe…”

---

[Interlude]

In the near future, when the world of Glacias was invaded by creatures of unknown origin, neither of us could have imagined that we would stand on the frontlines, fighting against hordes of enemies.

Emilia fought with swords and magic enveloped in black flames. Because she fought as if she were dancing, she became known as the 'Wardancer of the Twilight Flare.'

I, on the other hand, would slaughter hundreds of enemies using a combination of my magic and sword skills. This earned me the title of the 'Executioner of the Eclipse.'