By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 14

Chapter 10, Episode 14: Eleonora’s Suggestion

That night, after building two lodgings—one for men and one for women—and eating dinner together, we called it a night so we could get some rest. It was still too early to sleep, so I stepped out to feel the night air, only to find Eleonora. She stood a few steps away from the lodging’s entrance, clutching a stack of papers in her arms. Judging by the smattering of footprints on the ground, she’d been pacing out here for a while.

“Master Takebayashi. I documented today’s activities, and I was hoping you could approve them when you have the time. Only, I’ve been hesitating to enter the men’s housing,” she said.

“I hadn’t thought of ways to contact each other once we’re in our separate lodgings. We’ll fix that tomorrow.” I took the papers and flipped through them under the light of the magical item set up by the entrance. The strangely voluminous stack took me by surprise. “On top of a log of today’s work, you made a chart of the measurements and observations we’d made on the cursed land, a report to the duke of our findings, and notes on Lord Rosenberg’s teachings and vocabulary... You put all of this together in the little time you had?! I knew you were an excellent secretary, but this goes above and beyond. After helping us measure cursed energy, at that...”

“Although the documents were made after dinner, I had organized most of the information during the day’s work. There was plenty of time while we walked from one area to the next, and those notes are practically a transcript of what Lord Rosenberg said. It’s not as impressive as all that,” Eleonora said.

Still, she hadn’t had time on her own until after dinner, which was little more than two hours ago. To write all this up—all by hand, naturally—in such a short time... Sure, there was some downtime while we trekked the mountains today, but Eleonora was also recording my findings the whole time, and we had to clear steep hills and cliffs—sometimes with ropes. I was thankful she took the initiative to write up things like a vocabulary list from Rosenberg’s lesson, but I was starting to be worried that she was overworking herself.

“Did I overstep my role?” she asked.

“No! Nothing like that. I was just amazed by your efficiency. The notes and vocabulary are a great help too. They will make it easier for me to review.”

“Thank you. I imagine it may prove superfluous to you, but I do have experience studying magic myself through the academy, and hoped to help in what little way I can,” Eleonora said.

“Superfluous?” I certainly didn’t think so, but Eleonora seemed to genuinely believe it.

“I have been told of your unique upbringing in the Sea of Trees. Yet I believe you already have a vast pool of knowledge that is the basis of acquiring magic, for two reasons. For one, the duke has told me how you independently read tomes from the Magic Guild.”

That was true. I’d requested them through the Jamils, and I had been reading up on them when I had the time. That didn’t seem enough of a reason to conclude that I wouldn’t need any help learning spells, though. “By tomes, you mean any volume related to magic. Some of them are research findings and theses, but most of them are textbooks on magic, aren’t they?”

“That is correct. Did you not find them rather difficult to comprehend?” Eleonora asked.

“They are difficult to get through sometimes, with all the metaphors and figurative language.” The first example that came to mind was from a tome on the basics of Water magic. An entire page had been dedicated to a poem that could be boiled down to “water trickles down from high to low.” I’d been impressed by how much fluff they managed to work into that page.

“That complexity is by design,” Eleonora said.

“It’s on purpose?”

“Yes. Tomes officially recognized and sold by the Magic Guild are written in a manner that requires an instructor to decode them. The Magic Guild opens its gates to the public now, but it was, at its inception, merely a group of spellcasters—of which there were so few at the time—attempting to protect themselves from prosecution and abuse by those in power who sought to control magic for their own good. That’s why the Magic Guild still glorifies concealing secrets of their craft. Higher-ups of the guild, in particular, hate to see magic explored outside of their control,” Eleonora explained.

“Ah. That’s why they make their tomes so confusing that an instructor is needed just to understand how to read them. That seems like a lot of work for nothing to gain, though,” I said.

“I was once a member of the Magic Guild myself, but I never saw much of a point to it, partially because I had access to the academy’s library already. It is an ancient organization that changes far slower than the times. Still, it has come a long way considering that magic was once reserved for nobles and their servants—that people were once executed for sharing knowledge of magic. Considering such a history, being able to understand tomes without an instructor indicates that you already have the knowledge contained in the tomes, or enough knowledge related to their topic. The tome you’ve written for the magical firefighters is a show of your depth of knowledge.”

“Yes, I did hand out materials outlining a fire-extinguishing spell I concocted in case of fires in the city at the end of last year... Wait a minute. Based on what you told me about the Magic Guild—”

“If you had published it through the Magic Guild they most likely would have stopped it during their inspection, but your distribution wasn’t illegal. It wasn’t like you sold it to the public. If it had been problematic in any way, the duke would have warned you about it long ago,” Eleonora said. And I hadn’t heard a peep about those documents. I’d almost forgotten about it until now. Luckily, it seemed like I had nothing to worry about. “What I mean to say is that having ample knowledge on the subject makes it easier to conjure and solidify the mental image required for spellcasting. Even when knowledge on the exact subject is lacking, knowledge of similar or related effects can aid in casting those spells. Another requirement of spellcasting is magical energy control. From what I saw today, yours is impeccable, which is the second reason I believe you already possess the necessary skills for casting spells. Knowledge and magical energy control are the two pillars of magic, and why you are so adept at it.” It was a little embarrassing, but Eleonora’s explanation was purely logical, and if I was being honest, accurate.

“When you put it that way... Surviving the Sea of Trees was grueling, but I was extremely gifted in circumstances when it came to education. I was also gifted with a large store of magical energy that I’ve practiced my control with through both business and hobby. More recently, I’ve been training using my slimes’ vision.”

“Your slimes’ vision?”

I remembered that I had Eleonora so focused on secretarial duties around my businesses that I hadn’t explained slime vision to her yet. It didn’t take me long to explain it to her now.

“So by sharing the senses of the slimes through Tamer magic, you can take advantage of the slimes’ far more effective magic detection,” Eleonora summarized.

“Exhausting the brain this way can cause headaches and fatigue, but the method is highly effective and allows for a variety of applications: keeping watch, searching an area, healing magic... Even throughout today’s training, I was training my own magic detection through modeling slime vision.”

“It is far easier to control what you can see than what you cannot. Visualizing magical energy makes it easier to control it more precisely. Frankly, anyone who uses magic would kill for an ability like that,” Eleonora said.

Oh? Can I bring Eleonora over to the slime side? Just as the thought crossed my mind, a cold gust blew past us. After being acclimated to the temperature of the Sea of Trees, even the summer air didn’t feel too hot during the day, and a little chilly at night.

“I’ve been enjoying discussing magic with you so much that I’ve lost track of time,” I said. “Thank you for these documents, Eleonora. I’d like to go over them thoroughly. Do you mind if I wait until tomorrow morning to give you feedback?”

“Absolutely. Please don’t hesitate to point out any shortcomings.” Eleonora took a half step back as she was about to leave, before she hesitated for just a moment and added even more stoically than usual, “I would like to make a suggestion regarding this testing ground. Earlier today, you mentioned the possibility of paving a path from here to the testing ground. Personally, I also recommend paving paths around these cottages, and all the way down the mountain if possible. It should be made clear to anyone that these facilities and their surroundings are being maintained.”

“Not just for our benefit, you mean.”

“No. This is about appearances.” She went on to explain that, since I had been granted access to this testing ground by my request as the duke’s engineer, I should make a show out of using the grounds effectively. “Technically, these grounds are lent out to you by the duke, and it would be up to him to extend the duration of said lease or revoke it altogether. However, from what I have been told by Sebas, the duke will not revoke this lease barring catastrophic negligence. Therefore, this lease is effectively a grant of these grounds.”

“I wasn’t told that,” I said.

“On purpose, I suspect. It would be more beneficial for the duke that way... And—I am only speculating—the duke probably thought you would turn down the offer if he had granted you the deed to these grounds outright,” Eleonora said.

I’d been gazing up at the beautiful night sky before I knew it. A chunk of land I could use as I saw fit would be huge, but if I’d been offered the deed outright, I would have most likely considered the gift too generous. It made sense that they expected that reaction from me. Even though I thought I owed the Jamils several debts, they considered themselves in my debt...

“Is the supposed lease beneficial for the duke because it doesn’t look like he’s giving the newcomer any special treatment?” I asked.

“Something like that. Although the Jamils are vigilant, many people are involved in their operations, especially towards the bottom. There is no guarantee that no one will resort to more sinister actions. Those of noble houses concern themselves with how things appear, in particular...”

If something like that were to happen, and if it looked like I wasn’t properly maintaining the land—by ignoring needs and not building out necessary paths—I could easily imagine the retorts:

“Is that really suited for experiments?”

“Is he even trying?”

“What’s the point of granting him the testing grounds?”

“Not using the duke’s gift is treasonous!”

It was very possible to encounter people like this who’d just want to tear me down just for being higher in the duke’s good graces than they were. There were enough people in this world who wanted to cause a fuss regardless of facts, and people who made snap decisions based on imperfect information.

“Very well,” I said. “Let’s make big changes all around. Sebas had mentioned that problems should be dealt with before they have a chance to grow. It makes sense to fill in whatever cracks we can. The last thing I want is for suspicions to arise about my work ethic and cause the Jamils any trouble.” To compare this to modern-day, an employee’s scandal—even a false alarm—could harm the reputation of the entire company. If nothing else, it would be an unnecessary inconvenience for the Jamils. “Then the question becomes how to carve out the time for those projects.”

“There should be enough wiggle room,” said Eleonora. “With the construction method you used to build these lodgings today, carving out paths will take much less time than traditional methods. Besides, I believe Lord Rosenberg had allotted much more instructional time to the spell you’ve acquired today.”

“It should be doable then, if I ask the adventurers to scope out potential paths to the bottom of the mountain,” I said. Whether she had this suggestion planned since she learned about the lease of the testing grounds or only since witnessing my work today, the conversation about how quickly I could learn spells was a lead-in for this suggestion. “I’ll ask them to get started on scouting those paths tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you for taking my suggestion to heart.”

“Of course. Thank you for suggesting a good idea.”

“Although I believe in its merit, I am aware of how oversensitive it sounds,” Eleonora said with a clear undertone of self-deprecation that even I could pick up on.

“Then I thank you even more for it. I can also be sensitive to these things, so having a solution for it makes me feel better. Besides, nobles need to guard themselves against every little threat, don’t they? I don’t have the experience or mindset to prepare me for that, so I really do appreciate your opinion because you can see things from that perspective,” I said.

“Thank you.”

“If anything else comes to mind, don’t hesitate to bring it to my attention. I may decide to put it on the back burner depending on what it pertains to, but I will never consider it a waste of time,” I said.

“Understood.”

After our somewhat mechanical conversation, only the sound of leaves rustling in the night wind remained. A few moments later, she bid me good night and began walking away.

“Have a good night. Stay warm!” I called after her, and stepped back into the men’s lodging. I couldn’t gauge how she felt about my response, but it was a good sign that she was volunteering her opinions. Now that she placed the ball of trust in my court, I’d have to take good care of it, and that started with giving these reports a thorough read.