Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 11 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3 — The Isolation Barrier and Static Flame

Several days later, the bigwigs from both Capua and the Twin Kingdoms had managed to match their schedules to meet in the royal palace.

Queen Aura and Prince Consort Zenjirou were in attendance from Capua. From the Twin Kingdoms were Prince Francesco of the Sharou family and Princess Bona of the same. Also present was Talajeh from the Elementaccato family.

All five of them had rather busy schedules that needed much massaging to meet, so they had relatively little time. Fortunately, they had all been informed of the matters they would be discussing ahead of time, so they moved right into the main business with very little fanfare—only cursory greetings.

“So, the request is from Lady Talajeh here, or perhaps the Elementaccato family as a whole? It is for a magic tool for an isolation barrier,” Prince Francesco said. His tone was as far from tense as could be. He showed nothing but relaxation as he spoke.

At that, the commissioner—Talajeh in this case—nodded slightly. “Indeed. I have already obtained permission from Her Majesty.”

“The precise details are yet to be determined. If those conditions cannot be made to work, there is still the potential for this to come to nothing,” Aura warned with a slight smile on her lips. She wasn’t going to allow Talajeh to push things on as if everything was certain.

Zenjirou had been right. The blonde woman was every inch the merchant, and not one to let your guard down around.

Bona picked up the conversation there, a serious tone to her own voice. “The spell itself falls under Capua’s lineal magic, so it will of course require both families in cooperation to complete. Who from the Capua family will be participating?”

Her chestnut eyes rested equally on Zenjirou and Aura with an inextinguishable light of curiosity. The commission was for a magic tool that used Capua’s lineal magic, while the commissioner was the family holding sway over vast gold mines. They would be able to use very pure gold for its construction.

Despite the serious expression on her face, Zenjirou couldn’t help but find the way that Bona was shifting excitedly in her seat amusing. She made him think of a dog who had been told “Wait” in front of its favorite treat.

“Zenjirou is often absent from the royal palace, so if the request is accepted, I shall be seeing it through,” Aura answered. “While creating the tool may take a great deal of time, the continuous length of time I will be required is much lower. A rough estimate is fine, but approximately how long would its construction take?”

The queen’s simultaneous answer and question prompted the two foreign royals to exchange glances.

“Well, the spell itself does not require particularly large amounts of mana, but the other requirements are harsh. It will need to automatically charge with enough mana to preserve the life of a miner and needs to be easily usable by even an amateur... I believe you’d be looking at around two years, give or take.”

Slightly after Francesco finished, Bona came to about the same conclusion and agreed.

“That would be my rough estimate as well.”

Naturally, that schedule was not taking into account the marbles up anyone’s sleeves. Francesco’s behavior sometimes made it hard to remember how secret it was, but the Sharou family could drastically reduce both the time and effort of enchantment with a transparent sphere.

It was a tightly guarded secret outside of the two royal families of the Twin Kingdoms. Therefore, things would be decided based on a normal schedule.

“In which case, the problems likely lie more with your side than our own. Which of you two will actually carry out the enchantment? As I will be providing the spell, it must be done within the palace. Inevitably, therefore, whichever of you is required will need to remain here for another two years.”

Both of them had already been in Capua for over a year. Accepting the order would mean that their stay would be lengthened by another two. Of course, Capua had someone they could send instantly to and from the Twin Kingdoms—Zenjirou. Therefore, at least a few days could be spent back in their homeland, so it was not too grave a situation.

Still, that would be a temporary return. It changed nothing about the fact that the majority of their time would be spent abroad.

Both Francesco and Bona were both unwed despite being the right age for it. While there was a secret contract fundamentally forbidding Francesco from marriage, spending a whole two years here could have a significant impact on Bona’s life.

Despite that, she spoke. “I-If it is acceptable to you, I would happily do so. The item will certainly be worthy of your name!”

Her eyes were sparkling and she was on the verge of standing from her seat, given how far forward she was leaning. The potential impact such a stay would have on her future seemed to have no bearing on her.

“Prince Francesco?” Aura asked. “Your opinion?”

The prince gave his usual affable smile as he agreed. “That’s fine. If Bona is eager to do it, then I’m glad to let her. There are plenty of other things I want to do.”

The comment brought Bona back from her own rampaging desires to remember her role.

“Prince Francesco. Please do not overly burden Their Majesties.”

Her homeland had appointed her to watch over him. However, if she were to turn her hand to the task of enchanting, it would take much of her time. There would be at least several days where she would be shut away in her workshop forming raw materials into the vessel for the enchantment. The fact that she still didn’t change her mind and say she would simply observe was proof of the passion of her engineering soul.

Regardless, the general agreement for the tool’s construction was now in place. Talajeh’s smile was twice as bright now that she had a path to buying her objective.

“Queen Aura, Princess Bona, I look forward to your work, and I thank you in advance for your efforts.”

“I will simply be spending a few moments casting magic each day, so it is no major burden,” Aura said.

“Leave it to me, Talajeh. I will make sure it is to your satisfaction.”

Aura was fairly easy in her response, while Bona was almost excessively eager. Despite the difference in their levels of motivation, the result would certainly be something to look forward to.

“That makes me think,” Aura noted. “As was said, this will require around two years, no? Princess Bona will primarily be remaining within the country until it is complete. What of you, Talajeh?”

The blonde merchant thought briefly before offering a suggestion with a flattering smile. “That would be a somewhat poor use of time. I would like to make use of one of Your Majesties’ abilities to return to the Twin Kingdoms at some point. However, I would also like to keep abreast of the progress, so aid with returning would also be appreciated.” Talajeh’s eyes took on a searching look as she peered up through her eyelashes at the two local royals while waiting for a response.

The queen’s reply was quick and succinct. “Your return to the Twin Kingdoms is one thing, but coming back to Capua once more will be expensive.”

Sending someone home to the Twin Kingdoms would require a single usage of teleportation on either Zenjirou’s or Aura’s part. However, bringing someone from the Twin Kingdoms to Capua would need the caster to also be sent. Then there would be a second casting of the spell for the traveler, and then a third for the caster to return afterwards.

The bare minimum would be three casts of the teleportation spell. The caster would also need to spend a night in the country, which would cost at least five times as much.

The explanation sent the blonde’s mental abacus whirling back and forth. “Allow me to confirm: would I be permitted to bring as much with me on future occasions as I have this time?”

“I would not object.”

Talajeh’s amber eyes softened further as she smiled. “Then there should be no issue. I will be able to pay the cost and even remain in the black.”

The queen couldn’t hide a reluctant smile at the merchant’s boast of being able to pay for several teleportations with what she could personally carry.

“Do try to not take excessive amounts of our currency. Intermediary amounts aside, ensure the final movements are in goods in both directions.”

Capua was a grand country with many rich nobles and merchants. However, there was a limit to the hard currency circulating within the country. Excessive amounts of it leaving to foreign lands would slow their economy.

“Understood.”

Once that was arranged, Francesco spoke up. “Perhaps we can allow Talajeh and Bona to retire to discuss things in more depth. After all, until the tool’s form is finalized, you will not be needed, Your Majesty.”

“You are correct, but what of you, Prince Francesco?” Bona asked, giving him a clearly questioning look at the suggestion. It was a logical idea but still sounded like he was using that logic as a pretense to get away from her watchful eyes.

The prince just offered an utterly open smile to the girl. “I have other matters to discuss with Their Majesties. I believe I will remain here for a while.” As he spoke, Francesco lifted a hand to feign brushing his hair from his ear. As he did, he put his index finger and thumb together in a ring for her to see.

The ring implied spheres, so Francesco wanted to talk to Aura and Zenjirou about the marbles. Bona had no choice but to withdraw, in that case. The marbles—transparent spheres—were deeply entwined with secrets of the Sharou family. While Talajeh was still here, it could not be discussed. Therefore, Bona’s role was to get her away from the discussion in as natural a fashion as possible.

While still somewhat uneasy, she could accede to that and so faced the woman in question. “Very well. As you have heard, I will be leading the magic tool’s construction. I would like to discuss the particulars of its basic functions, its materials, its size, and so on. Would you be free after this, Talajeh?”

“I would. Thank you, Your Highness.” Then, the very embodiment of the phrase “time is money,” she stood.

A little time passed in silence after Bona and Talajeh had left the room. Once the two of them were definitely out of earshot, Aura spoke.

“So, as we planned, the public role now rests with Princess Bona. We can get to the real request. First, what we have. Now.”

The last word was directed to the narrow-faced secretary standing behind her. The man immediately put her order into action.

“Pardon me, Your Highness,” he said, placing a flat wooden box in front of the prince. He then lifted the lid to reveal a space divided into twelve: three compartments across vertically and four horizontally. Within those compartments were a total of ten marbles.

The box was lined with soft cloth to protect the marbles from accidents.

“My...” Francesco marveled.

“As you see, this is the second batch of jewels we have produced for the creation of magic tools. I would hear your unvarnished opinion,” Aura said. She straightened as she spoke, her full chest just as visible as her pregnant stomach. The prince didn’t spare her a glance, immediately taking the marbles out and carefully evaluating them one by one.

Silence reigned as his usually languid smile fell from his face to be replaced with an intense look as he inspected each of them. Both Aura and Zenjirou waited with bated breath. From a distance, the second batch looked much the same as the first. The coloring was still a slightly darker green than a ramune bottle, and there were visible bubbles in them. They also looked like proper spheres from where they sat, but so had the first batch.

After a long period of inspecting each one fully in turn, the Sharou prince offered his conclusions. “These four are not good enough. There are imperfections to too great an extent. The remaining six are passable. The color is still somewhat dark, so they will be inferior to His Majesty’s jewels, but they will still be a great aid as an enchanting medium.”

Six out of ten was good enough. Next to Aura’s almost menacing smile—as befitted her position as queen—Zenjirou’s was a jumble of happiness and unease. They had, albeit somewhat imperfectly, succeeded in producing marbles now. It was like taking that first step over the peak of a hill. Once that step was taken, there was no stopping the trip down. It was impossible.

Would they be able to do anything? Would they manage to run the slope without falling? Or even nudge their course slightly? Whatever the case, they would not be going back up that hill.

His mind made up, Zenjirou spoke. “Would you note down what it was about each of the four that made them unsuitable?”

Simply turning them away without detailed reasons would only lower morale. However, if the issues were explained, it could be used as feedback to improve future examples.

Zenjirou then turned to his wife at his side. “Your Majesty. I would also like to return at least one—preferably three—of the passable versions as examples.”

However precise the explanation, trying to make acceptable products with only the unacceptable versions to draw from was difficult. Having both good and bad examples and a detailed explanation for why the latter were lacking would allow for much more efficient improvement. His explanation of that had been considerably persuasive.

“Very well. Three will be returned to the craftsmen to learn from.”

“Ah, Your Majesties? If I am documenting the inadequacies of these, then I would like to be paid for my consultation. I doubt you will be stopping with this second batch, correct?”

The prince didn’t hide his dissatisfaction at the couple taking his conclusions and running with them without consulting him. While his evaluation didn’t require much effort, he wasn’t willing to work for free. His protests were hardly a surprise, especially with what he wanted being right in front of him. His desirous gaze was on full display, fixed on the acceptable marbles, prompting a grin from Aura.

“Then we can present the three that are not being returned to the craftsmen to you.”

He jolted. “Really?!”

Given how advantageous the offer was, the prince broke decorum and half-rose, hands on the table in front of him. The queen then placed her palm towards him as if to rein in his excitement.

“However, it goes without saying that I cannot offer three of these jewels to you for your evaluation. There is something else I wish to ask of you. A secret magic tool, to be precise.”

“Oh?”

He fell back into his seat, green eyes shining expectantly at his new client. The queen gave a half smile at the prince reacting as they’d assumed. She pulled another two marbles from her pocket and placed them on the table.

“These are to be the medium you use. I wish for magic tools for both teleportation and an isolation barrier. They need to be completed by the end of the year—so within two months. If doing both is impossible, you are to prioritize the latter. However, it needs to be able to be used immediately and must be single-use.”

The marbles she had presented were two that Zenjirou had given her, brought from Japan. They were to be his lifelines on his intercontinental voyage. This was not the time for scrimping.

The blonde prince took them and looked at both with interest, rolling them over his palm. Eventually, he looked back at the couple.

“These will make that relatively simple. The single-use teleportation should be doable within the day. The barrier should take five at most. Of course, I will need cooperation from one of you, though.”

Making a magic tool required both the enchanter and someone who could cast the spell that was to be imbued. Francesco could make magic tools using the basic elements alone, but both of the required spells fell under space-time magic. Only someone from the Capuan royal family could use them. In other words, Aura or Zenjirou.

While there were technically two choices, there was only one choice for Aura. “I will assist with both,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Francesco asked.

Zenjirou smiled ruefully as he agreed. “The possibility is much greater that I would cause you to waste your mana,” he said.

Creating a magic tool consisted of enchanting the medium first and then casting the spell into it. The issue was that the time span for that second spell to be cast was far from generous. If Francesco gave the signal and Zenjirou fumbled the spell, there would be essentially no time for him to attempt to recast it.

Failing at the spell didn’t use up mana, so Zenjirou could retry it repeatedly, but Francesco’s spell would have already been successful, so the mana invested in it would have been wasted.

While Francesco had at least double the mana of Zenjirou, it was still limited, and enchanting took considerable mana. Repeated failures would not only inconvenience Francesco, they would also delay the tool’s completion.

With Aura, though, it was practically a non-concern. If both of the tools could be completed far in advance of Zenjirou’s planned departure, they could ask for more.

Zenjirou asked for and received Aura’s permission with a look and put his hand into his pocket. He retrieved another marble.

“This is my request, Prince Francesco. You can leave it for last, but I would like you to enchant this as a static flame. Of course, if you are short on time, I will withdraw the request.”

“A static flame? With that jewel, it can quite literally be done in moments,” Francesco said with an askance look.

Zenjirou shook his head and pulled out a sheet of drake parchment. “The physical structure of it is the more complex part here. If you do not have the time, then we can ask our own craftsmen to deal with everything other than the magic tool itself.”

As he spoke, he spread the parchment out to reveal a plan he had put great pain into drawing. He was not particularly artistically inclined, so it had taken a significant amount of effort to make something a third party could understand. But the blueprint seemed to be mostly understandable for the prince.

“This is rather interesting. The bottom part acts like a vise? Ah, to fix it to a table or the like. Then the static flame itself... Ah, it’s fixed inside this dark sphere with all the holes. The sphere is metal, I assume? You also drew a lidded cup? That is rather strange as well. The base is rounded and these protrusions look almost like claws.”

Zenjirou started to explain everything as best he could as the prince looked curiously at the blueprint. “I want to be able to attach that cup to the sphere with the flame inside. The claws should go into the holes on the sphere and make it hard to separate.”

The requested tool was, simply put, for a safe way to use fire on the ship. As far as he had found, fire was treated much the same way on ships here as it was during the age of sailing on Earth. The galleys had stoves, but they were only ever lit when the seas and skies were exceptionally calm. Most sailing was without any form of fire.

In other words, the majority of food would be dried meats and beans, pickled vegetables, and hard bread, all of them long-lasting. He didn’t feel confident he could withstand that, so he’d prepared a way to safely use fire at sea.

A static flame was as the name implied—a flame that did not deviate from a contained sphere. You could entirely surround it in either a metal net or some form of holed metal plate to almost completely negate the possibility of it spreading, even if the ship rolled completely.

Additionally, clamping it to a fixed structure like a desk would make the magic tool even less likely to move. Putting the metal cup atop it would allow for boiling a cup of water. He could then drink hot tea or make simple soups using the dried meat and beans even while they sailed.

The journey would be difficult at best, so he couldn’t underestimate any lightening of the load through food and such. He also vaguely remembered reading somewhere that tea had a lot of vitamin C. Scurvy—caused by a deficiency of the vitamin—was inevitably linked to long sea voyages. The fact that none of the sailors had symptoms of it even after over a hundred days at sea meant that it might be a needless concern, but it still bothered him.

“If constructing the appliance will take too much time, I am more than happy for just the flame itself to come from you.”

That was something only an enchanter could create, but the rest of it could be delegated to the craftsmen. It would still be worth taking even if it wasn’t completed in time. If the trip went according to schedule, the Glasir’s Leaf would be arriving in Uppasala as the rainy season began in Capua. On Earth’s calendar, April. Zenjirou had a vague approximation of the climate there being akin to Northern Europe on Earth, and he couldn’t imagine them not needing some form of heating at that time of year.

Francesco spent a while inspecting the blueprints Zenjirou had drawn up before finally lifting his gaze from them. There was a confident, motivated smile on his face. “I understand the gist. I will attempt all three. The teleportation, the barrier, and the static flame.”

“Thank you,” Zenjirou replied, the tension leaving his shoulders.