Isekai Mahou wa Okureteru! (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories 

Felmenia Side Story 1 

On a certain day shortly after Sebastian Kran summoned the apparition, Suimei was in his room receiving a lesson from Felmenia about the magic in this other world. 

“Then the so-called main point of magic here begins with sensing the Elements… That’s what they say, right?” 

“That is correct. If one properly brings to mind the heat one feels when warmed by fire or the cool sensation of touching water, the Elements will lend their assistance!” 

Felmenia tightly clenched her fist, apparently filled with enthusiasm on the topic. She was talking as if she believed without a doubt that the way that she had explained things was the one and only truth. However, from Suimei’s perspective, it was still horribly insufficient. In his world, even in its simplest, most reductive form, the art of magicka was treated and talked about with a high level of rationality. Felmenia’s explanation just now, on the contrary, addressed nothing but the mystical side of things. Moreover, the most important part of what he wanted to know was unclear and vague. Based on what she’d said, magic sounded like it relied entirely on an individual’s intuition. 

If this is the norm for teaching magic in this world, then I guess it’s no wonder development would stagnate, huh? 

The idea of depending exclusively on sensation made a mockery of theory. Granted, to be fair, these people’s approach wasn’t wholly misguided. These “Elements” of theirs had been revered throughout the ages, and venerating their mysticism was essentially part of the magical process for them. That was how things had ended up this way. But while it was true that sensation was important to magicka, relying on it alone was problematic. 

Thinking on the grand scale of things, it really showcased how remarkable the natural philosophers of Ancient Greece were. In an age where such concepts were elusive and yet to be understood, the likes of Plato, Aristotle, and Empedocles thoroughly investigated existence itself and created the foundations for magicka. 

But regardless of what Suimei thought, this was how Reiji and Mizuki had both learned magic. This was the explanation they’d gotten. As a magician, there was a great deal about it Suimei was skeptical of… But speaking of the explanation, Felmenia had an eager look on her face as if to say, “How’s that?” 

“Were you able to follow along?” 

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t get it at all.” 

“Oh, I see…” 

She feebly slumped her shoulders like a dog lowering its ears and tail. She seemed dejected that her explanation hadn’t been good enough. If Suimei could at least grasp exactly what the Elements were, then he could likely figure out the rest of what Felmenia was talking about. He would have no choice but to investigate it more on his own later. 

“Th-Then one more time…” 

“No, it’s fine. I’ll manage somehow on my own.” 

Yes, as long as he was still wrestling with this problem of the Elements, there was no purpose in being taught anything else. 

“Is that so…? My apologies for not being of any help.” 

“Don’t worry about it. Switching things up though, is there anything you want to ask about, Menia?” 

“Anything I want to ask about?” 

“Yeah. I’m much obliged to you after last time, and, well, as a way of returning the favor, if there’s anything you want to ask me about magicka, I’ll try and talk you through it.” 

“Really?” 

When Suimei nodded, Felmenia once more regained her enthusiasm and cut straight to the chase. 

“Th-Then, do you remember the magicka circle that you talked about in the Garden of the White Wall? Could I ask that you teach me about that in more detail?” 

Somewhat excited, Felmenia leaned forward as she eagerly awaited his answer. Thinking back on what had happened in the Garden of the White Wall, Suimei recalled how astonished he was upon learning the sad state of magic here. Despite this being a bona fide fantasy world, not only did they not understand the usefulness of liturgical magicka, they weren’t even familiar with the concept. In other words… 

“You want to know more about the liturgical reduction of magicka circles, you mean.” 

Felmenia slowly nodded. 

“What is known as the liturgical reduction of magickal systems is the process of taking complex magicka and, without the amount of labor being influenced by the abilities of the user, making it usable as long as the predetermined steps are followed properly. It’s a technique that starts with taking the symbols, the scene, the gestures, the movements, et cetera, and committing all of it to memory. Its origin is considered to be the mnemonic arts of Ancient Greece.” 

“Mnemonic arts?” 

“That’s right. For example, when memorizing something tedious, you try and shorten it somehow, taking each part of the whole and turning it into something more easily digestible. That makes it easier to remember, right?” 

“That’s… certainly true.” 

For example, if one were to try and memorize the denser portions of a textbook, the task would be simplified by reducing the work that needed to be done. In other words, shortening the sentences. It was very much so the same idea behind stenography. Though a more extreme example with a different goal, sign language similarly compacted information as much as possible for ease of communication. Humanity has long been experimenting with ways to better utilize their memory. 

“What we call liturgical reduction is basically the same thing. While taking all the necessary information and shortening it everywhere possible to make it simpler, we make it easier to use without losing the original meaning. And the techniques born from that include phenomena conversion, as well as the event conversion of a magicka circle.” 

“Phenomena conversion…?” 

“Yeah, that’s right. Using the mnemonic arts that I just described as a foundation, you can take an enormous amount of information and make a miniature copy of the symbols and figures used to draw it out. If you make it so that it can be read by the world, it’s possible to produce an effect of the same phenomenon or event through magicka. Someone eventually realized that you could do the same thing with high-level spells. But even then, drawing out the reduced version still took too much time. Case in point: you would never be able to do something that time-consuming in battle, right?” 

“No, that’s unthinkable. That’s leagues beyond just leaving yourself open.” 

“Exactly. And so the magicians of the golden age?the fourteenth century of our world—thought of a way to further simplify the process of simplification. By using the gestures of liturgical reduction techniques, or by refining the words used in a chant, they made it possible to call forth the necessary magicka circle no matter where they were.” 

“That’s the part I don’t understand. I can fathom the activation of magicka by only using gestures, but just where is the activated magicka circle stored?” 

“Where is it stored, huh? That’s no big deal. It’s quite simple, actually. The magicka circle merely has to be recorded somewhere. In a book, a corner of a house, wherever. And it’s even better if it’s somewhere the mana is thick. I’ve already reached the point where I can use falsification to directly establish one in the world, but just as I said, if you create and leave a magicka circle somewhere and use the appropriate chant and actions to hail it, then in a sense, if the requirements are satisfied, the event and phenomena that occur will be the same. Then?” 

“At any time the caster likes, they can make use of the magicka circle without putting in much effort…” 

The sound of Felmenia swallowing down her breath could be heard in the otherwise silent room in that moment. And in response to her statement, Suimei nodded. 

“As a result, it means the magicka that you want to use and the magicka that calls forth the magicka circle which supports it are used in tandem, but it’s optimized to the point that it’s beyond compare of how it worked before.” 

Suimei paused for a moment there before continuing his explanation. 

“That’s how magicka circles in the world I’m from are used to assist in casting magicka. They can be used to simplify the process or even for ornamental purposes.” 

“Amazing… The mystical techniques in Suimei-dono’s world have been systematized to such a fine degree…” 

“Well, the people back in the day were all strange in the head. In a good way, I guess.” 

“Th-Then if I wanted to use this technique, what should I do first?” 

“Start by memorizing the symbols that simplify information, or refine the words you use. Well, it would be quickest to use the symbols that I know, but other than that, you need to prepare a place with dense mana—somewhere like the hero summoning chamber—and either draw your magicka circle there or set up an object with one drawn on it, and then leave it there to be hailed later. After that, it’s a bit of trial and error, and just getting accustomed to it.” 

“…” 

Felmenia’s eyes were sparkling as she listened to all of this. It seemed she truly adored the mysteries. 

“U-Um…” 

And then, slowly glancing up at Suimei like she wanted something, she seemed like she was struggling to put it into words. She wanted to ask him something—a favor, no less—but her restraint was getting in the way. Suimei, however, had an idea what it was. 

“Tonight then.” 

“Huh…?” 

“When the sun sets, should we start setting it all up?” 

“Yes!” 

And so, though they would only last until he departed, Suimei began his magicka lessons with Felmenia.