Chapter 87: Hometown of Prodigal Sons (part four)
Ultra-wide area magic Cursed Sword of Fire aside, I decided to start with the confirmation of the prerequisites concerning our future task.
If something was off the point, everything could be ruined.
From here on, I couldn’t afford making any mistakes.
“First off, Harold. Is it alright with you?”
“……What is it?”
I asked Harold who replied after staring at me carefully.
“Substances created from nothing by alchemy materialize only for a short time in this world.
Can this be applied to our current situation as well?”
“Aa, precious metals and precious stones, especially those with big masses, are about five minutes at most.”
“Five minutes. So it’s five minutes after all.”
“Lava is about five minutes, but the flames that have burned will remain in this world for a longer time and will cause a vicious calamity.”
“Right. I understand.”
That was good.
I felt relieved after hearing Harold’s answer.
If this was the case, I would be able to do it in the way I planned.
Next, I asked Tirnanog.
“Then, when do you think that Cursed Sword of Fire will fall?”
『It is such a huge magical construction spell, but the composition speed is fast.
Based on the description of the literature, that’s right……it will be around forty minutes from now to its completion.』
It would be difficult to evacuate the citizens with that time.
Even if they escaped from beneath one cursed sword, they would get caught in the fall zone of another cursed sword.
So that was the reason Tirnanog unusually hesitated to say it, huh.
“……I mean, why are you asking such a thing now!”
Harold hounded me with a frustrated appearance.
Alright, I felt glad that he seemed to be healthy enough to get angry.
Harold was going to have plenty of works from now on, so it was really good that he was not in a lethargic condition.
“Harold, you, no, we might be able to save this town.”
“……What……do you mean?”
“That Cursed Sword of Fire cannot be touched, dismantled or dispelled, but there is one way.”
“W-what is it. Don’t put on airs, just say it quickly!”
Harold who was impatient urged me.
Auguste and Tirnanog were gazing at me quietly, waiting for my words.
“We cannot prevent the completion of the cursed swords, but we can prevent the finished cursed swords from falling to the city as lava with wide-area magic.”
“That’s absurd! In order to deploy a city-wide area magic, we will need dozens of Hafan’s mages.
Such a great number of people, where can we get them from!”
“What if I say that the three of us……me, Harold, and Auguste-sama are enough?”
Harold became silent as if he had forgotten his words.
Auguste and Tirnanog were staring at me, looking as if they were taken aback.
“Harold, you will have to do mass filling now.
The spell that you need to charge is Levitation. The number of charges is 990 times.”
Harold’s facial expression changed slowly from astonishment to calm.
It seemed that his technician brain was stimulated.
I saw Harold’s change and my mouth formed a smile.
“Can you do it?”
“……I can. I will do it. I have never made it, but I know the composition of that spell.
But, by Levitation, what do you……ah!”
Harold’s eyes widened.
It seemed that Harold who had become familiar with magic and wands from an early age already understood.
“I see, the duration of lava’s materialization time is five minutes, and the effect time of the normal Levitation is about the same.
Levitation is also characterized by a rise in efficiency as its amplification increases.
If we extend the range of the effect with Wand Alteration and wrap it around……!!”
“Correct. As it will need to be used 60 times per cursed sword, we will need 990 for all 15 cursed swords.”
『I see, that’s a unique way to extend the power of a wand without limit.』
“Extension……it’s like the signature move of Duke Aurelia……yeah, I think it’s a good idea.”
Tirnanog and Auguste also nodded.
But actually this alone was not enough.
And it was Harold who was the first to notice it.
“Wait……how are you going to aim at them? Simultaneous aiming to 15 places, and around the entire Knot Reed no less.
It’s impossible for us to just aim at them in the regular way, so maybe Raptor Sight……no, that’s useless.
I don’t have time to charge two wands in large quantities.”
“That’s why we need another person.”
I nodded slowly, and gazed at Auguste.
“I see, aiming……that’s my role, huh.”
“I’m saved since this conversation will be quick. Of course you will participate in this plan.”
“You don’t even consider that I will refuse, huh. That’s fine. I will place my bet on you.”
I smiled at Auguste who understood all of the strategy.
We were ready now.
From here on, we only had to believe in Harold.
“Then, I will monitor whether there is any change in that magic.
When the magic is ready, Erica, I will share the eyes of the dragon with you.”
Auguste said so and stared at the sky.
I took out a wand from my bag that Tirnanog had brought for me.
The Wand of Levitation already had 100 charges in it.
I held the wand and presented it to Harold.
“I think you can do it, no, you are the only one who can do it, hey, partner. Isn’t that right?”
“……What the heck, that kind of crude trust as if leaving it all to me.”
Haah~~, Harold exhaled a long sigh, looking at me with serious eyes.
“But, I will not let you down.”
Harold’s eyes became slightly moist with tears.
He wiped them so as to conceal it, then he accepted the wand.
Harold squatted down on the stone floor of the tower and spread his work tools.
“Let’s get started with my work!”
Harold rolled his sleeves up and wore his black leather gloves.
He put on his goggles with a smack as the finishing touch.
“If we charge 1000 shots on a wand that originally contains only 100 shots, the burden on the wand will be more than ten folds.
First of all, let’s release all the magical powers inside and change the magical powers compression format from scratch.”
Harold loosened the ferrule and aimed the wand towards the ground.
He confirmed that everyone except himself had took a distance from the wand, and he released the magical powers charged inside the wand.
A strong flash of light like a camera’s flash.
The magical powers that were released all at once gouged the ground.
“Uh!”
A runaway magical power bounced back to Harold’s right cheek.
From the wound where the pale spark hit, fresh blood dripped down.
“Harold, are you okay?”
“Haha, that helped shorten the time. This level of injury, it’s nothing.”
As Harold made a frivolous talk, he reconfigured the wand with precise movements like a machine.
“Heeh, this is……”
『What’s wrong, Harold.』
“Well, to think that I can see the wonderful work of Visitor’s Clan in a place like this.”
『You…… unexpectedly, it seems you still have the composure to say something like that.』
As Tirnanog said so in amazement, Harold laughed unreservedly while baring his teeth.
“It’s because I rarely tinker with such an amazing wand.
Both durability and precision are different from ready-made items.
But, as expected, ten times as much content amplification was an unprecedented way of using a wand that hasn’t been taken into consideration when making this wand.
I will also take the other wands apart. I have to use everything usable in our arsenal.”
As he said earlier, Harold began to take apart the Wand of Leap and Feather Falling.
He broke one third of Griffin’s bone of Feather Falling wand and cut it into a hook shape.
Scraped off the wyvern bone from Levitation wand material into the same shape and combined it, then glued them without gaps.
Next he took out vellum papers and cut them into thin bands.
“I’m pretty sure that Long-Armed Ernst’s wands are carved with old poetries of Visitor’s Clan, right?
I don’t remember the poetry of Visitor’s Clan, but the poems of my hometown are supposed to have the same effect.”
Soaked a pen in a special ink mixed with several kinds of chemicals.
Wrote the poetry on vellum paper, smeared it with glue, and wrapped it around the shaft.
Certainly, this was quicker than engraving it.
Returned the amber on the wand head and yellow brass on the handle of the assembled wand.
Using the same material as the core material, he added the Feather Falling core material along the shaft.
Finally, he sealed the ferrule with magnetite which was used for the wand head of Leap.
“It has become boorish, but its durability is guaranteed. I will only have to believe and charge this guy, after that it’s a race against time.”
Harold looked at the wand with a serious expression and built the spells to charge it.
One, two, three—
As he built the spells with unparalleled accuracy, I had forgotten to breath before I knew it.
One hundred.
The magical structure was disturbed, and the released magical power grazed Harold’s right cheek.
The torrent of magical power burned his cheek in a way that it crosses the first wound.
“Are you okay, Harold!?”
However, rather than groaning in pain, Harold was immersed in charging the wand without blinking.
What an amazing concentration.
I applied a handkerchief to his cheek softly.
“That town is the place where I grew up, I absolutely won’t let you hurt the people in my city.”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login