"Then, shall we begin?"
I surveyed the magic paper and tools arrayed across the workshop table. Using the tool
"You want to make this into the highest quality?"
"If there's no restriction on what material to use for the magic paper, wouldn't it be much easier to simply collect monster hides and raise their quality the traditional way?"
The recipe for blending magic paper using monster hides was taught at the Noble Academy. It was paper used as an auxiliary when drawing magic circles, performing blending, or carrying out magical arts. If one intended to use it for high-level magic, then high-quality materials were necessary, and acquiring those materials meant capturing powerful beasts and obtaining their hides. That was precisely why producing the highest-quality magic paper was not something done lightly.
"If we only need to raise the quality, then using monster hides would certainly be simpler. But Lord Ferdinand's requirement is at least three hundred sheets. We have no idea how many monster hides that would demand. If we want the highest quality, we can't compromise on the material's quality, can we? How many powerful beasts do you think we'd need to capture?"
The materials in Ferdinand's workshop were plentiful, but there wasn't enough of any single one to produce three hundred sheets of monster-hide parchment.
"If we completely defeat the beasts, we won't be able to obtain their hides, so gathering them in large quantities would be extremely difficult. Even deploying all of Lady
"I don't think it's impossible."
Clarissa's blue eyes were burning with enthusiasm, but would
"Even so, over three hundred sheets at the highest quality... What on earth does Lord Ferdinand intend to use them for?"
"Clarissa, Lord Ferdinand is the type to use high-quality magic paper freely in order to make blending easier. He's not like ordinary people."
I couldn't easily think of a situation that specifically required the highest-quality magic paper.
But Ferdinand did frequently use high-quality magic paper during his blending work. When it came to blending, one must not trust Ferdinand's common sense. I had learned that lesson.
"Anyway, let's use our joint research with Drevanchel as a reference and try to raise the quality of the magu-tree paper we have as much as possible."
I stirred the blending pot over and over, removing impure Magic Power and adding high-quality materials of the same attribute, trying to raise each sheet's quality. Both the Ephorn and Nansave paper improved from low quality to roughly average.
"...The quality is still too low."
The quality increased at the pace of a tortoise. Doing the same blending over and over grew tedious. Up until now, I had either used recipes Ferdinand had already perfected through repeated experimentation, or sent improvement requests to Laimunt. I had never continued refining a Magical Tool recipe on my own until I was satisfied.
"How does Lord Ferdinand create or improve Magical Tools so easily? I feel like my spirit is about to break."
"Lady Rozemyne, please don't be so disheartened. It's only the first day, and it's not as though there's been no progress at all. The sound-producing magic paper has become much smoother, and the self-gathering magic paper has gotten faster."
Hartmut encouraged me, and I looked over the improved Ephorn and Nansave paper. The Ephorn paper had previously only produced broken, intermittent sounds, but raising its quality had made the sound smooth—good enough to possibly use in a music box. The Nansave paper, which had only shown a slow, halting movement toward large fragments, had sped up considerably.
"But it's still miles away from the highest quality that Lord Ferdinand wants..."
"The road ahead looks long, but it's exciting to think about what changes might appear as we continue raising the quality from here. Let's keep at it."
Hartmut and Clarissa drank a recovery potion that massively restored their Magic Power and suggested, "Shall we break for lunch to refresh our spirits?" interrupting the blending. Since I was thoroughly sick of blending by then, I took them up on the offer and left the workshop.
Over lunch, we discussed how to proceed with raising the quality.
"Lady Rozemyne, let's increase the number of attributes. It's difficult to find materials compatible with magu-tree paper, but if things go well, adding attributes will raise the quality further. Why don't we aim for all attributes and try adding materials?"
"It sounds like failure after failure, which is depressing, but I suppose there's nothing else to be done."
In the afternoon, I went through the materials in the workshop and randomly selected higher-quality ones to add in small amounts. If a good change occurred, I increased the quantity and observed. I repeated this process, gradually adding attributes. But the paper plateaued at around medium quality—never reaching high.
...This is getting more and more annoying.
If I were making something with a known recipe, step by step, it would be one thing, but I wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed blending enough to do this kind of tedious experimentation for hours on end. Unlike reading, it wasn't something I could lose myself in for hours and days.
During the afternoon break, I pouted at how little progress had been made while drinking a recovery potion instead of tea. According to Hartmut and Clarissa, the improvements were actually quite substantial for a single day.
"Unlike Lady Rozemyne, ordinary people can't sustain their Magic Power, so they can't blend this many times. I'm essentially doing three days' worth of experiments in one day, and I'm a high-ranking noble."
Because I had such a vast reserve of Magic Power, I could repeat experiments over and over, giving me an enormous advantage over other civil officials. And apparently, the results were genuinely showing.
"Hmm... If pouring large amounts of Magic Power into experiments is my strength, then how about adding gold dust—a pure mass of Magic Power itself? It might raise the quality dramatically."
"Lady Rozemyne's gold dust... That would indeed raise the quality dramatically, wouldn't it? Since it's your own Magic Power, the compatibility would be excellent."
I drank a recovery potion to restore my Magic Power, then purified the miscellaneous Magic Power from magic stones to raise their quality. After that, I poured my own Magic Power into them, transforming stone after stone into gold dust. Hartmut and Clarissa watched with wide eyes as experimental gold dust materialized one after another.
...Come to think of it, I also surprised Hannalore when I made gold dust during the Lord Candidate lectures.
Unlike the reserved Hannalore, Hartmut and Clarissa stared at me with shining eyes, leaning in eagerly—but the surprise was the same either way.
"What a magnificent..."
"As expected of Lady Rozemyne. Ordinary civil officials can't afford to waste magic stones or Magic Power like this."
I used the gold dust made during the break to raise the quality further. Sprinkling the fine powder into the blending pot and continuously pouring in Magic Power as I stirred, I then cut the finished Ephorn paper into small pieces and placed it on the measuring tool.
"Oh, it reached high quality with all attributes."
I had burned through Magic Power like an idiot, but it paid off—I'd been able to raise the quality dramatically in one go. Still, it wasn't the highest quality.
"I have no idea how to push it any further. I almost want to ask Lord Ferdinand for advice."
I wasn't the only one who felt discouraged by the uncertainty, but Hartmut and Clarissa seemed genuinely thrilled by the high-quality magu-tree paper. The two of them had been enthusiastically testing it with various experiments ever since.
"Lady Rozemyne, if we can make good use of this paper's property of returning to its original form, we might be able to reuse a single sheet of magic paper multiple times! It's a huge discovery!"
It was Clarissa whose blue eyes were shining. The high-quality Nansave paper not only gathered back to its original location but now also spontaneously reattached itself, restoring the original sheet. It was an interesting change, but what I wanted was highest-quality magic paper.
"Lady Rozemyne, this one produces sound as smooth as singing. Rather than sheet music, if you drew a magic circle on it, you might even be able to use it for chanting."
Hartmut's orange eyes sparkled with excitement as he proposed drawing magic circles and running experiments.
"Let's experiment with how much easier it becomes to cast spells when magic circles are drawn on these papers."
"If you want to try them, go ahead. I'm not planning to experiment with their applications myself."
My job was to raise the quality, not to explore uses or study properties. Even with gold dust, I'd only managed to reach high quality. It seemed like I should end the blending for today and think about how to actually push the quality higher.
"Shtofu."
Hartmut and Clarissa transformed their Staves into pen shapes and approached the magic paper. Unless the paper was of low quality, regular ink couldn't write on it. For high-quality paper, you either had to use a pen that converted Magic Power into ink, or write by shaping a Staff with a Shtofu.
"...Lady Rozemyne, this is a problem."
"What is it, Hartmut?"
"This magic paper can't be written on, even with a Shtofu."
"What!?"
At Hartmut's words, I hurried over to look at the high-quality Ephorn paper. Even when Hartmut traced the pen-Staff across the surface, nothing was drawn. Clarissa had the same issue—the Magic Power ink wouldn't adhere.
"It feels like Lady Rozemyne's Magic Power is so strong that it repels the ink. Can you write on it, Lady Rozemyne?"
When Clarissa asked, I tried writing with a Shtofu myself. The lines appeared normally. Hartmut watched with a look of understanding, saying, "As expected, the creator Lady Rozemyne can write on it." But I felt the blood drain from my face.
"Magic paper that only I can use is a complete failure, isn't it? Paper that even Lord Ferdinand can't use is pointless, no matter how high the quality."
"It's not uncommon for Magical Tools to only be usable by the creator or someone with greater Magic Power. Shall Clarissa and I also make high-quality magic paper? If Lady Rozemyne can use ours, then Lord Ferdinand might be able to use Lady Rozemyne's paper. ...Lord Ferdinand does have more Magic Power, doesn't he?"
When Hartmut asked with concern, I felt a twinge of worry too. At the Noble Academy, I had thinned my Magic Power density to prevent it from overflowing, so while my body had grown, my Magic Power hadn't increased much. But now my Staff had grown, and between blending, religious ceremonies, and the Entwickeln preparations, I was using Magic Power extensively throughout my domain—so I had restored my compression to roughly the old standard. With a larger body, I should be able to hold more Magic Power.
...Even so, I don't think I've surpassed Ferdinand.
The change had been minimal when I used the disappearing ink, so I was pretty sure I hadn't overtaken him yet.
"I don't think I can beat Lord Ferdinand."
"Who knows? I think Lady Rozemyne will surpass him eventually."
"I have no intention of growing to the point where I'm as far beyond common sense as Lord Ferdinand."
I declared that I had no intention of becoming a mad scientist who piled Magic Power compression on top of causing Magic Power intoxication, but Hartmut and Clarissa cheerfully responded, "We're looking forward to the day Lady Rozemyne comes of age."
"Unlike Lady Rozemyne, Clarissa and I need considerable Magic Power and time just to make the gold dust, so let's continue tomorrow. We'll prepare the gold dust tonight."
"Understood."
Whether the magic paper would be usable by Ferdinand depended on their experiments tomorrow. I gave them each a recovery potion that restored only Magic Power in massive amounts, along with magic stones that had been purified of miscellaneous Magic Power, and wished them good luck.
The next day, after considerable effort, they brought gold dust they had made and began blending high-quality magic paper. I drew magic circles on the high-quality paper I had made the day before and ran the experiments they had wanted to try on their behalf, waiting for their blending to finish.
As Hartmut had predicted, when Magic Power was channeled through a magic circle drawn on the Ephorn paper, it automatically chanted and activated the spell. The Magic Power consumption was a bit high, but it might be useful for activating magic in places where chanting was impossible, or when the incantation was excessively long.
...But still, the fact that others can't write on it with their Magic Power is a real problem.
Clarissa had been wondering whether she could make the Nansave paper reusable, but even at high quality, reuse wasn't possible. It ended up wrapped in golden flames every time. However, some residue remained afterward, and the fact that those remnants gathered back together was somewhat interesting.
"Lady Rozemyne, it's done."
When I wrote lines on the high-quality magic paper the two of them had created using a Shtofu, I was able to write on Hartmut's paper but not on Clarissa's.
"Does that mean Clarissa has more Magic Power than I do?"
"Impossible."
Both denied it immediately. Considering the speed at which they made gold dust, the difference in Magic Power between Clarissa and me was obvious, so I wasn't being entirely serious. It was just a bit of mischief.
"Then why is there such a difference, I wonder?"
I tilted my head, but Clarissa seemed to figure it out almost immediately.
"The Name Offering! It must be the Name Offering! That's the only difference between me and Hartmut."
I didn't want to believe that was the only difference between Hartmut and Clarissa, but there was a strong chance Clarissa was on the right track.
"A Name Offering binds one with the master's Magic Power, so it could certainly have an effect."
Rodrik had received a faint blessing of all attributes after his Name Offering, being bound by my Magic Power. Since Hartmut was also bound by my Magic Power, the possibility that only I could write on his magic paper was quite high.
"If only the creator or someone to whom the creator has offered their name can write on it, then it won't be of any use to Lord Ferdinand."
"...The magic paper seems to repel Magic Power. What if we try adding a material that absorbs Magic Power?"
At Hartmut's suggestion, I blinked.
"You mean a black magic stone?"
"If we could add the Magic Power-absorbing property of materials harvested from black magical creatures without altering the fundamental nature of the magic paper, I believe it would allow the Magic Power ink to adhere."
...Black magical creatures—like Tarnisbefaren, or Trombe?
I pictured the black magical creatures I had fought before and turned my gaze to the Trombe paper.
"I see. Let's try it."
I combined the Trombe paper with the high-quality Ephorn paper Hartmut had made. I handed the resulting paper to Clarissa and asked her to cut a small corner and test it.
"I can draw on it, Lady Rozemyne!"
Just as Hartmut had predicted, the new magic paper could be written on by Clarissa, and its quality had risen to just short of the highest level. I suspected it was because the Trombe paper had eagerly absorbed my Magic Power during the blending.
I drew a time-reduction magic circle and tried using it to raise the Ephorn paper's quality, and the result revealed that the fire-resistant property of the Trombe paper had been added to the Ephorn paper's auto-chanting property.
"...Lady Rozemyne, you hadn't raised this fire-resistant paper to high quality earlier, had you?"
Clarissa blinked as she stared at the burned remains—only the ink lines had caught fire, leaving the rest in scattered pieces.
"No. I used it as it was just now. If we raise its quality, it might remain completely intact. Since magic papers don't seem to repel each other, why don't we raise all of them to high quality and blend them all together in the pot?"
Raise everything to high quality and synthesize them. Simple words, but it required a staggering amount of Magic Power. Each one needed gold dust to raise to high quality, and synthesizing high-quality materials together demanded even more.
But the effort paid off. The highest-quality magic paper was complete. I gave small cut pieces to the two of them for test-writing. The lines were successfully drawn. Then the pieces floated gently back toward the larger sheet, reattached themselves, and returned to their original size.
After drawing magic circles and running experiments, we confirmed that the magic paper activated simply by channeling Magic Power, didn't burn completely, and gathered back together to regenerate on its own.
"I'm not sure what it would be used for, but do you think this would satisfy Lord Ferdinand?"
I showed the regenerated paper to Hartmut and asked. He smiled and assured me, "I don't think any civil official would find fault with this."
"...But this magic paper—can anyone other than Lady Rozemyne make it?"
"Well, it does take quite a bit of time."
It required raising low-quality paper to high quality with gold dust, then synthesizing three different high-quality magic papers together. It was an ultra-premium magic paper that consumed a surprising amount of Magic Power and time.
Incidentally, three sheets produced about the equivalent of two original sheets. The inability to change the size was a drawback, since the paper restored itself when cut.
"Lady Rozemyne, I spent an entire night making gold dust using recovery potions just to blend the high-quality paper. The blending itself also required a recovery potion. Saying 'it takes a bit of time' doesn't do it justice."
Clarissa began lamenting, "How can this be?" She was frustrated to the point of agony that she couldn't properly fulfill her role as a civil official, which was supposed to be blending in place of the Lord Candidates.
"All we can do is increase our Magic Power or pray to the gods for additional blessings."
While Clarissa burned with renewed determination, vowing, "I will absolutely prove myself useful," Hartmut picked up the Trombe paper and sank into thought.
"Lady Rozemyne, what material is this fire-resistant paper made from? You purchased it from the Plantan Workshop rather than Ilgner, so it must be made at Mine Workshop or a nearby paper workshop, correct?"
I smiled and answered, "It's made from nyokinyok trees." The response came immediately, but Hartmut couldn't place the magic tree and fell into contemplation.
"Nyokinyok trees? I've heard the orphanage children mention them, but that's what the fire-resistant paper is made from? ...I don't recall any magic tree by that name."
Since Hartmut had received my name, I could tell him, but I had no intention of saying more in front of Clarissa as well.
"We have plenty of magic paper purchased from Ilgner, but we don't have nearly enough fire-resistant paper. I'll need to have a lot of it made this summer."
While mentally calculating how many tau fruits would be required, I produced one more sheet of highest-quality magic paper. That completed the sample-making for my adoptive father to bring to
"Since Lord Ferdinand should already have a workshop in Ahrensbach, shall we have my adoptive father bring not only samples but also blending tools and materials?"
I rummaged through the workshop, considering what to have my adoptive father take to Ahrensbach for the funeral. I wanted to send recovery potion and antidote ingredients ahead. Hartmut and Clarissa cheerfully helped me scour the workshop for materials.
Spring's coming-of-age ceremony was right around the corner, and summer was close behind.
After repeatedly performing tedious, painstaking blending, the samples are complete.
Ordinary civil officials would perform that tedious blending for a much longer period, but I powered through with Magic Power.
Hartmut and Clarissa think about how to effectively use the high-quality and completed highest-quality magic paper, but Rozemyne does not.
As long as it's done, that's good enough.
Next up: the coming-of-age ceremony and my adoptive father's departure.