Chapter 23: Knowledgeable Urania

「Ow, ow …」 「Are you okay?」 「Somehow…. Tomorrow, let’s just walk.」 「Nn, saving money is important.」

Reaching Motsi City somehow, after having the guild calculate the request commission and selling off the Growleu, Urania and I went to the “Gray Cat Inn’s” dining room to deepen our friendship.

「Hahaha! Youngsters should just walk without thinking about comfort! When you reach my age, some wagon’s shaking won’t do anything to your ????????????!」 「Ma’am… Please don’t talk about that before dinner…」 「Whoops! Sorry about that! Here! Today’s dinner is Koo Stew!」

A Koo, if you ask me, is just some kind of cow. It’s not a monster, it’s a cattle raised by people for consuming, as one may expect, their meat and milk. It seems that it was originally a wild Magic Beast, and is one of the rare cases where people succeeded in taming and domesticating them.

It tastes pretty much like beef stew. The moment I bite the soft simmered Koo meat, it instantly crumbles and melts in my mouth. The carrot and potato-like things (I don’t know what they’re called but they look basically the same) were diced into largish pieces, nicely soaking up the soup’s flavors.

By the way, Magic Beasts and Monsters aren’t the same. In contrast with Monsters, which are created when the Mana in the air converges into a Magic Core and it forms the creature itself, Magic Beasts are animals that are born with Magic Cores or have acquired a Magic Core by creating it inside their bodies. Magic Beasts have a higher intelligence than that of the other animals, and some are even capable of using Magic.

Why can Magic Beasts use Magic, something that normal people can’t use? Regarding that question, it seems that the only thing we can say for sure is that it is under research. Is it essential whether or not they have a Magic Core? Or is it perhaps because the depths of Magic can be only understood by instinct? Is what’s commonly theorized. If that’s true, then maybe I also have a Magic Core inside me, right?

「What’s wrong? You seem preoccupied.」 「Nn, Well. Speaking of Magic Cores, they come in different colors too, huh.」

I’ve been rolling a Magic Core under my finger for a while when Urania called out to me. Magic Cores come in various colors. Some are red, some are blue, they’re awfully colorful.

「Magic Core’s color corresponds to the Monster’s attribute. Goblins are of Earth, so it’s yellow. Growleus are of Wind, so it’s green. 」 「Hm~ So there are attributes, huh.」 「Nn, despite being a Mage, you didn’t know?」 「First time I heard that. I can generally use most attributes, though.」 「That’s amazing.」

Hmm? I mean, isn’t that normal? I thought, but now that I think about it, Arisa practically used nothing but Fire Magecraft, huh. So does that mean, normally a person can only use one attribute? No, that’s definitely just because Arisa’s too vague and sketchy, other people can probably use more too.

「Even the Twelve Sages can only use Three Attributes. Only the Sage of Leo who’s considered the strongest can use the Four Attributes. Lily, are you an All Attribute User like the Sage of Leo?」 「The Four Attributes? Ah, the Four Primary Elements. Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind, right? Well, I can use them all.」

Rather, I can use Attributes other that those too. Like Light, Darkness, or Lightning…. Hmm~ Well, it’s probably best not to talk about that, yep. As expected, it might better to at least study about Magecraft. At this rate, I’m going to trip up somewhere. Thinking about that, I really regret disregarding Philip’s talk and hurling him away. Because of that, I’m a bit hesitant in meeting him, see…. The Royal Magecraft Academy really sounds like the very image of fantasy, doesn’t it? It’s overflowing with romance.

Maybe because we were talking a lot while eating, before I knew it I’ve already asked for my fifth bowl of Koo Stew. Even though I also think I’m eating too much, but mysteriously I don’t feel like I’m getting full. I’ve also eaten the dessert too. Is it that? Like, you get hungrier when you use Magic kind of thing? Thinking so, I tried asking Urania about it.

「Magecraft uses the caster’s own Magic Power. That’s why, maybe you’re trying to compensate for it.」

Is what she answered. It seems like Urania herself can’t use Magecraft, but she studied a lot about it. Maybe I should call her Urapedia from now on. Well, it’s really rude so I’ll just stop at that.

By the way, all the other world information up until now are all things I asked Urania about. She’s really well read. Just reading books isn’t enough to be this knowledgeable, so she definitely has some talent or something.

After that, we divided today’s reward equally and went our own ways. It seems like Uranina isn’t staying at an inn, she’s staying at some acquaintance’s house. I thought about escorting her home too, but she declined. Well, it’s still the first day after all. Tomorrow morning we’ll be doing a request together again, so I‘ll just slowly earn her trust.