CH 54

54  The Manifestation is a Secret

“Well, you’re already quite skilled with magic for your age, and you have manifested many gems too.”

Attribute appraisal could actually produce such gems… Wait, I may be able to produce more if I try my best! And if I do this, I may be able to offer more help to Father…

I immediately conveyed my thoughts to my father and saw him smiling happily when he heard this.

“You’re right. Well then, shall we try to do that?”

“Yes.”

I tried to recall the feeling during the attribute appraisal, after which, I released my magical power. I had wished for at the very least a gold nugget to appear. Yet, nothing of such appeared. In fact, the soil only moved lightly.

Uh, did I lack focus? I pondered to myself, then decided. Alright, perhaps a different approach will work. Now, let’s clap my hands and see the effect.

However, when I did so, all I managed to do was to create… a bowling ball sized lump of earth.

“Eh… That’s strange…”

“Fufufu, it’s only natural that you can’t do that. After all, the phenomenon that happened during the attribute appraisal is all due to that disk. Thus, even a child with a small amount of mana can create gems if they have earth attribute, ice if they have water attribute, flame if they have fire attribute, and a small tornado in case of wind attribute, a ball of light for light attribute, and coiling mist for darkness attribute.”

So, based on what Father was saying… That black disk was a truly rare thing and is not for sale. Tch, what a disappointment. I thought we wouldn’t be troubled by money.

Father seemed to sense my thoughts, for he chuckled and said, “Unfortunately, there’s no such convenient matter. But still, to be able to produce a gem itself is already amazing enough. In my case, it’s brass.”

Hee, so what appears depends on the person, huh. I suppose that also shows the difference in basic abilities.

“Eh, wait a minute, doesn’t that mean that this phenomenon doesn’t happen in any other attribute manifestation?”

“Correct. Perhaps it’s decided by the size, but I’m not sure since the temple doesn’t announce the result of appraisal either. Hence, we can only rely on our guess.”

“Still… I wish that the temple will give us a proper explanation in this regard.”

Understanding my own power was important after all, and that’s why I wish that I could learn the fundamentals.

“… It’s a tough problem since you can say that this matter is related to the honor of the house. Look, it’s not like people don’t want to know the exact result of the appraisal, but…” Father stopped talking at that point and brushed my head gently as he continued, “Anyhow, the fact that you have four attributes is already amazing enough. However, some people may end up envying you for this. As such, you have to be very careful. Do not boast about this matter carelessly, understand?”

“Yes, I understand, Father.”

“By the way, Theodore, what are you going to do with those gems? Are you going to leave it as it is? If you want to manufacture it into something more useful, I suggest you invite a veteran and tough craftsman to do it for you.”

Father also mentioned that normally, in the case of earth attributes, the materialized gems or metals were turned into an amulet that would be given as a present to the person they love.

“What about yours, Father?”

“Well, since mine is brass, I made it into a pedestal for brooch. As I engraved our family crest on it, you’ll inherit it from me when I die.” Father said before he showed the brooch fixed on his collar.

“See this? This is also something that was created from earth attributes of our elder generation. This is how we passed the baton to the next generation. Some look like ordinary stone on the roadside, but it’s still useful after proper manufacturing. You can say that this is what makes earth attribute so enviable. It can be passed down to our descendants since it is in material form.”

My father then smiled wryly at me. “In your case, you can manufacture all the gems separately or combine it in one design. Well, I suppose you can also leave the gems as it is. Anyhow, just tell me what you want to do with those gems when you’re ready, I’ll make the arrangement for you immediately.”

Since that was the case, then I knew what I wanted to do with them. It’s decided. It can only be for that, right? I smiled and said, “I want to manufacture them and give them to Muriel as a present. Can I do that?”

I mean… Father himself has personally said that it can be manufactured into an amulet for your loved ones’ present. So, I want to give it to Muriel as some sort of commemoration.

“Is that so? You really love Miss Muriel, eh…”

For some reason, my father looked slightly dumbfounded when he said that, and I pouted. How could you say that when you’re head over heels for Mama, Papa?

“Well, there’s no problem with your idea, but… it’ll be problematic if you give an extremely precious gem as a gift without special occasion. But I guess you can use that as the present for your engagement ceremony.”

I see… Thank goodness.

“However, don’t give all of your gems to her. You still have to prevent people from knowing all your attributes after all. The gold one is okay, and I suppose another one is alright too, but that should be the limit of it. Alright?”

“Yes!”

Well, then, which gems should I use now I wonder… Muriel’s image is blue… or perhaps it is green? Alright, it’s decided, let’s go with the emerald one. So, since Father allowed gold to be known, let’s split the gold one in half. I’ll give Muriel the gold and emerald gems, while leaving the sapphire, ruby, and the other half of the gold for myself. I nodded my head before telling the plan to my father, who immediately agreed when he heard it.

“The craftsman may come tomorrow. That person should be able to come up with several nice designs after you consult him.”

Oh, yeah, design… Thanks a lot for the design. Anyhow, let’s split the gold gem now… I placed the golden sphere on the palm of my hand and imagined it splitting into two.

Thereupon, a beautiful split formed right in the middle of the golden sphere. However, I also found a transparent gem in the cross section.

… Eh? I tilted my head and took the gem out. It looked like a round crystal, and it was even smaller than the emerald gem. I immediately thought of something and hurriedly focused my consciousness to the flow of my magical power.

It turned out that the yellow part of my magical power took it out along with it since the poor thing couldn’t move as freely as the others. Good job, yellow one, the white one is out now thanks to you (XP).

Hmm, the white one turned out to be the shy guy… wait… why do you guys have emotions?

“Dad, this…” I looked up and found my father had this certain distant look on his face that caused me to scratch my hair.

Aah, okay, I understand.

“… Maybe we have to hide the crystal.”

See~.

Still, seriously, just what in the world was this? The magical power of this world was too uninhibited. Perhaps I had to raise my mastery of sorcery first so I could build a proper communication channel with them…

“… Maybe your magical power is special…” Father muttered, not sounding sure.

It seemed that it was common knowledge that magical power had no will on its own, but mine… At this point, I couldn’t help but feel anxious about my abnormally emotional magical power.

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After all, my father even told me to speak to him as soon as I felt something was wrong with my condition.

Well, not like I had a choice but to agree since this phenomenon was different from the norm. Especially since I personally had no idea about the norm thanks to my lack of knowledge over magic. I guess I had to rely on my father in this regard.

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The craftsman really did come the next day, and after a series of discussions, we decided to make a pendant. Of course, I only agreed after I heard that I could engrave words of love on the pendant that would be given as present.

What was carved in the bottom of the top of the pendant I decided for Muriel imitated the words my ancestor wrote for the saint. It was ‘I, Theodore, offer my true love to my beloved, Muriel’ in a small and neat characters’ string. Naturally, I wrote it in the language of this world, not in Japanese.

As for the accessories meant for me, it was simpler. I only wrote ‘Theodore & Muriel’ on it. Although it was embarrassing, let’s just endure it since it was the gift for our engagement ceremony.

… And don’t say that my feeling was heavy. I did realize it was a little bit too much, okay? Still… that much should be okay, right?