CH 61

61 The Barrier is Perfect?

Before I noticed it, the black cat had already vanished to god knows where. Muriel was saddened by that fact, yet it really couldn’t be helped since cats are by nature a creatures of whims.

However, I know now that Muriel loves cat, though she might not be allowed to raise them. As such, perhaps I could use this chance to visit the pet store with her? Or perhaps something like cat cafe? Wait, did pet store even exists in this world?

Hmm… let’s find out after this. I decided.

When I nodded my head, I suddenly noticed that Bates was glaring at the thicket where the black cat showed up. He then went and talked to the chamberlain of the duke family. When they were talking, I noticed that the chamberlain’s expression rapidly changed the longer Bates spoke. What was more curious, the moment Bates finished talking, the chamberlain immediately sprinted out of training ground.

It seems that something has just happened… something we’re unaware of. I wonder what happened?

I knew something was wrong from the look on their faces, and so did everyone else. However, no one interrupted them since we might have realized that this matter must be something that was beyond our current capabilities.

Thus, everyone opted to simply observed the conversation in silence. Everyone also seemed to be prepared for whatever Bates was going to say next.

“Well, then, let us begin the lesson.”

Alas, without telling us anything, he just straight up explaining the barrier to us.

Wait, shouldn’t he at least explain the gist of the situation to us first?

“Bates-dono, are you willing to tell us what happened just a while ago?”

""

A brave man, the black ranger (Rex), stepped forward and asked the question that we wanted to ask the most. Witnessing his bravery, I almost reflexively clapped my hand to cheer him on. Fortunately, I restrained myself and simply perked up my ears.

“Yes, but not now. All you need to know is that it’s about something really important. Furthermore, rather than telling you something that you won’t understand, it’ll be more efficient to teach you to understand the situation.”

Bates stopped talking and looked at each of us before he opened his mouth, “Naturally, you won’t hear about this matter from me. Your father will be the one telling you about this. They also will be the one to judge whether you’re ready for this or not. So, do not ask me further.”

Bates ended, scratching the back of his head as he glanced at our back, where Kevin, Richard stood with the others’ attendants.

Ah, I see now.

This matter should be kept a secret from them as well, huh? At the very least, from Bates’ gesture, he had no idea which of our attendants had already received explanation from the head of the family. Hence his discretion.

In my case, though, Kevin might already be informed by my father. Still, Bates’ caution was good since the same couldn’t be said about Richard who was around my age. I suppose that’s why he told us to ask our fathers directly.

As I arrived to that conclusion, I noted that Rex perhaps also caught the cues in Bates’ explanation for he didn’t persist in his questioning.

◇

“Now then, let’s start with making the magic circle used for barrier. All magic circles basically has hexagram inside. By this point, you should’ve already realized that each side of the hexagram represents one of the six attributes.”

Bates began explaining. According to him, the hexagram was made of three sides of light in the upper half, and three sides of darkness in the lower half. The three sides of light was 【Light】, 【Wind】, and 【Fire】 attributes, representing vitality and fluctuation, while the three side of darkness was 【Darkness】, 【Earth】, and 【Water】 attributes, representing stillness and tranquility.

The combination of the two sides would then give birth to harmony and equilibrium.

AD

“There are various opinion and theories about this matter, but this one is the most popular one. The space of ‘Harmony and Equilibrium’ which is born from the thinking that the formation of the hexagram is the basic of barrier. Magic tool is the application for that, to manifest the intended magic phenomenon inside the equilibrium space. Well, that’s the gist of this magic.”

Anyhow, according to Bates, the hexagram was the basic.

“This knowledge alone is enough to make a simple barrier, but I want to remind you that barrier is made to protect you from evil creatures. However, for it to be effective, your magical power has to reach a certain threshold first. That said, the amount of magical power of most normal people will usually not be enough to form a barrier alone, that’s why barrier is usually formed by several people working together. In short, it should only be casted by at least six people with each person representing one attribute. That’s the gist of it.”

After that, Bates gathered the boys to the center of the training ground. He then arranged us in a certain composition. From clockwise direction, White (Elliot) stood at the head followed by Blue (Simeon), Green (Luke), Black (Rex), Red (Vince), and Yellow (Me), forming a circle.

“You’ve to remember this position. The order in clockwise direction is light, water, wind, darkness, fire, and earth. The nature of the attributes that face each other has to contradict one another, while the attributes on both side of your attribute has to be one with good compatibility with yours. Lastly, the hexagram is made by combining a triangle of light and inverted triangle of darkness.”

So, in my case, the one in front of me should be Luke who had wind attribute as his main that contradicted my own main attribute. Then beside me should be Elliot and Vince who had light (Elliot) and fire (Vince) attributes that had good affinities with my own.

Then, as Simeon has water attribute, Rex has darkness attribute, and I have earth attribute, the three of us would form the inverted triangle of darkness in this hexagram.

Hmm, so that’s why I only managed to create tiny emerald in that test before… Well, aside from that white crystal of course.

I meant, yellow and that fella (white crystal) were too uninhibited, so let’s not use them as an example.

“Now, close your eyes and grab the hands of the one by your sides.”

Geh, I have to hold hand with Elliot?!

When I turned around to look at Elliot, I found that he was also making a face at that thought. It was as if I was the last person he wanted to hold hand with, but then that expression immediately vanished as if it wasn’t there in the first place.

AD

Haah, this fella is still the same. He’s still not very nice. I withheld my sigh and the urge to roll my eyes. Stop making that poker face, will ya?! It may be a necessary skill for a king, but you’re still ten years old boy, alright?! You can show a little bit of selfishness here, you know?! No one’s gonna blame you for that!

Honestly, the most scary thing about this kid was the fact that I had no idea what he’s thinking about.

Anyhow, despite being reluctant, I safely grabbed Vince’s left hand and Elliot’s right hand. After that, everyone shut their eyes once we confirmed that all of us had held each other’s hands.

“Listen, His Highness Elliot, Luke, and Vince are the light of the morning sun while Simeon, Rex, and Theodore are the light of the fullmoon. Now, release your magical power slowly. Do it calmly and slowly. Adjust your magical power with the other around you.”

Following Bates’ direction, the light of the fullmoon’s group released our magical power slowly. At the same time, the other group also released their magical power. We then tuned the magical powers to be in sync with each others.

My magical power connected itself to water (Simeon) and darkness (Rex), forming the inverted triangle of darkness that Bates mentioned. And along with the two sides of triangle of light (Elliot) and fire (Vince) on my sides, the two triangles were enclosed in a circle.

When I felt that our magical powers had already been tuned to be in sync with each other, Bates suddenly raised his voice and said, “Great. You can stop releasing your magical powers now and try to open your eyes.”

When I did as he said and opened my eyes, I saw that there was a hexagram magic circle beneath our feet casting a pale light as we enclosed it in circle.

“W… WOOOW…!”

“This is a barrier. Take a look at the glowing magic circle. The light that represent the sun and the moon there are acting as your protector from the evil when this barrier is cast.”

So this was what he meant by the light of the sun and the moon in the beginning…

Indeed, the air inside this barrier felt lighter. Just like the air in the temple.

AD

“Seriously, they actually succeeded in one try… It’s too much even for a genius, alright?! So, the speculation is right, these kids might…” Bates murmured something I couldn’t hear clearly on the side. He then cleared his throat and said, “Anyhow, this method is often used when there’s six users.”

After saying this, Bates next took out an enchanted magic crystal and went to the center of the hexagram.

“The barrier will stay when we use enchanted magic crystal like this one. This can also be used to expand the range of the barrier and block physical attack.”

Following that, the next lesson was a way to increase the magical power of the barrier by adding another person in the hexagram.

“It feels like the barrier that encloses the Royal Capital and the Kingdom. Of course, those barrier’s structures are more complex than this, but the basic is the same. Anyway, the enchanted magic crystal that will become the cornerstone is called the barrier crystal, and it’s protected by the temple in each region. Well, since it’s literally some kind of magic tools, there’s also a need for regular maintenance that’s done through the cooperation between the Court Mage Department and Magic Tool Research Institute. However, essentially, it’s still under the jurisdiction of the temple.”

Hee, so the Royal Capital and the Kingdom were being protected by the barrier… So that’s the reason why the security in the important facilities was not that tight. The barrier’s existence minimized the need for that. Moreover, the one with jurisdiction over the barrier was actually not the Court Mage Department or the Research Institute, but the temple.

“The temple has been protecting the kingdom since the saint’s era after all. And though protecting the barrier crystal is important, maintaining the barrier takes priority, which the temple has been doing to their utmost by giving their mana and prayer to maintain the barrier everyday.”

Simeon explained as if he had long since known about it. And perhaps he might just knew about this for a long time… As expected of the son of the bishop. He knew more about the temple than us.

“The barrier has been strengthened after the rumor about the demon race’s appearance three years ago spread. Hence, even the demon race is powerless inside the barrier.” Simeon continued explaining, expression full of confidence. Alas…

“… Or so how it’s supposed to be.”

Bates was muttering some worrisome remark.

“Okay, now is the girls’ turn.”

""

However, he suddenly turned around and urged the girls next with a bright voice that was free from concern.

Eh? What’s with your worry from a moment ago?! Is it fake?!