Volume 3 - CH 3

It was my first day at work after the graduation ceremony, a fun night of partying and a short break.

I quickly walked down the corridor in my brand-new robes early in the morning.

I didn’t pass anyone and there were no obstacles to the old wooden doors that stood at the end of the path.

I reached the door, knocked on it four times and then opened the door without waiting for a reply.

“Good morning! My name is Aime and I’ve been assigned to the Magic Tool Development Department!”

I was going to continue with, “Nice to meet you,” but I held my tongue since no one was here.

My cheerful voice reverberated off the stone wall and echoed.

… Hmm, was I too early?

There weren’t many people in the lab either. I just couldn’t wait. I barely slept last night since I was so excited.

I closed the door and went inside. The first thing that caught my eye in the square room was the pile of swords near the wall.

I took one and examined it before anyone else could come in. There was a round hole near the end of the hilt. Maybe that was where the magic stone was placed. It reminded me of Gis-nee’s sword.

I pulled the sword out of the scabbard and found that the sword wasn’t new and had nicks on it.

Do they repair swords here too?

I don’t know how to repair swords, but I’m sure blacksmiths repair katanas by thrusting them into hearths.

I looked around the room but there was no hearth. There was a fireplace, but I don’t think they used that to repair swords.

It wouldn’t seem out of place even if this room had a large blacksmith-like hearth.

The other mage labs are carpeted and filled with desks and chairs giving off the impression of an office, but this room was bare. The floors and walls were made of stone and gave the impression of an artisan’s workshop.

It was a bit cold, but I didn’t dislike this cold and quiet space.

The only drawback of this room was that it was a bit too cluttered. There were tools and notepads scattered all over the dirty floor and it was dusty.

The personality of the people working in this room was questionable. Maybe they didn’t show us this room during our briefing because they didn’t want us to see how dirty it was.

I put the sword back onto the pile and peeked over at the wide workbench attached to the wall with the window.

Countless papers were scattered on the table, and there was a red magic stone next to a pen.

You can’t handle precious magic stones like this.

You should at least clean the workbench.

I complained in my mind, but those things stopped mattering once I saw what was written on the paper.

It looked like a magic circle.

One of the sheets of paper I picked up had Mitoan letters written along lines in the gaps between the quadruple circle, and in the small circle at the centre of the magic circle was a single letter that indicated the nature of what this magic circle was used for.

The other pieces of papers also had circles on them, some had more circles, some with less.

These shapes looked familiar to me. I’m certain I saw something similar engraved in Giedt’s eye.

Will anyone be able to use magic if this magic circle is engraved onto magic stones?

Though, I don’t think Gis-nee’s sword had anything like this on it. Well, it might have letters on it but I don’t remember seeing any. I might have missed it.

Anyways, let’s continue. I picked up the red magic circle lying on the bench with my left hand.

It was large enough to fit into the palm of my hand; the surface was polished flat and there were already letters carved on it.

It looked like the same magic circle as the one that was written on the paper in my right hand.

I looked at the letter and it looked like a ‘fire’ spell.

The letter in the centre represented <Heat>, and the string of letters near it specify the position where it should be activated and the direction; both common elements that mages incorporate into their spells.

That was all I could figure out. I didn’t know what the rest meant.

There were lots of words mixed in there that weren’t used in normal spells, and I could read the string of letters near the edge, but I didn’t know what they meant.

How the heck is this supposed to be activated?

I couldn’t feel mana from the magic stone, so I knew it was still closed.

When a magic stone is opened, the mana in the stone emanates into the air. Mages can feel this mana on their skin, and it flows into their body when they touch an opened magic stone.

I was curious to see what would happen if I opened the magic stone, but I shouldn’t.

By the way, even a magic stone owned by one person can be opened by another if they just listen to the opening spell.

But you have to ask the owner of the magic stone for the sealing spell. The magic stone will only ask the person who first opened it the ‘zen-like’ question.

So, if someone uses a magic stone without knowing the sealing spell and goes out of control, then they won’t be able to stop the spell until the magic stone runs out of mana.

It felt like a malicious system. You can listen to the opening spell, but you shouldn’t carelessly use someone else’s magic stone. So, I shouldn’t carelessly open this magic stone either.

Argh, I really want to know what it does!

At that moment, the bell signalling the start of work rang.

It was about time for someone to come in. I couldn’t wait to meet them.

Come on! Or I’ll look around some more.

I saw another door in front of me.

I didn’t notice it earlier because of the protruding wall but it was right behind me when I stood facing the window.

I assumed that no one would be inside and opened the door without knocking.

The strong smell of alcohol immediately hit my nose.

It’s so strong!

Why does the workplace smell like this?

There was a bed at the corner of the small room with a small old man sleeping on it.

He was clutching a bottle of alcohol in his bony hand and was wearing a white robe, the proof of a mage, as a blanket. There were numerous bottles, identical to the one he was holding, lying on the floor.

A little snore would escape from him every now and then.

Erm….

“Go~od mor~ning~?”

I heard a voice behind me while I was trying to decide what to do.

The way the voice went up at the end of the greeting was probably because they saw me.

I turned around and just ahead of me was a man with one leg hooked on the windowsill. He looked as if he had just entered.

We both froze and time seemed to have stopped for a moment. The old man’s snoring echoed in my ears.

Hmm…. Oh yeah, I want to scream.

WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?!