CH 31

“In this case, it’s for a gift, so let’s assume that it works as some kind of good luck charm.”

As he said this, my father pointed to the parchment I had written on.

“Let’s try to decipher the elements of Calendula’s fire, Sage’s wind and Coltsfoot’s water. First of all, what do you think we can associate with fire?”

My father’s quiet voice makes me sit and think.

“The fire…sways and moves, creating bright light and shadows…it’s hot, creates ashes and charcoal…it’s powerful?”

As I said so slowly, my father nodded.

“Yeah, that’s pretty good. So what about the wind of Sage?”

Wind. The wind, huh?

“Swaying, hot or cold, carrying something…? It’s fast or it stays…”

That was also pretty good, apparently.

“Then, finally, what do you imagine from water?”

“Water is…necessary for life, it’s soft, and it’s also like a mirror… it reflects something…?”

I need more vocabulary and imagery skills as soon as possible…

But my father was satisfied.

“Yeah. That image is pretty good for you.”

Then he turned the pages of the “Spiritual Herbs and the Magic of Change” book.

The book was so thick that it made a heavy noise when he placed it down, and each time we turned a page, it gave off a little dust and the scent of ink.

The page that was opened had the heading, “All About Mixing and the Outcomes of the Three.”

“They’re often divided into books that search by material name and books that search by element. In this case, there are three types, which are unique, so let’s take a look here.”

“Three different characteristics?”

When I asked him this, my father smiled mischievously.

“Of course. Imagine. What would happen if you put fire and wind in one pot?”

“Fire and wind…hmmm. Would it burn too much and scorch your pot? Or would the wind be too strong and put out the fire?”

My father nodded.

“Yes. It is inherently difficult to handle even two kinds of things like that. What do you think would happen if you put water in there?”

“Well…”

I try to imagine it.

If water is poured on a fire that is burning with the wind, the fire will disappear.

If you blow the wind over the water heated by the fire, it will cool down.

Is it possible that a carefully regulated wind blowing over a fire can turn the water in the pot into boiling hot, fast, boiling water?

But the end result is the same as if the fire alone were to continue to heat it.

“Ummm, I don’t think all three combined are that good…?”

“That’s right. It’s not easy to see at first glance, but with a combination of the various images I just mentioned, it should be different.”

For example, he pointed to one of the items on the page we opened.

“Let’s look at the three elements of grass, fire and wind. If we just make a simple association, the flames burned up by the windmill also end up burning up the grass.”

However, the item my father is pointing to is the “Evil Wind Amulet.”

“By carefully superimposing the three elements of the plant, the image of a plant growing towards the sun, the shifting wind that carries it away, and the fire as a reminder of purification and power—with magical power, it becomes a talisman to ward away evil”

“Yes…”

It’s starting to feel like an association game.

At any rate, I understood that the evil wind was a technique that was beneficial to people, in spite of its surprisingly dark name.

However, is such an association game really a spiritual herb technique?

I had all these questions, but my father continued to explain.

“Of course, you can’t just put a bunch of elements together. You need to instruct and fix what characteristics to draw out of the elements. That’s where the person’s magical powers and various equipment come in.”

“Oh…”

“The more you try to bring out features that are closer to symbols and images, which are different from naturally occurring phenomena, the more valuable magic tools and other catalysts will be.”

There was a proper continuation of the explanation. I see.

“But in this case, I doubt that a magic tool was even necessary. After all, it was made by Oluris. The Virgil family’s bloodline is particularly good at plant magic, so they should be able to get the desired effect out of the elements.”

“Oh, really?!”

When I was surprised that there was such a cheat, my father huffed.

“That said, neither Count Virgil nor Will have that much power. Oluris-kun is special.”

“I see, so that was the case…”

As expected of an otome game’s capture target. It seems that his very existence was a cheat.

“Assuming that that is the case, let’s look at the three elements, fire, wind, and water.”

“Yes!”

I went back to the table of contents and then turned to the pages about the combination of those three elements.

There were several techniques described.

“Since there is Sage and Coltsfoot this time, I guess this is it.”

With that, my father pointed to a certain technique.