CH 142

Chapter 142 of “Mastering Magic in an Otome Game Part 4 (Eildart Castle During Winter Break)”

A new morning has come!

So, even though I was a little sleep-deprived, all my relatives gathered together after breakfast to greet one another for a happy new year, and then we boarded the carriage to the Einschutt territory.

The main members of this trip were the nine of us—Father, Mother, myself, the Virgil main family, and the Jaime main family. We would be accompanied by Connie, Safiro, and the rest of the servants and aides.

Incidentally, the same two people would continue to be the carriage guards for the Virgil brothers. I heard that the local guild members wanted to replace them, but they took the initiative and stood up for themselves. Brother was quite well-liked.

The grandfather, grandmother, and other elder members of the family, as well as the current stewards, generally stayed behind or returned to the territory for reasons such as, ‘It’s not good to have everyone away from the territory,’ or ‘it’s hard to travel long distances.’

The journey from the royal capital to Jaime Castle took about a day or two by carriage, but the journey from Jaime territory to Einschutt territory took several days.

The carriage was rather rickety and tedious, but as long as I could fit in between my parents and talk about the time we had spent away from each other, the carriage ride naturally became lively.

“Well! So the rumor that the cafeteria had suddenly changed a lot was really a credit to Alice after all.”

“Ehehe. But Connie and the cooks also worked hard together, so it’s more of a credit to everyone rather than to just me.”

“I’m sure that the reason why Eleanor has been eating so poorly since she was a student is because she didn’t like the seasonings. I’m sure there are other kids out there who are secretly grateful.”

“Yes, I’m sure there are. I’m sure there are also others in my territory who would like to try this recipe.”

I still get so happy when someone pats me on the back and says, ‘Good job, good job.’

Seeing my mother’s smile, which was more of a beauty of shining health rather than a fleeting and ethereal beauty, strengthened my feelings.

However, there was one thing that had not yet been introduced in the school cafeteria.

It was rice…or rather porridge-type dishes by this world’s standards.

As usual, in this world that was quite medieval in some strange ways, there was a strong sense that rice, or porridge, was the food of the commoners.

Rather than porridge, it was more like a mixture of rice and other ingredients. Some people say that they never eat porridge, especially millet porridge or milk porridge, because they are the food of the poor.

To put it in a more nuanced way, it was more like the ‘It’s like I’m so poor that I have to fill my stomach with cereal, I absolutely hate it…’

I haven’t even heard anything about good rice, and the road to recreating Japanese food using nutritious millet rice or fluffy white rice was still very steep.

But from what I heard, my mother seems to like Japanese food. She likes good food, but she doesn’t like strong flavors.

I’m thinking that I should try harder to improve her health…

As we talked about such trivial things, we passed through several inn towns and stayed overnight.

As I looked at the scenery, I remembered something.

“Father, Father. Do you know much about magic circles?”

Speaking of the inn town, I discovered tarot magic near Clarus and decided to study it.

The effect was too terrifying, so I hadn’t tried it at all since that time.

My father used an interrogation magic on Rouge, and I wondered if he knew anything about magic circles.

“I guess? Well, I took an honors course in magic circles, so I’m not too bad at it. What’s wrong?”

Hmm. I didn’t know what to ask.

I opened my mouth while thinking that I couldn’t say the word ‘tarot.’

“Um…Is there a magic circle that doesn’t require chanting of spells?”

It was an abstract question, however, my father gave it serious thought.

“Chanting spells…As far as I know, I wonder if it is always necessary before or after the installation to activate the magic circle. The more elements you have in the circle, the more complex and lengthy the spell that is the key to unlocking those elements.”

“Is that so…”

That’s right.

The Tarot was unusual in that it could be used to perform complex magic with just three words: ‘Spread (deployment),’ ‘Reading (interpretation),’ and ‘Position (upright or reversal).’

Even the two effects of restraint and attack on a single person required advance preparation, a large magic circle, spell chanting and an additional magic power supply, so the power of tarots was still unknown.

As I was nodding my head, my mother murmured to me,

“Oh, but…although its not quite the same as a magic circle, rune lettering does not require chanting.”

“Ah, yes, indeed. It seems that skilled ones can be effective just by carving them on the ground with magical power.”

Oh, new information.

The school’s elementary rune textbooks contained the meanings of pronunciation and the lettering. However, the contents of the preparation did not include such a wild usage.

I thought that the runes of this world were usually used to carve letters into materials such as magic stones, little by little, while carefully putting magic power and will into them, and then using them as magical tools to call out their names when activated. But they could also be used as an instant magic circle.

However, runes were so weak in their effect that they were sometimes called “whispers of the world.” Even if they were set up instantly, the only effects one would get were a feeling of wind blowing or a slight chill in the air…very different from what Alice would consider a non-chanting magic circle.

“I see. Thank you, Father, Mother.”

A whisper of the world, huh?

I hadn’t used rune lettering yet, but it seemed to have a rather weak effect based on what I was told.

…However, as we talked, one more thing came to my mind.

It was the word ‘lettering.’

In this world, the Tarots, which was believed to have power in the occult world of my past life, was a serious form of magic.

If that was the case, I wondered if the ‘Hebrew letters’ used in tarot designs had some kind of power in the form of sorcery.

…No, I’m sure there is. By this logic, it’s more like these are ancient magic scripts that have been lost.

If that was the case, I could imagine that the effect would not just be ‘the whispers of the world,’ but rather something more like ‘the screams of the world in a rooftop confession contest.’

I secretly held my head in my hands, not knowing whether to be hopeful or scared of the many secrets I was holding.