CH 9

Best Friend (reminiscence)

(Belladonna’s point of view)

I am Belladonna.

I am the daughter of the Marquis Vostok and a potential fiancée of His Royal Highness, Crown Prince David.

However, I think this title of “prospective fiancée” will soon disappear.

I was surprised to see Alyssa, a commoner’s daughter, drinking tea in front of my eyes.

I have known about Alyssa since I first entered the academy.

She stood out from the crowd.

It was partly because she was a beautiful girl with crimson hair and performed well in the entrance examinations, but most of all, it was because she was the daughter of a great sage.

The title “Great Sage,” which is a little too grandiose for a commoner, was personally bestowed by His Majesty the King of the Magic Kingdom of Moshevni.

This title is not a title of nobility, although it has the same privilege as nobility in that it is exempt from taxes, and is encouraged to continue to work on magic research and contribute to our country.

Therefore, not only his daughter Alyssa, but even Master Lian, who has earned the title of “Great Sage,” is a mere commoner.

Then, how did a commoner become known as a great sage?

The reason lies in the achievements of Master Lian.

He wrote “The Complete Book of Magic”.

He traveled around the world as a magic researcher from his youth. He investigated the “stone tablets” enshrined in temples in various countries and regions and the spells written on them, and summarized them in a book along with his own views on what kind of magic exists in which region and how it is performed. He has compiled his findings into a book.

This revealed the existence of magic in faraway and unfamiliar places that were not in our own sphere of existence, and this led to the exchange of magical technology with places with which there had been no exchange before.

The discovery of new magic, which had previously stalled, led to the creation of many new technologies, including the “Karakuri” developed in Yamato.

Because of his achievements, Master Lian came to be called a sage, and in light of his reputation throughout the world, His Majesty himself specially bestowed the title of “Great Sage” on Master Lian, who was a commoner.

He himself is not an outstandingly powerful magician by the standards of the nobility, even among commoners.

Of course, he is by no means a magician of exceptional power, nor does he have access to rare magic.

However, his influence on this world is tremendous.

Therefore, as a nation, we cannot afford to neglect him just because he is a commoner.

Why was magic that exists in other lands not introduced to us before Master Lian?

The reason lies in the method of learning magic and the “disappearance of the stone tablet” that occurred about 200 years ago and the subsequent destruction of the Holy Kingdom of Soran.

Magic in this world was given to the people living in this land by the gods in the heavens long ago.

People can use magic by chanting words or spells given by the gods with their own magical power.

The power and perfection of the spells are determined by the amount of magic power, the correct image of the spell, and the correct pronunciation of the spell.

Incidentally, this is also the result of Master Lian’s research, and it is written in the Complete Book of Magic.

The “Complete Book of Magic” is now the bible for serious students of magic, and has even been officially adopted as a textbook in magic studies at the Moshevni Academy of Magic.

The problem, however, is pronunciation.

The words of the gods are so advanced that they are terribly difficult to pronounce.

Usually, a person who is eager to learn magic first learns the spell from a teacher and memorizes it.

Then, when they have learned the pronunciation of the spell to a certain degree, they go to the temple to learn how to pronounce the spell correctly.

The “tablet” is used for this purpose.

Spells are written on the stone tablets in the temples in the ancient script of the gods, and when a person traces the letters with their finger, the voice of the gods and the correct pronunciation of the spell echoes in the mind of the person who traced the letters.

Those who wish to learn a spell go to the temple where the tablet is enshrined and repeatedly listen to the correct pronunciation of the spell to acquire the correct pronunciation.

This is the way to learn magic in this world.

The problem here is that once a spell is learned, it cannot be used forever.

Even the correct pronunciation once learned will gradually fall apart with continued use.

The accuracy of the magic is gradually lost, and eventually the magic itself ceases to work.

This is why people regularly visit temples to maintain the accuracy of their spells by touching the tablet and listening to the correct pronunciation.

Therefore, no matter what kind of spell, it cannot be learned or maintained in a land far away from the temple where the spell is located.

For this reason, there has been no spreading of strange magic to other lands, and no one has bothered to investigate the magic if it is unusable anyway.

So, why not just move the tablet itself? 

In the past, there was a country that tried to gather all the stone tablets in the world into one place, intending to monopolize magic.

It was the Kingdom of Soran, a great country that had achieved world domination.

Seven days later, all the stone tablets collected from the temples to the capital disappeared.

This is what is known as the “disappearance of the stone tablets”.

The kingdom lost a lot of magic in this incident and went into decline. The royal family fell under strong opposition from the people, and the Kingdom of Soran was destroyed.

Today, the Solan (formerly known as Soran) Empire is newly established, but the effects of the loss of the tablets are still felt 200 years later, and the once great power of the Soran Empire has faded away.

After this historic event, temples were declared inviolable, and the world came to realize that the stone tablets were protected but not monopolized.

Thanks to this, even people from other countries, such as Master Lian, were able to freely research rare spells that could have been considered national treasures….

Anyway, as the daughter of a great sage who had made such great achievements, she was the focus of attention from students and teachers throughout the academy from the very beginning of her enrollment.

Perhaps it was only natural that His Royal Highness Crown Prince David, a magic enthusiast, would be interested in her.

However, it was during the tournament that his Royal Highness’s feelings turned towards her.

It was the final of the team competition between the Royal Capital and the Vostok Domain.

Standing against me, leading the Vostok team, was His Royal Highness Crown Prince David.

And standing alongside His Royal Highness was a girl with red lotus hair, Alyssa.

Slowly, a hand was raised in front of me, and beautiful words were spun.

Then the flames that had been started gradually took shape and transformed into a golden firebird.

It was a phoenix, the spirit that presided over the flames, spoken of only in mythology.

It was a beautiful magic I had never heard of or seen before.

Her teammates were in a state of panic at the sight of the phoenix she unleashed.

It was only natural.

A great spirit of fire that existed only in mythology was now descending on me.

Even I couldn’t stop shaking.

***

The result, of course, was a disastrous defeat for the Vostok team.

It was so one-sided and cruel that it was hard to believe that it was a final exam.

Later, it turned out that the phoenix magic Alyssa had used in the final was no more powerful than a simple fireball, a mere scare tactic, so to speak, and everyone’s interest in the spell rapidly waned.

Nevertheless, the phoenix that Alyssa created at that time was truly beautiful, and it is an undeniable fact that Alyssa’s fan base grew rapidly after that tournament.

It was after that tournament that I, too, started to communicate with Alyssa, and now we have established a relationship that can be described as that of close friends.

The final of the tournament.

Until then, somewhere in the back of my mind, I underestimated her for being just a commoner’s daughter, but that day, I was unintentionally drawn in by the fiery crimson-haired girl standing gracefully with her shining incarnation of flames.

It was impossible for His Highness, who was standing beside her and watching her up close, not to think that she was beautiful…

As expected, after that, His Highness went to Alyssa’s house to learn magic from the great sage, and upon graduation from the academy, he officially announced his refusal to succeed to the throne and his engagement to Alyssa.

I, who was originally supposed to marry the crown prince and become a legitimate wife, became engaged to the newly crowned second prince, His Royal Highness Prince Carlos, but in hindsight, I think it was for the best.

***

Between the two of them, I preferred Carlos to David because he was cuter and more to my liking.

I am happy that David married Alyssa, and thanks to that, even now that I am queen, we can have tea together as sister and sister-in-law, just like when we were students.