Volume 6 - Prologue

One’s Elders

Similar to how there was a limit to the number of characters that could be written on a piece of paper, there was also a limit to the magic crestsHieratika that could be carved on the skin.

How densely could the magic crests be carved on a fixed surface area—simply put, that was directly connected to the “skilfulness” of the magic warriorsMarefikos. Magic warriors who possessed a lot of magic crests could reproduce that many diverse magic circles and use diverse magic, after all.

Generally, it was said that a smooth and beautiful skin was the best canvas for drawing magic crests. The fact that one of the requirements for the Dominas, who should be the pinnacle of magic warriors, was to be a young and beautiful girl most likely wasn’t unrelated to this.

At present, something on which magic crests could be drawn more efficiently than their beautiful skins and could let magic power flow didn’t exist.

Even the heat of the full-blown summer didn’t penetrate inside this royal villa. From the start, as the summers in Ahmad were bright and clear, it wasn’t particularly difficult to get through them, but the summer in this royal villa was so cool that one would want to suspect that perhaps it was the result of using magic or something.

In the courtyard of Bradmante Palace, Dimitar Richternach, who was being treated to a quite cold black tea in an arbour on the side of a small pond, put down his cup and shifted his gaze.

「Hoho」

That voice of wonder was theatrical in some way. She probably wasn’t making fun of him in particular, but that most likely must be one of her means of self-effacement towards all people except herself. There didn’t seem to be a person who could read the real intention of this small Head Dominas.

Shakira Babel, who was holding a sparkling mass of metal aloft in the sunlight, looked back at Dimitar after nodding slightly with a “Hmm”.

「Hey, Dii-kun」

「What is it?」

「Hoi」

Right after she said so lightly, Shakira threw the mass of metal.

「—To」

Standing up instantly, Dimitar extended his arm and caught it.

「…I said “Please treat it with care” at the beginning, didn’t I?」

「I treated it with care properly. From here, it’s Dii-kun’s job to bring it back safely, right?」

「Good grief…」

She was a woman who always have a comeback as usual. Dimitar suppressed a slight irritation, put the mass of metal into a bag and hung it from his waist.

「—So?」

「So? —What do you mean by that?」

「Like I said, I want to hear Your Eminence’s opinion. …From the start, I came here for that; you didn’t forget that, did you?」

「Is that so?」

Shakira entered the arbour nonchalantly and sipped her black tea. Dimitar stared at the woman in her forties, who only looked like a girl, coldly and let out a murmur.

「…Setting your appearance aside, that forgetfulness of yours seems to have become more severe considerably, huh」

「Mu? You used abusive language towards me just now, right?」

「Please interpret it not as abusive language but admonition」

Dimitar deliberately put his right hand on his chest and bent at the waist courteously.

「—Your Eminence is the one and only “Dominas of Eternity”Domina Permanence in the whole world and the person who should also be called the greatest treasure of our Ahmad, but if it became known that that Eminence has, in reality, secretly aged inside, you’ll surely become the laughingstock of the whole world. …That’s why this unworthy me hardened my heart and said this. Since that forgetfulness of yours has become so bad, Your Eminence can no longer perform your duties as a Dominas—」

「Aah aah aah! You’re so, that!」

Shakira, who had rested her chin in her hands and shown a pouting expression, interrupted the words of the insolent boy and screamed.

「—From the beginning, you were a child who could express yourself well, but after you frequent the workshop of that eccentric, you’ve improved even more!」

「Thanks for that」

Shrugging his shoulders, Dimitar sat down again.

Dimitar understood that there was no way that Shakira would seriously get angry from this much. From her point of view, this most likely was nothing more than the extent of an impudent kid talking impertinently. In fact, Shakira was showing her usual grin already. She, who was lonely because of her status, might be enjoying having such a conversational exchange with Dimitar.

「—Speaking of which, it seems that Your Eminence knew about the chief engineer’sMaestro research from quite some time ago?」

「I suppose so」

Folding her arms with a solemn expression, Shakira nodded.

「From the start, the fact that I gave a small mass the size of the tip of my little finger to Quique-san was the impetus for Quique-san to start the research on argental, you see」

「Your Eminence did?」

「Un. I picked it up by chance, but I passed it to Quique-san, thinking “this metal looks somewhat unusual, so why not try to examine it?” Right at that time, Quique-san was entrusted with the development of weapons and defensive armaments by the army, and he was just starting a research to manufacture a new alloy」

「It’s like that, huh」

「The one I picked up at that time was also shining prettily like that one. Is it called purity? I think it’s probably quite high. —Or rather, since Quique-san is the best expert concerning that, there’s no need to hear my opinion now」

「I think so as well」

Quique most likely wanted to send Dimitar to this Bradmante Palace with the excuse of hearing Shakira’s opinion. Dimitar certainly hadn’t been in contact with Shakira. It couldn’t be helped even if he was called ungrateful.

However, Shakira didn’t blame Dimitar, who hadn’t turned up the whole time, in particular. “As expected, an old person is patient.”; naturally, Dimitar didn’t say that out loud and simply limited himself to raising his lips slightly.

「—The fact that that huge weapon of yours and that pink armour, including the prototypes as well, were created with the argental I picked up at the beginning means that quite an amount of weapons can be made with just that mass this time, doesn’t it?」

「I guess so. …However, it probably still isn’t enough at all to equip the entire army of Ahmad with magic motion swordsEspada Marefika though」

Argental was a metal that could draw magic crests on the surface of the magic motion sword. In other words, if one wanted to make a highly efficient magic motion sword that possessed detailed magic crests, one must prepare an amount of argental that corresponded to that. With this amount of argental in the state before refining, it probably still wasn’t enough to prepare magic motion swords that could withstand actual fighting in hundreds or thousands.

Nevertheless, there was no doubt that Quique’s research got a boost. Until now, it was the scarcity of argental, which had become indispensable to the research, that was becoming more of a big obstacle to Quique’s research than the budget deficit, which came from the lack of understanding of the upper echelons.

「—Incidentally, I haven’t heard about this so far, but what kind of relationship do Your Eminence and the chief engineer have?」

「Huh? Quique-san and me?」

「Yes」

「Let’s see… though we aren’t acquaintances from way back to the extent that we can be called childhood friends, our relationship is close to that, I guess? When I was studying at the Magic AcademyPrasa Marefikos here, Quique-san also frequented the library, and we got to know each other because of that, you see」

「Then, the Head Director and the chief engineer too…?」

「Yes, those two people were on good terms」

While eating the large grapes that were chilled with ice, Shakira smiled impishly.

「—You probably knew as well, but I came from the countryside, and it was a struggle to the death, thinking that I had to make a success in life with my magic talent somehow or other; honestly, I had no time to spend except for studying」

“But Orvieto is, well—,” Shakira continued.

「Isn’t that child, hora, a genius? Though I feel irritated」

「Haa…」

He often heard that Shakira was a genius. Of course, Orvieto, who was called the “two matchless people” together with her and possessed the alias of “Witch of Sunlight”, must also be a genius, but as expected, he heard that Shakira, who had obtained a special status as a Dominas, had a higher reputation of being a genius from way back.

Therefore, the fact that Shakira regarded Orvieto as her rival to this point seemed unexpected for Dimitar.

「—That was why that child would exchange discussions about this and that with Quique-san in the library and what and enjoyed her youth. It was after I had become a Dominas that I became on good terms with Quique-san」

「Is that so…」

「Besides, didn’t Quique-san like Orvieto?」

「The chief engineer did?」

「Un」

Sending the seed of the grape flying towards Dimitar with a “Pu!”, Shakira smiled broadly again.

「—I’ve been short like this from way back, but Orvieto was a beautiful woman like that, you know. In those days, the objective of most of the men going in and out of the library was to look at Orvieto, wasn’t it?」

「Things like that still happen though—」

Drinking up his black tea, Dimitar sighed quietly.

When Dimitar became old enough to understand what was going on around himself, Orvieto’s appearance was already that of the present. Her youthful beauty, which didn’t look as if she had a big son named Lucius, always gathered the gazes of men even now.

Shakira almost ate up the grapes, which should have been served for Dimitar, by herself and muttered softly.

「This is so unfair…」

「Should Your Eminence be saying that?」

Stroking the nape of his neck, Dimitar smiled wryly.