I'm a court magician. Recently, I’ve been worrying about the princess staring at me. - Chapter 4
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- I'm a court magician. Recently, I’ve been worrying about the princess staring at me.
- Chapter 4 - The work of a court magician.
Having a conversation with a princess doesn’t change your everyday life.
I still had to wake up early, go to my office, and work everyday. Most of my job involved preparing and organizing documents, so I rarely went out to do anything hands-on. We were no longer in a time of war, after all.
“It’s so different from how people portray it.”
I grumbled. It was a far cry from what I had imagined before becoming a court magician.
In my head, magicians dressed in brilliant robes strutted around the royal palace in a dignified manner, and whenever the country was in danger, they rushed forward to save the day. My colleagues were top-notch magicians and great role models, both noble and admirable.
But reality was different.
We organized documents for meetings, maintained public order by patrolling the royal capital, and conducted magic combat drills to prepare us for emergencies. That was about it.
Most of my fellow magicians looked tired, sleepy, and unhealthy as they trudged along in the palace. Sometimes they seemed like they were about to collapse. It was worrying. Some questioned whether or not I was good enough to follow in their footsteps, but most people treated me kindly, probably because I was the youngest and unintimidating. I think.
The sun was a little west of its noon peak, and I was at a training ground in the western area of the royal palace with Elt-san, a senior in my department. He wore a magic robe, his work uniform, and pointed a red wand toward the sky.
Fire Attribute Mid-Range Advanced Magic—Flame Dragon.
Even in the royal capital, only the best magicians could use this magic. The flame dragon ascended high into the sky and exploded into a gust of hot air. The power, speed, and amount of magic were all superb.
“I expected no less, Elt-san.”
“Everyone in our department can do magic like this.”
While combing his fingers through his short crimson hair, Elt-san brought a water flask to his mouth.
He could use advanced magic of this level… That’s a court magician for you.
“People in our department are really skilled at magic.”
“Rather, there’s no way anyone who’s below average would be hired. I usually do menial chores, but we do have a minimum requirement.”
“I haven’t been assigned any field work, so to me, it seems like my chores are my real job.”
“Not really. The management is just giving us those chores since we wouldn’t have much to do otherwise. Alright, it’s your turn.”
Elt-san left the center of the training ground and stood in the shade of a tree. I’m in trouble.
“I’m not that good at standard magic.”
“Well, give it a try. Even if you’re not good at it, can you do some short-range intermediate magic?”
He spoke with a smile, but I felt uncomfortable.
There are different types of magic, each classified by attribute: fire, water, wind, earth, light, darkness, void; effective range: short, medium, long; and mastery: elementary, intermediate, advanced, superior.
Among magicians, effective range is often more important than attribute, so most magicians focus on expanding their range.
In general, medium-range magic goes several times farther than short-range, and most magicians are familiar with spells at these two distances. Court magicians, of course, are held to higher standards.
Finally, we have long-range magic.
Magic of this type travels extremely far, but its energy must be compressed to do so, and the power becomes weaker as a result. Furthermore, since accuracy becomes an issue at this range, the magician must maintain visual enhancement, a short-range intermediate spell.
The point is, magic is complex. There’s no limit to what you can do or learn.
“…Ice Mist.”
Unenthusiastically, I cast a water attribute short-range elementary spell. A light frost appeared at my feet and spread an unimpressive distance.
Elt-san sighed.
“You’re good at everything except basic magic, Raize.”
“I’m bad at what I’m bad at. It can’t be helped.”
“I can’t believe that the range of your elementary magic is this short. With your magic, even novices wouldn’t be able to freeze anything in the royal palace, you know?”
“I wouldn’t even if I could!”
Feigning offense, I stepped into the shade of a tree, stomping on the frozen ground.
I wish I could say I was entirely joking. I’ve always been bad at most common spells… To be honest, it could be frustrating sometimes.
Elt-san may have sensed my displeasure, because he bought me tea on the way back to my office.
***
There is a bizarre sight in the royal capital that can’t be seen anywhere else.
Mirrors of various sizes, large and small, are installed on the roofs of buildings in the royal capital.
They were originally questioned by citizens, but the royal palace described them as aids for slaying monsters outside the city, and soon people more or less forgot about them.
Of course, there were questions about how exactly it helped… but the results were clear, so no one opposed it directly.
It was the morning after my training session with Elt-san.
The sun had not yet risen, but I was on my way to the annex of the royal palace. The sound of my footsteps echoed throughout the deserted building.
I was shivering. Magicians don’t normally use magic to control air temperature, so I had goosebumps all over.
The interior of the building was illuminated with light magic, and I could see my breath turn white when I exhaled. The temperature was almost certainly below freezing.
“Why do I have to do this…”
I muttered to myself as I climbed the stairs.
There was a reason why I was here so early in the morning.
It was part of my job as a court magician.
Early every morning, I had to perform a certain task on the roof of the annex. This was the tallest location in the city, and you could see far beyond the capital borders. The view was amazing.
But of course, my job wasn’t to look at the scenery every day. It was simple but troublesome.
After climbing all the stairs, I opened the door to the roof. The air that blew in added a wind chill factor to the already cold weather. Although the actual temperature may not change, the presence of wind can drastically alter how cold a person feels.
“I’ll wrap it up quickly and go back to sleep.”
Yawning, I moved to the edge of the roof. I drew my rapier from its scabbard on my waist, and the scraping of metal let out a high-pitched metallic noise. The iron blade shone blue.
“Let’s see… anyone out there?”
Short-Range Intermediate Magic—Visual Enhancement.
The spell focused my vision and allowed me to see much farther than I could normally. A person reading a newspaper near the cafe. An old man sweeping the entrance. And even farther away—a dozen or so monsters approaching from the forest outside the capital.
These kinds of monsters were ferocious and had an appetite that left nothing of their prey. They were different from common creatures and had magical stones embedded in their bodies.
Above all, they were strong. If an ordinary person with no magical ability were to encounter them, he or she would almost certainly die. They attacked humans indiscriminately.
The moment you discover one of them, run away immediately. If you’re slow, you’re done for. But the longer you have to run, the more beasts begin to chase after you, and escape becomes exponentially more difficult.
As a safety measure, court magicians would regularly go out to subdue them.
That is, before I became a court magician.
“~~~ ♪”
While humming a song, I channeled magical power into my blade. The rapier crackled with electric energy, and I flicked it.
“—Blue Lightning.”
The lightning in my rapier manifested into a dozen spears and flew across the city. They ricocheted off the mirrors countless times before striking the monsters I had my eye on. Each one, penetrated by a spear of lightning, collapsed on the ground, spouting purple blood and convulsing violently.
The mirrors could retain magical power and had a special ability to reflect magic.
This was my job every morning.
From the roof of the annex, I could view the outskirts of the royal capital and slay the monsters I saw. Since I took on this role, court magicians no longer had to subdue monsters early in the morning… I was the only one having a hard time. At least I was paid accordingly, but the job reduced my sleeping hours and always left me unbearably tired.
So, in order to secure a second round of sleep—
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
About half an hour later, I hummed as I finished off the last of them.
It’s not that I was slacking off during training the other day. I really am bad at most kinds of magic.
Most, other than a certain kind—by which I mean ultra-long-range magic.
Of all attributes and all classes.