Magic Maker - How to make magic in another world - - Chapter 164

Magic Maker – How to make magic in another world –

Chapter 164   Decoding 1

Having fainted, Dominic was allowed to rest in the tent, and everyone took their positions.

The Count, Carla, and I sat in a circle on the ground, and in the center, there was a book that the Count had given Carla, found in the fairy village.

Upon opening it, it was impossible to understand what was written inside. It resembled worm-like characters, or perhaps it had some Romanization. In any case, it was undeniably a set of characters that I had never seen before.

“It’s undoubtedly an ancient language. But these characters are completely unfamiliar,” the Count said, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

“So, how far has the deciphering progressed?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Carla responded.

“N-Not at all!? You mean you didn’t understand anything?”

“Yeah. I tried comparing it with existing languages, deciphering the shapes, rearranging the characters—various methods, but I couldn’t make any sense of it.”

Carla casually delivered this information. While I felt a slight unease, I quickly regained my composure after a few seconds. The Count also seemed composed, probably sharing the same sentiments as me. Carla hadn’t done anything wrong, nor did she lack the ability. She was someone the Count trusted, so it was only natural.

So, why couldn’t they understand anything?

That was because this ancient language was exceptionally unique and specialized.

“Is it that the structure is different from regular languages?” I asked.

“If after all this research, we can’t even catch a glimpse, that would be a safe assumption. Normally, you’d find something similar, understand some rules or patterns. Languages have their structures with some degree of rules; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a language. But this is entirely different. So, it’s reasonable to think that it’s created with different rules from regular languages,” the Count explained, rubbing his beard in contemplation.

“It’s a book found in the fairy village. It doesn’t follow the usual structure with characters lining up in a certain order, and it doesn’t have a consistent set of rules, so it’s not surprising,” Carla added.

“So, is it valid to assume that this is a representation of the fairy language in written form?” I suggested.

“Or perhaps something or someone close to the fairies wrote it?” the Count proposed.

“If fairies wrote it, the characters and the book would not be huge. It’s more likely the latter,” Carla concluded.

“Well, then, how about having Melfi read it?” I suggested.

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” the Count agreed. “It’s worth trying. Please ask her.”

I looked at Melfi, who was sitting on my shoulder.

Although still a bit frightened of Carla, Melfi seemed to have become accustomed, with no sign of hiding.

I spoke to Melfi in the fairy language.

“Melfi, I have a favor to ask. Can you read the characters in this book?”

“Characters? Let me give it a try!”

Melfi happily flew around me before landing on the book. Each character was about the size of Melfi’s face. She sat down on the book, scrutinizing the characters diligently. After a few minutes, Melfi suddenly jumped up and landed in front of me. With both hands outstretched, she appealed to me.

“Apparently, it’s about feeling hungry and instructions on how to cook!” I conveyed Melfi’s words to the others.

“Could it be someone’s diary?” the Count speculated.

“It seems so. Moreover, mentioning being hungry and writing recipes suggests that…” Carla began.

“This is something written by a creature other than fairies,” I concluded.

Fairies don’t eat. Naturally, they don’t cook either. All they need is clean water. Therefore, this diary must have been written by someone other than fairies.

“Do monsters have enough intelligence for this… or maybe a human?” the Count wondered.

“Well, there are creatures, or more precisely, a race called demons, that can manipulate language,” Carla added.

No, they do exist. More precisely, it’s not monsters but demons. However, I swallowed those words. It seemed like it was going to turn into a discussion about whether demons existed or not. The existence of demons was a rumor but hadn’t been confirmed as a fact. For now, let’s avoid addressing that.

“Then, let’s assume a human wrote this diary. The person lived in the fairy village. So, the likelihood of there being a human-sized house is high. However, we can’t confirm if that person wrote it. For now, let’s assume the person did.”

There’s also the possibility that someone happened to have someone else’s diary. After all, we ourselves have obtained diaries belonging to others. However, since there’s no way to confirm it, for now, it’s better to assume that a resident wrote the diary.

“Yes, that makes sense. In the fairy village, there were houses of fairy size. There wouldn’t be any need to specifically build human-sized houses,” the Count agreed.

“A human living with fairies… and the characters they wrote aren’t a common language or ancient characters that I know. There might still be some undiscovered things related to ancient languages. So, there’s a possibility that these are undiscovered ancient characters,” Carla suggested.

“Are there any other possibilities?” I asked.

“For example, they could have created their own language,” Carla replied.

Her words made me flinch. I remembered that I had once created my own characters, words, and spells a long time ago, for using magic.

“Well, considering it still maintains the form of a language, I doubt it. Moreover, since the fairies could read it, that’s a kind of proof,” Carla continued.

“Indeed, that’s true. Oh, right. I’ll ask Melfi about various things. We’ve been so focused on analyzing the fairy language that I forgot to inquire about the fairy village and other things,” I realized.

“Oh, yes! I completely forgot about that!” the Count admitted.

“You guys are really getting too absorbed… I understand your feelings, but come on,” Carla commented.

Since I had been talking to Melfi, recording words, and practicing oral magic release all the time, I had completely forgotten to ask about the fairies and the village. Getting engrossed in one thing and losing sight of others was a bad habit of mine. Well, maybe ours.

I looked at Melfi, who was perched on my palm, and brought her up to my eye level to talk to her.

“Melfi, who wrote this book?”

Melfi twitched and began to flutter about, an unusual reaction for her. Normally, she would innocently smile and answer without a fuss. It was clear that she was disturbed.

“I-I-I-I don’t knoowww!”

She knew. She definitely knew. However, pressing her further seemed inappropriate. Melfi had been cooperating with us all this time. She shared information with us happily, without expecting anything in return, and enjoyed being with us. Asking her for more would be presumptuous. I didn’t want to burden her with obligations just because we helped her once. Besides, we hadn’t yet eliminated the threat of monsters, which posed a danger to the fairies.

To avoid causing trouble for Melfi, I decided to change the subject.

“Then, about that fairy village. How was it created?”

“I-I don’t know!”

“Are there other fairy villages?”

“I don’t know anything!”

“Could it be that fairies create magic?”

“Magic? I-I don’t know!”

“Look, like what I’m doing here.”

I released magic to convey the meaning of the word ‘magic.’ Melfi widened her eyes, dramatically shaking her head.

“I don’t know! I really don’t know!!”

Flustered, Melfi blinked her eyes rapidly, a cute sight that also stirred a sense of guilt within me.

“How was it?”

“It seems like she can’t talk about fairies or magic. She insists she knows nothing.”

“Can’t talk… so she does know something?”

“That seems to be the reaction. There must be a reason she can’t talk about it.”

“A reason, huh? Is someone silencing her? Maybe the owner of that diary?”

It wasn’t entirely implausible. But if the owner was not human but rather a member of the demons…

If fairies had lived with demons, and if that were true, would fairies become our enemies? I didn’t want to entertain such thoughts. I couldn’t fathom malicious intent from Melfi or the other fairies. Moreover, I considered Melfi a friend. I didn’t want to think of her as being the same as the demons.

So, it must be a human. I decided to believe that the one who lived with the fairies was a human.

“But this is troublesome. Most of what I want to ask Melfi is related to fairies. It’s difficult to gather information in this state.”

“Even if we decipher the fairy language, understanding this ancient script seems impossible. Oh, right. How about asking if this script is the fairy language?”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll ask.”

I spoke again to the somewhat uneasy Melfi.

“Melfi, is this script a representation of the language used by fairies?”

Melfi, looking perplexed, seemed to be deep in thought. After a moment, she nodded slowly.

“Yes, she nodded! So, this is the fairy language!”

“It seems so. Maybe she answered because this doesn’t directly involve fairies?”

“Anyway, this is some progress! So, what’s next? What are we going to do!?”

The three of us were now excited. It was understandable since were interested in this field.

“Well, let’s have Melfi read various things for us. She read the script earlier, and it seems teaching the fairy language is not an issue. It’s challenging, but let’s have Melfi teach us the meanings one by one.”

“That’s right! I agree! I’ll continue with the recording!”

“I’ll think about the strings of characters. Since any language expresses words through strings or context, understanding the meanings of each character should lead us to meanings and patterns!”

I nodded in agreement with both of them. Melfi still seemed a bit uneasy. I felt bad, but I needed her assistance once again.

“I have a favor to ask. I want you to read the characters in the book.”

“Characters? Sure, I can do that!”

“Great, thank you.”

Top of Form

She’s truly a good kid.

Charming, straightforward, curious, and kind.

Thanks to her, we’ve learned various things.

I owe Melfi a lot.

Protecting from monsters is a given, and defeating them is essential.

We should find some way to express our gratitude.

“So, where should we start reading?”

“Yeah, which page should we choose?”

We could continue from where we left off, but there was a part that had caught my attention.

There was a page with the word ‘Earth’ written in Japanese.

With some hesitation, I opened that particular page.

“Can, can you read this page?”

Melfi sat back on the book and began reading the text.

“Is this…”

As I heard Melfi’s next words, tension ran through me.

“…I’m sorry, Shion.”

Melfi shrunk her already small body, looking apologetic.

I had expected this, so there was no disappointment.

“I’m the one who should apologize. So, can you read the page we were looking at earlier?”

“Yeah, I can do that! No problem!”

Melfi squeezed her hands and returned a smile.

If she understands fairy language, she should be able to read it eventually. It’s just a matter of time.

Research on fairies, magic, and language is undoubtedly progressing.

I wasn’t feeling down at all. Instead, it was fun. Too much fun!

I never imagined that mysteries would be unraveled one after another, and development would move so swiftly.

Oh, I wish this enjoyable time could continue forever.

“Hehehe…”

“Whoa! What’s with this guy!? Wait, his face!”

“Don’t be disrespectful to Shion sensei, Carla! Look, isn’t that a splendid face!?

See, he’s having so much fun!”

“Is that so? Well, he does seem to be having fun.”

My cheeks were stuck in a relaxed position. The corners of my mouth were up, and I couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

I hoped this joyful time would continue for a long, long while. While thinking that, I listened to Melfi’s words.