Today I’ll be teaching Elia’s group for the first time. I am currently waiting in front of the gates to the training area. They said I didn’t have to pick them up, and to just wait here, so that’s what I did. I might’ve come a little too early though, ah… they’re here.
I saw Sebasu-san driving the carriage from the direction of the town, so I asked the gatekeeper who happens to be a student of mine to open the gate. Then I went ahead, and waited by the stable. After the girls’ carriage finished parking, the first one to go down was Elia.
“Sorry for making you wait, Ryouma-san.” [Elia]
“Oh, it’s alright, I didn’t wait long at all. You’re also earlier than the appointed time.” [Ryouma]
Elia came up to me and said that as soon as she got down from the carriage. The other four also went down the carriage one by one, and went up to me to say hi. Today, everyone’s wearing simple clothing and only have their weapons and staves with them. We don’t have any plans of using those today though.
“Good morning, everyone. Umm~ I’ll be in your care today. And since today’s the first day, we’ll be having our lecture in the classroom. The first thing I’ll be teaching is the role of a magic wand and how to make it. After that, I’ll have you make a simple wand. A lot of the things you’ll learn here can be applied to your magic, so I’m sure you’ll benefit from it.”
“Please take care of us!” [Elia, Miyabi, Kanan, Michelle, Riera]
Good, there doesn’t seem to be any problems. After all, there are plenty of magicians who know how to use staves, but don’t know how to make them. But a good understanding of magic is also required in order to make a good staff, so it’s really a good subject to study.
“Ryouma-sama, I leave the young lady and the others in your care.” [Sebasu]
“Same here. Please take care of the students.” [Ryouma]
I exchanged some words with Sebasu-san, then when we got to the crossroads, we went our own ways. I took Elia’s group with me to the magic wand workshop, while Sebasu-san went to the magic practice area as an instructor.
When I opened the doors to the workshop, the first thing that greeted us were the bundles of lumbers to be used as ingredients for making wands and the storages for the tools. Right next to that was the workplace that had a number of windows through which the outside could be seen. The walls blocking the stray magic from the magic practice area are near the windows, but despite that, there’s plenty of ventilation and light.
I invited the five girls inside, and had them seat besides the workshop stand.
“Shall we start?” [Ryouma]
As I said that, I took five new notebooks from my Item Box as well as five bottles of ink and pen. I distributed them to the girls.
“Please use them when needed. These’re given to all the students as presents, so please don’t’ hold back.” [Ryouma]
The five girls each took their own notebook and pen. Then they immediately opened them, and readied themselves for the start of class. When I had confirmed that they were all ready, I began the class.
“Then let’s start… To start off, let me ask you all this question – what do you think makes a good wand?” [Ryouma]
The three magicians amongst the five girls answered.
“A wand with a high-quality magic jewel?” [Kanan]
“From what I’ve heard it’s the wand that conducts magic the best.” [Elia]
“The longer the better’s what I hear in my case.” [Miyabi]
I see…
“None of your answers are wrong, but none of them are right either. I’ll begin today’s lesson by tackling around that topic, so we’ll be starting with the basics.
Magic wands are supplemental tools for using magic. They’re not an absolute requirement to casting magic. But they can increase the force of one’s magic, make it easier to cast magic, and even reduce the magic power consumption. They have various effects, but why? Why are they able to do this? In order to explain that, let us first review how to use magic.” [Ryouma]
When using magic, one must first release magic power outside of his or her body. Then through visualization transform that magic power into an attribute, maintain it, and then finally, cast the magic. Each and every one of these three processes is necessary when casting magic. Fail one of them, and the magic will not be casted.
Amongst these three processes, the most important process – and the process to which magic wands are related – is process number two, the transformation and preservation of magic power.
“You are all aware that magic power tends to disperse when released outside the body, yes?”