MB Chapter 21

"Goiyo, have you heard anything about magic?"

"I've heard that the element each person can handle differs—something to do with the attribute one is born with, I believe."

"The first part is correct; the second is not. The human body is composed of roughly similar proportions across all people. Blood corresponds to water, bones to earth, breath to wind, heat to fire. It isn't a perfect one-to-one correspondence between material substance and mana, but that is the general principle."

If the body were unbalanced, it would in fact be a disadvantage in magic. Goiyo nodded at Entzi's words.

"The element one can handle is ultimately a matter of what kind of talent one possesses.

Wind is lighter than water, so less force is required to move mana through it. Instead, the crucial ability lies in maintaining the intervals between mana particles while moving that cluster as swiftly as possible.

Earth, on the other hand, involves condensing mana particles tightly together, which is—is this getting a little difficult?"

"I've just lost every last scrap of confidence I had."

Goiyo answered without hesitation.

"Think of it as different talents being required for painting and sculpture."

"That still doesn't restore my confidence."

Her voice was more decisive than it had ever been when facing Therio Alte.

"In the orthodox approach, one would establish a one-to-one correspondence between mathematical coordinates and physical space in order to develop a spatial intuition, then study the movement and transformation of particles through thermodynamics, before learning how to work with each element."

"Having heard all of that, I think it rather sounds like something I'd rather not do—would now be an appropriate moment to say so?"

It was his own words played back at him, word for word: try it first, then tell me if you dislike it.

Entzi's lips began to tremble. He could not hold it back, and laughter broke from him. He pressed one hand over his mouth, but even his shoulders shook with it.

He had always considered himself quite capable of managing his expressions—but to hear that said in that perfectly grave voice, with that perfectly grave face.

'Endearing, isn't she.'

Not even knowing what he had thought, Entzi struggled to bring his laughter under control.

"My apologies. I made it sound more difficult than necessary. You were simply—rather endearing."

"...Pardon?"

"There is a method that doesn't require an understanding of physics—a somewhat simpler path. The trouble, however, is that it demands something other than talent."

"Something other than talent?"

"The orthodox approach is like seeing a schematic and constructing the finished product from it. The other method involves creating fire or water in advance, then shaping it into whatever form you desire."

Entzi extended his hand toward the attendant standing behind him. As though prepared in advance—and without Goiyo having noticed it earlier—the attendant placed a disc of intricate, complex design into his palm.

"Put simply: spirits."

"Spirits..."

"To move a spirit in the manner you wish, imagination and a sense of reality are sufficient."

"And to manifest one?"

"You need emotion."

Goiyo's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected answer.

"Of all the things human beings possess, emotion is the only thing that connects to mana in a direct one-to-one correspondence. The discovery that this could be used to manifest spirits—allowing even those without talent to use magic with ease—was revolutionary when it was first presented to the academic world. There was, however, a problem."

"Something to do with emotion, I would imagine."

"Yes. The emotion required must be negative, and vivid. In centuries past, it is said that gypsies and traveling minstrels frequently used spirits for simple performances. Nobles, by and large, tended to believe they were happier than the lower classes, and so rarely attempted it."

Even now, it is a rare and precious talent, regardless of which class it appears in.

"The likelihood isn't high, but there is no harm in trying. With luck, you may find yourself able to use high-level magic with considerable ease. I've rambled on long enough."

The plates that had sat on the table had, at some point, been cleared away by the attendant's hands. Entzi set the disc atop the now-bare table and drew Goiyo's hand toward the center of it.

A needle-like thing at the very top—resembling a compass needle—began to spin, and heat rose slowly from the surface of the disc.

The copper-colored disc shifted through a spectrum of colors, one after another. The sight was so unfamiliar, so strange, that Goiyo leaned forward to look at it more closely, and several strands of her hair slipped down.

Without thinking, Entzi reached out and tucked them behind her ear.

She was startled by the gesture, but did not show it. Goiyo asked quietly:

"Do you think I am unhappy, Entzi?"

"Every human being carries their own particular unhappiness. In truth, calling it 'unhappiness' is rather too blunt a word for something so delicate."

The needle, which had been rotating parallel to the disc, lifted itself vertical. A shimmer of something unusual entered gray eyes that had expected nothing from this attempt.

He had been speaking loosely—but what was happening was not possible with any ordinary degree of emotion. Even a few centuries ago, summoning a dark spirit from an intensity of vengeance had been powerful and rare enough to be mistaken for a summoning of demons.

Could it be that inside this quiet, composed woman—Goiyo Bethelgius, who had always seemed so still, so muted—there burned an emotion this fierce?

Entzi felt a flicker of curiosity, and beneath it, something uneasy. He could not name what that emotion was precisely, only that it was not a pleasant one.

His face shifted, almost imperceptibly.

What feeling is it that you are hiding?

I'll add a little mana—Entzi's hand came to rest over Goiyo's.

Goiyo had never thought of her own hand as small, but beneath his palm, it looked as small as a child's.

The warmth she felt on the back of her hand was, for some reason, ticklish, and her fingertips twitched once, involuntarily. To conceal the awkwardness, Goiyo asked:

"What emotions correspond to what elements?"

"Fire is fear, earth is solitude."

The voice continued, unhurried, and the needle that had raised itself vertical became suffused with a color.

"Wind is anger, and then—"

Above the back of their joined hands, the air itself began to warp, and something started to emerge.

A translucent mass—as though a portion of the air had been compressed into being—was slowly filling with color. First something close to white, a pale sky-blue; then deepening, growing richer, until at last it settled into a clear, vivid blue.

What had appeared was water. Both Goiyo's and Entzi's eyes widened together. Goiyo, like Entzi, had not expected it in the least.

She had been deliberating, up until moments ago, over whether it was truly worth studying mathematics and physics just to learn magic. Now, for once, she felt something kindle inside her.

"Is this—did this actually work?"

"...Yes, it appears it has. A water spirit. Oh—this is no time for that. Quickly, give it a shape!"

"What? A shape?"

"I confess I held back on that explanation because I genuinely didn't expect it to succeed, but you need to imagine what you want this mass of water to become. A person, a tree, a wrecked carriage—ah, blast, not a wrecked carriage. Anything that exists as a physical form will do. Hurry, before it disappears."

Imagine what it will become—what kind of irresponsible instruction is that.

Goiyo, thoroughly flustered, grew more anxious still as the mass of water seemed to be shrinking by the second.

Water, water, water—what goes with water?

She scrambled to summon something from her meager imagination, but it was not easy. The mass only twisted and distorted in this direction and that.

Water... a lake, the ocean, oh—yes!

Catching at the thought that had grazed past her, Goiyo pushed her mind into motion.

The droplet was now only slightly larger than a coin, and her heart was thump-thump-thumping as though she had been running.

She was imagining what the droplet might become entirely in her mind, and yet her hands were moving—shaping, pressing, like someone working clay.

Entzi noticed this without meaning to, and a laugh escaped him—but Goiyo did not notice at all.

The anxious effort finally bore fruit. The droplet, which had been twisting and distorting, began to gather itself together.

A rounded, smooth body. A tail split into two. Fins tracing an elegant curve. What emerged, complete, was a whale—blue and translucent as water itself.

Something welled up inside Goiyo—a fullness she could not quite name.

"It worked...!"

"A whale—how magnificent. Now you only need to give it a name."

"Good heavens, a name? How many things must there be to do?"

"If you'd like to study physics instead, you needn't bother."

"Thank you, but I'll decline."

A name, now. Goiyo, who possessed no particular literary sensibility, could not find it in herself to stop resenting the demand. The ease with which Entzi had recovered his composure—when moments ago he had seemed just as flustered as she was—now struck her as positively irritating.

Well, it's still better than studying physics. Already depleted, Goiyo tried again.

Water, so—Rain? Lake? Sea? Water? As she deliberated, she noticed the whale growing paler.

No! Goiyo cried out in a rush.

"Wortien! I'll call it Wortien. How does one give it a name?"

"Simply calling it aloud is enough."

Whether Entzi was right or not, the whale's color grew vivid once more. And the size that had diminished began to expand again.

Grown to the size of her fist, the little whale fluttered its fins as though swimming through water—and then vanished.

Goiyo's eyes, which had been watching Wortien steadily, went wide. She had been barely sitting upright, and found herself rising to her feet without meaning to.

"It disappeared..."

"If you call its name, it will come again. It hasn't gone."

"I see..."

What a relief. The tension went out of her body all at once, and her legs gave way beneath her. She would have fallen—but Entzi caught her, and so she did not end up on the floor after all.

Though perhaps the attendant would have caught her, had he not. She glanced back at the attendant standing behind her, who had thrust out one hand in an awkward, half-finished gesture, and she smiled.

"Thank you. For catching me, and for the spirit."

"Think nothing of it."

With her weight resting against him, Entzi pressed his lips to the woman's forehead.

"...You are rather free with physical contact. Will you claim you learned this from me as well?"

"This is an improvisation. But in any case—congratulations, Goiyo."

Steadied by Entzi's support, Goiyo found her feet beneath her again. She had thought herself only momentarily surprised, but her whole body refused to cooperate properly. Perhaps because of what had just happened.

"It is, I'm proud to say, the first time I've witnessed a water spirit myself."

"Have you seen other spirits before?"

"Yes—once."

Entzi gave a small shrug and continued.

"You should rest. Allow me to escort you to your room. It's directly below the bedroom—on the third floor—and I doubt you'd make it there alone."

"Just because my legs gave out for a moment doesn't mean I've become a child. I'm perfectly capable of making it there with a member of staff to guide me."

"The expenditure of vital energy is quite considerable. Your legs may give way again midway. And the maids are in the middle of their busiest hours—there's no one free to support you."

Then I'll simply ask an attendant. When Goiyo glanced back at the attendant standing behind her, Entzi spoke immediately.

"That said, to entrust you to an attendant would be unfortunate, given that your husband is a man of considerable jealousy."

"What a thing to say. If you'll insist on putting it that way—very well. I'll accept gratefully."

"Yes, it would be best to rest in your room and look through the invitations at your leisure."

"Invitations?"

"Oh—now that you mention it, I seem to have forgotten to tell you. There has been a considerable pile of invitations arriving since immediately after the wedding."

"Well, of course—we are married. It was only a matter of time."

"Whether you attend or not is entirely your choice, so do think of it as you like. There is no issue with declining all of them."

Then, if you'll allow me.

Entzi inclined briefly—and sliding one arm beneath her knees and the other at her back, he lifted her. Lost in thought about the invitations, Goiyo had no time to resist; her body was simply aloft.

Startled by the sudden shift in height, she grabbed at Entzi's shoulder.

"W-wait—Entzi?"

"Do you know, Goiyo—I find I rather like you when you're flustered."

"...Was that the reason behind the complete absence of romantic history?"

"Perhaps it was."

'Even if not flustered—any expression at all was preferable to none.'

Smiling to conceal whatever lay beneath it, Entzi began to walk. His step was so light it might have convinced you he was carrying nothing more consequential than a handkerchief.

Goiyo resisted—but once they crossed the threshold into the mansion itself, she had no choice but to give up.

As he looked down at the flushed face doing its utmost to hide itself from the household staff, Entzi drew up a thought from moments before.

'Fire is fear, earth is solitude. Wind is anger, and then—'

Water is resignation.

What Goiyo had summoned was resignation.