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After that oddly unnerving tea time, I head to the mansion’s library to get my mind off things.

As expected of a marquis’ mansion, not to mention that the Gardeland family is one of Seperion’s most influential houses when it comes to magic, they have a vast collection of books on magic. But there’s also a lot on politics, geography, and history.

I’m curious to read those too, but they’re not why I’m here.

I look through the shelves for books on spells and magic devices, which I pull out and bring with me to a desk. Akane is here with me too, and she seems to be mimicking me, taking out a book herself and carrying it on top of her head.

“Akane, do you know how to read?”
“…”

In response she holds out two legs horizontally.
I guess that means a little?
At least I should be able to leave her on her own then.
But there’s another problem…

“Woof?”
“Try to keep quiet.”
“Woof…”

Clarissa folds her ears back and goes to roll up in a corner of the library.

I feel bad for making her be bored like this, but there’s no courtyard to train like in the Magic Academy, and I’m sure there’ll be other times when she’ll have to keep still in the future, so I hope this can make her get used to it.

Then again, she always follows any order we give her, so maybe I shouldn’t be so worried. I just have to make sure she has enough times to blow off some steam.

Anyway, I shake off those thoughts and open one of the books. It obviously doesn’t contain any secret research from the royal sorcerers, but maybe I can still find something I can use in them.

Magic devices are triggered by spells and catalysts, and sometimes a source of mana, to produce a special magic effect. Usually they also have spells built in to accelerate the cast and preparation time, and can also help less skilled sorcerers have more power.

But higher level magic also requires more complex spells, more mana, and rarer catalysts.

I completed the theory and underlying spell for the device I’m trying to build in Annabelle’s laboratory, but since it requires a large amount of mana, I couldn’t find the necessary materials to build it there. At the same time, the completed spell is rather complex too, which means the device itself is going to be larger.

I’m trying to see if I can find any information that can help me deal with all those various issues, but so far I haven’t found anything of use in the books.

Then there’s the issue of my own skills. I learned the basics from Ophelia, and then Annabelle pushed me forward a bit more, but I’m still no better than the average alchemist. I can’t even make spare parts for my own limbs yet. Though I guess that makes sense, as they were built and designed by a master like Ophelia, so they’re not something I can recreate so easily. For now I’m only having success because I have high quality materials like Aria’s silk which cover for my ineptitude.

I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t just brute force results with rare materials, which is why I’m trying to look for solutions now.

I did try building other stuff in Annabelle’s laboratory with the materials she had available there, but those were only small ones with essentially no power, making them no better than a beginner’s toys.

I could try using the Orichalcum and World Tree Branches that Ophelia left for this, which should help make things work a lot better.

But that idea can only go down in flames and end in catastrophic failure.

I know how unskilled I still am, so actually believing that the best materials in the world would help me is a pipe dream within another dream.

“!!”
“What is it?”

Akane uses one of her legs to point at a page in the book she’s holding. It’s an explanation of various materials used to build magic devices.

‘Orichalcum, Mythril, and World Tree Branches are the best materials and suited for any magic devices. This is a common misconception held by many inexperienced crafters who don’t do their due diligence but have access to rare materials.’
“?!”

I stare in shock at those words, and instinctively continue reading.

‘For example, by building two devices that manifest fire magic, one with Fire Dragon Scales and another with Orichalcum, the former will operate with more stability and power. The same when making a wind magic device, between Wind Dragon Scales and Orichalcum, the scales will perform much better. This is evidence that Dragon Scales have better elemental prowess than Orichalcum.’

“Seriously..?”

I find myself muttering in disbelief.

‘Then this begs the question, why does Orichalcum have a reputation as the best material? This boils down to its extreme resiliency and magic conductivity, not to mention that it has a high adaptability to different types of magic, making it a great general purpose material.’
‘As long as you don’t require elemental power like fire or water, there’s no other material with as much versatility.’
‘And in the case of elemental devices, when combined with the proper materials it can help draw out their full potential as well.’
‘It’s always best to keep in mind that there’s materials with more elemental power than those called the best.’

“Akane…thank you for finding this. I’ll let you drink as much mana as you want later.”

Akane raises her two front legs in celebration, but she’ll have to wait a bit longer.

At least I feel like I’ve finally made a step in the right direction, so now I just have to put it into practice. There’s even a book on how to choose materials too. Maybe I can see if I can use the stuff I have on me.

After having tea with Oz, I return to my room, where the maid Stella tells me that Natalia and the others went to the library. She guides me there, and I find Natalia so focused on books that she doesn’t notice my arrival.

I walk on tiptoes to mute my footsteps and carefully approach her from behind.

“Nataliaaaa!”
“Woah?!”

I hug her from behind, and she yelps while dropping the book she was reading.

“Young Lady, that’s dangerous! Someone could’ve gotten hurt if you did that while I was focusing on alchemy!”
“Sorry, it’s just that I haven’t seen you in casual clothes in so long, and lately you’ve always done alchemy in your magic storage so I thought it’d be fine. Mwah.”
“Why are you trying to take advantage of my confusion like that?!”

I lightly kiss her cheek, which makes her recoil back and twist away from me. I don’t get why she always seems so opposed to it.

“So what are you reading there?”

“Oh, this? It’s called the Magic Material Compendium, it details materials for magic devices or catalysts, and mentions how there’s times when bones and wood are more useful than metals, even though they might not be as resilient. It’s not that they’re always superior though, it all depends on the application, and it’s important to figure out what the best material for each situation is. It also includes the locations where certain materials can be found in the wild, so it’s really useful and interesting to read. This edition is a few years old though, so maybe there have been some changes to the ecology, but the person who wrote this…”

“?????”
“How much did you understand?”
“That wood and bones break faster than metal.”
“I see…”

Natalia hangs her head in disappointment before picking up the dropped book. I also notice that there’s some magic automaton parts I’ve seen before, and other materials on the table.

“Are you trying to build magic automatons again?”
“No, I’m trying to advance some research I started with Miss Annabelle. I figured I could use some of the materials I have at hand to advance it.”

Natalia says that while glancing at the wood chunks and white feathers on the table.

“Wait, are those Rufu feathers?”

Rufus are a type of large white bird monster, and they attacked the Academy during the festival two years ago. They snatched Natalia away, and she fought them for a long time while using her magic storage offensively, so she ended up getting a bunch of Rufu materials.

“Yes. I think their feathers will be useful. I also tried using their bones as a core, but they weren’t enough to resist the magic load.”

Saying that, Natalia takes a Rufu’s bone and imbues it with mana, making it start glowing blue. It looks beautiful, but as soon as I think that, there’s a dull sound as it explodes, leaving behind a burned smell and small shards of bone.

“This always ends up happening, so I’m seeing what I can use as an alternative.”
“I see. What about a Black Roc’s then?”

Black Roc is a unique variant of a Rufu, and it should be more resilient.

“I believe it was you who defeated that one?”
“I don’t really have plans to use those materials anyway. If you can use them, then feel free to do whatever you want with them.”
“No, I couldn’t possibly do that.”
“Then take it as compensation for your daily work, and for letting me see something so good today.”
“If you insist, I’ll use it then. I don’t think there’s anything out of the ordinary to see when making magic devices though?”

I don’t think she’s noticed, but I can see so much of her cleavage when she stands like that. Her usual maid uniform doesn’t show as much skin either, and she changes her sleeping clothes before I can wake up, so I almost never get to see her like this.

My eyes are truly blessed by her.

“Do you really think I haven’t noticed?”

Natalia pushes my hands away, then takes out a piece of cloth from her magic storage to cover her chest.

“Whyy, you tease.”
“Where did you learn to use that word?”

I think it was mostly Ruri.