Scroll

This is a rule that applies to most languages, but it is possible to write sentences conveying the same content using vocabulary of varying reading difficulty.

In other words, most sentences can be written with hard words or easy words.

Magic language is the same; when incantations are transcribed into writing, the difference in complexity is immediately obvious.

For example, incantations originating from the Vampire Mage use extremely difficult phrasing in terms of the magic language.

They use many letters and many kinds of letters, and all their rhetorical symbols are placed above the guideline, giving them refined, noble phrasing. Moreover, the rhetorical symbols are used in highly difficult ways that I cannot explain even by referring to the American magic-letter materials I currently possess.

Although the vampire's self-enhancement magic has the downside of causing anemia, its magic cost is only 1K, making the cost remarkably low for its effect. It is an excellent spell beloved by the members of the Tokyo Witches' Gathering.

Attempts have continued for years to avoid the unpronounceable sounds in this magic by using a detour incantation, making it possible for ordinary people to cast.

However, several people have died in failed incantation experiments conducted by the research team of Professor Ohinata, the father.

Even with the research-efficiency gains provided by Professor Ohinata (the daughter)'s fractal-type magic wand, Aleister, the detour incantation has yet to be realized.

Writing out the self-enhancement magic made me vaguely understand why modifying its incantation was so difficult. The phrasing was highly complex to begin with, so even a little fiddling made the sentence fall apart.

By contrast, incantations originating from the Flame-Passing Witch use extremely simple phrasing in terms of the magic language.

They use few letters and few types of letters, and all their rhetorical symbols are placed below the guideline, giving them childish, lighthearted phrasing. Moreover, the rhetorical symbols are used in simple ways that can be easily explained by referring to the American magic-letter materials I currently possess.

When spoken, they even rhyme rhythmically, giving them the feel of magic language that makes you want to read it aloud.

If vampire magic is the entire legal code, Flame-Passing magic is a picture book for kindergarteners.

That's how much their sentences differ in complexity.

Based on the Nameless Epic hypothesis, incantations quoted from the epic's narrative prose have an ordinary nuance, neither particularly refined nor vulgar.

However, incantations thought to have been quoted from the dialogue of the epic's characters show remarkable differences in phrasing according to each character's personality.

This could prove to be a major hint toward unraveling the mysteries and full picture of the Nameless Epic.

In any case, for a beginner learning the written grammar rules of the magic language, the spells of Flame-Passing magic are an invaluable textbook. Their phrasing is as simple as a picture book's, making their structure easy to understand and their modification easy as well.

About a month after I carved the Spider Witch's decoy-bait sculpture,

I had mastered the basics of magic letters and succeeded in modifying the core spell of the exceptionally simple Flame-Passing magic incantations: "O flame."

I removed both rhetorical symbols from the original incantation and added two new rhetorical symbols in their place.

In principle, this should make the magic activate "deliberately," in other words, slowly.

Once I could modify the written form of a spell, the next step was to write it down.

I wrote the letters on a clay tablet using magic alloy melted for me by the fire lizards. Once the red-hot metal cooled and hardened, the preparations were finally complete.

Text written in magic letters always has a symbol at the beginning indicating that it is the start of a sentence. If I touched this symbol with the core of a magic wand and chanted the spell, magic would activate according to the effect of the magic letters. Witches and mages only need to chant.

"O flame."

When I placed the clay tablet inscribed with magic letters in the backyard and chanted the spell, the letters lit up and emitted fire like a portable gas burner.

By my rough count, the red flame burned for about twelve or thirteen minutes before going out.

Since it burned slowly over time, its output was weaker than the original magic's. It was like cooking slowly over low heat.

Hmm. Well, that'll do.

It seemed useful for cooking and things like that. Being able to adjust the output between the original's high heat and the modified version's low heat was a minor but significant improvement. I could make the fire lizards handle that kind of adjustment just by asking them, so I wouldn't use it, but small advances like this add up to improve everyday life.

My first practical use of magic letters ended successfully without incident. Patiently studying and solidifying the basics had paid off.

From here on, it was time for the advanced course.

The time had come to test the ideas for using magic letters that I had been stockpiling.

Of course, I would continue studying, but I had become capable of conducting small experiments with magic letters.

What I wanted was to recreate a "scroll." The practical application of this concept had not been mentioned even in the American materials.

A scroll is an instant magic item commonly found in fantasy RPGs and TRPGs.

Magic is written on a scroll, allowing a one-time, disposable spell to be activated.

The technology to charge a spell and reserve it for activation already exists. The regular dodecahedral fractal magic wand is an example.

However, when a spell is put into standby with a regular dodecahedral fractal, its power drops drastically. By default, it falls to one percent. Even with various tricks, it can only be raised to one-tenth.

It was far too inefficient.

That was where magic letters came in handy.

If I combined magic letters, Monster Clamps, and the American familiar magic called "Living Script," then in theory I should be able to create a scroll that reserved a spell for activation without any loss of power.

Living Script magic is the American equivalent of the Eyeball Familiar.

When you chant Living Script magic, black magical ink pools at your fingertips. Using this ink, you can write anything anywhere, whether on paper, dirt, or even in the air. You can write or draw whatever you like.

Once it uses up the ink and finishes writing, whatever it wrote begins to move with a will of its own, as if it were alive.

Apparently, Living Script magic is used in America in place of carrier pigeons. Its magic cost is 4K. Not everyone can use it, but it is relatively easy to use.

Unlike an Eyeball Familiar, it does not reduce your maximum magic power, disappears with the passage of time, is vulnerable to damage, has a short range, cannot fly, and has no telephone function. Its cost is low because it lacks so many things.

In the scroll-production method I had in mind, I would take advantage of the low cost of Living Script magic.

Monster Clamps can apply a time delay based on the size and magical power of a captured life-form.

Their effect is weak on large creatures and those with powerful magic.

Conversely, they have an outstanding effect on small creatures with little magic power.

An Eyeball Familiar is treated as a life-form in magical terms, so it responds to Monster Clamps.

Living Script also responds to Monster Clamps.

And Living Script is flat, small, and has only a tiny amount of magic power. The effect of the Monster Clamps would be maximized.

First, write a magic circle using magic letters.

Enclose that magic circle with Monster Clamps.

Charge the Monster Clamps with magic power and put them into activation standby.

Then activate the magic letters. Once the magic was in a state where it would activate in a loop, I would put Living Script inside the Monster Clamps and activate the time delay.

This would slow the magic almost to a complete stop in the middle of its looped activation. In other words, I could stockpile the magic.

Then, when I wanted to activate it, I could break the ring of the Monster Clamps, releasing the time delay and activating the magic.

In theory, it should work.

With the Spider Witch's help, I busily made scrolls.

For the Monster Clamp material, I used scraps from magic wands manufactured after the Arataki Group Incident. I split them into strands as fine as hair and embedded them in Steel Sheep parchment to form a circle.

Inside the Monster Clamp circle, I drew the magic circle for "O flame" using magic alloy.

Finally, I had the Spider Witch charge the Monster Clamps with magic power and cast Living Script magic, completing the preparations.

Incidentally, there was no particular reason I incorporated this entire mechanism into parchment. It looked cool.

When I chanted the flame magic, the magic circle responded and the letters lit up. I immediately sent Living Script plunging into the magic circle, and just as the theory predicted, Living Script stopped.

The light from the magic circle also stopped while flowing along the circle.

Now that stopping it had succeeded, it was time to release it.

I shifted part of the outer circle in the double circle I had drawn on the scroll—the section that made up the Monster Clamps—and broke the circle. At once, the stopped time began flowing again, and flames billowed up.

Good, good. It worked. It's incredibly satisfying when something I made operates according to theory.

That proved the scroll concept.

As long as I preserved the basic structure of enclosing the magic circle with Monster Clamps, I should be able to embed its function in all kinds of tools, not just parchment.

However, the Monster Clamps' time delay has a limited duration, so once their effect expires, the magic activates on its own. I would need to be careful. Unfortunately, scrolls have a shelf life. There's room for improvement.

As I was examining Scroll Proof-of-Concept No. 1 and thinking, the Spider Witch, who had served as my experimental assistant, spoke with awe in her voice.

"Can new technology really just pop into existence like this? Is it only because you're special, Dairi...?"

"No, I am a genius, certainly, but this time I just combined existing technologies. Even if I hadn't found it, someone would have eventually, right?"

In reality, I hadn't done anything that difficult.

The Monster Clamp portion was difficult, if you wanted to call it that, but any reasonably skilled artisan could probably imitate it by sacrificing precision and increasing the size.

But with things like this, the first to do it wins. Even if someone else would eventually have discovered the technology, becoming the first person to uncover it still had meaning.

More importantly, if I miniaturized the scroll technology, I could build it into wands. Heh heh heh, wandmaking and miniaturization were my specialties. My wands had just gained another useful feature.

"Want me to use this to upgrade your wand too, Spider Witch-san? Or did you say you didn't want anyone tinkering with it?"

"No, I don't mind you tinkering with it at all. But... hmm... Dairi, if you're putting this into a wand, I think a defensive spell would be best. I'd be happier if I could deploy a defensive spell with one touch rather than having an offensive spell built in. It would surely make a huge difference to the casualty rate..."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. One of the witches from the Arataki Group used an incredibly sturdy defensive spell. It would be useful, and everyone would love it, if we could activate that instantly. I think they recreated the incantation at the university... I'm a little fuzzy on the details, so I'll check and make sure..."

Hmm.

I didn't really understand the subtleties of combat, but if the Spider Witch said so, it was probably true.

Well, if an enemy fired an instant-death spell at you and you couldn't dodge, being able to throw up a defense instantly would certainly be reassuring. It could come in handy in the coming Demon Lord battle, too.

Once I made a few more adjustments, maybe I should send the actual device and its blueprint to America.