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Creating Magic Equipment 3

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

*****

After I finished reading the apple's mana, it was time to check the actual inside to see if I was right.

Master Clein brought over a knife and sliced the apple open—

「This was just an apple I missed out on eating for breakfast, but it turned out to be a pretty good one. Just like you said, Mia, it looks incredibly sweet.」

Nearly half of it was packed with a syrupy honey-core, making it an incredibly juicy apple.

Since Master Clein went through the trouble of peeling it for us, Leon and I happily dug in.

「Mmm, so sweet.」

Baked goods like cookies and cakes are great and all, but fruit has that nice tangy kick and a refreshing aftertaste. Plus, snacking during work gave it that extra little thrill of guilt, making it taste even better.

「You two are as perfectly in sync as always.」

(Ah, Leon and I spoke in perfect unison again. We're not even twins, so why does that keep happening?)

「Jokes aside. When Leon or I use mana perception, we generally only read around the surface of the apple. Our perception of the internal mana is pretty vague. But that's not the case for you, is it, Mia?」

「Right. I can read the internal mana perfectly fine, and I always make a conscious effort to clearly perceive mana during my day-to-day work. Come to think of it, I remember gradually becoming able to tell, but... when exactly did that start?」

As far as I could remember, I first started focusing heavily on mana back when I was prepping herbs under my ex-fiancé, Lord Zeel.

Driven to fulfill my duties as his fiancée, I had worked myself to the bone trying to help him brew the highest-quality potions possible, constantly running through trial and error.

Right around then, I landed the job at the Adventurers Guild, which meant I interacted with alchemy a lot more through appraising potions, and I think it all just started clicking bit by bit.

「When we first met, you didn't seem to fully understand it yet. But from that point on, your talent bloomed as if you were sprinting up a flight of stairs. I remember it vividly.」

「True, once you started bringing me all those different potions, Master Clein, the tricky appraisals started piling up... Wait, you noticed from the very beginning?!」

「Well, obviously. Why else do you think I hired you as an advisor?」

Talk about a shocking revelation... But looking back, I'd actually already experienced something that proved it.

On the day I resigned from the Adventurers Guild, I successfully saw right through a counterfeit potion Master Clein had brought in. Even Master Clein, who made it himself, said he couldn't tell the difference, so you probably couldn't judge it without being able to see the mana pathways.

In fact, when I'd had Alice check it out back then, she was completely fooled into thinking it was just a normal potion—

「If that was the case, you should've just told me! I was scratching my head this whole time wondering what an 'advisor' was even supposed to do.」

「Whether you would've believed me is a whole different story. If I told you that when I first invited you to be my assistant, you never would've accepted it.」

「...True.」

Finding his point oddly reasonable, I admitted it without a fight. If he'd told me his real reason for hiring me right when he asked me to be his assistant, I probably would've gotten suspicious instead.

「This is purely my own theory... but I believe you're letting your own mana flow into things just enough so it doesn't disrupt their original mana, using that to perceive the internal structure. You tend to show exactly that kind of pattern whenever you perform alchemy or appraisals.」

(Wait, I was doing something that incredible completely on autopilot? It's my own body, yet I had absolutely no idea.)

(To think that normal people can only judge mana within their line of sight when they try to check it.)

(Ah! Come to think of it, Vanessa said something similar to me when she gave me the Necklace of Warding.)

『I knew it, Mia. You really can see the flow of mana, can't you?』

Vanessa might have noticed it through her interactions with me. I remember her saying she could "feel the wavelengths of mana" back when she registered at the Alchemists Guild.

(And Obaba-sama obviously has me figured out too, huh? Every time I buy stuff from her, she watches me intently whenever I pick out materials based on their mana.)

「Just out of curiosity, how do normal people even perform Enchantments? If you can't tell what the internal mana looks like, you wouldn't be able to control it properly.」

「The skill that makes it possible is precisely【Enchantment】. When you deploy an Enchantment field, it makes it easier to perceive the minute details of the mana.」

「...Easier to perceive?」

「Yes. Meaning they don't actually know for sure.」

「Then, when you're readjusting the Bracelet of Power...」

「Basically, you have to completely strip away the enchanted mana and reapply it. Since you can't even tell where the fixes are needed without keeping the Enchantment field deployed continuously, it's a job you can't pull off unless you have a massive pool of mana.」

「O-oh... I-I see.」

「Which means, since you can use alchemy for way longer than I can, Miss Mia, your—」

「Don't say another word! My mental state is nowhere near stable enough to accept the fact that I have more mana than you!」

Having one shocking truth after another dropped on me, I sprinted away from reality at full speed.

I was still just an apprentice alchemist in a low-responsibility position—clueless, lacking knowledge, and a total stranger to the industry.

I was right in the middle of picking up basic skills while working under Master Clein, with a fun, carefree alchemical life stretching out ahead of me—or so it was supposed to be!!

And yet, I could perceive mana pathways that even a Court Alchemist like Master Clein couldn't see, possessed a deeper mana pool than Leon who literally researches the Bracelet of Power, and had the hopes and dreams of Vanessa—the creator of items incredibly close to real Magic Equipment—entrusted to me!!

This is completely nuts!!!! There's no way this fits into the peaceful alchemy life I wanted... Wait. Couldn't this actually be a massive opportunity...?

Coming full circle, my mind cleared up, and I began to analyze my situation with cool-headed logic.

「...Is there a chance I could actually make Magic Equipment?」

「There's definitely a possibility. I highly doubt Obaba would force such an outrageous request on you just for her own amusement.」

「It's the same for Lady Vanessa's necklace. She wouldn't have handed it over if she didn't believe you were capable of making Magic Equipment.」

In other words, if I managed to pull off making Magic Equipment right here, I'd receive immense recognition. Instead of aiming to become some monstrously strong noble lady, wouldn't this be an even better way to keep ridiculous marriage proposals at bay?

I mean, I'd have the King himself backing me up...!

「I'm going to pay a quick visit to Obaba-sama!」

Unable to sit still for a second longer, I went bursting out of the workshop.

All while praying that my peaceful life as an alchemist would last forever.

*****

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