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Creating Magic Equipment 5

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*****

To convey my burning passion to craft Magic Equipment, I balled my hands into tight fists.

「I want to reject my marriage proposals!」

「...Huh? What? Wait, mmgh?」

For once, Vanessa looked completely bewildered, but I didn't care.

This was a life-or-death matter for me, especially now that marriage proposal letters had actually started arriving at the Court Alchemist's workshop.

Sending them to my house was one thing, but bringing personal mail into my workplace was absolutely out of the question. It was incredibly rude, completely flying in the face of noble etiquette... no, scratch that, basic professional manners!

Even for a low-ranking viscount's daughter, a girl has her limits.

I mean, Master Clein had looked at me with pure pity and said, 『...I'll have a word with them,』 you know?! Imagine how agonizing it feels to have your boss at work say something like that to you!

If I had to deal with these guys one by one, I was bound to get dragged into some weird drama eventually. And if another romance-related scandal broke out, it could totally ruin my reputation as an alchemist.

That was why I wanted to make Magic Equipment. Even if my motives were entirely impure, a fun, happy alchemical life was waiting for me once I pulled it off!

「I don't want to marry some noble with baggage or a guy who can't read the room. Proposing a betrothal the second a halfway decent rumor about me starts floating around the capital... doesn't that basically scream 'I'm a total deadbeat'? If I marry someone like that, I'll definitely be miserable!」

「M-Mia? Um, that's not exactly the kind of driving force I was expecting.」

「I want to be happy too, you know! Don't you agree that marriage isn't the only way for a woman to find happiness, Vanessa?!」

「Shh! Mia, quiet down! We're literally inside the Alchemists Guild right now.」

Being told to behave by none other than the ultra-free-spirited Vanessa snapped me back to reality.

The people around us shot me looks that said, *Wow, she's really going through it, huh?* but I slapped on my best noble smile and forced my way through the awkwardness.

I needed to show a bit more noble awareness and behave like a proper, elegant lady.

(Lately, it feels like all I do is regret my life choices...)

Regaining my composure, I whispered to Vanessa.

「At first, I thought about using Leon's Bracelet of Power to become a monstrously strong noble lady and apply some literal physical pressure. But the design wasn't exactly something a girl could wear, so I had to abandon that plan. That's why I decided to craft Magic Equipment myself and get the whole kingdom backing me instead!」

Despite the little hiccup of getting way too heated in the middle of it, I laid all my cards on the table and spoke completely without filter.

Furthering my surprise, Vanessa started chuckling.

「You really are a hilarious girl, Mia.」

「I'm being completely serious here. Are you making fun of me by any chance?」

「No way, no way!」

(She's absolutely making fun of me. Unreal.)

「Of course, part of me just simply wants to try making one. Wearing Magic Equipment with hidden powers sounds incredibly cool, after all. According to Obaba-sama, there's even Magic Equipment that lets you fly through the sky.」

「I think it's nice to have dreams. Though making Magic Equipment just to avoid getting hitched to a weird guy is a pretty shallow motive.」

「It's a matter of survival! Right now, I'm standing at a massive crossroads in my life. My options are a life where I get to do alchemy, or a life where some fiancé puts a leash on me.」

「Well, you definitely have to go with the former.」

「Exactly! So please, tell me everything you know about Magic Equipment.」

Intent on wheedling the information out of her, I leaned in close to Vanessa.

That seemed to change her mind, and she leaned her face close to mine to whisper like we were sharing a secret.

「Mia, you can see the mana pathways, right?」

「Yes. I didn't think it was anything special, and I only just found out a second ago.」

「Then this will be quick. In the Necklace of Warding I made, there's exactly one mana pathway that I couldn't channel mana into, even with Enchantment. That's the sole reason it fell short of becoming true Magic Equipment.」

「Huh? Was there really a spot like that? I've looked at it several times, but I never saw any place where you could channel mana.」

As far as my mana perception could tell, I could only see traces of beautifully enchanted mana.

It felt like trying to add another entirely different type of mana on top of this would totally shatter the balance, pulling it even further away from becoming Magic Equipment.

But as if to show me exactly what she meant, Vanessa touched the Necklace of Warding and channeled her mana into it.

In response, the necklace began to glow.

「Don't you find it strange? A passive-type (passive type) piece of equipment requiring you to consume mana just to activate it.」

「...Ah.」

For an ordinary alchemical item like a magic lamp, you integrate a Mana Stone as a power source to control the enchanted energy. Leon's Bracelet of Power was likely the same, running on the user's mana to activate.

However, items like Holy Arrows or Arrows of Holy Light had mana constantly circulating inside them, meaning their effects would never fade unless they were broken.

In other words, the fact that you *could* actively channel mana into it was the anomaly. It was originally supposed to be an item that didn't drain the user's mana at all—

「So you mean the problem is that the wearer is acting as the power source.」

「Exactly. It's supposed to be a system where mana circulates to generate its own energy.」

「So if someone could enchant that specific mana pathway with mana...」

That meant the Necklace of Warding would finally be complete.

The reason she had used dual deployment for Formation and Enchantment probably wasn't to boost its specs, but rather to construct that very mana pathway.

If even Vanessa's hyper-precise mana control couldn't apply an enchantment there, a conventional approach was out of the question.

Which meant there was only one way left to sublimate it into true Magic Equipment.

「The rest is up to you, Mia. Knowing the theory and actually being able to craft Magic Equipment are two completely different stories, after all.」

「I think I've grasped the general structure of Magic Equipment now, so I'll give it everything I've got.」

「I'll be praying for your success, Mia.」

「Thank you so much.」

Watching Vanessa send me off with a gentler smile than usual, a thought crossed my mind.

(She really does still want to practice alchemy, and she deeply wished she could have finished the Necklace of Warding with her own two hands.)

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