I was really curious about the outcome after hearing that Ed had presented his new magic, so I asked him for details. He reluctantly spilled the beans.
“It’s the first time in decades for the Priests’ Guild too, you know. Even the Grand Priests Master showed up. And they thanked me with tears in their eyes, which made me super uncomfortable…”
Yeah, I can see how that would be awkward.
But it makes sense, right?
After all, it’s the first new magic in decades, so the Priests’ Guild and the Crafter’s Guild must have been in an uproar, wouldn’t you say?
“Oh, you did it, then! Congratulations, Ed!”
I genuinely congratulated Ed.
It’s a joyous occasion, and it’ll make the wedding with Marina even more special, right?
“Thanks, but I’d rather you were the one who did it, you know?”
“No, the fact that Ed could present it means it had to be him, not me. Besides, I only gave advice; I don’t even know what kind of magic it turned out to be!”
“That’s true, but still…”
Alright, I won.
Or rather, I feel like it’s pointless to interrogate him further, so I should probably ask Marina.
“Marina, what kind of magic did Ed present?”
“You called? It’s a magic that was presented, you know. It seems to be classified as Craft Magic. The name is Melting, right?”
Craft Magic, huh?
Well, it’s understandable since it was developed for melting metal, but what does “classified” mean?
“That’s right. Hmm? What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean, ‘classified’?”
Prim seems to have the same question.
Since it’s been decades since magic was presented, anyone who directly knew what happened last time would obviously be elderly.
It might have been rumored back then, but how it was actually registered is likely just speculation. Perhaps even the Priests’ Guild doesn’t know the details.
“It was the first time I learned this too, but presenting magic means conveying its name, purpose, and effects to the statue of the Goddess of Magic using your magic power without speaking. If it’s recognized and registered, the statue of the Goddess of Magic will light up, and the magic’s name and attribute will appear on the book in her left hand. This time, ‘Craft Magic, Melting’ appeared there. So, in terms of the name, what I decided was recognized, but the classification was decided by the Goddess of Magic herself.”
So that’s why it became Craft Magic.
Well, it’s magic that uses heat to melt things, so if it were carelessly used on living beings, they’d burn to a crisp in no time.
Preventing that might be why it was classified as Craft Magic.
There are two major religions on the Helios Orb, and when you break it down further, there are nearly ten different ones.
One of the larger ones is not on this Philia Continent but is worshipped on the neighboring Gradia Continent. Moreover, it has a completely opposite nature to the largest religion on the Philia Continent, so I’ll omit it for now. In the Amister Kingdom, where I am, the Bascion religion is the state religion.
The Bascion religion is the most popular religion on the Philia Continent, with its headquarters in the small nation of Bascion, located southwest of Amister, where the Pope serves as the highest priest.
It was originally part of the Amister Kingdom, but about 200 years ago, when the six small nations that would become Valentia were ceded, the king at the time judged that it would cause problems if the headquarters of a religion were within Amister. He ceded the city where the headquarters was located, along with several surrounding villages, to the Pope at the time, recognizing it as a religious state where other countries were forbidden to interfere. This was the beginning of the Bascion nation.
In Earth terms, it’s probably similar to Vatican City.
However, the priests and clergymen of the Bascion religion are strongly aware that they are religious figures, not politicians, and are members of the Priests’ Guild.
Of course, they don’t neglect national affairs or condone pointless conflict, but they have only a minimal number of soldiers and a small territory, resulting in a food self-sufficiency rate of only about 70%.
Furthermore, they have few exportable specialties and rely on resources from a labyrinth that emerged about 100 years ago and aid from Amister to barely maintain their status as a nation.
Both the Pope and the clergy understand well that the Bascion nation was founded by the goodwill of the Amister Royal Family, who are devout followers.
Therefore, they do not openly complain, but this is irrelevant to the ordinary people living in the holy city and surrounding villages.
Moreover, with the six small nations ceded to Amister forming the Valentia Allied Kingdom, the meaning of the Bascion nation’s founding has diminished.
As a result, successive Popes have reportedly pleaded multiple times for the restoration of territory to Amister.
The King of Amister, however, cannot easily respond due to the delicate balance with Retisencia and Libertà.
Incidentally, the Solemne Empire has no religion at all.
Apparently, in the past, religions other than the Bascion religion were worshipped, but the previous or the one before that Emperor of Solemne, upon his enthronement, railed against religion as weak, destroyed all the Priests’ Guilds, temples, and churches within the country, and massacred every single priest and clergyman. It’s a brutal story.
The country has a “might makes right” national character and aims for the unification of the Philia Continent, so there wasn’t much backlash, but it’s questionable as a human being.
Naturally, the current emperor also follows the path of his predecessor or the one before that, thoroughly eliminating religion from the country and not even allowing pilgrimages by priests.
Furthermore, they have driven out not only the Hunter’s Guild, Crafter’s Guild, Trader’s Guild, and Butler’s Guild but also severed diplomatic relations with most countries, so it’s truly a mystery what they are thinking.
Solemne is largely an isolated island nation, able to procure resources from labyrinths within its own territory and having a food self-sufficiency rate exceeding 100%.
Regarding mineral resources, they possess multiple iron mines within the country, and they also have a group of engineers who differ from crafters, so the quality is reportedly high.
Perhaps they are similar artisan groups to those in my world.
Getting back to the topic, the Bascion religion famously worships thirteen main gods and is tolerant of other religions.
Rather than tolerance, it’s more accurate to say that other religions are considered to have merged with the Bascion religion as a result of indigenous beliefs.
This is apparently why, 200 years ago, almost all religions on the Philia Continent gathered, and the Priests’ Guild was established.
The Bascion religion is positioned as one religion within the Priests’ Guild, but because successive Popes are appointed as Grand Priests Master, it holds significant influence.
The gods worshipped by the Bascion religion are the Father God and Mother Goddess, who are said to have created the world, the Goddess of Magic, the Goddess of Martial Arts, the Goddess of Marriage, the Goddess of the Sea, the Goddess of the Land, the Goddess of the Sky, the Goddess of Humanity, the Goddess of Beasts, the Goddess of Dragons, the Goddess of Yokai, and the Goddess of Wings – thirteen in total. As their names suggest, all are goddesses except for the Father God.
The Bascion religion offers thanks and prayers to all these gods, dedicating them to the statues enshrined in the Priests’ Guild.
Statues are found not only in the Priests’ Guild but also in temples and churches. However, the number and types of enshrined statues vary. It is said that only the Esperansa Grand Temple in Esperansa, the holy city of the Bascion nation, which is the headquarters of the Priests’ Guild, enshrines the Father God.
This is largely because the Father God is considered the husband and central figure of the twelve goddesses.
It also seems to be common practice to simultaneously enshrine gods from other religions.
By the way, the Priests’ Guild in Feel enshrines statues of the Goddess of Magic, the Goddess of Marriage, the Goddess of Martial Arts, and the Goddess of the Land.
In other places, major cities have five to seven, provincial cities have three to four, and even in small villages, it’s common to enshrine statues of the Goddess of Magic and the Goddess of Marriage. I’ve heard that the Royal Capital’s Priests’ Guild has statues of all twelve gods except the Father God.
There was a time when magic presentations were frequent, so statues of the Goddess of Magic are placed in every town. You can also learn about your own Bestowed Magic through the statue of the Goddess of Magic, so in a way, she might be the most important.
“So, what exactly is this Melting magic?”
“It’s magic to heat substances. I thought it would be dangerous to heat them directly, so I imagined a furnace and applied heat to the contents within it. For metals, it melts them. For wood, it smokes them. For cooking, it warms them. That’s how I presented it.”
It’s better magic than I expected.
And since I considered making it usable on things other than metal, it seems quite versatile.
“Oh, that’s a good idea.”
“I think so too, even if I say so myself. Of course, I made it adjustable, but as Yamato said, the image is important, so without practice, wood will turn to charcoal, and food will be burnt to a crisp.”
That’s a tough problem, but couldn’t that be prevented with proper education?
Also, depending on how it’s used, it might be possible to enchant cold-weather gear.
“You use Hunter magic, so you probably understand that Guild magic requires understanding these finer details. So I’m not too worried about that. I hadn’t thought of using it for cold-weather gear, though. You’re right, since it applies heat, it might be good for dealing with cold.”
“If you get the heat wrong, the clothes will burn up, and you might burn yourself too.”
Marina chimes in with a wry smile, but I think it’s the crafter’s skill to adjust it so that doesn’t happen.
“But in Amister, blizzards are not uncommon in winter, and there are extremely cold regions, so if such clothes could be made, many people would be delighted.”
I agree with Meena’s opinion, but is Amister really that cold?
Feel heard it snows, but not that cold, so this was completely unexpected.
Just like the Mylight Mountains, the climate on the Helios Orb seems fundamentally different from Earth.
Amister, with its many mountains, gets snow in winter, but several of its mountain peaks are scorching hot even in winter. Retisencia next door gets rain year-round, and it’s not uncommon for landslides to occur due to rain accompanied by typhoon-like gales.
Solemne is a desert with almost no rain, and Torencia gets a lot of snow, but in the center of its largest glacier is a lava lake, with a large volcano floating in the middle.
Valentia, too, has roots extending from the ground into the sea, and it’s said that a vast forest spreads across the sea, which is astonishing.
It seems that every country except the Bascion nation has at least one such extraordinary region. Among them, Gagun Great Forest in Valentia, Golud Great Glacier in Torencia, and Enigma Island in Alegria are said to be the three great dangers of the Philia Continent.
It’s also common for demi-humans who become pregnant by men’s essence to live in these three locations.
There are other areas where such demi-humans inhabit, and those regions are invariably designated danger zones called designated demi-human habitats.
The Mylight Mountains are also a danger zone, but since it’s confirmed that those demi-humans do not live there, their danger level is lower than those other regions.
I wouldn’t want to encounter such demi-humans, but Amister also has designated demi-human habitats, so I might be called out on a request or something sooner or later.
