Chapter 5: Magical Maids Project! Next Stage!
1
It's the First month of K209. 4 months since I received the "Magic Book for Beginners" from the Forbidden Library.
Southwest of Roswaal Mansion, a mysterious fortress stands some distance from Arlam Village. Its walls were tall and thick enough to withstand a siege.
Curious Arlam Villagers who approach would surely be confused. Sometimes, loud explosions and screams can be heard coming from within.
This mysterious fortress popped up out of nowhere, during the last month of K208, seemingly overnight. It wasn't built by a Warring-States-Era Feudal Lord, and it wasn't built for war.
Rather, this was a School. Built with thick tall walls, so mages-in-training may fire their spells, without the risk of burning down a forest. Built by a handsome boy who's fighting for his life right now.
Well, at least Zenith and Lilia calls me handsome.
My opponents are the recently powered-up Demonic Twins.
Even when I first met them, they were strong swordswomen. And they only continued to grow stronger. They're nearly Advanced-Rank now I reckon, as their movements now remind me of Paul's.
On top of that, they are now mages who can silent-cast Intermediate-Rank spells. They're now Mini-Pauls who can cast magic in the same way I do.
They were no longer opponents I could fight 1v2 and win while limiting my spells. We now only fought 1v1 sword-only, 1v1 magic-only, 1v1 sword-and-magic-mixed.
But today, the two of them wanted a rematch of our very first lesson.
I agreed to it, wanting to combat-test the new spells I learned.
We started with a good distance between us, a distance we considered fair.
They cast spells while closing in on me, not giving me a chance to take them out from a distance.
Their intermediate-rank spells were shot at me back-to-back in perfect synchronicity. I had to purely focus on defense to not get overwhelmed.
Ram shot to cut off my evasion routes, with Wind Slices targeted above me, and Ex Flames to my sides. Choosing spells with a wider area-of-effect, targeted around me.
Rem shot directly at me with her Ice Shards and Stone Canons, forcing me to stand my ground and block them with defensive spells.
Getting hit by any of their Intermediate-Rank spells would be fatal for me, as I still lacked Battle Aura.
When I fired back at them, their fast reflexes made it nearly impossible to hit them with single-target spells such as Stone Canon and Icicle Break.
My only option was to overwhelm them with area-of-effect spells. So I cast a wide area Blizzard Storm, to bombard them with Ice Shards. There wasn't any room for them to dodge it, so they had to block it.
Their defensive options were limited. Rem had Ice Wall, and Earth Wall. Ram had Wind Blast, and Flame Pillar. Rem had more block options, and Ram had more evasion options.
Forcing them into a situation where Evasion is difficult, and Blocking is necessary puts a strain on Rem, forcing her to protect both of them. Which would allow me to overpower her with mana.
However, they surprised me by combining their spells at a snap, creating a double barrier of Wind and Ice, while running forward, drilling through the Blizzard Storm safely.
Rem who was in front of Ram dashed towards me, swinging down her wooden sword vertically, targeting my head.
I cast Earth Fortress, but Rem's slash went through it, the Earth Fortress only managed to slow down her sword before it almost reached me.
I would have died if that hit me.
Luckily, I managed to touch Rem in the stomach before she swung again. CastingVitathe gravity amplifying spell, to forcibly ground Rem, leaving her immobilized.
Following Rem, Ram entered my melee range, she's strong enough to cut through my defensive spells, and she's too fast for me to hit her at melee range.
I jumped to the air, castingMurakthe gravity reduction spell, to jump high in the air. Ram didn't commit to her feinted sword slash, and jumped up to follow me.
Ram used her Wind magic to boost herself further up in the air, I did the same, and Ram couldn't reach me. I cast Stone Canon, firing three shots at her, she managed to parry one of them, but got hit by the other two.
Ram was knocked out, and was falling to the ground.
I descended faster using Vita, catching Ram before she fell, applying Murak on us, and landing softly.
"End of Spar!" I said, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
Rem, however, didn't respond. She was kneeling on the ground, trying to stand back up against Vita.
From my estimation, I should have burdened Rem with around 80kg spread across her body. Yet Rem almost successfully stood back up on her feet already.
Her Battle Aura sure is amazing.
I increased the weight by 20 more kgs.
"End of Spar!" I said. Rem nodded, but I waited further.
"I lost." Rem finally said out loud.
I let go of the spell and offered Rem my hand to help her up. She didn't take it of course. But she didn't slap it away, and that was progress. She was a very sore loser back when I first met her.
I handed Ram to Rem, and Ram woke up after a few seconds.
That was it for today's sparring session.
"Whew, I really can't be fighting you two like this anymore. I almost died like, five times back there."
"You don't have to lie, Rudeus. You never even got hit." Rem said
"False humility is an insulting trait, Rudeus. Cut it off." Ram said
"Well, I would've died if I got hit, so I had to block and evade everything." I said
I tried to explain to them how I have no Battle Aura, and that means I lack the defenses they have. But it seems like they still don't believe me. To them, getting hit with an Intermediate-Rank spell, and toughing it out was normal.
They've been crushing me during sword-only spars, even broke both my legs once, but they're yet to hit me directly with an Intermediate-Rank spell, as I would either come out with heavy injury or die from it if I ever got hit with it.
"We won't know that until you get hit with it."was their stance on the matter.
My Intermediate-Rank healing would not be enough to regrow limbs or heal a bad burn... And more importantly,I don't want to get my limbs severed or burnt in the first place.
But they keep trying to hit me with it regardless... I need to come up with some more defenses.
"What was that last spell? Forcing my Rem to kneel to you like that, it's a perverted spell fitting for you, Lewdeus." Ram asked.
"Also, you can fly now like Master Roswaal?" Rem asked.
I explained to them the spells of Vita and Murak.
Vita the Gravity Amplification spell. Murak the Gravity Reduction spell. Spells that increased and decreased the weight of its target. A set of powerful shadow spells, yet they're considered Beginner-Rank.
The main downside, aside from its mana cost, was that Vita and Murak required near-direct contact with the target to cast, it had about 10cm effective range. So it was tricky to use against swordsmen, I can't imagine someone like Paul falling for this.
Vita was a strong spell still, as successfully applying it on an opponent would almost guarantee victory. Even if I'm afraid of applying a weight beyond 100kg on a person, I can still do it.
But Murak alone was worth the efforts I went to acquire this book.
I could use it to carry heavy things and multiple objects easily. Simply applying Murak would make them float like balloons, and I could either carry them with my hands or use wind magic to carry everything at once.
With Murak, I could jump to the top of Roswaal Mansion, and with it constantly applied, I could fly as well. Though, without wind magic, I would just float.
Being able to fly was amazing. However, there are limits to it of course.
"As a fellow Mage capable of flight. Alloo~w me to give you a warning. If you use it to travel looo~ng distances, be wary that you risk attraaa~cting flying monsters to you, potentially even a red dragon. So be caaa~reful okay?"
Roswaal warned me when I first learned how to fly.
It was due to Flight Magic expelling a lot of mana. Flying monsters are sensitive to mana in the air, so if they happen to be nearby, they come chasing. More dangerously, ground monsters also start chasing the mana trail that falls to the ground.
I would be drawing monsters to innocent bystanders if I used it to travel between towns. So flight magic was to be used in short bursts, in safe areas.
I don't want to attract too much attention to myself. So I decided to be mindful of my usage.
When I'm outside of the mansion: only use Murak to boost my jumps, and carry heavy objects, similar to what swordsmen and warriors are capable of, and other Murak casting for emergencies.
So Rudeus Airlines was a no-go, but Air Rudeus was allowed.
"It's good that you're learning new things to teach us, you won't get fired sooner then. This means Ram and Rem will have fewer chores to do in the mansion, with you continuing to serve as our manserva-... No, a manservant!" Ram said, smirking.
"Yeah yeah, I'm happy to serve. Now, let's go get changed out of our muddy clothes." I said. Ignoring Ram calling me a manservant.
"Rem wants to learn how to fly too, teach it to me next time, Rudeus." Rem said.
We took a breather, changed out from our dirty clothes, drank some tea, and ate our packed lunch, in the classroom of Rudeus School.
2
To cast the Explosion and Ex-Flame spells safely, we needed a location away from the Roswaal Mansion. The nearest natural environment wasn't suitable, so we decided to construct a new site near Arlam Village.
Rem wanted to learn Earth Magic for construction, so she helped build the walls. Ram wanted to learn Wind Magic for transportation, so she helped move the trees.
Within the walled enclosure, we leveled the ground and added training features like a target range, pull-up bars, dumbbells, and various obstacles. It was roughly the size of a school sports field.
Our goal was to create a space for practicing magic without risking damage to the surrounding forest.
As we built the walls and the installments, our building plans kept expanding, a room to sit down in, a bedroom for when they collapse from mana exhaustion, or get knocked out during a spar, and a proper bathroom is necessary, *and we might as well build a kitchen..*. And so on.
So we hired the Arlam Village craftsmen for their advice, and eventually, this place turned into a proper school.
Since we were building a new infrastructure to be used by the Roswaal Mansion and Arlam Village, Roswaal and Frederica supported us with funds, pieces of furniture, and Metias.
The school includes separate changing rooms, bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, classrooms, and a storage room. In the future, it will be used to educate Arlam Village children and train potential Roswaal Mansion servants, fostering stronger ties with the villagers.
The name "Roswaal School" was denied because it would cause a political scandal. Roswaal teaching magic to the public has been the dream of the Magic Guild for centuries now. The villagers didn't want to name it "Arlam School" and "Ram School" I rejected out of principle, so I had to duel the two for it, and I won, so "Rudeus School" was named.
The high school dropout ended up building a school...
We've been using the School grounds for our practical lessons, and the classroom for reviewing our spars.
Our morning sword practice and all of our spars are held here now as well.
Since Ram and Rem run out of mana faster now due to casting more mana-expensive Intermediate-Rank spells, they've been using the freed-up time to practice the sword more.
"Actually, I've been meaning to ask. Did Frederica teach you the sword?" I asked Rem.
"Miss Frederica doesn't use a sword, she uses her fists. Big Sister is teaching me the sword."
"And where did you learn the sword, Ram?"
"Ram is self-taught. I don't need anyone to teach me how to swing around weapons." Ram answered matter of factly. She wasn't even smug about it, that was rare.
So all those refined, acrobatic techniques were all self-taught?
Rem was growing stronger than Ram lately, both her mana capacity and her raw physical prowess have been growing past that of Ram's. Even as a maid, Rem was far better than Ram at every household skill.
But it seems like Ram's talent lies in martial arts and swordplay. Her technique during spars was always a step ahead of Rem's. And Ram's teaching was responsible for Rem's sword skills then.
I'm glad Ram has something that she excels in. And as her big sister, she seems happy to see Rem succeed.
"Then, it's amazing how you've become so strong with the sword without having a teacher. I would say you two are almost Advanced-Rank with the sword, close to my dad in rank, though I can't give you the title since I'm not Advanced-Rank myself."
"That's right, Big Sister is amazing!" Rem said, a bright smile on her.
"The only title that matters to Ram is 'Big Sister of Rem', I don't care for any other." Ram said, smiling at Rem.
"Big Sister!" Rem blushed, her eyes wide open and sparkling with tears. The two of them hugged.
It's a good thing you two get along so well. But can you spare some of that affection with me, please?
After ending the hug, and taking some sips of her tea, Ram asked me a question, "Do you care about having respectable titles, Rudeus?"
I gave it some thought before replying "... Well, personally I feel uncomfortable when a title gets in the way of interacting with people." I said, thinking about Lilia.
"So, you would like to refer to Master Roswaal more casually?" Ram asked
"No no, I'm not crazy enough to act all familiar with lord Roswaal." I denied, and thought about whether or not I could tell them about Lilia...
"Who I had in mind was Lilia, my maid growing up, and now my father's second wife. It's hard to call her my mom, but I want our relationship to be more familiar, we're family after all. But she only refers to me as 'Young Master' and I feel distance from that." I told the two.
I decided that Lilia's marriage with Paul was not something to hide or be ashamed of. Zenith didn't hide it, she introduced Lilia as the second wife, and It was only Lilia who felt it was right for her to be ashamed, and I didn't want to encourage that idea by being evasive about it, even in private.
I didn't need to talk about my family or give a serious reply to Ram's question. But the two of them rarely ask me personal questions, so the question might mean something to Ram. I wanted to answer her honestly.
Besides, I trust them.
"Instead of 'Young Master' I would prefer if she called me just 'Rudeus' or 'Rudy'." I said.
"... Do you have any ideas on how to resolve this issue you have with Lilia then?" Ram asked, Rem stayed quiet while listening intently to our conversation.
I thought back to how Lilia was when I was a baby, and how she changed after that family meeting. How concering the contents of her letter were, and how she's raising Aisha as a maid.
"I can't just order her to be one way or another, and I don't want to. So I just have to hope that if I keep treating her as I would a family, she will accept me as one someday." I answered.
Saying it out loud, I thought the words felt right.
"I see. Ram learned that Rudeus is a Hopeless- no, a Hopeful Gambler. You should stay away from dice and cards." Ram said.
"... Just how did you come to that conclusion?" I asked, baffled.
"Because Rudeus will keep betting, not demanding a payout when he could, and only continue to hope the bets payout by random chance. Consider this an early warning about the dangers of gambling from Ram." Ram answered.
Then took a moment, before saying "But I hope this bet of yours pays off."
"Thanks, and I won't start gambling, don't worry." I thanked Ram for her well wishes.
"Aside from this, why do you care about titles?" Rem asked.
"I don't think I care about titles that much though. At least not any more than most other people." I said.
I don't really go around announcing myself by titles. When I interviewed for this job, I used "Son of Paul and Zenith Greyrat", and that was for identification. Aside from that, the only title I'm proud of is "Disciple of Roxy" and by extension "Saint-Rank Water Mage" as Roxy was the one who granted it to me.
"Really? If Rudeus says so, then why do normal people care about titles in the first place?" Rem asked.
"Hmmm... I can't answer for others, but for me, I think it's useful for finding a job. I wouldn't have gotten this job as your tutor if I wasn't known as Roxy's Disciple and a Saint-Rank Water Mage." I answered.
"Is that so? Big Sister and Rem already have jobs as maids, so it doesn't really matter, but do we qualify to gain the title of Mages now?" Rem asked.
Rem was curious if she could call herself a Mage now it seems. I guess I never really told them they qualified as one after they learned to cast their first spells.
They can already Silent Cast Intermediate-Rank spells now, yet they don't call themselves Mages. I wonder if Roxy would annoyed at them for that?
Still, it's impressive how fast they've progressed. In less than a year and a half, they went from not knowing magic to almost killing me with spells during spars.Not that I enjoy having my life be at risk during every spar, but it was still impressive.
I thought this was a good chance as any to grant them the titles officially.
Ahem"You can cast Intermediate-Rank spells now, so you may call yourselves Intermediate-Rank Wind Mage, and Water Mage.
And I can't grant you the title, maybe my Dad can if you two met him, but I reckon you're also near Advanced-Rank in the sword, so it's all very impressive for those at the age of... what 9? 10?"
Come to think of it, I don't know when their birthdays are. I know they're 1 year older than me, but in this world, they only celebrate birthdays at 5, 10, and 15. So I never got to know the birthdays of the girls.
"We're 9 now. We're a year older than you, Rudeus." Rem answered.
"Yes, it's very impressive for a 9-year-old." I finished my unimpressive speech, with neither of them caring about being called Intermediate-Rank, or being called 'Impressive' by me.
But later that day, Ram visited me alone while Rem was away.
"Our birthdays are the 2nd day of the 2nd month. I expect gifts for Ram and Rem, but especially Rem." Ram said.
3
"Fredoraemon~! Quick! Build me a Metia that spawns perfect birthday gifts for the twins!"
"That's the one who..."
"So that's the..."
"Hmm~ so he's the..."
I heard gossip whispered about me, and side-eyed looks coming from the three cat-eared maids. It seems like the Miload Mansion servants heard about me somehow.
I just hope they aren't saying anything too bad...*
Having women look at me with wide eyes and whisper amongst themselves is resurfacing some of my past life trauma. And none of them seem interested in actually approaching me to talk as well.
Even the only face I recognized, Miss Limrear from the Golden Night Inn was among the gossiping maids.
At least the Lady of this house, Lady Grace Miload was kind to me. But she said "It's nice to see the rumored boy." with a smile when I greeted her, she was also participating in the gossip.
I was curious just what rumors were being spread about me.
But I won't be staying here for long, so I guess I don't need to investigate it.
"Well Rudeus, let's head out then."
"Sure, lead the way, Frederica."
It was my revisit to the Industrial City of Costuul. This time, Frederica actually has the time to show me around. Or rather, it was necessary for today's emergency mission.
We were shopping for Birthday presents for Ram and Rem.
We had a 100 holy gold coin budget given by Roswaal. A ridiculous sum of money.
"Surpriiiii~se me."he said, allowing us complete freedom to buy whatever we wanted for the twins.
Starting from the Miload Mansion in the northern part of Costuul, we are planning on shopping in the Western part of the city, where they produce Magical Items, and sell products for nobles.
"Rudeus, what are you planning on buying for them?"
"My Master gifted me a wand when I turned 5, she said mages are supposed to gift one to their pupils when they learn to cast their first spell. And since they learned Intermediate-Rank spells recently, I thought I should do the same."
"Oh my, I'm sure they'll love it. My teacher also gifted one to me, though I rarely use magic now, so I don't carry it around with me now."
I wonder if it's okay to ask about Frederica's teacher. Frederica sometimes mentions her past, the same as Ram and Rem, but they rarely ever expand on it.
"You actually met him earlier, he's the head butler of Miload Mansion now, his name is Clind." Frederica answered before I asked.
Oh did I? I may have not been paying attention...
"Oh, that was him? I see, he seems..." I said, trying to recall my interaction with him.
"Don't worry Rudeus, he was intentionally being distant. That man is good at acting uninteresting when he wants to. He must have left no impression worthy of remembering, he's disgustingly good at that." Frederica said, with an upset expression.
We proceeded to walk and found the shop recommended by Lady Grace Miload to buy wands for Ram and Rem.
"Welcome welcome! Is this your first time buying a wand, Young Master? Come in, come in, have a look, have a look!" A man shorter than me, with a baby face and a big poofy mustache that looked like a party prop on him, greeted us when we entered the establishment.
The Owner is apparently a Hobbit, a race of small humans, this was the first time I encountered one in real life. They are a shorter-lived race, who only age up to 40. They grow up fast during childhood, reaching maturity in 10 years, and start aging slowly until death.
The Owner looked 6 and 60 at the same time.
The Owner barraged me with information regarding wands and their materials. Reciting everything as if it were a tongue twister and a musical.
A wand at its base is comprised of a Magic Stone and a Rod. Both materials have different elemental affinities. The Stone's quality is judged by how much it increases a spell's potency. The Rod's quality is judged by how well it conducts mana.
The difference between a Wand and a Staff was mainly in the Rod. Staves had longer rods that allowed mages to wield and cast with both hands. The advantage of casting with both hands was a better flow of mana, allowing for faster input of mana into spells, which resulted in stronger spells being fired at the end of the incantation. If you cast with one hand with a staff, it was the same as casting with a wand.
You could of course hold a wand with both hands to cast, but the short length of the rod meant the mana conductivity was worse, and the double mana input could either result in the rod breaking, or spells malfunctioning.
Apparently for most mages, going full Goku-mode and casting with both empty hands for one spell was not very effective, as you lacked a rod to gather your mana in one point, mana would leak and spells would end up costing more, without improving it's effectiveness. I never noticed that until it was explained to me by the Owner.
Ram and Rem preferred mobility, so a Wand was a better fit for them. Especially since they could easily carry it in their maid uniforms.
"See this one? See how cloudy it is? It's actually good it's cloudy! It means it has both Fire AND Water affinity in this one stone alone! And look at this one! See how clear this one is? It's actually amazing how it's clear! it means it has very high spell amplification!"
The Owner showed us the catalog of his materials, different wands, and different options. Quickly going through each item, making me touch it, and feel its weight. He juggled with five magic stones at once while giving a speech, and made metaphors to dating girls while describing the affinity between stones and rods.
The Owner was really selling me hard on these wands.
Man, I should buy one wand for everyone in my family! Like he said, wands are a fashion statement in Lugnica, and show how cool and smart you are.
"Excuse me, we were recommended this shop by Lady Grace Miload. Can you show us your best materials according to this description?" Frederica handed the man a piece of paper, written by Lady Grace Miload.
The man looked at the paper, saw the signature and stamp, and his eyes opened wide.
"A-At once Young Misstress! Young Master!" He bowed frantically. He put away everything he was showing me and then went to the back of the store.
"It's a good thing Lady Grace gave us that letter. This store produces high-quality wands and staves, but the owner here is apparently known for beingtoogood at selling their goods at a markup for unsuspecting customers." Frederica whispered in my ear.Thank you for the meal.
Also, I was joking about wanting to buy the wands. I wasn't fooled by the man's salesmanship. Of course, I knew that.
"Here you go! The best wand materials for mages with Fire and Wind affinity, as well as Water and Earth affinity." The owner returned with an ornate box.
He went on to explain the materials and the crafting process.
Ram's wand will have a pinball-sized magic stone, cut from aRed Dragon's Mana Crystal, and the Rod was made from aWeeping Treant.
Rem's wand will have a pinball-sized magic stone, cut from aSnow Dragon's Mana Crystal, and the Rod was made from aGreater Stone Treant.
Red Dragonis an S-Rank monster, the strongest monster of the Central Continent, requiring at least 40 A~S Rank Adventurers to hunt one down when a stray appears from the Red Wyrm Mountain Range. You can't find any better Magic Stones for fire affinity unless you find a rare mutated Guardian monster inside a high-ranking Labyrinth.
Weeping Treantis a B-Rank monster, found in the Great Forest. It looks like normal trees and draws in its victims by mimicking cries of help from the nearby species, very clever and cruel. It uses wind magic to hunt its prey when they get close enough.
Though Ram's main affinity is Wind, she prefers combining her spells with fire a lot more often than Rem does with earth, and she struggles with Mana Capacity, this would alleviate that, so a fire affinity magic stone actually suited her better.
But the main reason was the red magic stone. It just looked so beautiful and it matched Ram's pink hair and red eyes.
Snow Dragon, an S-Rank monster found in the Northern Territories. They use Ice Breaths and Water Magic. They're bigger than even Red Dragons, they're unable to fly, and look deceptively slow and brutish, but they use their strong legs to jump high, and use water magic to maneuver effectively. Their Mana Crystals are especially effective for Ice magic, which is perfect for Rem.
Greater Stone Treantis a B-Rank monster found in the Petrified Forest of the Demon Continent, a rarer form of the common Stone Treat.
The snow dragon magic stone looked beautiful, cold blue with white sparkles inside that looked like snow, and its affinities were perfect for Rem.
With the owner's permission, I tried casting a Water Ball while holding the Snow Dragon Magic Stone.
"Oh wow!" the difference was obvious. I cast it with the standard parameters, but it came out much bigger, it almost filled the store entirely, and its temperature was colder without adjustments.
The Owner's eyes went wide at the display of Silent Casting.
We managed to get a discount, thanks to Lady Grace's introduction, and"I'm happy my wands will be used by future Great Mages!"the owner's kindness.
I gave a description of the girls, and what spells they like using, and the owner took notes. Frederica also gave suggestions for the design, which the owner looked excited about.
Even still, the Magic Stones cost 25 Holy Gold coins each, and the Rods 10 Holy Gold Coins each. As well as 5 Holy Gold Coins for the crafting fee. This was after the discount,androunding down the golds and silvers.
Thankfully, this was going to be covered by the gift funds Roswaal gave us.
I felt hesitant about spending this much money, but saving money here meant saving Roswaal's money, a man with "God" in his title. I felt no shame in squeezing as much money as possible out of him to buy the best possible gifts for Ram and Rem.
Also, I'm sure Roswaal wants the best for his... Maids? Adopted daughters?
... I still didn't understand the relationship between Roswaal and the maids. Frederica, Ram, and Rem, all three are given a noble's education, and they're all trained to be strong combatants.
But not all of the maids who served in the Roswaal Mansion seem to be the same, as the maids who formerly worked there, and now work in the Miload mansion looked to be relatively normal.
...I shouldn't look too deeply into Roswaal's decisions if I care about my family, I suppose.
We had some paperwork done in the store, to have the store mail the Miload Mansion for the payment.
The store will deliver the wands to the Roswaal Mansion after they finish crafting it.
After making the order for the wands, we headed for a clothing shop, as Frederica wanted to buy them dresses.
"Are you sure you need me to help you pick?" I asked, I wasn't sure if my fashion sense fit with this world's tastes.
"Absolutely!" Frederica answered, grinning with her teeth out.Thank you very much!
On the way, Frederica showed me around town.
But really, she was just pointing at stores and telling me what's produced in it. There wasn't really anything to sightsee in this town, this town was all about producing and trading Magical Goods.
The West section produced Magical Items, the East Mundane Items, as well as housing for the city's residents, the North was the Nobles' residential area, and the South was for Adventurers and travelers, it's where most of the taverns are located.
Most of the town's residents could be split into three groups.
Mages: Responsible for creating Magic Scrolls, identifying Wild Magic Items, advising craftsmen, being a mana battery for making Metias, and those with Light Mana Affinity would enchant items. There are also the Magic Teachers in the Magic School they have, which mainly focuses on Magic Circles and Metia Creation, rather than Magic for Combat.
Craftsmen: Responsible for creating Metias, equipment of mundane and magical variants, pieces of furniture, etc. Costuul Craftsmen are very knowledgeable about magic, a good portion of them are mages themselves, and even if they're not, they work alongside mages. Costuul's main produce is magic items. This included processing raw monster materials as well.
Merchants: Responsible for moving all the goods in and out of the city. Importing raw materials of a wide variety, natural, mundane, magical, monsters, etc. Exporting magic items across the Central Continent.
Due to the nature of this town, and the reputation of the Mathers family, both as the Magic God and as the Demi-Human-Lover, this town naturally attracts a high number of mages and demi-humans.
Many of the prominent businesses of this town are owned by Mathers branch families. Low-ranking noble families lived in the houses here, and more important noble families like the Miload Family, had a spare mansion in the town, as well as their Manor in the land they owned.
Life in this town seems like it's fulfilling if you were a fanatic about magic items and their production, to be surrounded by the country's best mages and craftsmen of magic items. Otherwise, it might be a boring town for them, with little to no interesting places to spend time in, aside from bars that is.
Wait a minute...Focus on electronics (metia), a place for nerds to gather (mages), and cat-eared maids...Is Costuul this world's Akihabara?!
Out of the Five Great Cities of Lugnica, only the Royal Capital, and Priestella sounded like they could be more attractive than Costuul. Picoutate, and Flanders sounded about the same as Costuul, and Ganacks sounded the worst.
I will have to try visiting some of the cities later. But so far, Costuul seems like it's a solid choice as a place to settle down. Not so exciting, but access to the top-of-the-line Metias might mean that the quality of life is higher than in other cities.
You could say I'm a Mage who likes crafting things and has an interest in making money.
So maybe this town was a good fit for me.
I could buy a house here later on in my life, surely having experience working for Roswaal would be a good addition to my resume. Maybe it would even help me get a discount for a house.
Buena village is nearby, only hours away with a carriage. I could always revisit my birthplace if I lived here. I have a connection with the Roswaal and Miload families now as well.
This place is my current top pick for a place to settle down in.
While thinking such thoughts, Frederica and I made it to a clothing store for nobles.
"What do you think about this?" Frederica picked one dress "How about this?" and another.
Frederica was very excited, picking clothes for Ram and Rem with a big grin, and asking my opinion on them.
"I trust your fashion sense, Frederica."
"No, I want to hear what you prefer!"
Frederica was very different once she entered the store. I had trouble expressing my opinions on the dresses she chose, as sometimes, my taste didn't match Frederica's, and I would have to change my answer.
In the end, we settled on a pair of matching dresses we both decided was cute. Frederica knew their exact sizes thankfully. Mainly because she was responsible for sewing in the Mansion, making adjustments to their maid uniforms, and my butler uniform as we grew up.
Thankfully, it was within our remaining budget of 25 Holy Gold Coins.
It cost in total of 12 Holy Gold Coins, but Frederica managed to get 2 whole Holy Gold Coin discounts.
She took the store owner lady to a corner and whispered a conversation, and *poof, two-thirds of Paul's monthly salary was discounted away.
The owner told Frederica "Please return for tea next time, miss Frederica." before we left. They became friends in that short time apparently. As expected of Frederica-oneesama.
We filled out some paperwork regarding delivery and payment. It would all be delivered to Miload Mansion the next day.
On the way to Miload Mansion, I bought a new diary, as my current one was almost filled up. It was almost time for another volume.
My day in Costuul was pretty good overall. Lady Grace and Miss Limrear were very friendly during supper that day.
With this, we got the most pressing task of gift purchasing done. Now, Frederica and I have to prepare for the actual party itself. Things will be pretty busy from now until the party.
Especially because I was preparing my personal gift for those two.