Lying in bed, my mind was restless, filled with things I had never considered before. The existence of magic and Battle Aura in this world allowed women to fight and granted some a certain level of social status.
However, slavery also existed here. It was a very twisted existence. Some people sold themselves into slavery because they couldn't afford to eat, but even more were taken by force. This meant many women were abducted by human traffickers simply because they were beautiful.
Such people were even more rampant than modern-day traffickers because they had an entire "production, transport, and sales" pipeline. Stolen slaves were easier to sell, which in turn increased the number of bandits doing the abducting. The biggest problem was that the largest slave market in the country was the nobility. As those in power, they wouldn't crack down on the slave trade to protect the commoners under their rule; instead, they supported it.
It was another unsolvable problem. From a modern person's perspective, I found many aspects of this world intolerable.
Making Lilith cut her hair and smudge her face was to make her look a bit uglier, reducing the risk of her catching Darius's eye.
As for slavery, it was just something I disliked. I'll make changes when I have the power. For now, I'm still too weak. Forget it. Time to sleep!
The next day was a lesson day with my magic teacher, Bladiconde. I brought Lilith along; her hair had been cut short and her face was smudged with dust. she looked like an ugly duckling. Because her hair looked so terrible, she wore a large maid's cap, obviously borrowed from someone else.
I didn't care; she looked ugly with the cap anyway. She looked nothing like her original self now.
After arriving at my teacher's residence, I woke her up by knocking as usual. I helped her clean up and waited for her to get up and practice magic.
What was different today was that I brought my new weapon, "starfall." Late in the banquet yesterday, I heard from my mother that this sword was worth tens of thousands of gold coins. I didn't know the exact amount, as the weapon had been given to my father as a gift by a fallen noble seeking a favor.
What a spendthrift noble. The original owner probably didn't know it was a Magic Sword, as a normal person's first reaction would be that it was just an ordinary sword with a beautiful scabbard. The blade was too short and the body too thick.
While it could be used to cut people, it wasn't particularly sharp. The gems on the scabbard had been added later by my father. Otherwise, because of those gems, that fallen noble might not have been willing to give it away.
Following my teacher to the square, I showed her the sword. I vaguely sensed that this sword was controlled by mana and had nothing to do with swordsmanship.
It could be understood as being more like a wand than a sword.
After handling it for a while, my teacher tried injecting mana into the sword. Sensing the blade's reaction to the mana attachment, she handed it back to me.
"This sword should have the property of conducting mana; releasing mana through the blade is the same as doing it from your hand. You can try using your mana to condense various spells on the sword. As for other uses, you'll have to research those yourself."
I nodded; it was just as I thought. This sword should suit me well. Plus, I still hadn't researched the purpose of the mana crystal in the hilt's slot.
"Teacher, please give me your thoughts. The move I've thought of is condensing a Wind Blade. This way, I can create an invisible blade of wind, increasing my hidden attack range and wounding people unseen."
"You can condense a Wind Blade, but maintaining it continuously would consume a lot of mana. Additionally, a Wind Blade creates fluctuations in the air. Even if it's invisible, a skilled swordsman can sense it with their body. It wouldn't guarantee a one-hit kill, and it's only applicable to someone like you who has mastered Chantless Casting. The limitations are too great. The correct use for this sword definitely isn't that. Take it back and study it more yourself. Don't think you can come to your teacher for everything. I'm not omnipotent either."
Fair enough. The rest was the daily magic learning environment.
Master Bladiconde's teaching was relatively relaxed. She didn't overly concern herself with whether I had learned the material; she simply explained what she knew once, and whether I mastered it or not was up to me.
However, Master Bladiconde was truly knowledgeable. As a member of the Long-eared Race over 300 years old, she felt no pressure regarding her lifespan. She said that as a child, she had even seen King Kavanis Syrian Asura, who won the Laplace Campaign. He was a figure straight out of the history books.
As a pure-blooded member of the Long-eared Race, she also taught me about the origins of magic. She said magic was invented by the Ancient Elves. After the invention of magic incantations, all races could release magic by reciting the incantation words.
This was likely a shortcut. Theoretically, the history of magic should be older than the elves' invention of it. If magic hadn't existed before, the elves wouldn't have been able to create incantations. Ancient Magic likely had no incantations; back then, magic was more like a talent—a talent for manipulating mana.
By using talent to manipulate mana and achieve magic, magic must have been limited to specific races or individuals back then. These people must have been exceptionally gifted in mana control. 'People' here doesn't just refer to humans, but could also mean individuals of other races.