Chapter 5: Spring Palace (part five)

Oh my god. This chapter is a headache and a half. There are so many terms @_@ I needed to google some of them just to know why they are called that. If later I was proven wrong I will just edit it later.

TL: clover

ED: clover

This was my first time to step in to my older brother’s Wunderkammer.

Wunderkammer was not only an alchemist’s workshop, but it was also a museum of magical materials collected from every corner of the world.

In the center of the room there was a large desk-like workbench.

Some burn mark-like stains and traces of some kind of liquid overflowing were there.

On the large desk, there were various laboratory equipment and processing instruments.

Glass test tubes, distillation bottles, burners, oil lamps, etc. were in order.

On the right cabinet, there was a specimen of the eidolon beast.

Especially noticeable was the horn of the unicorn that was ordered from Harvan of the East and the fossil of a basilisk we got from the southern region.

There were many fossil specimens, but a lot of bottled preserved specimens were also stored.

On the left cabinet, there was a tightly displayed ore samples from Aurelia.

Not only regular ores, but also special ores with original magical effects were collected.

All specimens were stored in boxes and bottles of a certain size, and labels describing their origins and characteristics were stuck on them.

The meticulous older brother’s personality was well-represented by the cabinets.

Inside the front cabinet were stocked a number of wands with built-in magic that were made using these materials.

Boxes of wands were stacked so that they couldn’t be counted.

Inside these small boxes were also stored detailed notes on the spelled magic and materials that were used.

There were many wands that could use the same magic, but their power and effects differ slightly depending on which material used to make it.

It seemed that my older brother was living here day and night researching to grasp the differences of each and draw out the best magic.

From what I understood, there was no such wand to cancel Klaus’ Phantasmal Maze.

The next action was decided by this.

It would be difficult to seek help from my father or other adults.

At least, I had to keep track of Klaus and Ann.

I examined the clothes boxes in one corner of the Wunderkammer.

Of course the clothes boxes were also labelled.

While checking the label, I found the clothes box that my older brother was using around eight years old and opened it.

I dragged out my older brother’s boyhood clothes that I had found.

I took off my clothes and wore my older brother’s old clothes.

My hair was gathered behind with a ribbon.

Put a silver pocket watch into the coat pocket.

Fitted on the alchemists’ leather gloves.

After putting on the black leather boots, I slung the biggest leather bag I found in this room over my shoulder.

Both were waterproofed with grease.

Put two lamps made of fragments of star crystal quenched with antioxidant in the bag.

The most important thing was choosing the wands that had been filled with magic.

Wand of Glam Sight.

This was the same wand as what Edward-onii-sama used.

The effect lasted for about 30 seconds.

Wand of Hold.

It was made of amber, and the stick head was made using the fossil of cockatrice coated with celluloid.

On the handle, there were workmanships of a chicken and snake made of sterling silver.

The core material was a dried basilisk tail.

The duration of the effect was about 3 seconds.

Stuffed two or three for each enchanted wand into the leather bag along with other staffs that could be used.

Wand of Gust.

Wand of Urd Sight¹.

Wand of Levitation.

Wand of Castling².

Wand of Feather Falling.

Wand of Lock.

Wand of Grease.

Wand of Mage Finger.

Wand of Water Walking.

I was looking over the wands and found a wand that was strictly locked.

This was……a Wand of Sailor’s Song.

Only this wand was special.

When singing a specific song while swinging this wand, it was said that 〈Alchemist’s Star〉 would fall.

With the magic of 〈Alchemist’s Star〉, we were also called 〈Aurelia the Star〉.

On the other hand, the reaction when it was used was not on the degree of other wands.

If a mediocre alchemist used it without understanding how to make use of it, it was said that just dropping one star would drop his own life.

It was too dangerous, I couldn’t use it.

One Puppet Cord.

It seemed that the utilization was similar to a wand.

It could be used freely a certain number of times.

One bottle of Obscuring Mist.

One bottle of Moonlight Gallnut Ink.

It was an ink made from Harvan’s special ore.

The letters written with this ink emit light only when the moon was out.

Because there was no ordinary Gallnut Ink, this had to be enough for the time being.

A piece of chalk.

Just to be safe, I packed a pen and a scrap of parchment.

Put a bottle of distilled liquor and a small box of chocolate for precaution.

Finally, I picked up one hunting knife.

I left my older brother’s Wunderkammer, close the door, and locked it.

First of all, let’s use the Wand of Glam Sight.

Pale green magic circle appeared and converged on my eyes.

When the magic showed its effect, I quickly used it on Spring Palace, and then detailed information about the magic of Phantasmal Maze appeared before me.

Creator unknown, the performer was Klaus Harvan, the time it was set up was about thirty minutes ago.

Speaking of thirty minutes ago, it was when I saw Onii-sama off.

It seemed that Klaus went out of the room due to my blunder.

Duration of the magic was three to four hours from the time of creation.

It was as I thought.

It would be too late if I waited for the effect to be over before asking help from my father or Duke Harvan.

The creator and the performer were different, because it was a magic that was launched from a scroll.

This magic was set up by the magical power of Klaus and the spell cards.

There seemed to be small spell cards on several places in this palace.

Both scrolls and spell cards were mainstream magic in the eastern Harvan.

They should have roles like a blueprint and an amplifier respectively.

It seemed that the spell cards that had been spread out create a barrier and amplified the enchanted magic, so they created a vast labyrinth.

Next, let’s examine the underground transfer gates.

As I began to run, I remembered the scene when my older brother was going to go to the magic academy.

—Huh? The underground transfer gates were managed by one-time keys.

How did Ann go to the Ruins of Visitor in the original scenario?

¹ Urd is the name of one of the three Norns (Fates) in Norse mythology. Urd is the one representing the past. So, Wand of Urd Sight means that the wand could be used to see the past.

² Castling is the act of moving the King to a safe position in a blink of an eye, by moving the King and one of the Rook simultaneously. So, Wand of Castling is for teleportation.

And guys, I named each one from the readings on the top of the kanji. But actually, the kanji made more sense than the readings. Like the Wand of Castling, the kanji said Wand of Teleportation. Do you think I should use the name in the readings, or just use the literal translation?