Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools Volume 11 (eBook)

Hisaya Amagishi (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8120-9 (ISBN)

Infos

With the end of the year approaching, everyone is in high spirits. But it's not time for Dahlia to relax just yet. She has gifts to give-and many to receive-not to mention the much-awaited food stall crawl she and Volf promised to do together at the winter festival. And as the old year comes to a close, all look forward to what the new one will bring. Irma is in the temple preparing to give birth to her twins. The Order of Beast Hunters receives new pajamas, courtesy of Lucia. Meanwhile, some special visitors from Išrana arrive in Ordine.

Textauszug

The first gift that master toolmakers presented to their apprentices was customarily a pair of work gloves. While Dahlia’s father had been the first to give her the opportunity to study magical toolmaking, it was an honor to receive this pair of gloves from the director of the Royal Magical Toolmaking Department. She felt obliged to continue striving to do her best.

“The gloves can resist freezing temperatures and high heat, so they should be helpful when creating magical tools that utilize fire magic. However, they will only protect your arms from the heat. Be sure not to get too close to your enchantment and burn your hair— Ah, apologies. I spoke to you as if you were Carlo.”

“My father made magical tools that used fire?”

“Yes. When we were students, he once increased the output of a large magical lantern for the winter festival too much and scorched his bangs. Oz—I mean, Chairman Zola—was with him at the time, and the two of them sported short bangs for quite a while afterward.”

“My father and Professor Oswald...?”

Never mind her father, she couldn’t imagine Oswald doing something like that. When she tried to envision the two of them with short, burned bangs, she could only picture them as the older men she’d seen most recently—not a flattering look in the slightest.

“Professor Lina was infuriated. She made them sit in the hallway, as they do to discipline students in Esterland, and gave them quite the tongue-lashing.”

“Professor Lina? But she’s so gentle. I can’t imagine her getting that angry.”

“Professor Lina, gentle?” Uros repeated, wide-eyed. In her youth, she must have been a different woman from the professor Dahlia knew.

Uros cleared his throat. “Well, perhaps we were just uncommonly mischievous boys. Leone and I got into similar trouble the year before your father and Chairman Zola did. We burned our hands, not our hair, so we were able to get away with it by quickly drinking potions...”

It sounds like they got actual burns—fairly serious ones. Dahlia stared at Uros, but when she saw the nostalgia in his eyes, she found herself unable to form a response.

“Did you ever make magical tools with your colleagues, Chairwoman Dahlia?” he asked.

“Not very many. Most of the time, I helped my father with his work at home. Besides, when I was in school, the Magical Tool Research Group was temporarily unable to enter the building...”

“Ah, yes. What happened, again? Some young nobles had a terrible quarrel and blew out the wall of the warehouse?”

Uros was clearly familiar with the story. At the time, Dahlia had been busy at home, so to this day, she didn’t know the full details. What she did remember was how haggard Professor Lina had looked when Dahlia returned to school. The wall had been rebuilt sturdier than before, with the repairs requiring several months.

“In my day, we once destroyed a wall with magical tools, but I was surprised to hear that those students did so in the midst of a fight. They weren’t even mages—that’s the part that stood out to me as remarkable. It must have been quite a spirited fight.”

It seemed to Dahlia that destroying the wall of a school building was objectionable whether one did it when making tools, preparing enchantments, or fighting, but before she could comment, Carmine asked a question.

“Even mages destroyed the walls?”

“Yes,” said Uros. “When I was in school, the mage studies students would blow large holes in the exterior walls several times annually. Youths have a hard time controlling their magic, after all.”

“The repair costs must have been astronomical.”

“The repairs were covered by donations, but it was also common for the one responsible to pay the entire cost themselves. Renato used to earn money by working in the cold storage warehouses in the port where krakens were stored.”

“What? My father blew a hole in a wall?” Volf asked, his eyes widening.

“Indeed. Some fool was unaware of his high magic and goaded him to ‘show what a rising viscount can do.’ And so he held nothing back and ended up blowing a hole in a wall. In doing so, he actually improved the ventilation—it was summer—though I heard they had to hire more guards as a result.”

Volf’s father must have had incredible magical power—and, at least in those days, a short fuse.

“Renato offered to pay for the damages, so he split the cost with the instructor who had made the comment. Renato received not a single copper of his family’s money; instead, he worked in the cold storage warehouses. As for the instructor, well...I believe an agreement was worked out that he could pay monthly.”

Volf looked astonished. “I never knew about that...”

Dahlia assumed it was a story his father hadn’t wanted to tell him, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

“Ask him about it next time you sit down to dinner,” Uros said. “He’s so closemouthed when it comes to anything that isn’t work-related. He won’t bring it up himself without some prodding on your part.”

“...I see.”

Dahlia wondered whether Uros knew how little contact Volf had with his father. Perhaps he was simply offering a little encouragement. Regardless, after they’d finished conversing, Uros turned to look out the window.

“This year, thanks to the snow flurry swizzle sticks, mage knights are joining the mages who can create snow and ice. Up until last year, attendance was compulsory for all who could use ice magic, but now, not only will less money be spent on potions, there will be fewer people going blue in the face.”

Here in the Kingdom of Ordine’s capital, snow seldom fell, and when it did—no more than a few times a year—very little accumulated. However, starting from the winter festival through the New Year holiday, the plazas and the central and district parks were carpeted in white. The citizens enjoyed the short-lived snow by sculpting snow flowers and making small snowmen.

Dahlia had always appreciated the snow—for her, it was what made winter feel like winter—but it was only possible thanks to the hard work of the ice mages. And apparently they were worked to the bone at the end of the year.

“I made some small modifications to the sticks to increase their snow output. Here are the blueprints.”

With a swizzle stick in his hand, Uros conjured a pile of snow, as fluffy as cotton candy, on his desk. With a single wave, he’d produced enough to fill a pair of cupped hands. Now that looks like snow!

Uros’s design was more than a modification. It was practically an entirely new tool. He had used the same kelpie bone and ice magic crystal that Dahlia had, but the circuit allowed the user to channel their magic into it more efficiently.

Simple though the blueprint looked, he had streamlined Dahlia’s design to perfection—it was breathtaking. This is what a director of the Royal Magical Toolmaking Department is capable of. Dahlia was newly conscious of the gulf in ability between them.

“That’s amazing...” she breathed.

“The circuit could be a tad bit shorter... I’ll lend you this. Give it back as soon as you’ve learned how to do it. Feel free to copy as much of it as you need.”

With a thud, he set a heavy spellbook down beside the blueprint. It would take ages to copy out the entire thing, but Dahlia was very curious to learn its contents. This was not a commercially available textbook but a spellbook. Generally, spellbooks contained information that toolmakers would only teach their apprentices and junior toolmakers in their workshops. She was very grateful that Uros was willing to lend his to her; it would be a great help in her work as an advisor and magical toolmaker to the Order of Beast Hunters.

There was one question: Would she be able to comprehend and learn its contents?

“Thank you very much... I will do my best.”

Dahlia bowed appreciatively, and Carmine wrapped the blueprint and spellbook in a black cloth. Then, without hesitation, he handed it not to Dahlia but to Volf, who accepted it without question. Dahlia assumed this was a matter of noble etiquette, but it made her a trifle uneasy.

“At any rate, enjoy the winter festival,” Uros said.

“Have a good winter festival and a happy New Year,” Dahlia replied.

After they had said their goodbyes, she and Volf left the room.

She’d received yet another generous winter festival gift. And with it, she felt as if she had also been given some challenging winter break homework.

By the time Dahlia returned to her office in the Merchants’ Guild, it was early evening.

Starting tomorrow, the Rossetti Trading Company would be closed for an entire week. Ivano claimed he only needed five days off, but Dahlia had used her authority as chairwoman to require everyone to take the full week off. How could she allow even one of her employees to work during the festival?

“Thank you all for a good year! I look forward to continuing to work together next year!”

“Thank you!”

It was a standard, ordinary speech, but it worked to kick off the Rossetti Trading Company’s own final meeting of the year.

Volf stood at Dahlia’s side;...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.12.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools
• Illustrationen: Kei, Hachi Komada
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: business • Fantasy • female protagonist • Isekai • Light Novel • Magic • Reincarnation
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-8120-4 / 1718381204
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8120-9 / 9781718381209