Magecraft Array

After looking over the room, Sovell skipped lunch, washed up, and went straight to sleep in the bedroom's large bed.

He had spent the past two nights sleeping on a blanket spread on the ground, which had hardly been kind to his back.

Even if magecraft could alter the blanket's texture, sleeping outdoors and sleeping indoors still felt different on a psychological level.

When Sovell woke and looked out the window, he judged that he had slept for about an hour.

After splashing a handful of cool water on his face to wake himself up, Sovell faintly heard a knock at the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

He had not imagined it.

"Who is it?"

"It's Tristan. Sir Stam, the ship for our voyage is ready. Would you like to take a look?

Miss Lily and Sir Kay have already gone ahead."

"Just a moment. I'll be right there."

Sovell answered, put his armor back on, and opened the door.

"All ready, Sir Tristan. Let's go."

Even in casual clothes, Tristan's beauty was undiminished. If anything, the solid-colored garments made his delicate features stand out all the more.

"One moment. Please follow me this way."

With that, Tristan led Sovell through turn after turn until they finally reached the Royal Palace stables.

Sovell felt certain that, without using Wind Magecraft to sense his surroundings, he would get lost among these towering walls, which were every bit as confusing as the Minotaur's labyrinth.

Tristan pushed open the stable gate and explained to Sovell:

"The tack Kelpie needs is ready. I originally thought a phantasmal species might have a very different build from an ordinary beast, so we would need a custom set.

But once we took the measurements, we found that the difference wasn't all that great. He was just a little bigger.

As it happened, there was a suitable set among the Royal Palace's spare tack, so we brought it over for Kelpie to try. It fit perfectly.

What do you think, Sir Stam? Would you like to get on and try it?"

A royal-blue saddle rested on Kelpie's back, its deep color making his pale coat stand out even more.

At the same time, the royal blue perfectly complemented Kelpie's powerful musculature, creating a harmonious overall look.

"Does it fit comfortably?"

"Neigh."

"Good. It suits you."

"Neigh!"

Watching Sovell converse with a phantasmal species without batting an eye, Tristan felt as though his entire worldview were about to shatter.

"Sir Stam... you can actually communicate with phantasmal species?!"

"Well, I am a magus. Communicating with phantasmal species is child's play."

As Sovell saw belief gradually take root in Tristan's eyes, the corner of his mouth twitched.

This gullible kid will believe anything.

Still, Tristan could hardly be blamed for being so easily fooled. After all, high-level magi like Sovell were mysterious figures in other people's eyes.

Sovell's ability to converse with phantasmal species had nothing to do with magecraft. It was simply an intuition he had been born with... he did not know their language. He just instinctively felt-

That's what they mean.

Whether it came from the white dragon bloodline or some other source, this intuition had never failed Sovell when communicating with phantasmal species.

Although Sovell wanted to mount up and give it a try, they were still inside the Royal Palace.

Even if Tristan, as the host, permitted him to ride, etiquette would not allow Sovell to do so as a guest.

Sovell took Kelpie's reins and slowly walked toward the Royal Palace exit.

Very slowly indeed. Even with Tristan leading the way, they wound through the palace for ten minutes before finally reaching the gates.

"Phew... finally out."

Although Sovell was sorely tempted to complain about the Royal Palace's design, King Mark had good reason to make it resemble a labyrinth.

First, the labyrinthine layout substantially improved the Royal Palace's defenses. In the event of an invasion or an army at the gates, it could effectively impede an enemy advance. This was probably a habit King Mark had retained from his days as a military commander.

Second, the maze-like design lent the palace an air of mystery and majesty, effectively displaying the Royal Palace's wealth and authority while intimidating the king's subjects.

Afterward, Sovell rode Kelpie to the harbor with Tristan, where an enormous ship lay moored on the water.

Sovell sensed numerous fluctuations of magical energy. That made sense; the current level of technology could not yet support the construction of such enormous vessels.

Ships of this type had probably been built using some form of magecraft by King Mark's Court Mage.

But the cost was probably not particularly high, judging by the number of these vessels in the harbor and King Mark's attitude.

There were over a hundred ships of comparable size in the harbor. For no more than the cost of lending one out for a few days, King Mark could establish friendly relations with Sovell and his two companions. It was an exceptionally profitable deal for him.

Sovell followed Tristan aboard the ship, uninterested in its materials or layout.

He then spotted Artoria and Kay, who were also aboard. After exchanging a few perfunctory words with Tristan, Sovell set off alone to inspect the ship's magical design.

The mast? No. It was an ordinary mast.

The deck? No, that was an ordinary deck too.

At last, Sovell found a Magecraft Array in the ship's lower hold.

Sovell placed his hand on it and began working out its structure.

After roughly the time it took a stick of incense to burn, Sovell lifted his hand and sighed.

"Merlin again."

Indeed, the array aboard this ship clearly bore Merlin's signature.

Its design followed Merlin's usual style: ornate, intricate, yet practical.

The array's construction was highly complex, but it required little magical energy. Once completed, it needed only periodic infusions of magical energy to keep functioning and casting magecraft.

The magecraft itself was the most basic Reinforcement Magecraft, but a design that could extend its effects from one small array to an entire ship was undeniably excellent.

As for why Merlin's array would be aboard King Mark's ship, Sovell had a theory.

Merlin had not personally laid the array on this vessel. Rather, it looked as though someone had used an existing sample as a model and imitated its structure.

That person was probably the mage in King Mark's employ.

Decades ago, Londinium had been a major port, but shipbuilding had failed to keep pace with the demands of trade.

Under those circumstances, Merlin might have developed this array to build larger ships capable of carrying more cargo at once.

Besides, this array was not limited to merchant vessels. It could also be used on warships intended for beach landings.

And as a military commander, Mark could easily have encountered such an array during his past campaign against Ireland.

Yet the ships Sovell had seen in the harbor, taking the vessel beneath his feet as an example, had hulls nowhere near sturdy enough for beach landings or naval combat.

Why?

Again, it came down to Merlin's array.

From his examination just now, Sovell had found that two factors determined this array's performance.

The first was the array's completeness.

Its lines and layout had to be complete to sustain magecraft that extended throughout an entire ship.

The second was the array's precision.

Whether its lines were drawn harmoniously was the sole measure of that precision.

If completeness determined the array's range, then precision determined its strength.

Clearly, this ship-or rather, every ship in this harbor-had a problem with the second factor.

There was little to be done about that. King Mark's mage deserved considerable credit for managing to imitate this array at all.

As for fully reproducing the original's performance?

That was far too much to hope for.

Merlin's talent for magecraft stood leagues above that of countless other mages, not merely in Britain or Europe, but throughout history.

If one ranked every mage from the dawn of human civilization into the future, Merlin would easily secure a place in the top five and contend for second.