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The Demon Prince goes to the Academy (Web Novel) - Chapter 175
Chapter 175
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Harriet seemed to be more sad than angry because she was unable to help us. She was dismissed by her family because she was still a kid, but she felt even more sad because even we seemed to dismiss her.
So what she felt was slightly different from being angry.
Eventually, Harriet seemed to feel better because of my words that time around.
She and I talked a bit more on the terrace. Harriet wore the pair of earrings I had given her—they weren’t that fancy; they were simple button-type earrings with an emerald half the size of a baby’s fingernail embedded in them. They didn’t really stand out much, so they felt just right as jewelry for a girl.
“Th-this… Thanks… I feel a little weird.”
The corners of Harriet’s mouth twitched slightly. She had a slightly blank look in her eyes.
“What do you mean, weird?”
“How should I describe it… If I had to put it into words… I feel a little nauseous…?”
I definitely felt that it was a magical artifact, but it seemed like she felt a little weird because the tranquilizing magic was stabilizing her mind.
Was it because the spell kind of forced Harriet, who had always been rather high strung, to seem more like Ellen? That might actually feel really strange to her.
I believd one could think of those earrings as an automatic tranquilizer administrator.
“You don’t have to wear them all the time, got it? Only when it’s necessary.”
“O-okay… Sorry.”
I gave them to her as a gift, but she felt sorry that she couldn't wear them all the time. No, I actually gave them to her while thinking that she should only wear them when it was absolutely necessary.
“But I don’t know how valuable these things are, so just how rare were these things? If it’s your family, you probably have a warehouse full of much better items, right?”
That was what I was worried about before giving her that gift.
The Duchy of Saint-Owan was a territory famous for its magic. The Grand Duke of Saint Owan, whom I had seen before, was an Archmage, so there was a good chance that there were hundreds of better magic artifacts in their warehouse, even if Harriet would hang onto my gift.
So I was debating whether I should give the earrings to her or not. However, I felt a lot better after giving them to her. Harriet took off the weird earrings and held them to her chest, thinking for a moment.
“There are three main categories for determining the rarity and price of magical artifacts. One: the number of uses. Two: what type of magic it could evoke. And three: the object that got enchanted.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. A single-use magic scroll is also deemed as a magic artifact, you know?”
Magic scrolls were disposable items. Harriet told me to wait for a moment and then went into her room, bringing something back with her—it was a wand about thirty centimeters long.
"What’s that? A magic wand or something?”
“It’s a self-defense weapon. I took it with me in case something unexpected happened. There are usually two types of magic wands and staffs. Some help to stabilize or control the user’s mana flow, and others are charged with magic spells. The difference between those and magic scrolls is that only people who know how to use magic can use them.”
A wand or staff might help one in the use of magic or may be charged with magic spells.
"There are ten charges of Chain Lightning stored in here.”
“Then it’s a lot more valuable than a scroll, right?”
"That’s right. In some cases, these items become useless as soon as the number of spells stored in them had been used up, and there are some that can be recharged. Of course, the rechargeable kind is more difficult and expensive to make. This one’s a rechargeable artifact.”
Using that artifact enabled one to use the high-ranking destruction magic spell called Chain Lightning 10 times, and one could recharge it—it probably was a very powerful magic artifact.
…There was a reason that she felt so confident in being able to follow us, as she had something like that she could place her trust in.
“However, there are exceptions. These earrings are a little similar to my wand. The magic spell was permanently engraved into the artifact itself, so if you pour in your own magical power, the magic spell imprinted on it gets activated.”
“…I see.”
“These types are the rarest. Because one could cast the engraved spell directly without having to cast it. Things like these are incredibly rare. As far as I know, it takes every technology and practice I know of to make something like these earrings.”
The rarity of magical artifacts varied depending on the number of times one could use it and whether it was rechargeable or not.
In other words, artifacts with permanently imprinted magic spells were incredibly rare. I realized then what a ridiculous item the Flame of Tuesday hanging around my neck was.
Even a wand or staff with a single spell permanently engraved in it was treated as an ancient relic, but to use the Flame of Tuesday, one didn’t even need to be a wizard—it could create fire just by one’s will. It was an item that enabled one to use one type of element and not only one type of spell.
I already thought it was a great treasure, but hearing those things from Harriet made me realize just how powerful a magical artifact it was. It was probably one of the greatest treasures one could find on the continent.
“However, that’s only the case for destruction magic. Things like defensive and support magic are often engraved permanently. Engraving destruction magic that can be triggered is really difficult after all.”
Harriet showed me the earrings I had given her, holding them between her index finger and her thumb.
“They are small.”
“…?”
“Do you think it’s easy to permanently engrave spells on such small objects? It’s not even a low-level spell like Lightweight—it’s a spell to stabilize one’s mind. Although Tranquility isn’t a spell of the highest order, it’s a mid-to-high-ranking mental spell. Just by wearing these little things on one’s ears, one could enjoy their effects. It couldn’t have been easy to make these.”
The third way to determine the rarity of a magical artifact was to look at the item itself.
In other words, the size mattered. Large items such as armor and swords were easy to enchant. However, in the case of ornaments and jewelry, it seemed like a very high level of skill was required to enchant them.
And the earrings I had given Harriet were half the size of a baby’s fingernail.
“So… they are very valuable..”
Harriet looked at me and smiled.
There was only one reason why Harriet would give me such a long explanation to my question of how valuable they were.
“Thank you, Reinhardt.”
She was trying to explain to me the worth of my gift that I was completely oblivious about and thank me.
“Erm… esteemed guests?”
And as we were chatting away on the terrace, someone suddenly came to us.
It was the mansion’s head maid.
“What?”
In response to my words, she muttered something in a slightly perplexed tone of voice.
“There… There has been a problem.”
“A problem?”
“…The young lady left her wallet behind.”
‘Ah. That clutz idiot.’
She would forget her own head if it wasn’t attached.
