Chapter 5: Spring Palace (part five)

This is my first time stepping into my older brother’s Wunderkammer.

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

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

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

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

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

On the right cabinet, there are specimens of phantom beasts.

Especially noticeable are the horn of the unicorn which was ordered from Hafan of the East and the fossil of a basilisk we got from the southern region.

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

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

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

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

The meticulous older brother’s personality is well-represented by these cabinets.

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

Boxes of wands are stacked in such a manner that they can’t be counted.

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

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

It seems that my older brother has been living here day and night and researching to grasp the differences of each kind and draw out the best magic.

From what I understand, there is no such wand that can be used to cancel Klaus’ Phantasmal Maze.

The next action was decided by this.

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

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

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

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Of course the clothes’ boxes are also labelled.

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

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

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

My hair was gathered behind with a ribbon.

I put a silver pocket watch into the coat pocket.

I 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 waterproof with grease.

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

The most important thing is choosing the wands that are filled with magic.

Wand of Glam Sight.

It is the same as the wand Eduart-oniisama used.

The effect lasts 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 are designs of a chicken and snake made of sterling silver.

The core material is a dried basilisk tail.

The duration of the effect is about 3 seconds.

I stuffed two or three of each enchanted wand into the leather bag along with other wands that can 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 Finger3.

Wand of Water Walking.

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

This is……a Wand of Sailor’s Song.

Only this wand is special.

When a specific song is sung while swinging this wand, it is said that 〈Alchemist’s Star〉 will fall.

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

On the other hand, the recoil from its use is not on the degree of other wands.

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

It is too dangerous, I can’t use it.

One Animate Rope4.

It seems that the utilization is similar to a wand.

It can be used freely a certain number of times.

One bottle of Obscuring Mist.

One bottle of Moonlight Gallnut Ink.

It is an ink made from Hafan’s special ore.

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

Since there is no ordinary Gallnut Ink, this should be enough for the time being.

A piece of chalk.

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

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

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Finally, I picked up an athame knife5.

I left my older brother’s Wunderkammer, closed 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 is Klaus Hafan, the time it was set up is about thirty minutes ago.

Speaking of thirty minutes ago, it was when I saw brother off.

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

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

It is as I thought.

It will be too late if I wait for the effect to be over before asking for help from my father or Duke Hafan.

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

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

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

Both scrolls and spell cards are mainstream magic items in the eastern Hafan.

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

It seems that the spread out spell cards created 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 about to go to the magic academy.

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

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

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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 trading the King’s place with one of the Rook. So, Wand of Castling is for trading the place of the user with the target.

3 Wand of Mage Finger: The Japanese version of Mage Hand in D&D, it appears as a spectral, floating hand. The hand lasts for the duration or until the user dismisses it as an action. In this , it can only be used for fine works.

4 Animate Rope is another reference to DnD. Although in DnD it’s a spell, not an item. It’s a spell to animate a rope-like objects, can be used to grapple or restrain things.

5 Athame knife: a ceremonial blade, generally with black handle. The athame was not to be used for actual physical cutting.