Chapter 6

This was the first time I had stepped into my brother's storage room.

The room of miracles was an alchemist's workshop, as well as a museum of magical substances collected from every corner of the world.

In the center of the room was a large desk that seemed to be a workbench. There were burn marks and stains from various liquids spilling here and there.

On the large desk, various experimental and processing tools were neatly arranged: glass test tubes, distillation flasks, burners, and oil lamps.

On the right shelf, there were specimens of mythical creatures. The most prominent were the unicorn horn from the eastern half-elf and the basilisk fossil from the southern continent. While the fossil specimens were the most numerous, there were also many specimens preserved in alcohol in bottles.

On the left shelf, Aurelia-produced mineral specimens were densely displayed. Not only ordinary minerals, but also special minerals with magical effects were collected.

All the specimens were stored in boxes and bottles of a certain size, with labels describing their origin and characteristics. The shelves reflected my brother's meticulous personality.

The wands, which were made using these materials and pre-stored with constructed magic, were stored on the front shelf. The small boxes containing the wands were piled up in countless numbers. Each of these small boxes also had detailed notes labeled about the magic and materials they contained.

Even wands that could use the same magic had subtle differences in power and effect depending on the materials used. My brother must have spent day and night researching to understand these differences and extract the best magic.

As far as I could tell, there was no wand that could undo the illusionary maze that Claus had set up. With this, my plan was decided. It would be difficult to seek help from my father or other adults. If not, at least I had to track down Claus and Ann.

I examined the neatly arranged costume boxes in a corner of the storage room. Of course, the costume boxes were also labeled. I found and opened the box that my brother used when he was around eight years old, after confirming the label. I dug through the clothes from my brother's teenage years.

I took off my dress and put on these clothes. I tied my hair back with a ribbon.

I stuffed a silver pocket watch made of mineral into the breast pocket of my jacket.

I put on the alchemist's leather gloves.

I changed into black leather boots and slung the largest leather bag I found in the room over my shoulder. Both were waterproofed with oil.

I put two lamps made of star quartz fragments treated to prevent oxidation into the bag.

The most important thing was to choose a magic-filled wand.

The wand of the magic eye. This was the same one my brother Edelbert used earlier. The effect lasts about thirty seconds.

The wand of paralysis. It was made of amber, with the head coated in plant-based synthetic resin and a cockatrice fossil. The handle had carvings of a rooster and a snake in pure silver. The core material was a dried basilisk tail. The effect lasts about three seconds.

I also packed two or three wands for each type of magic that could be useful into the leather bag.

The wand of gust.

The wand of past sight.

The wand of levitation.

The wand of teleportation.

The wand of soft landing.

The wand of locking.

The wand of oil.

The wand of invisible fingers.

The wand of walking on water.

While selecting the wands, I found a wand that was locked with a key. This is... the wand of the sailor's song.

This wand is special. When you wave it while chanting a specific song, the "Alchemist's Star" is said to fall. With the magic of the "Alchemist's Star," we are also known as the "Star of Aurelia."

While it is powerful, the backlash when used is incomparable to other wands. If an ordinary alchemist uses it without knowing their limits, they might lose their life by dropping just one star. It is too dangerous for me to handle.

I chose one control rope. It seems to have been treated similarly to the wands, allowing a certain number of free uses.

One bottle of concealing mist.

One bottle of moonlight gall ink. This ink is made from special minerals from the half-elf. The characters written with this ink emit moonlight only during the moonlit night. Since there was no ordinary gall ink, I decided to use this.

I also packed as many pieces of chalk and scraps of parchment as possible, just in case. I added a bottle of distilled alcohol and a small box of chocolates as a precaution.

Finally, I selected one Asaimi knife.

I left my brother's storage room, closed the door, and locked it.

First, I would use the wand of the magic eye. A pale green magic circle appeared, focusing on my eyes. When the magic took effect, detailed information about the illusionary maze cast on the "Palace of Spring" quickly appeared.

The creator is unknown, the executor is Claus Halfaunt, and the construction time was about thirty minutes ago. Thirty minutes ago was when I saw my brother off. It seems Claus slipped out of the room just as I was leaving.

The effective time of the magic is three to four hours from the time of creation. As expected. If I had waited for the effect to wear off and sought help from my father or the Duke of Halfaunt, it would have been too late.

The creator and executor being different suggests that the magic was activated from a scroll. The magic was constructed using Claus's magical power and runes. It seems small runes were set up in several places in this palace.

Both scrolls and runes are mainstream magic in the eastern half-elf. They should have served as blueprints and amplifiers. The runes, which were amplified when the magic was activated, created a vast maze.

Next, I would investigate the teleportation gate underground. As I started running, I remembered the memory of my brother heading towards the academic city.

– Wait, the gate is managed by a one-time key. In the original scenario, how did Ann get to the "Ruins of the Arrival"?