———What is the difference between "magic" and "spellcraft"?

This is a basic problem that any aspiring magician will see at least once in their life.

To put it simply, magic is "making some phenomenon happen by exercising mana", while spellcraft is achieving that phenomenon by using a method. And the method of using mana can be called a spell.

A spell refers to exercising mana by weaving a magical formula through chanting.

In the first place, magic is not the exclusive domain of humans. Spirits, dragons, and the now endangered species known as magical beasts and demons also can manipulate mana. They are born with a natural ability to manipulate mana, so they do not need to go through the process of "weaving" a formula. That's why chanting is not necessary.

For example, dragons, depending on their species, can fly freely in the sky and breath fire from their mouths.

Both of these phenomena are caused by mana, but do dragons bother to chant when they fly or breathe fire?

The answer is no. Dragons do not need chanting because their race is proficient in manipulating mana.

So, only humans, the only beings who cannot use magic without composing a magic formula by chanting.

In short, humans unable to use magic without chanting.

However, there is one genius girl who made the impossible possible.

Her name is Monica Everett, a shy girl who can't talk to people properly and has shut herself away deep in the mountains, and one of the Seven Sages, the [Silent Witch].

Spellcraft can be classified into three categories: advanced, intermediate, and lower level, with advanced spell taking 20 to 30 seconds, intermediate spell taking 10 to 20 seconds, and lower-level spell generally taking 3 to 10 seconds to chant.

While not every magic formula, Monica can perform about 80% of the techniques without chanting.

The biggest weakness of magicians is that they become defenseless while chanting. So, it goes without saying that the time spent chanting can be the difference between life and death on the battlefield.

Some advanced magicians use shortened chanting (quick spell) to cut their chanting time in half, but even so, Monica is the only one who can do chantless (no spells).

That's why, two years ago, at the mere age of fifteen, Monica Everett was chosen as one of the Seven Sages, the highest level of magicians in the country.

This is a very simple and straightforward story of how such a genius girl came to master Chantless Spell.

Being extremely bashful and shy, Monica was unable to speak properly in public.

It's still better when she's dealing with Annie, but when she's in front of someone she didn't know or the type of person she didn't like, she would become so convulsed that she couldn't even speak. In the worst case, she would either throw up or collapse. Of course, chanting was something she would never be able to do.

At the time, Monica was on the verge of dropping out of school after failing her practical exam due to her inability to chant.

Then Monica thought about it.

She was too nervous to chant in front of the examiner. Then, why can't she just use her magic without chanting?

Normally, she would have tried to overcome her shyness and aggression, but Monica's ideas took off in a completely different direction, and to everyone's surprise, her talent blossomed.

And so, for a rather trivial and not at all inspiring reason, Monica mastered the Chantless Spell and became one of the Seven Sages in no time at all.

Indeed, her effort has completely ended in an unexpected direction.

＊ ＊ ＊

Calming her shaking hands, Monica made the coffee using the same procedure as in the morning and placed it gently in front of her guest.

"P-P-Please h-have a d-drink."

"That's an unusual extraction method, isn't it? Thanks for the drink."

The beautiful-looking guest sat down on the chair Monica had prepared for him while sipping his coffee. As for his maid, she was standing behind him

His thin eyebrows furrowed and his purple-gray eyes glared at Monica behind his spectacles.

"This bitter coffee seems to have been boiled down with malice, is meant to harass me?"

"Hiiiieeek, I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorrryyyy!"

"I've traveled a long way to the depths of the mountains, and now I'm being treated like this. Isn't this just a bit exessive?"

This man, who is a co-worker of Monica, is also one of the Seven Sages.

His name was Louis Miller, the Barrier Magician. He was twenty-seven years old, ten years older than Monica, but since he became one of the Seven Sages at the same time as Monica, he often got the same treatment as her.

Louis was a handsome man who looks delicate when he's not talking, but he is also an extremely fierce magician who boasts the second-highest record for killing dragons alone. He has also served as the leader of the Magic Corps and was feared by the members of the Corps for his shrewdness.

Anyway, it would be horrible to make him angry, so when Monica placed the glass of water in front of Louis, she was trembling with fear.

"U-um… M-May I a-ask what y-your business is t-today?"

Louis took a sip from his glass of water and turned his attention to the woman in the maid's uniform standing behind him.

"Lynn… put up a soundproof barrier."

"Certainly."

The moment the maid called Lynn nodded her head, the sounds in the area around the cabin suddenly disappeared.

The sound of the wind, birds singing, and all other sounds from the outside are isolated from the inside of the cabin.

Nero, who was pretending to be asleep on the shelf, shivered his beard uncomfortably and looked at the woman in the maid's uniform with golden eyes.

She was a tall, slender, beautiful woman. However, her well-formed face was expressionless and somewhat doll-like.

The reason why she was able to set up a ward without chanting was, precisely that she was not a human but a high-ranking spirit. There were only about ten magicians in the whole kingdom who have high-ranking spirits as their followers.

In other words, having a high-ranking spirit as your follower was a kind of status for a magician.

"Miss Monica, why don't you make a contract with a high-ranking spirit? I think that would help you gain some credibility."

"I-I have… a-already got an excellent familiar with me."

Nero on the shelf wagged his tail, nodding his head in approval.

Louis took one look at Nero on the shelf and snickered as if he had noticed Nero's presence.

"It's quite a cute little familiar."

At his somewhat mocking murmur, Nero made a clear "meow" sound.

"Well, anyway, let's get down to business. I've come here today to ask you for a favor."

"…a-a favor?"

When Monica made no attempt to hide her wariness, Louis smiled graciously, crossed his white-gloved hands, and rested his chin on them.

"Yes, actually, I've been guarding the second prince in secret for the past month under the orders of His Majesty."

"Huh?"

Louis's words made Monica widen her eyes.

In this country, there were three princes with different mothers.

Prince Lionel, who was twenty-seven years old, Prince Felix, who was eighteen years old, and Prince Albert, who was fourteen years old—as to which of the three would become the next king, the nobles in the country have different perspectives.

Monica was not interested in this kind of power struggle, so she only knew about it from what she heard from others, but according to rumors, the first and second prince factions were almost equal in number, and the third prince faction was slightly outnumbered.

Among the Seven Sages, there were those from the First Prince faction and those from the Second Prince faction. And this "Barrier Magician," Louis Miller, was a prime example of the First Prince faction.

So why was that Louis has been ordered to guard the second prince? Monica's eyebrows furrowed in discomfort.

"U-Um… Louis-san, you're, from the First Prince's faction, aren't, you?"

"Yes, so why did His Majesty give me an order to become the second prince's personal guard? I have some thoughts about it, but it would be inappropriate to speculate about His Majesty's will, so let's not do that here. What's important is that His Majesty ordered me to protect the Second Prince without being noticed."

Not to mention how difficult it is to protect a person without the target noticing.

Why did the king give an order to Louis, a member of the First Prince faction, to protect the Second Prince?

Why does it need to be kept unnoticed by the second prince?

To Monica's confusion, Louis continued his words without hesitation.

"As I mentioned earlier, His Highness Felix is currently attending Serendia Academy, a prestigious boarding school. So, in order to protect his highness without him noticing… Well, it would be reasonable to infiltrate the school, but that school is under the control of the Duke of Crockford, so it would difficult."

Duke Crockford, the maternal grandfather of the second prince, and was one of the most powerful men in the country and the leader of the second prince's faction. To put it simply, he and Louis were like water and oil.

It was unlikely that Louis would cooperate to become his secret bodyguard.

"T-Then how are you going to protect him if you can't get into the school?"

"That's why I've prepared him this magic tool for self-defense."

Louis pulled a small cloth package from his pocket and placed it on the desk.

Wrapped in a cloth was a shattered brooch. The large ruby in the center of the brooch was cracked, and the finely crafted goldwork on the clasp was cracked wide open.

When Louis picked up the ruby, she noticed that there was a magic circle engraved on the base. The moment Monica saw the magic circle, she knew what it was.

"A-A barrier consisting of danger detection, a small area of physical and magical protection, and a transmission…"

"I'm impressed that you can see through it with just one glance. Yes, this is a magic tool for self-defense that I have painstakingly made."

Magic tools are very useful for those who cannot use magic. It could be used just by adding mana to specially processed jewels and incorporating magic formulas. But, these items still considered as a very high-class item, so it's not available in the current market.

On top of that, it was made by the Seven Sages, the best magicians in this country, which made it can't be measured. In fact, even if it was inferior, it would be enough to buy two or three houses in the capital.

Louis picked up a cracked ruby and looked through it at the sunlight streaming in through the window. Then, a magic circle appeared in the cracked ruby.

"I made this brooch in a pair, which is of sapphires and rubies. The holder of the sapphire brooch would get a protective barrier when they attacked. So I have asked His Majesty to make sure that His Highness Felix carries this brooch around with him."

As such, Louis always kept the ruby brooch, the counterpart to the sapphire, close at hand to check for any danger to the prince.

In the first place, Serendia Academy itself was strictly controlled by Duke Crockford. Any malicious person who wanted to take the prince's life would not be able to easily break in.

So, it's unlikely that this will happen very often, and Louis seems to have had a high opinion of it.

"However, this magic tool, which I put my heart and soul into and worked tirelessly on for a week, broke down within three days of its completion."

"I-In just three days…"

"Yes, I heard that it shattered the day after His Majesty presented it to His Highness Felix. I had been working tirelessly for a week, but it took me three days to complete it. Well, when I saw the ruby brooch break, I laughed because it was so hilarious, hahaha!"

His laugh was incredibly strained, and his eyes were not smiling at all.

No, it was no laughing matter, to begin with. The fact that the ruby brooch in Louis' hand was broken meant that the second prince was in some kind of danger.

"I-Is, the second prince, safe?"

"When the magic tool was activated, I rushed to the school as soon as I could to check if anything had happened to His Highness, but… His Highness was nonchalant and said nothing had happened. As for the breakage of the magic tool… he said it may have been a malfunction."

In Louis' hand, the ruby made a hard snapping sound. Fragments of the ruby spilled out from between his slender fingers. Scary.

"I don't believe something that I had created will have some defect. It's obvious that His Highness Felix was attacked by someone. However, His Highness Felix is hiding it."

Things were finally starting to get a little fishy.

She has a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling.

Louis scattered the shattered remains of the ruby on the desk and turned to Monica with a graceful smile that didn't match his ridiculous power.

"Well, now that I've said that, you should know what I'm about to say right?"

Monica shook her head as hard as she could. Her straw-like pigtails bobbed left and right.

However, Louis just didn't care about Monica's attitude and said with a smile.

"Please do me a favor and go infiltrate the academy to protect His Highness."

Despite sounding like he was asking for a handkerchief, what he was saying was a ridiculously difficult task.

"N-N-No way! T-T-T-That's impossible! W-Why it has to be me!?"

"Why? Because of my popularity, it will get in the way. Look at my good looks. No matter how much I disguise myself, I can't hide it. On the other hand, you were never going out to social gatherings or ceremonies. Even when you did, you would always wear a hood and keep your head down, so your face is not known. And the most important is…"

Louis lifted Monica's chin with his slender fingertips, smiled enchantingly, and said.

"Nobody would think such plain little girl like you is one of the Seven Sages."

What he said was a rant.

Nero on the shelf said, "Don't let him denounce you! Give him a good scolding!" Nero on the shelf spoke to her with his gaze, but Monica was too timid to retort, "It's impossible!"

"I… I've never been involved in protecting anyone before…"

"That would be better."

"Huh?"

Monica's tears stopped for a moment at the unexpected words.

Louis removed his fingers from Monica's chin and let out a sigh with a pensive look on his face.

"His Highness has very good intuition, you see…When I secretly put a person from the Magic Corps as an escort, he immediately saw right through him. His Highness has been surrounded by guards since a child, so he's quite adept at spotting them. That's why you are the best person for this job."

Louis then looked straight at Monica and said with a refreshing smile.

"Even His Highness doesn't think that an amateurish little girl would be his personal guard."

"……"

"What's more, with your Chantless Spell, you can activate magic without being noticed, making you the perfect choice for his secret bodyguard, no? There is no one better suited for this job than you."

What Louis had said was making a lot of sense, but to Monica, it looked like Louis was trying to throw a fit at the prince after his magic tool had been destroyed in just three days.

She was probably right. After all, Louis's eyes have been glittering with a dangerous glow for a while now. And that's the glow of a person who is really pissed off.

"B-But… I've never… done…  a bodyguard job… I can't do it…"

When Monica desperately said that, Louis tilted his head in a playful manner and looked at the stack of papers occupying the floor.

Then he picked up the nearest piece and shook it with a pitter-patter.

"It's been almost two years since you and I became the Seven Sages… For the past two years, all you've done is stay indoors facing these paper."

"I-I've also, d-defeated, a dragon, three months ago…"

"I have also defeated about 20 dragons in the past three months. So?"

Although there was no clear hierarchy among the Seven Sages, Monica and Louis, who had only been appointed for a short period of time, tended to be assigned chores by them.

For the past two years, Louis has mainly been sent out to kill dragons, while Monica has been in charge of the paperwork. Most of the documents in this cabin were things that the other Seven Sages had asked her to calculate for them.

Louis looked over the paper he'd picked up and squinted at it behind his spectacles.

"This document of star's orbit was the thing that Lady Stars Witch asked you, wasn't it? And this plant's fertilizer formula was from Lady Thorn Witch, this formula for calculating the coordinate axis for large-scale attack magic was from the Lord Artillery Magician, and these documents related to the purchase and inventory of the materials for the magic tools were from the Jewel Magician… Oh, wasn't this one about Lord Abyssal Sorcerer's family's finances? You're even forced to do this chore?"

"But… that was… our job…"

When Monica squirmed and objected, Louis snorted haughtily.

"These are the work for an accounting or a bookkeeper. Listen, you are the Seven Sages, the top magicians in the Ridill Kingdom. Don't you think there is a job that only you can do? Don't you think so? You think, don't you? You think? Just think."

He emphasized the final sentence.

As Monica shivered and wobbled, Louis smiled and gave her a no-no.

"His Majesty has entrusted me with the selection of the Second Prince's personal guard. In other words, you have no right of refusal, right, my dear friend?"

"B-But… I think… someone who specialized at barriers like you… is the best person for this protection job…"

The idea of infiltrating the school of a prince, when the person in question is extremely bashful and shy, is beyond reckless.

Let alone protecting the prince, she doesn't feel like she can spend her school life properly.

When Monica desperately urged him to change his decision, Louis patted Monica on the shoulder and looked into her face at very close range.

"Actually, I'm a newlywed."

"Yes?"

"I want to get home as soon as possible for my lovely wife, so I don't want to add extra work. Now, do you understand?"

The pressure of his hand on Monica's shoulder grew stronger.

"I'm just asking you to show some consideration, little girl."

His eyes glittered like razor blades, and Monica knew she could not escape.