A handful of corpses of monsters littered the floor of a clearing along a river. Overgrown bugs, slimes, animated plants, and even a few goblins were there, torn to pieces.

  “That’s the last one for now. Finish it off!” A girl standing on the sidelines cheered as her friend ran straight at a goblin holding a rudimentary bow with a sword in her hand.

  “Gwuaaaah!!” The girl with the sword delivered a blow, and it was way overkill. Her strength had been boosted beyond its normal limit, and it showed in the results. The goblin was split in half in a gruesome way, and the momentum of the sword caused her to stumble forward an extra step.

  “Good job, Carol!” With all monsters dead, Ririna stepped out from the sidelines and approached Carol. “How was it? That was the Torn Violence Potion. My specialty. Tested only by Iroha and you. Did you feel any effects?”

  “It’s okay… It delivered on its promise well enough. It was a huge boost in strength…” Carol opened and closed her free hand. Ririna was happy to receive more nice feedback, but Carol wasn’t fully satisfied. “It’s just… Something like this just won’t do…”

  “Make up your mind! Is it good or not? Was there a problem with the potion? I can try to make some adjustments if you want… It’s a bit annoying, but apparently customizing potions is a good way to learn about alchemy…”

  “That’s not what I meant…” Carol said without putting on airs. “The potion was good. It was very effective, and I kinda wanna keep one with me at all times, but it’s not what I’m looking for. I wanna catch up to Iroha and be strong enough to be helpful. No matter how good your potions are, they won’t help me with that. Even if I can close that gap temporarily, the way and the speed at which she improves are too much for me.”

  “Hmm… Maybe so… It does seem like she’s one of a kind in that sense. Do you have any more ideas?”

  Carol didn’t immediately reply. Where to start? She put her sword away and crossed her arms.

  “Did you see Iroha’s sword yesterday? It was a different sword, right?” Ririna nodded but didn’t know what Carol was getting at. “That wasn’t an ordinary sword. It’s a special type of weapon that allows people to draw out more of their strength. That’s why she was even stronger than usual.”

  Ohhh… So that’s what it was… Was the kind of look on Ririna’s face.

  “I was supposed to get a weapon like hers, but it didn’t work out. With that much of a difference, I won’t get to the same level as her no matter how many potions I take.”

  “I see… But if that’s the case, I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to help.” Ririna’s mood soured a bit.

  “There is… I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to compete with her in terms of raw strength—in the ability to wield a sword—so I have to rely on something else. Magic… And I think you can help.” Carol showed an eager smile, but Ririna got flustered.

  “No no no! I don’t think I can.” She waved her hands in front of her. “You’re not from this world, so I don’t blame you, but do you even know how alchemy works? It requires some magic, sure, but it’s nothing like casting spells.”

  “What about you? What do you know? Do you even know what kind of magic I can use?”

  Ririna was jumping to conclusions, so the question caused her to stop. “Uhmm… Earth magic? I saw you hurl a rock at one of the statues yesterday… Whatever it was, it wasn’t alchemy, so I won’t be able to help.”

  “I’m not so sure… That rock was an illusion. I can use magic to make illusions, and that’s why I think you can help. After all, we’re both using magic to make things. How different could that be?” Carol shrugged.

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  “Very different… You have no idea… In alchemy, all we really do is use magic to transform ingredients… Once we have everything we need, we apply magic to give things a malleable shape and create reactions between the materials until we get the thing we want. It’s more about using the materials themselves than magic. That’s why it’s completely different.”

  “Is it? Because the process is not that different from mine… My illusions also appear in a more malleable form before being given shape.”

  Ririna sighed… She still wasn’t convinced there was anything she could do, but maybe illusions worked differently from other types of magic. She didn’t actually know. “Even if you say that… What are you expecting me to do?”

  “I want you to help me understand. What is it that makes something real? Why are the things you make real while illusions aren’t? Illusions aren’t supposed to be real, I get that, but I want to understand why.”

  Carol’s real problem was that the magic itself felt like it was trying to guide her towards something. Every time she created an illusion, she felt something inside her telling her to push further. But push further towards what?

  “I’d say that it’s because alchemy works on materials that already exist. That’s probably why…” This was the simplest answer Ririna could come up with.

  “So illusions aren’t real because they’re just magic? But there are people using just magic to spew fire from their hands, aren’t there? That can’t possibly be the only reason…”

  “Now that you mention it… I have an idea!” Ririna reached into one of her pockets, grabbed a pouch, and took out a ring. “If you wanna learn more about your magic, try this. Maybe it will give you some hints.”

  “A ring?” Carol picked it off Ririna’s hand. “What does it do?” She brought it near her face to take a closer look. The ring had a dark green color with some engravings on the side.

  “That’s a ring beginner alchemists use when they’re starting out. It causes a bit of pain whenever the wearer uses magic, so it helps them get a feel for it.” After a final look, Carol put the ring on her finger.

  “Ah! But be careful! Alchemy uses way less magic than normal magic, so it might hurt more than expected.” Ririna was about to say that it was a bad idea, and that maybe Carol shouldn’t do it.

  Before she had time for that, Carol extended her hand. She made an illusion based on the first thing that came to mind. A small, cutesy plushie in the shape of a rabbit.

  “Aaaaah…” Carol understood what Ririna meant as a sharp sting ran from her hand all the way up her arm. “I see what you mean… It’s really uncomfortable, but it’s bearable.” Pain was something she knew how to endure. It was worth it too, seeing as she was actually able to feel the way magic moved through her body and created the illusion on her hand.

  “Is it? Well, if you say so, I won’t say anything. Just don’t push yourself too hard. I don’t wanna be responsible if something bad happens.” Bad things can happen? Feels like that should have been mentioned earlier…

  Carol continued holding the plushie, pouring a steady amount of magic to maintain the illusion. “It’s happening again… Ririna, whenever you use magic, have you ever felt like you could be doing things better? Like… something giving you the urge to push further? Is this normal?”

  Ririna made a troubled face. “Is the pain making you hear things? Maybe you should stop for now… Ahahaha…”

  “I’m not hearing things! I’m being serious here! When I use this magic, I just feel this way sometimes. Do you know anything about it?”

  “Not really… There are many recorded instances of people, and even mages, hearing things, but it’s not something that’s normal.” And usually, not a good sign… If something happened to Carol after their training, Iroha’s not gonna be happy… “Y- you know, you should probably stop soon. I think you’re getting tired… I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

  “Hmmm… If there’s a chance I can get hurt, at least I’m near someone who can heal me. I’m gonna try something.” Ririna wanted to stop her, but it was too late.

  Carol used more magic to polish the illusion even further. When it came to the characteristics of an illusion, shape and color were the most basic ones. And honestly, pretty much the only ones. That’s all an illusion needed to be an illusion. But illusions imitated objects, and objects had many more characteristics. Carol could control the characteristics of her illusion, and she could control the characteristics of her magic, especially now that she was able to feel it. Why not try something more? Why not push a little further?

  She closed her eyes. What is it that is drawing her in? Telling her to push further? For a split second, Carol could see a crown. A transparent crown. Right within reach…

  “Huh? Is it…?” Working? It was kinda subtle, but Carol could tell something was different. The wind was bouncing off the plushie. Not entirely, sure, but it was reacting in some way- “Arrgh!” The illusion instantly disappeared, and she fell to her knees. A pain so sharp ran through her ankles, as if they had been cut off. But no… nothing had happened. They were still there…

  “Hey! Carol?! What happened?” Ririna ran right up to her.

  Carol didn’t say anything while Ririna fussed over her. It was those weird marks… The glowing bracelet-shaped tattoos that had appeared on her ankles… They were the reason she could use magic and the thing pushing her forward… Or… were they preventing her from progressing? She didn’t know.

  “Wait, you’re bleeding!” Ririna grabbed Carol’s hand and found a big gash there. “Was that the ring? It can’t be… Did you do this, Carol? What happened?” The cut. She actually knew where it came from.

  “Yeah… That was my fault… Nothing to worry about.” It was brief, but it was the crown that did it. Its edges were incredibly sharp, so when she tried to grab it… “That’s right… Don’t worry about it… I understand it now.”

  “Hey hey, Iroha, I have something cool for us to do today.” We were at school when Miyuki approached me during a break. It was a bit clingy the way she acted. And I had a feeling something bad was coming.

  “Is it going to be something embarrassing?” Is she gonna drag me shopping with her? Try to get me into another one of her eccentric styles? “I’m getting worried just from the tone of your voice…”

  “Embarrassing? I don’t think so… If anything, I’d describe it as interesting.” She quickly changed gears and gave off an ominous vibe. “You see… There’s gonna be a death tomorrow at this rate. Let’s take a look!”