The Moro River winds for thousands of miles.

The babbling stream that grows between the northwestern peaks of the Sunset Mountains, after a few hundred miles of the Sunset Mountains and a collection of dozens of identical tributaries "brothers", crosses the western hills, and when it flows into the territory of the Duchy of Kaman, it is already a huge river hundreds of grams wide.

The steady and abundant water flow has created the busiest water transport channel on the mainland, and countless merchant ships come and go on the Morro River, transporting merchants, goods, and money to various countries and cities, and it is not an exaggeration to call the Morro River the blood of the mainland.

Starting from Carman, it follows the Morro River, first to the northeast, passing through the metropolises of the Nine Nations Business Alliance, and then at the edge of the city of Manning, the Morro River turns into a large bay, turns to the southeast, and soon goes straight into the territory of San Jose, crossing the fertile soil of San Jose, on both sides of the river is the "San Jose Plain", known as the granary of the continent (Note 1), where the finest wheat in the whole continent is produced.

Just south of the plain is Kyoto Castle, the capital of San Jose. The Morro River winds around the towering Red Fort and heads east to the sea.

At this moment, a medium-sized light sail was sailing on the Morro River in the territory of the Principality of Kaman, the Nine Nations Business Alliance. Flying high on the flag on the bow of the ship, the golden scroll glittering in the red sun. It was an envoy ship representing the San José Empire, with priority on the Morro River, and the merchant ships avoided it one after another, riding the west wind and sailing down the river, all the way merrily.

On the ship, Kerster, Lolita, and Faeda sat around the table in the cabin, and Mage Setty was opening a tome of notes and talking to everyone.

"Your Highness Lolita, I know that you have had a special affinity for magic since you were a child, have you felt any changes over the years?"

As soon as Mage Setie got on the boat, he learned that Lolita was still practicing magic, so he specially called everyone together.

"Mage Setty, Miss's illusions are becoming more and more realistic now, and she can turn others around every time. Feida replied first.

Setie smiled, "Actually, it's not called illusion, we call it psychic magic. ”

Feida was embarrassed, "Yes, Xiao Mu said the same thing." ”

Lolita patted Feida and motioned to herself, "Mage Setty, I just feel like I've been able to create illusions for longer and longer, and some scenarios are going to be realistic. Unless it is encountered, self-control is particularly strong, and ordinary people can't take the initiative to break free. ”

Setie thought for a moment, and then asked Lolita, "Your Highness Lolita, how much do you know about spiritual magic?" ”

Lolita shook her head.

At this time, the next to Koster suddenly said, "Master Setty, you tell us about the origin of magic. Recently, we've been encountering things related to magic, and we haven't been exposed to them before, and we're all curious. ”

Hearing what Chestter said, Setie was slightly stunned. But when you think about it, it seems that many things have been inseparable from magic lately, so after hesitating for a while, Sei still tells the origin of magic.

"You all know that the source of magic is the nobles of the Magic Empire. ”

"Yes. All three nodded.

Settie went on to say, "A genius in the Magic Empire back then, perhaps in the same situation as Her Highness Lolita, accidentally discovered that he had a magical affinity, or perhaps by chance, released a small magic.

Later, the nobles of the Magic Empire discovered more children with this talent, so they organized them to practice day after day, and eventually evolved over the years, eventually forming the scene of the flourishing of magic in the era of the Magic Empire. ”

"Then why do some people say that magic is the prerogative of the nobility?" asked Lolita.

"This brings us to the reign of the Magic Empire. In fact, according to the data, the Magic Empire used to be just a normal ruling family, until after the advent of magic, in order to consolidate the rule of the family, the consuls of the Magic Empire made people with magical affinities noble.

Later, we learned that magical affinity is actually an ability that is passed down with blood, and these nobles later married each other and multiplied, so that there were more descendants of the noble class with magical affinity. By the end of the First Age, the nobility of the Magic Empire was almost entirely magician. ”

"I see. Kerst sighed softly, "And then?"

Setie laughed, "Later, of course, it was the era of heroes." Your ancestors, my ancestors, Lolita's ancestors, and even Fayda's elven ancestors, all of them worked together to overthrow the rule of the Magic Empire, that's what the history books say. ”

Lolita thought for a moment and asked, "Mage Setty, can you explain to me the types of magic?" All we know is that magic has an offensive type, a healing spell, and a spiritual system like me. I don't know the specifics, can I?"

Sei did not object, the existing knowledge on the mainland is actually very incomplete, in fact, in the era of the Magic Empire, the types of magic are very diverse. For example, there are various elemental magic that manipulates water, fire, and terroir, healing magic represented by blessing magic, and spiritual magic that Lolita is familiar with. Of course, there was more specific magic at that time, and it was more complicated.

For example, the spiritual class, which is subdivided into specific categories, includes illusions that can create illusions, control classes that can control the minds of people or animals, judgment classes that directly launch mental shocks to knock down opponents, and even auxiliary classes that can greatly improve the activity, mental power, and endurance of others.

In the notes of the Magic Empire kept in the library of San Jose, there are no less than 100 types of magic mentioned. It's just that most of the spells and spellcasting gestures have been lost.

Hearing this, Kirstage said, "Since it has been lost, why does San Jose still keep the team of court magicians? As far as I know, magic has been forbidden in the mainland for hundreds of years. ”

Setie shook her head, "It's different. The original continent-wide low-demon agreement was signed by the San Jose royal family and supervised by the Adventurers' Guild. In exchange, San Jose could keep a small contingent of court magicians.

And it is precisely because of the clear understanding of magic that the court magicians of San Jose do not actively spread magic, and for hundreds of years, it has only been passed on on a small scale. Moreover, unlike the mages of the Magic Empire era, we court mages mainly study the application of magic, not magic attacks. We advocate the application of magic to our daily lives, so to speak, as a kind of scientific research, like this lamp on the table. ”

Hearing Setie say this, Kester and the others noticed that there was a strangely shaped lamp on the table, with no oil and no wick, only a shiny stone, covered by a glass cover. Saitie reached out and touched the glass cover, and the shiny stone actually began to light up slowly, and then emitted a steady white-gold light.

"Ah, it's amazing. Lolita covered her mouth in surprise.

"This is the power of magic, and it is the main job of our court magicians in San Jose. We're just studying more and more of these magical applications. The San Jose Library claims to have preserved all the remnants of the Magic Empire's era, but it is actually very broken, and even these magic gadgets have been successful after a long period of experimentation. ”

Setie waved her hand again, and the magic crystal gradually went out, and she touched the magic lamp with some sadness. What a magical gadget to outsiders, but Settie, who studies magic, knows that it is nothing compared to the glory of the Magic Empire back then.

"Can you tell us about the dark mage, Master Nasyety?"

"Dark mage, this is the name we call for humans who still vainly try to use magic for profit after the signing of the Continent's Low Magic Agreement. The difference between them and us is that they try to use the power of magic to achieve their ulterior purposes.

In fact, magic is not dark, and different magic has its own situation. However, the reason why it is called magic is that it has its own inexplicable aspects, for example, if you use magic to do evil things, over time, the magic you unleash will have a strong sour and rancid smell (Note 2). Therefore, it is easy to judge whether it is a dark mage on the continent. ”

"What the hell are they for, damn dark mage!" Kerst got angry at the thought and slammed the table.

Feda reached out and pressed Koster's arm, giving him a gentle look, and then playfully stretched out her index finger in front of her mouth and made a "shhhhh

Mage Setie didn't see the slightest movement of the two, and continued.

"I don't know what the dark mages are doing, but many of us in the San Jose court are convinced that the glory of magic will come to this continent once again. I know they're just fanatical about magic, but those dark mages, who's to say they aren't. They may be trying to restore the glory of the Magic Empire, or they may be trying to restore the dominance of the mages over ordinary humans. ”

Kerry nodded, and glanced at Lolita.

"Okay, let's not talk about the history. Lolita, do you want to formally learn magic?" Setty closed the huge notebook and patted it.

"Is that okay?" Lolita's eyes lit up. Although she didn't care about this, Lolita still had some ideas about her spiritual magic abilities, and when she heard Sei say this, Lolita couldn't hold back her mood a little.

"But we court magicians focus on the application of magic and the knowledge of magic, and I myself am limited to ordinary fireball magic, water flow and the like, and I am not particularly good at it, maybe our head will do a little more." As for your spiritual magic, I don't have that ability to guide me, and I mainly rely on your own understanding. So your teaching is more focused on the teaching of magical knowledge of the magic system, do you understand?"

Lolita couldn't stop nodding, "Of course, of course." "After groping alone for so long on the path of magic, and encountering those unbearable past events, Lolita suddenly found that someone was willing to guide her, and she was already excited and had nothing to say.

I saw Lolita get up and walk up to Setty, and solemnly made a palace salute, "Teacher Setty, from now on, I will be your student." ”

Note 1: Continental granary. The San José Empire was in the lower reaches of the Morro River, and the black soil formed by the vast alluvial plains brought abundant grain production. San Jose supplied most of the mainland's grain, hence the name "Continental Granary".

Note 2: The essence of magic is that the magical affinity uses magical elements for one's own use, so there are many forms of expression. The change in the caster's state of mind when casting a spell can sometimes affect the way the elemental arrangement is manifested, such as the dark mage's evil thoughts, which can give the magic released a sour and rancid smell. The surviving magical notes have no further record of this strange phenomenon.