「Magic?」
「Yes, magic.」
Lunchtime came just as I was about to start reading. I walked to the dining room in anguish. Lunch was just brown bread with vegetable soup and minced meat seasoned with salt.
As I finished up, I decided to ask my family what they knew about magic. My parents, who were engrossed in their discussion of how to best cultivate the newly expanded farmland shifted their attention onto me. They all looked at one another and smiled. Then my father spoke-
「Most of the important texts on magic can be found in the study. We even have a crystal ball that can determine whether you have an aptitude for magic training.」
It seems people don't treat the knowledge of magic as a secret. There were apparently detailed books on the subject in the study even though father himself couldn't use magic.
「The crystal ball is one thing, but magic books are cheaper than most other books.」
My mother added. She also told me that this was because very few people have innate magical talent. Apparently, magical talent is not hereditary, so the chances that a farmer's child will become a prodigy are the same as those of a noble's child. To ensure that anyone with aptitude was able to learn magic, it was decreed that books on magic should be easily accessible to people of all classes, even commoners. Anyway, I won't have to go my entire life not knowing whether I have a talent for it.
Further, because it is in the state's interest to identify people with the potential to become great magicians, the state bears the expense of publishing the books. My father continued.
「Actually, most humans have a small amount of mana, but not enough to cast spells on any meaningful scale. They say that only one in a thousand has enough mana to use magic.」
Moreover, of that number, only half can produce a spark or fill a cup with water at least once a day. That's all they can do.
「A magician who can produce a fireball capable of burning monsters is extremely rare. Because of that, such magicians command high salaries and usually end up in the employ of the royal family or one of the higher-ranking nobles.」
Of course, the royals and nobles would go to great lengths to secure a magician of that calibre—such a person must be one in several thousand. I doubt that they come along every day.
The kingdom has a population of about fifty million (based on a book I read). If we assume that figure is correct, I calculated that there should only be about 10 to 20 thousand people capable of using magic. And that's a generous estimate.
「Next is...」
Father explained that magicians seem to have specific aptitudes.
There are the classical magicians that use attack spells such as fireballs, ice arrows, rock missiles, and wind blades. Then some use magic to fortify their bodies and enhance their muscles, combining magic with hand-to-hand combat techniques to increase their attack power, agility, and defensive ability.
Some people specialize in non-combat magic such as communications or transportation.
Finally, some purify metal ores, create magic crystals to store mana or specialize in crafting magical items, tools, or weapons.
As I was having difficulty keeping up, my mother tried to explain it to me in simpler terms.
Basically, the relative strength of magicians can be thought of as a pyramid. On the bottom, many people have a relatively small reserve of mana. As you move up, there are fewer and fewer people, but each of them has a larger reserve of mana than those below. At the top of the pyramid, there are very few people, but each of them has a huge amount of mana.
Another way of saying this is that there is an inverse correlation between the size of a magician's mana reserve and the number of magicians with a larger (or equal) mana reserve.
It follows that the few magicians at the top can use many types of magic, and therefore command high salaries.
「Magic is the stuff of dreams...」 I spoke in awe.
「Well, yeah...」
Father let out a complicated smile. I couldn't understand why was he doing so.
「I remember when I thought to practice magic every day, just like you, Claude.」
My father reminisced. Suddenly big brother Ralph spoke up-
「Did you succeed father!?」
「Well.....no. I didn't have the aptitude, to begin with, but being the stubborn boy I was I tried practising it anyway until I got bored of it.」
Saying so he started laughing loudly while banging his hand on the table.
Feeling intrigued, I tried asking my brothers.
「Big brother Ralph, big brother Karl, can either of you use magic?」
Ralph and Karl gave an awkward smile and spoke.
「Neither of us can, we tried testing but it turned out that, we too didn't have an aptitude for magic.」
「Putting that aside, why did you develop a sudden interest in magic?」
Ralph asked me while his mouth was still full of food. I puffed my chest out and boldly declared.
「I am gonna be a magician after all!」
When I said that, Ralph choked on his food as he suddenly started laughing.
「W-what happened?」
「You? A magician? Have you even checked your aptitude yet? It doesn't happen just because you wish for it to happen you know.」
「N-no, but I will check it at once after lunch.」
Hearing me say that, he continued laughing more loudly until mother pulled and twisted his ear.
「If he wants to be a magician, then let him be. Why are you laughing at him so much? Also, take small bites of food. Eat like a civilised person too now, would you? Look at all the bread crumbs that have fallen down on your lap and.....」
「Y-yes, mother. I am sorry. C-can you please stop now?」
But mother didn't stop and kept on lecturing him on proper manners to eat. Looking at such a scene my father, Karl and I began to laugh.
「I'm going to get started on magic practice right away!」 I spoke enthusiastically
「Do your best!」My father gave me words of encouragement.
After chatting with my family for some time more, I quickly finished my meal and rushed to the study.
My father and Karl were absorbed in their discussions about the newly reclaimed land, while my mother was busy lecturing Ralph about table manners, as such they took no notice of me slipping away.