Let’s Manage the Tower

Book 4: Volume 9 Chapter 2, Sister and Brother

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Silavin

Kokoro slowly awakened.

She’d been training to communicate with the Gods. It was initially difficult work that had grown easier after receiving Divine Protection from three Goddesses and, furthermore, Kousuke’s Blessings. Now she rarely failed unless something extraordinary occurs.

According to Sylvia, who oversaw Kokoro’s training, her talent far surpassed Sylvia’s own. Of course, receiving Divine Protection from the Three Goddesses already granted Kokoro unprecedented talent. Yet looking back into distant history revealed others who’d received multiple Gods’ Protection. Kokoro had reached the same stage as those individuals.

Opening one’s eyes too quickly after completing consciousness awakening could cause accidents. Minor ones like dizziness or anemia-like symptoms. Normally she would slowly adjust before opening her eyes, but today she unintentionally made a mistake.

“Sister!”

She involuntarily reacted to Luka’s voice and immediately opened her eyes. Predictably, dizziness struck, and she quickly closed them again, placing her hand on her temple. Though less frequent recently, she’d made this mistake often before and knew how to handle it. The unpleasant sensation was entirely her own fault.

She adjusted her physical condition as usual and slowly opened her eyes to find Luka watching her with worry.

“I’m, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

Luka had been told by Sylvia not to carelessly speak to Kokoro during training. Nevertheless, he had wanted to ask her Sister something quickly and had called out unintentionally. If Kokoro had been mid-communication with the Gods, her intense concentration would have prevented her from responding to Luka’s call.

Luka continued looking at Kokoro with worry, but Kokoro shook her head.

“It’s alright, you don’t need to worry. I should have maintained composure even when spoken to, but I couldn’t. It’s due to my lack of training.”

After speaking, Kokoro took a deep breath and slowly stood. Still slightly unsteady, the strain on her body wasn’t as severe as expected. Standing, she smiled reassuringly at Luka.

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

Luka said he had something to discuss, so they moved to a different location. Their previous space was sacred to Kokoro, and even he could feel the Gods’ watchful presence there. It was not conducive to calm conversation.

Still wearing her miko outfit from training, Kokoro looked at Luka. “So, what is it?”

“I had something I wanted to ask you, Sister.”

Kokoro had known from the beginning that Luka had a question. She prompted him to continue with just a glance.

“How do you use this?” Luka held out a bracelet-like object. Kokoro’s eyes widened instantly.

“What are you talking about? This is a Divine Artifact. You can’t use it, can you?”

The object was similar to one of the Divine Artifacts Kokoro usually used. That was something Kousuke had given her long ago. Though she rarely used it now, having received a new Divine Artifact from Kousuke, it remained one of Kokoro’s precious possessions.

Kokoro was inwardly astonished that Luka would so casually take out such an important tool.

However, Luka’s impression seemed entirely different from what Kokoro expected. Luka shook his head before speaking.

“That’s not true. I’ve rewritten all the Magic Circles embedded in this tool so that I can use it… But even so, I still can’t use it.”

Hearing this, Kokoro understood what Luka meant and inwardly sighed. If this were a magic tool, Luka’s statement would be entirely correct. Important magic tools typically had restrictions limiting their users. However, with proper analysis and rewriting of the Magic Circle, one could make them usable. Of course, that bordered on cheating, and normally such feats were impossible. It was just that Luka’s exceptional skills and talent made it possible.

Unfortunately, the divine artifact Luka held did not fall into that category. To Kokoro, this was perfectly obvious, but Luka seemed to not understand.

Kokoro wondered inwardly what to do. Until now, Luka’s ignorance might have been acceptable, but perhaps he needed to understand the true nature of Divine Artifacts.

Having thought that far, a question suddenly occurred to her. “Wait. How did you get that Divine Artifact in the first place?”

“I checked with Mom, and I received it from my Father.”

Hearing Luka’s answer, Kokoro was now certain that their Father was telling Luka to aim even higher than he was doing. After considering for a moment, Kokoro decided to state the facts clearly.

Right now, Luka seem somewhat arrogant regarding Magic Circles. He possessed genuine skill, so those around him could not compare to him. Kokoro decided to think of this as a wall Kousuke had prepared for him.

“If you change the restricted user of the Magic Circle to Luka, you can use that magic tool as your own. That’s right, isn’t it?”

Luka nodded with an expression that said ‘of course’ at Kokoro’s explanation. But at Kokoro’s next words, that expression froze.

“But then, you still won’t be able to use the Divine Artifact.”

“…W-Why not!?”

Luka’s cry of surprise left Kokoro looking troubled. The answer was obvious to her, but explaining it to Luka was a challenge in itself. Troubled, she decided to use an analogy.

Those who created magical tools could sometimes produce items surpassing even the most skilled mages. For instance, imbuing a Magic Circle with magic mastered by a top-tier mage and using it as a tool. The effect would be identical, but a pitfall often trapped magical tool crafters: they mistakenly believed they themselves had become capable of using that magic.

Certainly, the result was the same, but a huge difference existed. A mage underwent various training to use that magic. Magical tool crafters also learned techniques and gained power to create tools, but that was completely different from what mages did.

Luka made a subtle expression, neither fully understanding nor entirely unconvinced by Kokoro’s analogy. It was a story often told to aspiring magical tool crafters, so Luka understood it well enough. However, he could not quite connect that story to the current situation.

“…So, magical tools and Divine Artifacts are completely different things?”

“No, that’s not it… Well, you understand that Divine Artifacts are a type of magical tool that uses Divine Power, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, what is Divine Power?”

Luka looked taken aback by Kokoro’s question. From Kokoro’s perspective, Luka appeared not to have considered this at all until now. Seeing this, Kokoro sighed.

“You have to start by thinking about that first.”

Luka had called the tool a Divine Artifact precisely because it used Divine Power, yet he had not even tried to understand Divine Power. Of course, this was partly because Divine Power wasn’t generally well understood. Nevertheless, learning about Divine Artifacts required understanding Divine Power.

“That’s where I’ll start for now,” Kokoro said to Luka.