Melody of Mana

We toured the paper shop as quickly as we could get the adults to take us through. I felt sick the entire time, as did everyone else. The owner I understood had simply built up a resistance, and of course our jerk of a professor knew not to breathe through his nose. There were magical items on the doors whenever the shop was active that served to push the air inside and down into the sewers. That was surprisingly well thought out compared to most uses of magic I saw.

The smell itself was from a plant known as Rotweed. Rotweed was useful in that is sped up the decay process of organic things, it also smelled like rotten meat mixed with feces and fresh baked bread. The last part served to make everyone slightly hungry, which the body fully rejected. The stuff seemed tailor made to inspire sickness. It also made it possible to break down the plants used in paper into their fibers quick, fast, and in a hurry. It even gave a fairly good color, not pure white, but close enough.

This meant that paper could be manufactured at a good quality. The issues were thick though. Making paper anywhere even near the vicinity of a city was strictly banned, excluding special shops like this one. It was almost impossible to find people willing to work in such shops as well, meaning they had to be paid high. A few nobles had tried in the past to force the work onto some villages but that had ended in a lot of their peasants fleeing the area. This meant that while paper-making was simple in theory, in practice it remained an expensive product. Expensive enough that young bards were encouraged to learn to make it for themselves and their peers.

Once the plant's bark (A mixture of two small trees and a woody bush) were broken down thoroughly by a Rotweed and water slurry, they were washed and run through a rather intricate process to make the paper itself. It was cool to watch. The process took two weeks to go from plants to sheets, most of that was drying though.

After we finished with our tour we were given a few sheets to feel, smell (Once we were out of the shop itself), taste, etc. I was fairly sure we all had a bit anyway, but this stuff was fresh and of the highest quality the shop could produce, so it was nicer than what we were used to. We were told that we had a week to make something acceptable, and that if we failed we'd be having to come back and observe the shop again. That threat was enough to make us all take the assignment with utmost seriousness. All of us looked at each other with the grim hardened faces of those determined not to fail a test.

After our release we three girls hurried back to our dorms. We collectively smelled like death, the lingering stench of the paper shop grasping onto our clothes, shoes, and hair. Professor Magnolia had made sure that his class had been scheduled such that we had plenty of time to wash and eat afterwards, which we all agreed to do as a group. I arrived around the time Emma was putting away laundry.

"Oh goodness, what is that smell?" were literally the first words out of her mouth.

"Professor Magnolia surprised us by taking us to a paper shop today. Please bring some clean clothes to the baths if you would. I really don't want to touch anything until I've washed. Also if you could, prep to wash this uniform."

"Will it come out?"

"The smell is supposed to leave with water and just a bit of soap. It gets on everything though."

"Understood, I'll meet you at the baths."

I met Lora and June there as well. All three of us furiously washing ourselves while June chewed on a small bit of the paper we'd been given. After three separate washings we all felt that it was safe and went to one of the tubs to soak as we talked out where to go on our project.

"Okay, I think I'm gonna try to summon some." June declared as she settled in.

"If you bring that stink into this tub, I swear I will stab you." Lore responded.

"Ditto." I gave her a nasty look as she brought her hands up and concentrated.

Slowly a sheet formed there. It was squarish and of the approximate right size, but it looked a bit too rough and slightly more yellow than I'd really want. There was no accompanying smell though, so I counted that as a win. June gave it a hard look over as she held it, frowning slightly.

"Needs work," she declared.

"Alright, my turn." I pulled my hand up and thought.

I'd handled literally thousands, potentially tens of thousands of sheets of notebook paper. So I thought of that, of the smell, the weird taste everyone ended up learning, the feel of it. I also thought about how it was structured, thousands of tiny fibers all compressed in a random way. I tried to picture all of these things as I pulled my magic together with a simple tune.

The sheet I held there looked like standard college rule. I'd even put the lines on it by mistake, but hey, nobody was perfect. As I looked it over I noticed a few imperfections, little changes that made it look just slightly more like the paper we'd been given. The way the grain stood out just slightly more, the barest hint of roughness.

"Okay, that looks pretty good." Lora leaned over to look at it, the warm water lapping around us.

"Better than mine for sure." June nodded. "What's with the lines?"

"Those weren't intentional. I guess they'll make it easy to keep an even spacing though."

"May I?" Lora asked, holding out her hand.

"Go for it." I passed over the sheet. It was starting to get a little wet from the bath and steam anyway.

Both June and Lora seemed to like my version, thinking it was a bit nicer than the paper we'd been given at the shop. I was taking that as a pass. I ended up making a few more sheets, with and without lines for them to check out as well. The spell was still inefficient, but one or two sheets at once wasn't very much anyway.

"What are you picturing when you summon this?" Lora finally asked.

"So, paper is just a really dry pushed down bundle of random fibers right? I just kinda picture that. They also need to be really white and kinda random. Other than that, focus on the feel and stuff."

They each gave it a few more tries, eventually getting something rather like what I'd made. It was around this time that a few more girls showed up. One made her way over to us with a scowl.

"Oi, you three, no summoning crap in the baths, you'll make a mess." If I had to guess she was a third or fourth year, and looked none too pleased with our antics.

"Oh, sorry..." June whimpered out. Lora and I both tried to look contrite.

"Don't do it again." With a snap of her fingers all of the sheets we'd made went up in a quick burst of flame, not even leaving ashes.

After she'd turned and left us I looked at the two others. "Well, with that I think I'm done. See you in class."

Emma met me at the washing area, seemingly relieved that I'd managed to get the smell gone. She quietly helped me dress and gather my things before prepping for the rest of my day.

"Thank you. Have you started learning about magical items yet? Professor Rooke said that he held a class for the servants."

"Oh yes, it's all quite interesting. It's a wonderful way to spend my time when I'm done with all the work for the day."

"I'm glad you have some time for it."

I was still faltering in my conversations with her, unsure of what to say, if anything. Did she even want to talk to me? Was there even any way I could ask that question? Honestly, if I didn't have to have a maid, I didn't think I would. She didn't seem to mind talking though, not that I thought she'd show it if she did.

After a few more grueling days I found myself back in Combat Spellcasting. We were each given a number of documents to read over while Professor Endel met with us privately. I tried to go over what I'd learned, but it was mostly just repeating what I already knew. The busywork was at least interesting, some notes on basic tactics for spellcasters on the battlefield.

"So, what are your thoughts on your performance." Professor Endel began when I first sat before him.

"I know my power is lacking and I badly need to improve my defense. It's my opinion that I should continue to use tactics that focus on stealth as in a forward facing fight I'm highly unlikely to win. I already knew most of that though sir."

"Your power is not lacking, your speed is. There is a significant difference in the two, and that is a mistake many bards make."

"So it's not that I can't manage to cast strong enough spells, but that I can't cast them quickly enough? How do I fix that?"

"You don't. It's the weakness of bards, but you can compensate. Magical items are not a bad way to go, but they tend to act as a crutch if used in learning. You need to learn to lock down your opponent long enough to get going. Illusions are also unaffected by the bardic slowness and I know you can use those, you showed it quite well."

"So... once I put up illusions I start prepping defenses and attacks, then release them when they're ready?"

"Indeed, or you can get somewhere where your opponent cannot get to you while you cast. It might do well for you to learn a bit about weather control. The cost in mana is often obscene, but the effects are something else when wielded by someone who knows what they're doing."

"There isn't a class on that is there sir?"

"No, it's mostly bardic so there wouldn't be many students, and it's also rather specialist. Professor Magnolia might know some, or have some books on the subject he'd let you read though. If not, you'll have to figure it out on your own."

"How do you know about it?"

"Seen it on the field. Some bard from Ermath whipped up a storm over one of our formations and started dropping lightning bolts. It was something to see."

"Sounds terrifying."

"Eh, I was fairly far from that point. The poor peasant troops broke and ran though. They had no way to deal with that."

"What about the bard in question?"

"Got to big for his breeches and stepped out in front. Caught a fireball to the face. That's another good lesson for you. Always keep your head down, you're a target. Now, off you go."

I nodded at his wisdom before leaving.

Dras came to meet me after that class, looking as tired as I felt.

"Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much, yeah. You get used to it though. How're things going?"

"Mmm, alright I suppose. Professor Endel suggested I learn about weather magic."

"Sounds cool."

"He said it was mostly bardic, but I think my old teacher could make it rain... I wonder if that was an actual storm or him just summoning a bunch of water really high up..."

Dras shrugged. "You'll have to ask him the next time you two meet then."

I frowned, wondering when in the world that would be. "Yeah, if I ever see him again."