In Hymriel, the calendar had 360 days in a year.
That year was divided into twelve months, and each month was broken into weeks.
A week had seven days in total, and those seven days were named in order after the six gods.
The first day was named for the Earth Mother, Traya, who was said to have created the world. It was called Origin Day.
The second day belonged to Taita, the God of Order who governed and upheld the world’s structure. That day was called Order Day.
The third day belonged to Helyim, the Goddess of Life, who brought vitality and renewal into the world. That day was called Renewal Day.
The fourth day was named for Mitchester, the God of Hunting and Freedom. That one was Harvest Day.
The fifth day belonged to Sotho, the God of War and Forging. That day was called Tempering Day.
The sixth day belonged to Visos, the God of Wisdom and Mystery. That day was called Insight Day.
As for the seventh day, it was the day of rest for the gods themselves.
Rest Day.
...
In Mente, on Insight Day, the sixth day of the week, the prep school had no classes.
Some places only took Rest Day off, but more often both Insight Day and Rest Day were treated as weekend days.
Prep school was one of those places. Five days of class, two days off.
Taking advantage of the break, Shulim and Colette met where they had agreed to.
The only magic shop in Mente.
Longtail Grass Magic Shop.
"Shulim, you’re early."
Today Colette had changed into ordinary clothes and looked just like any other woman out shopping, though she still had her wand with her.
"Good morning, Ms. Colette. I only got here early because my house is far from here, so I left ahead of time. And thank you again for helping me today."
Shulim answered politely.
As mentioned before, the Hayeral estate sat near the southeastern edge of Mente, while the town’s only magic shop was at the northwestern edge.
To get here, Shulim basically had to cross the whole town.
The prep school was also in the northwest, but it was closer to the center of town, so her usual school route was only about half as long as today’s walk.
"All right, no point wasting time. Let’s head in."
With that, Colette walked into the shop first.
Jingle.
The bell over the door rang brightly.
"Welcome. What can I help you with today?"
The moment they stepped inside, a young woman greeted them with a warm smile.
Shulim looked around.
The place was spacious, bright, clean, and neatly kept. The shop assistant was friendly and welcoming.
It was honestly hard to believe that two shops this completely different could exist in the same tiny town.
That stingy old man having no customers really wasn’t a mystery after all.
While she was thinking that, Colette had already started talking to the clerk.
"We’d like to buy a wand. Do you have any in stock?"
"A wand? Of course. Please come with me."
The clerk led them deeper into the shop.
Before they even reached the display, Shulim could already feel multiple waves of magical power coming from that direction.
"These are..."
A faint light entered her eyes.
Behind a transparent display counter set against the wall in the back of the shop, all sorts of wands were arranged on display, each with a different shape and design.
"Oh, very nice. This shop actually has some decent wands."
Colette sounded pleasantly surprised. Before coming, she had honestly worried that a small town like this might not have anything worth looking at.
"Thank you very much for the compliment," the clerk replied with a smile. "Our shop was established here back when the Mente mines were first being developed. At the time, there was a strong demand for protective work around the mines, and that brought in a large number of adventurers. Because of that, our shop had to meet a much higher demand in this area than most towns. So compared to an ordinary town, both the quality and the quantity of our wands are better."
"Even though the mines began running dry a few years ago and demand dropped sharply, for various reasons we still have a considerable number of wands in stock. I can’t promise we have the exact wand a customer may want most, but I’m confident we have one that’ll suit them."
"Oh? That confident?"
Colette smiled.
"In that case, let’s start by seeing a wand suitable for a second- or third-circle mage. You do have one, right?"
"Of course."
The clerk nodded.
"What type of wand are you looking for?"
"Hm..."
Colette turned back toward Shulim.
"Shulim, what kind of wand do you want?"
Shulim thought for a moment, then looked up.
"I don’t really know enough about wands yet. Do you have any recommendations, Ms. Colette?"
"I see. Then let me think..."
Colette considered it for a moment.
"Right now you’ve revealed fire, light, and void as your three attributes. In that case, I’d recommend a fire wand."
The reason Colette recommended a fire wand so quickly was not because she wanted Shulim to focus only on fire magic.
It had more to do with the nature of wands themselves.
Among Hymriel’s seven elements, void was usually treated as the attribute of the warrior class, so people with void affinity typically did not use wands at all. They usually fought with physical weapons, especially swords.
As for light and dark, those two were unusual in a different way.
People with those affinities were overwhelmingly rare compared to the other five elements.
Rare enough that you could go a long time without ever meeting one.
And there was another important point.
Once light magic reached third-circle, it began producing spells with healing properties. Because of that, light magic was widely treated as healing magic, and most people whose light affinity reached Rank C or higher were recruited by the Church of the Seven Heavens and became clergy.
The tools they used were also different from the four natural elements.
Rather than ordinary wands, they usually used holy staffs designed to strengthen healing magic, and those holy staffs were mostly controlled by the Church. It was very hard to find them out in civilian life.
Dark magic was different again.
It did not have a centralized organization behind it the way light magic did, but once dark magic reached Rank C, it too began producing curse-type spells. On top of that, dark magic as a whole leaned heavily toward concealment and stealth.
Because of that, dark magic users generally preferred to act in secret.
Under those conditions, large obvious wands like those used by the four natural elements were clearly not ideal.
So dark-attribute wands were almost always very small, small enough to hide on the body. In many cases, people only realized someone was a dark mage when the wand was already in their hand, and by then it was far too late.
"A fire wand, then..."
Shulim thought about it, then looked to the clerk.
"Could I see one first?"
"Of course. One moment, please."
The clerk turned, stepped behind the display counter, and brought back a wand tipped with a red crystal.
"Here you are."
She handed it to Shulim.
Shulim took the wand and tested the feel of it in her hand.
It was slightly heavy.
There was a faint warmth coming from the grip into her palm.
Its length felt a little too much for her current height, though in another year or two it would probably fit her just fine.
"May I try it?"
She looked up at the clerk again.
"Certainly. There’s an open yard behind the shop. Please follow me."
The clerk led Shulim and Colette into the yard behind the building.
Shulim glanced around and judged that there was enough space.
She raised the wand, then looked over at Colette.
Colette gave a quick explanation.
"Just cast the way you normally would, but picture the spell being released from the tip of the wand."
"I understand, Ms. Colette."
Shulim nodded and focused on the wand in her hand.
Second-circle magic?
No...
I should probably test it with a first-circle spell first. I can always try second-circle later.
With that thought, she quickly began the incantation.
The moment she started, she immediately noticed the difference between chanting with a wand and without one.
Her mind felt clearer.
Her focus sharpened.
Even her thoughts seemed to move faster.
"[ᛓᚠᛟᚾᚲתᛖᛜᚢᚪᛖᛡᛞᚠᛟᛃᛜᚣᚲ]"
"Ignite."
Fwoosh.
A flame burst to life at the tip of the wand.
Compared to her usual casting speed, it had to be at least a third faster.
As she watched the spell, Shulim noticed other changes too.
First, the mana cost.
A first-circle spell barely drained her at all these days, but even so, she could tell the consumption had dropped a little compared to casting barehanded.
Second, the power.
This flame was clearly larger than the one she produced with no wand at all.
If her normal first-circle Ignite had already been somewhere between a flame and a fireball, then this one truly counted as a fireball now.
The effects of a wand...
Really were remarkable.