Am I the Villainess of this Story?

Chapter 31: Tournament Results: Sean

Today is the last day of the individual competitions. I, despite my objections, was slated to compete in the enchantment section of the craftsmanship tournament. Contrary to what others might think, I know full well that my mentality regarding magic usage, outside combat situations, is extremely rigid and linear. If I know that things could be done, then I'd probably be able to reproduce it. However, if you want me to think of new applications for magic, then you'd have better luck convincing a brick wall to soften itself.

I had no illusions as to whether I could win this. I'd be happy if I did. But, I'd not be surprised if I lost. However, that doesn't mean that I'd slack off. People may say that I'm lazy because of my preference towards doing things as quickly as possible. I don't really care. For me, the only things that I consider important enough to exert effort on are taking care of my family and friends, training and fulfilling my duty as my father's heir. That's why I understand and fully appreciate the use of enchanted items in our daily life.

Magic, in this world, is akin to technology. As long as you have the imagination and the skill, you can do anything. Maybe, that is the reason why, Masaru, who is now my sister Mari, could thrive here. Anyway, I digress. Magic, like any tool, helps people do things more efficiently and sometime even more effectively compared to when one performs things without its help. And, given that not all people are gifted with the right proficiency to utilize magic on a higher scale, the early magicians have developed a way to imbue things with magic that even a person without magic can use.

This is the reason why enchantment is very different from tool-creation. In enchantment, one merely imparts magical effects on magic-conducive materials like metal and cloth. Whereas, tool-creation concerns the production of magical items that's geared towards a specific purpose. However, in both cases, imagination is essential. If one can imagine something, one can, in theory, produce it.

To be honest, though I have creativity in spades, my imagination leans more on how to improve things rather than on how to create them. That's probably why Masaru and I made such a good team from before. And, even now, Mari and I could be considered as one of the best teams in our generation. Mari has a knack for creating things. However, she has a tendency to be over the top. So, that's where I come in. Mari will create anything she deems necessary while I will find ways on how to streamline her creations to make them more user-friendly.

So, though I am confident that I could enchant things, I don't really know if what I could do can be good enough to win this competition. Sigh, I guess there's no use in thinking on "what ifs". I just have to do my best and hope that I'd win.

xxxxx

From what I understand, both the enchantment section and the tool-creation section will be held simultaneously. Both competition will take all morning to complete while the arts competition will be held in the afternoon.

Luckily, only ten people joined in the enchantment section. So, I have a higher chance of winning this thing. And, according to the rules, we are to cast enchantments on three items. The first was a weapon. The second was clothing. And, the third was jewelry.

All of us were given an hour each to enchant the appointed items. Should we pass the time limit, the judges shall not accept our output. Hmm, I guess an hour should be enough for me to craft an above-average item. Thankfully, my sister had coached me about the things that could be enchanted and how to properly enchant them this past few months. She also taught me about the various effects that could be imbued on certain materials. So, I just have to decide on what I should do.

First, on weapons. According to what I was told, metals are the most conducive when it comes to imbuing magic. However, certain metals are impossible to imbue with more than one effect. Gold is the most conducive and can take on several effects. However, it is a soft metal. Thus, it is better served as a means to craft jewelry rather than weapons. Silver comes next. It can be imbued with multiple effects. But every effect causes its durability to deteriorate. So, one has to balance between the desired effect and the expected durability. Iron, is also quite conducive. But, the number of effects it could take on depends on the consistency of the metal. It is also the most finicky when it comes to spell combinations. If the effects do not match each other, then the metal would be rendered completely useless and turn it into nothing more than scrap metal. The least conducive metal is copper since it could only take on a single effect. However, once enchanted, its durability is quite great.