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“What’s up with the book?”

In response to my question, Encia smiled and headed to the nearby desk.

The desk showed signs of considerable age. Ink had seeped into it, leaving stains all over, and there were many scratches from a sharp pen.

Encia sat down at the desk where she had completed her book.

“They say that in the old days, they manipulated rumors to create nonexistent gods, right?”

“That was a long time ago. It’s impossible now.”

With the speed at which news spreads these days, such a thing is… not entirely impossible, but certainly not easy.

But why bring up that method?

“If we can’t do it with rumors, we could just use another medium, right?”

“Another medium?”

“Yeah. Another medium.”

Encia reached for a feather pen in the pen holder on the desk.

It was a rather old pen holder showing signs of age.

“Humans, when they think about someone they can trust, can become quite blind in their faith.”

She then picked up a stack of paper nearby and laid out a few sheets on the desk. The contents written on that paper were from her book, the Basic Theory of Magic by Cientia.

“Once they believe in something, as long as nothing major shakes that belief, they tend to keep believing. Call it sustainability, perhaps.”

Encia dipped the feather pen into an ink bottle beside her and started writing on the unfolded paper.

The content involved adding a bit of process while detecting and collecting magical power.

“If we create a god related to magical power and add prayers directed to that god, those who read this book and follow it will naturally pray to that god, right?”

That’s… well, that’s true, but…

“Isn’t that fraud?”

“If it goes unnoticed, it’s not fraud. And… the object of those prayers is genuinely existing, isn’t it?”

Encia said this while pointing at herself.

“The God of Magic, Cientia. A deity who systematized and organized the magic that was instinctively used without any theories, sharing that power with many. Should I say she’s a deification of the joint work between Tia and me?”

“A joint work, huh… well, technically that’s correct.”

“If the name of the god was created by mixing the names of both Tia, who taught me, and what I wrote in the book… then where will the prayers and faith directed to that god end up?”

Hmm… If the prayers are directed towards a god that doesn’t actually exist, it might get created… but in this case, wouldn’t the closest entity to that god receive the prayers and faith?

If there are two such entities, Encia and I…

“In that case… would it be split fifty-fifty?”

“If it’s fifty-fifty, then that means there’s faith directed towards me, right?”

“Probably so.”

Encia showed a confident smile.

“Great! That means there will be faith directed towards me. With that faith, I might be able to become divine.”

“If that faith is enough to turn you into a god, that is.”

“A little is fine. I’m not expecting a massive amount of faith. Just enough to become a god would suffice.”

After saying that, Encia continued scribbling on the paper.

“Although the existing edition of the Basic Theory of Magic by Cientia is still somewhat available, if we publish a revised edition with modifications and improvements, others will accept it anew!”

“A revised edition… The number of people who would buy a new edition that’s almost the same isn’t…”

“The wizard folks are quite affluent. They can easily buy a book or two.”

I nodded slightly at Encia’s words. It’s certainly true.

Wizards make a lot of money, so buying a single book wouldn’t be a problem.

“And if the added content in the revised edition gives them even a slight benefit… No, just having the potential for benefits would be enough for them to buy the revised edition without hesitation.”

Encia dipped the tip of her feather pen back into the ink bottle and smiled.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The girl with glasses looked at the small flame that had blossomed on her palm and kept smiling.

“Hehe… It’s magic. Magic… Reading spells is annoying, but… I can’t believe I successfully learned magic…”

“Stop grinning like that. Oh, I don’t need this book anymore, so I’ll return it.”

The sleepy-eyed girl folded the Basic Theory of Magic by Cientia she had opened.

Due to its age, it felt like the pages might fall apart at any moment, so her careful touch felt like trying to handle smoke.

“But why is such an old book in the academy? Other books aren’t this worn out.”

“Hmm. I don’t know. It’s natural for the Basic Theory of Magic by Cientia to be in the academy, but I wonder why such an old first edition exists… Umm. I don’t know.”

“First edition too?”

The girl with glasses tilted her head slightly.

“Yeah. First edition. The editions of the Basic Theory of Magic by Cientia are divided into two main types: the first edition like this book and the revised edition that has some content modified.”

“If some content was modified, then wouldn’t the revised edition be better?”

The sleepy-eyed girl shook her head lightly.

“The content itself isn’t different. The process of learning magic is the same. If there is a difference… it’s just that the revised edition includes prayers directed to the God of Magic.”

“The God of Magic?”

In that instant, the glasses girl’s eyes sparkled. A god of magic! Was there such a being?!

“Such a god existed? I’m hearing this for the first time!”

“Not a widely known god. Even the few wizards who could be considered believers only offer simple prayers while meditating.”

“But it’s the God of Magic, right? So, isn’t that an awesome god?”

The sleepy-eyed girl looked at the glasses girl for a moment and then shook her head slightly.

“Sure, it’s an awesome god, but if you believe in that god, I might have troublesome problems. So don’t believe in it or anything. Besides, believing in it won’t really change much anyway.”

“Troublesome problems?”

“Something like that. That’s why I made you read this old, decrepit first edition that nobody else would bother with.”

“What kind of problem could possibly lead to this old book being used for studying?”

The sleepy-eyed girl sighed lightly before speaking.

“It’s a problem that might force me to leave the academy.”

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

So, the revised edition of the Basic Theory of Magic by Cientia was published.

“Give me the revised edition of the Basic Theory of Magic by Cientia!!!”

“The wizard of weather, Encia’s book! I can’t resist this!!!”

“Three copies! For collecting! For appreciation! For preaching!!!”

“Thanks to this book, I was able to become a mage! Thank you!!!”

“Well, this is selling like hotcakes.”

I truly didn’t expect it to sell this well.

“Well, with the existing edition of the Basic Theory of Magic being in short supply, and so many people buying illegal copies, of course, a newly modified edition would sell well.”

“That makes sense.”

When new stock is released in a situation of scarcity… obviously, it would sell well.

“I’d love to recall the first editions, but that seems a bit tough. I guess from now on, we’ll need to distribute only the revised edition.”

“But how are you producing the books? Printing technology hasn’t properly developed yet, right?”

“Printing technology? I’m not too sure… I’m hiring scribes to handwrite them.”

Handwriting, huh…! That’s pretty terrifying too! Well, there wouldn’t be any proper printing technology yet!

Hmm… I should probably spread printing technology at some point. Oh, but does that mean I need to first improve paper? We can’t stick to using papyrus forever.

I feel a bit bad for the Lizardmen, but relying solely on papyrus is troublesome!

Maybe I should think about teaching them how to make paper or woodblock printing at an appropriate time…?

The best option would be to invent it myself, but… who knows when technology for printing or making paper will advance on its own.

Or… maybe I should utilize magic? Like casting a telekinesis-style spell to make a pen that automatically writes down the inputted content?

Or tying several pens together to do the same movement simultaneously, writing several pages at once?

Instead of immediately advancing printing technology… that seems like it could be fun. Hmm.

Given that this would be a technology driven by magic, it wouldn’t be very common, but still, it looks interesting!

While I was busy entertaining such bizarre thoughts, Encia beamed a satisfied smile and spoke.

“Anyway, if it keeps selling so smoothly, one day I’ll gather faith directed toward me, and then I can achieve divinity… so if I become a god that way, there shouldn’t be any problems, right?”

“That should be fine. Since you didn’t use a wish ticket or anything, and instead gathered faith properly to become a god.”

“Awesome! I just need to keep going like this! Yes! I’ve saved my wish ticket! I think I can really become a god!”

“Wishing ticket… Hmm. So, what wish are you thinking of making with it?”

“A wish? That’s… a secret.”

Encia smiled playfully, raising her index finger to block her mouth. What kind of wish is she thinking that it needs to be a secret?

I don’t know for sure, but… I hope it’s not a problem-causing wish.

 

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