*/TL : Hi, guys, I decided to start translating one more series.
The title is “The Girl, The Cat, And The Friendly Dark Elf’s Magic Stone Workshop”, but I’ll call it “Magic Stone Workshop” for short. This is a completed series, so at least you don’t have to worry about not being able to see the ending. I hope you like it
~(‘o’~
You can see the gallery here [GALLERY]
Chapter 1-1 : The Girl, The Cat, And The Sage
The energy called mana is indispensable to the world.
The power of all miracles in this world comes from mana.
All living beings, even grasses, are able to live in this world thanks to the mana flowing through their bodies connecting them to the world.
As a matter of course, mana is also essential to people’s lives.
People need fire to cook their food, water to drink and wash their clothes, and wind to dry their laundry.
However, the mana that people possess is not much. Different people have different amounts of mana, but no matter how much mana they have, there’s still a limit.
Your mana will deplete if you keep using it, and you will lose your vitality and become unable to move if your body runs out of mana.
Therefore, people invented magic stones.
Fire magic stones can ignite a fire, water magic stones can produce a huge amount of water like a waterfall, and wind magic stones can cause wind to blow.
Magic stones have become essential items for people’s lives since a long time ago.
The raw materials for making magic stones are magic ores. They are a special type of ores that can contain mana and are normally mined by miners.
Miners will hand over the magic ores they mined to enchanters for them to infuse with mana and turn them into magic stones.
After that, the enchanters will hand over the magic stones they made to magic stone merchants for them to sell to the public.
That’s how people can get themselves magic stones to support their daily lives.
It’s no exaggeration to say that no one can live without magic stones in this era.
◇◇◇
In a small village in a remote region that didn’t even appear on the world map, there was a girl named Elle.
She was a beautiful girl with white skin, a well-featured face, cherry-like lips, and slender limbs. Her long silver hair was as smooth as silk and her emerald eyes were as charming as a deep spring forest.
She made a living by working as a miner, enchanter, and magic stone seller all at once.
She started working by going to the mines to collect magic ores, she then brought them back home and turned them into magic stones, after that, she would sell them in exchange for money.
She was able to complete a series of jobs that should be done by several experts by herself because of her amazing ability.
She was a genius girl who learned almost everything really quickly. She would never forget everything she has read, heard, or seen. In addition, the high amount of mana she possessed also helped her develop her astonishing ability.
Ever since she was born, Elle has been living with her father, Hugo, in the depths of the forest, far from the village.
Her father usually went to the royal capital to work once every six months. He normally stayed at the royal capital for about a month before he returned home.
Although her father left her alone at home, Elle was never lonely.
The reason was that Hugo and Elle were not the only ones living in the forest. There was another house about fifteen minutes walk from their home.
There was an eccentric old man who seemed to be more than a hundred years old living in that house. His name was Moritz. He was a magician who lived with a fairy in the form of a cat named Yoyo.
Hugo usually left Elle in Mortiz’s care before he went to the royal capital to work.
Elle learned a lot of things from Moritz.
She learned about edible wild plants that grow in the forest and how to set traps to hunt small animals.
That’s not all. She also learned about medical herbs and how to make medicines. Other than that, she also learned how to mine magic ores and turn them into magic stones.
The person who helped Elle to improve her talents was none other than Moritz.
He was once a well-known sage in the country, but he decided to live in the forest as a hermit for some reason. Elle never expected the wisest man in the country would take her as his disciple and generously taught her everything he knew.
Moritz was the perfect person to look up to as a mentor, but he was a grumpy old man with a sharp tongue. In addition, he hates people. He rarely went to a town or a village because of that.
Since he rarely went shopping, he made various magic stones so that he could live by himself. However, because of his age, it became difficult for him to go out to collect magic ores.
That was the reason why he taught Elle how to make magic stones.
The most difficult part of making magic stones was injecting them with mana using Enchantment Magic. Even though Elle was a fast learner, It took her three years to learn it. After all, not many people could become enchanters.
Elle was able to create magic stones by herself when she turned seven in the spring.
When she handed the first magic stone she made to Moritz, she got a copper coin from him in exchange.
Seeing Elle tilting her head with a confused face while looking at the copper coin in her palm, Moritz started explaining.
「That’s the value of this magic stone. A low-quality magic stone is worth a copper coin, a decent-quality one is worth a silver coin, and a high-quality one is worth a gold coin. If you keep practicing, you might be able to make a good magic stone worth a gold coin someday. However, you must not sell your magic stones to anyone other than me. You must not tell anyone that you can make magic stones either, even to your father. I want you to promise me that.」(Moritz)
Since Elle fully trusted her master, she nodded without questioning him.
From that day on, she started making magic stones and selling them only to Moritz.
In the first year Elle could only make low-quality magic stones, but her skills gradually improved. In the second year, she could make decent magic stones, and in the third year, she could finally make high-quality magic stones.
She was so happy that she shed tears of joy when she received her first gold coin from Moritz.
She kept the money she had saved a secret from her father because she planned to buy him something in the future to surprise him.
She also planned to buy Moritz a house because his house was so dilapidated that it looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.
Yoyo, who found out about it, couldn’t help but murmur, “What a good girl”.
While Elle kept training and creating magic stones, her father, Hugo, regularly went to the royal capital to work and returned with a carriage full of souvenirs, flour, preserved foods, and many other things.
When Elle turned ten years old, her father went to the royal capital as usual. He said he would buy clothes and toys for her as her birthday present.
Elle thought he would return in a month with a carriage full of items he bought at the royal capital as usual.
However, half a year had passed since he left.
Moritz said that Hugo might have gotten involved in an accident and died somewhere.
However, Elle didn’t think that her father was dead.
She was sure that he would come home and smile at her while saying, “I’m home, Elle!” like he always did.
However, her father hasn’t returned yet even after she waited for an entire year.
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