My Wife and I Became Sages in Another World-Chapter 138: Melina’s Golden Pearl

It had been three days since Melina left the academy on a leave of absence to work on the research of the black pearl.

During that time, the alchemists discovered that the pearls had been created with a mineral called "starstone," which could only be found in the region of Kalusia.

Dr. Lane, who had been working at the tree house ever since their encounter with Ichiro and Reinar at the capital, was familiar with the story and recounted it to the team of alchemists.

Hundreds of years ago, a star crashed down from the sky in a field in the Kalusia Kingdom. Thankfully, the meteor landed in an area far away from any town or settlement, but its impact could be felt all throughout the world.

When the citizens of Kalusia visited the location, they found a massive crater that extended hundreds of meters in diameter, showing entrances to natural caves and a resplendent mineral that covered the burnt surface.

This mineral they nicknamed "starstone," as it was created from a star that came down from the sky and had different magical properties.

Similar to common gemstones like sapphire and rubies, starstones were able to hold spells inside of them. However, their magic capacity was increased, allowing them to hold more potent spells that would have shattered other ordinary gems.

The people of Kalusia used the starstones for different tasks that improved their quality of life over the centuries.

Their military used it to upgrade their weapons and give them magical abilities that they could cast quickly without chanting a word. In contrast, the common people used it to illuminate their homes or as a power source for ovens and stoves.

Kalusia exported a part of their starstone supply for a long time to other countries, but after Zagor took control, those deals were canceled.

Melina mentioned that she had been receiving messages from Ichiro and that he never said anything about the beastkins using magic in battle, which led the alchemists to believe that they were focusing all of their starstone supply on the creation of black pearls.

Starstone was the only mineral strong enough to hold a curse that would turn a person into a lesser demon, so Melina wondered if it could be strong enough to have another spell on top of it.

Reinar had been trying to overwrite the curse inside using alchemy, but Melina doubted that it would work as minerals wouldn’t react to potions like a living being would.

If the black pearls had been made with biological material, like the hide or the organ of a monster, then alchemy would have been the best option to counter it. However, this situation delved more into the magic territory.

It took Melina a few more days to come up with a solution, but eventually, she figured that light magic could counter the curse inside the starstone.

Nonetheless, simply adding light magic to it wasn’t enough to thoroughly cleanse the curse, and it would return to its shadowy state after a few minutes.

To counter the effect, Melina cast a new intricate enchantment on the starstone.

The rules she added to the enchantment were simple in retrospect but would have been incredibly difficult for others to recreate, as the enchantment had been made to keep producing light magic perpetually and to shine twice as much whenever the light made contact with a shadow.

When Melina cast the enchantment on the black pearl for the first time, the spell took a few seconds to take effect. Suddenly, the tiny orb glowed brightly, and its shadowy black color had changed to a bright gold.

The shadowy smoke that was visible from it before had completely disappeared and was replaced by gentle light rays that produced a warm and soothing feeling.

Everyone at the treehouse cheered after seeing the pearl hadn’t reverted to its previous state minutes after its transformation and sent a message to Ichiro, explaining everything they had discovered in their research.

They had no way to test if the new golden pearl would heal the lesser demons, but it was the first time they were able to revert the curse inside it, and they were eager to put it to the test.

After Reinar sent the golden pearl with the delivery tablet, the alchemists crashed down on the floor with exhaustion and smiles on their faces, waiting for Ichiro to answer back with the results.

However, Melina wasn’t completely satisfied, thinking that she could still do more to help, and before returning to the academy, she paid a visit to her parents at the castle.

King Leon and Queen Diana were aware of her daughter’s whereabouts since the academy’s principal let them know of her activities, but they weren’t expecting to see her so soon.

"Dad... about the war," Melina said, promptly getting stopped by her father, who raised his hand.

"I know. You are worried about Ichiro..." King Leon commented with a slight smile.

Melina clenched her dress with apprehension. She wanted to ask her father to help the Droman Empire and Aridonia in the war, but she knew that it was an unreasonable request.

Nonetheless, the king continued speaking with a soft tone to her daughter.

"I had already sworn to help the Kalusia royal family in retaking their kingdom. Remember?" said Leon.

The royal family of the Kalusia Kingdom had been staying with the Sephyr family after they escaped from the clutches of Zagor, who wanted to execute them all and hang their bodies on the castle walls.

Thanks to the battle-maids, they were able to flee and traveled to the Sephyr Kingdom, where King Leon gave them refuge at their castle until they could find a way to strike Zagor back.

However, after a little over four years, that moment had never arrived until the war broke out against the Droman Empire and Aridonia.

Melina didn’t know it until that point, but King Leon had already issued an order to all of the knights to prepare their supplies, as they would be supporting the two allied nations against the devil.

Carli, Melina’s personal maid, entered the room shortly after Leon’s explanation.

When the princess noticed that she was carrying a bag, her eyes watered, knowing that her dear friend would be going to assist in the war.

Melina hugged Carli tightly and asked her to be careful, to which the half-lioness maid replied by hugging her back, something she wouldn’t have done mere months before.

"Oh, wait. If you see Ichiro out there, give him this... Hold up!" Melina exclaimed, quickly teleporting out of the room and arriving at her dorm at the academy, startling both of her roommates who were relaxing.

"What the-? Melina, you are back!" Eve, the elf princess, exclaimed with a smile.

"Ah, one second!" the silver-haired princess replied as she searched through her stuff.

"Aha, found it!" she exclaimed, raising her hand from the pile of clothes as she held a small, squared piece of silver and blue fabric.

A few weeks before, Melina told her roommates that Ichiro had gone to fight a war, and they asked her what she gave him as a "favor," which confused Melina since she had no idea what they referred to.

A "Lady’s favor" was an item that a woman would give a man who was going to war, ranging from trinkets, pieces of jewelry, or, most commonly, handmade handkerchiefs.

Melina knew about this tradition, but she had completely overlooked it since Ichiro’s plan wasn’t to fight in the war in the first place, but the two roommates still expressed the importance of a lady’s favor.

After that conversation with her friends, Melina spent a few days practicing her weaving skills, comparing her work to Vespera’s and lowering her motivations.

However, she ended up making a few handkerchiefs that she believed were decent. Now that she was holding them in hand, she teleported back to the castle room where Carli was waiting for her.

"Here. One for you and one for Ichiro... You all better return safely." Melina said, passing the handkerchiefs to her battle-maid, who clenched the fabric tightly and secured it in her pocket.