Magic Bag
We went back to the room, and Dad pulled a bag out from the drawer.
Then we returned to the table and he sat me down in the kiddie chair again.
The bag looked like one of those old-fashioned shoulder satchels from the Showa era, just a flap loosely folded over the top.
It was real simple—just a single embroidered violet flower stitched in the corner of the flap.
And this is supposed to be a *magic* bag? I mean, really?
“Aye, right here where the embroidery is—there’s a magic stone sewn inside.
Vio, try pourin’ your mana into it, just a bit.”
When I touched it, I could tell there was a slight bulge—something was definitely in there.
So I went ahead and sent some mana into it…
“Dad, how long am I supposed to keep going?”
“Mm? That much, huh? Well now, normally there’ll be a pushback, and you’ll just *feel* when it won’t take no more. That’s the cue to stop, y’see…”
After maybe two or three minutes of steady mana flow, I hit a point where I just couldn’t push out any more. Guess that meant it was full.
Dad seemed pretty shocked and was fretting about whether I’d drained myself too much, but honestly, I felt fine—no dizziness, no headache, no fatigue. Maybe I didn’t use as much as he thought.
Thinking about it, yesterday was the first time I ever pushed mana out of my body, when I used the guild card. I’m just not used to it yet, probably why it took me a bit longer.
Dad told me to open the flap, which still looked thin as ever, and when I did… the bag that had just looked like a plain cloth scrap before now opened up like a fourth-dimensional pocket.
“Ehhhhh!?”
“To me, it’s still just a plain ol’ cloth bag with nothin’ inside. But to you, Vio, does it look like a dark space? Like a night sky?”
I nodded quickly at his question.
He told me if I stuck my hand in and *wanted* to pull something out, I’d be able to understand what was in there.
So I imagined peeking into that mysterious space to see what was inside—and lo and behold, images of the contents started lining up in my mind.
It wasn’t like a game where you’d have a status window with pictures and text to sort through.
It felt more like… flipping through mental snapshots, like recalling old memories.
There was *so* much stuff that I couldn’t even tell what half of it was, but I did recognize some herbs I’d picked with Mom, and those little medicine bottles she used to make.
"Well, if there's something you're hankerin' to take out, just picture it clear as day and give your hand a little pull back. It'll be right there with ya."
That’s what he said—so I imagined grabbing a medicine bottle, and suddenly my hand, still inside the bag, felt a tiny bit heavier.
When I pulled it out, sure enough—it was a bottle I recognized.
“This is one of Mom’s potions…”
I haven’t seen other potions, so I can’t be totally sure. Maybe it was something they bought somewhere.
But deep down, I feel like this one came from her.
"Now, that depends on when it was tucked away, but with that there color... could it really have a time-freeze effect in it...?"
Dad looked pretty startled by that.
But wait—aren’t magic bags supposed to freeze time inside them by default?
"Vio, is there anything in that bag that might connect you to your folks? When you're searchin', just focus on what you're lookin' for—like if you're after a weapon, the image of one will float right up to ya. Same goes for materials. So in this case, you're lookin' for something that ties you to your ma or pa, yeah?"
Oh, so you *can* narrow it down like that.
I thought there’d be no way to find anything specific in that warehouse of stuff, but if it works like this, I might actually be able to.
(I want to find something that tells me more about Mom or Dad.)
As I thought that and reached into the dimensional pocket, I found a strange wand, a box, and a little tag.
The tag looked just like the adventurer’s tag Dad showed me once.
The box had a note on it: “Sealed: Requires charm necklace key.”
Apparently, that charm necklace isn’t in the bag.
If it’s what I’m thinking of, then it’s already been snatched away by that idiot girl.
So I probably can’t open this box now.
As for the weird wand… yeah, I think I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see that.
If it wasn’t something she bought in town, I’d have to start thinking real hard about what kind of person Mom was.
And that’s not really something I’m ready to dive into just yet.
So instead, I went ahead and pulled out the adventurer tag.
It was the same small silver one Dad had, with three little holes in it.
"Advanced Silver, ya say? Well, if she was that skilled with healing magic, she could've likely made Gold rank a breeze."
He explained that once you reach gold rank, nobles start sending personal commission requests.
Up to silver, adventurers can choose to accept personal commissions, but nobles aren’t allowed to directly request specific people based on names or rumors.
Way back when, some nobles used commissions to tie down skilled adventurers for themselves.
It caused a shortage of fighters for real threats, which led to disasters—that’s why personal requests below gold rank are banned now.
At gold rank and above, adventurers often take on quests with the national Knights Order, so noble clients become more common.
Because of that, the rank-up exams even include a section on noble etiquette.
But apparently, just one party member needs to handle that stuff, so it’s not too harsh.
Of course, like with silver ranks, nobles still can’t “claim” adventurers as their own. The guild checks over every request carefully.
But once you hit gold Advanced rank, adventurers can turn down offers.
Platinum is the highest rank, but only one person in the world has it—and that elf? No one even knows where they are anymore.
They’re still alive for sure, what with being an elf and all, but they’ve probably retired.
As for Advanced Gold ranks, there are only four in the world:
- Salamander Star Marvin, the Leader Warrior, and Reichart, the Healer
- Francesco, the Knight Leader of the Glamorous Recon Squad
- The solo adventurer, Charki Ashaka
Honestly, Francesco has such a dramatic, edgy vibe—I’d love to meet him someday.
Advanced Golds are basically national guests—nobles can’t push them around.
Dad stayed at Silver because he didn’t want to get tangled up with nobles.
And he figures Mom felt the same. Thinking back to yesterday’s talk, I’d say he’s right.
It might just be all the light novels I’ve read, but I get the feeling nobles don’t have the best reputation among adventurers.
There are probably plenty who choose not to rank up just to avoid that kind of entanglement.
Honestly, I bet there are Advanced Silvers out there way more impressive than some of the Lower Gold ranks.
What do you think about this chapter?
