096: The Egg Disappeared

December 31, 2020 - 9 minutes read - 1754 words

Useful Magic terms:

Ditch: Getting rid of an object that needs to vanish
Inspection: Letting the audience look at a prop
Sleight of Hand: Magic using cards or small objects, dependent on the quickness and skill of the magician
Misdirection: Getting the audience to look at the wrong thing while the trick is occurring
Palm: Hiding an object in the palm of your hand to vanish, produce, transpose or transform objects

We’re traveling under a cloudless blue sky, the scenery around us is green in all directions. We’re talking over the wheels of the carriage and horse.

This journey is going well despite the hot temperature, it’s not too hot or cold. The rocking of the carriage is a bit uncomfortable, but I got used to it when I visited the royal capital. Once you get used to it, it’s almost calming. The sound of the surrounding nature and the vibrations could lull a person to sleep. I had been taking a nap, but I woke up and wanted to interact with other people.

It seems that the adventurers are also interested in a conversation, well Mark and Irving are. They can’t take a nap, plus it’s so monotonous at the moment since ferocious monsters are rarely found near Koriat Village. If we run into a monster, it’ll just be a weak one like a goblin or two. For that level of danger, they’ll get an instant extermination by a B-rank party. Even if you don’t include me, there’s two magicians and three warriors in the party.

We don’t have to be cautious at this point in the trip. Because of that, I’m having some fun with Mark and Irving.

“So, I have this perfectly normal bag” Al

I show them a rough linen bag I had prepared. I show Mark and Irving the front and back to convince them it’s an ordinary bag.

“So I’ll put the stones in my hand in the bag, then when I snap my finger, the stones will disappear from the bag.” Al

So, I’m amusing myself using magic tricks. Of course, I don’t need to use gimmicks or sleight of hand, just Spatial Magic. I’ve picked up some small stones from the road, they’re small enough to be held between my index and middle fingers.

“Really?” Irving

“No way” Mark

Mark and Irving listen to my words and express their doubt, Irving is snorting at the thought. I can’t wait to stump them and watch their astonished faces. They don’t believe me yet, but they’re going to watch, at least.

“Then, I’ll put the stones in the bag” Al

I put the stones into the bag, one by one. The two adventurers stare at me with a serious expression. As the stones enter the bag, I use Spatial Magic to store each stones once they can’t be seen. I’ve already showed that the stones aren’t large enough to change the shape of the bag.

“Then, are we ready?” One… Two… Three!" Al

For the misdirection, I move my hand in front of the bag before snapping my finger. I then turn out the bag in front of the other two.

“See, they’re gone” Al

“Wha?!” Mark & Irving

I go ahead and turn the bag over and turn it inside out, at which point Mark and Irving’s eyes look to pop out of their sockets. Both of them?

“No, wait. Are the stones small enough to hide in the bag edges?” Irving

Irving gestures to hand the bag over for inspection, since the stones aren’t hidden in the bag, I hand it to him. Irving peeks into the bag.

“Hmm?” Irving

He makes a frustrated growl before turning the bag over and shaking it hard.

“Hey?” Irving

“What kind of trick is this?” Mark

Mark grabs the bag from Irving and feels around the seams. But he finds the same thing as Irving…

“The stones have disappeared!” Mark screams with a bug-eyed expression.

Thanks for the reaction, that was fun to see.

“Actually, didn’t you pretend to put in in the bag, but hide it in a pocket in your sleeve? Was it when you moved the arm in front of the bag before you snapped? Those who are good at these tricks can find gaps in the audience’s attention…” Irving

Irving doubts me now, I’m sorry I was so confident at the end.

“But I have short sleeves?” Al

Due to the summer weather, I’m wearing short sleeves and shorts. I don’t have any place to put a hidden pocket.

“Well, when you moved your arm, you popped the stones into your lap?” Irving

I stand up to show that there aren’t any stones in my lap.

“Oh, hmm?” Mark

Since the stones are small, they must think I’ve ditched them somewhere. That was the goal for choosing that size of stone, but let’s keep this performance going. I want to see them become more amazed.

“Then, I’ll snap my fingers again to bring back the stones. This time, I’ll just snap my fingers and won’t use the bag.” Al

“Oh?” Irving & Mark

The two lean forward in an attempt to catch the trick this time. I know how to keep the patter going, I snap my fingers next to my right pocket.

“Now, the stone just appeared in my right pocket” Al

“What?” Irving & Mark

I thrust my hand into my pocket, pull it out, then open it to show the same stone that I had “put” into the bag. Obviously, I had used Spatial Magic inside my pocket to retrieve the stone into my hand.

“What’s going on?” Mark

“Did you put the stone in the pocket then? Well, I couldn’t catch any movement like that…” Irving

Irving was surprised on seeing the stones while Mark hit my pocket without thinking. It’s very rude to touch the magician’s body during the magic act. Enjoy with just your eyes please.

“Well, that was too hard to follow. This time, I’ll use larger items, but it will stay just as mysterious.” Al

“Oh” Mark

“So, I’ll need an egg, oh here’s one” Al

“What! Did that egg come out of my pocket?!” Mark

Suddenly, the two encounter a new fun reaction.

“This is mysterious magic” Irving

“I don’t remember putting any eggs in my pocket?” Mark

Since real magic was the secret to the trick, the two are properly hoodwinked. They can’t conceive of the answer no matter how long they think about it. That’s my real pleasure.

“Next, I’ll put the egg in the bag, then it will disappear again” Al

I put the egg in the bag, then hide it using Spatial Magic. I then open out the bag to demonstrate the vanishing.

“The egg has disappeared from the bag” Al

“Hey, how are you doing that? You can’t just palm an egg?” Irving

“Wait? Are stones in there now?” Mark

“What?” Irving

The two people are making silly voices when they realize the egg has been replaced by stones. I have eggs stored in my subspace, I don’t keep them in pockets. I open a space of just the right size, so an average person wouldn’t notice anything. When I put the egg in, I brought out some stones to be funny.

“What’s going on? I’m not sure how this works, but I feel like I’m being laughed at.” Irving

“Ok, so the egg disappeared. So, where did the egg go?” Mark

Mark and Irving are stunned.

“One more time! Do it again!” Mark

“Fine, only once though” Al

Mark and Irving yell and get closer. I can feel like they’ll ask me to do it until I won’t do it anymore. This time, I pull the egg from my pocket. Mark mutters ‘The egg is appearing again…’ but I’m not worried.

“See, I’ll put the egg in the bag again! Will it turn into stones? Or will the egg be sitting there?” Al

“Huh? Where could he be hiding the egg?” Irving

“Ah! I’ve got it now!” Irving and Mark

Before I can show the bag, Irving and Mark point at my armpits. To show that I haven’t hidden anything there, I raised my arms.

“Oh, huh?” Al

Naturally, the egg was stored and I haven’t pulled anything out yet, so nothing falls to the ground. On the carriage, there’s two men looking at a boy with his hands up.

“What’s going on?” Irving

“How can you do this?” Mark

Hey, I’ve heard that line before from aristocrats, well I’ll take it as a compliment. I can do acts that vanish or transpose items with Spatial Magic. I can even escape from boxes using Transfer magic. If it looks like I’m out of money, I can make more by putting on a show.

“On more time!” Irving

“I’ll catch it this time!” Mark

“What are you two shouting about? We can hear you all the way in the back?” Alisha

As Irving and Mark are shouting in excitement, Alisha rides up beside the carriage.

“Alfred is doing some great magic!” Mark

“He makes eggs disappear” Irving

“Great magic? Disappearing eggs?” Alisha

After Mark and Irving’s explanation, Alisha looks at me with a suspicious gaze.

I take the initiative and start pulling eggs from my pocket and handing them to Alisha.

One, two three, four, five…

“What? Alfred? How are eggs appearing from your pocket?” Alisha

I fill Alisha’s hands with the eggs I keep handing over.

“How much food is stored in his pocket?” Mark

“I don’t get what you mean?” Al

People have the same reaction when they see an unbelievable event. They’re staring at my pocket and the eggs it is producing in a stunned manner. Pretty quickly, Alisha couldn’t carry all the ggs, so she shared them with Mark and Irving. Each person ended up holding four eggs each. I then collect the eggs back and vanish them into my other pocket.

One, two, three… I can vanish the full dozen.

“Hey, how many eggs do you have?” Alisha

“Eh? Plenty?” Al

I take each egg and store it using magic. Finally, I’ve retrieved and vanished all twelve.

“Well, that’s all of them” Al

“I don’t get how you did that…” Irving

“Does your pocket have twelve broken eggs in it?” Alisha asks worriedly.

I show that my pocket is clean by turning it out.

“The eggs have disappeared!” Alisha shouted.

At this point, Rumba and Ilya came over, so I had to do the trick again.