Volume 1, Chapter 11
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
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「Finally found it……」
In one corner of the mountain range dubbed “Spirit Spire Mountain”, having walked about three days along the mountain road since leaving Wulls, Mio finally found what they were looking for. A little further up the animal trail from where they currently were, there were several trees with indigo-colored fruits hanging from them in clusters. This particular location could not have been found without Mio’s vision and observation skills.
「Finally……」
「Seriously, even though this place is called Spirit Spire Mountain, it’s weird to just have such a bustling place on the side of a mountain……」
There were heaps of corpses all around them. As they kicked them off the cliff, Tatsuya and Mikoto grumbled at Mio’s report. On their way here, they had thought earnestly about how to escape when two field boss class enemies had appeared. If they hadn’t received wyvern laser armor from Hiroshi the other night, they seriously wouldn’t have felt like fighting.
「Hey, Mikoto.」
「What?」
「Were there ever these kinds of Dark-type monsters on Spirit Spire Mountain, not to mention teeming with miasma?」
「The Dark-type makes sense from the mountain’s name, but I don’t think there were ever ones that scattered miasma around……」
「That’s what I thought, yeah……」
While feeling all sorts of unsettling things, they decided to regain their composure and continue processing the corpses. At length, assembling all of the parts for proof of subjugation became tedious, and they ended up kicking off nearly all of the small-fries from the cliff. The only opponents that they would divide into blocks for dissection were maybe hellhounds and evil tigers. Incidentally, both of those were big field bosses, and as if that weren’t enough, they would scatter miasma all over the place. If they didn’t process them fast enough, they would end up having to fight another large wave of monsters, attracted by the smell of blood or the miasma exiting the corpses.
「Yeah, I think we should report this to Their Majesty or Elena and check some things with them」
「Agreed」
It was unlikely that anyone currently had a grasp on the distribution of these strange monsters in Spirit Spire Mountain. To add to that, Tatsuya and the others were not locals, so they didn’t know how different it was from usual. There was always the possibility that this was normal, and the distribution in the game version was the weird one. However, judging from the vegetation and whatnot, there were quite a few oddities here. Amongst them were types that clearly belonged in the southern countries, not fit for growing on this comparatively cooler mountainside.
And most importantly of all, befitting the transformation of most of the miasma-affected monsters, a lot of them were deformed. It was a good thing that their deformations made them not-so-strong, but it still didn’t feel very pleasant.
「So, Mio. You think we can get the solmizen?」
「No problem. But it would be better for neither of you to touch it」
「Hah?」
「Why?」
The two of them questioned Mio. It was just fruit, right? Mio decided to answer their queries by showing them.
「……Kay」
「Wahwah!」
「Wait a sec, what is this all of a sudden!」
With no prior warning, Mio threw the solmizen fruit that she had cut off at the two of them. Frantically catching the fist-sized fruit, they soon realized the meaning of what Mio was saying.
「The heck is this!」
「I only put a bit of pressure on it and it’s already freakin’ bruised!」
「Once it falls to the ground, it immediately rots. If you poke it with your finger, it rots. Even if you treat it with care, it rots within half a day.」
「Then just being quick won’t solve this, dammit!」
Mio gave a supplemental explanation without changing her expression. Tatsuya made a loud quip upon hearing how ridiculously easy it was for it to rot. Not heeding what he was saying, Mio smoothly moved up the tree, carefully selecting fruit and chopping it off. She immediately stored it in her pouch before leaping down.
「This is probably the best time to eat it.」
She said, taking out the solmizen that she had put away earlier and splitting it into three equal parts before handing them to the others. Watching Mio as she bit into her portion to show that it was safe, the other two bit into it with all their might. Transparent fruit juice dripped down from the white flesh. After slowly tasting it, Tatsuya and Mikoto murmured their honest feelings.
「……There’s hardly any taste actually.」
「Yeah, you might even argue that water has a richer taste.」
「And that is the reason why solmizen isn’t for eating.」
The two of them couldn’t really comment on this individualistic fruit. Fruit is usually sweet for the purpose of having other creatures carry seeds. So to them, this tasteless, easy-to-rot fruit was seriously picking a fight with the structure of the natural world and the ring of the struggle for existence.
「By the way, if you mix it with saliva or gastric juice or heat it up, it stops rotting.」
「So we won’t ruin our stomachs by eating it?」
「Yeah. Also, maybe because of the taste, bugs or birds won’t prod it, and the ones growing on the trees don’t rot even if you grip them tightly.」
「That is one weird fruit……」
As Mio conveyed such precise information, Mikoto spontaneously let out her own thoughts with a tired face.
「Now that you understand, I’m counting on you to monitor our perimeter.」
「Roger that. How much you need?」
「They’re great as ingredients for medicine, so I’ll take as much as I can.」
「Alright.」
Nodding at Mio’s words, the two of them continued to monitor their surroundings. As they minutely kicked away the small fries, they waited for Mio to finish her work. When she had finished gathering the most ripened fruit she could get from three trees, Mio panicked as she jumped down to them.
「Tatsu, activate repatriation magic!」
「Something happen?」
「Three indefinite-name wyverns have appeared!」
「Alright, let’s get outta here.」
Providing that there continued to be no small-fry companions, they could probably win against their opponent with ease, but they were seriously tired and did not want to deal with three of these creatures at the same time. Besides, they already had an abundance of wyvern material in storage. Therefore, the minute he heard Mio’s report, he used repatriation magic and furtively opened a gate. The three of them leaped into the gate as fast as they could so that they could quickly return home. Deprived of their prey, the wyverns would continue to soar around and around in the sky above with roars of fury.
Around the same time that Tatsuya and the others were huffing and puffing up the mountain…
「Ya provided quite the tough stuff……」
Looking at the ore that had been procured, Hiroshi quipped with an exasperated tone.
「Didja not think of the possibility that I might not be able to process this stuff?」
「Indeed, just a bit. Be as that may, I daresay that ye should be able to manufacture at least this much. Ye did after all proclaim that Haruna’s sword was makeshift.」
「Well, based on our equipment, it’s a mite risky to refine, but sure, I could manufacture it. But yikes, how’d ya get yer hands on all this magic iron ore and mythril ore so quickly……」
「Well, you know. Once connected to royalty, always connected to royalty.」
As Douga clearly dodged the question, Hiroshi let out a wry smile as he accepted his answer. There was also the fact that the staff Tatsuya had made was of wood, and in Hiroshi’s case, he hadn’t made truly decent weapons via forging lately, so you could say that these materials were perfect for limbering up.
「Riiight. Imma borrow some ingredients for the hammer ‘n anvil.」
「Help yeself. Feel free to use what remains as well.」
「I appreciate the thought, but I’m a mite lost with what to do with this amount……」
Hiroshi fretted over the ore as he looked at it. Quite honestly, if he were to manufacture daggers for two people, he had to at minimum make them by using different distributions of the same metals for the anvil and hammer, otherwise the tools would be lackluster. He honestly wanted to make a new smelting furnace as well, but he didn’t have the materials nor the time. The minimum necessary products were a hammer, anvil, and two daggers. Thinking along those lines, it would be difficult to make a longsword, battle-axe, or war hammer, which required a lot of material.
「For what I can make, I’d say it’s lookin’ like a one-handed sword or dagger, rapier, and a spear tip……」
「And I don’t even use this sword much, so making a new one is kinda…」
「Yeah, yer right……」
Even if they were both makeshift, steel and magic iron mythril alloys were leagues apart in both offense and durability. However, there was honestly no point in only increasing Haruna’s battle prowess. On the contrary, in this situation, rather than Haruna with her all-rounded capabilities with both firepower and quantity of techniques, it was more necessary for Hiroshi to have better weapons, as his only two options for attacking were to strike or smash the opponent into the distance.
「Well, for now…Let’s start by makin’ the tools ‘n the two daggers.」
Hiroshi conveyed his plans as he loaded the two metal ores onto the cart.
「Since I’ve come this far, can I go ahead and watch?」
「Sure, but it’s hot and it ain’t nothin’ interesting.」
「What do you mean? I doubt I’d ever get another opportunity like this to see you making weapons.」
「Well, truuue, but……」
Hiroshi replied in a slightly tired manner to Elena’s words. It wasn’t like having someone watching prevented him from concentrating, but he also couldn’t exactly relax when a female he barely knew was just there, watching him work. Not to mention that in comparison to the time he had made Haruna’s sword, the workspace here was several times more narrow. To be completely honest, the odds were not in his favor.
「Just don’t complain to me when ya feel hot.」
「Yeah, I know.」
「I swear to Alfemina-sama that I will not complain a single bit.」
「Yer comin’ too, Elle……?」
(Well, whatever…) He sighed, pushing the cart close to the smelting furnace. The people from the gallery followed behind him one after the other. By this point, he already had Haruna, Rayna, and even Douga with him. Even if it wasn’t to the point where it got in the way of his work, it would be quite the stifling atmosphere.
「It’s hot and dangerous, so don’t come over here.」
Warning them once again about the workplace, he set to putting fire in the smelting furnace as he pumped a large amount of mana in. The smelting furnace that Hiroshi had reformed with magic was ridiculously fast for being a “used” product, and then in the span of time that was truly a blink of the eye, reaching a temperature hot enough to melt the metal.
「First, for the anvil and hammer.」
Muttering the procedure, he grabbed extremely rough amounts of magic iron and mythril ore, tossing them into the furnace. Then, as an addition agent for the alloy, he put a wyvern fang in, commencing refinement.
「Is it really okay to mix them up?」
「Yeah, cause I’m making alloys. In actuality, mythril is after all silver, and as it is it’s a bit soft and unsuitable for heating, so as a general rule, ya gotta make an alloy with some other metal mixed in.」
「Oho, I see.」
Douga accepted Hirshi’s explanation. But of course you would normally never mix the natural ores together. First you would need to ensure their refinement before measuring their weight and deciding the ratios. Then you would have to melt them once again before making them into an alloy; otherwise, it would be difficult to get the highest quality products. It seemed that this time around, Hiroshi would be using that technique to its fullest with crafting magic.
「Now then, this here’s where the refinement of the magic steel begins.」
While muttering that, he began pouring in an amount of mana that was nothing like before. Up until now, he had already been using an amount that would make the average magician gape in awe, but this time around, it was the amount on par with a ritual at worst.
That was to be expected of such a task. It expended a large amount of mana to the point where even dwarves required several at once to perform the ritual. For forging as well, a large amount of mana was required. It could be seen as the second wall in the forging and refinement skills. Therefore, it went without saying that if you had no enchanting skills, even if you could excavate, you could not manufacture nor refine it. It was precisely because this metal sucked a seemingly endless amount of mana out of you that it was dubbed “magic iron”.
This time around he was making alloy with mythril, but as the amount of magic iron was more than that of the mythril, the necessary mana was larger as well. Incidentally, for this world, the greatest characteristic of mythril was that it could prevent alteration. Of course the same went for rusting, and it would also prevent things like being cursed from exposure to miasma. That was why laying enchantments on it was frightening and difficult, and especially in the case of completed products, it was impossible to enchant it with the average skillset. In the current composition, the endless magic-eating characteristic of magic iron was suppressed, making it difficult for it to take any curses, but on the flipside, it made enchanting somewhat easier as well as upped its resistance to miasma. Once you heated it up, the mythril would further solidify.
「……Looks like I managed to pull it off.」
Taking out a cooled, hardened ingot, Hiroshi scrutinized the particulars and breathed a sigh of relief. To be quite honest, he did not have absolute confidence that he could do this.
「It was that close of a battle?」
「Yeah, can’t say that I’m the most suited for the kiln.」
And even without that, this was the metal with the troublesome nature that had barred off anyone not in the intermediate level. Though he had indeed remodeled it via magic, he had refined it via a second-hand furnace, so even with all of Hiroshi’s skill, he had not had absolute confidence. In actuality, he had managed to create an alloy higher in quality than the kind that the dwarves refined with all of their equipment, but from Hiroshi’s viewpoint, he apparently still felt some discontent.
「Now for everyone’s eagerly anticipated forgin’.」
「Although I’m pretty unsure as to if you have enough tools……」
「Well, aside from the kiln, hammer’s definitely out. Guess I’d better make an anvil first.」
Casually saying that, he applied heat treatment to the extended alloy with magic, he built up a polished alloy with a special magic whetstone. He lay the small heated ingot on top, spreading excess mana through the forging hammer and began hitting it.
While having her eyesight blocked by the sparks that scattered around with every hit, Elena shuddered at the mana being swallowed by the material. Even if she were in Hiroshi’s shoes, when she contemplated whether she would be sane or not with pouring all this mana in, she felt a chill down her spine.
「Well, I guess that’s that……」
When it was beginning to look like a hammer, Hiroshi muttered with a sigh as he cooled it once with time acceleration magic.
「Is it done?」
「Only roughly. After this I need to apply heat to it and then make it into the right shape. Didn’t we do the same thing for yer rapier, Haruna-san?」
「Mm, yeah, that’s true.」
As they chatted about that, Hiroshi glared with sharp eyes at the heated hammer as its color began to change. His expression was completely different from his usual pushover one. He maintained it at a temperature where novices couldn’t really tell the difference, but when it got to a certain point, he dipped it into an unknown liquid. Making a flashy sound, the liquid evaporated and the hammer cooled.
「What’s that liquid?」
「Oil for heatin’. Figured I’d use it eventually, so I distributed it ahead of time. It specializes with the magic iron type. Although I really didn’t see myself using it so soon.」
「You need something like that?」
「Depends on the thing. With some things ya can git good results by just usin’ water.」
While answering Rayna’s questions, he ended the heating cooling process, which was the most crucial part of forging. If you were to apply too much heat, it would become too hard and brittle, and depending on the occasion it could even break on the spot. If you failed at heating and cooling, there was always the possibility of not being able to resolve the brittleness, instead making it all the more brittle. That being said, if you didn’t heat and cool it, most of the metals would become too brittle and unfit for battle. There were times when you would purposefully skip the heating process, but at the very least, the metals he was using at this moment needed proper heating treatment to function as weapons.
In actuality, all metals in processing are far more delicate than how society in general views them.
「Alright, this should do it.」
Gazing at the hammer head once its shape looked right, he gave a nod. He proceeded to separate the hammer head he had used previously from its handle, exchanging it with the one he had just completed.
「……Wooow.」
「Hm? What’s up?」
「The old hammer over there……」
「Oh, well that was the sort of hammer that’d lose any day with how soft it is. I used it more than I should have, which left it all jacked up.」
Hiroshi’s words made logical sense. However, even so, if you were to look at a hammerhead that had a large amount of cracks inside and out, it wouldn’t be hard to sympathize with Haruna’s loss for words. To add further, this hammer was a specially-made product that Hiroshi had enchanted with Auto-Repair. It could take some damage and still heal on its own. Now that it showed no signs of repeating that process, it was made very clear what it meant to use a lower-level tool to make a higher-level tool.
「Time to end the openin’ performance.」
After applying some more enchantments to the completed hammer, Hiroshi proclaimed that with an unbelievably manly expression. Even his thick eyebrows that usually served to amplify his incompetence had served a momentary role to make him seem even more manly.
「Opening performance? We just going to continue like this?」
「I agree, Hiroshi-sama! You have been using quite the volume of mana up until now!」
「Well, if ya compare it to manufacturin’ God Steel, this ain’t nothin’.」
Making a statement that made everyone around him speechless, he moved on to the main objective: the manufacturing of the two daggers. As they watched him, Aearis instinctively looked to Haruna. Seeing Aearis’s face and making a small bitter smile, she fished through her pocket and took out something.
「Hiroshi-kun.」
「What?」
「I believe you when you say it’s not necessary, but at least for Elle-chan’s sake, just drink that much.」
「Hm? Oh, gotcha.」
Smiling wryly at Aearis’s worried demeanor, he gulped down the Level 5 mana potion that Haruna had thrown to him. Normally it would be more reassuring if he were to drink at least one more, but in the case of mana and stamina potions, if you were to drink more than three within thirty minutes, you would get fully addicted. It was quite the phenomenon, so he elected to not drink too many of them. Incidentally, in the span of 24 hours, the limit was 20.
「Kay, time to git back on track.」
Though it was but a drop in the ocean, he did manage to regenerate some mana. Assuming once again a firm expression, he heated the ingot with pliers and then set it on the anvil. Without letting out a voice, he swung up the hammer with spirit, driving in the first hit.
Earnest, as if praying. Fierce, as if challenging. Hiroshi continued hammering the iron. As if conversing with the unidentifiable mass in front of him, sometimes softly, sometimes firmly, he made the sound of the hammer ring out loud and clear. Just like before, with every strike, he continued to pour in a fearsome amount of mana, and when that previously-unidentifiable mass had taken the shape of the blade of a dagger, he at last made the mana that he had been pouring in overflow, holding nothing back.
「Alright, I finished processin’ the first one.」
He declared, moving on to forging the second one. Just like earlier, his was spectacular, showing how much he had trained. As if praying, as if conversing, he continuously swung down the hammer, once again causing his mana to overflow in order to firmly end the forging of the dagger. Furthermore, in actuality, there was no need to make your mana overflow in order to manufacture magic iron. He simply knew that being too carefree could lead to potential flaws.
「First we finish heating and shaping it, and now I guess we’re at the balance regulation part?」
With that being said, the skilled labor that Hiroshi provided was one that was based off of the user’s physique and figure. There was no way that it would become such an unbalanced product. It was the same for Haruna before, and with polishing and a bit of adjustments, her unease had managed to go away.
「Try swingin’ that a bit…Then again, I guess it ain’t the precise capacity for ya……」
「True. Plus my body’s different.」
It was a simple, yet pretty haft. The sheath, too, had no elaborate design whatsoever, and yet it somehow managed to attract the eyes of all who watched. After attaching the haft to the blade, sheathing it, and handing over the dagger, the princess’ siblings looked at it with troubled expressions. Seriously, just how unreasonable were Hiroshi’s requests?
「Well, I’ll figure it all out, so just try to swing it.」
「Okay.」
「I’ll do my best!」
Encouraged by Haruna, the two of them mimicked the basic movement from their memories outside the atelier. Aearis had but begun yesterday and today, so she was honestly a bit too eager in terms of balance, but she still got the gist of it.
「They’re daggers after all. Pretty sure this suffices?」
「Indeed.」
「Yeah.」
The two knights agreed with Haruna. It wasn’t like they were assassins, and they wouldn’t even fight a genuine fight with these ordinarily. Daggers were only really used for catching someone unawares with a stab or to kill oneself.
「Balance seems alright. They hard to carry?」
「That’s fine too. It fits so well that it practically sticks to my hands.」
「It is very easy to carry.」
「Then I’ll carve names into ‘em and make some finishin’ touches, so lemme see ‘em for a bit.」
They handed over the daggers they had just received back to Hiroshi.
「Finishing touches?」
「The main part is finished, but there ain’t no one worth their salt who’d cross blades like this. So I’mma attach some magic tool functions.」
「……I sort of feel like I heard something I wasn’t supposed to. What now?」
「Well, let’s just leave it at that. Time to get workin’ on the finishin’ touch.」
He said, making a mad smile. Hiroshi lines up the over-abundant line of monster-related materials. It would drive anyone mad to gather this much. Though she was honestly a little put-off, Haruna understood that there were no options other than what Hiroshi had said, so she decided to not make any unnecessary comments. Afterwards, when the completed products were unveiled, Aearis’s eyes glinted at all of the ridiculous functions, whereas the other four ended up regretting not blurting out their opinions. Let us leave that between us, however.
——-
「Ran into a bit of trouble, I’d say.」
After her return from the unveiling of the completed daggers, Makoto said that right off the bat without even taking off her armor.
「Trouble? Like what?」
「Honestly, I’d like to also get My Lord in on this. Can you contact him?」
「Sure, I can. But be it that important?」
「A hellhound and evil tiger appeared in the middle of Spirit Spire Mountain. If that is a trivial issue to you, then I suppose I don’t have to discuss it.」
「……I say, that is quite important.」
Making an earnest face upon hearing that, he was about to call Julius when…
「Hm, seems that he himself is coming.」
Skilled at searching for enemies, Mio spoke up, having picked up the presence that she felt appear at the entrance to the workshop. They had used transportation magic.
「Suuup. Apart from Jul-san, I brought two others with me. But hey, you got some free time or what, Ray-chi?」
「Like hell I do!」
Rayna retorted violently in response to Hiroshi’s rude comment. The bell rang, drowning out her voice. First sending off Douga for reception, Hiroshi proceeded to inspect the solmizen. Honestly, this was the main goal, whereas the search of Spirit Spire Mountain wasn’t even an extra objective.
「Excuse me.」
When he had finished his brief inspection and confirmed that it was more than usable, Layotte walked past Douga, entering the dining hall with a familiar stride.
「Lay, just the person I wanted.」
「……What do you mean?」
「Seems that Makoto-san has somethin’ she wants to report. And it sounds quite troublesome.」
「Troublesome……」
Layotte made an unusual grimace at what he had been told just seconds after arriving.
「Well ya don’t seem too happy ‘bout that.」
「I came all the way here for tasty food. There’s no way I’d enjoy eating after hearing a conversation that would dampen the experience.」
「Well, true ‘nuff. But it really is just the difference between tellin’ ya sooner or later.」
「I know. So what did you want to discuss?」
「Wanted to say that a hellhound and evil tiger showed up at Spirit Spire Mountain.」
Layotte showed no particular reaction to that report. The young adult of twenty some years who had tagged along also did not really change their expression. The only one who did was the youth who was around the same age as Mio, the color of their face changing as they spoke up.
「But that’s super serious!」
「Mark, calm down.」
「Big Brother, if anything, why are you so calm!?」
「Because I had already prepared myself when the wyverns had come out. Of course, that isn’t a very good feeling either…」
「!?」
Ignoring Mark, who was gaping at the word “wyvern”, he glanced at his older brother behind him.
「Before we go any further, I think it would be good to make some introductions.」
「Okay, although I got a purty good idea. The lady-killer over there’s yer older brother, ‘n the handsome fella over here’s yer younger brother, right?」
「Yeah. My older brother, Prince Avin, and my younger brother Mark.」
Hearing Layotte’s introductions, a composed Avin lightly nodded at him, and having finally gotten over the shock from earlier, Mark gave a clumsy greeting.
「Hey, old man.」
「What might it be?」
「In this sorta situation, who has a normal reaction for the age of someone from 10 to 15 years? Lay or Ma-kun?」
「If it be the average person involved in combat in their teens, His Lordship Mark would be the archetypical one. Though it may sound a bit off-putting, His Lordship Layotte be non-standard in many ways……」
「Ernest! Most people would look mediocre compared to my older brother! And then you, with the stupid look over there! What’s up with that rude way you referred to me!?」
「Yeah, this is definitely normal.」
In response to Hiroshi’s emotion-filled words, everyone around him focused luke-warm gazes at Mark.
「You see, Mark is still a bit lacking in study when it comes to craftsmen. I apologize on his behalf for such rudeness.」
「Nah, thinking about it, I’m clearly the one who was in the wrong.」
「Sure that you aren’t doing that on purpose?」
「No idea whatcha mean by that.」
Hiroshi made it obvious that he was playing the fool in repsonse to Avin’s comment. Of course, it was true that Hiroshi was doing it on purpose, but there wasn’t any particularly deep reason in it. He was merely checking just how far the people of Farlane’s royal house could handle in terms of jokes. Or rather, he was only testing Layotte’s younger brother to see if he would be happy like how Layotte was with “Lay”.
「Anyhow, I’ll make some tea.」
「Haru, I’ll help you.」
「Before you do that, I think you should take a bath, Mio-chan……」
「Mm」
She gave an obedient nod at Haruna’s suggestion. She had after all been bustling about the wild mountains. Even though she had Prevent Rot enchantments all over the things she had, Haruna felt a bit reluctant to let her in the kitchen as she was.
「They always like this?」
「Usually.」
Avin smiled wryly as he asked that question, and Douga answered with the same expression. Just how carefree were these people? Makoto and Tatsuya’s faces reddened when they saw that, looking apologetic. At times like these, it was better to not have common sense.
「So, going back to what we were…talking about.」
「We still ain’t heard the particulars. Makoto-san, what was it like?」
「The particulars? Ehm, well, I think you’ll get it when you look at the loot we stuck in the bags. This was before dissection and it’s very strange.」
「And I don’t think that’s enough to make you understand, so to add to that, there was an unusual amount of deformed monsters, and among them, there was a high percentage of them who were Dark-type or scattered around miasma.」
Layotte nodded at Makoto and Tatsuya’s testimonies, deep in thought.
「Deteriorated faster than I thought it would.」
「Oh? Lay. You have some nuisances too?」
「Without a doubt, this is a nuisance, yeah.」
Hiroshi inclined his head at Layotte. Honestly, even with this guy saying such a thing, it didn’t sound cute in the slightest.
「Big Brother, I do not think this is something you can refer to so lightly as a “nuisance”……」
His brother had said it so casually that Mark blurted out his own thoughts.
「Even if we did discuss this seriously, the task and result will not change.」
「That may be so, but……」
「Now now, Milord Mark. We already know from past experience that the stories the royals bring to us regular people are generally nothing good. No point gettin’ all worked up over a nuisance like this, right?」
「……Oddly enough, when you refer to me as Milord, I can’t help but feel uneasy……」
「Then should we go back to Ma-kun?」
「……That’ll do.」
His Lordship, Mark, nodded reluctantly. Let it be only known here that from then on, this nickname of “Ma-kun” would become known by his mother, the queen, the other queens, and even his older sisters, and he would end up being referred to as “Ma-kun Ma-kun” in all non-public situations.
「Now then, getting back on track…」
「Before we do that, I’d like to inquire about Aearis.」
「Elle? Just earlier, she mentioned something about a purification ceremony and went to the bathhouse. What about her?」
「She did so as soon as she saw us returning.」
「Indeed, though she be young, she is the rare priestess princess..」
Layotte beamed in admiration at Tatsuya and Makoto’s oddly formal choice of speech, letting out his own thoughts as well. The same time that Layotte spoke, Avin let out an emotional sigh. Mark looked as if he had found the slightest tinge of hope.
「So how are these things related?」
「Very soon, perhaps even tomorrow, I would like to have it taken to Alfemina temple.」
「And what brought this on?」
「There is a possibility that the priests will not be able to catch up with the purification of the earth veins.」
「That sounds…kinda serious……」
Layotte said such a dangerous thing so casually that Hiroshi found himself commenting in an exasperated voice. Normally, he would rather throw this sort of exchange all on Tatsuya or Haruna, but perhaps out of sympathy for his brethren, Layotte had a tendency to choose Hiroshi as his negotiation partner.
「As soon as tomorrow? That definitely sounds difficult. Pretty sure you’d hafta get all sorts of things ready, and most of all, things are purty exhausting what with havin’ made Elle and Elen’s daggers.」
「Oh really now? You’ve already completed them?」
「I have, but they’re just daggers…Not like I held back when I made ‘em, but they have their limits.」
「Just by knowing their limits, ye be quite the man of fortitude…」
「Well, it’d be a purty darn fine line for going up against a wyvern.」
Hiroshi’s criteria were clearly backwards. As if throwing in the towel, Douga shrugged his shoulders and shook his head from left to right.
「Wyvern? With a dagger?」
「Not sure if I should be surprised at this point, but when I talk with you, I feel as if the concept of common sense has gone off somewhere unknown.」
Hiroshi’s statement did not sound sane to Mark and Avin, who had comparatively more common sense in their responses. As for Layotte, someone generally made the various weapons for the national treasury, so he didn’t think there was any merit in being shocked by Hiroshi’s weapons, no matter how dangerous they were.
「Nah, that much is normal amongst the craftsmen I know. Besides, the equipment ‘n everythin’ was makeshift, so it’s not like they had great functionality.」
「You make weapons of that scale and say that they aren’t all that great. You are a serious piece of work……」
Rayna, who would normally not so much as speak in these situations, quipped along with making a complex sigh of exasperation and wonder.
「So what in the world did you make?」
Although he already figured that nothing was impossible for this guy to make, judging from the fact that even those who had watched were still making flabbergasted comments, he had figured that this wasn’t something he could pass up. Layotte inquired with an earnest face.
「Just a couple daggers with a bit of tasteful functionality added.」
Hiroshi feigned ignorance, grinning and saying that trump cards are best when hidden. Layotte gave up, seeing that it was pointless to pursue. Tatsuya and the others could not find it in themselves to prod in. Hiroshi was always making strange things anyway, so they decided to remain silent until things settled down. It was right at that time that Haruna came back in, pushing a cart.
「Putting aside the discussion of Hiroshi-kun’s products, how about we briefly cool down over some tea?」
「Alright. And no matter how I look at it, that thing on the tea-cake plate has got to be baum-kuchen. Was that over here to begin with?」
「At least in my case, this past half-month, I haven’t seen it in Wulls.」
「And it’s been three months since I saw it.」
One of the characteristics of this team was the ability to quickly derail the conversation at times like these. However, in this particular case, it was more correct to say that Tatsuya intended to change the subject, so this was a bit different than the previous times.
「Well, if anything, Hiro probably just made a bunch in his free time or something, end of story.」
「Honestly, if it’s delicious I could care less.」
「Well ain’t you half-hearted!」
「You’re the last person I want to hear that from.」
As they were griping with each other, Mio, who had taken Aearis and Elena along with her, came into the dining hall.
「Oh dear. With more than half of the royals in this country gathered right here, if someone strikes us with some crazy magic then there goes an entire lineage.」
「Elena, could you not say such ominous things?」
「Come now, it’s a joke. Besides, a normal mage couldn’t just break through the barrier here and kill everyone.」
「Do you think so?」
「We all discard common sense in this area. That includes you, Ma-kun.」
「Big Sister! Why did you call me that!?」
Elena giggled, evading Mark’s flustered question. Honestly, she didn’t even have to think about the kind of name Hiroshi would call him. She knew.
「Well, let us leave the bothersome details for after tea. It isn’t like we can do anything about it anytime soon anyway.」
「Very true. Plus there are these delicious treats that Hiroshi-sama went to all the trouble to make. It isn’t every day that we have the privilege of eating this.」
「So Hiroshi-kun made the baum-kuchen after all……」
「Ellie just gobbled things up, so I made it partially for fun……」
「You’ve become quite the glutton, Aearis……」
「Big Sister!」
Used as the punchline of a joke, Aearis’s face grew bright red as she flared up at her sister. This was supposed to have been an emergency situation, yet Mark found himself unable to comment on this exhausting atmosphere.
「So do ya really hafta make it?」
「Yep, I do.」
「Why not have Mio do it?」
「There’s at least a 30% gap between the skillset of me and Sensei.」
「Uhh, how should I put it…That sounds bad in all sorts of ways……」
After supper, they ended up agreeing to take up the remainder of the day and the next day to make various preparations, which was good, but…
「Hey, Elle. Ya sure ya wanna be part of this? It’d be mighty dangerous if men were to know the shape and size of yer chest or butt.」
「Yes. Although I do apologize for my lack of performance in those areas, still being a child and all……」
「What’s there to apologize about?」
While wryly smiling, Tatsuya commented on Aearis’s statement, as she didn’t quite get what Hiroshi was saying.
「Well, I was just saying that no one would really enjoy knowing all the particulars of my meager, childlike body.」
「Wait a sec, Elle. It’s dangerous to jump to conclusions!」
Tatsuya found himself panicking. In the present-day Japan, this sort of statement was dangerous in the wrong kind of situation. Already judging from Hiroshi’s reaction, just knowing the details of a young girl’s body would give him some serious shock.
「Dangerous, you say?」
「Yeah, dangerous.」
「But compared to Haruna-sama, I truly do only have a childlike physique.」
「Princess, that’s a special case!」
「Elle’s chest isn’t all that small.」
As Aearis continued to babble dangerous statements, the remarks from others kept coming.
「I tried to not say anything, but you truly are attached to Hiroshi, Aearis.」
「Do you think so?」
「Then let me ask you this. How would you feel about…uhh, the same information being given to Prince Bordeaux?」
「…I just got this really unpleasant feeling…」
「Oh, good. Glad to see that you haven’t stooped that low.」
This wasn’t exactly the kind of conversation that Tatsuya or Hiroshi could butt into, as the very thought made them exceedingly uncomfortable. Males weren’t suited for this.
「All things considered, Aearis…」
「What?」
「I don’t mean to say the same thing as Tatsuya, but you really should take more care from now on. Besides, compared to what I recall, you seem to be garnering quite the feminine physique.」
「From when we first bathed together, you have become 3.5 millimeters bigger. I wouldn’t even be surprised if your cup size has changed.」
「Umm, couldja leave that sort of thing for when we ain’t in the room?」
Hiroshi held his head while trembling as this risqué conversation continued. Were they purposely doing this or did they just not care if there were males in the room? Either way, the girls were certainly speaking in a carefree manner. Stimulated by some rather unnecessary trauma, even preserving his consciousness was difficult.
「So with that, Sensei, this is the perfect opportunity to rehabilitate as well as deal with Elle’s undergarments. Thank you.」
「No, seriously, the hell you sayin’…」
「People’s lives are at stake. You should make the best garments that you can.」
Hiroshi continued his verbal tug-of-war against Mio, who he thought to be saying rather impetuous things.
「There is no one here who would think badly of you for making some undergarments, Sensei.」
「Mio, I wouldn’t recommend being in such a rush.」
Unable to just watch as Hiroshi’s face grew weaker and weaker, Elena broke in and chided Mio.
「Now then, seeing as Hiroshi won’t be able to do anything at this rate, let’s change the subject to…」
「To?」
「The ingredients for the medicine are all together, right?」
「Oh, right. There were just a lotta things people were sayin’, so I forgot to be honest.」
As Hiroshi lowered his head in apology, Elena told him to not worry about it as she smiled wryly. In actuality, preserving a state of abeyance, Elena’s treatment, which would allow her to live daily life without relying on accessories or magic tools, was not at all to be prioritized at the moment. Not to mention that as long as the ingredients for the medicine were assembled, she could get rid of the poison at any time.
「Guess I’ll start by makin’ the antidote.」
「Oh yeah, is that fearsome fruit that quickly rots really all that important?」
「Oh, that? Concentrate its juices well enough and ya got yerself ingredients for a panacea.」
「Wha? Wait, what level?」
「If I try hard enough I could git it up to third-class.」
Upon hearing Hiroshi once again declare such an absurd thing, Makoto felt how painfully naive her cognition was. Elena’s face made it clear that she had run out of things to say and had given up. She was murmuring about what he meant by “third-class panacea”.
「Hey, can I ask you something?」
「What?」
「It’s not super close maybe, but we’re talking about a fruit that’s not growing too far off from here. Can you seriously make that level of a potion with such a fruit?」
「Yeah, that’s how it was in the game too. Well to be honest with ya, even with all o’that, there’s still all the other ingredients that I need, so it’s gonna be a while before I even go ‘bout makin’ panaceas or anythin’ else. And in the first place, solmizen takes a lotta time to harvest.」
「Ahh, okay, that makes more sense.」
It was after all really easy for them to rot. It was probably near-impossible for inexperienced players to harvest it.
「So specifically, what level do you concentrate them to?」
「Well, I’d say with five times the concentration I could make pretty much Class 5 panaceas. If I wanted to go to Class 3, I’d hafta try and concentrate it a hundred times more.」
「Wouldn’t it taste a bit different if you were to concentrate it that much?」
「Mm? Pffft, that ain’t gonna taste like nothin’ but tasteless water, no matter HOW much ya concentrate it. But well, if ya concentrate it a hundred freakin’ times, that in itself would be a panacea somewhere between Class 5 ‘n Class 4.」
Tatsuya couldn’t help but feel exasperated at Hiroshi’s words. Generally speaking, regardless of whether it was good or bad, flavor was something that told you whether or not the food was good or bad for your body. In other words, medicine with effects as great as that should normally have some sort of taste. And yet it was nearly tasteless. Though it was boorish to bring common sense into fantasy, he seriously wanted to question his reasoning.
「Well, this time around we only gotta concentrate it three times the amount, and we got plenty of other ingredients, so I’mma git right to makin’ it.」
Hiroshi said, heading to the kitchen. Maybe not for Mio, since she was still inexperienced, but for Hiroshi, this level of work wasn’t even work. For this type of medicine, a special bin was usually necessary, but that was because the complete effectiveness lasted no more than six hours, and for whatever reason, Prevent Rot could not prevent the effects of the medicine from going away. This time around, it would be consumed quickly after being made, so it didn’t matter.
「Huh? Hiroshi-kun?」
「Haruna-san, you have an errand in the kitchen?」
「I was thinking of trying and smoking a block of wyvern breast meat.」
「Yeah? I’m makin’ Ellie’s medicine.」
「Oh yeah, I forgot.」
Hiroshi wryly smiled. She could quickly remember everything she had heard and seen, but that only applied to lapses of memory. It wasn’t like she couldn’t forget about things like schedules or unintentionally skip things.
「Well, I’ll make it soon, so just wait a minute.」
「Mm.」
Haruna watched over Hiroshi from a suitable distance so as to not create unnecessary pressure as he worked. He had upped his skill with making potions a bit, and Haruna could tell that he wasn’t having much difficulty by himself.
「Done.」
「Well that was fast.」
「Well, that’s cause it’s simplistic for a potion.」
The current task was to make the strong, all-around medicine solmizen react with several ingredients and specialize in its effects.
「But all things considered, it might really be best to use a different item for the potion making stove…」
「Definitely.」
As Hiroshi was cooling it down until it was at a drinkable temperature, Haruna had begun preparing the chunk of wyvern. Sealing the grill air-tight, she lit the tip on fire after pushing the smoke out.
「Guess I’ll start by smoking it for a night.」
「Kay. Well, just do it however ya like.」
The heat having subsided, Hiroshi moved the medicine to a cup now that it was at a comfortable temperature, preparing a palate cleanser. Seeing that, Haruna took out something from the food storage. It was a gelatin-like substance with a fruit about as big as a mouthful inside. Wrapped around it was a translucent, gyuuhi-like sweet.
「What’s this?」
「Mana Eater Gelatin and a rind pastry. I already made the other thing, so I was thinking we might as well have it with supper.」
「I get attention all the time, but man, Haruna, yer also makin’ a buncha interestin’ stuff.」
「Yeah, but that’s practically all I do.」
Haruna made an excuse with a wry smile at Hiroshi’s comment. Incidentally, Mana Eater was just as the name suggested, a half-gelatinous lifeform that ate one’s mana to power up. This would normally be the natural enemy of magicians, but despite being a half-substance, it couldn’t survive without oxygen, so it was also in a sense a pitiful creature that failed to consume Tatsuya and instead was brought down by him.
Digressing here a bit, since the core of the mana eater tasted like sea urchin, they were also using it in mini courses of food. Although it certainly was a strange creature, like how dying would make it fully materialize, Haruna didn’t particularly care about this. Furthermore, in today’s mini course meal, the centerpiece would be the small pot used to cook the dashi from the wyvern’s body, as well as dashimaki that was made using eggs from a slightly strange creature, as well as things like soba zousui that substituted for rice, and other products that had the highest degree of finesse put into them. Of course, this was more of a joke in addition to being mini, so the amount of products was scarce compared to the usual amount. However, it was a little odd to just put all of the food out on the table instead of little by little, as was the formality.
「I made ‘em, for what it’s worth.」
「Wow, that was fast.」
「Well after all, as long as I have the ingredients, then there ain’t no task too difficult.」
「If it were me, then I’d make the medicine using the equipment here. It’d have a success rate of about 80% though……」
「That’s the difference in years showin’. Ya just gotta give up ‘n do yer best to train.」
He said, handing the medicine that had cooled down to body temperature to Elena. Thanks to the other ingredients’ composition mixed in, the medicine had become a vague, blueish greenish color. Accepting it with an odd expression, she drank it in one gulp. The taste was odd and difficult to describe. She twisted her face at the seriously weird flavor for only a moment before heat raced throughout her entire body, chasing out whatever had been consuming her in every corner before. After the heat had subsided, the slight fevers, headaches, nausea, and especially that feeling of fatigue that had regularly affected her every month that symptomatic therapy had been unable to fully erase had finally vanished without a trace.
「Amazing…The headache, nausea, fatigue…it’s like I never had them…it’s all gone……」
「Well, I can’t do nothin’ ‘bout the after-effects, but now ya shouldn’t ever hafta die by poison like this anymore.」
The rest could be taken care of with rehabilitation. There was no further treatment to be made.
「Yer stamina ‘n resistance are pretty low right now, so as a precaution, make sure not to overexert yerself, kay? Yer liver’s weakened too, so take it easy on the alcohol.」
「Very well. You went to all this trouble to save me, so I have no intention of dying from neglecting my health.」
「That’s good. Honestly, I don’t wanna see no funeral for ya, lady.」
Wryly smiling at what Hirosi had said, she washed away the strange lingering taste in her mouth with the palate cleansing juice. Then, without hesitating, she brought the unknown pastry that Haruna had prepared into her mouth.
「Refreshing, yet rich. What is this mysterious flavored thing and the rind on the outer surface?」
「A mana eater. There was some flawless gelatin, so I did a little experiment.」
「…Comes down to that again, I see…」
Letting your guard down in the slightest at their dinner table would give you the fate of eating the exquisitely distributed remains of monsters. The food was tasty and had no negative effects on the body, but it was still disturbing to hear what some of said monsters were. Wyverns, she could deal with, albeit a little surprising, but mana eaters? She did not think for a minute that she wanted to eat those.
「Now then, guess I’ll take a bath and sleep.」
「Once I finish up some other things, I’ll get right on to bathin’ ‘n then sleep.」
「Sensei, you need to make undergarments. The shape has already been made.」
「Ya gotta be kiddin’ me…」
Hiroshi had ended up being shut down, as in the end it would involve life or death, so he set to reluctantly working on it, thinking of what dangers to protect the clothing from and feeling like he wanted to spit out blood. The next morning, Haruna saw a bra and pair of shorts for children, made beautifully as Mio’s illustration had intended (albeit rather big considering her age), as well as a deathly pale Hiroshi in the corner of the room, twitching in a spasm.