Volume 4 Extra 3.3
Translator: Reflet
The next day.
「Now then, the ingredients are all gathered, so we can make a buncha stuff～」
Hiroshi announced to Haruna and Mio after they had finished breakfast and lecturing Fum and the others. Right about this time they were probably frantically working on the materials they had gathered yesterday.
「Sensei, what do we start with?」
「First it’s gonna be the scapedoll.」
Laying out the large amount of zebra grass-like plants they had gathered yesterday at the picnic venue, Hiroshi firmly lay out the plan in response to Mio’s question. Haruna tilted her head at this item name she had never heard of.
「Substitute scapedoll?」
「Yup. As the name implies, it’s a doll that substitutes in for the damage you normally would have taken. Dependin’ on the quality, the amount of substitution shifts though.」
「Give a specific example?」
「To give a gameified explanation, they shoulder a total of 50%-150% of yer max HP from damage. Regardless of the remaining amount, they block status ailment one-hit KO moves once, and if ya take an attack that surpasses the substituted amount, the user takes whatever damage that remains. If ya take on another one-hit KO attack even after the doll breaks, ya hang on with 1 HP. And that’s about it.」
「So basically it acts as external HP with the capability of blocking just one death attack, yeah?」
「Basically, yup. Welp, it does have a side-effect, or flaw, if ya wanna call it that.」
When she heard the word “flaw”, Haruna felt a bit of unease. She wasn’t saying it had to be a flawless item of perfection, but it would certainly be great if there weren’t any gaping deficiencies.
「It’s a little discomforting to hear that. What is this flaw exactly?」
「The damage the doll receives goes to the user. Well, no matter how much damage the doll takes, the user still has 1 HP left over, but yeah.」
「Whoa……」
Haruna let out a small groan at this cursed doll flaw. This was seriously not something she wanted to have.
「There also some other lil problems like the item not taking the initial damage, not being able to block against senility attacks, or not bein’ able to heal from the damage the doll took for ya, but that’s about as bad as it gits.」
「And this is really going to be okay, right?」
「Yup, it all comes down to how ya safekeep the doll. As long as we put ‘em in storage, well, should be all fine.」
Haruna still couldn’t find herself feeling comforted from what Hiroshi said. Mio, who noticed this, interjected from the side.
「Haru, even if the doll breaks, we still don’t insta die, so let’s just call it good.」
「I dunno, it’s pretty difficult to just concede on something like this……」
Haruna still had a worried expression on her face with Mio’s opinion. Comparing the merits with the demerits, the merits definitely won out, but having your life in danger due to one of the demerits was not a cheery thought either.
「And then 24 hours after this sucker breaks, the new one’s effects kick in. Usin’ multiple ones will just have all them break at once after all.」
「You can use more than one simultaneously?」
「Yup, if ya wanted to for the heck of it. But as I said just now, any dolls ya use at the same time will shoulder the same amount of damage and will break all the same, so it’s meaningless. And then the next 24 hours after a doll breaks, even if ya go about the same procedure it still won’t work. Well, of course once the waitin’ time’s over the substitution will begin again.」
「Ah, I get it.」
One might think of potentially using several at once, but it was more likely that Haruna, Hiroshi, or one of their acquaintances would have tested that out anyway.
「So I plan to make another one. This would be a talisman for life preservation. In exchange for not havin’ damage reduction, it perfectly repels any sorta death one time.」
「And that’s the one that takes 48 hours until further use?」
「Yup. Well, havin’ this lil guy around ya is already plenty effective, and it ain’t like ya gotta use it no matter what.」
「Which item should we prioritize between that and scapedoll?」
「Scapedoll for damage, life preservation talisman for status ailments or insta death.」
Apparently using these in an advantageous order would be the key to evading death.
「So Haruna-san, I called ya here cuz scapedolls require late-novice skill level in alchemy to even take a crack at it. So I figure this would be at the very least good practice for ya.」
「We’re okay with leaving Making Mastery where it is for now?」
「Honestly, I do wanna prioritize that, but we ain’t got a convenient reason to make a ship as it stands. We could do it just for practice, but I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference if we go the alchemy route for now.」
Hiroshi said something rather thoughtless, and Haruna eventually just gave up on interjecting. Making Mastery being here or not was probably within error range as of this moment.
「And then for Mio I’ll teach ya the life preservation talisman, so work hard at it. That one don’t really got no quality effects.」
「Okay.」
Mio nodded at Hiroshi pointing that out. The three-man crafting procedure began.
「Sensei, is this the proper magic form to insert for the papermaking process?」
「That should be fine, mate.」
「Hiroshi-kun, is this how high the straw needs to be?」
「Yup yup. Make that into a doll shape ‘n then pickle it in the batter as ya put the form in.」
Mio made the paper as she imbued an enchantment, while Haruna began cutting the zebra grass down without wasting too much. As he instructed the two of them, Hiroshi began making skillful copies of both items as a template for them to follow. Then again, even if they looked at Hiroshi’s work process, all the girls really could do was comprehend the procedure without being able to replicate it.
「……Hey, Hiroshi-kun, Mio-chan……」
「Wazzup?」
「Haru, what’s the matter?」
「This work we’re doing looks pretty suspicious from the side, doesn’t it……」
Haruna muttered a comment as she made the straw doll. That and the strange looking talisman were both nothing other than preparations for a cursing ritual. Now all they had to do was wear white clothing, put headbands on to secure candles, attach the talisman to the straw doll with the hated person’s face, and then hammer a long nail into the doll at night and you have yourself a splendid cursing ritual set up.
「Well, alchemy already looks weird from the side, mate.」
「Yes, I know, but……」
This kind of suspicious behavior was a lot weirder than that. If someone saw this they would probably report it. To be fair, as this wasn’t a crime, they wouldn’t be arrested, but still.
「You know, I was wondering something when I looked at the doll.」
Anyhow, worrying too much about how strange this procedure was useless. As they worked diligently at the dollmaking, Haruna recalled a scene from looking at the doll, asking a question she had about it.
「Wait, so cursing rituals require you to wear a headband with a candle fastened to it, right?」
「They do indeed.」
「But if you have a candle in a dangerous place like that, couldn’t the wax drip down and get your head into a horrible situation?」
As soon as Haruna pointed that out, Hiroshi and Mio went quiet. They hadn’t realized this until she said that, but come to think of it, putting a lit candle on your head was not without potential consequences, in more ways than one.
There was probably also the opinion that you could light the fire only right when you hammer in the nail, and keep your head in the same position to ensure the wax doesn’t drip, but most of these motions were difficult to emulate without moving your head, and moreover, impossible to emulate for amateurs. Besides, it only makes sense that the impact of hammering in the nail causes wax to drip down.
「Y’know, just imagining that process makes me think it’s pretty darn hard to pull off.」
「Who even came up with the idea of cursing someone in that getup?」
After thinking about it for a bit, Hiroshi and Mio gave their thoughts. And by that logic, there probably were plenty of other things out there that were impossible to implement.
「……Anyhoo, I best not look too deeply into this.」
「……I agree with Sensei. Prod at it too much and we’ll realize some more things.」
「……Right. Sorry ‘bout that.」
About to realize some more unnecessary things, Hiroshi decided it was dangerous to pursue this conversation too far. Mio also felt the same way, and Haruna attempted to end the conversation with an apology, since she started it in the first place.
In actuality, Mio was jumping ahead in her thoughts to people who used red, low-temperature wax for S&M and how in the world they got the wax off when it got on their hair. However, as discussing something like that here would definitely be questionable, she wanted a change of topic.
Mio honestly didn’t want to discuss that sort of indecent talk around Hiroshi and Haruna, although maybe Tatsuya and Makoto were fine. This was especially true for Haruna. No matter how much knowledge she might have about these dirty things, Mio could see Haruna taking serious damage from the gap.
「So the ritual goes like this, right?」
「Yep, that it does. Now just stick it in the batter ‘n yer preparations are all set.」
As she got the conversation back on track, Haruna also checked her work by Hiroshi again. She remembered everything in the work process and enchantment perfectly, but there was always a possibility that she had misheard the initial explanation. Also, this was a task that surpassed her skill level, so she couldn’t deny the possibility of not completely understanding everything. So in light of all this, Haruna was confirming with Hiroshi every step of the way.
「Uhh, like this, then like this, yeah.」
Checking with Hiroshi once more, Haruna then plunged the straw doll into the batter, which then reacted to the mana, causing a change……
「Ah!?」
The doll went “foom” and turned into partially burned charcoal.
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