Chapter 110: What a Wonderful Job
「It’s hot!」
The sweltering heat in the air forcefully woke me up.
Along with the heat, a line of sweat started to flow down from my forehead.
I suddenly realized that I was sweating a lot, and my shirt was sticking to my skin.
The blanket that I laid down and the towel I put on my stomach only made it even more uncomfortably hot now.
I put the blanket to the side, as though it was annoying me.
How the heck could the air become so hot here?
I heard that the sunlight at sea is strong, but it’s to this extent?
I unconsciously turn my eyes to the sun but, above me is the black cloth I fixed earlier to avoid direct sunlight.
I used black cloth so that it can absorb the sunlight, even if a little.
But this time, it became a target for my resentment.
The black cloth put up over the small space that is the observation platform, is absorbing heat, and now it mercilessly raised the temperature inside where I lay down.
Despite this cramped space - and under normal circumstances -, what would happen if you put a cloth that absorbs heat as a cover on the observation platform? Before you know it, you would have a sauna.
Even though I use a bucket filled with ice to enjoy the cool breeze and prevent such conditions from occurring, what the heck happened here?
Could it be, my ice melted in an instant because the sunlight at the sea is so strong?
I nervously turn my eyes toward the bucket that I made with Earth magic.
「…………eh? Forget the ice, there’s not even a bucket here?」
But, not only was there no ice, the bucket was not even there.
What the heck happened here? I looked around in a hurry, I even turned the blanket I’ve set aside inside out.
But, the bucket is nowhere to be found on the observation platform.
When I was tilting my head - unable to understand what happened -, I could hear Irvine and the others' voices from below.
「Fuuooooooooo! It’s cooooldd!」
「Imma have some ice after a long time!」
「Ooh! You guys, bringing something nice like ice.」
Hearing that, I realized that the ice had been stolen, so I slightly opened the black cloth and peeked outside from the gap.
There were Irvine and Mort, along with Roomba gathering and sitting down on the deck, enjoying the cool breeze with the ice that I made.
「You ice thief!」
When I shouted instinctively while pointing at them, the three of them simultaneously turned their heads.
You, stealing the ice from me and casually enjoying the cool breeze while basking in the sunlight like that, that’s unfair.
Even though I want to do that too.
「Ooh, you finally woke up, huh! Quickly come down here!」
As I’m feeling half-angry and half-envious, Irvine and the others casually beckoned for me to come down.
Don’t they feel guilty taking other people’s belongings as they please?
While thinking about such things, I use Ice magic to wipe the sweat off my body for the time being.
Cold air floated around me as if wrapping my surroundings.
The air around me immediately became refreshingly cold, instantly taking away the heat from my uncomfortably hot body.
It feels so comfortable, but if I overdid it then I will catch a cold, so I carelessly dispersed the cold air with Wind magic.
I gently brush my skin while blowing away the cold air floating around me.
With this, my skin that was damp with sweat is now completely clean.
Aah, what a wonderful thing, magic is.
It seems that my anger from before had subsided a little, thanks to the refreshing feeling that makes me feel like I had a bath.
However, I swear I’m gonna have my revenge for disturbing my nap and making me sweat up here later.
Chuckling to myself, I slowly go down from the shroud while thinking about what kind of payback I will do to them.
Then I went down from the mainmast and as soon as I got down to the deck, Roomba came while bringing ice in his hand.
「Al―! Smash these ice and make me those fluffy and crunchy thing, will ya」
「Roomba-san, what is that ‘fluffy and crunchy thing’?」
Mort and Irvine tilted their heads after hearing Roomba’s remark.
「’Fluffy and crunchy thing’, you mean shaved ice, right? The one you ate back at the city of Kikka?」
「That’s right!」
Roomba's smiling face nodded when I asked him, just to be sure.
On the other hand, Irvine and Mort - who were doing something else at that time - did not seem to know about it, they had question marks on their heads. Knowing their ignorance, I saw that there is an opportunity to take advantage of here.
Seems that I made a slightly evil smile, but I somehow manage to conceal it and show a clean-cut smile.
「Then I’ll make it, but I want Roomba to bring me a barrel of grape juice from the food storage alright. Then Irvine and Mort will get the spoon and bowls」
「Ooh! I’ll bring them here! Let’s go. You guys too.」
Realizing that I was asking for that to make the shaved ice even more delicious, Roomba brought Mort and Irvine along with him toward the cabin.
I can simply make bowls and spoons with Earth magic, but I’ll have Irvine and Mort to get them to make them leave this place for a moment now.
Either way, I need to make them bring me the grape juice from Aldonia since I can’t show them my Space magic here. I think it’s not unnatural to ask them that, probably.
After seeing the three of them disappearing toward the cabin door, I look into the sea from the deck and cast Water magic.
I immediately controlled the flowing seawater and made the seawater into a water ball.
I cast Ice magic on the floating water ball and freezes it in one go.
The water ball immediately turns into a solid ice ball, emitting cold air.
I cut that ice ball into a suitable size by slashing it with Wind magic.
I did some minute adjustment by freezing the two pieces of a lump of ice - that made a thumping sound as it was smashed -, to make it into a suitable size for shaved ice.
There is no need for a large ice ball, so after checking that no people are watching in my surroundings, I stored it with my Space magic.
Fuu, with this seawater, shaved ice is complete.
The seawater was instantly frozen using Ice magic. The salt content in the seawater must have been concentrated in the ice, for sure.
It reminds me of the frozen Aquri〇s in midsummer.
I can see Irvine and Mort’s appearance as they suffer from eating the salty shaved ice in my mind.
I chuckled imagining the scene to come.
Because I put the seawater ice ball away with Space magic, I could probably use this method anytime.
Let’s try it out with Torr or someone else when I return to the village.
While thinking about such things, I made some ice for myself and Roomba.
Perhaps it’s because ice made using seawater has more impurities that it’s muddy, but those two won’t notice it since they’re idiots anyway.
After sitting on the deck for a while, the three of them returned through the cabin’s door while holding tablewares and a barrel in their hands.
Roomba put down the barrel with a thud and laughed heartily.
「Come now, quickly make them!」
「Yeah, who’s the first?」
We decided on the order there since it looks like the seawater-shaved ice could be passed to me by mistake, so this is just in case.
「Roomba-san will be first then.」
「No, I’ve eaten them a few times before. You guys can eat them first.」
Thanks to the stylistic beauty of their senpai-kouhai relationship, I can pass them the seawater-shaved ice in an easy-to-understand manner.
There are also a lot of troublesome things caused by human relationships, but only at times like this does it prove to be useful.
「Well then, it’s Irvine and Mort first!」
I announced their death with a carefree smile on my face.
With this, I can kill these two at the same time.
「O, ou. Alfried-sama has a very lively smile today, doesn’t he? 」
That Irvine started to suspect me, so I deliberately stopped smiling.
It seems that my evil thoughts escape me a little. Sharp fella.
「I wonder how does this fluffy ice tastes like?」
It looks like Mort doesn’t suspect anything after seeing my appearance, perhaps he’s imagining about the fluffy shaved ice after hearing about it from Roomba.
The seawater shaved ice is white and fluffy, it’s a food with a very slight accent to it.
I pick up a block of the seawater ice block while pretending to look as calm as possible.
After that using Ice magic on the block of ice, I crush the ice to be as fine as possible, and fine particles accumulate in the bowl with a rustling sound *sarasara*. The particles of ice that fall from the block of ice to the bowl are shining under the sunlight.
「Oohー, you really can use Ice magic, huh」
「Amazing! To be able to make the ice so fine…… Alfried-sama is actually a genius in magic, isn’t he?」
Irvine looked impressed as he said that, while Mort was exaggeratedly praising me.
Magic will become easier if you use basic magic, I can do something like this easily.
As long as it’s right in front of me, I can make it how ever I want with a clear image in my mind.
Creating something out of nothing is basically more difficult.
Well, in my case, I experienced various things back on Earth, so I guess I was able to do it in a relatively smooth manner.
「If you can use Ice magic, then you wouldn’t have to worry about your job in the future. Ice magicians are valuable after all, it won’t be a problem for you to be employed by the royalties or something y’know?」
I openly frowned toward Irvine’s remark.
「Eehー. I don't want that. I just want to live in Koryatt village.」
I’ve decided to fully enjoy a slow life in my second life. Something like being employed by the royalties would just bound me to them, there’s no way I will do that.
「Well, Alfried-sama is a noble. You have no ambition, and you don’t want money nor status.」
「Your parents are troubled because of that!」
「No doubt ‘bout it」 they said, and started laughing.
Even though their son who can use magic said that he wanted to be filial to them, Elna-kaasan and Nord-tousan only show a bitter smile on their face.
I love my hometown, and I’m going to devote myself to it.
Isn’t that exactly a reflection of what children of nobles should do?
As I tilted my head to the side in my mind, Mort muttered with a look of ignorance on his face.
「If you want to stay in Koryatt village and you can use Ice magic, how about becoming a Manager of an Ice House in the village?」
「What’s a ‘Manager of an Ice House’?」
I don’t understand it but, I feel that it’s a job that resonates with me!
I stopped creating shaved ice and approached Mort after understanding that feeling.
「Doowaa! Your eyes shine so suddenly!」
Despite Mort’s surprise, I told Mort with my eyes to quickly continue talking.
「A manager of an Icehouse is, to hear someone who made a food warehouse underground and froze those foods with Ice magic. People who use the Ice House pay the manager regularly to have their ingredients stored in the Ice House and chilled. They are like someone who is a manager of the cold storage and also the person in charge of the ingredients.」
「…………」
「What’s wrong?」
I’m speechless after hearing Mort’s explanation about the job of being an Ice House’s manager.
That wonderful job as an Ice House manager.
If I sign up for that kind of job, then I could work while living in Koryatt village. I could just return at a suitable time when the ice is about to melt, and just release some Ice magic, right?
If there is an Ice House where people can freeze and store ingredients, then we can preserve food just like the royalties using magic tools.
If we freeze the leftover meats and vegetables we can preserve them for several days, even the freshness will be maintained.
Isn’t this a job where I can greatly contribute to life in Koryatt village?
I can hire a villager and leave the management of ingredients to them, and everyone in the village uses the Ice House, so I don’t think that someone will do something like stealing the ingredients inside. Even if someone did steal something, they’ll just get beaten up by the other villagers.
That’s right, I won’t be tied down working as an Ice House manager, I only have to use Ice magic regularly.
After that, I can just spend my time leisurely in the mansion, and I will have a stable income.
………it’s a perfect lifestyle, isn’t it?
「Ice House manager is great, right…… That’s going to be one of the occupations I want to be in the future.」
「Is, is that so?」
「But well, that was generally an occupation taken by old ice magicians to let them spend their remaining years in the countryside」
When I was trembling in excitement, Mort smiled wryly, while Irvine said that as if adding some explanation with half-opened eyes.
It has nothing to do whether it’s an old magician or a young magician, isn’t it? Those who want to do it can take the job.
Let’s report this to Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan as one of my future occupations when I returned.
I’m sure they will be pleased to hear that. I create the shaved ice again while thinking like that.
「Al sure doesn’t waver, huh. Nord and Elna are troubled by that.」
Roomba-san, I don’t think so.
Having their cute child talk about what he wants to be in the future.
Those two would surely support my decision.
「Rather than that, can we eat the shaved ice now?」
「Right, right. They’re melting」
Mort and Irvine said that as they hungrily pointed at the shaved ice, so I passed them the bowl containing the saltwater shaved ice and spoon with a smile on my face.
「Yes, here you go. Try eating only the ice first. The most delicious way to eat it would be eating them in one gulp.」
「Ou! My bad!」
「Let’s do this!」
After saying that, they immediately gulp a large portion of the saltwater shaved ice down……
「「Saalttyyyy!!」
it spurted out magnificently.
I was thankful for the information about Ice House, on the other hand, disturbing my nap is a different thing.
Author note :
I think they will arrive in Kagura after 1 or two chapters after this.
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