by Hiro Ainana
“Oho, I didn’t know there was a spell like that. You’re awful powerful for such a small girl, aren’t you, missy?”
“Mm.”
Mia puffed out her chest with pride at the studio owner’s praise.
Now that we could dry the vials quickly with magic, the owner agreed to bake them along with his own work.
Since firing the clay and glazing it would take until the evening, the rest would be done by the next day. Apparently the baking itself took a full day.
I was surprised the process was so time-consuming, but we still set all our finished vessels into the kiln and watched them light the fire.
“Wow, it takes more time than I expected. Wouldn’t it be easier to put the glaze on before baking it?”
“You’re an impatient young lass, eh? Plenty of studios don’t bake before glazing, but then the moisture left in the clay seeps out and changes the color of the glaze or dissolves it in places. If it’s going to be used for magic potions, the special glaze has to be uniform, or the quality of the potion will go way down. The pre-baking is essential,” the workshop owner politely explained, despite Arisa’s grumbling.
…Huh? In that case, since we already dried them out with magic, wouldn’t my vials be fine without being fired before glazing?
I didn’t want to have them stop their work in the middle, though, so I didn’t say anything, and we left the workshop.
In the afternoon, we visited the tourist destinations I’d learned about in the tavern.
“Biiig!”
“It’s as tall as two Lizas, sir!”
Tama and Pochi gazed up excitedly at the bronze statue in front of the public office.
“Girls, this is a statue of the ancestral king, so try not to be too noisy, okay?”
“’kay.”
“Yes, sir.”
When I chided them gently, Tama and Pochi clamped their hands over their mouths.
“Still, no matter how great a man he might have been, this is an exaggeration.”
“Mm.”
Arisa had a point. The ancestral king’s statue was more than ten feet tall. Relative to the rest of the statue, the huge greatsword in its hand just looked like a normal one-handed sword.
Before the bronze statue, a poet was reciting an epic about the ancestral king.
Most of the anecdotes were pretty hard to believe. In one, monsters surrounded him, and his Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis split into thirteen smaller swords that flew into the sky to protect him. In another, an assassin who broke into his bedroom had to fight the ancestral king’s armor moving on its own. There were even multiple stories where he rode around on sky dragons or cursed hell demons.
Since this was all in the praise of the hero who’d founded the kingdom, no doubt there was a lot of embellishing.
Before I knew it, the beautiful voice of the poet had drawn a crowd of listeners.
When the song finally ended, I threw some money into the hat at the poet’s feet and joined in on the generous round of applause.
This peaceful scene was promptly ruined by one man’s jeers.
“Hey! You damn idiots! Outta the way!”
Clearing a path through the crowd of people, an aristocratic-looking man stomped to the front.
“It’s unusual to see a noble going around without a horse-drawn carriage.”
“I think that guy’s a former noble who’s fallen on hard times. I saw him in the tavern before.”
“He’s a former noble? In that case, it would be best to avoid him if at all possible, Master.”
I gave Liza a puzzled look in response.
“Perhaps you have forgotten? That is the same man who tried to take the ant cores in…”
Her words finally jogged my memory. It was that small-time crook again. I thought perhaps he’d found new employment at the government office in Sedum City, but his affiliation still read None. Maybe he failed an interview?
Now, I’d always been the type who didn’t remember the faces of people I wasn’t interested in, but forgetting him this often was strange even for me. I didn’t have a “Forgetfulness” skill or anything, and my INT skill was really high, so you’d think I’d be better at remembering things…
Maybe my INT stat was actually too high, and it was filtering out seemingly useless information so that it wouldn’t get in the way of normal processing.
Maybe it’s like a compressed file on a computer?
This was just a baseless hypothesis, but since I didn’t want to consider the possibility that I’d developed juvenile amnesia, I just went with that.
This was the only event that put a damper on our sightseeing, though, and we spent the rest of the day enjoying the sights of this world while the younger kids took turns riding around on my shoulders.
The next day was the ninth afternoon since we’d set out from Seiryuu City. Returning to the pottery studio, we all worked on glazing the fired vessels.
Mia’s magic must have worked well, since there were no cracks in the dried vials.
I’d expected the news that we had to let the glaze dry for several days before we could bake them, so we used a spell I’d prepared the night before called Glaze Dry so they were ready for baking in a short period of time.
From there, we decided to wander around the market near the city gate for fun.
“Say, do you have any bargains on pictures books, by chance?”
“We’ve no picture books, I’m afraid. How about these philosophy books and memoirs?”
The small, dodgy-looking man Arisa had addressed directed his reply toward me instead.
There were a few bound books at his booth and around ten that were held together with thread. Next to the stall was a stack of five or so bundles of paper wrapped with string.
“Is it all right if I have a look inside?”
“Certainly. These are research papers that some rich person’s heir sold to me on the cheap. I’ve brought them to scholars and magic users, but nobody would buy them, so I’ve been waiting for someone with a sharp eye to take a liking to them.”
I don’t think this little man is very well suited to business. Who would buy something after that kind of pitch…?
“What is it? Did you find something interesting?” Arisa asked me curiously.
What had caught my interest wasn’t the book in my hands but the pile of papers casually stacked next to the stall.
“I’d sell you that book for just one gold piece.”
Because my “Estimation” skill told me the book was worth only one copper, I flatly replied that I was just surprised by the terrible penmanship and asked about the pile of papers instead.
“One copper per bundle is enough for that. If you buy all of them, I’ll even part with the lot for one large copper.”
“I was just going to use them to pack some pottery, but at that price, I’d be better off using sawdust…”
“Two pennies for the lot, then! Take them, you thief!”
I agreed to the man’s desperately shouted bargain and got him to throw in the saddle-stitched research notes from the rich heir for dirt cheap while I was at it. Apparently, he hadn’t sold a single one yet.
“What’d you go and buy junk like that for?”
“Beats me.”
I shrugged off Arisa’s question, indicating that I wasn’t sure myself.
In truth, it was my “Estimation” skill that motivated me to buy the paper bundles.
For some reason, their market price displayed as just —. The only other objects I’d ever seen like that were unique items like the Garage Bag and the Holy Swords I had in Storage.
I’d never seen my “Estimation” skill give a price higher than 250 gold coins, which must mean those items were worth even more than that.
I’d bought them on a treasure-hunting whim, so I looked forward to finding out what was written inside.
For all I knew, there could be a treasure map in there.
I added, “We’ll just have to see
,” to befuddle the still-curious Arisa, slipped into an alley to stow the papers in the Garage Bag, then moved on to the next stall.
“Master, mysterious rotating object detected. Be vigilant, I request.”
Nana grabbed on to my arm and pointed at one of the stalls.
Her face was very close. Seeing this, Mia started sulking.
“Mrrrr…”
“Excuuuse me a moment. All right, break it up, break it up.”
Sounding like a schoolteacher, Arisa pushed herself between us from behind, moving Nana away from me.
What Nana had detected was a spinning top. The upper portion had an eye-catching red glow that left a faint afterimage as it spun.
“You there, the well-to-do-looking young man. Care for a peek at a magic tool from the royal capital?”
I made eye contact with the shopkeeper, and he called me over. There was a crowd of children clamoring around the stall, and the salesman shooed them away to make room for me.
It was natural to treat customers differently from curious onlookers, but I felt sorry for the kids who were chased away, so I apologized to them as I approached.
“Is this a top?”
“That’s right, but not just an ordinary top…”
Grinning, the salesman picked up the top in both hands. The grooves in its surface glowed red, and the top began spinning on its own.
“This is no fake! Try passing some magic through it for yourself.”
I could already tell that it was real thanks to my AR screen, but I gave it a shot anyway. According to the display, the top’s official name was a Rolling Disc.
Being careful not to break it, I let a little magic flow through. With a single point of magic, the center of the top began to rotate, though it was still in my hand. When I released it, the exterior spun in the opposite direction from the inside.
It must use a motor-like mechanism that runs on magic.
With a mechanism like this, I could probably make a mixer or something.
Since there weren’t any motor-like circuits in my magic tool textbook, maybe this was an original design by the creator.
“Pretty interesting. I’d like to buy two, please. How much?”
“Normally I’d ask two and a half gold coins for one, but if you’re buying two, I can knock it down to four.”
The price matched my estimated market value. It was a high price for a toy, so maybe I could get a better discount.
I managed to talk him down to three gold pieces for two. The reason I bought a spare was so that I could dismantle one to inspect it.
As I pulled out the gold coins, I asked on a whim about who the creator was, and he answered me easily. The inventor was an old professor from the royal capital named Jahado.
The man was famous for making useless magic tools, he said.
I’d gotten a bit hungry while we were browsing the stalls, so I followed my nose to a tasty-smelling product called roasted dumplings, a Sedum City specialty.
These turned out to consist of pickled vegetables wrapped in a thin layer of kneaded wheat flour and baked, sort of like manju steamed buns. Despite being a vegetable-only dish, it proved popular even with the beastfolk girls.
Glancing over, I saw Liza’s eyes were fixed on a nearby chicken skewer stall, so I gave her some change to buy some for the group.
While we were enjoying this little snack break, a blue light appeared on the radar in the corner of my vision.
The location indicated the person was near the main road. Since a blue spot denoted an acquaintance, I thought perhaps it was Zena chasing after me, but I was wrong.
The point actually belonged to the witch’s apprentice.
She was riding in a carriage flanked by an escort of four living armors, heading toward Sedum City.
I thought for sure she would go to the nearest town, Noukee, or up north to Kuhanou to deliver the magic potions. But since the carriage’s cargo was indeed potions, she had to be coming for a delivery.
I didn’t know why they’d go so far out of their way to transport goods in Sedum City, but I was sure there was some reason for it.
Since the reason the delivery had been rushed in the first place was the kobolds attacking the silver mines, maybe they’d chosen Sedum City for the shipment because it was closest to the mines.
…Which means those guys at the crossroads before were planning to ambush the witch’s apprentice?!
I rechecked the map.
The carriage had already passed the crossroads, where the group of thieves was amassed off to the side of the road with the condition Bone Fracture.
The living-armor guards had probably beaten them up.
It had taken me a while to notice, but now that I knew that the witch’s disciple had traveled all the way out here, I headed toward the gate to meet her.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, I just thought I’d say hello to an acquaintance of mine.”
“An acquaintance?”
“Yeah. I told you I visited a witch’s tower deep in the forest before, right?”
“What? So ‘witch’s tower’ wasn’t the name of some business full of pretty women?!”
As I chatted with Arisa on my way toward the city gate, I noticed some strange movement on the radar. A few of the villains from the crossroads were chasing after the apprentice’s carriage, and they were gaining fast.
“We need to hurry, actually. It looks like there’re bad guys chasing after her.”
With that, I rushed toward the gate. Liza picked up Arisa and Nana scooped up Mia so that they could follow close behind.
“Aaah! Pochi, Tama, please put me down!”
“We’ll carry you, miss!”
“Gotcha, Luluuu!”
When I turned around in surprise at the chorus of voices behind me, I saw that Pochi and Tama were trying to carry Lulu together, with her legs over their shoulders.
Whoops. I guess I should have told them that the slower members of the group could take their time following us.
There was a commotion outside the city gate.
The robbers had caught up to the panther-drawn carriage, and the battle had already begun.
The four living armors lined up to meet the ambush with pitchfork-like weapons.
The witch used her Earth Magic Sling spell to knock back all the approaching villains in one fell swoop.
Despite how close this whole situation was to the city gate, none of the gatekeepers were coming out to intervene.
In fact…
“Hey! You there, witch! Use of magic is prohibited near Sedum City. What if you hurt innocent passersby?!”
…all they were doing was shouting idiotic things to hinder her.
A few soldiers attempted to leave the gate to stop the ruckus, but the haughty-looking knight shouting at the carriage, who was apparently the captain, stopped them.
This guy seemed to be working with the villains, too, or at least being paid off.
I told Nana to guard Lulu and Mia, and then I brought the beastfolk girls with me toward the carriage. Just in case, I asked Arisa to deal with the knight and use her Psychic Magic to keep the area under control.
“Liza, Pochi, Tama! Don’t let the bad guys near the carriage!”
Without waiting for a reply, I broke into a run.
“You lot! If you’re going to join in on this ruckus, you’ll answer to the law, too! We’ll—”
Partway through his statement, the knight suddenly collapsed in a fit of apparent anemia. The soldiers around him all dutifully cried out, “Captain!” but none actually went to his aid. Guess he isn’t very popular.
“Oh dear, perhaps he has anemia?” Arisa remarked to Lulu in a loud, unnatural voice, throwing a quick wink in my direction when our eyes met for a moment.
She must have used her Psychic Magic spell Mind Blow to knock him out with a single strike.
Seeing us rushing in to help, the magical puffbird familiar on the apprentice’s head alerted her wi
th a loud, “Pou-kwee!”
“We’ll back you up.”
“I-it’s you! The person with the Elvish bell!”
“…The name’s Satou.”
I reminded Ine—uh, what was it? Right, Ine-what’s-her-face—of my name, then helped her fend off the robbers.
Since the knight holding them back was now out of the way, the gatekeepers came to offer assistance.
“Leave this to us and get inside the city, please.”
The man who appeared to be the vice captain called Ine back and headed over to arrest the villains, who seemed less eager to join the fray now that public servants were involved.
Ine’s carriage and her living armor escorts rushed by us to enter the city.
Realizing they’d failed, most of the villains fled in groups of twos and threes into the forest, but a few of them stubbornly insisted on pursuing the carriage, so the beastfolk girls knocked them out on my order.
Then, leaving the gatekeepers in charge of the captured villains, we went back into the city.
As we passed through the city gate, a boom signaled a heavy collision, followed by the crash of breaking objects, and lastly a scream from Ine.
Hurrying to the scene, we saw carts loaded with logs that had sandwiched Ine’s carriage, and that the living armors had destroyed the logs, and, finally, the tragic remains of the crate of magic potions, crushed between the living armors.
Plip, plip… Liquid dripped slowly from what was left of the crate.
Let’s Make Some Potions!
Satou here. There are plenty of PC games where you can make potions, but usually when you gather the materials and mix them together, the finished potion comes complete in a bottle. I always used to wonder where the bottle came from whenever I looked at the recipes.
“Aaah… The potions… But that means the Forest of Illusions will be…”
The little witch, Ine, began wailing like a child, huge tears dripping from her eyes. Two living armors stood protectively at her left and right.
Meanwhile, the men who’d arranged the wreck were using this chance to make a break for it.
“Arisa, take care of her, please.”
“Okeydokey!”
