Starting Daily Lives, Heating Up Kitchen Zeal
Hi, good morning.
Second morning of my life in another world.
I'm currently having a picnic, I mean no, going out on a herb gathering activity in the plain north of the town, led by Alma.
I'm just scooping out all the herbs I could find by relying on menu.
...It's so somber.
By the way, Alma just kept swinging her sword after guiding me here. She's so studious.
Huh, is her sword shining sometimes or am I just imagining it?
After digging out about 60 herbs, Alma stopped me.
Hiruka grass gets weaker and regrow slower when they're over harvested so you gotta be careful not to gather too many.
To begin with, it should have been a hard task to precisely only gather Hiruka grass when so many other grass resembling it growing all around. Even veterans dig up the wrong ones at times.
She hurriedly stopped me once she realized I could pinpoint the real ones and dug them out by dozens. My bad.
We had a break for lunch. Soft boiled egg sandwich and grilled ginger sandwich.
Ginger again you ask, please never mind that. I can only do so much with what I have and know.
I prepared some for Alma as well since she seemed to like my cooking yesterday and she looked interested when I was making the sandwich.
As we ate together, I offered to cook for her from now on if she's willing to pay for the ingredient cost.
'Are you sure, I would love to', she replied.
It's partly a way to pay Alma back but I'm also thinking of using this chance to ask her help me learn common sense and how to live in this world.
It's like training her by feeding her... Man I'm the worst.
But I told her to forget about me and go on her day as usual if I trouble her. Working and profiting together is the ideal form of this relationship, I don't want to drag her down.
Afterward, we went back to the guild and delivered the Hiruka grass.
"E-err, this includes Alma-san's share, right?"
"No. That's all Hikaru's."
"T-this many, by himself? Wait, wait are you saying I have to appraise all this by myself~?"
"You can do it."
"N-nooo~."
The receptionist lady begins appraising the grass one by one. Will her MP be all right?
<<Appraisal Lv1 Ability: Displaying appraisal attributes does not consume MP. However it will only show basic information and slightly tire the user.>>
...Will she last appraising that many in one go?
It's like getting an unreasonable delivery date during hectic period of your work. Kinda feel bad for her.
After a while, the receptionist lady announced the result, while looking like she was about to die.
"S-sixty two Hiruka grass totaling at 6200 en..."
"Thank you. Ah, also may I have another herb gathering quest card?"
"A-again? Please give me a break~..."
She gave me the card despite her tearful face... I'd take it down a notch next time.
"Ah, also, your Guild Member card is ready, here it is~."
"Member card? Is that something like an ID?"
"Yes, that's right. It can also be used to identify your adventurer rank~."
"May I ask about this rank thing?"
"Ah, I never gave you an explanation did I, pardon me~. Adventurer Guild has a rank system split into eight stages, from G to S~. Your rank will be raised the more quests you clear, and the higher your rank the better your rewards will be, in money and items~. Though the risk you take will also increase~."
"I guess herb gathering is a Rank G quest then?"
"It is~. In order to rank up from only taking herb gathering quests, you will need a total of 80,000 en of achievement to... Ha!?"
"I see! Then I'll bring back twice as much from tomorrow on, can't wait to rank up!"
"S-stop it!!"
I'm just joking. Don't cry now.
Afterward, we bought ingredients and cooking oil on our way back.
Then we went to equipment store to buy me a weapon and protector.
I wanted to get them earlier but since there was a possibility I couldn't afford the inn before getting a stable income, I only went through with it after seeing how much I could earn in a day.
And here we are at the equipment store.
Would love to buy powerful weapon, but for now what I need is the cheap and the bare minimum to protect myself.
Which are thus,
Iron Sword 10,000 en
ATK+30
Bear Leather Breastplate 12,000 en
DEF+15
These are all for now.
I picked the same iron sword as Alma's. I can't use a weapon I can't lift anyway.
It might look expensive at first, but you'd probably see 5 to 10 times the price if you want to buy something like this in Japan. Swords are a violation of the law though.
Sugar costs ten times as much as in Japan, but there seems to be a difference in value of money here.
Like how that Efi fruit fetches for 10,000 a piece... I should have picked more.
We've still got time till evening. What to do.
"I don't have anything to do until evening, what's your plan Alma?"
"I didn't take on a quest today, so practice swinging."
She's so diligent. Nobody would complain if she just lazed around all day in the inn.
"Ah, may I watch you for a bit?"
"Sure, but why?"
"I wanna get some references on stuff like how to swing a sword and footwork. Also, does your sword shine sometimes or am I just imagining things?"
"That lights comes out whenever I use [Mana Blade]."
"Mana Blade?"
Swordsmanship Lv1 Ability 【Mana Blade】
<<An ability that reinforces sword sharpness upon slashing by consuming MP. Has a high offensive power compared to ordinary slashes.>>
Is this like coating your sword with mana thingy. Really nice, simple yet strong.
I tried to practice swing mimicking her outside the town, but as someone who only dabbled a bit in kendo in junior high school, the skill needed seemed to be of a different thing.
Footwork, sword swing, rhythm, gotta observe her well... Eh? No I'm not a pervert okay? I'm studying for the sake of self defense okay?
My sword is short so it's got no reach, and though it's at least light enough to be held in one arm, I've gotta think up ways to make use of it well in different situations.
Alma is training by swinging her sword in one hand while using magic in the other hand as needed, I gotta come up with my own ways too.
Evening. My arms hurt. My legs hurt. Even my abs and back hurt somehow. Muscles I never even realized existed until today are protesting in harmony.
My whole body hurts must be cause I exhausted all these dormant muscles.
Nevertheless, I still had some strength left to make food in the kitchen.
Can't just shirk on stuff I blurted my own the very same day, gotta work hard here.
Today is oyakodon. It's yet another simple dish, but that's just how it goes with bachelors.
Also got a spinach-looking vegetable (apparently called spina here) boiled. You gotta eat your vegetable if you wanna grow right.
By the way, I asked Alma to light up fire and prepare water. She also offered to wash and dry tableware.
I felt bad to let her handle those all, but she insisted. What a good girl.
Oyakodon was received well. She even said that it was such a luxury to have meals this good two days straight. Is she trying to kill me with praise? Thank you
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
Before I went to bed, I tested out something I couldn't do last night.
A test to use magic without the ring.
I may not be able to use skills at all, but I've had experience manipulating mana without any tools or skills.
Yes, that experience of vomiting mana when I was on the verge of mana overload after eating Efi fruit.
The sensation is similar to the way the ring manipulates 'something' inside my body when I cast Ignite and Water yesterday.
And I'm now aware that this something is circulating inside me.
Something not out of place like it's only natural to be there.
Just like muscles, bones, and blood circulating in my body. This is MP, mana.
I can control it freely like I could my arms, legs, eyes and tongue.
And now I'm currently testing if I could control my mana outside my body if I emit it out.
First of all, Ignite. I emit my mana on my fingertip, imagining it like a flammable gas. Then I rub together flint-like mana to spark it.
Picturing hard like the image of a lighter, and now, cast time.
Tch
Tch
Oh, some kinda sound came out! No flame though. Like an out of gas lighter?
Umu, emitting mana while creating spark with also mana on my fingertip proved difficult.
How about I used both hands for each of them. Hold it, what is even flammable gas mana? ...Shouldn't think too hard. Just push through as the image goes.
I might have put too little mana earlier, gotta pour in more.
So I use another finger to create a spark, Ignite!
Bachi! Bobou! GOOOO!
A moment later, a flame, nay a blaze went up.
Awawawa! Stop! Staaaahp!
T-that was close! Almost caused a fire there! I pointed at a blank space so nothing got burned, I was seriously on edge there.
Would have driven me out of inn, town even, or worst, the jail... Gotta test this out carefully next time. Sorry.
But, but!
I did it! I cast magic! Without a skill or a ring, with my own hands!
I've still got a long way to go with mana control and my MP is at 0 now, but it just feels so fulfilling.
I kinda did it easily, but doesn't this mean people without magic skill can make use of this too?
<<Mana in this world is recognized only as fuel to deploy Skills or Livelihood Magic. Almost nobody thinks up ways to control mana and cast magic directly without Skills. Even if they succeed, controlling mana directly is an arduous task. Otherworlders that come from a world without mana are more sensitive to it, thus allowing them to control mana, this may be an explanation.>>
Well, I guess you can just automatically use these stuff without manipulating mana if you had Skills. It's easier that way after all, no need for such a roundabout way like this.
They've got Livelihood Magic Ring for ignition and water, but doesn't it feels like the ring and skills exist because something doesn't wish for people to control mana directly, what say you?
<<Laws of the World, detail unknown.>>
Okay okay, law, law it is. Well whatever.
I'll just live my life. Don't care who made these laws and for what reason, nothing I say or do will change anything anyway.
More importantly, I'm super happy now that I can use magic. Hyahhoi!
Welp, no MP left, time to go to bed. Good night.
What to make for breakfast tomorrow
Afterward, relatively stable days of life continued.
On days where Alma went to the forest to eliminate magic beasts, she would eat breakfast and carry lunch boxes I made.
I would spend my days doing herb gathering and training on magic and pseudo swordsmanship.
I can now use magic as I wish, as I imagine.
Freely at will, from a small flamethrower-like flame to a lighter flame coming out of my fingertip.
I can also control mana remotely. The range is limited to around 5 meter around me, and it disperses in a few seconds so it's got no practical use though.
One of these days, I might be able to shoot out fireballs like Alma.
Then I'm gonna run out of mana right away. MP, I need more MP....
Swordsmanship is the harder part to me.
I can't reproduce mana blade at all.
At first, I tried to coat my sword with mana and swung it around, but
Bofu!
...Bofu? Eh, what's with this response.
It's like swinging around a sword wrapped in cloth. Or rather, it doesn't cut stuff at all.
Does the mana give the sword an over protection, reducing its sharpness? Maybe weakening it will do.
Basu!
Not good, gotta make it weaker.
Gan!
No no, weaker, like, weak!
Zaku!
All right, it cut stuff! It cut stuff once I stop loading it with mana!
The heck! What's even the point! It's just a normal sword normally cutting!
Huuh? It shows my mana getting consumed and the offensive power got up, but it didn't go well.
Looking at the mana coated on the blade, it had this unstable soft feel to it.
Is merely coating mana on the blade make it serve like a cushion instead, reducing sharpness?
Then what if I harden the mana like iron and sharp like a blade?
Let's give it a try.
Umumu, coating the whole blade with hardened mana is unexpectedly difficult.
Just a bit, a bit more sharper... there you go.
I coat the blade with a razor-like sharp mana and maintain it. Then, slash!
Zaku!
H-huh? It doesn't seem that different... What's up with that?
Afterward, I tried all kinds of stuff like a curved mana, or a saw-like mana but the sharpness doesn't really change.
Ran out of MP, so I was done with the test that day. Dangit, this stuff is hard unlike magic. Gununu.
The next day and then the day after, I kept doing trial and error, but it was no good. It just won't go well.
A week passed since I tried to reproduce mana blade with no progress.
Why am I doing this again anyway? To cut up my target in two? And then what? Why do I wanna cut up stuff? What does it mean to cut stuff up?
I started getting philosophical from all the frustration.
...Let's go with magic training as a change of pace. I'm just gonna pile up stress at this rate.
Ah, yeah. Now that I can use magic, I should be able to do that, yeah?
I coat my blade with flammable gas mana and maintain it. And then, Ignite!
Bobooo!
An instance later, the sword in my hand went ablaze.
Fuhahahaha! Magic sword! It's Fire Sword!
...What the heck am I doing at my age.
Despite this success, I don't think this stuff has a practical usage, only a waste of mana.
A flame this weak won't set the target alight anyway, at most it's only gonna serve as a distraction or a threat.
Using magic and sword in tandem would work much better.
I mean it's just setting a sword smeared in oil ablaze. CCO?
As I got into a light sage time after the realization set in--
"What, was, that?
Alma with her eyes wide open in shock called out to me from behind.
Eh? You saw that? You saw my chuuni moment in all its glory? Didn't you go out for an elimination quest today?
"Ah, no, this is... How long you've been there? What about elimination quest today?"
"I thought of checking you up since you seemed down lately, Hikaru."
Ah, I was being careful with my expression and behavior as to not worry her, guess she was still observant enough.
That was super embarrassing.
Stop! Don't look at me! Don't look at this idiotic old man!
...Huh wait? Is it just me or is Alma staring at me with a serious expression unlike anything before? What's wrong?
"Teach, me."
"Eh? What is?"
"That flaming sword! Teach me how you did that!"
"W-what!?"
E, eeeeeeeh!?
She found that chuuni fire sword interesting!?
Or rather, I've never seen Alma being this proactive before! What's up with this!
Is it chuunibyou, is she catching one now of all time!? Because of me? Oh my goodness.
...Afterward, we had to wait until we both calmed down before we could talk.
How'd it come to this.
Wait it's all me.
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