Sousetsuka

Chapter 44 Strongest Sage, Teaches Augmenting

 

Ruli mastered the way to refine dungeon wall in only 30 minutes.
The purity isn't that high, but it's good enough to make weapons.

"Then, let's secure enough iron to make one weapon for now."

The metal we have on hands are around 200 gram iron and 5 gram mithril combined. Iron has 10 times the volume of mithril but 40 times the weight. Mithril is light.

"One weapon.... Which means we'll need 10 times this amount?"

"That's about right. Well, I'll be helping you. Let's create a lot of dungeon crude ores and then refine them."

"I...I'll do my best!"

I smash the dungeon wall while saying that.
After smashing around 200 kilogram wall, we started the process to refine the dungeon crude ores.

Ruli's refining speed is about half of mine.
It's partly because she's still inexperienced.... But also because she's a bit too careful.

"You can be more haphazard when creating the crude ores. Since raising the purity comes at a later stage."

"I, I understand!"

Her speed slightly increased.
And then, we finished turning all the dungeon wall we smashed into dungeon crude ores.
I solidified the soil and put it somewhere to prevent it from obstructing the way.

"And then, um.... Ei! This magic is a bit hard...."

"Well, that's cause it's not production-type magic."

Ruli gathers the dungeon crude ores using magnetic magic.
Her control is quite poor.... But output is all she needs to gather the ores anyway.
To begin with, magnetic magic isn't of production type, the First Crest isn't good with it.

"Next, we just need to refine all these.... Wanna try doing them all?"

"Yes!"

Ruli puts her mana into the ores, activates flame magic and turns the dungeon crude ores into a lump.
The flame magic I used is the normal attack magic, but the one I taught her is of production type.
It has a short range and it's hard to increase its power, but it's easy to manage and control precisely. And best of all, it's well suited for the First Crest.

"You're doing well, keep at it!"

"Yes!"

Ruli repeated the recrystallization process many times and eventually, she got 2kg of iron and 50gr of mithril on her hands.
Some of the metal seems to have been shaved off at every recrystallization, but they're enough to make a sword.

"Looks like you've learned how to handle most metal now."

"I can't believe I did all this...."

Ruli becomes teary eyed. Cute.
But today's coaching isn't over yet.

"You probably have guessed the way to create the sword right?"

"Creating swords.... Are we perhaps making the sword by molding it with mana?"

"Yep, exactly. ...Ah, you should mix some mithril with the iron rather than having it pure iron. Use about half of the mithril we have now."

"Mixing it with mithril?　...I'll give it a try!"

Ruli mixes the mithril and the iron and turns them into the shape of a sword.

"....Doesn't it look bent?"

"That's normal for the first try."

The sword Ruli made is slightly bent to the left. Well, turning metal into a precise shape using mana is a matter of experience.

"This should be already far stronger than a sword made from iron. Try using that sword to cut this. The sword has no blade though, so it's more like smashing than cutting."

Ruli slashes at a block of wood I took out.
The block of wood is cut in two along with a sharp sound.

"Huh? Is this maybe stronger than the swords they sell in the city....?"

"Yea. Metals are basically stronger when they're in alloyed form. There's other techniques to this.... But for now, try to augment that first."

"It's augmenting at last!"

"Aa. ...That said, augmenting isn't really hard once you understand the basic of chantless magic. For now, look at this."

I take out one piece of paper from Storage magic and give it to Ruli.

"Is this... Magic circle? I've never seen one this complex...."

"It's a magic circle for 【Brittle Fracture】 and 【Toughening】. I'll teach you the way to compose magic circles once you've gotten accustomed to augment magic."

It's easier to learn the way to make magic circles once you've tried many different augments and grasped the feeling to do it.
I'm not saying that learning magic circle math beforehand is bad though.

"Dual augment right from the start!?"

"【Toughening】 isn't that complex, and this is actually one of the simpler dual augment magic circles. First, make a space to put in a magic stone on the sword and carve the magic circle using your mana."

I give a hermit crab magic stone to Ruli.
It's the best material for practicing since we have a lot of it and it doesn't fetch a high price.
Also, it should be big enough for dual augment.

"Err, first you make a space...."

Ruli changed the sword shape a bit and put in the magic stone.
And then, her mana slowly and carefully moves as the magic circle is getting carved into the magic stone.
However....

"I finished the carving.... I think, but the magic sword won't activate...."

"There's some parts where they shouldn't be connected. Try to reduce the amount of mana you put into it a bit more. Put a lot of mana into the thick lines, and little mana into the thin ones."

"Yes!"

I take out a huge amount of hermit crab magic stones I stocked and give them to Ruli.

She succeeded this time.
The performance is quite low for an augmented sword, but magic dwells on it at least.

"I-It's done! But the atmosphere of this sword felt quite different...."

"That's because you skipped mana conditioning. You should put your own mana into the magic stone and the sword before the augment. And once the mana settles down, do the augment. The performance will be better if you do just that."

Ruli completed a magic conditioned magic sword with the third hermit crab magic stone I gave her.

"This one feels similar somehow!"

"Try hitting the wall with it, you'll see how good it is."

"The wall.... Ei!"

Ruli's magic sword broke the dungeon wall.
This sword is augmented not for combat, but for mining the dungeon.

"I-it broke! And they said even the national treasures couldn't do it...."

You can't count on the national treasures.
We're in a world where that rip-off sword (the time needed to augment it; 5 seconds) is one after all.

"It's a success. Then, let's keep refining the dungeon at this pace!"

"Yes!"

--Later on, Alma came back carrying a huge amount of hermit crab magic stones, saw a part of the dungeon getting smashed and turned into swords, and shouted "What's happening here!?" in confusion.



















Previous Chapter

Chapter 43 Strongest Sage, Refining the Dungeon

 

"Alright, are you two ready?"

A day after the audience.
Ruli, Alma and I went to the dungeon.
We need most of the students for the barrier creation, and those students need to be able to use chantless magic.

Even though the teachers have gotten used with chantless magic lesson, teaching all of them in one week will still be difficult.
Therefore, we agreed that we needed around three weeks before we could begin the barrier creation in earnest.

"Yes! I'm good anytime!"

"Me too, all perfect!"

"Then, let's go!"

Thus, I started the search for one of the materials needed to create the barrier; a 60cm magic stone.
Well clearing the dungeon would take some time, so today's main objective is teaching Ruli and Alma magic.

"Alma, you can shoot 【Simple Mana Enchant】 without a problem right?"

"I can do it with my eyes closed now! I mean I've shot like hundreds of it!"

"Then, the next one is 【Wire-guided Enchant】. Alma, try using 【Simple Mana Enchant】 but stop before you shoot it."

"Un!"

Alma put her mana on the arrow she readied.
It's still a bit crude, but she got the passing mark. At this degree of completion, she should be able to learn the next enchant.

"You'll shoot that arrow.... but this time, try to concentrate your consciousness on the arrow before you do. Connect the arrow with a mana thread and feel as if you hold the endpoint."

"Hm...Like this?"

I could sense mana coiling on the slight space between the shot arrow and Alma.
The range is only about 3 meters.... It's good enough to get the feel.

"Then, try to make the arrow curve to the right using that thread as an intermediately...."

"Oooh, it curved!"

Alma's arrow slightly turned right.
She really has a good sense.

"This is called guided enchant. Once you can make the arrow turn at your will, you don't need to worry about line of fire anymore. Also, that arrow can penetrate right?"

"It can easily penetrate a mere hermit crab..."

"Then, first you should practice shooting through two crabs at once."

Doing it on one crab is easy, but you need to have an unexpectedly good control to penetrate two crabs with differences in highs and lows.
It should be optimum for her practice.
And since I've hanged the pendant from yesterday on my neck, I should also get a bit of experience points from it.

"Okay, I'll give it a try!"

"Don't go to other floors for now okay."

"Got it!"

After she said that, Alma left us to hunt hermit crabs.
This means she'll be a bit away from us, but I can sense if she's in any danger with 【Passive Detection】 as long as she's in the same floor, so there's no need to fret.
After confirming that Alma turned at a corner, I turned my line of sight to Ruli.

"Is it time for Augment magic at last!?"

Ruli raised her voice before I could say anything.
However, unfortunately, augment magic isn't the thing I'm going to teach her now.

"Augment magic.... Or rather, first we need to make the materials for it. You should make your own weapon if you want to do augmentation."

First of all, if a First Crest bearer needs to bring a sword whenever they want to practice, they will never have enough money on them. If they can create their own sword, they can practice anytime they want.
Moreover, if you want to master augment magic, you'll have to be able to concurrently use augment magic while you're creating a sword. Thus, blacksmithing is indispensable for it.

"Creating weapons....? But don't you need to train for years or even dozens of years to become a blacksmith...."

"If you're going pro, yep that's about right."

Even if she took the shortest route using the knowledge of my past life, it would still likely take her several hundreds years to completely master blacksmithing.
However, it isn't that difficult if it's only to surpass the swords you can find in the present royal capital.

"Well, I'll teach you weapon creation later, first our problem is.... procuring the materials. In short, metal refinery."

"But first, we'd need ores to refine--"

"We have raw ores here. This."

While saying that, I take out a sword from storage magic, put 【Mana Strike】, and 【Brittle Fracture】 on it and hit the dungeon wall with the sword.
Then a part of the dungeon's wall crumbled and fell to our direction.
By the way, 【Brittle Fracture】 is a magic to raise offensive power against hard brittle things like rocks.

"Dungeon's wall have a moderate amount of metal in them. There's many reasons for that.... Well, just keep that in mind for now."

"Eh, you're breaking that!? Or rather, you can break that!?"

"Hm? Isn't dungeon's wall a resource?"

"Let alone resources, it should have been the forefront of things that absolutely can't be broken...."

But it can be broken though.
The principal also already gave me his permission, 『You can do anything you want with it if you can break it』 anyway.
Well, no point thinking about it. It's probably another weird knowledge the demons spread. Those bunch really never do anything decent.

"I'll teach how to break the dungeon's wall later, for now let's focus on refinement. I'll show you how to do it right now, so watch closely and keep using 【Passive Detection】."

"Yes!"

I pick up a huge lump from the crumbled wall while Ruli is watching.
There isn't much metal in it since we're in upper floor, but it's quite enough for training.

I diffuse my mana into the lump, and after my mana melted the metal, I pulled the mana out and recrystallized the metal portion.
And then I crushed it into pieces using the sword with 【Brittle Fracture】.

"What do you think? Did you get it?"

"It felt like the mana melted the dungeon wall somehow.... Was that how to do refinement?"

"No, this is the second stage."

I activated magnetic magic and gathered black lumps from among the broken pieces.

"These are the dungeon's crude ores. Well, put simply, they're mix of metals contained within the dungeon wall."

Dungeon's crude ores contain iron within it so you can collect them using magnetism.
You can use your hands as well, but using magnetic magic is far quicker.

"Dungeon crude ores.... So we make a sword using these?"

"Nope. We collect these and then refine them."

I gathered the dungeon crude ores in one place, and melted them into one lump using flame magic.
The secret here is to put in a largish amount of mana right before they melt. The melting point will become lower if you do, making it easier to melt the lump.

I cooled it with water magic lastly, and recrystallized it using mana again by the same method like earlier.
Afterward, the black lumps this time are mixed with gray and blue crystals, creating spotty patterns. I think it's 90% gray and 10% blue.
The blue is mithril, the gray is iron. It seems the metals mixed within the wall in this floor are mostly of these two variants.

"How about it?"

"Don't tell me that's.... Mithril!?"

After identifying the blue parts on the lump, Ruli asked me.

"Correct. The gray one is iron. ...But the purity is lacking, thus we need to raise it by repeating the process before."

Afterward, I broke the spotty lump, melted the blue pieces and the gray pieces separately and recrystallized them again with the method earlier.
Silicones, oxygens and other elements besides metal are mixed in dungeon crude ores.
Recrystallization is needed to remove those impurities.
Well, my Fourth Crest can't make it that pure even after repeated processes though.

"I, I see.... So you get mithril from dungeon walls...."

"This isn't really that complicated, you'll learn in no time."

"No time!? ....I'm not sure which part of it isn't complicated, but thank you in advance!"

--And then, about 30 minutes later.

"I did it!"

Ruli is holding mithril she refined herself, with a smile on her whole face.
To be honest, I thought it would have taken around two hours.

Should I say as expected of the school's runner-up, or maybe it was thanks to her intense determination....















Previous Chapter

Chapter 42 Strongest Sage, Obtains a Sword He Made Himself

 

As one might expect of the royal treasury, it's quite wide and well tidied.
However, I don't see anything interesting from the entrance.
Well, let's try looking for it.

"First of all, dungeon's materials.... I would like something sturdy."

"Something sturdy is it?"

"Yes. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it's sturdy."

Perpetual-type barrier magic fundamentally transfers the damage on the barrier to the object used as its core to decrease burden on the barrier.
A magic stone can be used as the core if it's for a small-scale barrier, but if it's used on the barrier that will cover the entire royal capital, a slight burden would be enough to destroy it along with the entire barrier.

"...To be honest, I don't understand what kind of durability Mathias-san is looking for. I can understand if you mean something sturdier than mithril, however, if it's admantite and orichalcum, that is...."

Unfortunately the custodian doesn't seem to know which of the treasures are the sturdy ones.
There were lots of indestructible lab apparatus made with magic.... But they were most likely lost along with chantless maagic.

"Then, I guess I'll see for myself. I can pick anything I like as my reward right?"

"Y-yes! There are some exceptions, but you can basically pick anything."

This is an advance reward as the real one will be for later, so it's already quite lavish--.
Looking at the mana reaction, the things that piqued my curiosity are gathered together in one place.
I walk to that place while asking the custodian.

"Are the things around this part included in those exceptions?"

"No. I'm sure there are no things that can't be given around this part. These are most likely relics from an ancient civilization or the age of myth, we don't know how to even use most of them."

I see.
Most of the things in this part are certainly junks.
There's a lot of magic items created by the civilization in my past life, but most of them are boring things like kid toys, or stiff shoulder reliever.
However, I see something that looks usable among them.

"What about this sword?"

I raised the sword in question while saying that.

This is most likely a sword my past life made in an experiment. I don't remember when it was, but the mana pattern is familiar.

"That's an old sword excavated from an ancient ruin. It is sturdy, however, it's very heavy on top of being dull, thus I cannot recommend it. May I interest you with this sword instead. This was discovered very recently, but its performance is mythical. This was going to be put as a prize in a contest were it wasn't going to be granted to Mathias-sama--"

The custodian took out another sword.
That sword also looks familiar--Or rather, this was the sword I augmented in Bass's blacksmith. This was bought for 1000 gold coins huh, what a massive rip-off.
Why is this sword even in the treasury.

"We're troubled how to store it since it can cut stones when one just lightly swings it. This is truly the appropriate sword for the hero that killed a demon--"

"I don't need that sword. If there's someone else who wants it, you should let that person have it."

I declined the rip-off sword and continued observing the other sword.
This sword needs a huge amount of mana to activates the magic put in it.

Once activated, it can erase this entire castle from the map, but I would need another 50 year to have enough mana to activate this sword.
However, the material of this sword is far stronger than orichalcum-adamantite alloy.
It's more than enough as a core for the barrier.

"Alright. Let's use this sword as the core."

"That sword? I heard it had to be of orichalcum...."

"This sword is far sturdier than orichalcum."

"Y-You know just by looking!?"

"There's many ways to do it."

Well, it's cause it's my own creation.
I made a lot of things with this kind of configuration, so I can know just by looking.
I don't remember when was it since I produced lots of stuff of similar kind though.

"Also, I found something interesting. I'd like this as the reward."

I take a pendant on the nearby shelf.
The pendant has a small magic stone, loaded with a complex magic, inserted on it.

"...You picked another thing with unknown usage.... Are you sure you're fine with just that? There are many other powerful equipment here like that sword, or an armor that can be strengthened with mana...."

"No. I'm good with this one."

This pendant is also another thing my past life made.

It has the effect of increasing the experience point you get from killing a monster or an animal by collecting the mana that would have been scattered to the surroundings, by several times. Moreover, it affects your companions as long as they're nearby. Furthermore, the range is quite wide, it can cover the entire first layer of the school's dungeon.
It's the ideal magic item for me who wants to quickly bolster my force.

My mana and strength had reached their limit by the time I completed the pendant in my past life, so I threw it away without ever using it, who would have thought that it would be useful after I reincarnated myself.

"If Mathias-sama is fine with it, I don't have any objection...."

"I've got no objection either. Since Mathias has never taken an action we expected him to, not even once. He must have some kind of plan this time too. I hope you won't destroy the schoolyard again though--"

"Then. It's settled. And I've got to quickly prepare the barrier creation, let's go back to the academy!"

"What are you gonna do about the mithril?"

"We'll get the mithril in the school. ...Ah, you told me not to destroy the schoolyard, but that doesn't apply to the dungeon right?"

"....Huh?"

We went back to the Second Academy while having that talk.























Previous Chapter

Chapter 41 Strongest Sage, Works Out a Plan

 

"Right then.... First, I think we need to fix our force."

"We wouldn't be in this difficult situation if it was that easy...."

"Let's spread chantless magic to as many magicians as possible. That alone should be enough for now."

Although humans probably can't win in a 1-on-1 fight against demons, their strength is in number.
That was probably the reason why the demons haven't destroyed humanity yet.
The fact that there were only five demons including one dead one in a country is quite indicative of that.

Which means, people wouldn't have much problem defending themselves as long as they have the power of chantless magic.
....Though well, it would be difficult if we were the one attacking due to the difference in mobility.

"I see. I have heard about chantless magic from Edward. Indeed, we would probably able to deal with demons if we spread that. However, that would also mean telling the demons that our kingdom has a way to go against them. Won't the demons come to destroy this kingdom then?"

"...They probably will."

The demons probably intended to slowly shave off humanity's strength little by little until they were sure that they could definitely destroy us.
However, if Eist Kingdom comes to know the way to deal with that, the demons also most definitely won't let it pass.
They will come to destroy Eist Kingdom for sure.

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be better for us if we strengthen our force secretively without giving it away?"

"That's what we should do were the Heaven-sent Children of Magic didn't escape...."

"It's only a matter of time before the demons know what's going on. Fortunately we noticed this before they completely destroyed us.... Do you have any plan? If our force is centralized in Eist Kingdom, it would be harsh even with chantless magic wouldn't it?"

That's certainly true.
I could go myself but even I have my limit doing it alone, and even if there's a fewer demons now, protecting everyone won't be easy if the force to do it is concentrated in the Royal Capital.
However, of course, there is a way to break through this.

"We should have some time before the demons gathered themselves. They don't group together to form a large-scale organization like human's Knight Order. Even if several demons regarded this kingdom as a danger, the attacks will most likely be sporadic. At least for the next three months."

Demons fundamentally don't cooperate together.
They would of course escape all at once when their disguises were blown, but one human-hating demon good at intelligence would probably go around to spread the info.

Well, there is no demon that doesn't hate human, so there's no actually no need to specifically use 『Human-hating』.
The magical structure of a demon is 『made to hate humans』, thus, unless it's a mutant, there is no demon that doesn't hate humans.

"And after that three months?"

"I can't deny the possibility of a large-scale offensive. Therefore, let's shut out the demons before that happens."

"Do you have any way to realize that? Three months time with demons as the opponent looks to be equal to nil...."

"There is. We can simply create a huge barrier that surrounds the area we want to protect."

"Perpetual Barrier Magic.... Are you saying you intend to make a new God-borne Artifact?"

"God-borne Artifact.... I'm not familiar with that term, but I can probably manage if it's a perpetual mid-sized barrier to surround the royal capital. Since there's a dungeon at the Second Academy, we can use the mana from the Dragon Vein connected to that dungeon to fuel it."

"Is such a thing possible? Frankly, this all sounds like a tale from the Age of Myth...."

"I think that's inevitable, Your Majesty. Since it seems technology and such have been thoroughly destroyed by the demons. Well, it should be ready in one month time if we get students of Second Academy to help. That is as long as we can get all the materials needed...."

"The First Academy, Knight Order and Magic Division will cooperate too. Honestly speaking, I have no option but to bet on Mathias. So what materials do you need?"

The materials huh.
We wouldn't need much if the past me were the one who'd process them, however, this time, we'll tackle the problem using human-wave tactic by teaching processing magic to students who bear the First Crest. The quantity isn't something that Ruli can do alone, after all.
Which means, it's roughly--.

"One 60cm grade magic stone, and 10 kilograms of adamantite and orichalcum alloy. And also 1.5 tons of mithril."

"....Are you seriously saying that?"

"I'm very serious...."

Oh no. Wonder if I angered the king.
I could flee outside the kingdom if worse comes to worst, but I'd be alone again if I did.

"This kingdom has no 60cm magic stone. Dozens kilograms of mithril are most we could secure. We have a few orichalcum and adamantite from the national treasure's artifacts. They're currently being borrowed by people who know how to use them to fight demons, but even if we gather them all, I am not sure if it even reaches 3 kilograms."

I see.
True, considering the monster I beat in my trip to the Royal Capital was regarded as a 『Strong Monster』, it should be no mystery they can't get a 60cm magic stone.
Getting orichalcum and adamantite need a bit of refinement techniques.

"...Then, let us gather them."

"Gather?"

"Fortunately, the dungeon under the Second Academy seems quite old. There's a high chance a monster that has a 60cm magic stone appearing in the deeper part. As for the mithril, well I should manage somehow. We've got three months of time after all. As for the orichalcum--adamantite alloy.... Could I think about it some more after looking at the treasury?"

"『Manage somehow』 for tons of mithril huh.... It sounds impossible with our, no, humanity's common sense.... Edward, can we trust this Mathias lad?"

The talk turned to the principal who has been keeping silent until now.

"Mathias has made every unbelievable stuff he said so far into reality. To begin with, the very existence of a 12 year old who beat a demon alone sounds like a joke in itself."

"...You're right. All right, I will entrust this matter to both Mathias Hildesheimr and Edward."

"I'm grateful."

The unofficial audience ended after this and that, and then I went to the treasury together with the treasury manager and Edward.





















Previous Chapter

Chapter 40 Strongest Sage, Has an Audience with the King

 

"...Is an audience with the king something that can be done so easily?"

Several days after I killed Devilis the demon.
I went to the Royal Palace with the principal.
He came out of nowhere, 『You're free today right? Come with me to the Royal Palace for a bit』, and dragged me.... Just what's going on here.

"Don't be foolish. There's no way you can meet the king that easy."

"Then who is it besides the king?"

"No well, we're meeting the king alright."

"I don't think merely beating one demon is worth...."

"Killing a demon solo is a great achievement unheard of since the dawn of history. The Royal Palace's internal is even discussing about creating a new medal for your sake, though it isn't publicized yet."

"Eeh...."

"By the way, a medal was newly made solely for a party of six who killed a demon 100 years ago."

Something like that huh....
I guess this is unavoidable in an era where the demons have slipped in and thoroughly destroyed techniques to defeat them.
Apparently, the demons didn't slip in recently.

"....Oops, this is the room."

The principal stopped in front of a door inside the palace.
The door isn't that well decorated but it looks quite sturdier compared to other doors. The wall is likely thick too. I know, I can sense some difference in the mana reaction.

"It's Edward."

The sound of a key came from the inside and the door opened.
There are maids-san and a dignified-looking man inside the room.
I feel like I've seen a man with this kind of atmosphere in my past life.

It was of my acquaintance in my past life if I'm not mistaken.... He has the same atmosphere as the king of Manilia Magic Kingdom.
....The King!?

"It has been awhile, Edward."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."

Seeing the principal knelt down, I also did the same.
I'm not really familiar with formalities in the present era.... Well, I should just imitate other people.

"You and I are friends. No need to be that stiff as this isn't a formal audience."

"I'm honored to hear that, but Your Majesty is the king of this country...."

He really was the king.
And it seems principal Edward knows the king.
No wonder they let them in quite easily.

"And, is the boy over there the hero of the recent matter?"

"Yes. He is Mathias Hildesheimr, the one who killed a demon solo, and made a huge contribution to the progress of chantless magic at the Second Academy."

"I see. ...Indeed, he has quite a well tempered body for one so young. Ah. I will introduce myself just in case, I'm Eist Graya. I'm the king of this kingdom."

Some kings occasionally came to visit my house in my past life, but I had never thought that I would meet one in less than 20 years after my reincarnation.
Still, he's quite friendly, is this alright? Normally a king shouldn't easily introduce himself like this....

"My name is Mathias Hildesheimr, I'm a first year student of the Second Academy."

I don't really know how to do this, but I tried to introduce myself for now.
If they demanded formal etiquette from me, they would have taught me some beforehand.

"Good work on the subjugation this time. Usually we would have done a grand announcement and give you a territory to govern....."

I don't need no territory! Nuh uh, nope!
After all the trouble of reincarnating myself for the sake of magic combats, why should I be forced to have a territory.
Well, it might not be that much of a burden if I just push the responsibility to someone who can manage a territory, but please at least wait for another 20 year first.

"However, if we were to announce that demons have slipped into humans, the whole kingdom would inevitably fall into a huge confusion. Moreover, frankly speaking, we would like to avoid having the hero who beat a demon alone be tied to a territory. Of course I promise to grant you the highest credit once this matter is settled. Would you wait until that."

"With pleasure!"

It'd be sad if I were forced to govern a territory.

"Much obliged. ...However, now the problem is your reward. Even with the circumstances, we ought to give you a reward.... Right. How about a magic sword?"

"Magic sword.... is it?"

"Indeed. We took hold of a powerful magic sword incomparable to other national treasure grade swords just recently. It has been augmented with two magic that have never been seen before. The owner of the shop where that sword was found said that the sword was augmented by a child who happened to pass by.... It sounds too unrealistic that some even hypothesize that that child is the incarnation of Magic God."

So there's such a magic sword around....
But I don't think there's any point in me getting a dual augmented sword.
I can make more powerful magic swords as many as I want once Ruli is able to augment properly and I teach her some trick to it.

"....Your face looks like you're saying that you don't need it. Well, I do not mind if you take other thing. We will open the treasury later, you can take anything you fancy there."

"I'm very grateful for your generosity."

Picking anything I want from the royal treasury huh. That's quite grand.
Hopefully there's something interesting inside.

"However, it's still too little of a reward for Mathias's achievement. We can give you multiple treasures, but.... Do you have any wish yourself?"

Wish huh.
I remember this formal etiquette, 『As you wish Your Majesty』 in my past life, but this isn't necessarily true in this era.
Guess I might as well take this chance to ask for something big.

"I would like to acquire the right to use the resources of all the dungeons in this kingdom."

"Dungeon resources.... Do you mean ores produced by monsters and veins?"

"Yes. Everything that can be taken inside the dungeons including those. Of course, I'm not asking to monopolize them. If my associates and I are allowed to take the resources inside dungeons...."

Dungeons hold the most supreme resources inside them, surpassing even the highest quality gold vein.
This condition would have been flat out rejected, like 『Inconceivable』, in my past life, it could never even be considered as a term in a negotiation.
However, the sense of value in the current era is quite off of the past one. It would be super great if they gave me the right to even a part of it.

"I will happily comply if you are fine with that. From hence on, Mathias Hildesheimr as well as his associates will not be imposed with dungeon taxes, nor will they be restricted to enter a dungeon."

Yay! A huge success!
Now I can easily get my hand on monster's materials and magic metal.

"Also, if you want a dungeon, I'm considering giving you one along with a territory.... How about it? Of course, the kingdom will cover all the administrative expense. Dungeons are money loser after all."

The king let out this wonderful suggestion when he saw me doing a light triumphant pose.

"By all means, please!"

Resources get! They'd even cover the administrative expense for me, what heaven is this.
It's so favorable that I almost feel like I'm deceiving them here.

"You're quite unselfish, I thought you would ask for more."

Unselfish, no way. There's nothing more avaricious than this.
I almost replied that, but I kept my silence.



"Then let's proceed to the next issue. Regarding the demon in this matter.... There is no mistake that Devilis the Heaven-sent Child of Magic was a demon is there?"

"Yes. It's undoubtedly true. His crest was fake, and the magic he showed were chantless magic disguised as chant ones."

"So it's true.... As a matter of fact, the four Heaven-sent Children of Magic in this kingdom have all disappeared."

Ah. So all the Heaven-sent Children of Magic really are all demons....

"The Magic Division commander, Elhart is also included among them. Furthermore, it seems the existences thought to be Heaven-sent Children of Magic have existed for several hundreds years. ...In other words, our country had been secretly under control of the demons for several hundreds years. As Magic Division plays the most important role in coming up with countermeasures against demons."

That means, there is no organization in this structure called country that can win against the demons now.
It seems the demons purposely didn't completely crush human forces since there was a possibility that some problem might arise for them if humans were excessively driven to the wall.
"What do you think I should do?"




<Author's Note below>
Dungeons were regarded like oil fields in Mathi's past life.




















Previous Chapter

Chapter 39 Strongest Sage, Grasps the Graveness of the Situation

 

Among the three magic, the first one is 【Mana Strike】. That's a decoy.
The second one is 【Mana Concealment】. A magic for literally hiding mana.
And the third one hidden by the 【Mana Concealment】 is the main thing, 【Magic Destruction】.

"Kuh.... Flame!"

Devilis noticed my 【Mana Strike】 and used demon magic to build a wall of flame around itself in order to keep me off.
It's an extremely orthodox method to cope with the close-combat nature of the First Crest.
<TLN: The raw said First Crest, but I believe the author probably intended it to be 'the Fourth Crest'.>

However, that is exactly why there are established ways to break through it.
I chose the simplest one among them.
In other words, frontal attack.

"Wha...."

Devilis was surprised to see me jumping into the magic flame without a moment of hesitation.
Just as I thought, this demon lacks battle experience.
Building wall of flame is only effective for buying a very short amount of time or if your magic control exceeds that of your opponent.

Using it like this without taking magic control strength into consideration, let alone being useless, your own magic will be used against you instead.
For example, like this.

While jumping into the flame, I mix my own mana with Devilis's mana in the surroundings, taking control of it and making it attack Devilis.
The whole flame wall didn't break off, but the part I took was quite enough to create a gap.

"Wha....How!"

Devilis countered the flame with defensive magic and used the magic again to block my 【Mana Strike】-armed sword.
But since Devilis was forced to block these two magic, it had no more room to block another attack. Just as planned.

"You suck at combat!"

I fire the concealed 【Magic Destruction】 at the defenseless Devilis.
【Magic Destruction】 destroys Devilis's dual barriers and the magic that disguised its figure.

"Oy, what just happened!"

"It's too high level, I can't see--hey that's, a demon!"

"T-there's a demon! Where did Devilis go!"

"That demon is wearing Devilis's armor! Don't tell me, Devilis is a demon...."

"Who cares about that, there's a demon in the middle of the town! Hurry contact the Royal Castle, Magic Division and the Knight Order! Have the teachers buy some time while the students evacuate--"

Looks like the audience has begun to realize that Devilis is a demon after it lost its disguise.
The audience seats spiraled into a flurry in an instant.

"Kuh..."

After seeing that, Devilis probably concluded that it couldn't hide it anymore.
Devilis spread out wings peculiar to demons and began to concentrate its mana.
Judging from the movement of mana, this is a state where you allocate the whole output to movement magic, to run away with all your might--in brief, it's trying to fly away in this case.

I'm not sure if the reason it doesn't use teleportation magic is because demons have been weakened or something else, but of course, I'm not going to let it escape.
For this level of demon, it should take around one and a half second from spreading wings to takeoff.

With the little damage I gave to the demon, it would manage to escape by using the difference in our mana quantity if I let it to takeoff even once.
I need to settle this in one blow--nevertheless, one and a half second is more than enough.

I took out a magic stone from Storage Magic and put it onto the sword I held.
And then I cram my mana into the sword and the magic stone, adding 【Steel Slash】, 【Impact Blade】, 【Sharpen】, and 【Hardness Reinforcement】    augments.
These four augments are all for strengthening the sword's slashing power in their own unique way.

--However, this magic can't be called augment anymore. It's a clear failure.
Quadruple augments in this short amount of time would be very difficult even for the First Crest. Of course there's no way the Fourth Crest can do it.
Normally, a sword that's been crammed with mana at an impossibly fast rate and forced to possess magic will disintegrate in two seconds.

However, that's not a problem in this situation, for we have one and half a second time limit.
The augment took 0.8 seconds. 0.7s remaining. An easy victory.

"Wha...."

The demon who saw my sword suddenly turning into a magic sword tried to take a defensive posture.
However, it's useless. The demon isn't flexible enough to change into defensive posture in the middle of trying to fly with all its might.

This is the end.

While upping the sword's speed with Physical Reinforcement, I put  【Mana Strike】, 【Steel Slash】, and 【Sharpen】 on the magic sword that hasn't much time left.
Magic that dwells on a magic sword and magic you use on one are separate things, it's possible to buff magic swords.


【Mana Strike】, 【Steel Slash】, 【Steel Slash】, 【Sharpen】, 【Sharpen】, 【Impact Blade】, 【Hardness Reinforcement】
After putting all these magic, my sword that normally wouldn't have been able to kill a demon in one blow demonstrates sufficient power now.

The sword that has seven magic of five different kinds on it easily slashes through Devilis's body along with its mithril armor, destroying its heart.
The structure of demon's body is similar to that of human, so are the weak points.
In other words, they will die if you destroy their heart, and Devilis isn't an exception.

The mana inside Devilis's body lost control and scattered into the surroundings, power left its body.

"Did he...beat it...?"

"Unbelievable, beating a demon alone.... I heard that he won against the Knight Commander in the entrance exam but this...."

The people in the vicinity seems to notice Devilis's defeated figure, and a different kind of commotion begins.
Afterward, bunch of guys like Knight Orders and Royal Magicians gathered and it turned into a huge uproar.

Still, the demon even managed to slip into representatives of the First Academy huh....
It appears the world is in a quite grave situation right now.
This needs to be dealt with, else the humanity would be wiped out before I gained strength.





























Previous Chapter

15-Intermission 7. The Journey of John Smith

 

This is before the Divine Punishment chronologically.


"Yohn Fmith, tis s'far we can accomfany you."
"Thank you, Holphelp. I'll look for another caravan from here on--and also, the name's John Smith."

I said my thanks to the deerkin man.

After leaving the northern part of Shiga Kingdom, I headed west to the center of the Center Small Kingdoms together with a caravan troupe.
The highway in the Center Small Kingdoms was in bad shape compared to Shiga Kingdom's, much of it was uneven and blocked.

The most problematic thing was the monsters.
I almost died many times thanks to that.

During those times, I was 'coincidentally' saved by caravan troupes and wandering adventurers who happened to pass by.
At first I was proud of my good luck, but even I started to have my suspicion when [Stone Wolves] and [Moving Wood Bears] began to save me.

It's probably the work of the guy who gave me this arm, but I don't understand his objective.
Since he neither contacts me or restricts my actions....

"●●●　●！"
"Ah, my bad. I still don't really get the language around here."

I look for a caravan heading west while ignoring a sexy female peddler with brown skin.
I can't negotiate with people who don't speak Shiga Kingdom's or Saga Empire's language.

Woulda loved Appraisal or Language skills, not even asking for cheat skills here.

"Onii-san with the flat face over there, care to have some Riuch's fried rice?"
"Whaddya mean by flat--"

I was speechless when I looked at the master of the voice.
An odd guy who looks like a plastered wall covered by moss is standing there.

I'm sure he'd be popular in a theme park.

"Onii-san, is this your first time seeing a Mosskin?"
"Ah, sorry for staring at ya--how much's for the fried rice?"

I could see raisin-like things among the unknown meat and vegetables mixed in the steamy fried rice that's being fried.
It's different from the Chinese-style fried rice I know, but it looks quite good.

"One full bowl of this is one copper coin."
"Give me two bowls."

I pay him with the warped copper coins of the Center Small Kingdoms, not of the Shiga Kingdom.

Although there are slight differences in size, copper coins can be used in most countries.
Since the rate of exchange for silver coins is different when I'm going back, I'm prioritizing using up the copper coins which worth relatively less.

"Give me the bowl back once you're done with it."
"Yea, got it."

I taste the fried rice at once.

A bit salty, but it's good.
No, maybe because I sweat a lot in the long trip this saltiness tastes irresistibly good.
The unknown meat seems to have been pre-seasoned, it adds depth to the usually monotonous-tasting fried rice.

I couldn't stop my hand from spooning the fried rice into my mouth.
Right when the saltiness about to get too intense, sweetness spread on my tongue.

--Was that raisin just now.

After getting reset by the sweetness, the stimulating saltiness and the umami from the unknown meat hit me like a brick again.

This stall owner is quite good despite his plastered-wall-like face.
It's as if he's the rumored [Miracle Chef] of Shiga Kingdom.

"This is some good stuff. Is this sweetness from raisin?"
"That's from date palms."

Date palms?

"My cousin is selling baskets of it at the stall over there if you're interested."
"I see, gotta buy some later."
"If you're going, you should try your luck at the stall in front of the date palm's."

Hmm, is it a dice gambling or a rat race?
Taking a peek should be fun.

I memorized the stall's direction and held out the bowl to the mosskin.

"Another bowl please."

Good food in a trip is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.
You don't know if you'll ever get to eat it again later on.

I decided to slowly enjoy my third bowl.


◇


"--Rubik's Cubes?"

Toy Rubik's Cube I'm familiar with are lined up on the stall, though they might be of a different kind since they have five square rows on each side.

"Yo, niisan, wanna try your luck?"
"Luck?"
"Yeah! Turn this square thing like this and."

The stall keeper called me while stroking his well-groomed beard.
He lifted up a cube and turned it around, and then he played with it and made one side full of the same color.

"You'd get some luxurious premium stuff if you can get it like this on two sides and more."

The stall keeper showed various articles exhibited behind him.
The fifth and sixth prizes are of dummies instead of the real things, probably to prevent crime.

"Saga Empire's--『Appraisal Orb』, and the other one is 『Interpreter Earrings』?"

The 10 gold coins prize when you get four sides of the same color is attractive, though it's probably fake.
My funds have been running dry, this is just right.

I'm good at Rubik's Cube if I do say so myself.

But, before that--.

"By the way master, there's no way you can get five sides of the same color without getting six too right? Why do you have a fifth prize?"

The stall keeper sighed greatly at my question.

"Not all of them are as educated as you y'see."
"No well, either way isn't it just obvious?"
"That's not exactly true. If I left out the fifth prize, there'd be a lot of folks asking, 『Don't you have a fifth prize?』. Explaining to them that they'd always get six colored sides when they get five every time is troublesome, so I just put up a prize for it."

I see....

"Then that means there's no fifth prize?"
"Hm? I'll let you have it if you can get six sides on the same color."

The stall keeper put on a face like he was saying "try it if you can" while waving his hand.

That attitude only fires me up.
Let's get to the point.

"Is there a time limit?"
"Only until this hourglass drops. I'll let ya reverse it when it does if you pay me another 10 copper coins."
"As many times as I want?"
"As many times as you want s'long you have the cash."

I see, good thinking.
This would hook people who have low gambling-resistant to put out all their money.

I confirm the cash I have on hands.
Doing it on the first try is impossible.

But I should be able to get all of them with four silver coins, no, five.

"First time is only five copper coins."
"Is that fine with one side cleared like this?"
"Think of it as a service for beginner."

The stall keeper started the hourglass at the same time I started moving the Rubik's cube.
I easily cleared two sides after a few rotations.

"Whoa, ain't ya a promising newbie! You already got two sides! How bout it? You'd get one small silver coin if you stop here."

You're one to talk after letting it easy for me to get two sides.
The stall keeper raised his voices while smiling indifferently, attracting the peanut gallery around.

I'm not good with attentions, but I can't use [Burying] in this situation.
I concentrate on the Rubik's Cube while telling myself [That's a pumpkin], [This one's a cabbage] in my mind.

"Aah! He broke it off after getting four sides!"
"T-ten gold coins!"
"That guy, oh no."

I frantically move my hands while ignoring the peanut gallery.

My wallet has already been emptied.
I've got to clear all sides before the last hourglass no matter what!

"Oh oh oh, almost all the sand's fallen."

The stall keeper deliberately tried to hurry me up.

"Aaah, oh no oh no oh no."

Ah, geez.
The oh-no woman is noisy.

"3,2,1--"

--Got it!

"Ze--"

I held out the cube right before the stall keeper could fully declare zero.
The stall keeper's face was hardened in surprise.

"Whoaaaaa!"
"First time I see someone did it."
"●●●●●!"
"●●●! You're awesome!"

Surprises and congratulations welled up among the peanut gallery.

I confirm the stall keeper's reaction while feeling embarrassed.
If this guy tries to run away, I've got to get the money I paid him at least.

"Ah! The box!"
"What the heck?!"
"Sand?"

The cube I submitted collapsed into six-colored glittering sand.
The stall keeper snatches an obsidian ring-like thing inside the sand.

"Hahaha, this is it! This is one of the artifacts hidden inside 『Cube of Myriad Truth』! You did well youngster! These are your promised rewards. Accept them!"

The ecstatic stall keeper took out an Orb and earrings from item box-like black cross-section and threw them to me.

"I'll give you these gold and silver pouches too. Take all the remaining stuff too! ■■■■...."

I caught the things the stall keeper threw and put it inside my bosom.

"....　■ Fly"

The stall keeper floated, and flew to the southwest direction while laughing loudly.
With his lines earlier and all these mid-boss-like things he did, I don't wanna go anywhere near southwest.


◇


"--Not here?"

I bought date palms to be my preserved food in the trips, and signed a contract to board a caravan's sand boat heading to the one of the most prosperous trade country among the western ones, Garleon Union.
After hearing that caravan would embark tomorrow, I went back to the stall that served the superb fried rice earlier, but it was already vacated.

"Excuse me, when is the stall here going to open in the morning?"
"Huh? The guy that was there just opened today. A catkin and a dogkin brats came to pick him up."
"Hmm, you think he's gonna open again tomorrow?"
"Who knows."

I purchase sand rate skewers from the stall of this indifference old man.

--Eurgh.

Sand is gritting inside my mouth, looks like it's not well prepared.
Nevertheless, I'm not going to throw them away like when I was in Japan.
I crammed the skewers into my mouth while ignoring the taste and pour unrefined sake I bought on the other stall down my throat.

And then, next day--.

I went back to the stall street to look for the stall that sold the fried rice yesterday, but I couldn't find any mosskin after all, his cousin stall that sold date palms was also nowhere to be found.
They probably belonged to some caravan troupes and were only doing side jobs yesterday.

"I'm sure we'll meet again if fate allows."

After muttering something I didn't believe myself, I joined the caravan I'd be riding on and left the town.

"What's that, so pretty."
"Forget about it. That kid doesn't understand western countries language."

I look back at the dark brown beauties who are riding the caravan together with me.

"It's an Orb."
"Orb?"
"Oh? You can speak western countries language."

One of the beauties said in admiration.

The [Interpreter Earrings] I got yesterday appeared to be genuine.
Therefore, this Orb of [Appraisal] is also highly likely to be genuine.

However, I feel that I'd be better off using the money I'd get from selling this kind of Orb.
This is troubling.

"A Sand Pig is coming! Anyone who can use a bow, get ready!"
"Our turn~"
"You too come here! Pebbles vomited by a Sand Pig could easily break through a plank unless it's made of iron!!"

I rolled behind the sand ship's iron plank while being hugged by a voluptuous beauty.

"That thing's sturdy! Arrows from a small bow won't work on it."
"Just shoot! It'll work as a diversion."

Diversion is fine huh.

I don't wanna leave this lucky situation where I'm being hugged by beauty, but this situation seems dangerous if it keeps up.
I part myself from under the beauty's arm in grief.

"H-hold on!"
"My shotgun is perfect as a diversion."

I unwrapped the cloth hiding my gun and loaded it with some bullets.

Aim at the Sand Pig swimming in the sand.
It won't reach at this range, though not like it'd be really damaging even if it did.

But the roaring sound and the impact on the sand will be quite something, me think.

I pull the trigger after narrowing down the timing on the shaking ship.

--It hit?

Looks like a lucky hit grazed the Sand Pig's eyes.

"You're pretty good! I'm Miji, an archer and a dancer."
"Oh my my, Miji sure works fast. I'm Rouri, and you?"

Eyes of two beauties filled with admiration are turned at me.

"I'm John Smith. Just John Smith."

I personally thought it was a cool self-introduction, but the two beauties didn't seem to get it.
If I find myself in the same situation next time, I should try calling myself an adventure lover.

I extolled Miji's bravery, thanked Rouri's kindness when the Sand Pig appeared and presented them date palms from my knapsack.
Looks like sweets are justice even in another world.

While I'm getting surrounded by smiling beauties, the sand ship we're riding on is en route to Garleon Union.

Would it be tranquility or stormy drama waiting for me there.
The way to another world TUEEEE looks so distant and steep.
<TLN: TUEEEE is basically the Japanese version of OP.>


<TLN: Author's note below.>
The identity of the mosskin is unclear. Of course the identities of the catkin and the dogkin who came to get the mosskin are also unclear.
This is the first appearance of the try-your-luck stall keeper recommended by the mosskin. Whether he will appear again in the future or not is undecided.






























Previous Chapter