Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

I started writing up the production notes while looking at the contents of the magic tool as I waited for the chief to come back. I wrote down operation instructions, the things they may have trouble with when attempting to produce this magic tool on their own, and the specific reasons for the shapes and build of the various components.

I ended up filling out five sheets of paper before the chief came back. I also included some illustrations to help with the explanations.

“Oh my! How wonderful, Alan! To think you’d write something so detailed! These would surely contribute a lot to our research.”

I quickly skimmed through the magic tomes and reading materials for the advanced magic tool manufacturing course that the branch chief brought out.

(Have you managed to record all of that?)

『Yes.』

Hm. So there’s also something like compound magic huh. I returned the books back to the chief after Nanom finished saving their contents.

“Well, how about it? Are you now interested in taking the advanced course?”

“How much would it cost to take the advanced course?”

“The regular price is one hundred thousand Guineas. But if we apply your thirty percent A rank discount, it’ll just cost seventy thousand Guineas. That reminds me. We need to update your Guild I.D. as well.”

“Well, I do have some interest of course. But my budget is a little tight right now. I’ll think about it again once I’ve saved up some more money.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

My Guild I.D. was updated to show my new status as an A rank member. I then received the two hundred thousand Guinea payment for selling my magic tool.

“Well, the course may be over but do feel free to come over anytime you like, alright. I’ll lend you the use of our facilities if you ever decide to make another new magic tool.”

“That’ll be a great help. Thank you very much, chief. See you then.”

I went back to the inn after finishing my business at the Magic Guild.

I found Cleria and Elna having some tea at the dining area of the inn as always. The dining area was about half-filled with new customers.

It was just a couple of days since the time when we were the only guests staying over at the inn, but now, other guests started checking in as well.
When Verse started serving the recipes I taught him, it seems it gained quite a favorable response. Perhaps due to that, new guests started arriving in droves, and now half of the rooms in the inn were occupied.

Verse happily exclaimed that it was the first time in years since they’ve had so many guests.

I managed to spot the meals the other guests were having on the way to Cleria and Elna’s table. Oh, so today’s lunch is minced pork cutlets huh. It looks delicious.

“Sorry for the wait. Shall we have lunch here today?”

“I was actually thinking of that as well, Alan.”

Since the lodging fees we paid didn’t include lunch service, we needed to pay separately if we wanted to have lunch at the inn. But since it was decided that Verse wasn’t going to charge us money for the inn’s services in exchange for my cooking lessons, we usually had lunch outside instead in order to not take advantage of his goodwill too much. But today’s minced pork cutlets just seemed too tasty to pass up.

We ordered three portions of the meal set from Verse’s daughter, Sara-chan.

I talked about the stuff I did at the Magic Guild with Cleria and Elna.

“That’s amazing! So you managed to sell the magic tool you just made for two hundred thousand Guineas!?”

The conversations on the other tables around us abruptly stopped. Since Elna exclaimed in a fairly loud manner, the other guests ended up hearing as well. I bet most of these customers were merchants and the like.

“Well, that’s what happened. Surprising huh? This money is part of the party’s funds, so just tell me if you want to purchase anything, alright.”

“But that’s Alan’s money, right?”

“I used the party’s money in order to take the short course that allowed me to gain the know-how to make magic tools, so the money from selling the tool will naturally be part of the party’s funds in return. Do you have something you want to buy, Ria?”

“Something I want… I don’t think I do.”

“I don’t have anything in mind as well.”

“Well, just tell me if something comes up, okay. Oh, and there’s a magic tool I want to make. I’ll use some of the money to buy some materials, alright?”

“Of course it’s fine. Actually, there’s no need to ask permission from us, is there?”

“That’s not true. I have to ask since I’ll be using the party’s funds.”

Sara-chan finally brought over the minced pork cutlet meals. Of course, Cleria ordered a large serving as usual. But it really was tasty.

The meal consisted of two large minced pork cutlets and some shredded cabbage with Chinese-style dressing on the side. There were also some steamed potos as well. The potos were flavored with the herb salt I and Verse made. It seems he started offering a choice of bread or rice for meals lately, but in our case, we were always served with rice.

Verse also included ketchup with the cutlets. I taught the recipe for ketchup to him as well. I do feel that Japanese-style sauce was more suited to minced cutlets, but I and Verse haven’t managed to recreate it just yet.

There was also a small bottle containing soy sauce, or just ‘soy’ over here, served along with the meals.

I was the one who suggested this. In this country, it seems it was the norm to serve food with sauce already put on top. So allowing the customers to choose from a variety of sauces themselves was seen as a really novel idea. Verse was also quite excited when he first heard of it.

Oh, and there was some mustard as well. I’ll put in plenty of mustard and soy sauce today then.

Yep, that sure hits the spot. The cutlets were overflowing with meat juices. Freshly fried minced cutlets really are the best.

It looks like Cleria was weak to spicy stuff, so she chose ketchup instead. Elna put in some mustard and soy sauce just like me.

We ate silently for a while, allowing me to overhear some of the conversations going on in the other tables. Most of it was conversations about the food, but the table right next to us began talking about the so-called ‘apostles’ instead. It seems some merchants they were familiar with were rescued by an apostle from a monster attack.

Stories about these apostles have started circulating among the masses more and more recently. It sounded a bit fishy when Tarus-san’s son Katolle talked about it, but it seems the existence of these apostles has been more or less established among the masses recently.

The people who talked about them always placed the apostles in a favorable light.

According to the stories, sightings of the apostles occurred more frequently in larger cities. One suddenly appears high in the sky, flies in a circle for a while, and then disappears soon after. There was no harm done to the cities and citizens during each sighting, and some people even started praying to them whenever one appeared.

I actually planned to shoot one down with a rifle if I managed to encounter it, but now that doesn’t seem to be a good idea.

Well, I’d like to see these so-called apostles as well at least once anyway. Will one appear in this city eventually?

“Oh, right. What kind of magic tool were you thinking of building, by the way, Alan?”

“It’s a surprise. I’ll show it to you when it’s finished. I still don’t know if I can actually make one after all.”

Earlier, as I was walking back to the inn after coming from the Magic Guild, I reviewed the part about compound magic Nanom managed to record. Specifically, I was reviewing the part about a spell involving the combination of fire and wind magic. Compound magic is all about combining spells in order to cast a new one, and the spell I had my eye on seems to be able to produce warm air.

When I saw that spell, the first thing that came to my mind was a hairdryer.

It was a pain to manually dry my hair every time I got a bath after all. It would be really convenient to have a dryer on hand. I’m sure Cleria and Elna, who have longer hair than me, would be happy with it as well.

I had Nanom compose a blueprint immediately and was shown the magic circle and parts needed to make one right away. The parts were quite basic. We just needed housing, the appropriate magic circle, a switch, magic wires, and a magic stone. I can actually make one fairly easily.

However, since it’ll apply a magic spell that was included in the advanced course, making it in the Guild would be troublesome. I guess I have no choice but to make it at the inn instead. Oh, and I also need to make another food processor since I sold the one I made earlier.

I’ll dedicate the whole morning tomorrow to make magic tools, then I’ll continue with magic practice in the afternoon.

Alright. I’ll continue enjoying my lunch and do my best with magic practice later.