After returning to Rafan and resting for a day or so, we began preparations for the second layer of the attack.

Haruka and I, Yuki practiced magic, Natsuki made a prototype parachute, Mary and Mitya procured rope, and Toya went to Tommy for advice on repairing the rope ladder and door panels to prevent flying gars. .......

"Tommy and Mr. Ganz said, 'Have you had enough to drink? That's right.

...... Oh, yeah, we've talked about that.

As soon as we got back, we looked at each other as Toya told us.

At the party, there had been talk of making sake, which would require the rice and koji mold we had provided.

Tommy and the others seemed to be waiting with a certain amount of anticipation.

It will take some time to isolate the koji mold. ......

"Well, let's not rush into the second layer, but let's keep it half preparation and half relaxation. It's a cool time of year.

There's nothing I can do about that. I'll leave it to Haruka and the others.

It was Toya who immediately responded to Haruka's suggestion.

In his case, all he had to do was to train his own body.

He's not like us, who need to practice magic, and he can't be involved in making parachutes.

I guess that's why he came to this conclusion.

I think I agree. I don't know, I haven't had much time off since I got the escort order.

"Sure, you don't have to worry about money now. It's also a good time of year to make miso.

By cutting down the famous trees, I've earned enough money to pay for my spending at Crevilly.

In the middle of summer, it would not be a bad idea to dive into the dungeon to avoid the heat, but this time of year is relatively comfortable.

It may be a little chilly at times, but in a sense, it's a good season for leisure.

I have no reason to disagree with you. ...... What about Mary and Mitya?

Well, I'm not opposed to either ......

I'm happy to eat good food!

Mary is modest as usual.

Mary is modest as usual, and Mitya is a steady gourmand.

But it's going to be difficult to get rope. We don't seem to have any in stock.

"Oh, you have that?

It's not an industrial product, so it's not easy to increase production, and it's not easy to bring in products from other places.

But if we force them to make it, we are more worried about the quality.

Our lives are at stake.

I think it's better to take some time for safety reasons.

"Well, then, for the time being, we'll be relatively free to work on our own leveling up.

I briefly summarized, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Well. What am I going to do with ......?

I'm not sure.

"It's done!

It was about ten days later that Natsuki showed up with a petri dish.

The first step was to isolate the yeast, with Natsuki taking the lead.

"That was surprisingly quick, wasn't it?

I've got some pharmacy skills, too.

I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but I'm sure you've heard of it.

That reminds me, I have such a skill.

In our case, we have high-level light magic, so it's an unfortunate skill that we rarely use.

With a little practice, we seem to be able to make more and more medicines, but they are all in stock just in case.

And fortunately, there have been no such incidents so far.

In the first place, Natsuki herself can use light magic, so relying on medicines would be a really bad situation.

She once showed us something like a nutritional drink that we could use on a daily basis, but we're still young, and if we're so tired that we need such a thing, we'll just rest.

So, it's a skill that has never been very useful to us, but we never thought we'd be able to use it in a situation like this. ...... In a way, it's just like us.

It's also thanks to the accelerator that Nao and his team built for us.

"Oh, that's good. It was a lot of work to make that.

As the name implies, the accelerator is a magical device that accelerates the time inside.

Basically, it has the same structure as the storage vault, which slows down time overwhelmingly, but it is much more difficult to make.

Why?

Because there's no demand for it, and there's no alchemy book on how to make this magic tool.

I think it's useful depending on how you use it, but if you spend the same amount of money, the Magic Bag is more useful.

I don't see why anyone would want to build an accelerator over a magic bag.

Besides, while the Magic Bag has been refined over a long period of time, the accelerator has not been streamlined, so the level of acceleration is only three or four times higher. It's not as dramatic as the Magic Bag.

Well, I think this is about right for practical purposes.

If it accelerates time by a factor similar to the time delay of the magic bag, the objects inside could be destroyed in an instant.

It's also thanks to the existence of Worms, Disinfectant, Cure Poison, and Cure Treatment. Magic is very useful, isn't it?

"Cure Poison" and "Treatment" can be found at .......

Thanks to the help of Yuki and Haruka.

You're putting your body on the line.

I'm not sure what to make of it.

Which did you cooperate with, the magic or the tasting (?)? I don't know which he helped with, the magic or the tasting (?), but I'm sure he went to a lot of trouble.

"By the way, how did you isolate the koji mold?

"Well, let me see. The koji mold can grow even in alkaline conditions. So, I isolated the fungus from the rice and grew it on alkaline agar, or transferred each colony to a different petri dish.

"Oh, yes, thank you. I understand.

There's something I don't understand.

You can make rice malt with it, right? ...... is kind of yellowish. Is that what koji looks like?

"It varies. The one we used at home was a little whiter, but this time I chose the strongest one I could find. The taste of miso, soy sauce and sake changes depending on the koji, so if it doesn't suit you, you'll have to separate different ones.

"Oh, I see. ......

Koji is quite troublesome, isn't it?

You can make all kinds of koji-related things with this, aren't you?

"In fact, the koji mold is quite powerful, isn't it? I don't know the standard koji fungus, but it survives when mixed with steamed rice, and you can make rice malt in an hour or so at room temperature by sprinkling it on a bowl of rice. You can make rice malt in about an hour at room temperature.

You don't need to use it for several hours, right? I mixed the rice malt with rice porridge and made amazake in about an hour. How did it taste?

It was sweet and delicious!

Yes. I'd never had it before, but it had a gentle sweetness that was different from sugar.

It didn't seem to have been passed around to Toya and me, but Mary and Mitya seemed to have tasted it.

Incidentally, the sugar Mary was referring to was brown sugar, which has a very sticky sweetness.

Compared to that, koji amazake has a very smooth sweetness.

"Like the inspiration source, the bacteria in this world are quite amazing.

It's a good thing they're useful bacteria. Cannibalistic bacteria.

Will you shut up? Toya!

I hurriedly covered Toya's mouth when she started to say something dangerous.

What will you do if you get flagged?

I'm not sure how many times I'm going to be able to do that.

...... No, if the disinfectant works, can we deal with it?

But even if that's the case, it's too scary.

Yeah, I'll pray to the Lord Adversus to lower the odds.

My "Lucky! You'll do your job, won't you?

Well, thanks to Natsuki's hard work, we got a lot of spores, so let's call Tommy. "Well, thanks to Natsuki's hard work, we got a lot of spores, so let's call Tommy. ...... We got a lot.

Twice?

"Yeah, twice!

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're doing.

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for. I've heard.

If you calculate the required amount of koji mold, you can already make tons of rice koji with the spores.

I see. Well, I'll go for a run.

"No, there's no need to be so hasty. ......

In the event you're not sure what you're looking for, you'll be able to find a lot more information on the web.

In addition to Tommy, Gantz also seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, to be honest. The sooner the better. Besides, I'm a bit interested in alcohol myself. Well, I'm off!

No sooner had he said that than Toya ran out of the house.

You've been busy.

Well, that's all right, isn't it? I'll just leave the sake brewing to you. --By the way, you can make sake with this koji mold, right?

I don't really know how to make sake, but...

I don't know much about sake brewing, but I can tell you that it can and it can't.

I don't know much about how to make sake, but I can say it can be done, or it can't." Natsuki's answer to my question was a bit subtle.