Volume 1, 8: The Scornful Eyes* and The Magic

It seemed that my way of fighting was not usual for wizards. I wondered if I received any other benefit from this otherworldly transition other than my cheat ability? Was it the result of having a cheat ability that allowed me to fight strongly? I did not know the answer to neither of these questions, but I didn’t see any problem whatsoever. I didn’t see any particular disadvantages, so I felt grateful for having received this cheat ability. However, perhaps, I had to be more discreet when using it. I would stand out if I became suddenly too strong.

Well, let’s go with the flow and start by becoming a magic swordsman. I had no problem with acquiring weapons, because I had Dveragh-san to do it for me. Being a swordsman was not that bad really, and using magic simultaneously would be a tremendous asset to my arsenal. Besides, my magical prowess could further increase if I became a swordsman. Therefore, effort was important in order to accomplish that. I couldn’t do swordsmanship right now, but after using my shield, I felt that Martial Arts Qualities could help me increase my skills.

「Ah, maybe I can perform well because I have both Magic Qualities and Martial Arts Qualities, don’t you think so?」

「I’ve never heard of anyone having both. Even so, I think there’s something wrong with the way you catch Zunana grass… Are you hiding something?」

「I’m not hiding anything! Ah, the Zunana grass! Thank goodness you mentioned the Zunana grass! I almost forgot about it! I brought more Zunana grass for you! Here it is!」

I didn’t want to continue with this topic. I didn’t want to be seen as someone strange or suspicious. I took out a bunch of Zunana grass from the item box in order to change the conversation. The numbers “697” were written in the lower right corner from the image of the Zunana grass. I couldn’t take it all out at once, so I took it out in three steps and put it on the counter. Sally-san looked at me with scornful eyes, but when she saw a huge pile of medicinal herbs, she looked as if she had given up…

「697 it is, huh. I don’t know anymore. I really don’t know what to say. I will have to throw common sense out the window each time I speak with you Kaede-san. You are only 20 years old, and yet you confuse me. I can’t even imagine what will be your standards by the time you’re 30 years old…」

She brought a box to check the herbs while saying those words. I was curious when I came last time, but how did she count it? Did they have a magical herb-counting machine in the Guild? I only saw one like this at the counter.

「Yes. It is all Zunana grass. It will be 20910 Tael. By the way, you said that you had defeated the Green Wolf, but the subjugation of the Green Wolf is also a request. The price is cheap at 10 Tael per animal defeat. I can liquidate it if you show me your guild card. I can buy corpses if you give them too at a different price. The material can be processed at the counter over there.」

Sally-san pointed to the purchase window. When converted to Japanese yen, it was about 210,000 yen! You could get rich just with medicinal herbs.

I wondered if the lack of Zunana grass was quite serious that they would buy it at the same price regardless of the quantity.

Maybe the shortage of items paid a crucial role in the Guild businesses.

「Ye…Yes, please. 」

I confirmed it and gave her my guild card.

「You have six Green Wolves. But, did you not defeat just five?」

Sally-san looked at me with scornful eyes. I never thought that a beautiful blonde and blue-eyed girl could look at me with such eyes. They made me feel uneasy…

「Ah, a sole Green Wolf attacked me when I came back. 」

「Is that so? Then put the corpses on the counter over there. 」

I placed seven green dog’s carcasses on the counter, including the scorched ones. There were 3 scorched green dogs and 4 decent ones.

「…You have one more? 」

The scornful eyes were actually beautiful. Well, I didn’t have any fetish about it, but it was stunning the way she narrowed her blue eyes.

「I defeated it before registering in the Guild. 」

「I see. I can’t buy the scorched ones. I don’t think we can eat it even if we peel it off or bake it. But, you have a few that are fresh in the item box, so I can buy 1 animal for 200 Tael. If you don’t need the scorched ones, I can dispose them here. What do you want to do?」

Even if I burnt some of them with fire magic, they still could be emergency food. Moreover, I still had plenty of room in the item box. So, I decided to keep them.

「I will take the scorched ones with me. 」

「Understood. It is 21770 Tael in total. It’s a fair amount of money and you can deposit it in the Guild if you want, but… If you have an item box with a large capacity, then you don’t need to deposit it here.」

Sally-san smiled as she gave me two gold coins, one silver coin, and 77 bronze coins. I didn’t count it, but when I put it all together in my inventory, it went from 68 to 145. I guess it fits. I felt a little regretful that she stopped looking at me with scornful eyes.

「Thank you very much. See you again. 」

「Yes. I look forward to seeing you again. 」

I left the Guild after saying goodbye.

I got immersed in my own thoughts as I walked down the road to the restaurant.

I may have neglected fighting a bit too much while collecting medicinal herbs. Sure, I had a shield now, and I planned to have a sword. If Dveragh-san won’t give me a hardened sword by tomorrow, then I would have to buy a normal sword until I get a better one.

However, currently, my main weapon was magic. Still, I felt that I wasn’t using magic to its full prowess. My MP exceeded 2000 total with yesterday’s level up, and the amount of natural recovery was now more than 2 per minute. Was it a waste not to use only magic even though I had a great amount of magical power?

Magic that allowed me to keep firing without worrying about MP was certainly convenient. However, I wanted strong magic even if it consumed more MP.

I could escape from danger if I could teleport myself. But, I felt that I couldn’t use teleportation at all. Even if it ended up being usable, I could still fail at teleporting myself. The consequences scared me somehow.

So, first of all, I had to find out what kind of magic I could use safely. It was already dark today, so I decided to experiment in a shallow place of the forest tomorrow morning.

I arrived at the restaurant while thinking about it.

「Welcome! 」

High energy again. There were only two other customers other than me, probably because it was late.

One of the customers was a big man carrying a big sword. The other customer was an average-looking man wearing a big metal shield and a spear on his back…They looked like knights based on their equipment, but their armors were made of leather. They seemed to be chatting, but I couldn’t hear what they spoke about since I was far away from them. Well, eavesdropping was not a hobby of mine in the first place.

Hmm? Was it okay for me to judge people based on their appearances? Well, I just wanted to get statistical information. I never really remembered the individuals anyway.

「1 Green Wolf set meal please. 」

「Roger! 」

At a normal restaurant, the waiter would say, “Yes, thank you very much”. Yet, this restaurant felt too over-the-top. Moreover, they prepared things so quickly. They only had Orc set meals, Gargon set meals, and Green Wolf set meals on the menu. But, the lack of variety in their menu could be the reason for their insane speed in preparing the dishes.

As usual, I finished eating the Green Wolf set meal and left the restaurant. It has been two days since I first came here, but it began to feel quite normal to me.

I returned to the inn. I felt so tired today. My fatigue was so high that I decided to go to bed.

Come to think of it, I had never heard the bell at noon or at 6 pm. It may be because I was out of town during that timeframe.

—

I woke up with the sound of the bell today. I’ve earned a certain amount of money, so I was thinking of getting all the equipment today. However, I realized that I wouldn’t have enough money to pay the accommodation fee if I spent all of my money in equipment. Therefore, I paid the inn for three more days so that I could secure accommodation. Even if I ran out of money, I could always go and pick some medicinal herbs again.

I had to buy equipment in order to be ready to fight, even though I did not intend to fight right now. It was just a precaution measure.

I went to the restaurant as usual, ate the Green Wolf set meal, received the sandwiches and put them in the item box.

I decided to visit the blacksmith today, but it was quite early in the morning. It was probably not open yet. I looked up at the road and it seemed that most ordinary stores were preparing to open.

Therefore, I decided to develop my magic aptitude. I wanted to focus on offensive magic as much as possible, especially magic with large firepower. I wanted to search for a magic that I could use to attack an opponent and search other enemies at the same time. I didn’t really know what type of magic I could use to search for enemies in the surroundings, but was it perhaps with wind magic or something similar?

I tried to think about what type of magic I could use. Meanwhile, I headed towards the forest, a walk that took me about 5 minutes. I stopped upon entering the forest. I could see the grasslands on the other side of town from the slope. Anyway, if I went too far into the forest, I could end up in trouble just like yesterday, and I had to go to the blacksmith today. So I decided to practice for a little bit before going back.

I tried to develop water magic for the time being. There was a possibility that fire could spread when studying fire magic. That’s why I wanted to prepare some magic capable of extinguishing fire.

Water magic itself seemed to lack a high attack power, but perhaps, I could use it to suffocate my opponents?

I also decided to keep my status out so that I could study while observing MP consumption.

If a magic type was weak, then the MP consumption would be low. The magical power increased as the MP consumption increased. Magic with less MP consumption seemed to be not that strong.

On the other hand, the fireball, which was a powerful attack, consumed the same amount of MP as the rock spear when both hit the Green Wolves directly. While the fireball killed almost instantly the animal upon contact, the rock spear was not successful sometimes. At first glance, the fireball inflicted more damaged. However, the reason why they both consumed the same MP when they had different powers was it because fire spread instead of rock. The MP probably evaluated the power itself, and not the consequences of said attack. In other words, the subsequent spread of fire was a natural and physical phenomenon that had nothing to do with its power.

When the rock spear hit the green dog, it broke and did not disappear.

For the time being, I tried to invoke water like the time when I extinguished the fiery green dog. It felt like a hose attached to a fire engine that I often saw in Planet Earth, but MP consumption was only by 1 MP in 3 seconds.

The fuel consumption was…subtle. It was fine with me, but it usually took less than two minutes for an experienced wizard.

I thought about raising the power of water for the time being. Then, the hose became thicker. The diameter doubled.

MP consumption also increased four times more. I wondered how big it could be, but when I tried to make it thicker, but MP consumption did not exceed 1 MP per 10 seconds. Even if I tried to make it larger, the water force declined. I had a lot of magical power. However, was there a limit to the instantaneous output?

My water magic experiment was over, and nearly 90% of my MP remained intact. Perhaps, wizards and witches would have run out of MP if they endured for 2 or 3 seconds. But, with my magical power, it seemed that I could manage for 3 minutes.

There were no particular disadvantages other than the fact that magic would be unusable once the MP disappeared. Nevertheless, for ordinary people, the management of MP consumption could prove to be a challenge since most only had about 10 MP total.

Anyway. It was now possible to extinguish fire. The ground flooded with water and it seemed the fire did not spread, so this time I decided to develop the most powerful form of fire magic…I shall stop if I become too scared.

I wanted to find out how I could use powerful magic. I imagined making a strong fireball. Therefore, I put greater magical power into it.

I immediately imagined the nature of fire in order to increase its magical power. I stopped adding power when I consumed about 3 MP. There was no particular change in appearance, but I believe it increased magical power four times higher than before.

I tried firing it on a distant ground. I felt that the radius of the explosion was wider than the usual fireball. I tried to launch an ordinary fireball in the same place, but the explosion was milder. Was it about 1.6 times more than the usual amount? In case of an emergency, it would be difficult to evacuate to a safe area immediately. The explosion could catch me if I were not that far away from it.

I tried to move the fireball when I casted it, but as the distance increased, the MP consumption increased as well.

Normally, rock spears and fireballs were both generated at a distance of about 30 cm from my body (it was not hot because it was magic, but I didn’t feel like sticking my hand in too much). However, the farther away it was, the bigger was the MP consumption. If I moved it away to a distance of about 60 cm, the MP consumption became 8 times higher.

This was a little inconvenient. If I were to use magic on a regular basis, then this inconvenience could become a hindrance.

I had enough magical power that I could use for single shots, such as surprise attacks. But, to perform long-range magic attacks, I had to consume more than 10 MP per second. And if I didn’t do it, my surprise attacks would lose speed and become much slower as a result. Thus, becoming ineffective. I did not want to worry about where and how to use my offensive magic.

…Hmm?

*Meaning ジト目 (Jitome). (Stare or glare with) scornful eyes, reproachful eyes, disgusted eyes.