CH 10

Here’s another chapter today, enjoy~

After thirty minutes of walking after the battle with Gizma, we finally hit the creek. Can it be called a creek? Or a mountain stream?

“It’s a beautiful river.”

“Yeah. There are no aquatic monsters, so it is safe. Though sometimes monsters do come to drink water, so we can’t be too careless.”

“That’s scary.”

While saying that, I took a stone shovel out of my inventory. The idea was to use it to collect sand from the riverbed. I told Sylphy that if I put the sand from the riverbed in my inventory, I should be able to sort it out into iron sand and plain sand in my inventory.

“I see. As I recall, the village artisans said that a stone the size of a fist is iron ore.”

“Oh, really? Then let’s put every single stone in my inventory as well.”

“Yeah, but keep it in moderation.”

Sylphy smiled bitterly. Surely, it’s not wise to collect to the point of destroying the ecosystem. Let’s take it in moderation. But rocks are used for a lot of things, too.

At any rate, I gamboled into the river and began to collect iron ore and iron sand. The river is not very deep. It was about one meter deep at maximum. The river was flowing pretty fast, so I had to be careful not to fall off.

“Oho, this is cold. But this is a treasure trove of resources.”

I wield the stone shovel in the water. It is quite heavy, but not so heavy if I move automatically with the left click in mind. Then the river sand piles up in my inventory. When I opened the crafting menu based on the river sand, I found that I could craft iron sand as expected. Yes, I did it!

While crafting the iron sand in the background, I also put the stones from the riverbed into my inventory. Most of them were ordinary stones, but every once in a while, there would be a stone named “Mochi Iron” as an item. This would be the round iron ore that Sylphy was talking about. When I saw the word “Mochi,” it made me want to eat Mochi. Will I ever be able to eat it in the future?

Is it impossible? I guess it’s impossible. It makes me feel a little homesick.

“Hey, put this thing in your inventory or whatever it is called.”

While I was collecting in the river for a while, Sylphy, who had been away from the collection point, brought something that looked like a rabbit-like rat about the size of a handful.

“Aiyo.”

I put it straight into my inventory. The item’s name is “Rabbit’s Corpse.” So, it’s a rabbit, huh? This rabbit is huge. I’m sure there are rabbits on Earth that can grow to over one meter in length. I’ve seen it on the Internet. But that’s just normal compared to this. This is as big as a small dog… or even a medium-sized dog.

I was working on it for a while, but then I had a problem.

“When we got back――what the hell are you doing?”

“It’s cold… so cold…”

The river water was cold… I think I tried my best for about an hour and a half, but it was getting cold to the core, so I put a fire in the portable furnace to warm myself up. It’s just so cold.

“While your Master is working, the servant is taking a break to get warm and comfortable, huh? What an excellent standing.”

“I’m sorry.”

This time, she seemed to have caught a deer-like animal. There are cuts on its neck, but could it be that she killed it with that hatchet alone?

“The Bola is quite comfortable to use. With a good throw, I can easily catch the Yakki.”

It seems that she immediately used the Bola that I gave her. I see; she must have tangled that thing in the legs and robbed it of its mobility. The one I gave her seems to be working perfectly fine.

“So it’s called Yakki, huh?”

“Yeah, don’t put it away yet. You need to take the organs out and cool it down in the river.”

“What about draining the blood?”

“You need to cool the meat first. If you don’t cool it down quickly, the meat will smell bad. Get the rope out.”

“So that’s how it works. Copy that.”

As I took the rope out of my inventory and handed it to her, Sylphy deftly hung the Yakki to a tree and began to split its belly open. I take the wooden platter out of my inventory and collect the organs that are being removed. I have to collect it, but…

“Hoeekk!!”

“You can puke all you want, but not here.”

I’m not ready for the gross stuff yet. I’m about to vomit, so I’ll just support her by fetching river water from the wooden water bottle I made while it’s still warm. Keep a lot of water in it so that I can mass produce drinking water later. It’s essential to be prepared.

Shortly after, Sylphy finished removing the organs and threw Yakki’s corpse, still covered in fur, into the river. As for me, I’m in the process of collecting the organs on a wooden platter in my inventory, trying not to look at them too much.

“There we go.”

“I used to think that draining the blood out of animal flesh was the key to good meat.”

“That’s important too, but it’s more important to cool the meat first. If you don’t cool the meat quickly, the blood left in its body will rot, and the meat will smell bad.”

My question was answered by Sylphy while washing her bloodied hands in the mountain stream without a trace of annoyance.

“Oh, so that’s how it works, huh? I guess that’s the wisdom of a hunter.”

I wonder what my dismantling would do to that area? The Lizarf meat didn’t smell particularly bad, and it’s probably been processed in some excellent way, maybe.

“Speaking of which, is that rabbit from earlier any good?”

“I don’t know how it works, but for that one, you don’t have to cool the meat right away to avoid the smell. We can just drain the blood when we get home.”

“Heh, it’s different, huh?”

I don’t know how it works, but I have to respect the wisdom that comes from experiences. And I don’t even know anything about the animals in this world, after all.

“So, what are your results?”

Sylphy asked with a sideways glance at the simple furnace that glistened and emitted light and heat.

“Oh, it looks pretty good.”

I wasn’t just slacking off. I ran a simple furnace and extract iron from iron sand and mochi iron, and processed it.

“With the iron sand and mochi iron that is being processed into ore, I think this is more useful as a material than the rotten weapons and armor. What can I call it, a feeling of conversion efficiency?”

“Hmm, I don’t know, but I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. So what did you make?”

“This, this, and this for now.”

I pull out of my inventory a freshly made steel shovel, a steel pickaxe, and a steel ax for logging.

“The idea is to start with a set of tools for acquiring materials.”

“Hmm, so you want to make the collection process more efficient.”

“That’s the idea. Especially this one.”

I held the steel pickaxe at the ready and swung it down several times at the nearby rock. As I did so, the rock quickly shattered into pieces, breaking up into iron ore, stones, and gem-like luster.

When I crushed the rocks around here, I found quite a few jewel-like things. So far, what I’ve found are things like garnet, spinel, beryl, topaz, quartz, and amethyst. To be honest, I have no idea what they would be used for as crafting materials.

Maybe they could be worth some money, but I wonder what the monetary system in this world is like? I’ll ask Sylphy about that later in the night.

“Not even a user of earth magic can do that… That tool isn’t really a magic tool or something, is it?”

Sylphy groaned as she inspected what looked like the gemstone I handed her.

“It’s not that great. This is what happens when I use these tools.”

I handed the steel pickaxe to Sylphy while laughing. She smashed the pickaxe against the rocks a few times, but it wasn’t the same as I did. She just broke the rocks like normal. Let’s never make her angry.

“Hmm, so you’re special after all.”

“Fufu, that’s right. I’m special. So make sure you protect me well.”

“Well, I suppose I should do that.”

She returned the pickaxe while saying so with a straight face. Yes, being told that with a straight face is kind of embarrassing; it was like I slipped up. It’s not the reaction I was expecting. Shouldn’t that be the part where she smirked and replied in a thoughtful way?

“Ah, um. Yeah. Thanks. By the way, are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s time for lunch. Let’s have lunch.”

“Yeah, leave it to me.”

I take two logs out of my inventory and place them on the ground to serve as chairs, as well as two of the Lizarf meat sandwiches and drinking water I made this morning. Lunch is now ready.

“It’s still warm, huh?”

“Yeah, apparently there’s no or extremely slow passage of time when I keep it in my inventory. I kept the crater I lit yesterday evening in it, but when I took it out just now, it was still lit normally.”

“That’s… amazing. Your power defies the laws of this world.”

“I guess that’s what it looks like.”

It’s incredible how you can cheat the flow of time. I have no idea how it works. Are they storing it in a sub-space with a different flow of time?

“You also made an ax and a shovel, didn’t you? Have you tried those, too?”

Sylphy asked me while I was snacking on a meat sandwich. Wait a minute; if you talk to me suddenly, I’m going to choke. I gulp down some drinking water and pour the food I’m choking on down my throat into my stomach. It’s yummy.

“Mmm. I tried them. The ax reduces the time it takes to cut down the trees by more than half. The shovel seems to be a lot easier to use, but I don’t know what exactly it does.”

“I see. Why don’t you make a chisel and tagane* to process stone or metal next time?”

[T/n: I don’t know what is this called in English, but tagane is something like Japanese chisel?] 

“Hou, chisel, and tagane, huh? I think I’ve seen such a thing on my list.”

I knew the name of the chisel and the tagane, but I couldn’t think of specific use for it, so I prioritized the pickaxe, ax, and shovel, which I know how to use.

“You should make one if you can. Also, there should be rocks around here that can be used for whetstone. The village craftsmen occasionally come to this area to gather whetstones.

“Whetstone, that’s important.”

The whetstone could be used for sharpening blades and grinding metal as well. I’d love to get one. Also, iron production seems to be stable, so I’d like to make more tools in addition to the chisel and tagane.

“Hey, I want to make more tools than just chisel and tagane, is that all right?”

“Yeah, go ahead. If it makes you more powerful, then do it.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.”

With Master’s approval, I decided to make more and more metal tools. Chisel, tagane, saw, drill, hand-plane, adze, metal file, and more.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know what all this stuff you’re making is used apart from chisel and tagane.”

I wonder if it’s time to move from just pounding and stretching metal and attaching a blade to the metal to a more serious metalworking level. I mean, come to think of it, how did people put a blade on a knife or something without a whetstone? It’s no use worrying about that now, though.

“I can’t seem to keep up with the refining of the material iron. I’ll look for the whetstone while waiting for it to be processed.”

“Oh. I will look for more prey then. Don’t expect much, though.”

After a glance at the flaming portable furnace, Sylphy disappeared into the forest. Oh, I see. So, the smell of the fire made her prey escape. I’m sorry to hear that; she didn’t complain about it… so as Sylphy said earlier, today’s outing is mainly about gathering, or in other words, figuring out and developing my abilities. My Master is very kind to me. I’ll try to live up to her expectations.

“I wonder how to use this, though.”

I tilted my head with the chisel and tagane in my hand. No, they’re both tools I’ve seen before, are they? But I don’t remember actually using it. I’ve used a hammer, a saw, a file, and a drill. But I don’t remember using a chisel and tagane.

I think they are both used in combination with a hammer, though.

“Let’s just try it instead of worrying about it.”

First, I tried to focus the left click on the rock with the tagane and hammer. There is no particular reaction. Is it the wrong way to use it?

“Oh, this one worked.”

It turns out that if I switched the tagane to the chisel, I could make a hole in the rock’s surface. And? What should I do after that? Give me the tutorial to use it, please! But then again, the crafting menu didn’t provide anything back, nor did it launch the help, even with the F1 key in mind. That’s a disappointment.

“Hmm…?”

It took me ten minutes as I struggled.

“I see.”

I finally figured out how to use the chisel and the tagane. It seems that you can break rock by making multiple holes with a chisel and then hitting the spots with a hammer, connecting the holes with a straight line. This allows you to cut out the rocks with some freedom.

“…It’s a bit tricky to use, isn’t it?”

I honestly don’t know what to use it for. It’s not much to gain for the effort required… Oh, the formed stone can be used as a stone material in my inventory. So it’s another tool for gathering materials.

But it’s hard to get a lot of stone in this mountain stream… Later on, I’ll ask Sylphy to show me where I can get some rocks.

I’ve cracked and retrieved a few rocks and also got some whetstones, so I’m going to go back to the area where the simple furnace is.

“But seriously, I have a more lot of stuff now…”

Fumu, with this number of tools… it looks like it’s time to make that “thing.”

What’s that thing? It’s a familiar one in games with crafting elements—that thing.

Actually, it has been on the crafting list for quite some time, but I had to pass on it due to a lack of necessary parts and tools. Now that the tools are more plentiful and various metal parts can be made, it is possible to make it.

“Let’s make a… Yes, a workbench!”

After I make it, the real work of the craft is about to begin. Let’s get into it.