CH 120

「I thought I was mistaken, but it turns out you’re not Ruf but an Isekai person, huh. 」

「There’s the feeling that we’re being bombarded with an awful lot of info. 」

「What’s your relationship with the heroes? 」

「It’s a secret. 」

My relationship with Sis still irritates me to no end.

「I can’t keep up with the info overload, and can’t even take a jab at you. 」

Retze and the other guys grumbled while going back to their homes.

I also cleaned up the fire then【Teleport】to my home. Riche dashed towards me so I pet him before lighting the fireplace. The firewood that has been reduced to coals smolders into ashes. The new piece of thin firewood I placed burned easily after I stirred it a bit with the poker to let air in.

You can create novel stuff, can even see spirits, and strong to boot, yet for all of those, if you’re emotionally stunted then it’s probable that you’ll be taken advantage of —

They listed all the things that might make me a target, and they repeatedly nagged me to become more self-aware. I had braced myself, anticipating just how dumbfounded they would be before I opened up, but it seemed they were far more worried about me rather than shocked.

There are three heroes already, and there are a lot of other people who can see spirits aside from me. I plan to continue making novel things, but I don’t have any intention of revealing myself as Jean. Well, it’s too late to say that about the restorative medicines, I guess.

Retze said that it was a bunch of awful info, but for me the most awful info of all was that people can place their contracted spirits into another human. They might recklessly make an army of possessed folks, after all.

Ash didn’t elaborate about Az’s matter to Butler too, it seems. Well, there had been various embarrassing blunders at the start, so…Or maybe it’s because Az has become attached to Ash. At any rate, I’ll just keep my mouth shut for now.

I played tug of war with Riche for a while, then took a bath before turning in.

Originally, Riche had been fighting against the Great Wind Deity while waiting for it to petrify. That battle hastened the Great Wind Deity’s petrification, and Riche became powerful, and it was decided that he would be the next deity to summon the heroes.

Riche failed to connect the worlds, and he lost a huge portion of his power as a result. Was it intentional? I have a feeling that he did that on purpose. My baby is clever, after all.

I stretched my hand to Riche’s sleeping basket beside my bed and patted him goodnight.

My routine is still the same the following morning. When I went to the fields where Pal and Ish planted fruit trees, Khadar was there.

「Are there any signs before a spirit turns into stone? 」

「The speech and movement will become strange, and they won’t be able to conceal their appearance. 」

Khadar answered me without a change in his expression.

「Are Mischt and Halalfa alright? 」

Those girls aren’t simple light spirits, but I’m worried that they’ll petrify faster than Lightball who lost all of her powers.

「Oh my, so you’re worried about us. How adorable. 」

「Ack! 」

Halalfa suddenly appeared behind me and blew in my ear.

I jumped away from her. She was wearing clothes that emphasized her cleavage, thin waist, round butt and toned thighs. Her narrowed eyes gazed at me with amusement, her lips curved into a smile.

「Now, now, don’t tease him. 」

So, the safety zone is behind Khadar, huh. Ah, but what the heck am I doing as a man, hiding from a beauty like this?

「Our retainers increased thanks to you forming contracts with more spirits than we anticipated. 」

「The more dependents we have, the more our vessel of power expands. Those two won’t turn to stone before Namina does, at the very least. 」

I see, so basically, the spirits I form contracts with will become part of the lineage of the strong spirits they share attributes with?

「What about matter and spirit? 」

「There are far too many spirits as of now, so it’s fine if you just continue increasing matter. But I can’t say you’re doing a good job with the building’s ‘link’. It might be better if you mix in ash that spirits dwelled in, or maybe use honey and wheat flour instead. 」

Khadar disappeared after spouting a bunch of things that didn’t make any sense.

They give me answers when I ask them, but deities won’t proactively say anything that would breach their policy of not restricting the heroes they protect. The only time mine did should be when they requested me to form contracts with the spirits that ran away. Khadar seemed cautious back then, too.

I also keep my questions to the bare minimum, since I’m afraid I’m going to be tied down if I ask everything. It’s more fun researching on my own, after all.

「Hoho, that prude is being shy now. What a rare sight you’ve shown me. 」

Halalfa appeared behind me again while I was staring at the spot where Khadar just vanished.

「I have to prepare for tomorrow! 」

I ran away in a fluster.

And so, I returned even before noon to prepare for tomorrow’s departure.

Recovery medicine, check! Sheets and sleeping bag sunned and aired, check! Checking【Storage 】contents, check! Stocking up feed for the livestock, check! Contents of backpack (aside from bento), che~ck!

I don’t have anything particular to buy, so I easily finished my preps just like that. I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy Japanese dishes for a while, so let’s have fish for lunch.

Sushi, osushi. Your turn now, fishies I set aside on the shelf. Ginger, check! Wasabi, check! Momiji oroshi, check! Spring onion shoots, che~ck!

There are two batches of fish — fresh ones and kombujime ones (I sandwich them between sheets of kelp). The former tastes light, the latter sticky sweet.

Young sea breams are also in season now. Golden cuttlefish, spear squids, and more cuttlefish all lined up, ready for eating. The squids are almost transparent, really pretty. It’s amazing how I can deal with the parasites in them thanks to【Search】.

I put some ginger on top of the halfbeak. The fish’s skin had been peeled and fried to a crisp and the aroma was great. I enjoyed munching on it between servings of sushi.

There’s also some pinna shells and scallops. I had a fickle change of heart, sauteing the scallops in butter! Butter and soy sauce have their way of whetting your appetite, right?

I ate some gari and washed it down with green tea before starting on sushi again.

For the tuna, I varied the thickness based on the fat of the meat. I put them on the board, and fluffy sushi rice shrinked from the weight of the ingredients on top of it.

I also made some kappa-maki with tasty nori seaweed and thinly sliced fresh cucumber sprinkled with sesame.

And for the soup, we have clam broth.

I enjoyed the sushi on my own, but I bet it would taste the best if somebody else molded them for me. I’m already full, so I’ll just use the salmon roe to make ikura-don later. I didn’t finish everything on the shelf, so let’s just put the sushi set meal inside 【Storage】on standby.

Alright, let’s have ramen for dinner. I rested for a bit before teleporting to the library.

What did he mean by ‘building’s link’?

—

T/N: Momiji Oroshi – grated carrots and daikon radish, might be spicy, can be bought ready made 

Kappa maki (cucumber sushi roll) with gari (pickled ginger) and wasabi~

Source: Noob Cook

Osushi~ what a feast (º ﹃ º )

Source: Live Japan

Ikura-don.. Nom nom (o´ω`o)

Source: Serious Eats