Volume 8 - CH 4

Chapter 4 – Confirmation of the Add and Mitigation

After a test run of the Add, I returned to Carla-san, Ines, Felicia, and Fuu-chan.

“Master, isn’t it amazing? I thought it was a boat, but it’s a magic vehicle.”

“I don’t think it’s a magic vehicle, but is it something similar?”

I’ve never seen a magic vehicle before, so I can’t say.

“It’s amazing.”

Carla-san came up to me and observed with great interest.

“Thank you. It’s easy, so let’s all take a ride.”

I made the tickets, and then I let Carla-san and Felicia ride in the back in turn, and then we rode around. They put their hands around my waist and hugged me from behind. I’m happy, but it’s a shame that they’re wearing equipment. I don’t enjoy the feeling. It’s a simple way to drive, so I explain as I drive.

“How was it riding in the back, Carla-san?”

“It was fun!”

Her words are short, but she must be telling the truth because she is moving her hands around. She seemed a little excited.

Felicia seemed to be enjoying the ride. The problem was Ines. She looks excited, and her eyes are different. This is the face she makes when steering the ship. I had a bad feeling about this, so I made her wait until later, but it seemed she got even more excited because she had to wait. Obviously, I failed.

“Master. It’s my turn next, isn’t it? Now, let’s go!”

“Y-yeah.”

I take Ines, who is in high spirits, in the back, and we depart. Ines is holding on to me tightly, and I expect her to make a fuss when we start to drive. She seems to be watching my maneuvering with rapt attention. Ines’ face is next to mine. It would have been easier if she had made a fuss.

I wondered if I needed to explain the controls to her. I thought so, but I would explain it properly. I’ll be especially careful about the precautions I take. Even if I couldn’t see her excitement, I could feel it.

“Ines, how did it go?”

I can tell without asking, though.

“It’s very interesting! I wonder if it’s as fast as a horse. But the atmosphere is different. I was thrilled just watching from the back.”

Yes, it looks like fun. Ines likes this kind of ride. I wonder if Alessia-san and Marina-san will have the same reaction. …I can’t see a future where they won’t like it. They will ride around happily.

Even if they fall over, they’ll have a better chance of being safe than the Japanese because of their level of skill… It’s difficult. Let’s limit the speed at first; even 40 km/h is fast in this world.

“Well, now let’s see if you can drive. Carla-san, you get in the front, and I’ll get in the back.”

“Okay.”

This time, I’m going to teach from the back. Twist the gas pedal slowly and drive through the meadow. We avoid areas with long grass and take it easy. We enjoy the ride while looking at the scenery. This is the best way to ride.

Felicia also follows the instructions and drives with a sense of security. Ines also understands if I explain things properly, so as long as she doesn’t get too excited, she’ll be fine. It’s easy for her to get excited, though.

“It’s almost lunchtime, isn’t it? Carla-san, shall we have lunch?”

She nodded with a smile, so I prepared lunch. I thought about summoning the Hideaway, but since we were going all out, I decided to have lunch in the middle of the meadow to enjoy the picnic atmosphere.

I would have just put out the hot dishes I had bought, but eating a meal in the middle of a pleasant meadow is different.

Well, I usually summon at least a rubber boat, but that’s because I was told that no monsters could break Felicia’s barrier here.

“Master, what’s wrong? You have a big smile on your face.”

“Hmm? I thought it would be fun to do something like this.”

In front of me, I watch as Carla-san, Rimu, and Fuu-chan eat their meals with single-minded devotion. It’s peaceful.

“It sure is. It’s so laid-back, I feel safer than the area around Southern City.”

“Haha, right.”

I hardly know anything about the Southern City. Aside from the time I arrived in the Southern City, I only went to the Siena Village by boat.

I waited for the trio of gluttonous eaters to be satisfied with their meal while sipping canned coffee. But they ate so much.

Now that we were used to driving on land, the next step was to drive on the water. I am afraid of the sea, so I will take the river. Everyone in the village is hungover today, so the river is probably not being used.

…I realized something serious. I was thinking of going up the river to the other side of the mountain, but that doesn’t work if you’re going to hide the Add. …Something is getting tedious. I’m starting to feel like I could at least show all the dark elves.

They got the luxury liner in the first place, so there’s no need to force them to spread the word, but there’s no need to sneak around and hide it either. If everyone is back tonight, we’ll discuss it.

We’ll move to the river and slowly enter the water from where we can get in. …Huh? There was no word of surprise like ‘It’s amazing, or ‘Is it okay to go on the water?’

I pressed the button and finally got a cheer when the tire was about to move. I get cheers here. I don’t understand.

I later asked them, and they said, “You said it was amphibious, didn’t you?” I was told that they were wondering about this. They were convinced that it was just like that. It’s not a generation gap but a different world gap.

The Add travels on the water. It’s a bit bumpy. Is the current of the river dangerous? The bigger the boat is, the more stable it is.

But a Japanese-style boat is more convenient for this river. I can change the boat immediately by summoning, and I prefer the “Add” to be used exclusively on land. It’s just great to be able to drive on land.

When I get back to the others, they’re all ready to ride. They take turns going out on the water. They enjoy raising and lowering the tires.

Rather than driving on the water, they repeatedly lower the tires, go to land, move to the water again, and raise the tires. The purpose of the use is different. After running on the water and being satisfied, we returned to the Seeker.

“Welcome back, Wataru-san.”

Claretta-san welcomes me with a smile. It’s soothing, but I’m worried about the five stuffed toys in the back. She was probably making the stuffed toys while taking care of Alessia-san and the others.

Considering the speed at which Claretta-san makes stuffed toys, I am a little afraid of what is going on in her stuffed toy room.

“I’m back. How are Alessia-san and the others doing, Claretta-san?”

“Well, they seem to be a little better, but they’re not in their best condition yet.”

“I see. Tomorrow I would like to go to the place mentioned before where there is a strange smell. Do you think it will be okay?”

Should we take tomorrow off too?

“It will be fine. Even if they drank too much, they would recover at night, so tomorrow should be fine.”

If there is no problem, then let’s leave tomorrow.

Over a cup of tea with Claretta-san, we talked about today’s events. Carla-san is trying her best to explain to Claretta-san about the Add. It’s rare to see Carla-san trying so hard to talk, isn’t it?

Carla-san is trying her best to talk, and Claretta-san is happily listening to her talk. It’s a heartwarming and beautiful scene. It would be an ugly scene if I were to join in, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut and watch.

“Heh, is that so? It can run on land and water. I can’t even imagine, but I’ll ask Wataru-san to show me tomorrow. Thank you for telling me.”

“Yeah, but you know what, if you ask him now, he’ll show it to you, you know?”

I want to show it to her and show off and have her ride behind me without her having to ask. If I barge in here, I’ll ruin it. But isn’t Carla-san getting slightly childish? I sense motherly feelings from Claretta-san, too, and it’s a weird relationship.

Basically, Claretta-san and Carla-san are together. It’s unusual for them to be like this after they split up. It’s also rare that Claretta-san doesn’t use polite language for some reason.

“Fufu, I’d love to see it, but I’m sure Alssia and the others will want to see it too, so I’ll hold off until then.”

“Okay.”

“Wataru-san, how about dinner?”

Oh no, I’ve been dumped over here. It would have been nice to just sit here and watch.

“Well, I guess Alessia-san and the others aren’t in the best of condition, so let’s get what each of us wants to eat out of the food storage boat, shall we?”

“Thank you very much. That would be very helpful.”

The paid dishes on the Castle are bought and stocked well. I haven’t touched the free ones, though, because I’m afraid I’ll be punished if I get greedy.

I have nothing in particular to do, so I spend my time playing Jenga for the first time in a while until dinner time. Lately it’s been all about entertainment on the Castle, but Jenga is just as much fun as ever. It’s a great thing to think about.

While we were fussing, Alessia-san and the others woke up. Her glowing mood is shaded, and she has a dusky look on her face. I guess a hangover can cloud even the most beautiful woman.

Huh? Ilma-san is in an erotic mood. She looks painfully dull, but I wonder if it’s called decadence? I feel her sexiness is increasing. It’s amazing how sexy she is even in this situation. I love her pheromones.

“Is everyone all right?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. We had a lot of fun, so we drank a little too much.”

Alessia-san says with a wry smile. Not a little; you’ve drank too much.

“Oh, by the way, I have a drink that is good for hangovers.”

I handed everyone a sports drink. It is not good to drink a sports drink right after drinking.

“It’s very helpful to know that it’s good for hangovers.”

Hearing that it is good for a hangover, they gulp down the sports drink.

“Phew, I thought it tasted strange when I drank it before, though. It tastes good when I drink it now. Why is that?”

That’s how they rated sports drinks. I wonder more about it myself.

I sat on the sofa for a while and suggested udon noodles to them since they didn’t seem to have anything they wanted to eat. Udon noodles seem to be good for hangovers, don’t they? And it’s easy to eat.

While the hungover group members were eating udon, we were having a normal dinner. After dinner, they asked for another bottle of sports drink, so I gave it to them.

“Ah, I feel a little calmer now. Thank you, Wataru-san.”

“No, no, I’m glad you’ve calmed down.”

Their complexion is also getting better. Was the sports drink or the udon noodles effective? I’ll give it a try when I get a hangover too.

“Oh, I had a thought earlier today. Would you be willing to discuss it with me?”

I’ll ask them, just in case.

“No problem. What’s the matter?”

“Let’s see. I’ve been hiding my abilities to the best of my ability, but from now on, I think it’s okay to do things a little more freely. Of course, I don’t want to go out of my way to show off my abilities or sell them somewhere.”

“If your goal is not to show off your abilities and get an important position in some country or become a nobleman, there is nothing wrong with showing off, is there?”

Alessia-san asked curiously. Status and honor, huh…? It seems to be closer to a harem, but there seems to be a lot of accompanying hassle. Even if a harem is created, it’s meaningless if you can’t live a decadent life.

“I don’t really care about countries or nobility. I was able to summon some interesting things this afternoon, but I thought their use would be limited because of their prominence. I also got the luxury liner, which was my goal, so I don’t have to be so concerned about making money. Then I thought that rather than being afraid of being conspicuous and holding back from the things I want to do, I would rather choose to have fun while paying a certain amount of attention. What do you all think?”

If it looks bad, I’ll live my life as it is, but if it’s going to be fun, I’m willing to be a little more open-minded. I feel it is useless to hide my abilities, especially on the island of the dark elves.

I was afraid of the very small possibility, but things were different from when I found this island. When I had only purchased up to the Lutto, and now I have purchased up to the Castle. There should be more choices.

“Hmm, I see your point. In terms of safety, it’s definitely safer to hide as much as you can, but… now that you can summon an interesting boat, even if it increases the chances of being found a little bit, you’re willing to take advantage of it, right?”

That’s pretty much it, isn’t it? I think the general gist of it is what Alessia-san is saying, and I don’t think she’s wrong.

“Master, can you tell me what kind of action you want to take anyway?”

Sorry Ines. It’s just that I felt cramped not having the Add at my disposal, that’s the starting point, so I haven’t thought about it. I thought about turning it into a horse with a ship disguise, but the horse’s legs don’t work with a ship disguise.

A horse was galloping down a street without moving its legs. No matter how you think about it, it’s obviously a case of defeat.

“I haven’t really thought that far ahead, but I feel it would be futile to keep my abilities hidden even on a dark elf island. I mean, I’ve already shown the summons of the Hideaway to the people of the lakeside village…”

“Certainly, there’s less danger on this island. How do you judge what’s safe and what’s dangerous on this island?”

It was taken more seriously than I thought.

“In the meantime, what about letting the Add ride around freely on this island? Also, what would the reaction be if we rode the Add on the continent? Yes. I haven’t felt that much inconvenience with my other abilities hidden, so I think the biggest obstacle is how to use the ship summoning on land!”

“I can’t say for sure since we haven’t checked out that Add. Shall we go take a look now?”

“I don’t mind, Alessia-san, but are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, I’m not in my best condition yet, but I don’t have a problem. Shall we go?”

We decided to go out to check the Add together. I wonder how they will react? I’m kind of looking forward to it.