Chapter 4

After that, I continued to make paint tirelessly. Once I realized that I could just stick colored things directly, I wanted to make paint out of all sorts of things.

The petals of flowers, when stuck directly, became vivid paint.

Leaves, which have different colors on their front and back, I made both colors.

I found some moss and made it into paint. I made the skin of tree fruits into paint. I made tree bark into paint.

Then, a butterfly's corpse! This was a discovery... I found an orange butterfly, about the size of my hands, and took its wings to make a shimmering orange paint.

...I wonder if there are any fallen Lapis Lazuli Butterflies or Morpho Butterflies. If there were, I could make blue paint.

I stopped making paint for the day. Why? Because I was very tired.

It was a strange feeling. I thought maybe my eyes were tired or my shoulders were stiff from drawing for so long, but it was different.

A kind of fatigue I had never felt before, and a strange feeling of weakness. Additionally, I felt dizzy, like when I have anemia.

I think this is probably the same as when I fainted after creating the spring.

I think that if I materialize too many paintings, my body gets worse. Today, I got sick from making several tubes of paint in one day... If I go too far, I might faint like I did by the spring.

...So, I need to do it more systematically. If I draw something too big without planning, I might end up worse than just fainting.

Maybe I should avoid large easels and huge canvases... I want to try murals someday... but if I do, I might have to be prepared to faint.

That night, I camped out again, and the next morning,

I fried bacon and eggs in a frying pan while thinking. I need to materialize paintings systematically, so I have to think.

What do I want now?

First, blue paint. I absolutely need it. Without blue, I can't draw what I want. I don't want that. I really don't. So, I want blue paint the most.

...But before that, I want a brush.

Right now, I use my fingers for all the paint. It's inconvenient, so I want a brush. I think I can draw a brush in my current state, so I'll start with that.

Then, paper. I want paper. Materialized paintings disappear from the paper, which is good, but if I make a mistake, they stay on the paper. If I keep doing this, I'll run out of copy paper, so I want to secure some.

...If I draw a paper on paper, will it become paper? Well, I'll try it. And if it works, I want drawing paper. Copy paper is terrible with watercolors. It repels water, wrinkles, tears easily, and takes a long time to dry...

...And then.

Much lower priority than paint, brushes, and drawing paper...

I want a house.

I want a house, if possible.

I want to draw in a house calmly... and also, I'm starting to find camping uncomfortable.

But, this can wait. Even a tent would be fine. Just a shelter from the rain, somewhere...

So, I started with a brush. But... it was unexpectedly difficult.

Somehow, the way I drew the bristles affected the shape and material of the brush.

This was a problem. I didn't expect to struggle with a brush.

But there's no way to cheat with a brush, and I can't draw each individual bristle with such detail. ...After all, brushes are expensive, and I couldn't buy them often. I haven't observed them enough.

...Well, I'll work on it gradually. In the original world, I managed with three cheap brushes. It's definitely better than using my fingers.

Next, paper.

I thought drawing paper on paper would be difficult, so I drew a sketchbook. A sketchbook for pencil sketches and one with drawing paper. And a watercolor sketchbook.

I wanted to buy a watercolor sketchbook in the original world, but I gave up due to lack of funds. The paper is thick and high-quality, and the edges are reinforced to prevent warping and wrinkling. It's a luxury item.

...I managed to make the paper without much trouble. It's convenient that drawing the cover creates the contents. The effort I put into the brush seems unfair. Well, maybe the contents are completely different from the real thing... but I've never used expensive paper, so it's fine. I can't tell the difference anyway.

Still, I got what I wanted. The watercolor sketchbook I've always dreamed of.

Now that I can materialize paintings, I can use all the art supplies I've always wanted. This is... really exciting. I'm thrilled.

I can get art supplies without cutting my lunch. I can get them without worrying about the price.

I'll get all the oil paints eventually. I thought I could never afford them, but maybe I can even try Japanese painting. I can use lacquer, gold, and silver powder for maki-e. I can even carve a block of high-quality marble.

There are so many things I want to create. So many things I want to try. And now, I can do it!

...No, I can't stop feeling excited. My face is beaming.

But, I feel like my energy is rising as I get excited.

This feeling is something I hardly ever felt before coming to this strange world. I only felt it when I was very young. This feeling is what's driving me now.

It's not a bad feeling. The sense of being able to go as far as I want, in the way I want, in the direction I want.

...I think I've always had this feeling. But I was just holding it back.

So, I'll let it overflow now. It's an unfamiliar feeling, but it's not unpleasant.

By noon, I had drawn and was eating bread while drawing the next picture.

The first thing I drew on the high-quality watercolor paper was... a bag.

...I had thoughtlessly drawn three sketchbooks, so they wouldn't fit in a paper bag anymore. I had to draw a bag. A proper one.

What kind of bag should I draw? The first thing that came to mind was a large shoulder bag made of canvas.

It was dyed with persimmon tannin, I think. It was durable and long-lasting, my teacher said. ...Yes, this was the bag my teacher used. I liked the worn-out look and was a bit envious.

I drew the bag I admired on the watercolor paper I admired.

...Ah, it's really different from copy paper. The paint colors are so beautiful. It doesn't wrinkle. It doesn't tear. It dries quickly!

...I thought, expensive things are expensive for a reason.

And so, the bag was complete.

The exact same bag as in my memory.

...When I tried to wear it over my shoulder, the strap was too long for me. This detail was also from my memory.

I found it amusing and laughed to myself while adjusting the strap length and putting it back on. ...Yeah, not bad.

I put pencils, copy paper, a blanket, and glowing flowers in it... and the three sketchbooks, the brush, a knife, and a lot of paint tubes.

Everything fit perfectly in the large bag. This is all my wealth in this world.

...I feel happy.

It was evening, so I started preparing to sleep.

...But, maybe because I didn't materialize a lot of paint today, I had more energy than yesterday.

So, I decided to make a shelter from the rain and wind. Why not?

...So, I drew pillars.

They were done. Three pillars stood a little away from the spring.

They were taller than me, so I was a bit tired. Yeah, materializing paintings does make me tired.

But, one more push. I drew a large piece of fabric next.

...Since I started drawing the pillars in the evening, it was almost dark by the time I started the fabric. But, I used the glowing flowers as light and the cover of the sketchbook as a desk to draw.

By the time it was completely night, I had a large piece of fabric. It was thick felt. I imagined wool, but it's probably synthetic. Maybe it's due to my poor imagination or my drawing skills...

I was a bit tired, but it was better than the pillars.

I held the edge of the fabric and threw it over the pillars. ...After a few tries, it caught on the pillars nicely. I adjusted and pulled the fabric...

"Good night."

I went into the completed tent and went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up.

It was noisy outside.

...I woke up thinking it was noisy and froze.

No, because... if it's noisy, there must be something outside the tent.

And in this forest, if there's something... what? Animals? Beasts?

...I heard a "kyo-kyo-kyo, kyu" sound and the flapping of wings.

I cautiously lifted the edge of the tent and peeked outside... and saw an astonishing sight.

The head and chest were orange, the belly smooth and gray. The wings were brown, and the tail was orange. In shape, it was roughly a sparrow.

It looked like a Japanese Robin, but it was so large that it completely destroyed the image of a Japanese Robin...

...Its wingspan was about 5 meters, a strange bird.

This strange bird was bathing in the spring I created.

It was a bird, or rather, a strange bird. I was frozen in place. I didn't know what to do.

But the strange bird also didn't know what to do.

After our eyes met... it immediately spread its wings and flew away.

It was beautiful even as it flew away. The colors were beautiful, and the shape was beautiful. The vivid wings against the blue sky were amazing.

Seeing this, I thought...

...I want to draw that.