Chapter 18

Ricardo went to the shopping district to look for chestnuts. The shopping district, located on the north side of Burg, was lined with various stores selling all kinds of goods.

Among them was a store selling preserved foods. When he entered, he found dried meat, salted fish, and chestnuts for sale. He bought something like dried grapes and chestnuts similar to almonds.

First, he gave the dried grapes to the wise beast. The wise beast put several dried grapes in its mouth at once, puffed out its cheeks, and started moving its mouth.

"How is it, is it delicious?"

"Kue" (…delicious)

The wise beast, with its white fur and several purple stripes, resembled a flying squirrel and was very cute. It was about the size of a kitten and looked like a child.

"I need to give you a name."

Since it looked like a flying squirrel, he thought of "Monger"… but it wasn't quite right. "Mongmong"… it sounded like the wise beast would have sleepless nights, so he rejected it.

While Ricardo was thinking, the wise beast started tapping his chest with its small front paws, urging for more food. Ricardo gave it three more dried grapes.

Thinking of the cat "Nyanta" he used to keep in Japan, Ricardo said,

"From today, you are 'Monta'."

"Kuekue" (Monta… I like the name)

It seemed that not everyone could hear Monta's telepathy. Only a few people, those with a certain level of magic control, could hear it.

Ricardo entered a store selling various leather goods and bought a small shoulder bag. This was to carry Monta, as he couldn't keep holding him in his arms all the time.

The bag he chose had a hardened leather bottom, thinking that Monta would move more easily with a firm base. After lining the bag with an old shirt, he put Monta in and slung it over his shoulder.

The store clerk gave him a strange look, but Monta seemed to like the bag. Standing on two legs inside, he poked his head out and looked around, sniffing the air and tilting his head.

"Kuekue" (Give me some chestnuts)

"Are you still hungry? Try this one."

He gave Monta a nut similar to almonds, and it started munching on it.

"Kukue" (I like this)

Monta, with his cheeks puffed out, was so cute that Ricardo couldn't help but smile.

Seeing Monta eat made Ricardo feel hungry. A stall was selling large chunks of meat on skewers. The smell of the meat sizzling was making his mouth water.

"Sir, what kind of meat is this?"

"It's a headbutting rabbit. Two copper coins each, and it's delicious."

"Two, please."

He paid and received two skewers. He took a bite, and it was delicious, seasoned only with salt.

After a short break, he walked around the shopping district and bought new clothes. He impulsively bought a warm-looking duffle coat with a hood, even though it wasn't cold enough for his breath to turn white yet. It would get colder and snow would fall soon.

Monta, with its naturally warm fur, didn't seem to be cold. However, he wondered if it would hibernate when the snow started. He would think about it when the time came.

While walking around the shopping district, he found a store selling grains and went inside. Rice, along with wheat, barley, and rye, was being sold. It was short-grain rice, similar to Japanese rice, and looked delicious.

When he asked the store owner how to cook it, he learned that it was eaten like porridge.

This world had many foods similar to those on Earth. It was strange, but since they existed, there was nothing he could do about it.

Back at the inn, he showed Monta to the innkeeper and asked if he could bring him into the room. The innkeeper said it was fine as long as he didn't make a mess, but if he did, there would be an additional charge.

Monta, with a full belly, started dozing off in the bag. After entering the second-floor room and putting his luggage down, Ricardo took only his valuables and the bag with Monta and went down to the first-floor dining room. The inn's heating system was only the fireplace on the first floor. During the cold season, guests would gather around the fireplace and spend time until bedtime.

The inn was mostly used by merchants, who were talking about business-related rumors.

"The baron Chromnis, who was appointed as the magistrate of the Mil territory, has resigned."

"Oh, again? It didn't last a year."

The Mil territory was a direct territory of the royal family, located to the east of the Yufrai River in the Cogatsu territory. It bordered the magic realm Crebles and was once overrun by magic beasts that invaded from the magic realm after a magic beast avalanche over 80 years ago.

The royal family once sent troops to carry out a magic beast extermination operation, but it failed due to the strong magic beasts.

Since then, the Mil territory has been almost abandoned. The capital Rize still had residents living there, but other villages and towns were abandoned as the residents fled.

The position of magistrate, which managed such a place, was not popular. Many noble lords without territories were appointed, but most resigned after a short period.

"Last month, a group of eldertrees surrounded the town of Rize for five days, and the residents couldn't leave the town at all."

"What a waste. If we could get our hands on the eldertrees, we could make a fortune."

"Fire catalysts, right? Their value has increased. However, to defeat eldertrees, you need a magician and guards. There are few magicians who can defeat the strong eldertrees."

Listening to the merchants, Ricardo was interested in the information that there were few magicians who could defeat eldertrees.

"Excuse me, is it true that there are few magicians who can defeat eldertrees?"

"Oh, are you traveling alone?"

"Yes, I'm going to the capital on my master's orders."

One of the merchants looked at the magic rod in its sheath.

"Your master… are you a magician's apprentice?"

"Yes, I heard from your conversation that there are few magicians who can defeat eldertrees, so I was curious."

According to the merchants, there were many magic beast hunters in the area around the capital, where the headquarters of the Magician's Guild was located. However, most of them were skilled in fire magic and were not suitable for hunting eldertrees.

The term "magicians who can defeat eldertrees" specifically referred to magicians who could defeat eldertrees without burning them.

"But isn't there a large number of magicians in the Magician's Guild?"

"The Magician's Guild… they don't take requests from small chambers of commerce."

The Magician's Guild had a department that accepted requests and performed magic, but most of the requests they accepted were from nobles and large merchants. Requests from commoners and small chambers of commerce were often ignored because the fees they could offer were low, and the requests involved dangerous tasks like hunting magic beasts.

Ricardo asked the merchants about something that had been bothering him.

"There are purple jade tree fruits. What are they used for?"

The merchants looked puzzled.

"Purple jade tree fruits… they're just pretty. They might be used as gemstones."

"Did you get tricked into buying them as gemstones?"

Ricardo shook his head.

"I got them by chance and thought about giving them to a friend who is a magic craftsman."

"Oh, a magic craftsman. There might be a use for them if they weren't purple jade tree fruits…"

Scholars, researchers, and magic craftsmen had tried various experiments with purple jade tree fruits, but when magic power was infused, white streaks appeared and they became useless.

"White streaks, like those in blue jade tree fruits?"

"No, no, they're not the same. Blue jade tree fruits form white streaks and black stars when magic power is infused. Purple jade tree fruits only form white streaks. Some scholars suggest that purple jade tree fruits are defective blue jade tree fruits that have changed before becoming blue jade tree fruits."

"Wow, defective blue jade tree fruits."

Ricardo spent a pleasant evening listening to various stories from the merchants.

The next morning, he woke up to Monta's voice.

"Kuekue" (Wake up… I'm hungry)

He rubbed his eyes and opened the window slightly to look outside. It was raining.

Not feeling like going out, he decided to spend the day in the inn room.

Monta came out of the bag, which served as his bed, and wobbled over to Ricardo, climbing up his body. When he reached Ricardo's shoulder, he made a noise near his ear.

Ricardo put Monta back in the bag and gave him some dried grapes.

"Kue"

Monta started eating them, looking very satisfied.

Since the ship would depart the next day, he had a free day. After playing with Monta, who had eaten his fill of dried grapes, and getting tired, he had nothing to do.

Remembering the conversation from the previous day, he took out the purple jade tree fruit. It was a thin purple crystal about the size of a marble. He wondered why a crystal-like object grew on a tree.

"Well, it's probably a magic tree, so thinking about it might be pointless."

As he stared at the translucent purple crystal, he was struck by a strange sensation. It felt as if something was lurking in the center of the crystal. Magicians called this an "extra-dimensional point."

Thinking it might work, he refined his magic power and compressed it into a fine needle, directing it towards the center of the crystal. White streaks appeared where the magic power passed through.

When the magic power reached the center, it was obstructed and scattered in all directions. He tried to control and concentrate the magic power, which felt similar to approaching a source gate.

The rain intensified, and the sound of large raindrops hitting the inn's walls broke his concentration. The magic power that had entered the purple jade tree fruit scattered. At that moment, countless white streaks appeared in the purple jade tree fruit.

"Failure"

He took out another purple jade tree fruit and infused it with magic power, controlling it. Despite doing the same as the first time, it was much harder to control the magic power. It was difficult to advance the magic power to the center, and when it reached the center, it scattered.

"Is there a difference in quality among purple jade tree fruits…"

He took out a third purple jade tree fruit and controlled the magic power. This time, the magic power smoothly reached the center. There was resistance, but not as much as with the first one.

He increased the amount of magic power and raised the pressure. He suppressed the magic power that was about to scatter and forcefully conquered the center. He felt a sense of accomplishment. Cracks appeared in the sealed door, and it finally shattered.

A black hole appeared, and magic power was sucked into it. There was resistance like inflating a hard rubber balloon, but he poured magic power into it with all his will, and the black hole gradually grew larger.

He continued to pour magic power for about an hour. When his internal magic power was exhausted, he approached the source gate and converted the power obtained from the gate into magic power, continuing to pour it into the black hole.

When the black hole grew to the size of a BB pellet, his concentration broke, and the magic power stopped.

Although it ended abruptly, the world's first storage crystal made from a purple jade tree fruit was completed.

The process of processing blue jade tree fruits and others is called "magic manipulation." This time, he performed magic manipulation on a purple jade tree fruit, which required a very strong control of magic power.

During the magic manipulation of the purple jade tree fruit, he vaguely understood what the black hole, called a "pog," was. A pog is a rented space cut off from a different dimension by magic power.

Since the space is rented with magic power, it disappears when the magic power runs out. However, once it is fixed, it requires very little magic power to maintain, and it can be used for decades to centuries.

The space is an immature space without established physical laws or spatial structure. According to the current state of the world, the physical laws and spatial structure are imitated, so time does not stop inside the storage crystal.

Living things can be placed inside, but they will die due to the lack of air and gravity.

By infusing magic power into the purple jade tree fruit, he understood its usage and capacity. The capacity was about the size of a medium-sized Boston bag. Compared to the storage crystal made from a blue jade tree fruit, it was much smaller, but since it was made from a defective purple jade tree fruit, it was understandable.

The usage was simple. By infusing magic power into the storage crystal, the inside of the pog would appear in his mind, and he could put things in.

He tried putting a copper coin into the storage crystal and taking it out.

"This is convenient."

He put the bag of gold coins from selling the magic rod, a black leather notebook, a copy of the Great Magic Series, and three newly made magic rods into the storage crystal.

This made his luggage much lighter.

He tried to perform magic manipulation on the remaining purple jade tree fruit. – It failed.

It seemed to be a defective one like the second purple jade tree fruit.

The next morning, while Ricardo was sleeping, Monta woke up in the bag and crawled out.

He looked around and climbed onto Ricardo's chest.

"Kuekue" (Wake up… I'm hungry)

Ricardo woke up to Monta's hungry call, just like the day before.

He smiled at Monta, who was sitting on his chest.

"Wait a moment, I'll get you some chestnuts."

He took some almonds from the bag tied to the cart and gave them to Monta.

"Kukukue"

Monta started munching on the almonds happily.

After getting dressed, he went downstairs, washed his face, and left the inn.

On the way to the dock, he bought three black breads from a bakery. Each was about 30 centimeters long. He divided one into halves, put the rest in a bag, tied it to the cart, and started walking towards the sea, eating the half of the bread.

It seemed that meals would be served on the ship, but the amount would not be sufficient. He also brought water in a canteen from the inn.

When he arrived at the dock, a small sailboat was moored. It had two masts and resembled a Chinese junk.

He showed his boarding ticket and boarded the ship. The ship was narrow, and there were about 30 passengers, mostly merchants. The cabins were small, and he had to share a room with other passengers.

Ricardo had bought the cheapest ticket, so he couldn't do much on the ship. He spent his time playing with Monta occasionally.

Monta was popular with the other passengers and received dried fruits, which he ate happily.

The ship left Burg and sailed smoothly, arriving at the capital Bizer after three days.