Chapter 43

The next day, Riccardo entered the magic realm to check on the divine treasure tree he had discovered near the second magic gate. The gatekeeper warned him that the number of magic beasts had increased, so he should be careful.

As he started to move towards the rocky mountains, he began to see the demonic tree Kumiri. Kumiri was running around restlessly. Perhaps a formidable magic beast was lurking nearby.

In such situations, it’s better to finish the task quickly and return. Riccardo entered Kumiri’s cave and climbed up to the rock shelf where the divine treasure tree was located.

Crawling out of the narrow exit onto the rock shelf, he confirmed the divine treasure tree. It was a young tree that had only been growing for a few years, with several brightly colored fruits on it.

"Amazing. There’s even a blue jade fruit crystal."

Eighteen yellow jade fruit crystals, seven red jade fruit crystals, two purple jade fruit crystals, and one blue jade fruit crystal were hanging from the branches of the divine treasure tree.

Riccardo hurriedly collected the fruits and stored them in a pendant-type storage purple crystal.

Riccardo looked up into the sky. Last time, a wind-cutting bird had interfered. There was nothing in the sky, but he could hear the sounds of something fighting from the ground.

He went to the edge of the rock shelf and looked down. Far below, a group of demonic trees Elbir were fighting two unknown demonic trees.

The unknown demonic trees were beast-like. Their roots were divided into four, moving like animal legs. The most threatening feature was the two branches extending from a barrel-like trunk above the roots.

The two whip-like branches, about three meters long, lashed out, slicing through the air and striking the trunks of the Elbir, leaving deep wounds.

The Elbir surrounded the unknown demonic trees and attacked them with their four branches. The unknown demonic trees retaliated with their two whip branches, but they were outnumbered, and one of them was struck on the tree liver and fell, exhausted.

The remaining one managed to break through the Elbir’s encirclement and fled north. The Elbir also disappeared, chasing after it.

Riccardo descended and walked to the fallen demonic tree. The tree, which had been about two and a half meters tall when standing, now lay lifelessly on the ground.

As Riccardo reached out to touch the demonic tree, it suddenly started to move, thrashing its roots and trying to get up.

Riccardo reflexively jumped back, drew his magic gun from his hip holster, and fired at the tree liver of the thrashing demonic tree.

Oil spurted out from the tree liver, which had been cracked by the Elbir’s branches, splattering around. The demonic tree’s movements slowed and eventually stopped.

"I hope it doesn’t start moving again."

He cautiously approached and confirmed that it was dead. The branches, which had been flexible like whips, were now stiff, indicating that the tree had lost its magic power.

Later, he found out that this demonic tree was called a Deathope. The whip-like branches were named "Scalefang Whips" and had patterns resembling fish scales on their surfaces.

He cut off a branch and tried channeling magic power into it. The fish-scale-like parts began to vibrate finely. It seemed to be a weapon that could erode the enemy’s body through vibration.

Riccardo tried to swing the three-meter-long branch but couldn’t manage it. His body, still in the growth stage, lacked the strength to wield the heavy Scalefang Whip.

Riccardo stored the dead Deathope in a storage blue crystal and hurriedly left the magic realm.

He returned to the capital by the day’s carriage, went to Bernard’s shop, and handed over the two storage purple crystals. Bernard had a goldsmith acquaintance who could process them into pendants.

Bernard was puzzled when he received the two storage purple crystals.

"Two? ... Could one be for me?"

Riccardo panicked.

"Sorry, I promised to give the other one as a birthday gift to the crown prince."

"Ah, I see. But I heard the crown prince is a difficult person... He seems to like you, Riccardo."

"Yeah, when he asked for a gift, I felt like I was being extorted."

"Hahaha... Well, with that face of his."

They talked for a while.

"About the gift for the crown prince, is a pendant okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think the crown prince already has a storage blue crystal."

Storage blue crystals are valuable and are often worn as pendants with a chain around the neck. If the crown prince had one, would he be pleased with a gift that was clearly inferior in function?

Riccardo took out the experimental storage purple crystal.

"Maybe use this one. But it has less capacity."

Bernard tilted his head when he saw the new storage purple crystal.

"Is it different from the previous two?"

"Yes, this one has a temperature regulation function."

"Temperature regulation function? What does that mean?"

"For example,"

Riccardo took the half-drunk cup of tea in front of Bernard, put it in the temperature-regulating storage purple crystal, and took it out after a while.

"Try it."

Bernard sipped the tea with a puzzled look.

"Amazing... It’s cold."

"Everything put in this storage purple crystal becomes cold. I made it to have cold drinks in hot summers."

"Indeed... It’s a wonderful invention. You mentioned it has less capacity?"

"When making this storage purple crystal, I suppressed the magic power to prevent white streaks from forming, which reduced the storage capacity."

"I see. Is it always the case that the capacity is reduced?"

"I haven’t figured out how much I can suppress the magic power without forming white streaks. Making more might help, but I need a lot of storage purple crystals."

"Are the storage purple crystals with white streaks unusable?"

"They can be used as regular storage purple crystals."

Bernard seemed to be thinking.

"Hehehehe..."

Suddenly, Bernard started to laugh eerily.

"What’s wrong?"

"Ah, sorry. I just thought this storage purple crystal would be a great business opportunity, so I couldn’t help but laugh."

It was a laugh like a bad merchant in a period drama, but it was fine.

"After you asked if I had any purple jade fruit crystals, I also asked my acquaintances in the capital to look for them."

Bernard took a bag out of the storage blue crystal. There were about twenty purple jade fruit crystals inside.

"I bought them a bit more expensive than in the Yorgul territory, but can you make a temperature-regulating storage purple crystal with them?"

"But it might fail."

"As long as it can be used as a storage purple crystal, that’s fine. Of course, I’ll pay for the processing."

Riccardo agreed.

"By the way, what about the storage blue crystal for the crown prince?"

"Oh, right. The name is too long."

"How about a cold storage purple crystal?"

"Good idea. When it’s done, maybe you could make it into a bracelet and give it to him."

"A bracelet? It might be easier to use even as a regular storage purple crystal."

A bracelet that fits snugly against the skin would allow for easy access to items without using your fingers. Riccardo thought this would be possible only for those who had practiced his magic control training method.

"Wait, can the crown prince control magic?"

"Royal family members are trained in magic, so he should be able to."

"Is that so?"

Riccardo was relieved.

They discussed the processing fee for the storage blue crystals, but since they didn’t know how much they could sell for, they decided to decide later.

After leaving Bernard’s shop and returning home, Riccardo was greeted by Monta, who hugged him.

"Quka, ququ" (Ric, welcome back)

"Good, good, Monta is a clingy one."

As he petted Monta, Serge and Pamela also came over, smiling and hugging Riccardo.

"Brother Riccardo, welcome back."

Recently, the two of them had started playing with the neighborhood children and seemed to have adapted to life in the capital. Monta, who was left at home when Riccardo went to dangerous places, now played with Serge and Pamela.

However, they hadn’t told the neighbors that Monta was a wise beast, so he was treated as a regular pet. Wise beasts can speak human language around the age of three, so Riccardo planned to start training Monta soon.

In the evening, Antonio returned.

"Brother, how’s the breeding ground?"

"Gathering feed for the demonic trees is getting difficult."

"It’s winter, so it’s inevitable."

"But if there’s not enough food, the demonic trees won’t grow, and the harvest will be delayed."

Demonic trees become dormant and stop growing when food is scarce, delaying the time they bear fruit.

"Feed... I’ll think about it."

After eating dinner with the family, Riccardo went to his room with Monta. Monta, looking sleepy, went to the large basket in the corner of the room, which served as his bed, and closed his eyes.

After making sure Monta was asleep, Riccardo started thinking about feed for the demonic trees.

Demonic trees can digest and absorb any organic matter, so feed isn’t limited to plants like weeds. He considered hunting for meat, but wasn’t confident he could get enough for the number of demonic trees they were raising.

If hunting didn’t work, what about seaweed? There was a sea nearby, so it was possible to gather kelp and wakame.

"But that won’t work. I remember wakame is harvested in spring and kelp in summer."

He thought wakame and kelp from other seasons would be fine, but winter kelp fishing would be too harsh. Riccardo didn’t want to do it himself.

"If seaweed is out, maybe I can buy wheat straw from the eastern agricultural area. It’s cheap, so it won’t be a burden, but in the long term, maybe I should build a silo to store winter feed."

Riccardo remembered news of accidents where people suffocated due to oxygen depletion in silos. The cause was the consumption of oxygen by fermentation of stored plants, leading to low-oxygen air in the silo.

"Be careful of oxygen depletion when using a silo," he wrote in his black leather notebook.

Flipping through the notebook, he saw principles and information about magic he had discovered, as well as ideas that came to him in daily life.

"This... is an idea for a convenient magic tool using the [Magic Lathe] spell."

The idea was a lawn mower. A round blade rotates to cut grass, a common type in Japan. He thought it would be useful for cutting weeds and was studying how to construct it using the [Magic Lathe] spell and factor letters.

Thinking of a lawn mower, he imagined a chainsaw and a logging scene.

"I wonder what they do with the branches and leaves after cutting down trees here."

He guessed they were left in the forest, as it didn’t seem they were transported out. Later, he confirmed with Master Romano that they were indeed left behind. The problem was that the branches and leaves became feed for demonic trees, attracting them to the logging sites.

Riccardo thought about collecting the branches and leaves left at the logging sites.

"Okay, I’ll pursue this idea. If it doesn’t work, I’ll go with wheat straw."

Feeling tired from thinking, he went to bed that night.

The next morning, he went to the Magic Guild with Monta.

His job was still writing reports. He entered the guild office and opened the door to the workroom.

"Good morning."

Isalco was waiting inside.

"Oh, you’re here. I’ve been waiting."

He seemed to be in a good mood.

"You seem unusually cheerful. What’s up?"

"The crown prince has given a reward. This is your share."

Isalco took out a small bag and placed it on the table. Riccardo took it and found dozens of gold coins inside.

At that moment, the door opened, and his fellow mages Barnaba and Bianca entered.

"…Councilor Isalco. G-good morning."

Bianca greeted him with a surprised voice. Barnaba followed suit.

"Yes, you’re the new recruits in the General Affairs Bureau. I have something to ask Riccardo, so I’ll borrow him."

With that, Isalco left the room, and Riccardo hurried to follow.

Outside the room, Isalco asked,

"Do you know a quiet place nearby where no one is around?"

"The staff dormitory is good. No one is there in the morning."

They went to the staff dormitory. Riccardo led Isalco to the dining room and started boiling water to make tea.

"You seem very familiar with this place."

"I lived here for three months, so it’s only natural."

Isalco observed the room and noticed a shelf of handmade books. He pulled one out and flipped through it.

"Hmm… Is this a textbook?"

"I rewrote the original textbook, which was hard to understand, for the servants."

Isalco started reading the self-study magic textbook enthusiastically. While he was reading, Riccardo prepared the tea.

When he served the tea, Isalco was still reading.

"Excellent. The servants are studying magic using this?"

"It’s sad if someone works at the Magic Guild for years and can’t even perform a basic spell. That’s why I made it."

"I see. So, the self-study magic textbook… Hmm, the author is Kimiru Matou?"

"It’s my pen name."

"Ah, meaning you’re Matou’s disciple. Matou seems to be a good teacher."

"Yes."

"By the way, the reason I’m here is to ask about the [Molten Flame Bullet] you used when fighting the Underworld Wolf. You used a system word I didn’t know. What was it?"

In the heat of battle against a strong enemy, Riccardo had used the system word ‘Fasnal [Fire and Water]’ for a composite spell he was familiar with. Since it was known, he had to be honest.

Incidentally, he had also used [Mud Bind], a composite spell of [Earth] and [Water], but Isalco, focused on the preparation of a high-level spell, hadn’t noticed the new system word used for [Mud Bind].

"It’s a system word for composite spells of [Fire] and [Water]."

"A system word for composite spells!"

Isalco was surprised and exclaimed loudly.

The discovery of a new system word was a significant achievement, surpassing even the composite spells published by Massimo in his paper. Isalco was determined to have Riccardo write a paper.

Isalco explained the importance of the new system word and repeatedly asked Riccardo to write a paper. Initially hesitant, Riccardo eventually gave in to Isalco’s enthusiasm.

"Alright, I’ll write it."

"Thank you."

"But the discoverer’s name will be Earthling Matou."

"But discovering a new system word is a great honor. Are you sure you don’t want to use your own name?"

"At eleven, if I claim to be the discoverer, people will think it was a lucky accident. I don’t want to get caught up in the fuss and trouble."

"That might be true… Well, if you change your mind, let me know. I’ll testify that Earthling Matou is actually you, no matter how many years pass."

2017/7/24 Revised