Chapter 18

Tō became engrossed in using a magic spell for the first time.

He was so excited that he wanted to mutter lines like "Kukukuku" or "Silence, silence!" which sounded like a middle-school syndrome.

This time, he barely managed to hold back, but he couldn't predict when the next episode would occur. The middle-school syndrome in magic is dangerous.

While using magic, Tō realized that changing his consciousness could alter the magic. For example, with <<Fireball>>, if he didn't think about anything, a flame ball about ten centimeters in diameter would fly toward the target.

If he focused before casting, he could change the size of the flame and adjust the power of the magic.

Tō wanted to play with the idea that "This isn't <<Flare>>, it's <<Fireball>>," so he made the size extremely small and the power extremely high.

"Toru! What are you doing!? That's dangerous. Stop it immediately!!"

Ester was greatly agitated. Tō thought she was overreacting, but her unusual behavior frightened him, so he stopped the test firing.

It wasn't just the power. The color of the magic could also be changed.

<<Fireball>> could change to various colors by imagining flame color reactions. <<Waterball>> could change to yellow, green, or blue by imagining BTB solution. <<Rock Needle>> could change to white or black by imagining it containing specific substances, but he couldn't make it gold or silver no matter how hard he tried.

He thought it would be interesting if <<Rock Needle>> could turn gold or silver, but the normal flatland doesn't contain much gold or silver, so the color doesn't change. He also couldn't change it to substances with low content.

The only magic that didn't change color was wind magic. Air has no color. There might be colored air in the world, but Tō didn't know about it, so he couldn't reflect it in his magic.

"I think I could add color to <<Air Cutter>> by gathering colored smoke, but it would be a lot of work to prepare the smoke."

However, even if he could do it, it wouldn't change the power of the magic or make it easier to use. It was just a hobby.

Tō performed various experiments to get used to the magic. Before he knew it, the sun had set.

"Oh, I'm hungry..."

When his concentration broke, his stomach growled in protest. Tō used magic to level the uneven ground so as not to bother others.

"Toru, it's time to go home."

Ester, who had been training herself to keep up with Tō, was wiping her face with a towel and putting her sword back in its sheath. She hadn't interfered with Tō's magic practice until she stopped his <<Flare>>-like <<Fireball>>.

"I'm sorry for dragging you along."

"No, it was good for me. I could focus on my training."

The two quickly passed through Finris' gate and returned to their inn. Tō ate a not-so-delicious dinner to make up for the missed lunch and immediately dove into his futon.

Incidentally, the dinner was a steak as hard as a shoe sole with a strong salty taste.

○

Before going to bed, Tō suddenly remembered a standard training method in fantasy stories. It was the idea that "using magic continuously increases your magic power."

So Tō decided to use magic before going to bed to increase his magic power.

The magic he used was, of course, not <<Fireball>> or <<Waterball>>. Using such magic would quickly burn down the inn. Instead, he used <<Lighting>>, which could be used inside the house.

However, using <<Lighting>> normally would make the room too bright to sleep. So Tō decided to embed <<Lighting>> inside his futon.

"How many can I do?"

He tried ten, but didn't feel his magic power decrease. Tō, who had been inserting them one by one, got tired and threw in a large number at once.

Suddenly, the futon began to glow like the bottom of a UFO, with a light intensity that could make it float.

If he had looked directly at it, he might have gone blind. But Tō used up his magic power after activating <<Lighting>> and fainted, luckily avoiding blindness.

The next morning, when Tō woke up,

"What is this..."

He was speechless at the light spilling out from under the futon. When his mind started working, he remembered, "Oh, right, I embedded a lot of <<Lighting>> last night."

Some had disappeared during the night, but a considerable number of <<Lighting>> remained in the futon.

Waking up in a glowing futon was a surreal experience. It felt like he had been resurrected as Tutankhamun, except in a futon instead of a stone coffin.

Anyway, Tō silently turned off the <<Lighting>> while getting ready. He left the inn as soon as the sun rose. Since he had fully satisfied his desire to use magic the other day, today he would take on a guild quest.

The guild was eerily quiet. It wasn't the time for adventurers to start their jobs.

There were no adventurers, but the guild was open. Someone was always there to handle any situation at any time.

There was no one at the reception, but a bell was installed. Like a hotel front desk, ringing the bell would summon someone.

Tō looked at the board where guild quests were posted.

"F-rank quests I can take... this one."

Cargo transport -- 5 large copper coins per day.

Delivery -- 4 large copper coins per day.

Waterway cleaning -- 6 large copper coins per day.

Looking at these, one might think adventurers were just a labor dispatch service. But these were important jobs, essential to the city.

Tō found a quest for "herb collection."

This quest was always available, so there was no risk of failure. The reward was paid based on the amount of herbs collected.

"Good that there's no risk of failure."

Tō couldn't do it himself, but he could use Lidd's memory to collect herbs. He decided to take on the "herb collection" quest without much thought.

Since the quest was always available, he didn't need to apply at the reception. Tō left the guild.

He bought grilled meat from a street vendor for lunch and threw it into the <<Ethereal Storage>> where no one could see.

"Hey, kid. You're Toru, right? Are you going alone today?"

"Yes, I'm going to collect herbs."

"Right away? Hmm, well, good luck."

"Uh, yes."

He showed his guild card to the guard and left Finris' gate.

"...What was that about?"

Tō remembered the guard's expression when he left. It seemed like he wanted to say something but didn't.

"Is herb collection a difficult quest? Is it dangerous? But it's an F-rank quest..."

He couldn't figure it out. "Well, there's no risk of failure, so it should be fine," Tō thought as he ran toward the forest.

The forest was filled with various plants. To Tō, they all looked like weeds, no matter how closely he examined them. But when he accessed Lidd's memory, he realized they had various effects.

Numb grass, spicy grass, sweet grass, disinfectant grass...

Lidd's memory didn't have their official names, but the taste was clear.

"Did Lidd eat all these plants?"

He lived mainly by hunting, but he couldn't always find prey. There were days when he couldn't find anything.

On such days, Lidd ate plants to stave off hunger.

Thinking about Lidd eating plants, feeling numb, suffering from spiciness, and rejoicing at finding sweet grass, Tō felt an overwhelming urge to cry.

In Japan, Tō had lived without any hardship. He had never gone hungry and eaten plants. Even in poverty, he could get a full meal with the help of the government. That was normal.

But how blessed such a life was. Ealguard was a different world.

If he slacked off, Tō would be forced to eat plants to survive.

"I have to work hard!"

Tō renewed his determination to live in Ealguard.

Walking through the forest, he easily found the herbs. The method of collecting them was also in Lidd's memory. He had to cut the central stem carefully without damaging the roots.

This way, the herb wouldn't die and would grow new shoots.

Wild dogs often approached Tō, but a light <<Intimidate>> made them run away with their tails between their legs. He encountered wild dogs more frequently than before.

"Maybe I'm being targeted by the same one?"

If they became too persistent, he would have to kill them. But since they looked like dogs, he didn't want to kill them.

"I don't want them to come near me..."

While thinking, Tō floated four <<Fireballs>> above his head and made them rotate.

The activated <<Fireballs>> had their power reduced to avoid running out of magic power and to prevent the trees from catching fire.

Tō used <<Fireballs>> to practice his magic control, which he lacked. If he could do this unconsciously, casting magic would become much easier.

When four <<Fireballs>> became easy, he increased to five, and when five became easy, he increased to six, gradually increasing the number.

Occasionally, he lost control and set a tree on fire, but he immediately extinguished it with the prepared <<Waterball>>.

While searching for herbs and practicing magic, Tō noticed that the wild dogs had stopped appearing.

"Did my thoughts reach them?"

Of course, the wild dogs stopped approaching not because they understood Tō's thoughts, but because they didn't want to approach a suspicious person with countless <<Fireballs>> swirling above his head.

If their survival instinct was functioning properly, no one would approach such a dangerous person. But Tō, unaware of this, sang a happy tune and continued collecting herbs vigorously.