chapter 11

h.e.l.lo ( ´ ω ` )ノﾞ

I changed the word ‘creek’ used in this and in previous chapters into ‘river’ . The kanji used meant streamlet or brook which is a small and narrow river so it’s pretty much the same, I guess… (￣ω￣;)

And also, the next chapter (chapter 11 . 5) just contains character introductions but it’s not really necessary for now so I’ll just skip over it for now and just combine it with chapter 25 . 5 since that chapter is also more or less the same with just more details . It will be posted by the end of this arc to avoid spoiling stuff .

Disclaimer: I can’t guarantee that this is 100% accurate . Please let me know if there are any mistakes in my translations .

It’s snowing again today… This world has four seasons but the length of the day doesn’t change . I only noticed it during autumn but sunrise and sunset always happens at the same time all year round . It’s great that there is plenty of daylight during winter . It’s troublesome to create light using magic and if we use oil, our expenses would pile up so I’d feel sorry for my parents .

Well, I’ll just make some gla.s.s beads since it can’t be helped like usual . I’ll use black gla.s.s as a the base then attach green stripes and white spots to it then finish it off by adding transparent gla.s.s to the exterior and putting it in an annealing agent .

So that I could cheer myself up for a while, I just convinced myself that “It’s obvious that it would be like this since I’m just a beginner” when I saw the finished product . I haven’t seen any suzuran flowers in this world yet so I just tried making it from my memory . I finished it by attaching it to a hair clip after that .

I thought about this during the end of the year festival but I haven’t really done anything like this to her so I wanted to try and do something in my own special way . I didn’t really have any income and I’ve been avoiding it until now so it would be nice if I could return her feelings with just this much .

Next, I ma.s.s-produced gla.s.s beads with what I thought was a pretty good pattern since I thought I could sell those at the village’s second-hand shop . Next would be knitted mats . These are the ones that good enough to be laid down on the floor for sitting since there seems to be a demand .

The problem is carving and sculpting… I just can’t make it look like a bear . It looks like a wild boar no matter how I look at it, and what was supposed to be a rabbit looks like a rat . To be honest, I’m probably useless when it comes to sculpting…… I don’t have a choice but to just keep at this as a hobby and just steadily improve . First of all, let’s start with a Kokeshi which has a relatively lower difficulty . Un .

◇

It’s snowing today as well and I’ve used up all of my pocket-money and materials . What should I do? How should I pa.s.s the time? After thinking about it for a while, I decided to do some magic image and muscle training . By the way, I got【Craftsmanship: 1】the other day .

The village is safe right now but there’s a place nearby where monsters live so let’s just do mock battles in place for muscle training . I’ll do my usual routine of sit-ups, pull-ups and push ups but do I also need grip strength? I kept on thinking about that while I was on my way to my training room inside the forest .

By the way, since it was snowing in the middle of the forest, I shouted, “Eternal Force Blizzard!” . Then, I shouted, “***ruptive Wave”, as I bended my knees, spread my legs apart and raised both of my hands forward while my mouth was open . I was still embarra.s.sed even though n.o.body was around but then I felt despair because I remembered that G.o.d was probably watching me right now . [TN: He was copying from DQ3]

On the way home, I thought about a things that could put my magic image to use like non lethal magic, simple magic and modern weapons that could be made using magic .

The things that I came up with that I could actually use are:『Flash』『Fine Sand』『Boiling Water』and『Mucus』 『Flash』is made by trying to combine light and fire attributes and imitating the effect of a flashbang or a stun grenade so it generates a small explosion with a sudden loud noise and an intense flash of light . It’s purpose is to blind an enemy .

『Fine Sand』is quite simple . It generate particles of fine sand in my hand using earth attribute and throw it towards the face of the opponent . It’s for physically blinding them .

『Boiling Water』is made by combining water and fire attribute . It’s similar to those things they throw over castle walls in a siege battle . Opponents would die because of shock at worst but it would leave serious injuries if they survive and those injuries might cause infection and there would be a possibility that it would still end up with death . That’s why unless I think it’s really, really necessary, I will only douse my opponents with water at 70 degrees Celsius . I only tried making this so that I had something to use against heavily armored troops . I could have increased the boiling point by using salt water but I think there won’t be any problems even if the water is just at 98 degrees .

『Mucus』could be used for a lot of things if you know how to use it . I was originally just going to use this against fire magic but I also thought that this could be used to stick dry leaves and gra.s.s or even sand and soil to my body as an improvised ghillie suit . It’s currently winter right now though so I just need to paint my skin as it is .

By the way, combining boiling water and mucus turns it into a sticky and piping hot viscous fluid which is a simple but brutal way of getting rid of enemies .

I also tried coming up with a stun gun-like magic but I could only remember large objects that could generate lightning and electricity so I’m just going to keep this in reserve .

◇

It’s a bit chilly but since snow stopped falling, I went out to my training spot in the forest to try out my magic .

I tried casting『Flash』on my feet and it looked like it was about a million candela but I don’t really get that unit of measurement so let’s just say that it’s like looking into the beam of a flashlight . You’d get dazzled and won’t be able to see for a while . There was also a loud sound similar to that of an airplane’s engine which caused me to temporarily lose my hearing and my ears were ringing for a while . It seems to be pretty effective but I’ll close my eyes the next time I use it .

『Fine Sand』’s effects were obvious……I mean, really obvious . The sand was too fine to throw far away in one direction that I got hurt myself because it got caught by the wind and got in my eye .

‘Hot’, is what I would use to describe『Boiling Water』 . I made a crater next to the river using earth magic and let the river water flow in . Then, I imagined a hot spring welling up in that hole . I just tried to make an outdoor bath but it’s good that everything went well .

I was able to adjust the viscosity of『Mucus』 . It went from something slippery like oil to something similar to mud like those toy slimes . I tried dropping it on the ground as a test and pebbles, sand and soil stuck to it creating an instant ghillie suit .

I heated the bath water and took a bath after returning home and since it was still slightly warm afterwards so I got found out . I became in charge of preparing the bath starting the next day . By the way, it seems like school will be restarting tomorrow .

◇

I went to the usual meeting place but, as expected, Suzuran didn’t arrive so I decided to go and pick her up .

“It’s been a while but I actually came to wake her up . ” is what I said as my greeting . “Even though I made sure to tell her yesterdayー”, was Ricoris-san’s reply but I couldn’t say anything back and just gave a wry smile .

I did my usual knock and called out before entering but before waking her up, I take out the suzuran hairclip and a folded paper from my pocket and put it on top of her desk . After doing that, I hit her shoulders and call out to her until she was sitting up, then I leave the room . By the way, the letter’s contents was something simple . I said, “I had free time this winter so I made this . You can have it if you like it . ”

I’m a coward so I was embarra.s.sed to write something even longer .

I received the usual tea and drank it while waiting . Suzuran had her usual bed hair when she came down but this time there was a hairclip attached . Well, it can’t be helped since we’re in a hurry .

「Uhmー starting tomorrow everyone is going to go up a grade . Simple reading and writing lessons will be reduced a bit and in exchange simple body movement cla.s.ses and mock battles would start to increase . Magic basics and training would remain the same」

After the teacher said that, we had trivial discussions regarding our activities during winter and joked around with my cla.s.smates . Then, school was over for the day .

I guess I’m going to be a second grader starting tomorrow .