Tatsurou first gathered stones using earth magic. With those, he created a roofless rectangular-shaped structure that was large enough to fit a person inside. While he was at it, he took the liberty to make some sort of partition screen before filling the inside with hot water using fire and water magic.
âI made us a simple bath!â
âOh, great job!â
Seeing Aiâs delightedly shining eyes as heâd expected, Tatsurou had a suspicious-looking smile plastered on his face.
âYou can go in first.â
âEh? But you made it and⊠Iâm all dirtyâŠâ
âI can just change the water if it gets dirty so donât mind that. That must feel uncomfortable, right?â
Looking at Aiâs current state, Tatsurou told that to her. With dried monster blood covering her, not only does Ai smell horrible but it must be disgusting on her skin too. Despite that, Ai still felt that it was rude to enter the bath before its creator.
âStillâŠâ
âThen, wanna go in together?â
Thinking that it canât be helped with Ai like that, Tatsurou held her hand and was about to enter the bath.
âEh? Itâs too early forâŠ!â
âSee, if you think like that, then just go in first. If I go first, then the bloodâs gonna become unbearable soon.â
âMu⊠Arenât you being a bit too forceful? Iâll just take your word for it, then.â
âAh, just leave the dirty clothes over here. Iâll start washing them too.â
âUuu⊠You doing everything somehow makes me feel bad,â is what Ai said butâŠ
Everything was done as a distraction in order for Tatsurou to conceal his master plan, and since it was going so smoothly, there was no need for any reservation.
A plan that would not have been possible if they did not have that fight earlier.
âYou took the most dangerous role in the fight, so just think of this as an award for your military merit.â
âHmm⊠Okay. But if you need me to help out somewhere, donât hesitate to say it, okay!â
Hearing that one sentence, a flash of lightning struck Tatsurouâs mind.
âââââ Did you say anything!?â
âB,besides that kind of stuff that youâre thinking about!â
âOh⊠Itâs fine, then.â
âDonât you have anything else?â
Sighing at Tatsurouâs request, she turned around and entered the partition. There, she took off her clothes and handed her jersey and PE uniform to Tatsurou outside before entering the bath.
Tatsurou, feeling the spirit of a gent, reluctantly looked away from the scene and headed towards the other side of the partition to stand guard. While hearing the splashes of water inside, he gathered up Aiâs clothes and placed them all inside his item box. Using the disassembly function, he removed all the dirt that adhered to the garments and took the clean clothes out from his item box.
Next, he separated the monster blood from the dirt, stored it, and threw the dirt away.
(Monster blood is always an ingredient in games but⊠does that apply to this world too?)
While lost in thought, Tatsurou used this chance to sort out the things in his storage. He did that for a while until he heard Aiâs voice, whom he handed over the now clean clothing.
âWowâŠÂ You really put your all into cleaning these. Did you just use [Item Box] for this?â
âYeah. That skill does have all sorts of functions.â
âIf I had a lot of extra SP, Iâd have upgraded mine tooâŠâ
âWhy not do it?â
âUmmâŠâ
Now, it was Tatsurouâs turn to enter the bath. He performed the same process as before to remove the grime from his clothes and after feeling refreshed from his shower, stood up from the makeshift bathtub to put on his clothes. He then went outside the partition screen to meet up with Ai.
âIâm done! âŠand youâre still staring at itâŠâ
âYeah. With the lighting from the moon making it shine like this, itâs just too beautifulâŠâ Ai murmured as she stared at the golden crystal.
It was true that the crystal possesses a mystical beauty as it could even captivate Tatsurou, one who had no interest in such precious stones.
(Isnât it a bit too perfect? Itâs creeping me outâŠ)
With that thought in mind, Tatsurou scrutinised the stone closely but could not find anything strange about it. It might just be the shellâs nature for all he knows.
(Yeah⊠Iâm really gonna make a ring with this in the future.)
However, for now, he could not think of nor did he have any means of processing a material of such hardness. All he could do was to stick a mental note in his brain to remind himself of it in the future.
âEven if we go home now, we could prove that we really got isekaiâd! By the way, we still have a lot of this, right?â
âYeah, a whole lot. We have more of the blue crystals too.â
âOne bear was enough to get this many crystalsâŠ[A] I wonder if it has a market valueâŠâ
âNow that you say that, it might not be worth anything at all in this world⊠If itâs actually just shit, then we could just use it as your ammo for throwing, or even make a blunt weapon from it, so itâs not really too bad to take with us.â
Tatsurou said that with a face implying âwhat a waste,â but since he knew how hard the shell was from experience, he believed that it might actually have a value.
âDonât forget to save a small piece for when we get home, okay? High price or not, itâs still beautiful.â
âThatâs true. We have a lot so Iâd like to keep one for myself too.â
âThen, weâre all set!â Ai said while rubbing the small piece in her hand on her cheek.
âThis pebble⊠Switch places with me!â screamed Tatsurouâs mind as he watched the scene.
After a short while of rest, reality suddenly hit Tatsurou.[B]Â They had to find a suitable spot to sleep in or theyâll have a hard time continuing their journey tomorrow.
â⊠Uh, thatâs not what we should be thinking of, private.[C] Right now, we are still in need of a camping spot to spend the night in.â
âWhatâs with the actingâŠ? But thatâs true, I guess. What are we waiting for, then?â
The two walked about another kilometerâs worth of distance. There, they found another boulder much larger than the one they slept on yesterday.
âIsnât this great?â
âEh, the topside is a bit too rugged. Looks like a perfect place for a bad sleeping position.â
Ai pointed at the bumps and cracks on the upper surface of the boulder. She could never sleep in that kind of âbed.â
âThatâs what earth magic is for, yâknow?â
âAh, I forgot about that.â
Feeling sleepy enough that her mind was already up in the clouds, Ai was unable to process her thoughts probably. Understanding that, Tatsurou quickly used earth magic to smoothen out the boulder.
âYeah⊠This is what a bed⊠should feel like.â
Liquifying the bumps and jagged edges down, Tasturou first created a flat surface for them to sleep. Then, using the liquified stone, he made walls similar to the one they had yesterday.
The time he needed to craft the bed was a lot faster too.
âYou had a lot of trouble with that yesterday, but nowâŠâ
âItâs magic. Then, you sleep first. Iâll take the first watch this time too.â
âYeah. I wonât argue with that anymore. Iâm so sleepy and the sleep world is callingâŠâ
The two entered the walls while conversing. The instant Ai lay her head down, she fell into a deep slumber. Tatsurou once again used life magic to help improve her sleep and alleviate his drowsiness.
With the free time he had now, he tried using information magic with all the improvements he thought of. With the existence of Help and his mana control stat, he was able to implement them smoothly. He succeeded in thinning out the mana needed to gather information and also managed to increase his radius of search.
âAlright⊠Now that itâs all under control, I should check my stats.â
[Master of Light], [Master of Fire], [Destroyer], [Perfect Harmony]
âââââ
(Huh? I know I levelled up, but isnât this too much of a growth?)
Thinking that, Tatsurou started searching for the culprit which he found without too much trouble.
(So itâs because of this⊠I thought titles were just nicknames.)
âââââ
Title: Master of Light
Rarity: 10[1]
Description: Mana, Magic, Magic Resist, and Mana Control increased by 100.
Increased affinity with light magic.
âââââ
Title: Master of Fire
Rarity: 10
Description: Mana, Magic, Magic Resist, and Mana Control increased by 100.
Increased affinity with fire magic.
âââââ
Title: Destroyer
Rarity: 8
Description: All stats increased by 30.
âââââ
Title: Perfect Harmony
Rarity: 12
Description: âPartnerâ refers to the other soul this one has earned this title with.
Allows the use of telepathic communication with the partner.
When in physical contact with the partner, dramatically increase Ki and mana recovery.
When in physical contact with the partner, dramatically increase all stats.
âââââ
(All of them sounds grand, huh? Even the plain-sounding [Destroyer] is doing a good job.
Still, [Perfect Harmony]⊠Isnât it too much of a cheat if we use this?
Telepathic communication means talking without words, right? And all my stats gets stronger with physical contact⊠No harm in trying, I guess.)
Tatsurou stretched out his hand and gently brushed Aiâs head. When he did so, he was instantly enlightened on the words he read earlier.
Without warning, the mana within him started to flow much faster. Taking in mana from the environment at a much faster rate, he could feel the strength entering his body.
(Woah⊠This is⊠If I use the simplest spells like this, Iâll get the mana back in no time. I wonder if Ai will let me hold her hand when Iâm practicing magicâŠ)
With that thought circulating in his head, Tatsurou started the first watch of the night.
ED Notes:
[A] The shell of the bear was converted to multiple crystals
[B] So what was Tatsurouâs master plan??? TL: I have no idea⊠Itâs either the author dropped the matter because it failed (the request earlier), or it was implied in the story earlier that Iâm too⊠dense⊠to notice.