Chapter 49 – Inspection and Preparations
<– Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter –>
When I finished my preparations and left the house, the chicken coop’s population had grown from five to ten hens.
I should put away the five eggs that Chiyu secured in my Inventory.
“…Ah, being able to get eggs means――we can make mayonnaise, doesn’t it?”
Everyone twitched when they heard my question.
“Oh, finally something very isekai-like has made its appearance.”
I smiled wryly in response to Chiyu’s comment. But she’s not wrong. Mayonnaise is certainly one of the common food tropes in isekai stories.
“The main ingredients are oil, vinegar, and eggs, so it should be possible to make it. Ah, it also requires salt and other spices, I guess.”
I grunted while nodding at Minori.
I’m going to postpone making it. For now, I’ll ask her a bit more about the details.
“I’ve started to have a craving for tuna-mayo onigiri…also takoyaki and okonomiyaki.” 1
“Meaning, gals eat such things as well, huh?”
Shouko puffed out her cheeks when I asked her that question while looking surprised.
“Of course! What do you take gals for anyway?”
“I thought they only consume flashy and sparkling stuff suited for posting on SNS.”
“Most gals don’t exhibit their lives on SNS, though.”
Well, she’s got a point there, I suppose.
“For me, it’d have been unthinkable to let go of my smartphone on Earth, but now that I don’t have it, I’m unexpectedly fine without it,” said Shion, probably being reminded of it due to our mentioning of SNS.
“I get you. For real. Then again, there are some people I’d love to contact.”
Shouko has many friends, so she’s likely worried about their safety.
“…I’m not all that troubled by it either. If anything, I’d like some tools for studying.”
“Hahaha, that’s so typical of you, Minori. I can make paper, and I think I can also make pens…or rather, quills. Ink too. I mean, it’ll be fine as long as it’s black, so can’t I make it out of soot or something like that?”
Minori’s eyes shone.
“C-Could I please ask you to do that…!? I will explain how to produce it later on…!”
Watching her suddenly leaning in close to me, I admired her for wanting to study so much.
“Of course it’s fine. But, I won’t be able to make textbooks and reference books, naturally.”
“No problem at all. Thank you, Sousuke-san.”
But, considering it properly, there might be a point to studying. The mysterious blackboard mentioned that we could get it to return us to the timeline before the transfer when returning to Japan. We’ve been summoned in a dream while sleeping at home, so it’s maybe possible to return to our beds and rise in the morning of the next day.
Either way, we can accumulate 『Experience』 without any time passing. There are conditions for returning to Earth with our memories intact, but we’re aiming to clear those anyway. In other words, if we take things like exams into account, it’d also mean that we’ll be able to get more studying done the longer we survive on this island. And even without studying school education here, we might be able to pick up knowledge in this place that could prove useful to us in the future.
I was surprised when I was suddenly transferred to this uninhabited island, but as long as my life here is safe and stable, it’s not that bad.
Of course, all of this is based on the premise that the mysterious blackboard will return us properly.
“I think we should leave soon. Chiyu, I’d like you to boost me, if possible.”
“『Energy Up』?
“No, 『Strength Up』, obviously…! You asked deliberately, didn’t you?”
“It was a childhood-friend-joke.”
Well, I guess that’s the usual for Chiyu.
“I want to test how much you can strengthen me, so I was planning for only the girls to get on Mashiro, while I’ll run after you.”
“This dedication to willingly volunteer as a guinea pig…nothing less of you, Sou-kun.”
After the girls climbed on Mashiro, I had Chiyu cast her strengthening spell on me. A white light enveloped me, but unlike when she casts Heal, that light covered my body like a membrane and didn’t vanish.
“…Does that mean I’m being strengthened while it’s shining? I see, that’s easy enough to understand.”
I don’t feel like my body’s condition has changed in any particular way so far, but…
“Alright, time to set off, Mashiro.”
With Shouko’s energetic yell as a signal, Mashiro started to run. I followed him. And I soon realized the magnificence of the strengthening spell. I could keep up with Mashiro as I ran alongside him. I was clocking at such a high speed that I was actually surprised by myself.
“Eh!? Sousuke-kun, you’re so fast…!”
“W-Wow! For him to be able to run at the same speed as a mythical beast…”
“It’s incredible, but I can’t stand us losing! Mashiro, increase your speed!”
I didn’t mind since I wanted to learn about the limit of this spell, but…once Mashiro started to run at full speed, I couldn’t keep up any longer, as might be expected.
And there was another issue.
“…Sou-kun, are you okay? 『Second Heal』.”
Mashiro had come back to the place where I stopped. Chiyu immediately cast healing magic on me. As predictable for higher-ranking magic, I felt like the speed with which my fatigue faded had become faster than with her previous healing spell. The amount and severity of injuries she can heal with it must have expanded as well.
“Haa, haa…pheew, it’s definitely important to run experiments. I mean, it’s obvious if you think about it, but my stamina hasn’t increased.”
The girls all looked as if they suddenly understood what I was getting at.
“In that case, we should take into account that we won’t be able to acquire an enhancement when it comes to stamina and such.”
It’s very likely just as Minori says.
“『Attack Power』 and 『Speed』 are increased, but 『HP』 and 『Defense Power』 remain the same, or something like that?”
I feel like Shouko’s game analogy might be on point here.
“It’s not useful then?”
Chiyu asked while looking somewhat apologetic.
“No, it has its uses. We just need to think about how to use it best. I don’t really want to think about this possibility, but even if you girls are assaulted by other guys, you’ll be able to run away and shake them off as long as you have this, right? Considering what’s to come, it’s a reliable power to have.”
“True. Someone like me has no combat power. I’m also somewhat scared to run into guys other than Sousuke-kun. With this spell, I’ll be able to feel safe if Chiyu-chan is nearby.”
“The light hasn’t vanished yet…oh, now it’s gone. Looks like it lasts for around five minutes, huh?”
Putting it in game terms, it’s strengthening magic that lasts for several turns. By just being able to use it, the ways we can fight increase severalfold.
“It’s probably asking too much to learn how to move your body when strengthened in a short period of time, but it’s still a great spell.”
She’s right. This buff requires time to get used to.
“Indeed. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to use it tomorrow, but I’d like to familiarize myself with it as much as possible. Chiyu, could I have you cast your heal and strengthening on me in alternation?”
“Mmh, sure.”
“Let’s have Mashiro look for prey. It’ll also serve as magic training for Minori. Besides, I’d like to have some meat other than boar.”
“We’re counting on you, Mashiro~”
“I will work hard so that I can show the fruits of my magic training with Sousuke-san.”
Afterwards, we succeeded in taking down two deer and one bear. Because she could feel totally safe thanks to Mashiro’s presence, Minori’s magic did wonders as well. She would calmly ready the wand I gave her, closely observe the prey’s movements, and focus on 『making her spell hit』 by firing her magic at the place she predicted the prey to move to next or by aiming at the moment when the prey would decelerate when stopping or making a turn.
As might be expected of a serious hard worker. She had learned from her past mistakes. Capitalizing on her training, she developed the plans needed to achieve her goal.
“Amazing! At this point, we can count on you as a mighty combat asset!”
When I praised her honestly, Minori smiled like a little child who was being praised for having achieved 100 points on an exam.
“Thanks…! It’s because you accompanied me on my training runs, Sousuke-san.”
Charmed by her smile, I was totally drawn to her.
“You’re really cool as you give off the feel of being a mage, Minorin. Hmm, I wonder how it’d turn out if you fought Mashiro.”
“W-Wait, I think that’d be a bit too much for me. Even if we exclude my reservations towards attacking Mashiro-san, I don’t even know whether my elementary spells would work on him.”
“Hmm? How about it, Mashiro? …Ah, I see…『I’m sorry for Minorin, but you won’t hit me in the first place』, he says.”
Mashiro seems to have his pride as Fenrir.
“I understand…Mashiro-san is our ally, so it’s fine, but if we consider that a hostile mythical beast could appear in the future, it’s necessary to not only improve my proficiency, but also my power output…”
Minori began seriously considering her options.
“We got our hands on venison, so…it might be nice to make a fake wine sauce out of wild grape wine and roast the meat…but, what should I do about the garnish? Hmm…I’d really love to have potatoes and wheat.”
Our chef, Shion, appeared to be in the middle of deliberating today’s menu.
As long as we have my ability, the meat won’t spoil, so even if we go all out hunting for an entire day, there won’t be any waste.
“How about we go back to our base and eat lunch after testing things out for a bit longer?”
The strategy to secure the light ball by using my 『Deploy』 function seems to be quite viable if paired with Chiyu’s strengthening. Besides, 『Deploy』 has another potential application besides catching the light ball with it. Then again, I’d prefer to not use that method, if possible…
<– Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter –>
Translation Notes: