Two weeks since we got back from the capital. Outside, rain. It started three days ago and hasn’t let up. Apparently this world has its own version of a rainy season.
While the rain keeps up, guild work is on hold. So — magic study time for me. Just sifting through that book of Null spells I bought in the capital, picking out anything usable.
I’ve gotten through about 500 pages — roughly a third of the book — and the count of usable spells so far: four. Each page lists about fifty spells, so for the whole book that’s around 25,000… and four out of 25,000 means… one in 6,250. Yikes.
The four I picked out:
[Enchant] — embeds a magical effect into an object.
[Paralyze] — locks the target up so they can’t move.
[Modeling] — reshapes mineral or wooden materials into whatever form you want.
[Search] — locates an object you’re looking for.
Of these, [Modeling] and [Search] turned out to be seriously useful. Some catches, mind you.
[Modeling] reshapes material to match the form you imagine, but it takes a while (not instant), and the image has to be sharp — otherwise you get something weird.
I tried making a shogi board as a test, and the board ended up with one extra row of squares, while the pieces came out oversized and didn’t fit on it.
The image has to be very precise. Working from the real thing makes it much easier — so I image-searched a shogi board on my smartphone and finished it from the photo.
[Search] I picked up thinking it’d be handy for finding lost items, but turns out the spell can do very loose searches.
I’d assumed this world didn’t have vanilla — but I tried searching the market on a whim, and it turned up immediately.
It wasn’t vanilla as I knew it. It was a thing called “coco,” a strange fruit shaped like a cherry tomato. But the flavor and aroma were exactly vanilla — fully usable as a substitute.
Even if the name and shape are different, anything I can mentally call “vanilla” gets a hit. Seriously loose, this spell.
It does have a weakness — narrow effective range. About a fifty-meter radius. For finding people, not so much.
”…Hungry.”
I checked the time. Long past lunch. Of course.
I packed the book away, locked my room, and headed down the inn stairs. In the dining hall, Mr. Doran and the proprietor of Bear-Hachi’s Weapons, Mr. Baral, were sitting across from each other. Between them was a wooden, gridded board.
“Shogi again?”
“Yup.”
Eyes glued to the board, Mr. Doran answered without even looking up. I gave a wry smile.
The shogi I’d made as a [Modeling] test — the one who took to it most was Doran-san at the inn. Once I taught him the rules, he was hooked, even dragging acquaintances in to play. Same thing with Mr. Baral — any free moment, the two of them were clack-clacking pieces together.
Honestly, thank god Baral got into it too. Before that, the only opponent he had was me, and I’d been roped into more games than I could count.
I know the rules of shogi but I’m not particularly good. Never put serious time into it. I won the first few games, but by now I’m no match for Doran-san. The saying about loving a thing being the start of skill — it really holds up.
I asked Mika in the kitchen for lunch. To stay out of their way I sat a couple of tables over.
“Mr. Baral, the shop’s all right?”
“In rain like this, customers are scarce. Left it with the wife. More importantly — Touya, can I get one more shogi set?”
“Huh? I already gave you yours, right?”
I’d just made him one a while back so he could practice at home.
“Shimon over at the toolshop says he wants one too. Do me a favor.”
“Sure, fine…”
Couldn’t someone handy enough just make one, I thought — but yeah, doing it properly is a lot of work.
“Ahh, thanks. With this—”
“Check.”
“Ngh!?”
At Doran-san’s word, Baral-san crossed his arms and started staring the board down. Hooked. Hard. Way more than I’d expected.
While I was thinking that, Mika came over with my lunch.
“Hereee, sorry for the wait. Dad, you two should wrap it up already.”
“Sorry. Just this one.”
Doran-san turned to Mika in a please-please pose. Well — if it weren’t raining, the two of them wouldn’t be at it in the middle of the day either. Or maybe they’re just using the long rain as an excuse.
Lunch was wild-greens pasta and tomato soup, plus two slices of apple.
“Mika-san, where’s everyone?”
“Linze-chan’s in her room, I think. Elze-chan and Yae-chan went out.”
“In this rain?”
“To buy Parento’s new sweet.”
Ah — that. Since I’d actually found a vanilla substitute, I’d talked it over with Aer-san, and we tried making a vanilla roll cake.
I’d just handed over the recipe and method — basically watched. But it turned out really good. We got carried away and made a strawberry roll cake too.
When I told Elze and the others, I got strangled for not bringing some home. Unreasonable.
The new item went on sale starting today. …Still, you didn’t have to brave the rain.
The single-mindedness of sweets-lovers is terrifying.
“We’re back — ugh, soaked.”
“Returned, I have.”
Speak of the devil. The two of them were home. They folded their umbrellas and stood them by the entrance.
This world has no plastic umbrellas. There are umbrellas — but the canopy is basically cloth. People do soak the cloth in tree resin and the like to boost water repellency, though.
“Welcome back. Get some?”
“Yup, score. Crowd was actually down because of the rain — saved us.”
Elze hoisted up the bag, beaming. What a face.
“Delicious it was, indeed.”
“Yup-yup.”
You ate some too? How much?
“Here — yours, Mika-san.”
“Thanks. I’ll pay you later.”
Elze pulled four white boxes out of the bag and handed one to Mika. Sneaky — Mika placed an order too.
“And the rest?”
“One’s Linze’s, one’s ours. The last one’s for the Duke.”
“Huh? Me?”
I mean — you guys are still gonna eat more!?
“You’re the only one who can get to the capital in this rain. Sharing with someone who looked after us — that’s basic courtesy, right?”
I countered with then why don’t you guys come too, and was told it would be too presumptuous. What is THAT.
Oh well. Better get going. Given the contents, sooner-eaten is better.
Come to think of it, when I was last in the capital, the Duke had shown some interest in shogi. I’ll bring that as a gift too.
I let Doran-san know, and borrowed scrap wood from the pile in the back garden. Fired up [Modeling] and made two sets of board and pieces. Did this so many times now it’s second nature.
Done in about ten minutes. Quick check. Yeah, looks fine. Made one too many rooks once.
Back in the dining hall, I handed one set to Baral-san. The roll cake and pieces went into a bag, the board tucked under my arm.
“All right, off I go.”
Umbrella in hand, I went back out to the garden to use Gate. Better not be too conspicuous.
Exit point… behind the manor’s gate ought to do it.
“Gate.”
“Yum! This is yum!”
“That’s not very ladylike, Sue. …But it really is delicious. This — roll cake, was it.”
Lady Ellen and Sue were eating roll cake in a state of pure delight. Worth bringing. The Duke too was making appreciative noises with each bite.
“Honestly, being able to eat this whenever — I envy the people of Reflet. If I could use Gate like you, I’d go buy this every day.”
“If you’d like, I can teach the recipe and method to your kitchen staff. It’s not a secret or anything.”
“Truly, Touya!? Mother — we can have this every day!”
The one who reacted abnormally to my words was Sue. Hey, you’re drooling, Lady Ortlinde.
“Honestly, Sue. If you eat this every day you’ll get fat. Every other day, please.”
The Duchess admonished her with a giggling laugh. I feel like every other day isn’t that different. If Sue’s much rounder next time I visit, I’m gonna feel a little guilty…
“So — this is the shogi you mentioned?”
“Yes. It’s a two-player game. Want to try?”
In front of the Duke as he eyed the board and pieces, I started arranging mine on my side.
“Father! Me too!”
“Now, wait. First me.”
The Duke followed my lead, arranging his pieces. Ah — rook and bishop are swapped.
“First, how the pieces move. This one’s the pawn, representing a foot soldier. It can only move one square forward, but if it enters the enemy’s territory—”
“Mm…”
The Duke picked up the piece movements one by one. Quick learner. He’d improve fast at this rate.
I didn’t have to wait long to start regretting it…
“One more game! Just one more! I promise I’ll stop after this!”
I heard that line earlier already… As a result, the Duke fell into the same hole as Doran-san, and I got dragged into match after match. It’s fully nighttime now… Sue had given up waiting and fallen asleep on the sofa.
Came back around to it: this world really doesn’t have many leisure pursuits. Maybe that’s why people end up like this.
“This is delightful. I want to have my brother try it!”
In the dead of night when I was finally released, the Duke said something outrageous. No way — please don’t tell me His Majesty’s gonna get hooked too. Don’t you dare let shogi shut down national policy…
Ah. The rain stopped.