>

“Master, I have detected abnormalities in your acoustic effector. Adjustment is required, I advise.”

Arisa and Nana could be so cruel.

“Banned.”

Mia confiscated the reed pipe I’d been using.

I was only a little off-key, wasn’t I…? Not even the “Musicianship” skill was enough for my ineptitude.

“M-Master, I…I’m sure you’ll get better with practice! I believe in you, Master!”

“Thank you, Lulu. You’re very kind.” Lulu was nice enough to comfort me as I sank into despair. What a hero. So as not to worry her, I responded with my best smile.

“Substitute.”

Mia prodded my shoulder as she spoke, but I had no idea what she was trying to tell me.

Arisa interpreted.

“You’re in luck, Master. Mia is saying that if you want to hear music, she’ll play it in your place.”

“Mm.”

Mia confirmed Arisa’s translation with a satisfied look.

I wish she would use a few more words.

“Thank you, Mia.”

While I was at it, I thanked Arisa for her interpreting services, too.

“Got iiit, sir!”

While we were playing around with plant-based music, Pochi returned from the other side of the hill.

She was proudly holding up a rabbit in both hands. For a rabbit, its ears were pretty short. In fact, according to the AR display, it was known as a short-eared rabbit, the same species we’d eaten as a whole roast at the Gatefront Inn.

Pochi was covered from head to toe with grass and dirt, but she sported a huge grin.

I accepted her prey and handed it directly to Liza.

“It’s small, so I’m sure we can bleed it out before we go.”

Liza pulled out a dagger and expertly slit the rabbit’s throat, then held it up by its hind legs to let the blood drain.

“Master, since we’ve acquired this precious meat, I should very much like to butcher it before we depart. Is that permissible?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

This was Pochi’s prize, after all, and we weren’t in any particular rush on this journey.

“Ms. Liza, could you show me how?”

“You’re very eager to learn, aren’t you, Lulu? Very well. I will explain, so you may take care of it under my watch, if you please.”

“Yes, Ms. Liza.”

Thus, Lulu took charge of butchering the rabbit.

Arisa wobbled over to me unsteadily, probably upset by the stench of blood. I didn’t blame her.

I caught Pochi as she made to go watch the disassembly of the corpse, and I brushed some of the grass and dirt off her head. The inside of the coach would be covered in earthy debris if she entered it in this state; I instructed her to wash up with water and change her clothes.

“Your hair’s gotten all dirty, too.”

“Should I wash it, sir?”

“Sure. We have hot water, so we might as well.”

I asked whether Mia could use Water Magic for a spell like Soft Wash from the Everyday Magic set, but I got a curt “no” in response. Too bad.

Since there was no use griping about what we didn’t have, we just had to wash up using ordinary means. I put what hot water we had into a tub and filled it the rest of the way with cool water. I added too much, though, and the end result was rather tepid.

I figured Tama would probably come back filthy, too. I refilled the kettle and put it back on the fire.

Around the time Pochi was done washing up, Liza had finished bleeding out the rabbit and was beginning her rigorous instructions in taking it apart.

At some point, Nana had also joined the lesson. Mia wasn’t interested, since she didn’t eat meat.

Arisa didn’t seem to want anything to do with it, either. She’d turned her back to the scene and thoroughly immersed herself in a spell book.

Pochi looked ready to shake herself off like a real dog, so I stopped her and carefully dried her with a towel instead.

“Meeeat! I got meeeat!”

“Tama’s so skilled, sir!”

Behind me, Tama dashed back with a happy report.

What did she catch, I wonder? A bird, maybe?

“Meat?”

Mia tilted her head.

“Whoa! What is that?! It’s adorable!”

At Arisa’s gleeful cry, I turned around curiously.

Tama’s catch certainly was cute. With its soft-looking fur, it was the endearing sort of animal you might find in a pet store. The unconscious puppylike creature had a dark-blue coat with a tuft of orange hair sticking up on its head.

“L-let me hold it for a second.”

“’kay!”

Arisa took the fainted puppy into her arms.

According to the AR display, it was a monster called a Rocket Wolf. It was only level 1.

I searched for other members of its species on the map but didn’t get any hits. Maybe the duke’s army had exterminated its parents or something.

Arisa’s “Status Check” skill should have told her as much, but I decided to warn her to be careful just in case.

“I know it’s cute, but it’s still a baby monster, so be careful with it.”

“Okeydokey.”

The wolf cub had started waking up as Tama handed it over to Arisa.

“Ouch!”

The little wolf violently twisted its body, breaking free of Arisa’s grasp and fleeing.

Tama rushed around frantically trying to catch it, but the rocket wolf released a shot of gas from its bottom, launching itself right over Tama’s head and about fifteen feet away.

It could’ve come straight out of a comedy manga.

“My preeey!”

Tama dashed after it, but she couldn’t keep up with the wolf cub’s desperate bid for freedom and soon plodded back dejectedly.

“It got away.”

“Tama, I’m sorry. It’s my fault for not holding on to it.”

“It’s okay.”

Arisa apologized, but Tama shook her head weakly.

“Master, I’m sorry. I couldn’t catch the meat…”

Tama approached me and offered a despondent apology.

I reached out toward her head to comfort her, but she must have thought I was angry. Her ears flattened fearfully.

“I wouldn’t get mad at you for losing a single catch,” I reassured her, petting her head gently. “As long as you’re all right, there’s always next time. I just don’t want you to overdo it and hurt yourself. Okay?”

“’kay.”

Tama opened her eyes gingerly and peered up at me.

“Tama’ll get something even bigger next time,” she declared, wiping away the tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

“I’m sure you will,” I murmured gently, ruffling her hair.

It was Lulu’s turn to drive the coach in the afternoon, but Liza had mentioned she’d like to learn how, too, so I appointed Lulu as her teacher.

The others were all singing along to Mia’s reed pipe music. The tune in question was an anime theme song that Arisa had hummed to Mia to teach her. The show must have been obscure, because the lyrics didn’t sound familiar to me.

I was too old at heart to join in on the innocent chorus of the kids. I leaned back against the rear-loading panel of the coach and watched the sky.

I thought maybe I’d take a nap, but then I decided I’d better use this chance to peruse Zen’s Shadow Magic spell book.

Unlike the ones for beginners, this volume jumped right into spell incantations and handwritten notes, probably Zen’s, and it seemed pretty advanced. Still, I’d already read a few introductory manuals and beginners’ spell books cover to cover several times over in my spare time, so I was able to more or less understand the syntax of the magic.

Besides, the ability to follow a complicated flow of ideas was a key skill for a programmer. I had no problem.

In fact, this read like a children’s book compared to the incompetent spaghetti code of a self-proclaimed veteran who had joined my company a while back. Putting out his fires had been a Herculean task.

The author seemed to have deliberately made the text especially difficult to follow, too, but that wasn’t devious enough to stop me.

The way the variables and codes changed meanings depending on what section I was reading was an unpleasant reminder of my days as an assembler, but all I really had to do was divide it up by section. Decoding it became a breeze.

It might have taken me a little longer before, but since I had such a high INT stat now, I could flip through the book and absorb information with unnatural ease.

I hadn’t thought about it when I’d first read a low-level manual, but the more I learned about the magic in this world, the more I realized how startlingly similar it was to a programming language.

As if the person who’d invented magic here had been a programmer, too.

…I felt something warm on the palm of my hand. Maybe Pochi or Tama was messing around with it?

I swept the idle thought to the back of my mind and returned to my spell analysis.

Soon enough, I’d completed my study of elementary Shadow Magic and was ready to move on to Everyday Magic next.

My main goal was to figure out how to use Water Magic to reproduce the Everyday Magic spell Soft Wash, which I’d wanted back when I was helping Pochi wash up.

As soon as I started researching Everyday Magic, though, I realized how different it was.

It was fundamentally unlike any other magic. The former allowed users to transform or create things freely as long as they abided by the laws of magic, but the latter could call on only existing functionalities that behaved like a black box system. At most, one could only do things like expand a spell’s range of effect.

In that case, re-creating Everyday Magic with Water Magic might be impossible.

Just as Mia had copied Arisa’s humming by ear, I’d have to consider the techniques necessary to Everyday Magic and copy and paste existing parts of Water Magic into the formula to manufacture a new spell.

I couldn’t help but enjoy this kind of research and analysis. Slowly but surely, I lost myself completely in the depths of contemplation.

I could have stayed like that for hours…

…Hmm? I felt something soft and supple under my hand.

Closing the full-screen menu obscuring my vision, I looked over to find that Arisa had pressed my hand onto Nana’s ample chest.

…Oh.

My fingers were sinking in. Instinctively, I gave a few light squeezes.

Mia and Arisa quickly yanked my hand out of paradise.

“Lewd.”

“H-hey, how long are you planning on doing that?! Let her go!”

Mia was one thing, but Arisa was being awfully rude, considering she’d put my hand there in the first place.

Nana lowered her head, putting a hand over her right breast where I’d squeezed it. Although she looked like an adult, she was actually less than a year old.

I opened my mouth to apologize.

She looked up without the slightest flush on her face and tilted her head inquisitively.

“Master, would you like to touch the left one as well?”

“Can I?”

At Nana’s saintly suggestion, I instinctively reached out my other hand, but Arisa quickly interposed herself between us.

As a result, her flat chest stopped my hand short. Very disappointing.

“What do you mean, ‘Can I?’?!”

Arisa bellowed, her lilac hair thoroughly disheveled.

“Satou, you mustn’t be indecent. It’s unseemly! You shouldn’t touch the body of an unmarried woman, you know. So no touching.”

Kneeling, Mia scolded me with uncharacteristically long sentences.

It’s a man’s basic instinct to want to touch large breasts, okay? Although that sounds pretty bad now that I think about it, so I’d better keep it to myself.

Nana’s head tilted farther to the side as the two girls in front of me exploded with anger. Her face suggested she didn’t understand what had upset them. I’d have to ask Lulu or Liza to explain it to her soon.

“Good morning, sir?”

“Myaaa…”

Pochi and Tama stretched and yawned, woken up by the commotion.

I’d thought they were being quiet on purpose, but I guess they’d worn themselves out from the singing and had fallen asleep.

The sight of Pochi and Tama rubbing their eyes sleepily had drained some of the fire from Mia’s and Arisa’s fury, and they lapsed into silence. Their cheeks were still puffed up with a hint of pouty rage, though.

Time to deal with this like a proper adult.

“I’ll do my best to avoid any thoughtless contact from now on.”

“You sound like a greasy politician, but fine. I’ll forgive you. An adult should use more discretion! Next time you feel like touching something, just talk to your darling Arisa. We’ll have a private session just for you, okay?”

“Mrrrr. Arisa.”

Arisa’s flippant words made her the new target of Mia’s wrath.

Mercifully, I was able to leave the matter for the two of them to work out and return to the coachman’s box with Liza and Lulu.

“Master, it sounded like Arisa was making a fuss. Did something happen?”

Thanks to the clattering of the horse-drawn carriage, Lulu hadn’t heard the incident in the back.

“Oh, we just got a little sidetracked by one of Arisa’s pranks.”

“Really?”

Once I’d successfully dodged Lulu’s question, I shifted to Liza to change the subject.

“So, have you gotten the hang of driving the carriage?”

“Yes. Thanks to Lulu’s guidance, I am able to lead us along the road without any trouble, though I still get nervous when we pass other people and the horses don’t go straight.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

Liza was still holding the reins of the carriage and seemed to be doing all right on her own. Now we could have a three-person rotation among Lulu, Liza, and me.

“Master, I would like to steer the carriage as well, I entreat.”

“Sure. You can take Liza’s place after the next break and have her teach you, all right?”

“Yes, Master.”

Now that Nana was interested, too, we might very well have four drivers by the next day.

Since I couldn’t hear Mia lecturing in the back anymore, I poked my head in.

Arisa had a few choice words for how quickly I’d abandoned her.

Normally I would have ignored her, but since this time her rash nature had created a good memory for me, I decided to hear her out.

Her complaints ended surprisingly quickly—I decided to cut to the chase with my questions.

“So, what were you trying to do?”

“Nothing, really. I mean, you didn’t respond to anything at all, even though your eyes were open. You were acting strangely on top of the rock, too, so I got impatient.”

So that was why Arisa was so outraged. I certainly had no excuse.

I’ll have to remember to close my eyes when I use the menu full-screen.

“I’m sorry. I was so focused on designing a new spell that I lost all—”

“A new spell?!”

Arisa shrieked in surprise, cutting off my apology.

“What about it?”

“Master, you’re a spell researcher?”

“No, I was just trying to make one based on an idea I had a little while ago.”

Arisa looked very intrigued.

“What spell were you using, though?”

“Like I said, I was creating a new one.”

“…You can’t just make a spell like that. It would take a research institution decades of work and inordinate funds and human resources to do a thing like that!”

That seemed like an exaggeration.

“Maybe for a large-scale tactical magic spell or something. Right? I’m just trying to make a Water Magic spell that resembles the Everyday Magic Soft Wash, that’s all.”

“…‘That’s all,’ huh?”

I shrugged as I corrected Arisa’s misunderstanding. But she didn’t act convinced.

Since we were on the subject anyway, I figured I’d consult Mia about it, as I’d been planning to request her help with the experiment.

She was studying a spell book right next to me when I said, “It’s almost ready, so I was hoping you could try it out for me next time we take a break, Mia. Do you mind?”

“Mm, sure.”

With Mia readily in agreement, I’d have to perfect the spell before our next break.

I checked my log and noticed I’d gained the Researcher title, but no useful skills like “Magicology” or “Spell Creation.”

Oh, I’d forgotten about what Arisa wanted to say.

I apologized for getting off subject and asked her why she’d wanted my attention in the first place.

“I was hoping there was a board or something so we could play cards in the carriage. Do you have anything?”

“Mm, instruments.”

I had some wood, but it would be hard to make much of anything right now.

I technically had the skills to fashion a musical instrument like Mia wanted, but I didn’t have any guidelines or recipes, so I couldn’t. There was nothing useful in the documents I had on hand, at any rate.

“I don’t have anything on me, no. Shall we stop at a town tomorrow to buy some cards and instruments and such?”

The nearest place was a small town called Kainona. It had a population of only about three thousand, but it would probably be easy enough to find the requested items. I wanted to buy a wooden table set anyway. Some kind of worktop might be nice, too.

As our journey continued in the afternoon, my Water Magic version of a cleaning spell slowly took form.

This time, I made sure to close my eyes while I worked so as not to worry anyone.

When I reached a good stopping point and opened my eyes, I was under a pile of little girls, but in the chilly weather, their body warmth was welcome.

Each time we took a two-hour break, I asked Mia to test out my new spell as an experiment.

On the first break, I found I’d made a careless error that prevented the magic from activating, but by the second try, the experiment worked successfully on some laundry.

It consumed a little too much magic, so I’d have to improve it by the next break.

About an hour after our second break, I was more or less finished with my revisions. I had a few other spells to use as reference for reducing the magic cost, and thus I figured it out easily enough.

Because I didn’t want to spend too much time developing the new spell, I switched over to the map to check our current position and find a campsite for the night.

The site I’d initially settled on was the bank of a pond around twenty-five miles away from Seiryuu City as the crow flies, but our progress had been slower than I expected.

…Hmm? The clock in my menu surprised me, so I woke Arisa from her nap on my knee.

“Arisa…”

“Nn… Wha…? I didn’t do anything…”

Half-asleep, Arisa rubbed her eyes and sat up.

“Arisa, I have a question. How many hours are in a day here?”

“Huh? Twenty-four, right? Since the clock tower in the castle was off-limits, all I ever had to go by was the sound of chimes signaling the hour.”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen any clocks in Seiryuu City, either. And I didn’t remember encountering any when we stayed in the castle.

“I see. Then you don’t know how long an hour is here, right?”

“Mm, well, it feels like it’s about the same to me… Why, do you think it isn’t?”

I nodded slowly.

“Yeah, one of my Unique Skills lets me determine what the time is here. When I compared it with the clock on the cell phone I brought with me from the other side, the length of a minute was the same, but…”

I paused for a moment, then explained my recent discovery to Arisa.

“I think an hour is seventy minutes.”

I hadn’t noticed until I happened to catch with my own eyes as the clock’s minute display turned to :60. As I watched, it continued to :69, then turned back over to :00, so there was no other explanation as far as I could tell.

And if each hour was seventy minutes, then each day would be twenty-eight hours.

“Really? I thought that since a year is three hundred days here, things would be different from the other world, but maybe it’s about the same?”

One year is three hundred days? That’s news to me.

Since a month was thirty days, each year would have ten months. Converted to twenty-four-hour time, that’d be three hundred and fifty days, a difference of about 4 percent. So over the course of a century, there’d be a deviation of about four years.

I shared the results of my mental arithmetic with Arisa.

Still, I would’ve expected a four-hour change in the length of a day to affect me physically, but I hadn’t felt off-color in the least since I’d arrived.

Really, compared to the restoration to my fifteen-year-old self, a little change in health would be hardly a blip on the radar.

All right. My discovery had distracted me, but it was time to get back to the map and figure out how far we had to go before my planned campsite.

Our breaks must have been too long, or maybe my initial estimation had been naive. At this rate, the sun would set well before we reached our destination.

It would be difficult to set up camp for the first time in total darkness. I decided to hunt for a different site.

According to the Camping Advice book I’d bought in Seiryuu City, lighting a fire in a highly visible area would risk attracting insect-type monsters, so I opted to camp in the shadows of a small forest along the way instead.

The spot would be completely visible from the nearby hills, but the only monsters lurking in that direction were extremely far away. I determined they shouldn’t pose any problems.

I had bought something called “monster repellent powder,” but I wanted to respect the wisdom of my predecessors just in case.

I informed Liza of the change of plan. Since we didn’t have a map or an address, the best I could tell her was, “We’ll make camp by the forest over that hill.”

I did have the map Nadi from the general store had drawn for us, but it was a sketch and wouldn’t be of much use in this case.

It certainly would have been easier if I explained my Unique Skills to her, but I was trying to keep the Menu, especially the Map and Storage systems, a secret.

Between that, the enormous amount of treasure I had in Storage, and the fact that I was level 310 with a ton of skills, I was keeping a lot of things hidden. In fact, I’d probably withheld more information than I’d shared.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust everyone—it was a matter of safety. If they didn’t know, there was little risk of them letting something slip or making comments that might allow others to guess.

No, it was my policy to sow as few seeds of trouble as possible for the sake of my safe and carefree sightseeing tour.

So, in order to reduce the risk of sowing any dangerous seeds, I kept my level and skills a secret. At most, I would give only vague explanations like, “I’m actually a really high level,” “I’m good at sensing enemies,” or “I’m a bit of a jack-of-all-trades.”

Eventually, once everyone was strong enough to protect themselves or we gained some powerful supporters, I figured I would let them in on some of it.

Since we’d changed to a different campsite, we arrived well before the sun set.

“So we really aren’t getting to a village today.”

“I told you that before, didn’t I?”

Arisa sighed, and I shrugged.

Back when they traveled with the slave trader Nidoren, they had always made sure to set up camp in a village square somewhere, even if the villagers shunned them. Camping without the protection of barrier posts was the rash behavior of homeless people and thieves.

“Don’t worry, I bought monster repellent powder to use for camping.”

“You’ll go bankrupt in no time if you use such an expensive chemical every day.”

Arisa shook her head in utter disbelief.

Apparently, repellent powder was meant for emergencies when one had no choice but to camp with no human habitation around for miles.

Still, it cost only one silver coin for a night’s worth. If a single silver coin was all it took to ensure my party wouldn’t have to fear for their own safety, it was well worth the price.

But since I hadn’t told them about the large fortune sleeping in my Storage, I’d caused them some worry. Next time I had a chance, I’d have to let Arisa and the older girls know I could spend a few hundred gold coins without issue.

“All right, since it’s still a little early, let’s go hunting.”

Once we’d finished setting up camp, I made a proposal to everyone.

The reason, of course, was so that Tama could get her revenge. I wanted to overwrite her regret with a happy memory as soon as possible.

“I’ll do my best, sir!”

“Me too. This time I’ll catch something huge.”

“Master, I shall come along as well.”

“Mrrrr. Bow.”

Mia wanted to participate, too, but she couldn’t join in without a bow. Her usual magic took some time to activate, so it wasn’t well suited to chasing prey.

“Well, why don’t you and I practice magic, then?”

“Mm.”

Mia had been sulking, but Arisa swooped in to the rescue.

I handed a piece of paper to Mia with the final version of the new spell, now with an added explanation in Elvish.

“I will peel vegetables for tonight’s dinner with Ms. Nana.”

“I shall do what I can, I declare.”

“Great, thank you.”

Once Liza had given instructions for preparing dinner to Lulu and Nana, the beastfolk girls and I left the campsite.

Naturally, I could hardly go hiking in a long robe. I’d changed into a long-sleeve shirt and trousers. Pochi and Tama had slipped into shirts and trousers, too. In place of armor, I gave them heavy coats for extra protection.

The four of us marched into the foothills. On my map, I saw a herd of red deer up ahead.

“Ah! A rabbit, sir!”

“Wait a moment, Pochi,” Liza called.

Pochi spotted a short-eared rabbit and took off after it.

I’d asked Liza ahead of time to protect Pochi, so she sprinted away behind her after a brief glance in my direction.

“You’re not going to chase the rabbit?”

“Tama wants bigger prey than that,” Tama said stiffly. I hoped she’d be able to take the deer down quickly and return to her usual languid self.

Pretending to search for prey, I gently guided Tama in the direction of the herd.

“I found something.”

“Oh, some deer.”

From the name “red deer,” I’d been expecting vivid colors, but only the fur on their chests was red. The rest was the same color as a normal deer.

Tama and I edged closer to the group from downwind.

Unfortunately, they sensed our presence anyway and fled.

The beastfolk girl gave chase immediately, but she couldn’t keep up with the escaping deer. I caught her before she could go too far after them.

“They got away…”

“It’s all right, there’s still plenty of prey.”

The herd would probably be on the alert now, but we could just wait awhile and try again.

We found a spot where we could watch the red deer close by and concocted a strategy together. It would have been easier if Tama had a skill that would allow her to creep up on them, but we’d have to find another way.

We decided I would take the role of a beater and drive them toward Tama, who would hurl rocks to bring one down.

Since raising our voices carelessly would alert the deer, Tama and I devised hand signals. We settled on only three—attack, wait, and run away—so that she could remember them more easily.

Leaving Tama where she was, I circled around them at a larger distance than before. Along the way, I picked up a few stones for throwing.

Motioning wait to Tama, I jumped out in front of the herd and drove them toward her.

Once they were within her range, I gave the attack signal to the eager girl. The red deer noticed her and started to scatter, so I hurled the stones I’d collected earlier to scare them back on course.

My projectiles shot through the air with the speed of bullets, gouging large holes in the ground in front of the herd. As the deer panicked, Tama began throwing rocks of her own.

The first stone only grazed the back of one animal, but the second hit a different deer square in the head. Because of the distance, she was having a hard time making a clean shot.

The rest of the herd bounded away as fast as they could, leaving their fallen fellow behind.

The injured deer struggled to get up and run, but Tama was already on the scene and quickly delivered the finishing blow with her short sword.

“Big preeey!”

“Congratulations, Tama.”

Tama beamed and lifted up the slain red deer in triumph.

Tearing my gaze away from the reproachful gaze of the dead deer, I stroked Tama’s head heartily and praised her.

We hung the carcass in a nearby tree to begin bleeding it out. (I’d pulled a rope from Storage for this purpose while Tama wasn’t looking.)

Since we’d left the Garage Bag back at the campsite, Tama and I searched for a sturdy stick to help us bring back the deer. Since none of the fallen branches lying around were the right size, we ended up bending a somewhat thin tree toward the ground and hacking off a branch with a dagger to make a pole.

Next, we would tie the feet to our pole and carry it back to camp together. I could’ve carried it over my shoulders alone, but I decided against it, since I didn’t want to get fleas.

Once the game had mostly bled out, Tama and I lifted it and carried it back toward the campsite.

“Preeey!”

“Wow, amazing, sir! Liza! It’s meat, sir! Tama and Master brought back some huge meat, sir!”

Pochi seemed happiest to see Tama and me returning with the red deer, racing around in circles with such excitement that I thought she might pass out.

Everyone had assembled at the campsite except for Arisa and Mia. Liza and Pochi had returned early.

“Welcome back, Master. What wonderful game you’ve brought. You must have worked hard, too, Tama.”

“Yeah!”

Tama’s ears and tail perked up at Liza’s words, and she responded with pride.

“Master, welcome back. Ms. Tama, you did a great job.”

“Master and Tama, I applaud your spoils.”

“I did my beeest?”

When Lulu and Nana complimented her, too, Tama reacted with uncharacteristic shyness.

Since Liza had come to greet us, I gave her the pole with the red deer. Liza accepted it easily and began butchering it with Lulu.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but underneath that dignified demeanor of hers, I sensed an urge to dance for joy—probably because of the rhythmic movement of her tail.

“Meat, meat! It’s meat, sir!”

“Meaty meat!”

Pochi and Tama sang a song of meat as they skipped along to cheer Liza on as she took apart the deer. The song alone wasn’t enough to express their support, it seemed, and they even created their own odd choreography.

“Oh my, that’s an impressive catch you’ve got there.”

“Back.”

At this point, Arisa and Mia returned. Their magic experiment had apparently been a success.

Mia promptly came over and latched onto me childishly.

“E-excuse me! Mia, that’s not fair!”

“Is too.”

Watching Mia rub her face against my chest, Arisa grumbled crossly.

If she’s that upset, she could just come hug me, too, really. As long as she doesn’t try to harass me sexually, I don’t mind giving out as many hugs as necessary.

Once Mia was satisfied with the physical contact, I asked her to demonstrate the spell for me.

“… Bubble Wash Awa Senjou!”

Frothing foam rose from the water pail nearby and sucked the dirt right off me. Even though some of the bubbles stuck to my body, I didn’t get wet. Just as I’d designed it.

“It’s a success. Thank you, Mia.”

“Mm.”

Mia embraced me again, looking pleased, and I petted her head.

I called over the beastfolk girls, since they’d been out in the mountains, and asked Mia to clean them with magic as well. Liza had already changed clothes and washed her hands, but I figured she might want to experience the new spell with the others anyway.

“How remarkable. I’m next, I imagine?”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?! …Oh, you’re out of magic, aren’t you?”

“Mm.”

It was a handy spell, but the excessive resources it required were a definite flaw. This was after I’d reduced the MP cost by preparing a water source separately, too.

Producing water with magic wasn’t a process of collecting nearby moisture. Instead, it involved giving MP to spirits and having them give it to the water attribute.

I wasn’t clear on the details of that final step, but other spells suggested it was an expensive step, so I simply cut it out.

Still, Mia didn’t have enough MP to use it on all our members at present. I wanted to improve it a little more, but for now, I’d just have to ask her to distribute her magic use among morning, afternoon, and evening.

That night’s dinner featured fried deer entrails with wild herbs, along with a stew of vegetables and steak from the rabbit Pochi had caught earlier. In addition to her porridge, Nana also had some kind of potato potage soup.

Everyone was excited about the lavish meal, but Mia seemed to feel left out, since she couldn’t enjoy any of the meaty dishes. And since Nana was silent as she ate, I couldn’t tell how she was feeling.

I’d have to come up with some vegetarian and liquid-based variations on our meals. I should ask Arisa if she has any ideas, too.

“The tea is ready, Master.”

“Thanks. It smells great.”

Sipping on a cup of the after-dinner tea Lulu had put on for us, I enjoyed a little relaxation. Liza had sprinkled salt over some nuts that Pochi had gathered, and she fried them up as a snack to go with the tea. The crunch was pretty addictive.

Liza returned from cleanup duty.

Nana and the younger girls were doing the dishes, so Liza’s job had been to dig a hole for the food waste. We buried the inedible parts of the deer and rabbit in their own separate holes.

“Liza, aren’t you going to report about the thorny thing, sir?” Pochi latched onto Liza’s leg and gazed up at her quizzically.

“Report? …Ah, I forgot about that while I was distracted with butchering the deer.”

At first, Liza had been confused by Pochi’s question, but then she seemed to remember something and smacked her forehead.

That’s an unusual gesture for Liza. I wonder if she picked it up from Arisa?

“I collected this item along with the plants.”

Liza disappeared into the shadow of the horse-drawn carriage and returned with a thorny succulent wrapped in a thick coat. The AR display gave its name simply as thorny wild plant.

“What is that?”

“Well…”

Liza faltered at my question. She didn’t know, either.

Pochi had insisted on bringing it back to me because of its sweet scent, and they’d picked only one.

“Is it edible?”

“It smells sweet, sir! It’s definitely edible, sir!”

Pochi answered my question very confidently, but the smell appeared to be the sole basis for her belief.

It wasn’t fragrant to me at all, by the way. I sniffed and sniffed for all I was worth, but I didn’t get a “Scent Distinguishing” skill or anything like that.

“Sweeeet?”

Tama looked puzzled. It seemed she couldn’t smell it, either.

“U-um…Master… About this plant…”

“You know it, Lulu?”

“It’s a bit different from what I’m familiar with, but I think it’s similar to winter licorice. Though winter licorice isn’t so large and has fewer thorns…”

I tried using my “Analyze” skill, but it was a different species from winter licorice.

Out of curiosity, I asked Lulu to describe the plant she knew. She said it was a prickly succulent that grew in wintry mountains, and it had thick leaves that could be broken open to find sweet sap. It was popular with mountain children collecting wild plants and nuts.

However, the sugar should be enjoyed only by chewing the flesh, never swallowing. A small amount would be fine, but too much and you’d be glued to the toilet for days on end.

I decided to try pulling off one of the aloe-like leaves to investigate.

I reached out toward the plant, but Liza stopped me.

“Master, these thorns are sharp, so it would be dangerous to touch with your bare hands.”

“I see. Thank you.”

Considering that not even the poison claws of a greater hell demon could harm me, I doubted a normal plant’s thorns would have any effect. Still, because I appreciated Liza’s concern, I stopped anyway.

Reaching into my pocket, I removed from Storage the remainder of the leather we’d used to remodel the cushions earlier that day. Then I wrapped it over the thorns so I could pick up a leaf without directly touching it.

The thorns were sharper than I’d expected, though, and poked right through the leather to reach my palm. Regardless, they couldn’t pierce my skin, so all I felt was a light prickling.

I used the leather to break off the leaf.

At that moment, a wave of sweetness overtook my senses. Something smelled like water saturated with sugar.

Transparent sap dripped from the broken leaf.

“It’s spilliiing?”

“It’ll go to waste, sir!”

Tama and Pochi caught the sap in both hands.

So the rest of the sap wouldn’t spill out, I adjusted the angle of the plant. I wanted to give it a taste test, so I tried to tilt a few drops of the sap into the palm of my hand. But I tilted too far, and the transparent liquid overflowed all over my hand.

Why was it so watery? This wasn’t like any plant I knew. It made sense for parallel world vegetation, I guess.

Once Lulu passed me a container from the Garage Bag, I dumped the leaf and the liquid from my hand into it. I licked my wet palm experimentally.

…It was sweet. A little grassy, maybe, but still as sweet as sugar.

It reminded me of the sugarcane I’d had on a trip to Okinawa, but sugarcane sap didn’t flow freely like this.

Pochi and Tama watched me with great interest, so I told them to go ahead and try it.

“Yes, sir!”

“’kay!”

They slurped up the sap noisily.

It tickled—yes, for some reason, they’d chosen to lick my hand with such force I thought one of them might bite off my fingers.

Of course, I meant they should try licking it off their own hands, but all right…

The eyes of the others started boring into me, so I stopped them before too long.

“Goodness, Master. Here, wipe your hand with this.”

“Thank you, Arisa.”

Arisa held out a towel to me in an uncharacteristically chivalrous gesture. I accepted it, handing her the vessel in return. Suspicious, I wet the towel with some water and used it to wipe my sticky hand clean.

“Now then, if I may—”

“Stop right there.”

I halted Arisa as she moved to pour more sap from the vessel into my hand.

“What are you doing?”

“What? How am I supposed to lick your hand clean if there’s not any sap in it, youn— I mean, Master?”

Arisa’s tone implied I’d asked a foolish question, but I definitely hadn’t requested any such service.

And another thing, Arisa. Don’t think I didn’t hear you start to call me “young master.” I’m onto you and your weird little proclivities.

As punishment, I bopped her lightly on the head with my fist.

“If you want to eat it, just put the sap in a dish and dip your finger.”

“…All riiight.”

Lulu procured a small dish from Storage and tipped a bit of sap into it so everyone could try it.

Arisa attempted to lick my finger instead of her own, but I shut her down, of course. The girl never learned.

Once everyone had sampled the treat, they announced their verdicts.

“Mm, it certainly is sweet. Since the kind Lulu had eaten was winter licorice, perhaps we should call this pin frog licorice?” Arisa suggested.

“Hee-hee, you’re right. Although winter licorice isn’t as strong as this. It has a similar flavor when it’s cooked, though, so I’m certain they’re a similar variety.”

“Why ‘frog’? It’s covered in thorns…”

“Right, I suppose you wouldn’t know about frogs for flower arranging, Liza. How about thorn licorice, then?”

During the course of this conversation, the plant’s label in the AR display changed from thorny wild plant to pin frog licorice and finally to thorn licorice.

I see. The names my “Analyze” skill provides are based on a consensus.

Anyway, enough of that discussion. The licorice was a hit with everyone so far, and Lulu had mentioned earlier that people chewed on the flesh of the leaf, so I asked her how to go about it.

“Yes, you simply peel away the skin and cut the flesh into bite-size pieces.”

Ah. I should be able to handle that.

Because I didn’t want to ask Lulu or Liza to do it in case they hurt their hands on the thorns, I used the decorative dagger on my waist to cut away the skin. With help from my “Dagger” skill, I easily bared the emerald-green flesh without cutting myself.

The skill I’d earned looked useful. I chose to max it out.

The girls watched me with anticipation, so I cut the flesh into small pieces about the size of my pinkie and distributed them one by one.

Everyone chewed in silence.

Then, as if on cue, they all broke into joyous grins at the same moment. Even the reticent Mia and ever-expressionless Nana wore faint smiles. Sugar’s the best.

“Be careful not to swallow it.”

After giving a quick warning, I popped the last piece into my own mouth.

Because everyone seemed to be craving sweets now, I asked Liza to make dessert by coating a mixture of fruits in honey. For Nana’s portion, I had her make fresh-squeezed juice.

I’d acquired the honey in the Cradle after disposing of a crimson needle beehive in a passageway. It was thicker and sweeter than ordinary honey.

As soon as I tasted it, I noticed a rich flavor unlike the thorn licorice’s.

I decided the honey was best suited to desserts, while the thorn licorice was ideal for a snack during the journey.

I cut the thorns off two more leaves and stowed them in containers to save as treats for everyone. I attempted to store the rest of the plant in the Garage Bag, but it was too big.

Everyone’s attention was focused on Liza’s dessert-in-progress, so I unwrapped the thorn licorice from the overcoat and put it into Storage.

…Ugh, now my coat’s covered in ants and little aphid-looking bugs. Come to think of it, I haven’t tried, since it’s impossible in most games, but can I put living things in Storage?

I gently plucked one of the ants off the fabric and tried to stow it away, but it didn’t work. The line Living creatures cannot be put into Storage appeared in my log, too.

The Item Box functioned similarly to Storage, so it didn’t work there either.

Now, I’d never questioned it before when playing games, but why could you store fruits and vegetables but not living creatures? Did the system treat them like corpses?

In an effort to solve this puzzle, I experimented with some nearby weeds.

Cut weeds could go in Storage but not weeds that I’d pulled up from the ground, even once I’d brushed the soil off them. Shortening the roots had no effect. However, if I removed the roots entirely, Storage would accept the plant. The cut-off roots could be stored, too.

Why is plant grafting possible but not this?

I’d just have to accept that this was how it was.

The Item Box didn’t accept living organisms, either.

Still, this investigation did net me the “Experimenting” and “Verification” skills. Now that I had those, I’d have to do a more thorough series of experiments with Storage and the Item Box later.

With so many things to do on the journey, boredom wouldn’t be an issue.

As the night wore on, biting insects started flitting near the bonfire, so I threw in some bug repellent.

The monster repellent powder probably wasn’t necessary while I was awake. If anything came near us, I’d notice it on my radar and snipe it with my Magic Gun.

“Ooh, I’ve had enough of these damn bugs!”

The insect repellent wasn’t taking effect fast enough for Arisa, and she snapped and destroyed them with low-level Psychic Magic. Now we could sleep without buzzing insects disturbing us.

That said, it was still too early to go to bed.

Before I could start wondering what to do, Pochi made an adorable request.

“Master, please read us a picture book, sir.”

“Sure, let me see it.”

Pochi took a picture book from the Garage Bag for me to read, and Tama and Mia were quick to plop down next to her. Even Liza seemed interested, as she sat down primly nearby to listen in.

Nana, who’d been admiring her stuffed animal, and Arisa and Lulu, who’d been chatting, turned their attention my way as well.

The book Pochi had brought told of a legend from the mythology of this world.

“All right, I’m going to read it now. Everyone sit quietly, okay?”

“’kay!”

“Yes, sir.”

Once upon a time, seven Gods descended from the heavens, along with the World Trees. The Gods planted the World Trees in the earth and granted wisdom and language to many people.

The people lived peacefully from then on, prospering greatly beneath the eight Trees. However, somewhere along the way, nine Gods came to be in the world.

The eighth God was the Dragon God, living there since before the seven Gods and the World Trees arrived.

The slumberous Dragon God had been asleep for a very long time and awoke to find a very different world indeed.

The Dragon God, though terribly surprised upon waking, was peaceful by nature and not the sort to fuss over such small matters. And so, the Dragon God and the seven Gods accepted one another and carried on in peace.

But the ninth God was different.

“Master, why does the letter at the beginning of God look so different, sir?”

“It’s capitalized. God is an important word, like a name or a city, right? The first letter of the word changes to make sure you know that.”

Pochi piped up with a question, and I paused to answer. The Shigan language had a system of capitalization similar to that of English.

“You’re so smart, Master, sir. I don’t quite get it, but I still feel like I do, sir.”

Pochi seemed satisfied, so I continued.

The Ninth God was a Demon God who had journeyed from another world.

The selfish Demon God could not bear to be second to anyone else, so he often fought with the other Gods.

Now, the Demon God was terribly jealous that the other Gods each had their own race.

One day, the lonesome Demon God created hell demons to worship him. Together, the Demon God and his hell demons tormented the other races.

Troubled, the other Gods went to him to request that he stop his rampaging hell demons, but the Demon God wouldn’t listen.

The weakest race of all, constantly bullied by the hell demons, was the humanfolk. They beseeched the Young Goddess to give them power to fight back against the hell demons.

The Young Goddess was very troubled indeed.

After all, the Goddess herself had no such power to fight. Worried, she sought advice from the other Gods and kings, but all of them simply shook their heads and grunted, offering no help at all.

Thus, the Young Goddess consulted the Dragon God, the strongest of them all. Of course, he could not lend her the power of dragons, as this would cause even greater damage than the hell demons themselves.

The Dragon God hesitated at first, but he took a liking to the human playthings and liquor the Young Goddess had brought him, and so he taught her a single, special magic.

This was the spell to summon heroes.

The magic of hope.

After this, the book depicted the summoned hero defeating demon lords and hell demons, and they all lived happily ever after.

Each time the Young Goddess Parion asked other Gods and kings for help, Pochi and Tama cheered her on enthusiastically.

Since the pair would block everyone else’s view if they leaned forward too much, I kept pausing to gently push their heads back before continuing to read.

The picture book was the first in a series. In the second volume, Parion and the hero collaborated to defeat seven demon lords. In the end, the Dragon God transformed one of his fangs into a black blade and gave it to the hero, who used it to chase the Demon God to some far-off moon in the grand finale.

The old woman narrating the picture books concluded with a warning never to go out walking on the night of the new moon, as that was when the Demon God’s power was strongest.

This was probably a moral to make sure kids didn’t go out on the moonless nights and hurt themselves.

Because none of the books had a credits page or anything, I didn’t know who the author was. Considering that Parion, not the hero, was the clear protagonist of the story, I figured it was someone connected to her temple.

The third volume depicted the hero taking on challenges and adventures to become a demigod so he could wed Parion and join her family.

The angel-like “disciples” who had helped Parion and the hero in the second book were reduced to minor characters in the third, so I felt bad for them.

Even in stories from a parallel world, you couldn’t escape the dreaded power creep.

Once we’d finished all three books, it was just about time for bed.

I added the monster repellent powder onto the fire. At first, white smoke billowed up with a scent like a mosquito coil, but after a moment it became odorless.

On the radar, I saw the red dots of monsters downwind of us, drawn in by the light of the fire, immediately move far away. Even the ones upwind wouldn’t get too close. The powder was quite effective.

We would take care of the night watch in shifts of two, with one of the beastfolk girls on each shift, so even if a wild animal or monster did approach by some small chance, we would be fine. At the very least, everything nearby was a low enough level for the girls to handle solo.

Pochi and Mia took the first night watch shift.

Both of them seemed sleepy, but once Liza instructed them to wash their faces, they were more alert.

Clearly, being a child in this world was no reason to be spoiled. Liza took a strict attitude with Pochi and Mia to make sure they were wide-awake.

My turn didn’t begin until midnight, but I decided to stay up with them for today.

To keep themselves from falling asleep as they kept watch by the fireside, the two girls used a stick to quietly play tic-tac-toe in the dirt.

I had expected Pochi to mostly concentrate on playing, but when a large rat crept toward the campsite under cover of darkness, she was surprisingly quick to react and zero in on the bush where it was hiding.

Tama’s ears were twitching in her sleep, too. I was confident they’d be ready for any attacks.

Eventually, it was time for Lulu and me to take over the watch, but Lulu started nodding off almost as soon as our shift started.

Considering she’d spent the day driving the carriage, cooking, and even helping prepare the deer, she was probably worn out.

Careful not to wake her, I gently carried her over to where Arisa lay and let her sleep.

Well, I guess I have some time to myself now.

Working on a new spell would probably distract me too much to stay properly on guard, so I figured it was best not to do so.

Instead, I decided to try the Storage experiments I’d been thinking about during the day.

In order to do a handful of heat-related tests, I put some kindling in the stove and placed the kettle on the fire. I figured I would try a few different ways of storing it once it boiled and check the ensuing differences in temperature.

While I waited for the water, I tried some other things. First, I took two pieces of paper out of Storage and lit them on fire. Then I put one away in Storage and waited for the other to burn out before removing the first one again.

When I did, the first piece of paper was still on fire, exactly the same as the moment I had put it in. Maybe time didn’t pass in Storage.

Well, I might as well compare it with the Item Box.

This time, I took three pieces of paper, marked them with ink in the middle, and set them aflame.

When they’d burned down to the mark in the middle, I put one into Storage and one into the Item Box.

Again, I waited for the control to burn up completely, then took out the one from Storage. The flame was still at the mark I’d made. Once I’d checked, I returned it to Storage.

Once again, items in Storage didn’t seem to change at all. Was time itself stopped inside, or were they simply being stored in a different state entirely? Perhaps, as the name “Storage” implied, they were saved as information like in a game or a computer’s external storage device.

Next, I checked the paper I’d put in the Item Box. The fire on this one had gone out just before the paper could burn away. So the state of objects can change in the Item Box. After another try, I determined that the fire had likely gone out when the oxygen deposited along with the paper had been consumed.

While I was sharpening my theory, steam began rising from the kettle I’d put on the fire.

Since I’d figured out how time worked, though, experimenting with heat insulation would no longer be necessary.

Still, I’d already boiled the water, and I went ahead and brewed some herbal tea. It was easy enough, since all it took was a handful of herbs and some hot water.

After a sip, a thought occurred to me, and I tried depositing only the liquid inside the cup in Storage. It disappeared without a problem.

Next, I set the cup on the ground and tried to store it, which worked fine. After adding distance between the object and myself, I determined that the maximum distance from which I could store something without touching it was about ten feet. This worked only if I had a visual lock on the item, but marking the target on the map’s 3-D display accomplished the same purpose.

I also discovered that if I took a steel spear out of Storage and stretched it away from myself, I could store items up to ten feet away from the tip of the spear.

Maybe a wire setup or a whip like a certain explorer has might come in handy for this…

With that silly thought in mind, I tried storing the flame from the bonfire, but it didn’t work.

However, when I reached out toward the vapor rising from my hot tea, I could put away steam without a problem.

Is it determined by the size of the particles? What is fire made from, anyway?

It was possible I couldn’t store things I didn’t fully understand.

Next, I experimented with mixtures.

When I stored the soil from the ground, it was simply labeled as Soil, but if I selected the option for more detailed information, the display gave me a tree breaking down the varieties of rocks and dirt inside. I could easily separate it, in that case.

However, if I dissolved salt into hot water, it wasn’t possible to separate the Salt Water item into Water and Salt. I won’t be able to make seawater drinkable, then.

I also checked whether I could dismantle an insect corpse that I’d gotten in the Cradle without taking it out of Storage, but this was impossible. Too bad. I’d been hoping I could take care of corpses without having to touch them.

In the midst of these experiments, I discovered I could access the Item Box from my menu.

There was now a folder labeled Item Box in the same root folder as Storage. Just as I could move things between folders in Storage, I could also freely transfer them between Storage and the Item Box.

However, since the capacity of the Item Box was dependent on the skill, it was difficult to verify this.

Since I still had more than enough skill points lying around, I decided to max out the “Item Box” skill.

Despite needing to use MP to take things out of the Item Box, none was needed to move things from the Item Box to Storage.

And while items could be stacked and sorted freely in Storage, this didn’t seem to be the case in the Item Box. I couldn’t see detailed information or 3-D views, either.

I tried other experiments with the Item Box, but…

It’s clearly just an inferior version of Storage. If I take things out, it exposes the contents to outside air, too, so it won’t be any good for heat insulation.

Well, this is useless.

Reviewing the unsatisfactory results, I couldn’t help but silently grumble to myself.

Still, it wasn’t a total loss. In other circumstances, it could be handy for something other than inventory. I was sure I’d find some use for it.

At the very least, it was helpful for disguising the existence of my Storage system.