Chapter 2: Teaming Up with the Tool Shop

Chapter 2:
Teaming Up with the Tool Shop

 

THE MONEY-CRAZY young woman known as Paula had once again dropped by the drugstore.

“Hey! I’m here!” she called. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Rei Rei. Let’s brainstorm!”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s great that you’ve got free time for that, but I’m actually pretty busy.”

“How rude! Rei Rei, didn’t anyone ever tell you the truth hurts?” Paula pouted, chastising me.

At least she understands that she’s got more free time than me.

“Welcome, Paula,” said Mina, coming in with a smile and a tray of tea and sweets.

“You know you don’t have to serve her anything, don’t you?” I asked Mina. “Imagine what’d happen if I had to tell Noela that Paula finished off our snacks.”

The werewolf girl was hiding behind a pillar, watching enviously as Mina carried the treats toward the tool shop owner.

“Sorry, Li’l Wolf,” Paula called. “Paula’s the kind of big girl who can’t cope without sugar.” She bit into one of the cookies Mina had brought over.

Noela wanted a cookie so bad, she was trembling. I’ll give her a couple of mine later.

“You’ve come by a lot lately, Paula,” Mina noted. “What do you discuss with Mr. Reiji? You mentioned brainstorming?”

“That’s me and Rei Rei’s naughty little secret, you know?”

Mina smiled, but I saw the shadow lurking behind it. C’mon, Paula. Stop trying to freak her out.

“Sorry, Mina,” I interjected. “Can we tell you the details once we’ve wrapped things up?”

“Oh! You two are creating something together again?!”

“Yeah, exactly.”

After mixing the blaze-b-gone, I’d immediately thought of making a similar product with a different application. Remembering that Paula and I had paired up a while ago to make a fridge, I’d gone to the tool shop owner to discuss my new idea immediately.

She’d been all for it. “Whoa, Rei Rei. That’ll be straight-up ridiculous! It’ll sell, like, kazillions! What are you, some kind of idea monster?!”

Paula had swung by nearly every day to discuss business and kill time, and today was more of the same. Presently, the two of us were crunching numbers on paper.

“So you basically jerk it till it goes sploosh, right?”

“Can you please not word it like that? And it won’t go ‘sploosh.’ More like ‘fwoosh!’”

“Oh. Gotcha.” Paula furrowed her brow, scratching her nose with her quill pen. “Well, I can’t be sure about this till I talk to a craftsman. It sounds tough.”

We were working on something that existed in pretty much all of Earth’s schools, offices, and residences. Just one in any building could keep the place from going up in flames if a fire broke out. However, recreating the product in this world was proving a tough nut to crack. The tricky part would be making each one we produced work the same way.

“The tool shop’s got plenty of wind life stones,” Paula mused. “Problem is, once they get old, they’re less effective. Wanna buy ’em, Rei Rei? Retail price, of course.”

“What, no discount for a friend?”

“Of course not!” Paula chuckled.

Wind life stones, huh? “Hey, Paula, would it be possible to do something like…” I explained my idea, jotting it on the paper in front of us.

“Th-that seems doable! Let me go ask the craftsman.”

The greedy young woman stood, eyes gleaming at the prospect of riches, and ran out of the drugstore. Paula put the pedal to the metal whenever she so much as smelled cash.

I gave Noela a cookie Paula hadn’t gotten around to eating, which the werewolf girl happily munched on. “What make, Master?” she asked, cookie crumbs around her mouth.

“A special tool to keep damage from spreading in a fire.”

“Groo? But blaze-b-gone make no fire.”

“Yeah. This is just an extra precaution.”

“Garoo?” Noela tilted her head to the side.

My suggestion today was apparently a hit with Paula, so I decided to start working on the chemical end of things. I entered the lab, and Noela followed with great curiosity. She helped me work, apparently as thanks for the cookie.

I shook the bottle, finishing the new product.

 

Extinguisher Fluid: Puts out fires more effectively than water.

 

With this stuff, we won’t have to worry about fires breaking out.

“What this, Master?”

“A product for extinguishing fires.”

Noela peered with fascination at the bottled white liquid. “Water?”

“Nope. It works better than water.” By itself, though, extinguisher fluid wouldn’t be much help if a fire broke out. That was why we needed a device to shoot it.

“Groo? Better than water…” Noela, full of wonder, opened the bottle and sniffed its contents.

I doubt that’ll smell very good, buddy.

“Garoo? Smell nice.”

“Hunh…it does. Wait…” The lab door was wide open. “That sweet scent’s coming from the kitchen!”

“Noela! Mr. Reiji! I made some cookies!” Just as Mina came in with a basket of freshly baked treats, Noela dunked her hand into the extinguisher fluid, coating it with white goop. “M-Mr. Reiji?! Wh-what sort of revolting liquid are you forcing her to handle?!”

“Er, it’s extinguisher fluid. A new product I made.”

“Um… Pardon?” Mina was dumbfounded.

“Fights fire better than water, Mina,” Noela explained.

“Look, Mina, I think you might’ve jumped to conclusions here.” I sighed.

Panicking, Mina began making excuses. “N-not at all! You’re wrong! I-I totally knew what that was from the get-go! Mm-hmm!”

“Mina, cookie!” Noela tried to bully Mina into giving her sweets.

“Wash your hands. Otherwise, you can’t have anything.”

“Garoo! Gotcha. Wash now!” Noela zoomed out of the lab.

“Extinguisher fluid, hmm? I see!” Mina muttered and then quickly tried to leave.

“You know, you’re pretty perverted.”

“N-no, I’m not!” After her protest, she fled in embarrassment.

Jeez. Sighing, I went to wash my hands so I could have cookies too.

 

***

 

A few days later, Paula finally showed up again. “Our prototype’s done, Rei Rei!”

The tool was made of light, firm material. It had a tank for liquid, a trigger, and a muzzle at the end of a barrel. It was basically a water gun.

“You can jerk the trigger, and it’ll go off!” Paula exclaimed.

“Please stop describing it like that,” I said as I loaded extinguisher fluid into the gun.

Paula had contracted a craftsman to make the tool. “After I talked to him, he went with the second blueprint,” she told me.

I’d suggested two designs for the fire extinguisher. The first resembled a fire extinguisher on Earth, with a regular nozzle and a tank. The second was the water-gun design.

Mina entered. “You and Paula designed another strange new product, Mr. Reiji?”

“Yup. Put this in someone’s house, and they can extinguish a fire fast if blaze-b-gone fails.”

“Wow!” Mina’s jaw dropped.

The extinguisher’s gun-like shape piqued Noela’s curiosity. She wagged her tail as she watched me load it.

“Master sh-shoot?!” Her eyes practically sparkled.

“I’m going to. This isn’t a toy, though. Got it?”

It was crystal clear that none of my words registered with the excitable werewolf girl. She wagged her tail wildly, staring at the water gun in my hands.

After loading the extinguisher, I pumped it a few times, raising the tank’s air pressure. I put my finger on the trigger, and I could immediately tell that it’d be harder to pull now.

Just then, I noticed small wind life stones around the gun’s muzzle. “Wait.”

“Ooh, you finally noticed?” Paula said. “If you charge the extinguisher with a teeny bit of magical energy, those life stones will respond, and whatever you fire will go way faster.”

“Awesome!” Faster ammo was more than enough to get me hyped up. Noela clearly agreed; her tail wagged even faster.

“Let’s give this baby a try,” I said, although I hadn’t yet tested the extinguisher fluid’s effectiveness. The bottom line is that I want to shoot this thing!

In the backyard, I coated a wooden crate with blaze-b-gone and then filled it with flammable trash. “Go ahead, Noela!”

Noela shot sparks into the crate with a fire life stone, igniting the trash. “Flames!”

“Ready to shoot.” I nodded to the three onlookers. They nodded back with serious expressions. Supporting the gun with my left hand, I sent magical energy into the weapon and aimed at the flames in the crate. “Target locked. Fire!” I pulled the stiff trigger as hard as I could.

Zooooosh! Extinguisher fluid shot from the gun. It rode the wind the life stones produced and struck the inside of the crate. Bwoosh! The flames quickly vanished.

“I-It worked!” It’d been tremendously satisfying to say the cool lines I’d wanted to, and extinguishing the fire was the icing on the cake.

“You seem as though you’re having fun, Mr. Reiji.”

“Groo. Master look happy.”

“You’re all amped up, Rei Rei.”

I peered into the crate. The few drops of extinguisher fluid I’d fired had spread when they struck it, extinguishing about three quarters of the flames. “C-crazy!”

The others rushed over to look.

“The fire’s seriously gone! Just like that!” Mina was stunned.

“Master! Noela next! Noela next!” The werewolf girl tried to steal the gun out of my hands.

Paula nodded enthusiastically. “The prototype’s a success!”

Three different reactions.

“What should we call this thing, Rei Rei?” Paula asked, grinning at me.

I guess names are important. And a weapon—well, it’s not a weapon—like this deserves a good name. As I thought it over, Noela grabbed the extinguisher from me and pumped it.

Mina suggested the obvious term. “We could just call it a fire extinguisher, I suppose.”

That made me think of the red extinguishers back on Earth. Nope. No good. “This ain’t a fire extinguisher, Mina.”

The new tool’s uniqueness escaped Mina, and she tilted her head in confusion.

On the other hand, Paula agreed. “I totally get where you’re comin’ from, Rei Rei. Hey! How about calling it the fire eraser?”

“Ooh—sounds badass!”

“Then it’s decided! The eraser! The eraser…” Paula repeated the extinguisher gun’s name.

I did likewise. “Eraser Prototype Unit One!” Just saying that out loud got me keyed up.

Paula and I made eye contact and high-fived—I doubt either of us were even sure why.

A short distance away, Noela had the crate in her sights. She pulled the eraser’s trigger, shouting, “Fire!”

Zoosh! Extinguisher fluid hit the crate full force.

“Groo!” Apparently pleased that she’d struck her target, Noela pumped the gun again, readying the next shot.

“May I try as well, Noela?” Mina asked.

“No. Still Noela’s turn.”

That little jerk plans to mess around till there’s no extinguisher fluid left.

Paula just giggled. “Catch you later, Rei Rei,” she said, departing.

I know I came up with the eraser, but it’s wild that Paula and the craftsman were actually able to make it, I mused. I ought to be grateful to them both.

Once Noela had used up all the extinguisher fluid, Mina got her turn. She had no trouble using the eraser; it was straightforward enough for anyone to shoot as long as they didn’t completely psych themselves out.

“I’ve got to tell Paula to make more erasers,” I murmured. Hey, we’re not exactly in a hurry. I can just tell her later. In the meantime, I’d take Eraser Prototype Unit One and some extinguisher fluid to the Red Cat Brigade, since they dealt with fires.

“Hey, Griffy!” I called toward the stable beside the drugstore. “I’m heading out! Give me a ride?”

Griffy stood. “Kyuu! Kyuu!” I hadn’t taken Translator DX today, so I couldn’t understand what the griffin was saying, but it definitely seemed happy.

I hopped on Griffy’s back, and we began searching for Annabelle. Apparently, she was on patrol duty. When we reached Kalta’s outskirts, a bunch of kids gathered around us.

“It’s Griffy!”

“Griffy!”

“Kyuu?”

Kids loved petting Griffy’s plumage now that it had grown out. It wasn’t as soft as Noela’s fur, but it was still pretty darn smooth.

“Hey, Pharmacist! Takin’ the monster for a walk?”

Seems like our search is over. Three other mercenaries were with Annabelle; they must’ve been doing their rounds as a group and noticed us immediately; Griffy stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Yup. I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone by giving you this.” Hopping down from Griffy’s back, I handed Annabelle the eraser and some extinguisher fluid.

“Hrm? What’re these, Pharmacist?”

“Remember that blaze-b-gone stuff I made a while back to prevent fires? Well, if a fire’s already broken out, you should use these.” I explained the extinguisher fluid’s effects to Annabelle as well as how to use the eraser.

Much to my surprise, Annabelle seemed intrigued by everything but the eraser itself. “Hrm. So without the gun, the extinguisher fluid’s useless?”

“Nope! A bottle of extinguisher fluid could put out a fire even without the eraser.”

“Then…folks could just throw bottles of it at fires, right?” Annabelle chuckled. “Heh! Now ain’t that useful?!”

I hesitated. “Yes and no, Annabelle.”

“Come again?”

“Well, throwing bottled extinguisher fluid at a fire could be fine. If someone missed, though, they’d waste that bottle,” I reasoned.

The other mercenaries butted in to support me. “You just don’t get it, Boss!”

“Yeah, he’s right, Boss! Throwin’ bottles wouldn’t be as cutting-edge!”

“Who gives a damn when it comes to firefightin’?!” Annabelle demanded. “It ain’t no game!”

She was absolutely right, so nobody had a response.

“But, eh, I suppose the pharmacist has a point,” she admitted. “If someone panicked and missed the fire by a mile, that’d be that. Besides, old folks and kids ain’t got great aim. I suppose we’ve just got to get used to whatever the heck this thing is, eh?” She stared at the eraser with a discerning eye. “We’ll practice with it.”

“Thanks a lot,” I replied. “I really appreciate it.”

“Right. Well, we’ll be gettin’ back to work, then. See ya.” Annabelle spun the eraser, finger still on the trigger, and then casually slipped the firearm into her belt.

What the hell? That was awesome! I want to try doing that too!

When I got back to the drugstore, Noela asked, “Where eraser, Master?”

“I gave it to Annabelle. She and the Red Cat Brigade are going to use it to fight fires.”

“Garoo?!”

Noela must’ve thought she’d get to play with the eraser some more once I returned. The truth seemed to pull the rug out from under her.