Chapter 13 – Sati development planI exited through the gate and went to the gra.s.slands. I prepare my throwing knives and keep an eye out for wild rabbits as I slowly advance. After I hunted a few of them the forest came into my view.
I make sure that nothing is coming out of the forest and carefully walk closer. It wouldn’t be bad if something like orcs came out, they would be good source of experience points, but it would be scary if some weird things came out. Let’s leave immediately once I finished cutting the trees.
I choose an enormous tree, then cut it down with my black sword. The blade cuts the tree without getting stuck. Bakibakibaki, zuun a loud sound reverberates through the quiet forest as the tree falls over.
That was an unexpectedly loud sound!? I have to hurry before monsters get lured over by the sound. I cut down two others in the same manner and store them.
After I made sure that nothing came out of the forest I put some distance between me and the forest by running.
On the way back I leisurely hunted the wild rabbits, today’s harvest amount turned out to be 26.
I check the requests at the Adventurer’s Guild and since there is one for the delivery of wild rabbit meat I accept it and then complete it. On the way I go to the Trader Guild and sell the fur.
By the way I asked the old guy at the reception if the Adventurer’s Guild loses profit if I sell the materials at the Trader Guild, but apparently it’s set up in a way that the Adventurer’s Guild receives a part of the profit if an adventurer sells materials at the Trader Guild. They leave the troublesome tasks to the Trader Guild entirely and even get some of the profit from it. The Trader Guild also obtains a large amount of materials, so they are happy with it. It’s a win-win relationship indeed.
“You are Masaru-sama, right? The mantle made from the pelt of the huge wild boar is finished.”
Ooh, I completely forgot.
The pelt of the huge wild boar is beautifully tanned, it’s so soft and fluffy. The burn mark I made with magic doesn’t stand out anymore. It looks like it will become colder from now on, so it’s good that it looks nice and warm. Should I buy something for Sati too? A fluffy fur coat should look great on her.
I leave the Guild and head towards the orphanage. At this hour, Angela should be at the clinic.
“Oh my. An-chan is over at the clinic if you are looking for her?”
Saying that Sister Matilda came to greet me.
“No, I wanted to request help with a task today.”
I go out to the garden and take out all three of the trees I’ve cut.
“Oh my, oh my. Those are some big trees. You want to make firewood out of them? Alright. But with this size it will take from maybe half a year to a year until they dry out?”
From half a year to a year!? I knew they had to be dried out, but I didn’t think it would take more than half a year. I thought it would at most take 1 to 2 months.
“Want to take the firewood we have in exchange?”
“I would feel bad if I did that.”
In short, they just have to be dried, right? Isn’t it the Fire Magic’s, which is only good for heating water and burning things, place to shine right now?
“I’ll try to see for a bit if I can dry it out with Fire Magic.”
I cut off an around 50 cm long part of the tree from the end then I try using Fire Magic on it. Slowly, the same way as heating water.
Shuu shuu, steam started rising from the wood. Ooh, it’s going nicely. When I got careless like this I apparently put too much mana in. The wood suddenly caught on fire. I hurriedly splashed some water on it with magic.
I cut off another part of the tree and try again. After a while steam stopped coming out of the tree. I check it by cutting it with an axe. I show the wood block, which is still somewhat warm, to Matilda-san.
“How is it?”
“Oh my, oh my. I think it should be just fine. It looks like you could use this as firewood right away.”
It looks like this will work. I had the children, who were watching what happened, help out with the cutting of the branches. I use Fire Magic on the tree that’s been stripped. But since the size is that much bigger, the mana consumption also rises sharply. When I finished drying out all three of them after about one hour, my MP almost ran out.
This is intense.
For an ordinary person even one should be hard to dry out. It doesn’t looks like I can start a business for drying out firewood.
“I’m…….done.”
I’m wiped. I overused my mana somewhat. I don’t want to do anything else today anymore. Let’s sleep.
I gave one tree’s worth of firewood to the orphanage, the other two’s worth will be delivered to me when they are done.
“Then I will trouble you with it.”
As I tried to leave I was held back by Sister Matilda.
“Won’t you check in with An-chan before you go?”
“Yeah…..we will meet this afternoon anyway.”
Maybe she caught on how I hesitated a bit, but she really got into it.
“Oh my, oh my. Did something happen perhaps? You have to get along.”
“Uhm, well…. you see…..”
Well we get along, or should I say, get along too well. She said she likes me so it’s embarra.s.sing to be face to face with her. No way I would say this.
“Well, you see….”
I lower my voice so no one else could hear. Since there are many children around too.
“Please don’t tell anyone else, okay? A short while ago Angela said she likes me. So it’s kind of hard to meet her now.”
“Oh myy”
My arm got grabbed and I was brought to a corner of the garden. She also shooed away the children.
“Then, what will you do now?”
“That’s just it that I don’t know what to do. There is also Sati too.”
“Oh the beast race girl, right. She is cute, isn’t she. Bring her over next time.”
“Okay.”
“But yeah. I think having two or three girls like her around just shows your dependability as man.”
Hey, isn’t your religion in favor of monogamy!?
“That’s just for show, for show.”
According to what Sister Matilda told me, the lack of men is a serious problem.
Even if women are also able to fight, there are still overwhelmingly more men who work as adventurers or soldiers. Then they fight against monsters and die. Women get left behind. It’s natural progression that polygamy becomes normal and this tendency have been continuing for a long time now. Apparently, the Temple doesn’t want to bring up an old doctrine and lose followers over it either.
“So are you saying that Angela confessed to me while being well aware of the existence of Sati?”
“That’s right. Well it’s not an unusual thing, so I don’t think she minds it. It’s not like An-chan dislikes that girl or something, right?”
“They get along well.”
“Then it’s alright! Just ‘Bam’ do it.”
Do what…… I was thinking this, but there is something to Sister Matilda’s words too. Being an adventurers means that you can die any time. Even I got into situations three times since I got here where a wrong step would have meant my death. Need to take the opportunity while it’s available, there must be many stories where people died suddenly, leaving their partner behind……
“So how about you Masaru-chan? Do you like An-chan?”
“I like her, but……”
“But?”
“I wonder what part of me was it that Angela came to like?”
That part I don’t really understand.
She is not a glutton like Elizabeth either, I sometimes bring her some presents and I bragged about defeating the dragon, but that’s about it I think?
But if you listen to it properly then you can notice that all I did was shoot one spell.
I’m also short and not particularly handsome, my job is insecure being an adventurer. Apparently being a mage is a big plus in this world, but she is a mage too, so I don’t think that alone could cause her to fall for me.
In these 23 years, this is the first time I was this popular. It’s really puzzling.
“Hm, yeah. Maybe you tickled her motherly instincts. Like when you went to the forest. She was really worried about you. She looked like she can’t concentrate on her work at all, that was the first time I saw her break a plate.”
Motherly instincts, huh. Maybe it was because I’m small. Is she into younger boys? She told me I looked like a 15 years old when I met her too.
“At any rate. An-chan is level headed, so if she told you that she likes you, then it’s the truth. So you have to respond to her feelings.”
Respond to her feelings? How? By kissing? My face gets red from imagining.
“You just have to normally tell her you like her.”
I see. That’s right. That comes first. I got ahead of myself.
“Thank you very much, Sister Matilda. I feel much better now.”
“Is that so? Then I’m glad.”
“Also, please keep this a secret for sure.”
‘I know that’, said Sister Matilda while laughing.
Will this really be fine…….
I go to the training field of the Guild and wait at a place where I won’t be found, so I don’t become a hindrance to Sati.
Sati started just not long ago, but her movements got a lot better.
Maybe I should use some Points soon. It’s too suspicious if I raise it too fast, so I will do one level a time. If she reaches level 3 then both the bow and sword will be usable in a real battle too.
As I was deep in thought, Sergeant-dono came along.
“What is it? You look pretty tired.”
“Yeah, well I overused my mana a bit.”
So I explain to Sergeant-dono how I was making firewood.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to cut it into smaller pieces or put some notches in it?”
If it’s just a big tree, then there is not path for the steam to come out. So it consumes extra mana unnecessarily.
“As expected of Sergeant-dono……”
I didn’t even think of that. Let’s do just that next time.
“Then, how is Sati doing?”
“She has potential. Her reflexes are not bad either. If she keeps this up for a month diligently, then it will be fine to put her in a real battle.”
One month, huh. Let’s allocate some Points after all. Then we will earn more Points and strengthen her even more. Let’s make Sati into a warrior exceeding me and Lazard-san. I chuckled a bit after imagining a scene of Sati peerlessly plunging into a group of orcs. It’s quite a comical sight.
Sergeant-dono looked at me questioningly after seeing me laugh, so I told him about what I just imagined.
“Yeah. You can’t tell from that appearance of hers, but they say that beast people are born with a fighting instinct. She should be able fight splendidly in a real battle.”
“Is that how it is?”
“She is desperately training like that. How can you, as her master, not believe in her?”
“That’s true. I think Sati is doing her best.”
Sati’s training came to an end, we popped in to Tilika-chan’s place, then we headed home.
“I think we should eat out today. You know, at the place where we drank that juice.”
I’m tired today, so I don’t want to cook. Sati must be tired from training too.
“Yes.”
“You can order whatever you like. You can drink as much juice as you want too.”
“Can I really?”
“Mm, because Sati is doing her best with training.”
“Thank you very much, Masaru-sama!”
It was a bit early for lunch at the Dragon’s Breath restaurant, so there weren’t many guests. We sit at a suitable place and I read the menu on the wall to Sati. She’s become able to read somewhat, but she still can’t read it all.
Sati is hesitating on which one should she choose with sparkling eyes.
A clerk came to take our orders.
“A daily special and this steak, please. Sati, have you decided yet?”
“Yes. This…..and this please.”
“You can order more, you know?”
“Then that one too……”
“Don’t want more?”
“……then that one too please.”
Well, it should be fine with this. They serve a substantial amount here. Even Sati will probably leave some of it.
“Also, two fruits juice for her and one for me, please.”
I watch Sati as she looks around restlessly as we are waiting for the food. I think Sati became a bit rounder than before. Must be because I let her eat plenty every day and she also exercises. She is still slender, but she doesn’t look like skin and bones like before.
The food is being brought. Taste worthy of a professional. Angela is also good at cooking, but her cooking feels more like home cooking, so it gives off a different impression. Especially this steak. All they did was fry this steak, but I wonder why it’s this delicious. Is there a difference with the method of frying or the processing, I wonder.
When I let Sati eat a slice of it, she said ‘It’s delishious!’, with her face beaming.
Should I let Sati be an apprentice here in the future? Would the old man teach her, I wonder…..
Sati ate everything. However, she forced herself to finish it, so she looks to be in pain.
“You didn’t need to force yourself to eat it all.”
We speak as we walk away from the shop.
“But to leave them, even though they were that delicious…….”
“We could’ve just asked them to pack it up for us.”
“!?”
It looks like she didn’t think of that.
“Let’s go there again sometimes.”
“Yes, Masaru-sama!”
When we got home I had Sati sit beside me.
“I went to the Slave Merchant earlier today.”
“!!”
Sati was surprised and looked like she will cry. It seems this subject is still very delicate for her after all.
“No no, it wasn’t about Sati. You know, there was that big sister you got along well before, right?”
“Yes.”
Sati looks relieved. But she once again puts on an uneasy expression.
“Uhm….is there something about big sister?”
“Yeah, apparently she went on to be a maid in a wealthy person’s mansion. They said the person who bought her is a good person, so she will be well taken care of.”
“Is that true!? I was, wondering about it the whole time……. but big sister said that if I was bought then forget everything that happened there immediately……..”
Nn. Nn. Good for you.
“They couldn’t tell me exactly where she went, but she must be living happily.”
“You went out of your way to ask about it, right. Thank you very much, Masaru-sama.”
“Nn. I just dropped in on the way.”
Well then, the next is treating her eyes. First, I open the menu and raise Restoration Magic to level 4.
【Restoration Magic Level 4】
(1) Heal (small) (2) Heal , Detoxify (3) Regeneration , Cure Disease
(4) Area Heal , Extra Heal
Extra Heal. This looks useful. If this doesn’t work either, then let’s raise it to level 5.
I tear away Sati, who is hugging me tightly.
“Well then. Let’s try to cure your eyes one more time today. Can you close the windows and make the room dark?”
I make Sati close her eyes after she came back to the sofa.
【Extra Heal】 Beginning chant–
To be expected of level 4, its chant is long. It must be about the same length as the Fire Storm spell of the same level. A huge amount of mana is also being gathered, so much so that I’ve become a bit hesitant whether if it’s a good idea to pour all this mana into Sati. Maybe I shouldn’t have done this immediately, but test it in some other way before instead.
The chant is finished. I hesitated a bit, but thinking that it’s too late for that now, I activated the magic.
Pou, a glow lights up the darkness. Then the light that shone in Sati’s eyes vanished immediately.
“Good, then open your eyes slowly. Slowly, okay?”
Sati opens her eyes slowly. Right after she looked towards me for a bit she hurriedly closed her eyes shut.
“What happened!?”
s.h.i.t, was there some kind of mistake!?
“No, I can see, but suddenly my field of vision……”
Sati is blinking continuously. Then she looks my way.
“It’s alright now. If I focus like before then I see things extremely closely. So I was surprised by that.”
I see. It’s the effect of Hawk Eyes. It seems her eyes got healed properly. I let out a sigh of relief.
“This time it should be healed for real. Try to not move around today until you get used it. You don’t need to do anything until Angela comes over in the afternoon.”
“Yes, Masaru-sama. Uhm……”
“What is it?”
“Thank you very much.”
“Mn. It’s okay. Since I’ll be having Sati work in the future, even more so than before.”
“Yes, Masaru-sama! I’ll do my best!”
I bring some pudding over and the two of us eat them in the dark living room. While we were eating, I listened to Sati telling me about her training. It seems she is being trained quite thoroughly.
The instructors there are fundamentally spartan-types. Well, adventurers are also betting their lives, so no one complains and they just do it. As I listen to Sati, I check her Skills.
Skill Points 10P
Aural Detection Level 3 , Olfactory Detection Level 2 , St.u.r.dy , Hawk Eyes
Cooking Level 1 , Housework Level 1
Swordsmanship Level 1 , Archery Level 1 , Evasion Level 1 , Shield Level 1
She got four new combat skills. Let’s raise Swordsmanship and Archery by one level each. Next, I will raise them to level 3 after seeing how things turn out, and then it will be time for real battles.
As a general idea, my plan is to take our distance and bring down the enemy with magic and arrows. If we can’t take them down with that then I will take the front and do something. I can use Levitation too, so I don’t think it will be hard to get away if it gets dangerous.
Skill Points 25P
Swordsmanship Level 4 , Body Enhancement Level 2 , Skill Reset , Rasgrad World Standard Language
Everyday Magic , Clock , Fire Magic Level 4
Shield Level 2 , Evasion Level 1 , Spearmanship Level 1 , Hand-to-hand combat Level 1 , Stamina Recovery Enhancement , Willpower
Archery Level 1 , Throwing Skills Level 2 , Covert Action Level 3 , Stealthy Steps Level 2 , Sense Presence Level 2
Mana Perception Level 1 , Common Magic , Recovery Magic Level 4 , High-speed Chanting Level 5
Cooking Level 2 , Water Magic Level 1 , Wind Magic Level 1
“Sati, how are your eyes?”
“Yes. They are amazing. I got the hang of controlling them too.”
Good, then I don’t need to raise Recovery Magic even more. Let’s raise Wind and Water.
【Water Magic Level 3】
(1) Water Ball (2) Water Whip , Water Bullet (3) Water Wall , Ice and Snow
【Wind Magic Level 3】
(1) Wind Bullet (2) Wind Blade , Wind Wall (3) Lightning , Wind Storm , Flight
There are 15 Points remaining. Even if I raise Earth to 3 it will only cost me 10 so let’s do that. I think I will take Sense Presence Level 3 and Evasion Level 2 with the remaining 5 Points. I wonder if it’s alright to use all my Points. I won’t be able to use Skills Reset for a good while either, so let’s make sure to stay away from danger during this month.
Skill Points 0P
Swordsmanship Level 4 , Body Enhancement Level 2 , Skill Reset , Rasgrad World Standard Language
Everyday Magic , Clock , Fire Magic Level 4
Shield Level 2 , Evasion Level 2 , Spearmanship Level 1 , Hand-to-hand combat Level 1 , Stamina Recovery Enhancement , Willpower
Archery Level 1 , Throwing Skills Level 2 , Covert Action Level 3 , Stealthy Steps Level 2 , Sense Presence Level 3
Mana Perception Level 1 , Common Magic , Recovery Magic Level 4 , High-speed Chanting Level 5
Cooking Level 2 , Water Magic Level 3 , Wind Magic Level 3 , Earth Magic Level 3
【Earth Magic Level 3】
(1) Earth Bullet (2) Earth Wall , Hardening (3) Golem Creation , Rock Bullet
The Skill list somehow became jumbled up and hard to read. I think I will submit a request for improvement in my Journal for today.