>.> I"m so glad this chapter was as short as it was. Next chapter ETA 4-12+ hours.
Counting Your Chicken"s Before They"ve Hatched
Year 7444, Month 12, Day 29
After returning to "Boil Manor" I went to Miduchi"s room and asked the state of things with Faruergaz and Hirosukol for today.
It seems that they left once around noon and returned in about an hour as well the as k.u.miru. It seemed like both of their walking postures seemed more normal again so it"s fine to think they"ve recovered from most of their injuries. If they aren"t idiots then they"ll wait a few days while keeping an eye on things and if possible offer to heal k.u.miru and Ruttsu or offer some kind of a.s.sistance to them.
If they just go straight to the dungeon without doing then I don"t care anymore...It should be fine to just ignore them. Is it okay? No, I guess it"s no good...However, if they"re reckless then I"ll be troubled later on...
In any case things are already fine for today. I thought of taking a warm shower before dinner so I went towards the shower room when I just happened to run into Toris as he was coming out. Then I guess Bel is using the other shower room that"s in use. Suddenly I remembered so rather than taking a shower I invited Toris to my room, I decided to give him the honor of being a monitor for the new model of Saya. Well the other day, I already tested it on Miduchi, and I"m sure my older brother and sister-in-law have tested it plenty as well so I can already guess but for me it was the light feelings of trying to help the pitiful Toris out a bit.
"Al-san, did you return? Weren"t you going to be at the company in the capital for this holiday.."
"Yeah, I intended to be but since I got my hands on a new product this time. I needed to give it to you in a hurry, thinking that I came back in hurry though it"s just for tonight."
"Ha~ And, what is it?"
I opened the wooden box on the wide of my bed and took out one package and handed that to Toris.
"Al-san..This is.."
He touched the rubber pack and after confirming the contents Toris said with a bit of restraint, while his eyes went wide and he seemed a bit drawn back from it.
"Yeah, it"s a product that is just as you can see. Have you used one before?"
"No way, there"s no way that"s the case."
He replied in a panic while shaking his head. Fumu, I guess he was just an innocent college student, well I guess you wouldn"t normally use it. And, even including my previous life it was my first time using it not too long ago as well so I can"t say anything about others though.
"Well, I guess that"s true. But you know, this should become a great ally to you. Since the problem of molds still hasn"t been solved in regards to that the studs aren"t designed into one. They"ve been added afterwards. That"s why in order to prevent them from escaping and in order to strengthen the main part it"s made a bit thicker than usual."
"Is..Is that so..But, did you really just go out of your way to return in order to give me this..."
It seems like Toris can"t understand as he"s sending me a dubious glance.
"Well the quality just as you know isn"t worth comparing to the cutting edge technology of j.a.pan so it can"t be helped. Although.."
"Although?"
Toris"s expression is saying, what in the world is this person talking about? What does he want to say? those sorts of feelings are clearly showing.
"I"ll say it once more. The main body of it has been created a bit thicker!"
Zubishi!! and I pointed at the rubber package on Toris"s hand with my finger.
"..Ha!! I..I see..It"s that sort of thing! In other words, the sensitivity falls a bit for the male side right!"
Umu. I"m saved that he"s quick to understand.
Honestly, it"s not the type of product I care for much. Miduchi and I are reasonably seeking each other but it"s limited to within common sense levels. However, oh~ Toris, your woman is different right? Since I don"t think it"s good to step too far into your private lives, I didn"t say much at all up until now but I had realized it.
After Toris joined our group two years ago, during the start you two were happily doing it but..you, recently you seem even more energetic during the times were in the dungeon right? I can roughly guess it based on the Saya consumption rate but recently the number of times per night has decreased hasn"t it? The other day my desires exploded by chance and then the next morning I was seen by Bel but as a matter of fact I felt bad about that.
Three times in one night is something that can be done because we"re young. However, even then for you do manage that every single time must have been quite painful. During the start when you were managing 6-7 times every day I even secretly respected you. Around the start of this year, I"m sure it was in order to try and drop the sensitivity but you tried using the pig"s bowels but ended up causing some pain for Bel from your past inexperience right? When I found out about that I felt a bit lonely thinking I wouldn"t be of any use to you anymore but even then I thought that couldn"t be helped in some ways.
While looking at Toris who"s eyes are sparkling with understanding, I cross my arms with a grave expression and nodded to him.
"Well, just test it out. Try using it. You might be able to open up a new door in your life?"
"U..Al-san..I...I..Kku, thanks. Thank you very much!"
At first he was looking down with his eyes on the rubber package but as he raised the level of his grat.i.tude he properly looked up at me. I could feel the flames of hope burning brightly in his eyes.
Umu, I"m saved he"s so easy.
Rather~ I couldn"t even imagine he would be moved so deeply.
Was it really that painful..I put my hands on both of Toris"s shoulders and nodded before saying.
"If you try using it and think they"re good then treat me to a meal later. It"s not worthy of being thanked over every little time."
During dinner of that day Toris was in a good mood all on his own and Bel just looked at that with a strange face. Miduchi, the three slaves, and I ate. I don"t know about everyone else. I"m sure they"re all eating on their own.
...............
Year 7444, Month 12, Day 30
After waking up in the morning without doing my running, Miduchi and I switched over to the inn that we had put in reservations for. I went to the dried goods dealer and stocked up on a large amount of dried fish and then after the two of us put on some hooded robes we entered the dungeon early in the morning. We can kill time on the 2nd and 3rd floors until later while Miduchi earns some experience towards her magic skills.
I had a strange sort of confidence that Faruergaz and the others wouldn"t move today or tomorrow. I"m sure there"s no j.a.panese person who would want to enter the dungeon on New Year"s Eve or Day. Particularly those two who have the sensitivity of j.a.panese people remaining strongly and there"s the injuries as well, starting today until past New Year"s day they should carefully proceed with preparations before entering the dungeon again. In other words, I"m guessing they won"t move until at least the day after tomorrow. Depending on how things go they might not even move until the end of New Year"s Week.
It"s completely unknown if k.u.miru and Ruttsu have any relation to {Sun Ray} but even if they do the best thing they could do for now is some sort of unnatural intervention so there"s other choice than to leave things be. Well I think there probably won"t be anything. There"s nothing more to do than periodically confirm their survival.
We spent the day putting priority on time efficiency where I freeze the orks on the 3rd floor and have Miduchi finish them off using magic without collecting the magic stones.
After noon, until evening we wandered around the 2nd and 3rd floors until just like last time we teleported from the 3rd floor to the fairy village area on the 2nd floor, and then rested in shifts in front of the area where the entrance to the fairy village appears when the date changes.
And then midnight.
""Congratulations and happy new year!""
For the time being we finished up our New Year"s greeting and then put our hands on the door to enter the fairy village before going inside.
...............
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 2
Yesterday night, no, I guess it was early this morning? When Miduchi and I returned from the dungeon we went back to our temporary inn and without waiting for morning we checked out right away and then used the spell {Light} to travel along the road as it was still dark on our way to Rombertia. Since we had been away since the end of the year in order to learn some new spells, both of us were mentally exhausted so when we arrived at the capital we just took an appropriate inn before falling over into bed without the energy to take a shower. I think the time had already gone around to 4 am in the morning.
After we slept for as long as we pleased until close to noon, we had some food, and then as exercise to help digestion we ran for about two hours along the riverside. We returned to the inn, took a shower to get refreshed, and then Miduchi and exchanged glances in our room. We both couldn"t hold back from breaking out into laughter. After laughing together for a few minutes and then this time we both reached a similar thought as our faces got serious enough as if we were glaring at each other. Furthermore, Miduchi was making a face on the verge of crying.
"The one I learned it doesn"t matter how much time it takes until it activates so there"s no point in hurrying to practice with it. However~ even though I spent that much time I was only able to learn one spell..This, is a considerably difficult spell."
"I still need to practice the four spells I learned this time...But, honestly speaking insects are.."
The only was able to learn a single spell this time.
It doesn"t even need to be mentioned, the spell {Trans.m.u.te.Rock.To.Mud}.
Compared to that Miduchi was able to learn four this time.
Summon Bugs, {Summon.Insect}
Summon Bug Swarm, {Insect.Plague}
Clumsiness, {Fumble}
Communicate Intent: Plants, {Speak.With.Plants}
Quite a few of those spells are reasonably valid.
Now then, what"s important here is the spell I learned this time {Trans.m.u.te.Rock.To.Mud}. This spell can can change rock into mud. Putting it simply, it"s safe to consider it the advanced version of {Quagmire} which can be used create bogs. It"s an extremely high level spell that requires earth, fire, water, and void magic skill levels all at least at level 8. The bare minimum MP required to use it requires using earth and water magic five times, fire magic once, and void magic eight times, for a total MP consumption of 152 points. And with that it makes it possible to turn any type of rock that"s roughly 1 m^3 into mud.
Up until there it only seems like a spell that would be useful for tunneling through a mountain or when cultivating new land. According to teacher Mila the reverse spell of {Remove.Petrification} is called {Flesh.To.Stone} and there"s also the method of transforming the target from stone into mud with this spell then washing them away into a river or ocean so they can never return to normal again, that sort of extremely brutal method of using it seems to exist as well but that sort of thing doesn"t matter at all.
If you transform rock into mud, then use the void magic sorting on that mud to sort out whatever you like from it, then if you use the void magic transformation it"s possible to take it out in whatever form you like. This is huge. It"s possible to take out refined, crystallized metals in the form that is "just as you can imagine". There"s not even a need to specify things for a bolt that"s 5 mm in diameter, with the screw height of 0.7mm, and a length of 5 cm. All you have to do is imagine a bolt in that form. And, then when it comes to a nut that matches that bolt, you can take the nut (included in that rock) out in whatever metal you like.
Let me repeat it even easier to understand. I have a certain rock. And, I use the spell from just now consecutively. Iron, Chrome, Molybdenum I take out everything I can from it. Then I use the spell to make that into an alloy. Then I use this spell on that again. That time, I coil it to the right, have it rotate around about this much, with an inner diameter of about this much, external form about here, and I think up the image of a perfect gun barrel with the life ring carved into it and created from Chrome.Molybdenum Steel. And, then just the same as that with lead, if possible with tungsten or anything else but if I make a bullet that matches the gun barrel like I made last year, or, from some bra.s.s that was made syrupy in the same way I make a cartridges of just the right shape to match this magazine, or things like that I can make them just as I imagine in my head. Even the types of small parts that a detonator requires are simple.
Putting it frankly, it eats a s.h.i.tload of MP so I"m sure that no one other than me can properly manage it.
After that if I can just use the nitrocellulose I experienced with in the past then smokeless gunpowder should be fine, if I mix in some plasticizing agent and wax as an anti-combustion agent at about 10% then that should be plenty. There"s still the problem of safety remaining but if I increase the amount of wax while experimenting with it then it should burn all on it"s own so easily. It should be able to reach the level of a weak bullet, then if there"s problems with the firepower while it"ll increase the weight a bit I can increase the size of the sh.e.l.l by just a bit. It will deteriorate at a more intense rate but it"s not like the modern day armies where I have to keep it in storage for up to three years after producing it.
I already knew from the start that something like preparing a ma.s.sive amount of guns is impossible because of issues related to the gunpowder. If I were to same something extreme, then it should be fine as long as the quality is guaranteed for a few months after it"s produced. In the first place, in a situation where I can prepare a large quant.i.ty and make use of them, guns are just like a supplement to me. Rather than that the fact that I can make things like pac.h.i.n.ko b.a.l.l.s or nails of the same quality in large quant.i.ty is even more important.
If I buy a distillation device (or make one is fine) and distill Pyroligneous acid to make a lot of methanol. If I just leave that alone and let it undergo oxidation then I formalin should be created..I think, if I remember correctly. It"ll end up burning some MP but I use the magic sorting to take it out as well. It"s possible to sort out ammonia from p.i.s.s and decaying corpses. If I can get formalin and ammonia to react then it"s possible to create Hexamethylenetetramine. And then, I"ve already confirmed it"s possible to create nitric acid of high purity when producing nitrocellulose with magic. If I mix up Hexamethylenetetramine with high purity nitric acid inside of a something like porcelain that can resist high temperatures and get them react then that should be able to make Trimethylenetrinitramine crystals..I think.
Ah, Trimethylenetrinitramine refers to RDX. It"s poisonous but as long as you don"t eat it then it"s fine. It seems it"s sweet so I need to keep it away from Ralpha though. If I harden this with wax then it"s composition A, it requires me being able to make Toluene, but if I mix it with TNT 6:4 then it becomes composition B. If it"s mixed with a plasticizing agent like clay 9:1 then it"s the so-called composition C.
If I can put conducting line soaked in nitrocellulose or a metal wire stuck in it that reacts to a reasonable {Lightning Bolt} then I can create a bomb. If you surround it with a lot of pac.h.i.n.ko b.a.l.l.s or nails then I"m sure you can increase the damage even more. Of course, I"m sure the quality wouldn"t reach the level of those made in a j.a.panese factory but that doesn"t particularly matter. The various kinds of additives aren"t absolutely necessary. Some of them prevent the deterioration over long term storage, or raise the efficiency of it, make it easier to use, it"s fundamentally just things that make it easier to deal with it.
In order to prevent the soldiers on the ends that don"t have a properly level of education from discharging it on themselves, would be the largest portion of the goal. In my own opinion I"d just be fine if I could make something like a large version of the JSDF"s anti-vehicle mine. Either way I don"t have any intention of letting anyone else use them. After that if we had several people who could use a smaller version like claymores then I think that would be plenty. If I could make something like a wire fuse that would be the best but I"m sure it would be difficult without electricity. Ah, maybe I could make one in combination with the lighter magic tool. Though I"m sure that would make it a bit larger.
However, while these would require some schemes in order to make use of for attacking, they"d be ideal for defending.
Well, at the current stage, it"s quite literally counting the chickens before they"ve hatched though.
But, I"m sure this will become a large power.
However, inside of the inn I don"t want to try practicing any of the spells we learned this time other than {Fumble}. I think we"ll just go take a look around various places in the capital for a change of pace and get some rest today.
...............
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 3
We spent the entire day at the company chatting with the Yotlen mother and daughters.
Reira"s ability to deal with customers is splendid.
And Anna is doing a good job as well.
We sold 11 packs of condoms.
................
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 4
We spent all of today chatting with Yotlen mother and daughters as well.
Hanna thinks that as long as she"s mimicking her older sister than she"s doing a good job. It"s charming.
We sold 13 packs of condoms.
Reira gave something or other sub-Baron a sample of the new model of condoms.
..................
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 5
We continued chatting with Yotlen mother and daughters at the company until noon.
We sold 5 packs of condoms during the morning.
I haven"t done anything other than running these past three days.
Since we"re entering the dungeon again starting tomorrow we returned to Baldukk.
I"ll give it my best starting tomorrow.
Author"s note: there"s some portions intentionally left out this time avoiding breaking explosive production laws, but please think that the protagonist properly knows them. I wonder if it would be best to cover them up with omissions?