v1c6 (2/2)

「…Un, thanks Lute-kun.」

I hugged her closely in order—to transmit not just by words, but also by the warmth—to let her know she was not alone in this world.

「Is it okay to hear the sound of Lute-kun’s chest a little bit more?」

「Uh-huh, you can listen all you like.」

So as to hear my heartbeat some more, Snow nuzzled her ear against my chest.

It was surprisingly ticklish.

Bathed in starlight, Snow and I continued to bring together our bodies some more.

…I wonder how much time had pa.s.sed.

I separated my body from Snow.

As I returned to my room with her, I asked.

「Should we sleep together tonight, after all?」

「Lute-kun is ecchi~~.」

Eeeh, didn’t we sleep together in the same futon just one year ago?

She then returned to the girls’ room without turning back.

「As I thought, girls sure grow fast, huh?」

The mutterings of a middle-aged man with a mental age of over 30 disappeared down the dark hallway.

Lute, 5 years old.

The merchant Malton, who specializes in magic tools, opened a shop in the commercial city Tver.

There were several routes going between Tver and the defence city, Tallcas (so named for having tall walls and relics of the great war of old; it is the next most prosperous city after Tver in the region).

The most popular one was the central road which had a travel time of up to 10 days.

A less popular route was the road that goes through Hoad town in the Aljio region where the orphanage was.

Despite being in the exact center point between commercial city, Tver, and defence city, Tallcas, it could not be reached unless one takes a detour through the forests.

Furthermore, taking the detour to go to Hoad town means spending an extra 10 days. In other words, going town to town through Hoad required 20 days of travel time.

Because going by the central road takes half the time, there are not many people who goes through the Hoad town on purpose.

Therefore the town’s population is few, and is decreasing.

The day I met the merchant Malton, I hurriedly had him write up a contract and signed it.

That was because I wanted to have that magic liquid metal as soon as I can.

According to him, it would take 10 days from now to get back to shop.

Plus 1 day of preparation and 10 days to come here, makes 21 days.

Furthermore he asked for an additional 1 or 2 days in case some unexpected situation occurred.

This was not like the world in my previous life where an order you made would arrive the next day.

I apologized for hurrying him and said my thanks.

In the afternoon, 21 days after Malton and I parted ways.

His subordinates delivered the magic liquid metal to the orphanage.

It was transported inside a cask in the horse cart drawn by 2 horned horses (horses that seems to have a horn growing from their foreheads, because of its strength it could be used to pull carts and such).

Nevertheless, just one of those weighed about 250 kg.

I truly wanted all the magic liquid metal available, but I still did not really know whether I could make handguns out of it.

Because it was so expensive, I only got him to sell me a barrel’s worth.

Nevertheless, it still seemed to have cost 25 gold coins in total.

Among Elle-sensei’s cla.s.ses there were also lessons about money.

Based on my life experiences here, if I were to put it in terms of modern currency it would be something like『1 gold coin (100,000) = 10 silver coins = 100 large copper coins = 1,000 copper coins』.

Intuitively, 1 copper coin is worth 100 Yen.

The price of wheat for 1 day’s needs is 2 copper coins (the amount of wheat for 1 person for 1 day is about 1 kg)

1 kg of wild boar pork is 3 silver coins (30,000 Yen).

About 1 liter of cheap wine is 1 large copper coin and 2 copper coins (1,200 Yen).

So by intuition, 25 gold coins is about 2,500,000 Yen. 1 liter is about 1 silver coin (10,000 Yen)

As expected, even though it was bad, it was still a magic tool.

However, because it was not a product that was in circulation much due to being unpopular, bad stock that had been stored for too long seemed to be obtainable for a cheaper price with some negotiation. Being a rare item, the price varied depending on the situation at the time of negotiation.

It was just that since what I put on offer was only knowledge, I would turn a blind eye to it.

The subordinate took the cask down from the cart and called me.

「Could you confirm that the contents isn’t wrong, just to be sure?」

The lid was gracefully opened.

The cask was filled with a silverish liquid.

The mercury-looking-liquid rippled when the cask was struck.

So this is magic liquid metal.

It really is liquid, huh.

「No problem. Thank you for bringing this over.」

「No, no. This is work after all. Boss said,『here you go』.」

「Well then, please tell him, 『Thank you very much for listening to my selfish request』.」

「Understood. I’ll be taking my leave.」

The subordinate took off his cap, bowed, and returned to the cart.

Done seeing him off, I raised my body strength using body strengthening arts and carried the cask to the boys’ room

I quickly finished afternoon work with Snow and started experimenting on the long-awaited magic liquid metal.

I carried the cask out from the boys’ room out to the field.

The testing ground was a backyard that was vacant after the magician’s basic lessons were finished.

First, I tried touching the magic liquid metal.

It was pleasantly cool to the touch.

As I scooped it out with my hands, it dripped out of my palms like water.

It felt heavier than water.

Perhaps touching mercury also felt like this.

Without delay, I experimented.

I put my hand inside the cask and called an image in my head.

It was a 10 cm flat metal board.

Keeping the image in my head, I moved magical power into my hands and released them.

A feeling was left in my palms.

「Ooh, I can really do it.」

Pulling out my hands, a metal board of about 10 cm was made.

But the degree of perfection was bad.

The surface was not flat and had holes in it; the thickness was also uneven.

It was also not in a rectangular shape but crooked.

I struck the board lightly with my fist.

It seemed to be as strong as iron.

「The handling is surely difficult: more vividly image for the texture, material properties, thickness, and strength—seems to be necessary to draw the metal board I wanted to make more clearly that way.」

Rather than taking the time training for a more definite mental image to make weapons or protectors, buying them with money was faster and easier.

I understand why this stuff was unpopular.

However, I used to be a factory worker at a metalworking plant for 7 years.

「…Remember the past. …Regain the sensation.」

I put the metal board aside.

I took a breath and exhaled, concentrated, and once again filled my hands with magic liquid metal.

In the previous life, I was able to detect even a 1μm defect on a metal board just by the feeling on my fingertips.

Just by hearing the sound, I could distinguish which metal part was defective.

All of it was taught to me by the workers working at the plant; techniques that I gained at their annoyance.

Even after I died and lost my body, the skill was etched onto my soul.

Once again, I imagined a metal board and poured my magic power.

I am not making a vague lump.

For a moment, I imagined constructing the shape, whittling, arranging, and smoothing the surface. Picturing it strongly, I poured magic power into the metal.

I felt metal being created in my hands.

I pulled it out from the magic liquid metal.

「…Yeah! Success!」

A 10 cm metal board was made with a smooth surface, even thickness, and a neat rectangular shape.

「With magic liquid metal, maybe I can really make handguns!」

My chest felt the most delighted ever since I had been reincarnated into this world.

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