12 Episode 11 Iron and Gravel (1/2)

At any rate, I'm going to check the location of the refinery that Sally told me about. However, the refinery is two houses down from the gate on the grassy side of town.

The location has been confirmed. It's a one-story brick building, though it's larger than the Adventurer's Guild. It is more utilitarian than the guild, and has an unpretentious design.

The signboard is made of stone and says only ”Refinery” on it. The gate is open, but you can enter only after you bring iron ore.

Make sure you have your guild card and leave the gate. This is the first time I've been on this side of the city, but it's a nice sight. I've never seen anything like it in Japan.

It was said to be a grassland, but it was more like green hills in places, and there were paths leading from the top of the hills to the top.

It was a spectacular sight to see the carpet of green that went on and on.

It would be easy to cultivate it into good farmland, but why not? I wonder if it has something to do with demons or something.

Also, in Japan, if you want to build a road through a hill, you have to go through a low place.

I don't see any demons at first glance, and I can't see any signs (from the tentacles. I don't feel any presence (due to the tentacles, which I try not to use because it's distracting and an invasion of privacy), but when the time comes to fight, it's probably better to attack from a high place.

The fact that you're high up means that the demon can see you more easily, but it also means that you don't have to worry as much about being caught off guard.

In the meantime, there's no point in looking at the scenery or thinking about it, so you equip your shield and start moving. I took out my sword, pulled it out of its scabbard, and threw it in with the scabbard. If you get into a fight, you can take the sword out of the item box. Emptiness Battoujutsu! Something like that. I don't think it's a sword-blade technique when the scabbard is not used.

I've found that I don't get tired when I run at the same pace as on my way back from gathering herbs, so I run at that pace. I think my speed is about 20 km/h. I can beat a marathoner.

While running, I think. If the fireball I'm using now is about 40 km/h, is it only twice as fast as running? That's pretty slow.

You might want to consider using a staff. I can handle a sword with my right hand, and my left arm only has a shield on it, so I can at least hold a staff.

If it's too long, it'll get in the way, but if it's just to assist my magic speed, it won't need to be as long as a standard staff. I'd like something about 30cm long, but it might have to be custom-made. I might ask for a recommendation when I go to pick up the leather armor tomorrow.

And then I thought of a magical idea that would give me speed without using a wand.

It seems to require no particular preparation, so I'll pick up a pebble about 3cm from the ground and try the experiment.

The thing I came up with is a gun. No, it's more like a slingshot than a gun. I don't intend to use air pressure, and I don't intend to make it explode.

I'm just thinking that if I use magic to apply pressure to a pebble, the pebble will fly away at high speed. At any rate, I'll give it a try.

If my hand gets caught in the pebble, it will definitely hurt, so I throw the pebble up lightly and try to activate the spell with the image of concentrating the pressure on it.

You hear a buzzing sound, but the stone doesn't fly, or rather it is already on the ground at the point where the spell is activated.

This time, you visualize the spell being cast, and then throw the stone at the target to cast the spell.

A buzzing sound is heard and the stone flies away. The speed seems to be over 40km/h, but not 80km/h. It's too slow for the effort. The stones are small.

Well, there's a chance that they'll be useful, so I throw about 20 pebbles into the item box and start again.

Checking my status as I move, I see that my status says ”Pressure Magic 1”. Where's the wind spell?

You don't intend to use it regularly, so you hide it for now. When I checked the status on the road, I didn't find anyone who had it, so there's no need to make it stand out.

There is no need to stand out unnecessarily. You may feel that you stand out enough with medicinal herbs, but there is a difference between standing out out out of necessity and standing out unnecessarily.

As I was thinking about this, I could see what looked like a tunnel. I think I've traveled about five kilometers, so that must be it.

Unlike what I had imagined when I heard the word ”mine”, there was a hole in a raised area of the grassland, and a lot of stones were piled up around it. A man is coming out of the cave and adding more stones to the pile. It might be iron ore.

Anyway, I approach him and talk to him.

Excuse me. I'm from the Adventurer's Guild, and I've been hired to carry iron ore.

I wondered how ”Excuse me” was translated, but that didn't matter now.

The man I spoke to was a man who looked like Mr. Dveragh, but he was somehow different from Mr. Dveragh and seemed younger.

His clothes are made of jeans-like material and look like something a coal miner in Australia would wear. I am completely prejudiced.

It may be different from a dwarf's point of view, just as Japanese people can't tell the difference between Caucasians.

”Oh. Then show me your guild card.

So I show him my guild card.

”Okay, no problem, but you look pretty weak, is that all right with you?

”Yes, I have an item box, so I'll carry as much as I can in my item box.

The miner looked surprised. It might have been my imagination, but...

I don't know why you're carrying ore when you have an item box, but there's no problem with that. The iron ore is there, so take as much as you can carry.

He points to a pile of reddish stones that have just been added. It's shaped like Mt. Fuji, about five meters high, made of iron ore, and the slope is rather gentle.

When I touched the mountain, I plunged the iron ore into it.

I must have plunged about 200 kilograms into the mountain. A miner called out to me.

He said, ”Is it really possible to carry that much stuff in an item box? I've heard that they can carry 200kg at most.

Is that so? Well, I'll chalk it up to the otherworldly.