Volume 2 of "Adventurer of Another World Reincarnation" is scheduled for release on October 10.
A limited-quantity SS leaflet written exclusively for Toranoana, and an SS paper written exclusively for Shosen and Horindō Shoten, will be included (except at some stores), so please check it out.
"Intrusion successful... Target detected."
As for the current state of things outside, it was still dark since the sun hadn't risen yet, and aside from craftsmen starting work early in the morning and guards on patrol, nobody was walking around out there.
The place I'd broken into was the master's workshop. Now, it might look like illegal trespassing, but I had gotten permission from the master's apprentices. The previous night, I'd remembered I had business at the Guild (selling goblins), and when I went there during a walk, I happened to run into the master's apprentices heading out to a bar—which is how I came up with this plan. For reference, I bribed the apprentices with enough money to buy a moderate amount of drinks (by dwarf standards). The master's sale amount, meanwhile, had been a single silver coin.
"Ugh, what a good sleep... Wait, what the heck is this?!"
The master, who had finally woken up, noticed he was tied to a pillar and let out a loud shout.
"Quiet down, you... you drunkard."
"Don't you think you're causing trouble this early in the morning? Oh my... you hopeless drunk."
"That's exactly why your wife ran away, you fool... you absolute moron."
That last one was genuinely from the heart, but content-wise it was the most entertaining. By the way, the ones showering the master with insults were the apprentice representatives—the masked blacksmiths (apprentices) A, B, and C.
They had known I was going to capture the master, so they showed up at just the right moment.
"Come on, quit fooling around and untie the ropes. And aren't you embarrassed wearing getups like that? Especially you, Tenma."
The apprentices were just wearing their regular clothes with paper bags over their heads, while I was in the outfit I'd been questioned in at the Royal Capital (though the mask was the serial-killer-who-appears-on-Fridays model), so I really wished they'd spare me those calm retorts. It wasn't like I was wearing this getup by choice... probably.
"Alright, let's cut the fooling around here... Master, do you have anything to say to me about Raiden?"
"What are you talking about? I don't know anything."
When the master tried to play dumb, I held Raiden in front of him and gave the instruction to open its mouth.
"You still don't know anything, even after this?"
Only after this did the master finally confess that he'd been installing this mechanism behind my back. It seemed he had tried to see if Raiden could pull off a 'Breath'-type attack, but ultimately determined that generating high-output magic like Breath was impossible given the structural limitations, and in the end connected it all the way to the Slarin Space. The magic circles and protrusions that had been drawn on its throat appeared to be remnants from that process.
"Oh, and one more thing, Tenma. Actually, Raiden's head is still incomplete."
I wondered what he was going to say, but apparently the craftsman intended to attach Bicorn's horn to Raiden's head. He said he thought it would make Raiden look more like a Bicorn that way.
"On top of that, adding the horn should also strengthen Raiden's lightning attribute... in theory."
He didn't have any certainty, but he said that if the Bicorn's consciousness was strong enough, using Bicorn's materials to bring the form closer could only be a plus, never a minus. So, as the craftsman suggested, I decided to hand over Bicorn's horn and have it attached to the head. Either way, Bicorn's horn had no use for the time being, so if there was a chance it could improve Raiden's performance, it was better to put it to use there.
"However, one of them is broken off from the root, so it'll end up shorter than the real thing."
The completion wouldn't be ready until tomorrow evening, so I left Raiden with him and headed out to do some shopping.
First on my list were sugar and salt. As for spices, the craftsman said most of them were specialty products from the Southern Autonomous Region, so I figured I could source those locally and planned to purchase only the bare minimum of everything else.
By the end of the day, after wandering around the city, I managed to buy more than double the sugar and salt I had planned, and I also picked up spices as intended. There were quite a few unplanned purchases as well, but most of them were fruits and vegetables, so it wasn't wasted money.
When I returned to the carriage, Maria and the others were relaxing. However, Tida was nowhere to be found, so I asked Chris, who was likewise relaxing, and apparently Tida was having Amy show her around the city. Tida had apparently gotten excited thinking it was a date, but in reality, Chris had arranged for guards other than herself to surround them discreetly so that Tida wouldn't notice.
Apparently the other three, besides me, had also finished most of their preparations today, so we decided to spend the remaining days before our departure date at a leisurely pace.
"Tenma, you're free, so let's go shopping!"
The next day, after breakfast, Amour came to invite me shopping. I happened to need some things, so I agreed immediately, and for some reason Amour looked surprised.
"Tenma... was nice to me!"
"...It's not like you have to come with me if you don't want to, you know?"
"Lie! Tenma wasn't being nice at all! So, let's go?"
And so, we headed out to go shopping. I did try inviting everyone else along, but they all declined with smiles on their faces.
For that reason, the two of us went out shopping together, but Amour was in suspiciously high spirits. I could hear her occasionally murmuring "date, date," but she didn't seem to be aware of it herself.
"First, this place. Wait here for a moment."
We arrived at the shop I was looking for, and after excusing myself to Amour, I headed inside—but Amour didn't wait outside and followed me in. And then:
"I can't do this place..."
And with that, she immediately evacuated outside the shop. For reference, the shop I was looking for was an apothecary. As such, the interior was filled with the scent of herbs and medicines. Anyone unaccustomed to such smells might feel ill if they weren't careful. And for beastfolk with a keener sense of smell than humans, that would be even more the case.
"Um... this, this, and—do you have any herbs for wound salves? ...Only the dried kind, huh? Fine, I'll take this and this. And while I'm at it, some stomach medicine and a fever-reducing herb... also dried? ...Well, whatever."
That was how I went about buying various herbs and medicines.
I'd learned the basics of medicine-making from my mother, so I normally crafted whatever I needed myself. But doing only that wasn't much of a learning experience, so whenever I spotted something that looked particularly effective, I'd buy it and test its effects.
This shop didn't carry the highest-quality goods, but there was no guarantee the other stores around had better stock, so I selected everything that looked reasonably decent.
When I finished shopping and stepped outside, Amour was standing in front of a food stall set up a short distance away, stuffing her cheeks with skewered meat.
"Mmm... Tenma, you stink."
When Amour noticed me, she came over to my side, sniffed me abruptly, and said that. I'd gotten used to the smell of herbs myself so it didn't bother me, but to Amour, apparently reeked something fierce.
"Well then, let's— ...continue shopping."
Amour quickly finished her skewer, then fell into step beside me and we started walking. But...
"Sorry. I need to stop in here too."
About a few hundred meters ahead, there was another apothecary, so I went in to buy more herbs. This one had some good pill-form medicines in stock, so I purchased enough for several uses.
"Stinky..."
After that, I visited several more apothecaries and bought a wide variety of herbs and medicines. Every single item was a type I didn't already own, and while I only grabbed a small amount of each, the total added up to quite a hefty haul. To make matters worse, my body had absorbed the distinctive herbal scent—like a strongly concentrated compress—and Amour, who had been looking forward to shopping, grew thoroughly displeased. Granted, "shopping" for Amour mostly meant just walking around outside; the food stalls were about the only thing she stopped at. Since I'd accomplished my goal of acquiring the herbs, I was thinking of tagging along with her, but Amour was in a foul mood and declared she wanted to go back to the carriage. She apparently had no desire to walk alongside me reeking of the smell she hated most.
Since I returned to the carriage in that state, everyone who had stayed behind was startled for a double reason—Amour's sour mood, and my smell.
"Studying medicine is all well and good, but Tenma, you really ought to learn how to handle women first."
Lady Maria said something to that effect, but I deliberately pretended not to hear. In matters like these, a man never wins by arguing with a woman... or so I believed. Besides, with my pitifully low experience in such things—
Lady Maria—
There was no way I could win. The smart move was simply not to step onto a field where the odds were in her favor... though some people might call that "running away."
While dodging Lady Maria's verbal barrage, I decided to spend the free time before we reached the master's workshop making medicine from the herbs I'd purchased. Once I started working, Amour and Branca couldn't stand the herbal smell and evacuated outside the carriage. Lady Maria and Luna wrinkled their noses at the scent as well, but curiosity won out and they stayed inside. Chris, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to retreat outside with Amour and the others, but with Lady Maria remaining in the carriage, she seemed to be gritting her teeth and enduring. Grandpa was used to the smell, so he just casually ate snacks and helped himself to another cup of tea.
"This should work fine."
While I was rehydrating the dried herbs in water, Amour came back into the carriage with a muffled voice, his nose thoroughly plugged. He'd done quite a thorough job with those nose plugs and looked like he was having a rough time, but since he was pretending nothing was wrong, nobody said anything.
The medicine I was making now was an ointment using baichorn oil. The process was relatively simple, and if done carefully, even an amateur could produce something of decent quality.
First, you warm the baichorn oil in a water bath until it liquefies. While doing so, you heat it in boiling water for about thirty minutes to sterilize it at the same time.
Next, you grind the herbs thoroughly in clean water (since I was using dried ones this time, I ground them along with the water I'd used to rehydrate them), then strain through a fine tea strainer to remove the leaf veins and other debris.
Finally, you mix the slightly cooled oil with the strained herb liquid using a spatula, stirring evenly until it forms stiff peaks. That completes the ointment itself.
After that, you portion it into sterilized small bottles, being careful not to let any air in, to make it easy to use.
Separately, I also made hand cream using the same method (turning the herb liquid into a perfumed lotion diluted with water) and gifted it to the women as a way to stay on their good side. I'd made a decent amount, so even after giving some to everyone I know in Seigen, there should be quite a bit left over.
For now, I gave the freshly made ointment to Lady Maria and the others who were here. I handed Chris Jeanne's, Aura's, and Aina's portions to deliver as well, and I included Lady Maria's portions for Isabella and Mizaria when I gave them to her.
"I'm heading to the master's workshop soon. I might be a little late, so go ahead and eat dinner without me."
After telling Grandpa and the others that, I got out of the carriage. Amour tried to follow me, but since I didn't know what time I'd be back, I told him to stay put. It wouldn't look good for a man and a woman to go out together and come home late.
"Master, is it done?"
The master was right near the entrance of the workshop, so when I asked, he said the horn attachment procedure had been a success.
"Also, there's something I'd like your help with, if you don't mind."
The master and his team were serving a multi-day suspension from business, so they'd have plenty of free time with no customers. I figured I'd put them to work helping me. The excuse I had prepared was that the unpaid labor would serve as an apology for the strange modifications I'd installed on Leyden.
Sure enough, the masters agreed before I even explained the details. Apparently, with their Leyden pastime gone, drinking was all they had left to do.
"What I'd like help with is making knives, short swords, pots, and frying pans from the mithril that was used in Tanikaze."
I wasn't sure about asking the masters—who mainly crafted weapons and armor—to make pots and frying pans, but they nodded readily and started checking the forge and tools. Later, when I talked to the master about it, he told me that back in his apprentice days, he used to make pots and sell them on the side alongside his training.
"There's nearly one ton of mithril in total, so I'll give you half as payment for the unpaid help, and we'll use the other half to make everything. Can I ask you to handle the knives and short swords? The pots and frying pans, I'd like the rest of the team to make. I have a few things I want to make myself."
"That's fine, but Tenma, you've got one thing wrong. The iron used in Tanikaze wasn't mithril, it—
"Magic steel.
It was probably magic iron that had transformed."
When I asked for more details, the master explained that magic steel was created by channeling strong Magic Power through magic iron. As a material, it was a tier above—slightly less hard than Mithril, but in some ways rarer. Then again, when it came to rarity, anyone with enough gold to buy magic steel would most likely choose Mithril instead, since it was lighter and more durable. Price-wise, magic steel was only about twenty percent cheaper than Mithril, so magic iron—less than half the price of Mithril—was actually the better bargain. On top of that, magic steel was only marginally lighter than magic iron. That half-baked in-between quality was exactly why it rarely showed up on the market.
"Well, it's first-class material, so using it for pots and frying pans is practically criminal!"
With that, the master's explanation came to an end, and we each got to work.
The master was in charge of all fifty knives. The breakdown was: ten machetes (bush knives), ten survival knives, and thirty throwing knives. Each would be forged entirely from iron, blade to handle. For the throwing knives, I asked for kunai-style ones about fifteen centimeters long. There were also ten short swords, and I left the design entirely up to the master.
The apprentices were handling the cookware—ten saucepans, ten stockpots, and ten frying pans. The saucepans would be on the smaller side, the stockpots on the larger side, and the frying pans split evenly, five large and five small. The apprentices were used to forging pots and pans as part of their training, so they said they could finish everything in two days. Once they were done, they'd come help the master.
As for me, I was making new weapons and new cooking tools. The new weapons were shuriken—square metal plates with all four edges sharpened—with summoning magic circles engraved on each one so they'd return to my hand after being thrown. I'd gotten the idea from something in a book by Marquis Samons that I'd read before. And the new cooking tool? A takoyaki maker, plain and simple. I also planned to make one large enough for oban-yaki, and while I was at it, I figured I'd go ahead and make a griddle for okonomiyaki too.
I started with the griddle... though there wasn't anything particularly difficult about it. I heated the magic steel until it turned soft and goopy, poured it into a mold, then waited for it to cool naturally. Using this method, I made three griddles of different sizes. One of them was going to become the takoyaki maker, so I dug through the master's tools and found a round-tipped hammer, then used it to punch out the molds. I ended up with fifty slightly oversized holes—more than enough for a household version.
Next was the oban-yaki maker. I made two sets of these, each capable of producing five at a time. Each mold was about ten centimeters in diameter and three centimeters deep on one side, so it looked like I'd be able to make something with real substance.
But right after finishing the oban-yaki maker, I realized I'd made a serious miscalculation. It was...
"Wait... when did dawn break?"
I'd been so absorbed that I'd completely lost track of time. The same was true for the master and the others—everyone had gotten further along than they'd originally planned.
"...Let's just call it a night for now."
"Yeah..."
Once the awareness of the hour sank in, exhaustion hit us all at once, so we decided to crash in a corner of the workshop.
The next day, we woke up past noon and wolfed down the meals we'd prepared in advance—food we'd bought from a street stall—before getting back to work. But then...
"Tenma, am I hitting it right?"
"Big bro! I burned myself!"
"Luna! I told you to be careful! Sorry about that, Tenma. Could you get the medicine, please?"
"Teacher, the fire is getting really intense!"
Somehow the workshop had turned into a hands-on classroom. And all of it was because Grandpa had brought Amour and the others along.
"Well now, things sure have gotten exciting."
Grandpa, the designated chaperone, was happily sipping his tea. Beside him, Chris and Branca—chaperone number two and number three—were also drinking tea. Apparently, Lady Maria had gone out to a meeting with Seigen's representatives.
The reason everyone had shown up was that I hadn't come home yesterday. When Grandpa decided to come check on me, Amour tagged along, Branca came too because she was worried Amour might go off the rails, Luna and Amy joined because they were curious about what I was making, and since Amy was going, Tida followed her as well. Chris had originally been scheduled to guard Lady Maria, but when Tida and Luna insisted on coming to see me, Lady Maria apparently told him to escort the two of them instead. The gap left by Chris was apparently being covered by the remaining guards. As for the guild master, who you'd think would be against letting children—amateurs at that—use the workshop, he surprisingly didn't say a word. Probably because royalty was mixed in with the group, and if anything went wrong, he figured he could pin the responsibility on me.
I had the four of them help me make the shuriken I'd be using (since even if they messed up, this way the damage would be minimal), and in the meantime I finished the iron plate. When I say finished, all I did was polish the surface clean and bend the edges slightly, so I could manage it even while keeping an eye on the four of them.
The four were satisfied with their
forging—
And right around the same time, the guild master powered through the throwing knives at an incredible pace, finishing them in just a few hours. As expected of a true professional, his speed and precision were in a completely different league from me and the apprentices. By that evening, the apprentices had also finished their share, which meant the guild master could push his pace even further. The fact that Grandpa had taken everyone home before dark—forcing one person in particular—was probably also a factor in boosting the work speed.
"Hahahaha… How about that!"
The moment the sun rose, the guild master completed the final short sword. All that remained were the machete and the survival knife, and he boasted that with the apprentices' help, he could forge everything in one more day. Well, the apprentices behind him were shaking their heads, so one day was probably impossible after all…
"So, I'm heading to bed. We'll pick this up when I wake up."
With that, the guild master and his apprentices fell asleep right there in the corner of the workshop, snoring away just like the day before. Watching them, I decided to head back to the carriage for now. Since I'd given up my spot to the apprentices at some point and caught a light nap today, I had the energy to make it back.
When I returned to the carriage, Grandpa was already awake. I gave him a quick update on the work progress, took a short bath, and then went to sleep in my bed. While I was sleeping, Slarin and the others crawled under the blankets with me. It was a bit stifling, but I hadn't been able to pay much attention to them lately, so I decided to put up with it… Although I did kick Amour out when he tried to squeeze in.
We spent several more days like that, and today we had reached our scheduled departure date. Having finished all preparations by yesterday, we arrived at Seigen's south gate early in the morning.
Seeing us off were Amy's family, members of the "Dawn Sword" and the "Tamer's Guild," and—somehow—Lady Maria and her "Royal Party (plus escorts)," who had extended their stay all the way to today. As for Lady Maria's group, they had originally been scheduled to leave Seigen before us, but Tida had stubbornly insisted she wanted to see me off, which led to their extended stay. She herself kept claiming it was to see me off, but it was obvious to anyone watching that she had other reasons, and that those were the real motivation.
"Well then, we'll be heading out soon. Amy, keep studying hard. The next time we meet will probably be at the Royal Capital. If anything troublesome comes up, you can rely on the people of Kukuri Village or Aina—Aura's older sister. She'll be able to help with anything. Don't be shy about asking."
"Yes, I understand, Teacher!"
I had already given Amy letters addressed to Uncle Mark and the others, and I'd sent a letter to the Royal Capital as well. I'd also written to Jeanne and Aura, but relying on Aina rather than those two would give me more peace of mind.
Hearing my words, Amy nodded energetically. At her waist hung the short sword I had given her. The sword bore the Ootori family crest engraved into it, so anyone familiar with it would immediately know she was connected to me. At the very least, adventurers, guild affiliates, and knights should be able to recognize it right away. There were probably some idiots among adventurers who would try to take advantage of Amy, but no one would dare actually go through with it once they realized I and the royal family were involved… At least, that was what I wanted to believe. Well, for that very reason, I had given her a guard golem (plus weapons), and I had also taught Amy a method to use Grandpa's estate as an evacuation point if needed.
"You can leave Amy's matters to me. More importantly, the Southern Autonomous Region has many eccentric people, so you be the one to watch yourself, Tenma."
Maria said this while looking at Amour beside me and Branca behind him. The two who had been singled out simply averted their gaze without offering any particular objection.
"I'll be plenty careful. Well then, to deliver this letter to Viscount Robo, C-rank adventurer Tenma is setting out!"
"I'm counting on you. But though I doubt it will happen, if the worst comes to worst, destroy the letter and prioritize your own life above all else. This is an order."
"Understood! ...And with that, I'm off."
After putting on that little performance for Maria and exchanging farewells with everyone, we climbed into the carriage hitched to Raiden and headed for the Southern Autonomous Region.
"Teaacheer, safe triiip!"
"Tenma-saaan, take caaare!"
"Do your beest, brotheeer!"
"Tenma-kun, bring souveniiirs!"
"You better make it baaack!"
"Don't do anythiiing reckless!"
Everyone shouted their send-offs at the top of their lungs. I leaned out the window and waved back in response, but within ten minutes they had shrunk to the size of beans, and before long they vanished from sight entirely.
"This isn't exactly a race, so let's take our time on the road. I'm leaving the navigation to you, Branca."
"Leave it to me. I know the best spots along the way to the Southern Autonomous Region."
I decided to entrust route guidance to Branca, who knew the Southern Autonomous Region better than anyone. Sitting in the driver's seat, Branca answered with a grin so wide a child would burst into tears. As the designated navigator, Branca would also end up driving the longest, but even so, the burden was said to be dramatically less than walking. Besides, traveling via Raiden meant we might arrive a little earlier than originally planned, so there was room for detours. Branca picked out several spots he recommended we visit.
Incidentally, the journey from the Southern Autonomous Region to Seigen apparently took anywhere from a month and a half to two months. Moreover, depending on weather and accidents, it was not uncommon for the trip to stretch to three months. Branca and company had made that trek by switching between carriages, walking, and sometimes even riding boats.
So when they heard that traveling by Raiden would cut the journey down to roughly a third, both of them were utterly astonished. I wisely chose not to mention that if I traveled alone at full speed, I could arrive even faster. I was frankly terrified of what their faces would look like if I shocked them any further.
"Well, aiming for roughly a month should be fine, as long as nothing major comes up. I'm counting on both of you during the trip."
"You got it!"
"Tenma, don't forget that I'm here too, you know..."
And so, my second journey began. Unlike the trip three years ago, traveling with companions was a little nerve-wracking, but I was certain it would be an enjoyable one.
The first journey was from Kukuri Village to Gunjou City.
From the next chapter onward, the Southern Autonomous Region will become the main stage, but I'm currently running out of material, so it may take longer to post. I'm sorry, but I hope you'll bear with me.