Chapter 30 - Illegal Modification is Quite Fun, You Know
Gokigenyou. I am Violia Nico Fortesia.
Right now, I am...
「I am bored—!」
I am bored! Super! Bored!
To tell the truth, just about a week ago, I brilliantly annihilated the nobles of the noble district here in Elsemarin. I even did some proper looting in the chaos... but what awaited me after that was a tedious period of hiding.
「You went on such a flashy rampage. Stay hidden for a while.」
「Even if you say that, there is too little to do! Every single day is just producing Mystic Ruby! There is no such thing as this!」
My job now is nothing more than diluting blood, filling small vials, and producing Mystic Ruby...
By the way, if I leave the produced Mystic Ruby with Giovan, it turns into money and comes back to me.
Giovan was not rampaging on the front stage to begin with, and his shop is built so that the customer and the shopkeeper cannot see each other's faces, so it is reasonably safe. Rather, it would be more unnatural to suddenly stop operating now, so he is continuing business for those who do not know his true identity.
...Or rather, it seems many of those who knew his true identity were thugs hired by nobles. In other words, now that we have annihilated the nobles, Giovan is quite free.
...And.
「I'm back.」
「Oh, welcome back!」
There is one more person who is perfectly free.
「Keeb. What kind of fun things did you do today?」
「What kind... I just bought food.」
Yes. The newly joined Keeb Old. This guy, who is cuter than any girl around, is not being particularly noticed by the soldiers.
That is only natural. He was originally a slave since he was small... and after being bought by a branch of House Fruitier, he seems to have had his existence hidden the whole time so they could make him do assassination work.
For him, who says 'I've hardly ever been outside until now,' we have decided to let him wander around the town for now to study this town. That is the period we are in.
Ah, and he is the food procurement officer. Neither I, Doran, nor Chesta want to go outside much. Especially me.
「By the way, another wanted poster for Violia was circulating. Here.」
「Uwa... my wanted poster...」
Looking at the paper Keeb handed me, I feel an indescribable emotion.
I never thought I would be wanted and have posters circulated like this.
「How are the soldiers?」
「They're wandering around in huge numbers. The guards are also incredible; I have to be a bit careful when coming back to this hideout.」
「...I am quite popular, aren't I?」
Yes! For some reason, I am the only one being prominently searched for!
To put it simply, Doran and Chesta are equally guilty, are they not? But I am the only one being searched for! I cannot accept this!
「'The woman who sold her soul to the devil,' huh. Quite the thing to be called.」
That is it! And I have been given such a terrible alias for some reason!? What on earth is this! Aaaaaah, how truly rude! Hmph!
「And so, I am bored.」
「I thought you were angry, but then you say that? Simple.」
「What was that? You little cutie. If you want to wear cute clothes again, why don't you just say so?」
When I said that to Keeb, who had taunted me, he shut up. Since I defeated him in a fight using only physical techniques the other day, I dressed him up in a lovely dress while I was at it. A girl cuter than average was completed.
「...Why don't you look for something you can do indoors? You have plenty of things you brought back, don't you?」
「That is true... but I have already read all the bookshelves I brought back.」
「Stop counting by bookshelves.」
I am tired of reading, and just indulging in wine is far too decadent. My only pleasures now are hearing the stories from Keeb when he comes back and downing the poisons Giovan procures for me.
「...Um, hey. If you're bored, I want you to teach me.」
Just as I was thinking that, Keeb suddenly said that while looking up at me. This one knows what he's doing. He is cute.
「How did you do that modification to the Spatial Bag?」
「The modification of the Spatial Bag?」
Oh. I thought I had already taught him that...
「You do this here, and then like this.」
Yes, modification complete. Another illegally modified Spatial Bag has been born into this world.
「No, that's weird! Why can you do that!」
「Spatial Bags are 'locked' with ancient magic, aren't they!」
Yes.
To give a brief explanation, almost all tools that 'use ancient magic as is,' including Spatial Bags, have modification-prohibited magic attached to them.
The reason is that the mechanism of ancient magic is still not understood. Because the mechanism is not understood, there is a high possibility that something irreversible could happen if you modify it poorly.
Therefore, tools that are 'extremely useful but the mechanism is unknown, and were simply decided to be used by transferring the magic without understanding the mechanism' have modification-prohibited magic on them. Ah, by the way, naturally, it is illegal to break this modification-prohibited magic. O-hohohoho.
「Among the ancient books House Fortesia obtained, there were several regarding ancient magic.」
「Those are forbidden books.」
Yes. If ownership were discovered, it would be a capital offense.
「While reading those, well, I became able to do things of this level.」
And I am originally of a diligent nature. If there is something I do not know, I want to know it, and if there is something that seems possible, I want to try it.
...However.
「What is regrettable is that because I lack magical power, I cannot perform other modifications. I could probably do even more interesting things, you know? If only I had magical power!」
「...For example, what kind?」
「Let me see... for example, this Spatial Bag, you cannot put 'living things' inside, can you?」
「Yeah.」
「But if modified, I could probably make it so they can be put in.」
...Spatial Bags have several constraints.
One famous one is that 'living things cannot be put in.' So, if you try to put in a live dragon or something, the bag will spit it out.
However, perhaps thanks to that, it has features such as 'food put inside does not rot.' ...Or rather, the bag was probably made so that living things cannot enter for that purpose.
There are other constraints, such as 'a Spatial Bag cannot be put inside another Spatial Bag.'
「...That's a dangerous one.」
「Is it not? You could capture dragons and unicorns as much as you like. Capturing a live unicorn in particular seems like it would be in high demand... I would certainly like to try it.」
Unicorns are truly wonderful creatures; their hair becomes anti-toxin and their horns become antidote. They are like the opposite of me.
Therefore, the demand is high... but look, unicorns only approach 'pure and beautiful maidens.' And furthermore, they are only in the depths of deep forests or secret regions, so even gathering their hair is a struggle.
...If such unicorns could be captured alive, crossbred, and farmed, it would be a wonderful thing, probably.
「Besides that, brewing wine inside a Spatial Bag... ah, perhaps I might even be able to make a field or something inside.」
「Heh, sounds interesting.」
「Does it not? ...Ah, if only I had enough magical power...」
「Then I'll do it, so teach me how.」
...
A brilliant idea!
And so.
From that day, my magic lectures began.
I passed on the ways to tinker with ancient magic as far as my memory served... in other words, the contents of the forbidden books, to Keeb.
He really is excellent. Since he started eating plenty of food in an environment without anxiety and living while doing what he likes, his magical power seems to have become quite stable.
And he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. It is surprising that he had been 'using magic only by sensation' until now. This is a diamond in the rough that will shine if polished! I love raising such things!
Since I decided to raise Keeb, I have no more free time, so it was just right!
And then, one week later.
「...I think I did it.」
With a tense expression, Keeb brought the Spatial Bag.
Then, from inside it...
A house mouse popped out!
「Wonderful! You succeeded!」
「Yeah. Probably.」
Keeb smiled somewhat bashfully while looking at the Spatial Bag that had received the illegal modification finish... and then, he suddenly said something like this.
「If we collect monsters in this bag... and release them all at once, it would be a disaster of quite a scale, wouldn't it?」
「It would be, wouldn't it?」
If we stuffed about ten dragons into a bag and released them in the middle of a town... it would definitely be a major disaster.
「Then, hey. Why don't we do that in a town a bit far away? If we do that, all the soldiers around here will have no choice but to go there. It'll be easier for Violia to walk around freely, right?」
...
A brilliant idea!