kscans

Chapter 102 - The Master of the Curiosity Shop 2. The Useful Magic Tool I Thought Up

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"...You there, do you really think a mere magic tool shop can handle something like that?"

"...You don’t handle them?"

"That’s the kind of thing the state orders. Even a lord would have a hard time buying one. Let alone something an individual would order."

"Huh? Then what does everyone else do? Wouldn’t it be a problem if a dragon showed up?"

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The shopkeeper, Inba, held her head, wondering how to answer Yuri, who was seriously consulting her with the same casualness as someone complaining about stray dogs or monkeys wandering around. Was it her imagination, or was she getting a headache...

"...You know, Yuri-kun, when a dragon shows up, people normally run away with just the clothes on their backs, you know?"

"Ehh, I don’t want to do something like abandon my house, so don't you think a tool to drive them away would be useful?"

"...In any case, we don’t handle it here. Look for something else."

"Hmm..."

If monster repellents were out of the question... what else did he want? Maybe mobility as a combat strength. That seemed like it could be useful outside of combat too.

"Then do you have any flying gear, or vehicles that can move at high speed? Something that can go over seventy kilometers per hour, or preferably two hundred, or even faster."

He conveyed his request with the same feeling as asking for a private car, and a private jet, in Japan, but...

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"...That’s military-grade equipment. It’s not something an individual can just get."

"Ehh?"

"...Honestly... What are you expecting from a commoner’s shop? Limit your requests to things you can use inside the house."

"Hmm..."

...If it's for use inside the house, then I guess it's like home appliances? A vacuum cleaner and a washing machine... both can be handled with the Cleanse magic. A computer or a word processor... yeah, that’s impossible. Letterpress printing itself doesn't seem to be widespread yet. A flush toilet... that’s not really at the level of a magic "tool," is it? It’s just "equipment." A microwave or an IH heater... that’s probably out of the question too. No... couldn’t magic do something similar? I’d like to ask, but... how would I explain it? ...No matter how I explain it, I have a feeling I’ll just look suspicious. I should give up. A refrigerator... for preservation alone, Storage is sufficient. There’s not much need to cool things. But I might want a temperature control function. Speaking of temperature control, there’s air conditioning, but... is that impossible? Even if they had it, it would probably be too expensive for me to afford. ...I wonder if I could get just the temperature control mechanism separately.

As Yuri was pondering this and looking around the shop, his eyes happened to fall on a corner where some items were placed in a jumble.

"Ah, those are the unsold items. They work just fine, but... how should I put it... they’re all rather subtle things..."

Indeed, they were all subtle things. A feather duster that automatically removes dirt... does that mean it just scatters dust around on its own? It might be amazing in its own way, but whether it was useful was indeed debatable. However, among them...

"A magic tool for warming gloves?"

"Yes. If you put gloves in this box, they get warm, but..."

It was a very niche tool. It might be useful, but he couldn’t imagine anyone would pay a large sum for it. Until now.

(This is... basically a small thermostat, right? With a temperature control mechanism. ...Huh? But...)

It seemed to have a mechanism that monitored and adjusted the temperature inside the box. When he asked if it could be used as an air conditioner, the answer was that its magic efficiency was too poor. However, if it was just to control the temperature inside a small box, there should be no problem. ...For example, as a culture tank for koji mold spores.

Yuri bought it with glee.