kscans

Chapter 295 - The Road Home 6. Water-Repellent Magic ~ The Development Story ~

The impetus for its development was an occasion when Yuri was caught in a sudden shower while out.

He had already made a sort of traditional raincoat for rain gear, and he had succeeded in ensuring its water repellency by applying Lucca grease, which was actually a secretion from its uropygial gland. But for Yuri, who knew of the rain gear from his past life in Japan, it was still far from satisfactory. What he was dissatisfied with was its portability.

In his past life in Japan, tri-fold and quad-fold umbrellas were commonplace, and even raincoats that could be folded to pocket size were not uncommon. But in this world, rain gear with such portability was not to be hoped for.

But, O people, do not despair. For in this world, there is such a thing as magic.

With such a lighthearted mood, Yuri began to research rain-repelling magic, but the more he looked into it, the more he realized how difficult it was, and he ended up holding his head in his hands.

The first thing he thought of was "Waterproof Barrier," but when he consulted Professor Appraisal, a long list of drawbacks, like the ones Kudol had mentioned earlier, appeared. Even if he could manage the magic consumption, the drawbacks of oxygen deprivation, suffocation, and carbon dioxide poisoning could not be ignored. At worst, it could be life-threatening. He also considered deploying the barrier in a flat, umbrella-like shape, but maintaining such a partial barrier while moving was more difficult than Yuri had thought. The bottleneck was the barrier’s strength. The ideal strength for a barrier to repel raindrops was surprisingly delicate and difficult to adjust, and to make matters worse, the intensity of the rain itself was not constant. It often suddenly intensified. He might be able to solve the problem with steady research, but spending such time and effort was not practical. What he wanted was a rain-repelling spell that he could use right away. Creating a roof with Earth Magic to take shelter from the rain seemed to be a commonly used method, but that was a little different from "rain gear." Something that did not allow for movement while avoiding the rain did not have the right to call itself "rain gear."

The most realistic method would be to apply Lucca grease to cloth to make it water-repellent, but…

(The essential cloth is hard to come by…)

For Yuri, who was holed up on Salt-Sour Mountain, cloth of any kind was a rare item. He could now make his own, to a certain extent, but he still didn’t have enough to spare for rain gear. In the first place, Yuri currently had no means of weaving a cloth thin enough to be carried in a pocket.

And so, he had returned to the means of magic.

(…It might be difficult to create a practical "umbrella" with magic. In that case, maybe I should aim for a "raincoat" instead?)

Thus, Yuri once again turned his attention to the concept of "water repellency."

To simplify without fear of being inaccurate, when a water droplet, which maintains a spherical shape due to surface tension, touches a surface, a force that tries to attract the water acts on the droplet from the contact surface. If that force exceeds the surface tension, the water spreads over the contact surface and wets it. Conversely, if the water’s surface tension is stronger, the droplet will roll down the contact surface while maintaining its spherical shape, without wetting the surface. Just as the morning dew does not wet the lotus leaf. On Earth in his previous life, fabrics were given water repellency by coating their surface with a water-repellent substance, in other words, a substance with a weak force of attraction to water.

Yuri also had that much knowledge from his previous life, but…

"But… how can I achieve that with magic?"

Yuri didn’t know the detailed mechanism of water repellency itself, but by using Appraisal on the Lucca grease he had on hand, a natural water-repellent material, he was able to understand the mechanism to some extent. He was able to do that much, but…

"Replicating hydrophobic groups with magic… how in the world do I do that…"

Though "magic" seemed like a cheat to Yuri, it seemed impossible to replicate a structure down to the molecular level. It was a common trope in light novels that "magic is all about imagination," but how was he supposed to imagine a molecular construction process?

After twisting his neck for half a day, which resulted in a slight sprain, he concluded that constructing hydrophobic groups with magic was, at least for the current Yuri, impossible. In that case, he had to find an alternative method. If Yuri had thought of Enchantment at this point, there might have been a different development, but fortunately, or unfortunately, the option of Enchantment did not occur to him at that time.

Yuri came up with another method.

"...The basic premise is that rain is water, and if I’m manipulating water, it should be Water Magic."

There was no error in that premise. But hadn’t he concluded that manipulating raindrops with Water Magic was impossible in the first place?

"...It’s impossible to manipulate individual droplets… but can’t I create a magic field that enhances the water’s surface tension? If I can do that, the droplets won’t stick to the surface of the fibers, right?"

…Indeed… as a line of reasoning, it seemed to be correct… he thought.

"Surface tension is like an attribute of water, so… yes, it should be within the jurisdiction of Water Magic."

And so, based on this somewhat dubious idea and reasoning, Yuri devoted himself to the creation and development of "water-repellent magic." The saying "magic is all about imagination" was well put, though in this case, it might have been "badly" put, and eventually, Yuri succeeded in developing a Water Magic spell called Repellent Film. Or was it Water Magic?

This spell applied a magic field to the surface of the target, and the surface tension of any water droplet caught in that magic field was enhanced. Since the magic field was attached to the target’s surface, unlike a self-sustaining Waterproof Barrier, there was no need to support the magic field. This also reduced MP consumption. Also, unlike the Waterproof Barrier, it did not obstruct air circulation, so breathing did not become difficult. At this time, Yuri had not yet mastered Enchantment, so the effect of Repellent Film was only temporary, but conversely, it could be deployed and dispelled at will, and it could be cast on any target. He could also cast it on himself without any problems, so Yuri found it very useful for repelling rain. However, as one small drawback, there was the problem that it was difficult to drink water while the Repellent Film was active. The first time, Yuri had panicked, but now it was a fond memory. lol