kscans

Chapter 13 - Reason Burned Before the Fire Was Lit

Apparently, there are people in this world who get joy from having their girlfriend wear their shirt.

I knew that. I did....

I was sorry.

It was my fault.

Wet hair, no underwear, a face slightly pale with exhaustion.

And yet, Mireille smiled up at me with wide, clear eyes.

A silhouette visible through the shirt.

--You could have predicted this, couldn't you, me.

Never before had I cursed my lack of experience with women as much as I did that day.

"...!"

I hurriedly ushered Mireille inside, pulled the blanket from the second floor bed, and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"I, it’s an emergency today... usually I have better risk management, you know? But I know you’re a good person, Leonhard-san, so—"

"Listen! Good person or bad person, it’s not okay!"

I shouted, my face red to my ears, and turned on my heel.

"I’m going to start a fire!"

With those words, I fled the room.

*

Nibbling on the bread she had been given, Mireille murmured to herself.

"Leonhard-san really is a good person."

She had been so hungry that she hadn't even been able to feel her stomach. But the more she ate, the hungrier she became.

She heard there was a small stove and a water source hidden on the second floor and her shoulders slumped slightly.

"I might have been able to boil potatoes without starting a fire."

But this room was filled with flammable-looking books. She gave up, figuring the most she could do was boil water until they were cleared away.

The books lined up were on alchemy and... magic?

Flipping through the pages, Mireille tilted her head.

Alchemy was the technique of processing materials containing magic or imbuing them with magic. One could use it whether they had magic themselves or not.

Magic, on the other hand, used one’s own magic. Drawing magic circles, creating teleportation cores. The core of that power embedded in Leonhard’s ring was a form of magic.

A ring with that embedded in a jewel becomes alchemy.

"They’re similar... but what they can do is a little different."

Alchemy excelled at processing tools and buildings. Magic excelled at directly affecting things with one’s own magical power.

Were these reference books to help her learn magical knowledge when creating alchemical items?

Flipping further, she found dictionaries of materials and recipe books packed tightly together.

Come to think of it, during the test cut, there were plenty of magic grasses, and the water was clean. With that, she wouldn’t have to worry about simple Potions for a while. There was even sleeping moss by the water. If she mixed it with moon-dew grass, which needed to be gathered at night, she could make Sleep Orbs. There was moon-dew grass growing here too.

...Well, if I mentioned gathering at night, Leonhard-san would probably stop me with all his might.

From Leonhard’s words and actions, he seemed to have a good grasp of this place. The fact that he made me take the Monster-Repelling Bell meant this was a pretty dangerous place, no doubt about it.

--Oh, right.

I had received my dagger.

Until now, I had only bought materials and never gathered them myself... but that wouldn't be the case anymore.

She gently took the dagger from its leather pouch.

The pouch was made of monster leather and had been treated to block magic.

But the moment it came out, a sharp, dense magic radiated from the dagger itself.

"Waaaah! This has every enchantment except light and dark attributes! Is it even possible to have all of them!?"

She cried out without thinking.

Normally, fire and water were incompatible and couldn’t be enchanted at the same time. But this dagger had a switching mechanism for incompatible attributes, with separate magic stones for each. And the wind attribute, just by stroking the magic stone, could be applied to any other attribute, and its power could be switched between high, medium, and low.

Master... you’re incredible!!

As she trembled with excitement.

"What’s wrong! I heard a shout!"

Leonhard practically burst into the room.

And froze.

Ah.

In my excitement, I had kicked off the blanket and was hugging the dagger.

The front of my shirt was open, and my legs were completely exposed.

"...The blanket. I told you to cover up."

A low voice. A furrowed brow.

A pause. Silence. His gaze traveled from my face, slowly downward.

Leonhard squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"...Cover up. Now."

"I just got excited about the attributes of the dagger you gave me, it's amazing—"

"Cover up!!"

I couldn’t help but flinch.

The next moment, he turned his back and closed the door without a word.

This time, I might have really made Leonhard-san angry.

Mireille turned pale.