When I finally opened my eyes the next morning, sunlight was already streaming into the room.
Ah... I really slept. It had been a long time since I’d pulled an all-nighter. The sun was already quite high in the sky... Wait, the sun was that high? This was bad!
"Good morning, Ryoma-sama."
"Sebas-san, what time is it?"
"It is nearly noon, sir. You seemed quite exhausted, as you were sleeping very deeply. What would you like to do about your meal?"
"I appreciate the offer, but I have to get to the guild. I’ll eat when I get back!"
"I see. Certainly."
I threw my things together and rushed out. I was in trouble; I didn't have a moment to spare. I had no choice.
"Wrap my body, divert their eyes, 'Concealment'."
I cast a Concealment barrier around myself to avoid prying eyes, then layered on the neutral magic spell Physical Strengthening. Mana enveloped my body, and with my enhanced physical abilities, I leapt onto the roof of a nearby building to take a shortcut. Whenever I hit a gap I couldn't jump, I used the short-range translocation spell Teleport from Space Magic. By running in a near-straight line across the rooftops, I managed to reach the guild just as the bells tolled for noon.
"Excuse me."
I was guided to a room where the others were already waiting.
"There you are, Ryoma. That makes everyone," Wogan said.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It’s down to the wire, but you’re still on time. You made it, so don’t sweat it. Now then, let's get to the rewards!"
The payouts were distributed. For the original request of cleaning thirty cesspools, I received my fee for thirty tanks: 3 medium silver coins and 30 small gold coins. The other adventurers each received 10 small gold coins.
"Whoa, old man, you're being pretty damn generous, aren't you?" Jeff asked, looking at his coins.
"Seriously," Welanna added. "I'll take it if you're giving it, but we were just standing guard, you know?"
"Isn't the reward amount too high?" Syria asked. "Even considering the risk of contracting the plague, we didn't actually do anything. Half of this would be more appropriate."
"No, that amount is correct," Wogan grunted. "The reason for that is... Ryoma."
"What is it?" I asked.
"That plague in the cesspools you mentioned—you called it Idake Disease, right?"
"Yes, I confirmed it with Appraisal. There’s no mistake."
"Well, I looked into it, and it’s a really nasty piece of work. I asked a foul-mouthed old crone I know who’s an expert on that kind of thing... She said that as far as plagues go, the mortality rate is on the lower side, but it spreads like wildfire and the aftereffects are horrific. Apparently, even the survivors lose the use of their limbs. They can't work, so they eventually just waste away and die. That’s why the reward is so high. Even if the mortality rate is low, the elderly and children will die for sure, and survivors who can't work won't last long anyway."
Cold sweat broke out on everyone's faces. It really was dangerous. Depending on how bad the paralysis was, being unable to work meant being unable to survive. In a world with no insurance or social safety nets, it was a death sentence. You would just starve in a ditch.
"I'm glad we were able to prevent it, nya..." Miya whispered.
"In a way, that's scarier than a plague that just kills you," Asagi remarked.
"If you catch it and die, you go to the afterlife," Jeff said. "But if you survive, you’re stuck in your own personal hell."
"The town office is in a total uproar over this," Wogan continued. "The head official and several of his direct subordinates have already been arrested. The ones left behind are panicking over what to do about cleaning the public toilet cesspools from now on."
"Won't they just hire the people from the slums again?" Welanna asked.
"Unfortunately, that's off the table. The top brass who were stingy with the money got the boot, but even if the office offers the original pay now, nobody trusts them. Besides, it seems the people from the slums have already moved on to new jobs. In other cities it might be different, but since we’re so close to the mines, there's always a demand for manual labor if you don't mind getting dirty. Their logic is that if they can earn money elsewhere, they have no reason to go back to the sewers. Since the office was at fault in the first place and they can't force people to quit their current jobs, they've pretty much given up on hiring from the slums."
"Then what's the plan, de gozaru? We were lucky Ryoma noticed it this time, but we can't have this hanging over our heads forever," Asagi said.
"Yeah, that's the thing... To be honest, yesterday they tried to dump it on the guild to handle since they're the ones paying. Going forward, we might have no choice but to make it a mandatory punishment for adventurers who fail too many requests or violate the rules."
"I'll leave that part to you," Reinbach said. "Just make it work."
"Don't act like it's that easy..." Wogan sighed, then turned to me.
"Well, I'll take the requests as long as I'm in the city," I offered. "That should give you some time to figure out a long-term plan."
"That helps a lot, kid."
"Nya? Is Ryoma moving to another city soon?" Miya asked.
Come to think of it, I hadn't really told everyone my story since we’d been so busy with the work. I took a moment to explain how I’d ended up in Gimul.
"Living alone in the forest since you were eight? You're a reckless one, aren't you?" Jeff said, impressed.
"Are you planning to go back to the Gana Forest?" Welanna asked.
"I'm torn... I lived in the house I built there for three years, so I'm attached to it. But I might just settle down somewhere deep in the woods around here instead."
"No, if you're going to be nearby, just live in the city," Wogan cut in. "Why would you go out of your way to live in the forest?"
"I can manage the house with magic and get food by hunting. It's an unexpectedly easy and comfortable life, you know? I don't really need money for much."
"Ryoma, I believe it is far too early for you to become a recluse at your age, de gozaru," Asagi advised solemnly.
"You're right... I've been feeling that way a little bit myself."
"Well, just think it over so you don't have any regrets," Wogan said. "We'd love to have you, but there's no need to force yourself to stay out of obligation. You're free to live however you want. Anyway, the people who embezzled the city's money were executed and had their assets seized, and the subordinates who looked the other way had their pay docked. A good chunk of that money was funneled back into city maintenance, so the city has the funds now. In the worst-case scenario, we can just throw money at the problem until someone agrees to work.
"Alright, that’s everything I needed to hand over and talk about. One last announcement. A large-scale request will be issued the day after tomorrow. It's for a mine that's being decommissioned this year—well, it’s been effectively abandoned since last year. A ton of monsters have moved in. They’re mostly small fry, but the place is huge, so we’re recruiting as many adventurers as possible for the subjugation. Sign up if you're interested. That is all!"
With that, the meeting ended. I returned to the inn, where Elia and the others were waiting for me. It seemed they had waited so we could have lunch together. After I thanked them and sat down, Elia spoke up.
"Ryoma-san, would you like to train with me?"
"Where did this come from so suddenly?"
"I’ve decided to begin my magic training in earnest today. So, I thought I would invite you as well, Ryoma-san."
"Actually, this journey serves as both a vacation and a chance for Elia to get some practical combat experience," Elize explained.
Apparently, it was a tradition in the Jamil Ducal House for children to be sent on a journey once they reached a certain age, regardless of gender. Depending on their own wishes, some even became adventurers.
"Traveling to cultivate a broad perspective is a wonderful thing," Reinbach added. "However, that requires the strength to protect oneself. One could bring guards, but that is restrictive, and if one faces no hardships, the lessons learned from the journey are halved. That is why the goal is for Elia to gain the power to defend herself."
"Even if she doesn't go on a journey, if monsters or bandits appear in our territory, she might have to join a subjugation force to protect our people," Reinhardt said.
I was a bit surprised by their explanation. "Even the Young Lady?"
"Not just Elia," Elize said. "It’s common for nobles to participate when the scale of a monster threat becomes large. It boosts morale and shows the people that we are truly protecting the territory. That’s why a certain level of martial prowess is expected."
That made sense. Magic didn't really care about gender, after all.
"For that purpose, I will be attending a school in the royal capital starting this year," Elia said. "But before that, I want to gain a little more experience."
"I see, so that's why you came here."
"Exactly. I’ve been training since this morning, and I’ll be heading back out this afternoon. Would you like to join us?"
It was a good opportunity. I had promised to teach her some "fun" magic before, so if I wasn't in the way, I definitely wanted to go. They readily agreed to let me tag along. The training was focused on magic, and we were going to a rocky area about twenty minutes away by carriage.
After lunch, the carriage brought us to the training grounds, where Jill and the others were waiting.
"We’ve been expecting you, my lady," Jill said. "Glad you could make it, Ryoma. I heard those three days were rough."
"Good work to you too, Jill-san. I heard things were busy on your end as well."
"Busy enough."
"Now, let’s stop chatting and start!" Elia urged, looking incredibly enthusiastic.
"By the way, Young Lady, which attributes can you use?" I asked. "I need to know so I can figure out what to show you."
"I am skilled in Fire and Ice magic. Since I have a large mana capacity, I can fire off many powerful spells once I get the hang of it."
A high-power specialization, then. But Fire and Ice...
"Is there a problem?"
"Well, Water and Earth magic are relatively safe for practicing 'play' magic, but there aren't as many options for Fire and Ice."
"True enough," Hughes chimed in from the side. "You shouldn't be playing with fire in a forest."
"It wouldn't be a laughing matter if it turned into a forest fire," Jill added.
I agreed completely. Though, I suppose Poison would be the most useless for fun.
"This is really the only thing I can show you for Fire: 'Darkness', 'Little Fireflower'."
I used the Dark Attribute spell Darkness to create a small pocket of night around my hand, then conjured a tiny fireball at the tip of my index finger. Sparks showered from the flame for dozens of seconds, dancing in the artificial dark. It was a spell that perfectly replicated a handheld sparkler.
"Oh, how beautiful," Elia whispered.
"It is indeed," Reinbach agreed.
"Oh, it went out," Elize noted as the sparks faded.
"The end is always a little bit lonely," Reinhardt said.
Well, that’s a sparkler for you. It looks pretty, but there’s no practical application for it. I wanted to try making aerial fireworks someday, but that would require much finer mana control.
As for Ice magic, the only "fun" uses I could think of were ice skating or ice sculpting. You create a massive block of ice, then just use magic to keep it from melting while you work.
I only knew how to do ice sculpting because I’d worked as a manufacturing assistant in a part-time job in my previous life. It took forever, and you didn't get it right on the first try. It was physically demanding work, stacking heavy blocks, and if it collapsed, you could get crushed. The pay had been great, though. At the very least, you could put a block of ice in a cave on a hot day to stay cool.
Beyond that, the best I could think of was making an ice lens to start a fire, but that wasn't exactly "fun" for very long. If you wanted fire, using fire magic was much faster.
This was tricky.
"In that case, how about Water?" Elia suggested. "I'm not as good with it, but I can use Water Magic too."
"I have something for that. For example... 'Bubbly Water'."
I joined my fingertips to form a ring and used magic to create water inside the circle. However, I made this water much more viscous than normal, so it formed a thin film across my fingers. When I gently blew into it, a soap bubble expanded. Once it was about the size of a human head, I let it drift into the air.
Next, I used the Wind Magic spell Breeze to blow a stronger gust against the remaining film. Countless tiny bubbles took flight, filling the air.
Under the clear blue sky, the bubbles drifted lazily. Sunlight caught the film, creating a shimmering rainbow of colors that looked like twinkling stars before they finally popped and vanished.
"Oh, how lovely! It’s just like soap suds," Elize said.
"It really is beautiful," Elia added, watching them float.
The bubble solution seemed to be a hit with the women. Soap existed in this world, but it was expensive enough that people didn't use it for games. Even the men seemed to be enjoying the sight.
"I’m using water attribute mana to make the water sticky. For example... 'Water', 'Wave'."
I cupped some water in my hands and used a different spell to manipulate it.
"Wave is a basic spell that creates ripples on the surface by moving water with mana. If you practice a little bit... like this!"
With a sharp movement, I threw the water into the air. Instead of falling back down, the water stayed suspended, defying gravity. Everyone looked up to see the water gathered into a perfect sphere floating above my head. Since I was using magic to move the water constantly to keep it in the air, it stayed perfectly still.
There’s a common spell called Water Ball that fires a sphere of water at an enemy, so the reaction was a bit muted at first. But then I started the real show.
"Whoa!"
I manipulated the water, shifting the sphere into the shape of a small fish. After three years of boredom in the forest, I’d learned how to be needlessly precise, even carving scales into the water. As I moved the fish through the air, making it wiggle its tail...
"It looks like it’s actually swimming through the sky!" Elia cried.
"Very skillful," Reinbach praised.
I felt a little embarrassed as they started clapping.
"It works like that. And since I knew I could move water, I figured out how to infuse it with mana to make it sticky, which is how I made the Bubbly Water. You just have to imagine the water droplets being bonded together."
"Like this? 'Bubbly Water'."
Elia tried it. She managed to create water with enough viscosity to form a film, but it popped the moment she tried to blow into it.
"Try using a bit more mana," I coached. "Imagine it being thick and sticky, like the adhesive from a Sticky Slime."
Since she was already halfway there, a concrete comparison seemed to help. Elia released a surge of mana, chanting the spell with renewed focus.
"Bubbly Water!"
The water she created this time was clearly much thicker. She spread it across her fingers and blew. A sturdy soap bubble danced into the sky.
"I did it!"
"You can change the size with how hard you blow. And once you get the hang of it, you can even do this."
I used a larger amount of mana to create another bubble. I kept it about the size of a basketball and let it float in front of me. Then, I lightly tapped it.
"Hup."
"Wait, what!?"
The bubble distorted heavily from the impact, but it didn't pop. It drifted slowly toward Elia. She caught it in her hands, her eyes wide with wonder, and began to juggle it.
"It doesn't disappear like the others!"
"If you use enough mana, the viscosity becomes strong enough that it won't pop even if you touch it. You can still break it if you hit it hard, and it will eventually evaporate, but it’s quite durable."
Since it was just water held together by mana, it was safe for people and the environment. Even if a baby accidentally swallowed some, it wouldn't cause any harm.
"In a way, this almost feels like a slime too," Elia laughed, poking the resilient bubble and watching it wobble.
Seeing her enjoy it so much made the effort of teaching her worthwhile. I’d have to find some other fun spells to show her next time.