Fairyrose ①
Margine was making a large batch of soup in his idle spellbook shop.
"Okay, that should do it."
He divided the finished soup into single servings and removed the moisture with magic, similar to freeze-drying process. The result was an instant soup that only needed to be added with hot water before serving.
Next time, let's make some instant ramen.
Margine remembered making and experimenting with all sorts of things with Misty during his time as a member of the Hero Party. But since he often ate instant ramen, he was out of stock at the moment.
"Oh, you're finally back."
The person who said this as she entered the shop was the beautiful female Hunter who had come before.
"Oh, could it be that you are the beautiful woman who has been looking for me? Did you ask about me at Rikka’s Diner?"
"Hehe, it's embarrassing to hear you call me beautiful. I did visit Rikka's Diner twice, though."
"Rikka said she was a beautiful woman, so it must be you."
The female Hunter smiled shyly. Though it was a long skirt, not a mini skirt, she came dressed up this time.
"Yes, that outfit suits you well."
"I don't really like skirts because they feel drafty and defenseless between my legs, but if I get compliments like this, maybe it's okay to wear it once in a while."
A beautiful woman talking about her crotch....
“It’s long, so it’s not sexy, but if you come here to buy something, I’ll give you a discount. If it were a mini skirt, I’d give you an even bigger discount.”
Her blushing at the mention of a mini skirt is quite endearing.
"Then, shopkeeper, I'd like to request an appraisal and a spell to create water."
"Alright, since you came wearing a skirt, I'll appraise you for free."
"You're going to waive the 100,000 G appraisal fee just for that? Then if it were a mini skirt...."
The beautiful woman muttered to herself, her face was red.
"What kind of water do you want to create?"
"Do you mean there are different kinds of water?"
"Yes, as I mentioned before, a simple water-creating spell costs 1,000,000 G. However, you can also add other options to this spell, such as temperature control, ice water dispenser, and carbonated water dispenser. Each costs 1,000,000 G. If you buy a complete set, I will give you a discount, so you only need to pay 3,000,000 G. My recommendation is the temperature control option."
“My budget is only 1,000,000 G....”
The beautiful woman pondered for a moment.
"Well, you need fire magic aptitude for temperature control option, so why don't you think about it after I appraised you? You can also add the options later."
"It doesn't have to be added at the same time?"
"Originally, the magic circles themselves are different, so they should be added at the same time. But as a service, if you want to add an option later, I'll rewrite the magic circle for you."
"Hmm, it's expensive, but reasonable...."
"Whether it's reasonable or not, the customer decides."
The two laughed.
"Now then, let's appraise you first. Place your hand on this orb."
Margine took out something that resembled a crystal ball for fortune telling. But in reality, it was just an ordinary glass orb with exceptional transparency, making it more valuable than crystal in this world. Margine actually used his special ability to appraise people, but since it was such a rare ability, it would be problematic if it was revealed, so he presented the glass orb as an appraisal magic tool.
"Should I touch this?"
"Yes, please give me your hand."
Margin took the outstretched hand and placed it on the orb. Despite being a woman, her hand was rough and calloused from sword training. The feel of her hand wasn’t pleasant, but it was a testament to her hard work.
"So, how far would you like me to appraise you? Normally, I only look at your magic power and magic aptitudes...."
Just as Margine began appraising the beautiful woman, three women entered the shop.
"Excuse me!"
"Please wait a moment. I'm currently attending a customer."
Margine found it strange how people always seemed to come to his usually deserted shop at the same time.
"What else can you appraise?"
"Hmm, various things. For example, I can roughly tell what kind of weapon suits you best."
"You can tell even something like that?"
"I don't normally provide such detailed appraisals, but this is an extra service."
"Then, please tell me everything you can see."
"Understood."
My appraisal ability can see various details, but it's better to have the other person's consent first. One time, I looked at Misty's information without her permission and got beaten up. Hmm, this is....
Name: Fairyrose Baam
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Magic Power: 106
Water: C
Wind: D
Soil: D
Light: -
Darkness: -
Non-attribute: C
Strength: C
Agility: A
Endurance: C
Her magic aptitudes are average, but her stamina and agility are both A-ranked. Also, having a family name means....
Margine thought for a moment after looking at the appraisal results.
"So, how is it?"
"Umm, can I ask you something first?"
"Sure."
(Are you, by any chance, a noble?)
(How did you know!?)
(Well, because you have a family name.)
(You can even tell my name!?)
(Yes, it's Fairy---)
Before Margine could finish his sentence, a rough hand covered his mouth.
"P-Please pretend you didn't see that."
"Got it."
Fairyrose seemed to be embarrassed by her cute name and turned bright red.
"What's the matter?"
"S-Sorry, but could you look the other way for a moment?"
Fairyrose didn't want Margine to see her embarrassed face.
“Then, until you calm down, I will attend those customers.”
“G-Go ahead. I'm off duty today, so I have plenty of time."
Off duty, huh. That means she is not a Hunter.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. What kind of spellbook are you looking for?"
"Before that, there's something I want to ask you."
"Yes?"
"Did you help a naive girl the other day?"
". . . . . . . ."
"We are looking for a man with black hair and black eyes who saved a girl who was attacked by a pack of wolves on her way from Lionel to the royal capital. I heard that the owner of this spellbook shop matched that description, and it seems we got lucky."
Are these people looking for me?
Finding out that some strangers were looking for him made Margine wary, but he didn't show it on his face.
"Unfortunately, I'm just the owner of a small spellbook shop. I'm not the kind of man who can drive away wolves. Sure, I have black hair and black eyes which are rare, but I'm afraid you've got the wrong person."
"Oh!"
"What is it?"
"I'm pretty sure that girl also said the man drove away the wolves."
The woman grinned
"The people who can defeat wolves are not the majority, after all."
"Fine, never mind. This is a spellbook shop, isn't it?"
"That's right."
"Do you have a spell to create water?"
"Yes, I do. But it costs 1,000,000 G."
"That's expensive."
Vanessa muttered.
"No problem. However, I already have a similar spell transfered to me. Is it possible to overwrite it?"
"Yes, it is."
"Then, I will buy it."
"Hey Rocca, if we spend 1,000,000 G here, we'll be penniless."
Cisco tried to stop Rocca.
"Don't worry. I'll pay for it myself."
""What?""
Vanessa and Cisco exclaimed in surprise. Since everyone would use the water, they thought the money would come from the party's fund.
"Understood. Since we already knew that you have the aptitude for water magic, there should be no problem with the spell."
"Here is the money!"
Rocca slammed a bag of gold coins on the table with a thud. Margine then counted the small gold coins using an unfamiliar phrase: One, two, three, four.
"I certainly have received 100 small gold coins. Here is the spellbook."
"Is that all?"
"That's right. Once you get used to it, this spell doesn't even need a chant."
"Hmm, that's interesting."
"However, I don't recommend it."
"Why?"
"Because if you use the spell in a dream, the water will still come out, and people might think you wet the bed."
"I don't wet the bed!"
"Don't get mad. Now, please give me your hand."
"Are you going to transfer the magic circle in the book to me?"
"That's right."
The magic circle drawn in Margine's spellbook was a dummy drawn to look like one. Normally, a magic circle would be drawn with magic ink in a spellbook and then transferred to a person. But with this method, the spell activation speed would drop significantly and it would also consume more magic power. In contrast, Margine's method involved directly drawing the magic circle onto the person with magic, creating the same state as if they learned the spell on their own. Margine pretended to transfer the magic circle into Rocca's hand while simultaneously erased the magic circle from the spellbook.
“Alright, it’s success. The chant is ‘Soft Water’ as written here.”
The Soft Water here was English words, not this world's language. This referred to water suitable for drinking and cooking. While he could have used this word's language for the chant, he created this spell during his chuunibyou phase, so he thought using English words would be cooler. It was a dark chapter in his history. To confirm if the spell worked, Margine handed a glass to Rocca.
“Soft Water.”
The water poured into the glass with a gurgling sound. About 200cc of water came out at a time.
If your water magic aptitude is C or higher, this spell will consume 1 magic power each use. But if you acquire this spell through transfer, it will consume 10 magic power or more.
Rocca took a sip of the water she had just created.
"Vanessa, Cisco, try this water."
Rocca told her friends to try the water, too.
"This tastes the same."
"That's right, this water tastes the same"
"It's settled then."
““Yes.””
"What's settled?"
Margine was puzzled because the three women seemed to have come to some kind of conclusion.
"This water tastes like the water from the water bottle of the girl you saved from wolves. You are the person we are looking for, after all."
Did she give the water to these people? Damn it. I guess I can't hide it anymore.
"So what?"
Margin lowered his tone slightly while being openly wary of them.
"Oh, please calm down. We're a party called Guiding Star that belongs to the royal capital's Hunter Guild. I'm Rocca, while these two are Vanessa and Cisco. Actually, the reason we are looking for you...."
The woman who introduced herself as Rocca glanced towards Fairyrose.
"Do you have time tonight?"
"You gave me money and I gave you a spell book. That's the end of our relationship. What else do you want?"
Margin answered curtly.
"Don't be like that. I'm sorry if I offended you. There's something I want to ask you. How about we talk over drinks? You can choose the place. I don't mind if it's an expensive place.”
Margine thought that if he refused now, they would probably keep coming back to his shop.
"Fine. Do you know a nearby place called Rikka's Dinner? Let's meet there at 8pm."
"Oh, Dadd's place, right? Okay, we will be waiting."
After that, the members of Guiding Star raised their hands as if to say 'see you tonight' and left the shop.
"Are you finished?"
"Yes. I’m sorry to keep you waiting."
"It seems like a troublesome situation."
"Yeah."
Had I know things would turn this troublesome, I would have chased the wolves away without calling out to the girl back then.
"Okay, I'll tell you the appraisal results."
"Please do."
Margin told Fairyrose her stats.
"I see.... Does that mean the weapon suited for me isn't a sword?"
"The sword you had the other day was a long sword, right? You lack the strength necessary to be a top-class swordsman with that type of sword. You can still train your strength from now on, though. You also don't have much aptitude for wind magic, so bow isn't not a good choice. You should utilize your stamina and agility that are above average."
"So, what weapon would suit me?"
"Something like dagger, rapier, or saber. You should focus on speed and sharpness rather than brute force."
"I see..."
Seeing Fairyrose looking a little disappointed, Margine tried to comfort her.
"Despite being a woman, your strength is equal to that of a man. If you really want to use a long sword, then continue to train with it. If your goal is personal satisfaction, then that's fine too."
"Personal satisfaction...?"
I thought I was being supportive, but it seems I only offended her.
"Sorry, Fairyrose, I...."
Fairyrose glared at Margine when he called her name.
A beautiful woman's glare is quite something, but it's also intimidating.
"Everyone calls me Rose."
"Isn't it inappropriate to call a noble lady by a nickname?"
"It's fine since I call myself Rose."
So the Fairy part is what you're embarrassed about.
"Then, Rose, what's your reason for working so hard? You wouldn't get those hands just for fun or self-satisfaction, would you?"
Rose rubbed her hands together, looking embarrassed.
"I understand that these hands are unsightly for a woman, but I want to be strong."
"They're not unsightly at all. Those are the proof of your hard work."
Rose smiled happily.
"Thank you. Everyone looks down on these hands, saying they're not a woman's hands...."
"Don't worry about them. So, why do you want to be strong?"
"I can tell you, but it'll be a bit long."
"Then, I will close the shop. I don't want any more interruptions."
"Are you sure?"
"No problem. It's the kind of shop that you can't even tell if it's open or not anyway."
Margine decided to close his shop and listen to Rose's story.