Volume 2 - CH 7.1

Chapter 2-7 : Magic Stove Ⅲ (part 1)

After I finished making the magic stove, I spent my time cleaning up the herb field in the backyard and planting more varieties of herbs while waiting for Jizdo-san to finish all the iron plates I had ordered.

Normally, I sell potions for Collectors, but since I heard from Diral-san that the villagers became a little wealthy, now I want to make some potions that also can be used by the villagers.

For now, I decided to make ‘basic antidotes’.

You can apply them to your skin when you are bitten by a poisonous insect, and you can drink them when you get food poisoning.

The price is quite cheap for such a convenient potion, so I hope the people here have at least one in their houses.

At the orphanage I was in, we always had a basic antidote in our medicine storage box just in case, because people could die of food poisoning, especially children.

Fortunately, I never had the opportunity to use it.

As usual, I will sell this potion more cheaply if they return the empty bottle.

I hope many villagers will come to my store in the future.

By the way, I got most of the materials to make basic antidotes from Iris-san and Kate-san.

They are like my store’s exclusive Collectors who always bring me the materials I request.

I always provide them with potions when I ask for some materials.

Ah, of course I pay them properly.

I’m not using my power as the landlord, okay?

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After several days of cleaning the backyard while making new potions, my iron plates were finally completed.

「Hello… Sarasa-san…」(Jimena)

「Jimena-san, welcome. Are you okay? You look so tired.」(Sarasa)

「Yeah… these iron plates are really heavy…」(Jimena)

Jizdo-san’s wife, Jimena-san, came to deliver the iron plates I ordered.

She was leaning against a cart containing 12 normal sized iron plates and 4 large iron plates.

The large iron plates will be used to make Diral-san’s magic stove, and the normal sized ones will be used to make my magic oven.

The ruts on the ground were quite deep. It showed how heavy the cart was.

It might be more than 100kg.

Pulling this heavy cart alone must be really difficult for Jimena-san.

If only the roads in this village were made of stone, she wouldn’t have had trouble pulling the cart.

Unfortunately, we don’t have stone pavement roads here because it was just a small village with little traffic.

「They are really heavy, so I’d like someone to help me, but… are Iris-san and Kate-san here?」(Jimena)

「Ah, they are working right now, but don’t worry, I’ll carry all of them myself. Wait a sec.」(Sarasa)

After I took my protective gloves from my workshop, I inspected the iron plates on the cart.

The four iron plates for Diral-san’s dining hall were quite large.

Looks like it would be difficult to carry them all at once.

If they slipped out of my hands, they might crush my toe or damage the floor.

「Yosh!」(Sarasa)

I decided to carry the 12 iron plates for my magic oven first.

「Umm… Sarasa-san…?」(Jimena)

「Heave-ho!」(Sarasa)

「Eh!? Ehhhー!? How can you lift them so easily? I put them one by one into this cart with my husband, but even so, they are really heavy!」(Jimena)

Jimena-san was amazed watching me lifting 12 iron plates all at once.

Well, considering my small body, it might look strange.

「Ah, I’m using magic to strengthen my body. In the first place, I’ll be the one to process these iron plates, so it’s normal if I can carry them, right?」(Sarasa)

「Well, yeah but normally you only have to be able to carry one plate at a time if you want to make something from it, right? But you’re now carrying twelve of them! And honestly, you look out of balance carrying those iron plates with your small body…」(Jimena)

「Hahaha, I’m aware of it.」(Sarasa)

The weight of one iron plate is almost equal to half of my weight.

Certainly, I may look strange carrying these iron plates right now.

「Actually, I’m not that good at this kind of magic, but it’s a must for alchemists. After all, before we do business, we alchemists don’t have enough money to hire labor workers, so we have to do almost everything by ourselves.」(Sarasa)

It won’t be funny if you can’t use a big alchemy pot just because you can’t lift it, right?

「I see. If a blacksmith like me and my husband could use that kind of magic, it would surely make things easier for us… By the way, is it difficult to learn that magic?」(Jimena)

「Well, you don’t need much magical power, but it’s quite difficult to do…」(Sarasa)

It’s difficult because it requires precise magical power control.

This magic is suitable for alchemists, especially for those who don’t have much magical power but are quite skillful at controlling it.

On the contrary, many magicians can’t use it because they only seek for destructive power rather than controlling their magical power precisely.

By the way, I’m relatively good at controlling my magical power, but there’s a reason why I’m not that good at body strengthening…

It’s simply because I don’t have much muscle strength…

In my case, I have to use twice as much magical power, and control it twice as precisely as other alchemists who train their body regularly.

For example, if there’s a heavy thing that alchemists with well-built bodies can lift with only using 30% of their magical power, I have to use 60% of my magical power to be able to lift it.

Well, it’s my fault for not training my body well.

That’s why I was bedridden for several days after the fight against the Hellfire Grizzlies.

I had been neglecting my physical training to study alchemy more, but since Master came and gave me a sword, I started training my body sometimes.

「Alright, those were the last… Thank you for delivering them, Jimena-san.」(Sarasa)

After going back and forth between my workshop and the entrance three times to carry the iron plates, I took off my protective gloves and took a breath.

「I should be the one who thanks you. In the end, I didn’t help you carry those iron plates…」(Jimena)

「No problem, please don’t mind it. After all, it would be quite difficult to move while carrying the large iron plates with two people through the small corridor.」(Sarasa)

「Ah, you’re maybe right. By the way, those large iron plates are for making Diral-san’s magic stove, right?」(Jimena)

「Yup. She ordered two magic stoves the other day.」(Sarasa)

「I see. If there are stoves that can be used with magical power, are there furnaces for blacksmithing that work the same way? Blacksmithing consumes a lot of fuel, so I think it might be more convenient for us if we have one.」(Jimena)

「Of course there are.」(Sarasa)

「Really!? I had no idea.」(Jimena)

「Ahh, you didn’t know?」(Sarasa)

Jimena-san was surprised, but actually I have a magic furnace in my workshop.

But of course, I won’t sell it to Jimena-san.

I will be troubled if I don’t have a magic furnace.

「You don’t need fuel to use a magic furnace, right?」(Jimena)

「Yes, just like magic stoves. But, as far as I know, there are not many blacksmiths using them.」(Sarasa)

「Is that so? I also had no idea about this… But why? Isn’t it more convenient?」(Jimena)

「Most of the blacksmiths in the royal capital I know hated magic furnaces because most of them have little magical power.」(Sarasa)

Unlike magic stoves, magic furnaces for blacksmithing require a lot of magical power because you need a really high temperature to melt iron.

Moreover, unlike cooking, blacksmithing takes a lot of time.

Therefore, only blacksmiths with a lot of magical power can use magic furnaces.

After I gave Jimena-san such an explanation, she nodded in disappointment.

「I see… Blacksmithing without using fuel is just too good to be true, huh…?」(Jimena)

「It seems that blacksmiths who have a tremendous amount of magical power are using them, but of course, there are not many. Does Jizdo-san have a lot of magical power?」(Sarasa)

「Unfortunately, no, he doesn’t… Looks like we will never be able to use a magic furnace…」(Jimena)

「I see. Well, blacksmithing with a magic furnace is not very common anyway, so you don’t need to worry about it. There are other smithing tool artifacts that are useful for blacksmithing, but they don’t seem to sell very well because many craftsmen are particular about their tools.」(Sarasa)

「Ah, I can understand. My husband is also that kind of person.」(Jimena)

There are artifacts like hammers that are light but have a powerful striking power, bellows that can blow air automatically, clay that can change shape the way you want, hammers that can increase your arm strength, and many more.

However, there are not many blacksmiths who want to use them.

Maybe it has something to do with the pride of blacksmiths? I don’t know.

Unlike blacksmiths, we alchemists are happy to use such convenient tools.

If you can make things easier, why not?