Chapter 58: City of Canals (part five)

For anyone who hasn’t seen the announcement, there is a major edit in this series. The official pronunciation for some of the names has been revealed. So, these are the changes:

Harvan will be Hafan, said that it came from Welsh which means ‘haven’ or ‘shelter’.

Leandez will be Lindis, it came from Lindisfarne Gospel.

TL: clover

ED: clover, eristol

---

<< Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter >>

---

With Harold’s lead, I went to the back of the store.

We passed through the backyard of accumulated wands and classified materials into the space for living.

When I looked carefully around the dim room, like inside the store, I noticed that strangely expensive items were stored.

 

Especially, the eight porcelain dishes decorating the wall.

 

After reincarnating, I could count the times I saw porcelain with one hand.

In Spring Palace, there is an old pot that seems to have been purchased on the behalf of grandpa, but it is stored away except when inspecting and cleaning it.

Of course, people will hesitate to decorate their place with it, let alone using it, since porcelain in this world is very expensive.

 

The technique to make porcelain is now lost.

All the existing porcelains were made when there was a great empire spreading across Karkinos and Ichthyes.

Those porcelains were made on the far away eastern continent and was brought into the empire through trade.

Since the trade with the eastern continent has discontinued completely, there is no way to obtain a new porcelain.

On the contrary, it seems that it is uncertain whether the technique for making porcelain still exists on the eastern continent.

 

Attempts to reproduce the manufacture of porcelain seems to have been done many times.

A while ago, a nobleman of Ignitia confined a promising alchemist until he managed to produce a white porcelain.

However, let alone completing the porcelain, no one has seen the appearance of the alchemist ever again.

That is the rumor.

 

The dishes displayed here were painted with detailed drawings and a flashy color, all eight pieces are gorgeous artworks.

Given the value of the porcelain itself, one piece could probably be exchanged with a small castle.

As expected of the wealthy merchant Turm, even in the corner of such of a small shop, there are ridiculously valuable things lurking around.

 

“Ara? But this……”

“Oya, you have discerning eyes. Does it worry you?”

 

One of them seems to be a repaired dish which has broken once.

 

“I’m sure, this technique to seam it with lacquer and hide the crack with gold leaf……it’s golden joinery.”

“Heeh~ Erica is also knowledgeable, huh.”

“It’s just something I heard once.”

 

Since it is something I knew in my previous life, I couldn’t boast that much.

Because of the golden joinery, the design isn’t really clear.

Considering the barely discernible designs of horns and hoofs, it might be a drawing of an auspicious beast.

 

“My Master seems to like it, too.

Sometimes he will stare at it until he forgets about time.”

 

I nodded.

Perfect beautiful goods are not bad either, but dishes that have broken once and repaired have an unique beauty.

In spite of myself, I also lost my words and stared at it.

 

“Oops, my bad.

We have almost arrived at our destination, over here.”

 

Harold pointed at a solid mahogany door.

He took out a sparkling key from his pocket, inserted it in the keyhole and turned it.

 

“Yosh……”

 

When he opened the door, a cluttered large room appeared.

 

There were four long tables in the center of the room.

On the table were glass bottles filled with complicated lab ingredients such as various reagents and specimens, and a small blackboard with calculation formula on it.

And then, many sheets of vellum papers and scraps spilled over and fell from the table.

There were hundreds of medicinal herbs hanging from the ceiling beam.

Similar doors were built on each side of the room.

There was a cabinet on the wall by the doors, and boxes of alchemy materials were packed tightly.

In the corner of the room were stacked herbal bags, empty bottles in cases, wooden boxes with tags on them, etc.

 

Unlike my brother’s Wunderkammer, it was a lot messier but it had a familiar atmosphere.

 

“Is this your Wunderkammer?”

“Yeah, I owe it to my Master. As expected of a person from the Duchy of Aurelia, to recognize it at a glance.”

“My brother also has a Wunderkammer like this.”

“This room is connected to another room, wait a moment.”

 

Harold said so and pulled out another key.

It seems that this room is a multiple space transfer facility.

That old man who has something like this, and Harold who was entrusted with it, are not ordinary people.

It is too expensive to be handed over to a child who is entering and leaving the wand store.

 

I followed Harold around bypassing the room in a roundabout way so as not to step on the bottled preserved specimens or ink bottles.

Suddenly, my eyes fixated on the desk where many books were stacked.

 

The cover of the top notebook was turned up.

For no particular reason, I read the letters written there.

Harold Nibelheim’s Research Journal—

 

(Eeh!? Why is there a son of an Earl in a place like this!)

 

I became confused by the sudden appearance of a capture target.

This is lucky, but my heart wasn’t prepared.

Even though we planned on the premise that we wouldn’t meet the capture target this time.

 

(But, if he is the son of the Earl, then it isn’t weird for him to have such a luxurious facility……)

 

I didn’t recognize Harold’s appearance because he was significantly different from how he would be six years later, but there were many parts that are same if I think about it now.

Both Harolds have a protruding tooth, and the shades of their hair and eyes are similar.

He would become the six-years-later-Harold that I know of when he grows taller, grows out his hair and become wilder after his life is ruined.

Well, about the last one, I don’t want such a lively child to experience something like that.

 

“You should be able to shoot the wand here.”

 

The second door was connected to a room which was as big as a small gymnasium.

The ceiling was two stories high and the walls seemed sturdy.

On the wall across the entrance, sandbags were stacked up to three times the height of average adults.

The characteristic point was at our feet, where soil was spread out evenly all over the room.

 

“How amazing. Is this your work, Harold?”

“In truth, it seems that Master made this room for his youngest son.

But now that he has ran away, Master lent this room to me.

Even though his father works with wands, that guy doesn’t like the idea of it, what a waste—”

 

It is the family circumstances that I heard earlier, huh.

I recalled the grim face of the old shopkeeper.

It seems that there are many circumstances in this seemingly successful family.

 

“Now then, I have to prepare it.

Please wait as I prepare the target.”

 

Harold shouted happily and knelt on the ground.

Before I knew it, he took off his coat and wore a work apron.

He also wore goggles on his forehead and a tool holder around his waist.

He changed into a craftsman outfit and wrote something on the ground with an athame knife, not minding that he dirtied his outfit by doing so.

 

“Is that a golem? So you can make it even without the core part.”

“You understand that too, huh. Then this will be quick.”

 

Harold was making a basic golem that could at least walk.

He finished engraving the letters and breathed out at the end.

The breathed out magical power became blessing, and the golem began to move as if imitating God’s work.

 

The golem that got up was about 3 meters high.

It was like a fat person without a neck.

Twelve golems got up one after another and they walked to the point where they were ordered to go.

Six of the golems lined up in a similar formation like bowling pins, while the rest of them seemed to be waiting on both side of the room.

 

“Alright, Erica. First off, the Wand of Gust.”

 

I received the first wand from Harold.

It seems that the distribution of the material is somewhat different from the Gust of my brother.

It has old characters of the north-west area which were inscribed directly on the wand, and I couldn’t read the content.

 

“This is……isn’t it a little too heavy?”

“Nope, it was made like that to raise the output, you can try it.”

 

The wind produced by this Wand of Gust is adjusted to blow objects about 10 meters away.

However, that is only based on human size.

It seems that the golems weigh at least 1 ton each.

……This, wouldn’t it be impossible to blow them away?

 

“Brace your legs firmly.

This wand still hasn’t been checked for the balance of its recoil.”

 

Before I knew it, Harold was about 5 meters away from me.

 

“Can you tell me about the recoiling reaction in more detail?”

“No, no, no, I’m certain that it’s absolutely safe.”

“If it’s absolutely safe, I think you should watch over from behind me instead from over there.”

“Nope~ that is……”

“If you are nearby, won’t you be able to get better data?”

“Uh……”

 

When I smiled sweetly, Harold came behind me with a groan.

With this, he will become a cushion even if I collapse.

Even if something happens, it will happen to both of us.

Well, I don’t want anything to happen though.

 

I stared at my favorite alchemists’ silk gloves.

I will believe in the performance of these gloves that Eduard-oniisama has given me.

I pointed Harold’s wand towards the golem standing in the front.

 

“Blow—”

 

The moment I waved the wand, a mass of air exploded at such a pressure that I couldn’t open my eyes.

When the whirlwind hit the golems directly, they were blown off their feet.

The six golems were blown away by Gust and crashed into the sandbags placed on the opposite wall while spinning.

A deafening roar resounded.

The golems who seemed to have their emet characters damaged by the impact, broke into pieces and returned to lumps of soil.

 

“—away?”

“Oooohhhh!!!”

 

Harold’s delighted cheers could be heard.

Eh? This, is this truly Gust?

It looks more like an amazing offensive wand.

 

“I did it~~ it was just as I calculated!

I thought it would give out this much power unless I worried about the recoiling reaction.”

“Recoil……indeed if you don’t restrain the recoiling reaction of a wand of this class, it will be too dangerous to sell for personal use.”

“Ueh~ Erica also has the same opinion as Master?

I finally got somebody to trial shoot this wand, and it gave out the output I wanted it to, so I’m quite satisfied with this.”

 

Eduard-oniisama’s gloves almost completely alleviated the recoil, so this time I came out fine.

Not everyone has a cheat item made by brother.

The reputation of this store will be affected if he is untactful.

This is something that Harold’s Master has admonished him for.

 

However, it might be excellent like this.

For me who can use brother’s gloves, it is just a powerful wand.

Since there is no ounce of elegance in it, I will have to close my eyes on occasion.

Also, I would like to emphasize on smaller rotation and make its power more within common sense.

 

“Even so, there wasn’t any recoil.

How strange……I should have added more……”

“More what?”

“No, no, don’t mind me.”

 

Harold averted his eyes unnaturally.

How suspicious.

 

“Ah, speaking of which, you were staring at those gloves earlier.

By any chance, are they custom made?”

“Yes, these are the works of a genius alchemist.”

“How nice. I mean, I want one too.”

 

Speaking of which, he said that he has a constitution which is more susceptible to the recoiling reaction.

If he wears something that prevents recoil, he should be able to use wands.

Since he loves wands so much, perhaps he wants to use one himself.

I took off my gloves and offered them to Harold.

 

“Would you like to try it once as well?”

“Well, I guess. I think if it’s just for a little while, I can do it.

I, I made a great mistake when I was a kid.

Both my father and Master told me that I will never be able to use wands……but……”

 

While hesitating, Harold reached out for my gloves.

 

“If I have these gloves, me too, surely—”

 

With an excited look, Harold wore my gloves.

The hands of the small boy seemed to fit perfectly with my gloves.

Harold held the Wand of Gust and made the remaining golem line up in a formation.

 

“……Yosh, I will blow away the rest of the golems!”

 

Harold put on a serious expression as he put on his goggles.

Aiming carefully, he glared at the foremost golem as he held the wand aloft.

 

“Blow—”

 

At the next moment, Harold’s figure disappeared.

Only the sparkling magic circle formed by the wand remained on the spot, and it slowly collapsed and disappeared.

The golems were standing on the other side of the room as if nothing happened.

 

An unpleasant sound as if something broke could be heard from behind.

 

(Eeehh~~~!?)

 

I panicked for a moment, but I managed to recover.

In retrospect, I saw the broken door barely hanging by its hinges and swaying.

I turned back to the storeroom half-running.

 

“Harold?!”

 

When I opened the door and stepped in, the broken door fell from its hinges.

The inside was in an amazing state.

It was as if a storm had gone by—no, a storm did pass by.

 

Two legs were sticking out of the stacks of herbal bags in the corner of the room.

Those sturdy boots should be Harold’s.

 

“Are you alright? Still alive?”

“O, ow-ow-ow, it huuurts……I, I’m still alive, but……it’s painful everywhere……”

 

I pulled Harold out from underneath the herbal bags.

Shaking his head like a soaked dog, he scattered the dried herbs everywhere.

It seems that there was no big injury.

Apparently, the herbal bags became a cushion and he was saved because of that.

 

“N-no~ I’m glad that I didn’t clean up these herbal bags.

Aah, geez, that wasn’t cool of me—”

“I’m very sorry. I didn’t know that it’s going to be like that.”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s because of Erica’s gloves that I got away with only this degree of pain.

This is why my constitution is awful.”

“But—”

 

Harold stopped me who was still trying to apologize.

 

“It’s my fate. It cannot be helped.”

 

Harold showed a smile and said so.

However, a sad atmosphere seeped out in his expression and attitude.

 

At that time, a noise resounded suddenly.

In addition to the sounds of moving objects, there was a sound of rustling clothes.

 

I picked up the Wand of Gust dropped by Harold and aimed it towards that person.

 

“……Who are you?”

“Who is it? Is anyone there?”

 

What appeared from behind the door was a redheaded youth in a brand new dress suit.

 

“Well, that’s supposed to be my line. Little boy and little girl.”

---

<< Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter >>