《Chronicles of Soma: Rise of a King》 Prologue v2 Proofread: Azcheron, CBRRacer ¡°Munyaaa¡± After all these years, when I ride back the river of my memories, the first thing that comes to mind is that embarrassing voice. That was what came out of my mouth on my first day in this ¡¯world¡¯. Feeling some sort of discomfort on my back, I had turned to my side so as to once again go back to my dream paradise. But that small movement was all I for me to refuse the temptation of sleep. The discomfort I felt was enough for my brain to register the discrepancies in the environment around me. You could call it a sudden rush of adrenaline or some sort of human instinct kicking in. My body moved involuntarily as if it was being controlled by the threads of a puppet master. My head turned to my right, then to my left, and I again forced it to turn towards to my right. My eyes then drifted to the ground I was sitting on. I was hoping to find my cozy bed but instead, beneath me was a wide grassland with nothing but vast stretches of weeds surrounding me.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Panic was the first reaction I had. My poor brain pathetically tried to come up with excuses and reasons. My head moved back and forth multiple times, nonstop. And all I saw was the endless grassland. I, Kusakabe Soma, who was supposed to be in my warm comfy bed and covered in a fluffy blanket, suddenly woke with the feeling of despair. The panic-stricken brain of mine continued on its own, as my hands moved to my face. A pretty hard pinch to my cheeks and violent shriek that came out of my mouth was the next action my brain had decided upon. I was hoping that this was a bad joke of a dream that would shatter into pieces. And yet, my poor brain had to face an overwhelming defeat. Without a doubt, what was before my eyes was a cruel reality. A reality I had not even the simplest clue about. This is my story, a story of an earthling that was transported to a different world without any tutorial. Chapter 1: Booting up v2 Proofread: Azcheron, CBRRacer It took me a good 30 minutes to settle down. I mean, anybody would panic if they suddenly found themselves in such a bizarre situation. A 26-year-old common man like me was no exception. I sat cross-legged on the ground, with my eyes closed I ordered my almost fried brain to refresh my memories. ¡°I am pretty sure, that I came back directly to my home from the office, had a simple dinner and then went to sleep.¡± I said out loud. I had not even changed my clothes before I had dragged my tired body to the bed. As proof, I was still wearing black trousers and a white shirt with red neck tie. I even had my shoes on as I was too lazy to remove it. ¡°What is with this turn of events? Was I abducted? Where in the hell is this place?¡± I shouted out loud as once again frustration piled up inside my heart. Being an unmarried salary-man, my everyday routine was simple. Wake up, get ready, go to the office, come back, eat and sleep. It¡¯s not that I lacked friends, but I was not the popular type either. I was and still am a normal type guy. I did have a good number of friends back in my home town, where people had time to spend with others, but when my job forced me to the crowded city, I failed to make new ones. Not because i didn''t want to, but because they didn''t want to. In the beginning my colleagues were really friendly but after a while things changed. Being a newbie, i had to work hard, I had to, since I thought if I made a good first impression with the boss, my life there would become good. And so, I had politely declined the drinking offers from the seniors after I promised to treat them for a drink in the near future. And as I immersed myself in the job, I found the boss happy at me but my colleagues growing distant. By the time I noticed it, things had gone from bad to worse. While they didn''t try to harm me, they refused to help me either. And so I was isolated in that office room My parents passed away when I was a little over 20 years old. My dad was the first to pass away being bedridden for almost a year after he had met with an accident. For that year my mom forced herself to take care of the family, while I tried to complete my studies and earn some money through part time jobs. But once my dad passed away, as if she had had enough of it, my mom bid me goodbye and followed dad. The doctor told me that it was due to overwork. From then on it was just me. My friends from the village understood my situation and didn''t complain when I decreased the amount of time I hung out with them. To complete my studies, I too ka part-time job at one of my friend¡¯s shop. Luckily, my best friend¡¯s father was able to find me a job somehow in a new company as a programmer as I was always good at it. I moved into a new apartment with the help of the insurance money I had obtained. Thus began my daily routine between home and office.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I don¡¯t even remember just how many years I had continued the same actions. Time kind of had stopped for me. I earned to eat, ate to live, and lived to earn. My colleagues started calling me dead-eye Soma behind my back, but I had began to grow insensitive to them. However, even that came to an end. Unless absolutely required, we hardly held a conversation. The boss though was always good to me, but he never noticed the awkward situation in the office, or maybe he purposely neglected it as I never complained about it to him. My only oasis was a little kid who lived next doors. His parents too were kind and would often bring food for me to eat. They even let me join them for family occasions. And after one such normal day and night, I now am sitting cross-legged in an unknown land, surrounded by mother nature in all its primal beauty. Greatly different from the concrete forests, polluted air, and overcrowded streets that I am used to. With a thud, I let my body fall onto the ground, and stared into the endless blue sky. My heart slowly calmed down. I had resigned myself to the cruel fate that had brought me here, the despair and panic from a moment ago disappeared completely. To be honest, even I was kind of surprised at how fast I had accepted this turn of events. By the way the dazzling sun was sitting in the sky, I assumed that it was the start of a new day. The peaceful blue sky was intruded by birds now and then. A gentle breeze swept across the huge stretch of land, making me comfortable and pleasant. A sudden urge to go back to sleep invaded my body, but my logic driven brain warned me against it. As I fought back the urge, I began to calculate my next course of action. Few questions popped up in my mind, ¡®what should I do now?¡¯, ¡¯Where would I sleep?¡¯, ¡®What will I eat?¡¯ and so on. Forcing my body up, I got on my legs, dusted off my back and then looked around once again only to be greeted by a vast plain in all direction. ¡°Damn! Why is there no google maps at a time like this?¡± I blurted out loud in slight anger. And then something that changed my life occurred. <10%... 20%...50%...100%> After a few lines of a mechanical voice, a huge screen appeared before my eyes out of nowhere and I screamed. ¡°The fuckkkk?¡± Chapter 2: AI in my head v2 Proofread: CBRRacer ¡°The fuckkkkk?¡± I screamed. After all, a huge map suddenly materialized before my eyes, of course, I would freak out. I am not the protagonist of some light novel to accept such incidents nonchalantly. ¡°What the hell is this?¡± not understanding the cause of the game like events, I unintentionally voiced my thought out loud. Once again the same mechanical voice sounded in my head, and once again giving me a mental shock. I looked at the map dumbfounded as I tried to contemplate the situation as calmly as I could. After a few moments of silence, I voiced out another question. ¡°What are you?¡±, I timidly asked. ¡°Google Sensei?¡± another shock hit my brain. Any more of these shocks and my brain would die. But seriously? Google sensei? In my head? Is this some kind of dream after all? While such stupid thought filled my mind, I was interrupted by the voice. And there came the precise and emotionless answer. The mechanical voice which gave off a female tint corrected me by refusing the sensei title. ¡°Am I in some kind of dream?¡± ¡°Then where am I?¡± ¡°And where exactly is this Arudiria Island?¡±, I shot back at the voice with a hint of sarcasm, which the voice didn''t seem to pick up at all. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Wven continent? Did Earth have a continent with such a weird name? Unsure about the reply I received, I put forward another question to the all-knowing google sensei once again. ¡°This is still the Earth I know of, right?¡± Parallel world? Majide ? What is this light novel kind of setting? ¡°So why I am here? How did I even reach here? And why in god¡¯s name are you in my head?¡± So that means this AI was put in my head by those who transported me here. I am pretty sure, the AIs in my world are not this advanced. And also, installing an AI into my head is certainly not the feat of some humans, nor is this sudden transportation. This is surely the whim of some god with really bad tastes. Settlement eh? Sensei is right. This is no time to panic, I have to listen to what sensei says. I don¡¯t have anything to eat, drink or even a place to sleep. And it might get dangerous in the night. With this ridiculous setting, I won¡¯t be surprised if a goblin or two charged at me. Sensei¡¯s recommendation is the settlement to the north. Might be a good place after all. I then looked at the map before me careful and scanned through it. A black triangular marker, with my name, showed my position on the map. I can also see the name of the grassland, island and also even that of the recommended settlement, written in bold black letters, the language is, of course, my mother tongue. Let¡¯s see, Reidenheel? For the name of a small village, it sure is fancy or is the naming sense of the people here poor? ¡°Sensei. How far is this Reidenheel from here?¡± And immediately, a dotted line connecting my position and the village area appeared on the map along with the distance between the two points. Uwaaa. 50kms? That¡¯s farther than I expected. Will I even be ableto reach there before night? I mean, I am not some walking machine, you know. Not to overstate the obvious or anything, but I am really not the athletic type. I need to rest in between or I might really die from exhaustion. Even if you say that, sensei. Wait, maybe I can. I mean, it should still be some time in the morning right? With some hope sprouting in my heart, I asked sensei for the exact time. What? Those damn gods are really playing with me. Why do they have to make things hard? Now I have to run if I have to reach there. I mean, I can''t enter the village during the night, what if they mistake me for a suspicious person? No, no, I don''t have time to waste, let¡¯s leave for the village ASAP. And so, with new found determination, I made my first step towards the north, only to end up screaming once again. ¡°Ehhhhhhhhhh? Chapter 3: The Gods are messing with me v2 Proofread: CBRRacer Now some of you might start thinking ¡®what now?¡¯, right? If I were you, I might be thinking the same. I don¡¯t mind, I wholeheartedly forgive you kids. ¡°Ehhhhhhhhh?¡± I stared blankly at my feet and then at my hands. I couldn¡¯t see my feet or hands. No, no. I didn''t lose them or anything. Even though I could feel them, I couldn¡¯t see them. The shirt and trousers that I had used for years had stretched so much that my hands and feet were swallowed up by them. Just what is going on now? Where the size of the clothes altered or did I now become a dwarf? Before my brain short circuited from despair and doubts, I turned towards my savior. ¡°Sensei, am I still human?¡±, with a voice that was cracking, I timidly asked. Eh? Did the AI just sigh? He did. Right? Right? Damn it. What¡¯s with this human like AI? Wait, wait. That¡¯s not the problem now. I am still human. That can only mean one thing. ¡°Sensei. How old am I now?¡± Sweet lord. I got younger or did I change bodies with someone of this world? No, sensei recognized me as Kusakabe Soma. Then the only conclusion is that I got younger. Another unbelievable development. Just how much was my body altered? Damn those gods in the heaven. I mean sure that they must be having the time of their laugh watching my reactions. ¡°Are there any other changes as compared to my original body?¡± O..ooooooh. Body at peak condition. Those gods sure have done great things again. Does that mean that my current body is better than the original? Then I might able to reach the village faster than I thought. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Sensei. How long will it take for me to reach the village, with a minimal number of breaks?¡± ¡°And without breaks?¡± <5 hours and 25 minutes> Good, that means my walking speed should now be more than 8 km per hour. This body sure is better than the old me. Folding the sleeves of my shirt and trousers and with great vigor, I took my second forward. To reach my destination faster, after every 1 hour, I ran for 15 minutes at max speed. My improved body did not fail my expectation one bit. The run only caused me to slightly gasp for breath, if it were my previous body then I would have collapsed without a doubt. How embarrassing. And so, by the time the sun was at its peak, I could see silhouettes of small buildings on the horizon. As I neared them slowly, I could see smoke making its way out of chimneys. The shape of the buildings grew clearer with every step I took and their size, bigger. Then suddenly it hit me and I stopped on my track. How am I, a Japanese going to converse with the people of this world. My legs had stopped moving but my eyes were still focused on the silhouettes of the buildings. ¡°Sensei. You don¡¯t come with a translation app, do you?¡±, I asked half-jokingly. Ah! These shitty gods are playing with me again. My heart roared in anger as I silently cursed the gods above. When they went and improved my body and brain so much, why the fuck didn''t they add language comprehension. Immediately after I was done berating the gods, sensei¡¯s mechanical voice sounded in my mind. And there goes sensei nonchalantly installing stuff inside my meager brain, I don''t think my brain has that much free space, you know. So sensei, don¡¯t go installing things without asking me. I silently complained not wanting to anger the great all knowing one. Eh? Sensei, you can even read my mind? Wait, now that I think about it, he is my brain after all. Did my intelligence fall after I came here? Was I just casually dissed by sensei? Those shitty gods. What did they do to sensei? Am I going to be nagged by an old, granny like sensei? Please excuse me from that and definitely no old grannies. Forgive me, mom, I mean no offense, not at all. Phew! I sighed in relief and continued walking towards the village. Chapter 4: What is with this shitty setting v2 Proofread: CBRRacer ¡°Um! Sensei? Why are there no men?¡± ¡°Iya, Iya sensei. That was rhetorical. I wasn¡¯t actually hoping for an answer from you. Seems like you still have a lot to improve¡±, I once again mixed some sarcasm but sensei didn''t pick it up at all. Ohhhh. The stiff conversation has begun to change. As expected of the great sage of wisdom. Even though the voice is still that of some mechanical robot. ¡°Well, that¡¯s cause my old world relies on the information you provide. You are like an all-knowing teacher who can resolve all our problems and questions.¡± For a moment, I was dumbfounded hearing the unexpected response. At that instant, I could vividly imagine the appearance of a girl with a smug look on her face, sticking out her pride filled chest. Seriously, what the hell is up with this setting? I ignored the request for praise and focused on the village before me. There were a number of houses, the walls made of mud while the roofs were made of straws. From what I could I see, I concluded that they were made purely by hand, without the help of any sort of tools. The highly uneven surface of the walls acted as a proof for me. And to make things worse, cracks ran down on the muddy walls, of every single house. A cluster of 16 or 17 of the exact same house, talk about clones. The words ¡®poor construction¡¯ immediately popped up in my mind. At least all the housed windows, if I call them as such, that is. It was more like an opening in the wall with a layer of some kind of clothing as cover. Through these openings that I will consider as windows, for now, I could feel really strong glares, glares strong enough to pierce through me. I involuntarily gulped down the saliva in my mouth, those glares were that strong. As I thought, I am not welcomed after all. May be I should walk away? No, no, no. The next village is at least a 100kms away. I might not even live to see the next day if I start now. Making my resolve, I then approached google-sensei. ¡®Sensei, what language do these people speak?¡¯, I thought. This mental communication sure is good. Nobody will be willing to shelter to a madman who talks to himself, will they now? ¡®Eh? What the hell is with that name, sensei? Why does it feel so despairish?¡¯ For an AI that was born a few hours ago, you sure are knowledgeable. But still, what is this shitty setting? Fallen empire, a village without males, people glaring daggers at me. Damn those, gods. Must be fun watching me struggle eh? Watch for now, but some day I will get back at you shit heads. Cursing the gods in my mind, I mustered all my courage and took a few steps towards the village. With a not too loud voice, I shouted out towards as to no one, hoping someone might respond. ¡°Is there a village head here?¡±, even though it was my own voice, I was fairly surprised. I spoke the foreign language effortlessly and so fluently, I felt goosebumps all over me. In a matter of time, the AI had taught me a new language. I had to spend no effort at all. This power, in a sense, is truly fearsome. While I was contemplating about the power of the AI, my ears were eagerly waiting to pick up a response But no answer came. Rather than feeling disheartened, I tried again, only this time, a little louder. ¡°Is the chief here? I am a traveler who wishes to spend a night here.¡±, I added some information about me, just to let them know what I wanted. They might not believe the words of a complete stranger, but there is no harm in trying. And again, an eerie silence followed. It was so silent I could literally hear the wind blowing past my ears. At this point, I started to have cold sweats, and my brain was already contemplating on my next course of action, stay or leave. I was seriously thinking about all the options I had, when, from one of the poorly made mud house, a woman in her late fifties stepped out. She then stared at me as if she was sizing me down. Her gaze traveled from head to toe, before she started slowly walking towards me. Before she covered half the distance between us, she abruptly stopped and the once again stared at me, this time directly into my eyes. I was startled at first, but then calmed myself down. We then engaged in a staring battle, as the two of us tried to dig out the intentions of one another. My first impression of her was, ¡®a maid¡¯. She looked like one from the western dramas of medieval ages, at least that¡¯s what her clothes looked like. This was something entirely new for me, as I have only seen such a style o f dressing in foreign movies. A one piece dress with a skirt that all the way down to her feet. Of course, there was no apron or other things with laces, and the color of the clothing wasn¡¯t even black. If I was asked to pick a color, then I think I will call her clothes, ¡®whitish¡¯, perhaps. The sleeves were long enough to cover her elbows, and the dress lacked frills or any sort of design. It was totally plain. And just like her clothes, her face plane too. It had a few wrinkles here and there, which gave me the impression of ¡®fifty above lady¡¯. Her reddish-brown hair had already lost its luster and was slowly graying out on some places. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. She was a little skinny, and her originally white clothes were now stained with dirt everywhere, giving it a brown tan. Only the leather belt around her waist appeared dirt free, maybe because it had a dark brown appearance. While her clothes were untidy, I could find a trace of dirt neither on her face nor on her hands. What caught my attention the most was her golden like pupils, which for some reason felt really majestic to me. ¡°If you are here for the tax, then go back. There is nothing more to give. Everything we had, you took them from us last week. What more do you need?¡±, and without notice, she started lashing out at me. That startled me, I mean, I kinda knew that they didn''t like my presence, but did never expect them to suddenly lash out at me. Am I being considered as some sort of envoy of a noble? Do I even look like one? I was lost for a moment, not knowing what to do. But seeing her expression, I knew that I only had limited amount of time to give her an answer and so, I replied politely. ¡°Um. You have to all wrong, I am not here for the tax or anything, I am not even an envoy. I am really sorry for the intruding, but I suddenly woke up in the grasslands to the south of here. I am a complete stranger to these parts and to make things worse I don''t have any of food or water. I have been wandering around since morning, searching for a place to call as shelter and just stumbled upon this settlement.¡± I gave a vague explanation that only conveyed the necessary information. For a moment I felt her eyes widen, but the angry expression returned immediately and she once again started lashing out at me. ¡°So what? You want us to feed and shelter a complete stranger like you? Just because you asked? Not to mention the shortage of food.¡± I had a hunch things would turn out like this. A village of women and children was not going to invite a stranger in that easily. Well, she did a good job trying to not give that away. But still, this is going to be troublesome. Is there something I can do? ¡®Sensei anything you can help with?¡¯, and instantly I turned towards my savior. Damn, I am already relying on him too much. But this is not a situation where I can talk my way through. ¡®What are you even saying sensei? Information? Keeping aside the fact that they won¡¯t even believe what I say, what use is information to these guys who are having hard time living?¡¯, I almost snapped at sensei¡¯s suggestion. And again, the prideful arrogant mechanical tone surfaced. What is with this AI? It¡¯s like a totally different character from the time we met. It even started blatantly looking down on me. What is with this shitty setting? What in the world? You can even do something like that? More like, is there anything you can¡¯t do? That aside, that¡¯s a really huge list of metals. I mean, all of the five metals are enough to develop this small-time village into a major city or something. Not technologically, but more like commercially. Well, for technological advancement, you need to high-level education and all, not to mention man power. ¡®But sensei, will they even listen to what I have to say?¡¯ Hm! That seems like a good idea. So my part is to make them believe my words. Yosh, let¡¯s do this! ¡°I am well aware that a stranger like me is unwelcome. And I understand that you do not have the leeway to spend valuable to resources for a stranger like me. But at the same time, I badly need a shelter for the night. As you can see, I am still a boy and I am not confident enough to traverse these regions in the absence of light. So let¡¯s do this. How about we will make a deal. In exchange for shelter and food, I will provide you something that will prove useful to you?¡± I tried to bait her with ¡®something useful¡¯, but from her facial expression, it felt like she didn''t bite it all. She just kept staring at me without uttering a single word. ¡°And what might this thing be?¡±, finally, she responded. As I thought, she didn''t believe even one word I uttered. Her tone was filled with sarcasm and disgust. ¡°An iron mine¡±, nevertheless, I played my cards. Well, in the end, chances are, her greed might overcome her rational mind set or something. It¡¯s an entire mine I am offering. Some part of her heart would want this talk to be true, or so I am guessing. ¡°Ha?¡± came a voice from the lady. Her tone still held a little anger, but most of it had turned into bewilderment. Her shoulders dropped, and eyes widened greatly. Her mouth was making a huge ¡®O¡¯ as she stared at me with an expression that can be summed up as, ¡®What the hell are you spouting?¡¯ ¡°I know that it might be hard for you to trust my words.How about I show you the way? To make things advantageous for you, you may take me as a hostage. It¡¯s not even that far from here. We can go inspect it and return back real fast.¡± Uwaaa. Why did I let them take me as a hostage? Was there no other thing you stupid brain? The woman hesitated, she was lost in her thoughts for a while and then walked back to the same house from where she had first come out. After a few minutes she exited the house but instead of coming to me, she started visiting all the other houses one by one. Almost half an hour passed before she decided to answer my deal, this time with a boy who was at least in his early twenties. ¡®Wait! Sensei, you said there are no men in this village. But, no matter how a look at it, that right there is an adult male?¡¯, seeing the well-built teen, I consulted with sensei, who had initially ruled out the existence of men in this remote village. What, 17? He is surely taller than me and looks really mature. And just like the elderly woman, he too was glaring at me. What I found really surprising was that the two of them had eyes that were brown with a golden tint. To be honest, I was kind of scared me, not of his eyes, but of his appearance as a whole. I mean, the guy looked like some kind of warrior or something. Scary! His facial features were good, not on the level of some models, but not too plain either. I will categorize him in the handsome man level good. His hair was brown and long, almost reaching his shoulders, with no tints of red like that of the elderly woman. As for what he was wearing, it was something that resembled a half sleeve shirt and long trousers, both of which had numerous patches all over. I also noticed that neither of them was wearing anything on their feet. Doesn¡¯t it hurt walking bare footed? Wait, even I don''t have anything on my feet. As I had such stupid and irrelevant thoughts, my eyes suddenly stopped at his hands. A shiver ran down through my spine instantly for in his hands were a rope and a knife-like weapon with an edge that was glittering. ¡®Ano! Sensei, Isn¡¯t that dangerous?¡¯, was all my mind could think as my body trembled slightly. Chapter 5: When knowledge becomes weapon v2 Proofread: CBRRacer ¡®Er! Sensei? Is this really the right place?¡¯ I asked in my mind to the all-knowing google sensei while feeling extremely confused. The AI replied immediately. The mechanical voice carried not even the smallest traces of doubt which actually made me gulp involuntarily, instead of feeling confident. ¡®But we are standing in front of a swamp. Forget about the mine, I don''t even see something that resembles iron here¡¯ Yes, that¡¯s right. At the location, where sensei had told me about, was a huge swamp. The swamp was pretty wide, too wide actually, but gave me the feeling like it lacked depth. Even if I say not too deep, I could not clearly see the bottom earth, because of the oily like reddish water. ¡®Oya? Oya? Oya? Oily like reddish water? Isn¡¯t that strange?¡¯ Why do I get the feeling that I am being called stupid? This AI is starting to get on my nerves. Shit! Ever since I have come to this world, I have been cursing too much. It¡¯s either the gods or this damn AI, messing with me as they wish. With another short session of cursing, I bent down and picked up the rock that was next to my feet. The rock was big enough to fit in my hands comfortably and on careful observation, I felt reddish rock felt to be no different from a normal rock which kind of worried me. I was lost on how I was going to prove it to them that this thing here in my hand is actually an iron ore. The people who had accompanied me numbered more than I could count on my fingers. I got the feeling that the whole village was here. All the adults and children had decided to come along. My movement was restricted with ropes by the young man with the knife who made sure that I didn''t wander off or tried to escape. As I and the young man walked in the front like a hound, the others followed me always keeping a safe distance from me. We had walked more than two hours¡¯, traveling at least 5 to 6kms. While we were half way, some of the ladies and children from behind began to complain, some even became rude as they bad mouthed me without restraint. Are all women of this world so aggressive? To tell you the truth, I shuddered slightly at the thought. I stretched my arm towards the pack of people who were staring at me with confused eyes. Every one of them was without a doubt wondering what I was up to as their eyes fixated on the reddish rock in my hand. I could hear mild whispering among those all who had gathered. The old woman too had a bewildered expression. She was knitting her brows as she stared at me and then at my hand alternatively and then she spoke with a slightly annoyed ¡°Is that it?¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I understood that she already had an idea about the object in my hand. And it really looked like she was ready to pounce on me the moment my answer came out. I felt like the prey that was standing helplessly before a lion. ¡°I know it doesn¡¯t look like the ones you might now. But trust me when I say that this here is iron ore too. These might not be as good as the iron ones you know of, but they are still iron ore. These things used to be popular back in my hometown.¡± I mixed in some lies to make things easy for me. It was impossible for them to confirm the things about my hometown and all, so I found such an approach as the correct way. So you are telling us that piece of red rock is actually iron ore and this swamp here is the iron mine you were talking about?¡± She still refused to believe. Not that I expected her to believe me at first. I was going to explain the things sensei had taught me, but then I stopped altogether when I thought about it. I mean, how was I going to explain something like chemical reactions? Iron dissolved in water? Even I don¡¯t understand any of the reactions that take place, let alone these other-wolders. ¡°Well, you could always ask your blacksmith to check it¡± I don¡¯t know if blacksmiths can even do that, but I still suggested the idea to prevent any sort of breakout. I really don''t want to be beaten by a mob. Hearing my words, the lady frowned. Suddenly the atmosphere suddenly grew heavy and the ladies that were whispering among them quieted down in an instant. Both the adults and the children had slouched shoulders and their heads dropped, making the mood even eerier. ¡®Eh? Eh? What is with this atmosphere, sensei?¡¯ Oh, something which sensei didn¡¯t even know? Well, I can¡¯t consider that as a fair question, so I¡¯ll let the matter slide. ¡°Grandma, let me do it¡± Oh. Looks like the young boy and the old lady isfamily. But still, a blacksmith at that age, really impressive were my honest feelings. ¡°No. We don¡¯t want you to get hurt for something like this¡± And to my surprise, the grandma actually refused the young boy. Eh? Why are they talking as if he is going to war? Is blacksmithing something with great repercussions in this world? The settings getting weirder by the moment and I really can''t understand it. ¡°It¡¯s fine grandma. If what he is saying is true and this piece of rock really is iron ore, then I have to do this. With this, we might be able to bring them all back. And my control over the flame has improved greatly, so please don¡¯t worry too much and let me do it¡±, the youth replied with great resolve which I could see in his eyes. Bring back them? Things are getting out of control. This somehow feels like a quest of some sort all of a sudden. ¡°Euthe, this is no joking matter. Think about your sister and mother. If something were to happen to you, then who will look after them. This old bag of bones won¡¯t last much longer, but what about your sister and mother? And I don''t want my grandson to leave for the heavens before me¡±, the woman refused with a stern tone as she lectured her grandson. Now I am getting really nervous. Just what is it that makes blacksmithing something that is so dangerous and so feared? Even so, Euthe eh. That¡¯s some name. To my surprise, no, to everybody¡¯s surprise, Euthe suddenly walked towards me, as he ignored his lecturing grandma. The old woman was shocked but all she could do was stare at him with her mouth agape. It looked like she was choking on just air. The boy called Euthe stood before me and then just stared at me for a while. Since he was a little taller than me, it felt like he was looking down on me. Why is someone younger than so tall, damn it. Once he had his share of staring, he snatched the rock away from my hand and then walked away from our group. Once he made sure he was a good distance away from us, he stretched his hand to the front and stood still. What is that brat doing now? I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. And in the next instant, something that broke the laws of my common sense occurred. Chapter 6: Is this how it feels to be betrayed v2 Proofread: CBRRacer, Azcheron Betrayal. Some of you might think of it as a strong word, for others, it might not be the case, and I fall into the later. Cause, betrayal is too meek to describe the feelings and emotions I am having right now. And my betrayal came at the hands of something I always believed to be my greatest ally, my common sense. I felt like my knees were losing all its strength and turning numb with every passing second. My jaws fell open and eyes widened as I was left bewildered by the indescribable and unbelievable sight. With his right hand stretched away from his body, the youth stood still. On his hand was the reddish stone that he had snatched away from me moments ago. But what has me so shaken to the core was the existence of something on his left hand. On his left hand was a raging red flame. Its color was so vibrant I could help but stare it in wonder. He then placed his left hand on top of the reddish stone and in the next instant the stone was enveloped by the red-hot flame. I mean, the freaking flame was coming from his left hand. How is he even able to hold the burning-hot stone in his hand without getting burnt? Was this why the grandma was worried? My first emotion was fear; like any normal human, fear of the unknown. But soon the fear was replaced by a strange thought. I don''t understand myself why such a thing surfaced in my mind, I truly don''t. ¡®Such potential¡¯ That was what I thought. Like I said, I don¡¯t understand at all why I had such a thought or what I saw potential in? For a moment, I thought it was sensei who said those words, but those were without a doubt my own genuine thought process. ¡®Sensei, just what is going on?¡¯ ¡®M..M..Magic? That¡¯s impossible. Sensei, are you telling me that the laws of physics that govern us are that easy to break?¡¯ What does that even mean? Where is the energy to sustain such a flame even coming from? Ah! I can feel my common sense stabbing me from behind, another betrayal. ¡®So, he can create fire out of nowhere? How is he even holding it? From how the stone is glowing red, I am sure that the flame is really, really hot.¡¯ Mana? So something like that really exists eh? Somehow I can relate to that, even though it''s outside the boundaries of my common sense. Maybe because I am someone who used to enjoy anime and manga. But in all other world transportation novels, an ability similar to that of the youth didn¡¯t exist. And as I kept watching, the red flame suddenly dies out. The boy named Euthe then began carefully inspecting the stone for some time and when he was done with it, he then began walking towards us. My mind was still numb from all the events that had expired and my eyes were still focused on his hands.. ¡°Euthe, Euthe!¡±, suddenly from the crowd, a woman¡¯s voice echoed loud. It was her worried voice that woke me up from my daze. I turned my head to the direction of the voice and I saw a woman dash out of the crowd. Her face seemed distressed and filled with worry. And immediately behind the woman was a little girl with a face that had turned red and tears streaming down violently. The girl was clinging to the woman with one hand while the other hand was Reaching towards the youth, yelling ¡®Onii-chan¡¯ multiple times. The mother-daughter pair was wearing the same attire as the grandma and just like the old lady, their clothes too were covered in dirt. And unlike the youth and grandma, the two had normal black hair. Even their faces were similar, slender and beautiful.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. But before the two distressed damsels could reach the boy, Euthe, with his left hand, gestured the two to stop and warned, ¡°The stone is still hot! Mother, don¡¯t approach me carelessly¡±. His voice was a little cold, but it didn''t fail to carry his concern for the two in it. The woman hesitated, she was torn between her desire to rush to her son and her wish to protect her daughter. It was evident that she wanted to rush to the boy, but in the end, she decided to stop. She then held the girl¡¯s arm and hugged her close. When he made sure that his mother and sister had stopped approaching, Euthe then turned towards me. With large strides, he quickly approached me and just like before began to stare at me intently. His golden eyes even felt a little threatening. ¡°How did you know about this place?¡±, Euthe asked with a stern tone. It was as if he was warning me not to lie, I felt power in that deep voice of his which made me doubt his age for a moment. In the end, it came to that after all, huh. Well, I was expecting such a question to come at some point of the time and while on our way here, I have been thinking about how to tackle it. ¡°I said it before, right?. I suddenly woke up at a place little away from here. And since I didn''t know where I was and where to go, I started wandering around a lot before I reached your village. And while aimlessly wandering, I came across this place, just as how I stumbled up on your village. What? Don¡¯t stare at me so much, you bastard. Even if you stare daggers at me, there is nothing more that you will hear from me. After a brief session intense staring, he slouched his shoulder and then sighed deeply. He then turned towards the grandma and then nodded his head at her. This gesture from the boy was witnessed by all those who had gathered, and one after the other they started giving out expharated sighs. All of them had a look surprise and joy mixed on their faces, some were even jumping up and down non-stop. The grandma''s face showed a variety of emotions; happiness, surprise, sadness, anger. God, that¡¯s a hell lot of emotions at once, calm down obaa-san, or else you might get a heart attack. ¡°I..I..It¡¯s really iron ore?¡± with a voice that cracked here and there as if a shiver was running down her spine, the old woman asked. Her hands stretched forward as to grasp something invisible and her golden eyes began to tear up too. ¡°Yes, grandmother. It really is iron ore¡±, and I saw the youth give a warm smile at the tearing old lady. And suddenly cheers erupted around me. All the women and children were hugging each other as tears began to roll down their cheeks. Laughing and crying at the same time. That was a peculiar sight for me who couldn''t understand what was happening at all. Oi, Oi! What is with this over reaction? Amused by all the hype, I couldn¡¯t help but smile watching the scene. It carried a certain warmth, a warmth that I had forgotten for a long time, the warmth of a family. And while I was busy enjoying the warmth around my, a sudden pain followed by a bang attacked my back. The bang was then followed by a hearty laugh and when I looked back, my vision was blocked by the old lady who now had a big smile on her face. ¡°Haha! You are a lucky charm. You rascal!¡± saying so she once again hit my shoulders nonchalantly and then began laughing out loud. Eh? Eh? The hell. What is major personality change? She is treating me as if I am her grandson¡¯s best buddy. Just what in the name of God happened in these few moments for things to get so chaotic. ¡°Well! It seems like you were saying the truth. So I guess we can shelter you with us. Or why don''t you live with us from now on? Right everybody?¡± and while she was still laughing the grandma spouted something that I wasn''t expecting at all. And the cheers erupted once again. Hell, the ladies even surrounded me and started thanking me profusely. Some even hugged me a few times. I even got an array of kisses on my cheeks. And thus, I was allowed to stay in the village for as many days as I wanted without not even knowing what had actually transpired in the span of few minutes.. But is this ok? Really? Letting a complete stranger like me stay over so easily. I am beginning to wonder if I should have come here in the first place. Chapter 7: Wise-sama v2 Proofread: CBRRacer ¡°Hah¡±, I let out an audible sigh and yet no one around me seemed to notice, ¡®Why did it end up like this?¡¯ was the thought that was flying around in my mind. Uwaah! Aren¡¯t you getting a little too ¡®human like¡¯? And what¡¯s with the looking down on me kind of personality? Sensei, give this host some respect, please. At this point, you might be wondering why am I complaining so much, right? For that let¡¯s go back in time, a few hours. ~~ flashback starts. ~~ After the iron ore and magic flame incident, I who was welcomed as a resident of this small village was allocated a mud house to live in. Wondering if it was okay to lend somebody else¡¯s house to me, I decided to ask the grandma about it. She started hitting me on my shoulder and with a laugh replied, ¡°It''s fine, it¡¯s fine. The owners of that house left for the city a long time ago. You don''t need to worry about those things, nobody is going to drive you out of there. We have tidied up the place a little and made all the necessary arrangements to make it sure that is fit to use. Just take it as a signof gratitude from us.¡± And just like she told me, I turned that mud house into my own personal abode. When evening arrived, I was invited to a banquet. When I asked the reason for one, I was told that they wanted to celebrate the discovery of the mine and also wanted to welcome to the village, which was kind of touching to me. Utilizing the situation, I asked those who had come to invite me the reason for them being so happy about the mine? I mean, even if iron ore deposit is a really good thing, I don¡¯t think it is something to feel so overjoyed about that the entire village would dance and sing throughout the way back to the village from the swamp. Perhaps, being an earthling who had all sorts of services and luxuries, I am unable to connect with these people. But the onee-san who came to invite just replied with a beautiful smile and just walked away without saying anything else. Needless to say, I attended the banquet. Even if say ¡®banquet¡¯, it wasn''t some fancy or anything. The food wasn''t anything close to being delicacies or even luxurious. It was just plain bread and some smoked meat. Not that I am complaining about their hospitality, I just don''t want you guys to think of it as some big feast or something. Anyway, the first to be served with the bread and meat was me. I couldn''t refuse since they insisted with happy faces that I should be the one to receive the food first. Once the food was served for all, the people sat down on the ground and began to enjoy their dinner. Some of the onee-sans approached me and once again began to thank me profusely. But none of them told me why I deserved such kind treatment and their heartfelt gratitude. Being talked to by so many onee-sans at the same time was, to be honest, a tiring and a little scary too. All I could say to anyone of them was, ¡®It¡¯s Ok, It¡¯s Ok¡¯ before another onee-san took over and started her ¡®thank you¡¯ gestures. Sigh! Such a pity. It took a considerable amount of time as well as effort from me before the ladies realized that I wasn''t eating the food at all. Realizing that they were keeping away from my food, the ladies smiled embarrassingly and dispersed. Only then was I really able to relax and eat. When I was half was done with my food, my eyes fell on Euthe-kun, who was sitting not far to my right. On his hands were the same bread and meat as mine, which he seemed to eat solemnly, with no signs of joy frenzy as the others. I decided to use the opportunity to strike a conversation and approached the youth. When he saw me coming, he looked at me and nodded slightly. I passed a smile and then tried to sit beside him wanting to strike a conversation. ¡°Mind if I sit here?¡±, with a casual tone not wanting to sound over friendly. ¡°No, I don¡¯t¡±, came a short reply. Even Though I had smiled at him in courtesy, his face remained serious which for a moment made me feel a little embarrassed. ¡°Hello! I am Kasukabe Soma! You can call me Soma.¡± I made a short introduction. Euthe-kun once again nodded at me and introduced himself as just ¡°Euthe¡±. ¡°So why are you the only one serious? The rest are all are really merry¡± And then he made a wry smile which made me think, ¡®ah! So you can smile after all¡¯. ¡°The island of Arudiria has no king, there are just factions that rule various parts of the island. The entire island is divided into 7 duchies. And each of these self-proclaimed dukes owns a part of the island. Every one of these duchies has things that only specialize in. Some have wide varieties of mines, other have better craftsmen and so on. All of these duchies are really prosperous, to the point that the dukes bathe in gold. Yet due to their greed, the dukes want to expand their domain and so every now and then, a war breaks out between the factions. And when war breaks out, the first the Duke does is impose heavy taxes on his people.¡± He then paused for a second and then looked at the other that were merrily celebrating. ¡°Those who do not meet the quota given to them are forced to work as mercenaries under the faction leaders¡¯ command. When wars broke out, these people are summoned by the Duke to form a militia and have to fight in the war for the Duke. Since we couldn''t meet the quota, all the men of the village are now mercenaries, in the war that is going on now between our Rayhaven faction and Noredge faction. So until the war ends none of the men can return and nobody knows how long will the war this time will last or how many will even come back once it is over.¡± Seeing my confused look, Euthe-kun smiled and continued, ¡°With the new iron ore deposit, it¡¯s possible to meet the tax quota and free the men from the chains of war. At least till the iron ore deposits are eaten up.¡± Surprised at the news and little happy too, I smiled as I watched the energetic bunch of people. ¡°But¡±, Euthe suddenly continued but with a really heavy voice, ¡°to produce enough iron ore to free everybody all by myself isn''t possible. I am the only one in this village who can smelt iron, and even if I work all day and night, I will need a month¡¯s time to produce enough ore to cover the share of every soul this village. And so I have to prioritize whom to free first and I just can''t decide how to make such a heavy choice.¡± and he made a self-ridiculing smile.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡®Hmm! Sensei! Seems like that magic flame has some serious limitations as well as some hidden dangers. So it¡¯s not all powerful like I thought¡¯ Was what sensei¡¯s opinion was. I wanted to talk more about it, but with Euthe next to me, I couldn''t. It was not because he might hear it or anything, I just can''t hold two conversations at the same time, nobody can. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just make some furnaces and work on it at the same time?¡± After listening to what he had to say, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. ¡°And what exactly is a Fu-rhu-neez?¡±, Euthe asked with a blank expression. His eyes showed me that he genuinely had no idea what a furnace was. ¡°What? You don¡¯t know what a furnace is? You don''t mean to tell that you have always been using that magic flame just like when you used it on the red stone?¡±, I was under the impression that earlier when he was heating the red stone, he was doing it like that only because the village was far away from the swamp and hence he couldn''t use his tools. But that doesn¡¯t seem to be the case at all. ¡°Yes. Isn¡¯t that the norm after all? I don¡¯t think there exist a blacksmith that uses this furnace thing you speak of¡± Fumu! Interesting. So that means it¡¯s a world that hasn¡¯t technologically advanced. Magic plays a higher role than science. Or at least science hasn¡¯t progressed enough to make use of magic as a foundation for inventions. Now, why am I feeling a sense of motivation suddenly? ¡®Sensei, is there any information about simple furnaces to smelt bog iron?¡¯ ¡®Bloomery?¡¯ ¡®Hmm! Don''t you think that this bloomery is already a huge step forward for a village like this? I admit that I don''t know shit about blacksmithing and iron smelting, but I don''t think the quality of the end product would be something that bad. Even if it is, Euthe-kun can still use the flame to smelt it so there is nothing to lose. We will just consider it as a failed experiment if things go south. And since the fuel for the fire is charcoal rather than the magic flame, I believe the others can lend a hand to Euthe-kun to speed up the process.¡¯ ¡®As expected of sensei, you sure have a solution of all kind of problems. An air compressor huh? Indeed, with his earth magic, making a cylinder and a simple piston seems feasible. Then put a few holes in the cylinder to let the air enter as well as exit and some earth corks to seal the holes, should do the trick. Excellent!¡¯ ¡®Guffu! That¡¯s rude sensei. Don''t take me for a stupid sensei! Even if I don''t look like it, I used to be one of the smart guys back in my school¡¯ As I mentally complained to the annoying teacher, I explained the concept of the furnace and air compressor to the youth who was staring at the ground with a depressed attitude. In the beginning, he stared at me with a ¡®what is this man saying?¡¯ kind of expression. But as the explanation progressed, his facial expression changed. Oh, and I intentionally skipped the part about multiple smelting. I just asked him to smelt it twice. ¡°Is it really possible? You mean to say that if I have this furnace, then I can have the others smelt too? This is not some kind of joke, right?¡± suddenly he grabbed hold of my shoulders. I was really surprised at his behavior. His face was ecstatic and his eyes had traces of excitement. I could literally feel his hands that were on my shoulders tremble. ¡°Not at all, what I said is one hundred person true. I am not sure how good these bloomeries are or how good the iron ore will be, I can tell you that this thing can be used by anybody. But they will need time to get used to it, learn how to smelt iron. Even if the idea seems simple, it really needs hard work so I am you will have to properly watch over them.¡± I explained while I tried to calm him down. ¡°This might really work. Even if the iron obtained is not of high quality, as long as we can produce normal quality iron in large amount then father and the others can return faster. I won¡¯t even have to think about on whom to choose first. All of them can return together This is great new, I have to let grandma know¡± Saying so, Euthe-kun got up from his seat and rushed towards his grandma. Oh, by the way, I found out the name of the grandma, she is called as Illysti, what a peculiar name. Apparently, she is the eldest in this village and at the same time the chief of this village too. My eyes traced the dashing Euthe-kun who stopped before his grandma. And like a kid who had witnessed something incredible, with great energy he started explaining things to grandma. His hands were moving here and there, maybe trying to make the explanation simpler for them, and his eyes were practically glittering. ¡®What a nice kid! May, this is how it feels to have a younger brother¡¯ And my eyes turned moist. The memories of my parents and my school friends whom I used to hang out with surfaced in my mind. About the family dinner, about the friendly fights and laughs, many sad and joyful memories invaded my mind at the same time. But not wanting the others to find me crying, I wiped my tears and decided to focus on my food. I¡¯ll be honest. I was expecting the bread to be really hard to the point that my teeth would break off, but it turned out to be much softer than my expectation. Well, not as soft as the ones from my world, but okay kind of soft. On the other hand, the taste was just like I was expecting it to be, bland, same for the meat too. However, not having anything to eat since morning had made me hungry enough to gobble up the bread and meat without any complaints. By the time I finished eating, I noticed a peculiar change in the environment around me. After the earlier thanking session, the ladies had left me, but now I was once again surrounded by the beauties. And just like Euthe-kun who had run away to find his grandmother, the ladies too had dangerously sparkling eyes. And these eyes were all directed at me which made me gulped down the saliva in my mouth and a bad feeling surfaced in my heart. ¡°Wise-sama!¡± Came a loud shout from the crowd. ¡®Eh?¡¯ ¡°A wise-sama in our village.¡± Came another voice, which sounded a little teary. And soon there were shouts of ¡®wise-sama¡¯ all over. And in an instant, I was buried under the excited lady crowd. ~~ flashback ends. ~~ You know, I am still surrounded by the ladies as well as the children. It¡¯s not just being surrounded, I am even being fed by the ladies as if I am their very own child. The loneliness I had felt a little while ago started to disappear. In their eyes, I felt care and warmth, a sensation I haven''t felt ever since I moved into the city. You might have guessed it already, the reason for such a treatment. The furnace and air compressor ideas were well received. Well received can''t even describe it, the moment the idea was conveyed, the crowd got so noisy that they wanted to start building one at the earliest. Only after the grandma¡¯s interference did they postpone it to tomorrow. ¡®Yare, yare! What an energetic bunch of people.¡¯, I thought while still being surrounded by them. And just like that, from a stranger to an acquaintance to something like a celebrity, my standing in the village changed drastically in the span of few hours. From how they treated me and took care of me, I felt a family affection. For someone like me who had lost his family long ago, this love and care felt extremely touching and heavenly. And this marked the beginning of a wave of changes that would soon affect the entire island. Chapter 8: A few days of labor v2 Proofread: CBRRacer The banquet took pretty long time to disperse. The kids who were weary me of me, in the beginning, were now clinging to me as they merrily laughed among each other. Compared to the adults, I felt more comfortable being with these kids, but the onee-sans clinging to me was something that I didn''t bother me at all. Cough, cough! Anyways, by the time everything came to an end, I was so exhausted that I succumbed to sleep the moment I reached my new home. Speaking of home, there was nothing like a bed or any other furniture inside. There was only a single room, I think all the other houses too only have a single room. All the people in a family apparently ate and slept in the same room. I wonder if the boys don¡¯t need private space for their ecchi stuff. I was provided with a straw pillow, which, to be honest, felt surprisingly comfortable. There were no blankets since they didn¡¯t have the financial ability to afford one nor the resource or knowledge to make one by themselves. And on that day for the first time, I slept on the ground. The next day, I woke up to the sounds of loud voices. For a moment I thought we were in some sort of danger. I mean, this is all new to me and so I was overly conscious of my surroundings. There is no way I can just settle down and feel comfortable with this surrounding in a day or something. These things take time, you know. Anyways, I soon realized that the loud sounds were actually cheers of the village onee-sans and so I decided to check out the commotion. As soon I exited the house, I was immediately welcomed by the smiling onee-sans who seemed to had come back from the bog iron mine. This time, instead of surrounding me, they waved their hands at me when our eyes met. The inside of their palm sort of reddish color which I attributed to the red stone from the swamp. They had all just returned from the bog iron swamp with the first load of iron rocks, that¡¯s why they were cheering. It seems like they will be doing two to three trips a day. One of the ladies told me that the swamp had so many red rocks in and around it that they might need years to deplete these red rocks. That¡¯s a good news I guess, as they won¡¯t have to worry about the taxes for some time. The advantage of this kind of iron ore source is that the underwater spring will keep on bringing deposits of iron, so in time the number of rocks will go up if we leave it be for a year or so. After I saw offthe energetic ladies, I decided to take a stroll around the village. I actually wanted to meet with the grandma, so this short stroll will end when I meet with her. Like I told you before, the grandma is the highest authority here. And this authority isn¡¯t hereditary as she can pass it over to whoever she deems fit. But the new chosen one has to be supported by at least half the villagers, that includes children that are 16 or older. In other words, when a child turns 16 he or she turns to an adult. That¡¯s why, Euthe-kun who is 17, is already an adult. Sensei said she had classified the population in this village using criteria from my old world and hence she had concluded that there were no kids here. But now that she has obtained new information, she properly classified Euthe-kun to ¡®adult man¡¯ category. On the way, I met with the kids from yesterday. The energetic lot were playing in the vast open spaces, running around and having loads of fun. And when one of them spotted me, he dashed towards me while shouting out my name. Soon the entire gathering of kids was surrounding me, my clothes being clutched in their small and cute hands. Soon I was dragged into their little games but I actually had fun with the kids. The games we played didn¡¯t change much from the ones I knew, like tag, hide and seek etc. Of course, I held back my self so that I matched with the kids, but it was fun playing around without a care in the world. W played around for some time then some of the more curious bunch wanted to know more about me. They asked for my name, where I was from and a few other questions. By the time I split up from them it was already noon, but the time we spend together made us grow closer, I felt like I had become the older brother of the brats. After I bid them goodbye, I continued my leisurely stroll. I was a little hungry but decided to continue anyway. While I was busy observing the village and gathering information about it, I came across Euthe-kun. He had a gentle smile on his face when he started talking to me, which was a little refreshing as it was different from his usual serious demeanor. It was then he told me that he was just about to fire up the furnaces to check its functionality. And thus it was decided that I will accompany him while he fires it up. The boy sure works fast, I mean, he had already finished seven furnaces in less than a day¡¯s time. Well, I did draw a rough diagram of a furnace on the ground after sensei advised me to, even then this earth magic thing really makes things much easier. I was thinking that they would need at least week or so to finish with the furnace construction. Apparently, the earth wall with fireproof lining was all achieved with magic. So were the pipes to blow air and the air compressor too. The compressor had an earthen piston. Even if I say piston, it¡¯s not that flashy. It¡¯s just a fifteen-centimeter or so thick hollow cylinder with an earth handle on top. The cylinder body was of knee length, I approximated it to be of 50cm or something. The body had an outlet to the furnace connected with clay pipes. Two small holes were carved out of the cylinder body, some 20cm from the cylinder top. On its way down, the piston will block the air from escaping by the closing the inlets with its body and on its way back up, the inlets are uncovered, letting air to fill the body once again. The top part of the piston had a layer of clay, think of it as a coating of sort. This was to make sure air did not escape because of the uneven surface of the piston circumference and the cylinder body. All in all, a pretty good setup. It might not be very efficient, but for such a small startup, this isn¡¯t that bad. Everything obtained simply through magic.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Speaking of magic, I gathered some really good information. This world doesn¡¯t encourage chants and spells, they are chantless. The requirement too is not anything hard, you just need a good imagination about the effect, properties, and other parameters. Just because that is the only requirement doesn¡¯t mean anyone can use magic. Seems like, you need to have an aptitude for magic or else you won¡¯t be able to invoke magic at all. Those with magic affinity are required to undergo elemental affinity test. There are four elements in total, fire, wind, water and earth magic. The thing about elemental affinity is, if you don''t have an affinity for a particular element, then you won¡¯t be able to use the magic of that particular element. In other words, fire users can only invoke fire based magic and can¡¯t invoke magic that falls under water or wind or earth. But from what I heard from sensei told me, there are three more categories: holy magic, dark magic, and space-time magic. Seems like only the first four are common and the other three extremely rare. I should ask sensei to give a detailed report later when I have time. And when I asked her why she knows all these things, the answer she gave was, That¡¯s what I was told. A living library, I guess. At this point, I have no other option but consider as a living being. That AI has gotten so human like that it scares me sometimes. Anyway, the furnaces were loaded with iron ore and charcoal, and once it was adequately filled, Euthe-kun used his fire magic to light the charcoal. Since there was just the two of us, I became his assistant and helped him with the air compressor. My task was relatively simple, I only had to push down the piston on his signal. It was simple in the beginning, but when the process lasted more than a couple of hours I was exhausted mentally as well as physically. Once he put out the flame, Euthe-kun thrust his hand into the furnace to grab the smelted iron and then began hammering it, with a proper hammer. I was thinking that he was going to do that with his hands too. Like I thought, magic has some downsides which I am yet to understand. After a long hammering session, which lasted almost an hour, Euthe-kun inspected the iron carefully. He tilted the iron in various direction, sometimes smelling or even licking it. And when he was done, he turned towards and started glaring at me. There he goes again with the glares. ¡®Sensei, did something go wrong? He¡¯s glaring at me more intently than the first time?¡¯, I started conversing with google sensei telepathically. ¡®Is the quality too bad? Else he won¡¯t stare at me like that, will he?¡¯, I arrived at a conclusion based on Euthe-kun¡¯s reaction. ¡®What are you saying sensei? If it¡¯s good then why can''t we use it? Ah! I see that¡¯s what you meant¡¯ ¡®So when the information about such a high-quality iron reaches the duke or other men in power, they would with all their might want to snatch it away. Sigh! This has gotten troublesome in an instant¡¯ From sensei¡¯s words, Icould clearly understand what he was trying to imply. Another war might break out for this iron ore mine and its smelting knowledge. Did I make things worse than they were? That is the only option for now, isn¡¯t it? I think that with the flame and earth magic unless you have hell lot of mana, it is impossible to keep up the smelting process for a long time. So I guess, the chances of people trying to smelt it again will be next to none. Also, people seem to not want to overuse their magic, the reason to which I am yet to discover. With a long sigh, I slowly walk towards youth who was still glaring at me. And when I was sufficiently close to him, he averted his eyes away, maybe because he realized he was being rude to me. ¡°Euthe-kun, let¡¯s stop it here, ok? You have already realized that ¡®once¡¯ is more than enough, right?¡± I tried to be as calm and friendly as possible. I didn''t want to sound threatening, but I feel like my words were on the threat side. Fortunately, instead of feeling threatened, as if he understood the hidden meaning behind my question, he nodded his head vigorously. Once the experimenting phase was done with the next phase, of teaching others how to smelt, was put into action without delay. I too took part in the process as I had nothing else to do. The hammering work was left to Euthe-kun while the others tried to smelt the iron. Failures would only lead to bad quality iron, which in this case was not a problem at all, as even the failed version was good enough to be considered as good enough. In between, Euthe-kun gave me lessons on how to hammer iron and so when Euthe-kun got tired, I took over the hammering process. It goes without saying, but 90% of the ones I hammered were failures. For the next few days, the village women altered between housekeeping and iron smelting. The children were playing around most of the times and the only time they became busy was to run errands for their mothers. It was the same with me too, either pushing down the piston or hammering the burning red iron, my next few days at the village was a complete hell. But during these hellish days the bond I shared with the village deepened even more. We talked, laughed, teased each other as we worked out bodies hard. The onee-san¡¯s would often tease me how bad my stamina was, even going as far as saying my wife wouldn''t be satisfied at all. My ears always turned bright red with embarrassment from those type of comments. Shame on you ladies. The iron ingots kept piling up as days passed but the iron ore deposit was yet to show any signs of depletion after all the swamp was freaking huge. The village in the outskirts of the Rayhaven slowly began to transform from a settlement without men into a village of lots of sisters, brothers, mothers and a grandma. Important information hey guys! hows everything going? And how do you like the revised version? Ok, this is for the old readers, I am pretty sure that most of the old readers have stopped reading, and are waiting for me to catch up. But things are gonna change from the next chapter. There will be new chapters in between, more details, slight changes in event, better character portrait. especially the encounter between our male protagonist and the female knight will change greatly. i am going to change it, some might not like it, but i do not want their relationship to appear forced like the last time.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. And if there is no ''v2'' at the end of the chapter name, then that means it''s a freshly written chapter So new guys! Temme how you are liking the story! Any suggestion or comments are welcome. Chapter 9: Wise-sama has another outrageous idea ~~Euthe¡¯s POV~~ It has hardly been a week ever since that person has started staying with us. Kusakabe Soma, when I first heard his name, I thought ¡®what a weird name¡¯ and to make things weirder, Soma was his given name. A boy that hardly reached my shoulders, with black hair and black eyes. Another weird thing about him was the aura around him. He gave off an aura that felt like he was not of this place, or more like not of this world. I can¡¯t describe it at all, but I felt something different from him. Even in the capital city, where I used to work as an apprentice for a blacksmith, I have never come across someone as peculiar as him. At a glance, he appeared weak, timid and a bit idiotic. His short ruffled hair matched with his good facial features and those black eyes which I have never seen didn¡¯t carry any signs of power. When he first came to our village, I clearly remember how hostile we had been to him. Grandma was practically barking at him, the ladies were bad mouthing him at every single chance they got and I had a knife to his neck a few times. And yet, the same person has become the savior of our village. A stranger who had turned to a benefactor in the span of few hours. It''s not like I am ungrateful to him, but whenever I think ¡®who is he?¡¯ and ¡®where is he from?¡¯, I can''t help but be a little cautious. And yet the person in question had become an integral part of our village in a few days. His knowledge about things was really something that blew our minds away. Even though he appeared weak and timid, his mind was full of knowledge that was beyond this world. A swamp that produced iron, furnaces that did not need mana flames, cylinders that blew out air, everything he did was so fascinating that it sometimes sent a shiver down my spine. Not only was his mind sound, so was his body. He could keep up with the smelting process that lasted hours without much effort, which showed that his body was strong too. Sometimes, in between our conversation, he would often drift away to some place in his mind, and every time that happened, he would put forward outrageous ideas. And today, I am with the same person, who was complaining about how the ladies have it tough. We were watching the women of the village carry pots of water from the river that was more than half an hour away from the village. We were talking about various things regarding the village and things when the ladies returned after fetching the water. And at that moment I clearly heard him sigh as he face-palmed himself. ¡°Sigh¡±, a long sigh escaped his mouth which I found amusing for some reason. ¡°They really have it tough, don''t they?¡± ¡°And why do you say that?¡±, unable to understand his reasoning I asked back. This was a routine in this village and I have never heard the ladies complain about it. Were things different in his place? Speaking about his place, he never told us where he was actually from. Let¡¯s ask him when the situation is right. ¡°Don''t you think carrying water from the river to the village every day is a bit tiring? I mean, isn''t it really laborious?¡± he said like it was him that was doing the work every time. ¡°Even if you say that there is nothing that can be done. I mean the river won¡¯t come to us, just because we want to¡±, I shrugged my shoulder as I replied. This has always been how we procured water. Every day the ladies would go to the river and fetch water, twice a day, in the morning as well as evening. When a girl comes to age, she too will have to follow her mother and the process will soon become part of her life. ¡°We can, you know?¡±, a vague reply came out from his mouth. ¡°We can what?¡±, unable to understand what he was implying, I asked back, a little perplexed. ¡°Bring the river here. It¡¯s not that hard, I guess¡± ¡°EH?¡±, What did he say just now? Bring the river here? ¡°Euthe-kun, you are making a funny face. Pffft¡± saying so he started laughing out loud. To tell you the truth, watching him laugh birthed an urge in me to beat him up, I calmed myself down somehow and tried to move the conversation forward.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Soma-sama, what did you mean by bringing the river here¡±, I tried to force a smile but it was pretty hard to fake one. ¡°Pffft! What a scary face you have! My stomach! Pffft¡± And I lost all reason, ¡°Stop laughing¡±, I growled unable to contain my anger. ¡°Fine, fine! Before that, let¡¯s visit the river. There is something I want to check¡± Thus the two of us started our stroll towards the huge river that has always been our source of water. We reached the river much faster than the ladies and once we were on its bank, I turned towards him to ask something. I saw him stare at the river, with his right hand supporting his chin. I traced his eyes and found him staring at the river before us. A wide and calm river that never dried up. The river was on slightly higher grounds as compared to the village and often acted as a food source too. These waters were abundant with fish and other life forms, but since the men are yet to return, we don''t have any mean to catch fishes. Being on higher grounds, heavy rain always made the river overflow. Fortunately, may be because of god¡¯s grace, there hasn''t been a flood for some time. The last flood was when my father was my age or so I was told. Father told me that, that was the only time he was afraid of this great river in his entire life, such was the might of the river. ¡°Hm! Guess things weren''t as complicated as I thought to be. I was thinking that we¡¯d need a watermill to get the water to the village. But since the river is on higher grounds then we only need to build a channel. Building a channel is complicated by its own, but I think we can manage it somehow. In the end, the problem is with the lack of people. Hm! Hm! Hm!¡± Ah!There he goes again with those weird terms again. This has almost become a routine where he goes on spouting things that make no sense. Maybe that¡¯s why the name ¡®wise¡¯ fits him perfectly. And as usual, I ask him, knowing all too well I won''t understand half of his explanation. ¡°And? What kind of outrageous ideas have you come up with now?¡± ¡°What do you mean outrageous? What kind of attitude is that to someone older than you?¡± Hearing him complain, I wanted to retort, ¡®Then act like one¡¯, but decided not to. ¡°Ok, ok! Let¡¯s talk about the plan, shall we?¡± ¡°Tch! Fine. Come here¡±, he gestured me to come close as he squatted down on the ground. Then using a stone he picked up he began drawing on the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s say this here is the river, and this here is the village. You already know that the river is on higher grounds, so if we cut an opening somewhere and make a path, then the water will flow along this new path.¡± ¡°But then what if the amount of water that flows out is too much and it floods our fields? We already thought about it, you know. The idea was abandoned since we couldn''t control the flow.¡± ¡°True, but that is only if the path is on the surface. What if the path is underground? A narrow path that will only bring in small but enough amount of water?¡± The ideas seem plausible, but there are still problems with it. ¡°That doesn''t mean that our fields won''t flood, right? The water flows even though small, is continuous. In the end, if we can''t control the flow of water then it is meaningless, I think¡± ¡°I knew you¡¯d say that and so I thought of a solution already!¡± with an ugly smirk on his face he replied. ¡®If you did then just spit out already¡¯ was my thoughts. Sometimes his behavior became a little irritating, often making me think, ¡®is this how having a brother feels like?¡¯. And at such times I feel a strange warmth in me, something I don''t dislike. Of course, I am not going to let him know or he will get more conceited. ¡°So you see, Euthe-kun, we just build a water tank that can store water. And we give an outlet for the tank to let the excess water flow back to the river. We take we need and send the rest back to the river. What do you think? Aren¡¯t I smart? You can praise this big brother if you want to. Fufufufu¡± ¡°Who is a big brother? Look at that smug face and that petite body, you are more like a brat.¡± ¡°Oi! Who are you calling a brat, you over sized gorilla?¡± And I finally lost my nerve. *--*--*--* The sun had started to set, and soon darkness would envelop us. I was back in my home, having my dinner with grandma, mom, and my little sister. While We were eating grandma asked me where I and Soma-sama were this morning. I told her how he felt bad watching the ladies carry water every day and how he wanted to bring the river to the village. Hearing that grandma almost choked on the bread and my mother stared at me with wide eyes. My little sister who didn''t know what was happening paid us no mind as she continued with her food. ¡°What did you mean Euthe? Wise-sama can do something like that?¡±, mother was trembling, her face had gone all pale. Grandma had a serious tint in her eyes as she waited for me to answer mother¡¯s question. And so I explained to them what he had told me, about the underground channel, the water tank, about sending back the excess water in all. After I finished I waited for the two to truly grasp what I had explained. ¡°What terrifying knowledge? No, I guess calling it terrifying is rude.¡±, was mother¡¯s response. Grandma, on the other hand, was still staring at the rough drawing of the setup I had drawn on the ground. ¡°What do you think Euthe? Can it be done?¡±, she asked looking deep into my eyes. For some reason, I couldn''t help but smile as I answer, ¡°What makes you think he can¡¯t?¡± Maybe because the two of them were surprised with my reply that they stared at me with wide eyes, then suddenly the two started laughing out loud. ¡°Hahaha! Indeed, indeed¡± was all what grandma said. Chapter 10: The wise is troubled with troubles I was in my home, lying down on the ground, with my hands under my head. It was late in the night, but I wasn''t feeling sleepy at all. My eyes were focused on the ceiling while my mind was lost deep in thought until sensei interrupted. ¡®That¡¯s strange sensei. You normally don''t talk to me unless I ask you something?¡¯ I felt bemused. ¡®For some one inside my brain, you should already know what the problem is, right?¡¯ ¡®Gufu! Sensei, you are absolutely prohibited from that. Absolutely. Got it?¡¯ ¡®Hou! For an AI that doesn''t even have a body, you have the nerve to call me a virgin?¡¯ ¡®Eh?¡¯, immediately I felt a chill run down my spine hearing those words. ¡®Please forgive this fool for being disrespectful, O great one.¡¯ before I finished speaking, my body fell to the floor as I did a dogeza to apologize to the all power sensei. ¡®Haaa!¡¯, I involuntarily let out a long sigh before I started talking. ¡®The channel in itself is not the problem. I already have a vague about what to do, where to dig the channel, how to cover it up, the dimension of the tanks and all. But..¡¯, I stopped and sighed once again. ¡®Of course not. You know that all of the men are participating in the war that¡¯s going on. The ladies here are not even sure if they will return or not. Be a little considerate sensei¡¯ ¡®I know. When you first told me that I had the affinity for all the elements, I was so excited that I was literally jumping around in joy. Damn it, to think those gods only gave me so little mana. How am I even going to use magic?¡¯ I know, I know, at this point, you guys might be wondering why sensei is getting all worked up, right? For that, let me rewind the time a little. It was right after I had explained the procedure to built a channel from the river. ¡°So we dig a narrow path towards the village and the cover the path with earth. We will use slabs made of earth to cover the path and fill any gaps with clay. This is to prevent from water from leaking out. This path will connect to the tank which will be near to the village. Did you get the gist of it?¡±, I asked Euthe who was eagerly listening to my words. He nodded his head a few times. ¡°But with just me here, I think this will take weeks to complete¡± It was then I realized that I had failed to take into consideration the main factor for any sort of job, people. After a moment¡¯s pause, I turned towards Euthe and asked, ¡°Euthe, what if I were to help you with it? How long will it take then?¡± ¡°Soma-sama can use Earth element too?¡±, he asked back with a surprised tone to which I replied as I scratched my chin.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I can use all of them apparently¡± And I saw his eyes widen up. For the next few minutes, his reaction remained the same before he started spouting something like, ¡®Ahaha, of course. For a wise-sama, that must be the norm, ahaha¡¯ ¡°Oi! Get a hold of yourself. Even though I have affinity towards all of them, I have no idea how to use it.¡±, I tried to calm him down with my words, but it had an opposite effect. ¡°What are you saying, Soma-sama. You have affinity but you can''t use magic? Please don''t joke around¡±, he practically growled at me. ¡°No, I am telling you. I don''t know how to use magic. I don''t even know how it is that people are able to use magic.¡± ¡°Even though you are a wise?¡±, those words of his carried a heavy load of sarcasm which for some reason stabbed deep in my heart. ¡°Fine, fine. I am not good with words, but I will try to explain it in simple words.Do you know what mana is?¡± ¡°I know enough, I guess¡±, I replied timidly. ¡°Mana is the energy that powers magic and it is distributed throughout the body by our blood. All the living being, animals or humans or even monsters, inhales mana with the air which then mixes with your blood. But the mana that is inhaled is small so in most cases that it just dissolves. But some chosen ones are born, with a body that is more sensitive to mana than the others. These people are thus able to store the mana in their blood, unlike the normal humans. It is said that only one in a hundred or so are born with mana aptitude. In every duchies, people with mana affinity are regarded highly. They get various privileges like exemption from taxes, the chance to learn trades in the capital, and many more. Anyways, to use make use of mana, one has to know his elemental affinity. And then you make a clear picture of that element, its effect, shape, power and then exert your mana. If everything goes ok, the elemental will take shape in your hand. But be careful, if you invoke it for too long, then the side effects will kick in.¡± ¡°Side effects?¡±, I asked curiously. ¡°Yes. In mild cases, you lose consciousness for some time, maybe for a few hours. But if you are unlucky, your consciousness escapes completely, never to return¡± ¡®Oi, oi, sensei! You didn''t tell me anything about a coma. What¡¯s this all about?¡¯ ¡®So in the case of these ¡®unhealthy ones¡¯, due to some reason, the mana gets leaked into the blood vessels in slight amounts. And as time passes the concentration increases to a point where it can invoke magic is what you mean, right? Maybe the presence of mana in the blood acts as a catalyst in the initial stages when invoking magic. So, these people can use magic easily when compared to others.¡¯ ¡®I see, then all I have to do is feel the mana moving throughout my body and then have an image of the effect of the magic I want to use. And from what Euthe said, if I can feel the mana flowing to my hands and exert it, then the next thing to do is simple. Just think of the action I want to execute, like shaping the earth or creating water or anything that is specific to my element.¡¯ ¡°Haaa¡±, hearing all those things, I sighed involuntarily which prompted Euthe-kun to put forward a question. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± ¡°Eh? Ahhh, I was just thinking about the channel. Guess, we will have to put it on hold for now.¡± And that¡¯s what had transpired. Now, I am thinking of a solution for the lack of people. An easy solution might be to teach the ladies to use magic. For that, I have to master the use of magic myself. Sensei said that he or she, wait, I actually have no idea what sensei¡¯s gender is, let¡¯s go with ''she'' since she sometimes nags like a certain woman back in my old world. Anyways, sensei said that she is going to analyze magic a little more and then find out how it actually works. Maybe that could help me use it better. But for now, I will have to practice on my own. Another solution is to bring in people from neighboring villages, you know, paid labor and all. But that too has many problems, first is how these people will be paid. Right now the only thing that is of any worth in this village is just the iron. But the number of ores this village is able to produce a day is not that high. There are 7 furnaces in total, and every day we are able to produce just 14 ingots of iron. We normally immerse ourselves in iron smelting for 3 to 4 hours a day because the process in itself is so tiresome that the except for Euthe-kun all the others get fatigued heavily. Anyways the village doesn¡¯t have anything but iron to pay for the people if we were to hire some. The next problem is we don''t have tools. I mean, if we have to dig a channel, we need tools after all. And this village doesn¡¯t have tools, maybe because they never felt the need for one. The only tool I have seen is a sickle, used by farmers to harvest the wheat. Other than that, there is nothing at all. For a person like me, who came from a world that made use of tools even for the simplest of the task, the lack of tools was something really shocking. The third problem is food and accommodation for those who agree to come. In case people agree to come and work for us, we have to provide them food and accommodation. Building the channel is going to take at least a few days even if he had ten or twenty people. Also, the nearest village is almost a day¡¯s walk, so without a doubt, these men are going to depend us on food. And we will need new and large houses for these guys. The houses here are the result of earth elemental magic and currently, we only have Euthe-kun with us. While there are a few others small problems, these are the major hurdles we have now. In the end, the solution to all these problems is once again ¡®more people¡¯. ¡®I know, I know. First I have to talk with grandma and get her permission. And if she agrees the problem that arises is whom to send. The only option is Euthe or me. Actually, I want the two of us to go, but I am a little uneasy about leaving behind the ladies all by themselves¡¯ ¡®Ahhh! The number of problems just keep rising. Dammit¡¯ All I could do was listen to sensei¡¯s advice, but the frustration I had refused to let go of my heart. It took a while, but my exhaustion soon forced me to drift into deep sleep. Chapter 11: Obstacles Just like what we had discussed yesterday, I visited the grandma¡¯s house, first thing in the morning. She was with her daughter, Sheryl-san. Euthe-kun had already left for his smelting job and his little sister, Lily had gone out to play with her friends. The moment I walked into their house, the two ladies greeted me with a pleasant smile and welcomed me in. Since there were no chairs, we sat down on the ground. We talked about a few random things before she put forward a question. ¡°So what brings you here, wise-sama? Is it to talk about the channel thing?¡± ¡°So you guys already know about it eh. looks like Euthe-kun has already explained it to you. That actually saves me a lot of trouble.¡±, I smiled at the two before me. ¡°We understand what you are trying to do is for our sake, but is this going to be fine? What if a flood occurs and this channel thing brings, even more, destruction¡±, grandma asked as she stared right at me. The smile on her face was replaced by a stern look which showed signs of anxiety and a strong will to protect the people from any harm. ¡°Aah! You don''t have to worry about that. That is exactly why I planned to build an underground channel. If we seal it properly with clay, then the channel won''t bring any extra harm during a flood.¡±, with a relaxed voice, I tried to explain it to the two before me. ¡°Also the channel is going to be as wide as two of arms together, so the amount of water that can pass through it is really low. Even during the flood that the amount will not increase at all.¡± ¡°Is this really safe? Floods are disastrous phenomena, even if they only occur once in awhile¡±, she replied still not feeling convinced. ¡°You have to trust me. I know that¡¯s too much to ask after all I have only been here for a few days. But I give you my word that whatever I do, I promise that it will not bring you any harm.¡± ¡°You speak as if you have many things that you want to do.¡± Such a response was not something I was expecting. To be honest, I had many things I wanted to try out. I mean a place like this can be improved greatly with the knowledge I and sensei possess. ¡°This and that. But I have no intention of forcing things on you. In the end, it¡¯s up to you if you wish to use my knowledge. This is your village after all and I am just guest here¡±, I replied to her with my honest feelings. But the one that responded wasn''t grandma but Sheryl-san who has been silent till now. ¡°What are you saying? You are already part of this village. Did we not tell you that you can live here forever? Everybody in the village has already accepted you as part of their family, as part of this village¡±, Sheryl-san attacked out of nowhere. Before I knew it she was right in front of my face and was literally glaring at me. She then turned towards the grandma and continued. ¡°Mom, I have decided. I am going to adopt him as my son¡±, pointing her slightly skinny finger towards me she proclaimed. ¡°¡°Ehhh?¡±¡±, I and grandma exclaimed together. My gaze met with grandma¡¯s and then with Sheryl-san''s. Neither grandma or I didn¡¯t know what to say to Sheryl-san who had an expression which clearly said, ¡®I will hear no objection¡¯. But I simply couldn''t accept such a proclamation. I mean it¡¯s not that I dislike her or anything, but something like adopting me into her family was something she has to discuss with all the other members of the family. Now that the man of this house was away indefinitely, such a decision would bring some sparks in the future without a doubt. And so as I was about to open my mouth to refute her the grandma stopped me immediately.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°It¡¯s useless wise-sama. She will not listen to anyone when she is like that. Even her husband doesn¡¯t dare to go against her words. So I advise you to accept her kindness, just think of it as your fate.¡± ¡°Eh? Even if you say that. I don''t think Euthe-kun or Lily-chan will be too pleased with sharing their mother with a stranger like me¡±, I didn''t want to give up so easily and tried to put forward the problems the decision could bring, but everything was in vain. ¡°I don''t particularly mind. Lily won''t mind either. She is already so attached to you that she sings songs about you.¡± I turned my head towards the door and saw Euthe-kun standing there with the same serious expression. Still, for you to accept this so easily, Euthe-kun, aren¡¯t you mad at me at all? ¡°And just like grandma said, it¡¯s useless trying to go against her. Resign yourself and accept your fate, wise-sama¡± ¡°What are you saying? I told you that I am adopting him, right? Then why are you two still calling him wise-sama? Listen to me Soma, from this moment onwards you will call me as mom, understood?¡± ¡°But...¡±, even before I could speak the next words, my right shoulder was grabbed hard. Sheryl-san whose smiling face which was close to mine gave off an eerie aura that I felt goosebumps all over me. Before I knew it, Euthe and grandma were standing on the opposite side of the room, literally shivering. My gaze met with Sheryl-san''s gaze once again and I felt her gaze trying to gauge out my flesh making me gulp involuntarily. ¡°Understood?¡±, she repeated her words, this time with a much stronger tone and all I could do was nod my head nonstop. And in that moment the eerie feeling around disappeared without a trace and she returned to the calm and beautiful woman I had always known. The transformation was so fast that it once again brought a chill down my spine. She was still smiling, but the smile she had made her look like a blossomed rose, elegant and pretty. I glared at grandma and Euthe-kun who had betrayed me and run away to the opposite side of the room, but the two shamelessly accepted my glare and were grinning at me. ¡°Now that we have settled that, why don''t we all have breakfast? You haven¡¯t eaten anything right Soma?¡±, Sheryl-san, I mean, mom said as she clapped her hands energetically and cheerfully. Thus it was decided that I will be having my breakfast with this eccentric family. We waited for a while for Euthe-kun who went out to call Lily-chan and when the two came back, we started with our usual breakfast. Lily-chan was exhilarated when Sheryl-san told her about my adoption. She immediately jumped into my arms calling me Soma-nii and hugged my tight with her tender arms. My lips stretched into a smile and I tickled the little devil which made her run away from me giggling. With such a cheerful mood we began to eat the bread and meat and in between grandma once again brought in the topic of channel once again. ¡°So wise-sa, I mean Soma, what did you want to talk with me?¡±, she asked as she took in a piece of meat into her mouth. The moment she asked the question the other two stopped eating and then looked towards me. ¡°I think you already know all the details of my plan for the channel from Euthe¡±, I turned looked at Euthe who nodded his head at me. I then turned towards grandma and continued, ¡°BUt whatever plans I have for this village, I cannot bring them into practice on my own. For that, I need people, lots of them¡± ¡°But even we don''t know when the men will come back?¡± and when she said that, I could feel the worry in all their eyes. Lily-chan who was carefree tell began to look around uneasily as if she could sense something was wrong with the people around her. Before things got any worse, I tried to change the atmosphere. ¡°But what if we could bring in people from the neighboring village? We could pay them in iron ingots in exchange for labor¡±, I put forward my idea. ¡°Bring people from other villages? Hmm, it¡¯s true that we can pay them with iron ingot, but Soma, you are forgetting something important. From what I understood, you plan to use these men for all the major works that you wish to do, right? In that case, we will need to provide them with food and shelter. And at the same time what if these men try something funny with the ladies here? While it has its own advantages, this idea of yours is a like a sleeping monster. I am afraid I can''t consent to your idea this time.¡± Just like I thought, the security of the village turned out to be a big problem. Does this mean that I have to wait for the men to return, after all? But even if the men arrive, I am not sure that they would appreciate a stranger meddling with their own village. Even if I get adopted, the men of grandma¡¯s family won¡¯t just accept it just like that. I let out a deep sigh as I rack my brain for an optimal solution. Is the only option left with me teaching the villagers how to use magic? ¡°I understand grandma. For now, I¡¯ll think of something else.¡±, I accept her rejection with a bitter smile. Grandma¡¯s eyes were apologizing to me, but I shook my head sideways to gesture her that she need not feel sorry. We finished our meal and then talked about various things before I bid them farewell. And once I was out of their house, I called out to sensei. ¡°Sensei!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s research magic¡± Chapter 12: Research and Results A few days had passed since my plan of outsourcing was rejected and ever since then I and sensei had spent almost all our time researching and practicing magic. Right after I left grandma¡¯s house, I made myself busy inside my house trying to understand magic. Sensei used various scans to understand this thing called mana that is ever existing in my body and then we had a detailed discussion over it as well as some hands-on session. From the long conversation we had, there are a few things I understood. The first thing we understood was the mana channel in our body is similar to the circulatory system and we decided to call it the mana flow system. Anyways this mana flow system is spread throughout our body and makes sure each and every part of our body is supplied mana equally. This discovery gave me various exciting thoughts. If it¡¯s possible to exert mana from your hands, then the same must be possible with any part of the body, like covering my entire body in a layer of mana, or maybe strengthen various parts of the body and so on. Of course, the inspiration for all these thoughts are without the doubt the animes and mangas I have watched and read before. The second thing we understood was when we expend all the mana in our system, stop before we start fueling magic with our life force, the mana replenishes automatically after a whiles rest. Interestingly, the mana heart or mana chamber actually expands a little. To be exact the increase in capacity is nothing much, nevertheless if one were to empty and then restore mana on a regular basis, the increase in his capacity will not be small. We understood this fact after I experimented with magic. It was really hard, in the beginning, I had to first get a feel of this thing called mana. Maybe because somewhere in my subconscious I was still doubting the existence of mana and magic and it was sensei¡¯s advice that let me clear that obstacle. Once I could feel the mana flowing through my body, the next phase was trying to control it as per my will. Luckily, it wasn''t as hard as the first stage. With a little concentration, I was able to move the mana inside my body s I wanted. It actually felt a little weird, to be honest. The final stage was imaging the type of magic and its effect. I had used, for safety reasons, a simple earth spell to mold a handful of earth to form a small ball. Even such a spell drained me completely out of my mana. While I was excited about the notion being able to use magic, my poor capacity dampened my mood instantly. The third discovery was even more exciting. Now that I was able to use magic, I needed a method to replenish it. And the most basic way was to not use magic till it replenished. But this method was too time-consuming. It took more than four hours to fill my small mana chamber. So for somebody with a much larger mana chamber, it would surely take a day or so to completely replenish their mana. And with my knowledge from my old world, I tried meditating. Even if I say meditating, my mind was too distracted with various thoughts, and so I couldn''t concentrate much. A few days of training and I was somehow able to control my mind a little. My concentration improved and my senses sharpened. Soon I was able to feel the mana inside me with ease followed by a sense of mana in the air around me. And this development actually sped up my mana recovery. The time needed for me to replenish mana reduced to 30 minutes, a huge reduction. What¡¯s more interesting was that this new sense I obtained did not vanish even after I stopped meditating and thus it took me only something like an hour or so to replenish my mana. It was like my body was suddenly tuned for mana reception and it was truly surprising. With this, I was able to actually solve the problem without many hardships. Since I had a method to fill my mana with ease, I had devoted almost all my time in training my magic. And by the time three days passed, my mana chamber could hold four times the original mana I had. With this amount, I could use small spells like the spell I used on the first time four times, but a spell like a fireball that was the size of my head could only be used once. Nevertheless, I had actually improved my mana greatly which actually gave me some kind of hope. If I could actually teach the others how to use magic then the matter of village security can be solved and then I would be able to outsource manpower from the other villagers. With earth magic user I¡¯ll be able to build the houses for these new labors. But with this low number of people in our village, even if they could use magic, numbers are always numbers. The more people you have the more things can be done and so right now rather than an all-purpose magic corps, I want people who can do hard labor. Maybe if the village were to develop to a big town of some kind, then the magic corps might come into being.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The fourth thing we found out was that every spell depending upon its size and effect had a different amount of mana consumption. While there was no limit to the effect we could imagine, the mana consumption would skyrocket depending upon this effect. In other words, if I had enough, I could even terraform this planet. But sadly such a day will never come, as there is a limit to how much mana a person can store in his body. For doing something like a terraforming magic, a few storey high building worth of magic is needed. While the mana limit for a person might vary depending upon their talent in magic, there is no way that a person could store such a huge amount of mana in his body, is what sensei concluded. Apparently, my talent is really good, once again thanks to those gods, and so I can store more mana than most human. But even sensei has no idea how much mana my body can actually store so I am kind of looking forward to the day when I saturate my mana capacity. Now comes the details about various attributes or elementals. Out of the seven elements, I was able to invoke six of them, all except the space and time magic. When I say invoke, doesn¡¯t mean that I used some sort of awesome magic or anything. All I was able to do was simple things, like summoning water and fire, molding earth, bring forth a ball of light and darkness element, use wind magic to sway the leaves on a tree. They might not be much, but for now, I am happy with knowing I had the ability to use all these various magics. As for space and time magic, I wasn''t sure what the simplest spell of the elemental was. While I knew that teleportation, storage magic etc fell under space and time, since I wasn''t sure about the mana consumption of those spells, I didn''t want to risk falling into a coma. These were all sensei and I managed to find out for now. And so I have been occupied for another four days with magic practice. In total a week has passed since I started practicing magic. Thanks to the rigorous training I now have enough magic to cast a fireball thrice. From what sensei told me Euthe-kun¡¯s mana capacity can afford him 10 such fireballs. Right now, my mana capacity is equivalent to that of all the adults around me. So that mean¡¯s Euthe-kun has rather good talent in magic or so sensei told me. And so today marks the eighth day of my training and I was so immersed in expanding my mana that I didn''t notice my mana depletion at all. It¡¯s actually hard to know when the mana inside your mana chamber has depleted. If not for sensei¡¯s timely reminders, I would have long since fallen into a coma or even died. The thing is, when the mana in your body depletes, the magic almost immediately sucks in the energy it needs from our life force. The time it takes to switch from mana to life force is actually a two or three seconds. People here think that magic users fall to coma because of magic itself. They don''t realize that rather than magic or mana, the depletion of life force is what causes the magic users to turn into a breathing corpse. As I told you, the source transfer from mana to life force takes a few seconds and during this time, the body actually feels heavy. It¡¯s as if the air around you turns heavy, but this sensation is not that prominent and so the magic users till now often don''t notice it. Even if they did, I think, they just neglected those signs as symptoms that arose due to the hard work they were doing or something. I mean, till now people only used mana for crafting purposes, so the craftsmen who used magic as a tool for their trade attributed their body suddenly feeling heavy due to the heavy labor they had to do. Anyways, once you paid good attention to your body while using magic, you can actually feel the amount of mana being drained out as well as the amount left in your body. But since I always concentrate too much on perfecting my spell or controlling the mana flowing out, I sometimes forget to check the mana that is left inside me. And such a negligence has once again caused sensei to get a little angry with me. Even though sensei said ¡®advice¡¯, his voice actually carried some anger and frustration in it. Not wanting to anger him anymore, I extinguished the fireball in my hand and then sat on the ground. And in the next moment, my body began to feel really tired and eyelids felt a little heavy. I slowly forced myself up and then paced myself towards my home. Once inside, I drank a mouthful of water and then forced the breadand meat into my mouth. The dinner was finished in a matter of minutes, the sun had already set and so darkness had found its way to my home. I then laid down on the makeshift bed and soon drifted away to sleep. My everyday routine changed to getting up in the morning, having breakfast, magic practice, meditating, practice some more, lunch, magic practice, meditation, practice, dinner, and sleep. A very organized routine, right? But by the time ten days passed, I was already bored of the routine. Being able to do this for ten days is in a sense, not a normal feat I guess, but anyways, I no longer to take it and so decided with great excitement to test out my newly learned abilities. How,you ask? Of course, by using it in a practical situation. I decided to hunt.