Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 71: First Winter

When we came back from the royal capital, winter had already arrived at the town of Volton.

「Master! Snow is piled up!」

「Yeah, the snow had piled up, huh.」

Close by, I watched Kaede play in the snow covered garden.

Our clothes won’t lose to the coldness of winter. The Spider Silk-made clothes and underwear bestowed with Automatic Temperature Regulation isn’t influenced by the scorching summer heat nor the freezing winter chill. But Sophia and Maria had a request, they wanted the designs to change with the season.

We also have Heater magic devices installed in the house. If it’s just us, we don’t need it, but I have many visitors coming to my house. Designated requests for Basic Potions from Barack-san and Hans-san of the Adventurers Guild, and requests for various things from Papeck-san.

Also, about this house, I used to rent it but now I own it.

A large stable was built in the backyard of the mansion which became Tsubaki’s place.

Laeva’s attitude towards us when she first came to the house was reserved, but recently, she finally reached the point where she connects with us normally. It seems she remits the entirety of her wages each month. The remittance is then undertaken by the Adventurers Guild for a small handling charge. Sophia and Maria do not accept salaries from me. They accept pocket money but they insist that they don’t want to be freed so they don’t need a salary.

「I will live much longer than Takumi-sama, so I will live the rest of my life while protecting Takumi-sama’s grave.」

Stating so, Sophia says she would serve me until my death. It had been arranged in Sophia and Maria’s contract that they would be released if I die.

「I am human just like Takumi-sama, that’s why I want to live just one day longer than him, and it would be the greatest if I could have my grave placed right beside Takumi-sama’s.」

It seems Maria intends to be spend her whole life close to me too.

Laeva was surprised to hear such a conversation between the two.

Thus, that Laeva began practicing alchemy in the workshop.

Seeing me activate alchemy without chants or alchemy formations with her own eyes seems to have motivated her all of a sudden.

However, studying alchemy covers a lot of topics, therefore Laeva comes and goes between the workshop and the library.

Ancient magic characters and the like are used in transmutation formations and magic circles for attribute magic, so Laeva is now at the phase where she examines them while memorizing the dictionary I made for her.

On this occasion, Sophia also began acquiring and learning ancient magic characters and ancient elven language. It seems she wants to try making magic devices.

Also, Maria and Kaede became so focused as they worked hard in making underwear, of which included Sophia and Laeva’s portions as well. When the underwears that Countess Rockford and her maids ordered were finished by Maria and Kaede and had been sent via the Papeck Company, an excessive remuneration was paid so they hurriedly sent additional underwear.

Sure enough, Papeck-san discovered a business opportunity with the underwear. Changing the material to silk, he made consultations about the manufacturing process and design and advanced with preparations to market it at the royal capital.

My assets just keep increasing, but I wonder, is this alright?

To raise the skill level of my Time-Space attribute magic, I made Magic Bags. Sophia, Maria, Laeva, and Kaede have each already been given Magic Bags for their personal use. Though at a glance, they simply look like a regular leather pouches.

I heard from Papeck-san that, the bag, enchanted with Time-Space attribute and bestowed with Space Expansion and Time Suspension, is apparently a magic item that can only be found in ruins and dungeons and that 100 platinum coins is a trivial sum for one piece. So as expected, even Papeck-san didn’t say to put the Magic Bag into the market. I was just told to make them as inconspicuous as possible.

Margrave Volton and Papeck-san were sold one shoulder bag-type Magic Bag each.

The Magic Bags are attached with a small magic crystal imbued with Time Space attribute. Thanks to that Time-Space attribute magic crystal, it is possible to put in and take out items larger than the opening of the bag. With the Time-Space attribute magic crystal, even an ordinary person without the aptitude can use it if they charge it with magic power, therefore it can be used by anyone in this world. However, taking security into consideration, I added Magic Power Authentication as a mechanism so people other than the ones registered can’t use it.

「Ah! It’s here, it’s here!」

・Snow Crown

In winter, it is a medicinal plant whose flowers bloom in environments piled with snow. A rare medicinal plant which can be used as an ingredient for all sorts of intermediate potions.

One winter day, in the grasslands near Volton, we were hard at work foraging for materials within the mounds of snow.

「Master, there are some here toooo!」

「Thank you Kaede.」

Altogether, we came here to forage. When rare materials are collected, the Foraging skill would improve easily. This is something I was taught by Hans-san of the Adventurers Guild.

『Bururururu』

Tsubaki ran around the snow covered grasslands, hunting winter furred Bush Wolves. Since her stress might accumulates if she’s unable to to run in a vast place to her hearts content every once in a while, we take her to the grasslands from time to time, even in winter.

「Wanna stop for today and head home?」

「Yes. Now then, what do we do with the dismantling of the Bush Wolves that Tsubaki hunted?」

Sophia asked if we were going to dismantle the Bush Wolves here. The Bush Wolf’s fur becomes pure white in winter. This is popular among the wealthy people and has been requested at the Adventurers Guild.

「Let’s leave the dismantling to the Adventurers Guild. I’ll store them in my Item Box. 」

The Bush Wolves brought down by a stab from Tsubaki’s horn had few injuries and were in good condition so it might be bought for a high price. It’s just more money for me though.

***