Chapter 37
Boss-san has unexpectedly grown.
It's now about the size of a Japanese L-size watermelon.
Its wings have grown too, giving it an oddly mysterious air.
By the way, could it still grow more?
Just how big would it get?
The fruits here are big, and so are the wolves and dogs.
The ceiling on the first basement floor was higher than on the other floors. Surely not... right?
...
I'm puzzling over the storage room.
The storage room currently functions as a refrigerator.
The automatic cleaning function appeared when I made the toilet.
Since that worked, I tried making a refrigerator.
I imagined a refrigerator that would simply cool things as they were and infused the rocks in the storage room with magic.
As a result, this room is now functioning as a refrigerator.
But today's harvest consists of fruit and vegetables.
Honestly, I harvested so many vegetables that their freshness will decline in a refrigerator.
A freezer isn't very good for storing vegetables.
So I'm wondering if there's some other convenient function I can give it.
I want it to preserve them at their original freshness.
I think while taking the vegetables and fruit out of the bag.
An impossible amount of vegetables and other things come out of an ordinary bag.
Even I find it strange, despite being the one using it.
Incidentally, if I turn the bag upside down, everything comes out all at once.
More fruit and vegetables came out than I'd counted.
I was sure I'd counted everything carefully before putting them in... Why?
...
Preserve freshness.
Keep it exactly as fresh as it is.
I'll picture it staying this way... It's difficult. Putting it into words is easy, though.
I'll imagine some warm rice, then use a calendar to imagine the passage of time.
For now, I'll imagine "steaming rice."
Then I'll imagine a calendar for January 1, 2018, and advance the time from 2018 to 2118.
Even as time passed, the image of the "steaming rice" remained unchanged.
Rather than simply preserving its state, it felt like I'd stopped the object's time, so...
"Time Stop"
The entire room was enveloped in a somewhat stronger light, then returned to normal.
I don't know whether it worked.
For now, I'll put the vegetables in and see what happens.
I shape the rock into shelves.
I add the Time Stop magic to the shelves as well.
It's gradually evolving into a high-performance food storage room.
There still isn't much stored inside, though.
This is an even bigger harvest than I expected for my first day exploring the forest.
I'm grateful to the baby spiders... though they did surprise me.
...
The vivid yellow-green fruit has an aroma like a mixture of lemon and orange.
I was a little moved that I could pour it over meat and enjoy a refreshing flavor.
The vegetable was delicious wrapped around meat.
...I want yakiniku sauce...
When I peel the bluish fruit, a sweet-and-sour aroma spreads through the air.
When I eat it... Huh? It's kind of like a strawberry...
Its texture is crisp and satisfying, like an apple.
And the taste seems similar to a strawberry.
It's delicious, but this fruit leaves me with a strangely complicated impression.