Chapter 96
After a grand discussion with Linia and Aris, who had come out to meet me… Well, not quite a grand discussion, but after some consultation.
“Let’s take only what we need for now and leave anything unused in the yard.”
They were all things that could go into the Inventory anyway.
If we moved them one by one, we’d manage somehow.
“That sounds best. I’ll start by getting the blankets.”
Did we really need those?
But come to think of it, they were probably the most important thing for Linia.
Hadn’t she said the quality of her sleep determined the quality of her unique magic?
Seeing that made me feel a little envious.
Then, suddenly.
“Do you study even while you sleep?”
If she could study while sleeping as though she were awake, how was that ultimately any different from staying awake all the time?
“No? I just sleep in the Library. The Library of Dreams is only for storing magic.”
What on earth was this girl doing?
I gave up trying to understand.
“Let’s move a few things for now. We were given the basic furniture, after all.”
Though I’d said it wasn’t necessary, I’d only meant the magical tools needed for daily life.
We had agreed to receive the basic furniture.
Beds in particular couldn’t go into the Inventory, so we had to receive them or buy them here.
And the furniture wasn’t poor quality, either.
“Then shall we get started? Let’s move everything into the yard!”
“…Just me?”
“We can’t move them as quickly as you can. Well, it would be different if we were willing to get caught.”
“We can’t use our unique magic, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
How long would it take to move all this?
I’d have to go back and forth between the eastern and western forests like a ninja, but the eastern and western forests were much farther apart than I’d expected.
Reinhart itself was far larger than any ordinary university campus to begin with.
I stared at the seemingly endless horizon.
I couldn’t even see the western forest.
…I miss Sera.
* * *
“Ngh. Somehow, we did manage to move everything.”
By the time we’d moved everything and brought in the appliances, it was afternoon.
In truth, the school-maintained lodging was kept in pretty good condition, so aside from moving our belongings, it hadn’t taken that much effort.
I roughly set up shelves and the potion set on the first floor.
When I opened the first-floor door and entered, a barren space greeted me, but the fact that it was enclosed by walls on all sides already earned it high marks.
‘We need to buy light bulbs too.’
It was a little dark.
No, maybe it would be better to solve that with mana lamps.
Mana lamps performed quite well.
In terms of lighting, they were even better than fluorescent lights.
Of course, whether they were better than LEDs was something I’d have to think about.
“Let’s remove the air conditioner later…”
Students at Reinhart were guaranteed the right to occupy their dormitory rooms anyway.
So I’d been told there was no need to vacate the room.
I’d just remove it when I needed the heating function.
That way, we successfully moved everything we needed.
“Wow, this is a nice house!”
“It’s quite impressive…!”
“We’ll contribute to the rent too.”
Once everything was moved in, it really was quite decent.
The bedroom was large enough to fit three beds, and the living room and kitchen were separate.
The living room had a TV and sofa, and there was even a fireplace, though we wouldn’t be using it.
And, above all, the first floor.
We could use that spacious area however we wanted, and it had top-notch ventilation and natural lighting.
Once we brought in the mana generator in one corner and set up a barrier, electricity was no problem either.
People really do need a house.
* * *
Once we’d finished the rough setup, we decided to eat.
“I’ll make something to eat for now!”
“Yumia’s cooking…?”
“It’s a hassle to go all the way to the cafeteria.”
The western forest was a bit far from the cafeteria.
Though the dormitory had been some distance from the cafeteria too.
It would be better to eat something simple here and go to the student cafeteria later.
“Yumia, do you know how to cook?”
Aris asked, tilting her head.
“That’s a rather insulting thing to say.”
“Well, you’ve never done it before, have you?”
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
“Sigh. Do you even know how high my Technique stat is?”
It was an impressive S+.
Of course, cooking ability and the Technique stat had little to do with each other.
The Technique stat measured how accurately one could translate an intention into action.
In other words, it wasn’t particularly useful if you didn’t know what you wanted to do.
“Th-then why don’t you try making something?”
Linia awkwardly broached the subject.
“Just don’t be surprised after you taste it.”
But I was confident.
Ten years of living on my own.
I could cook just about anything.
I went into the kitchen and started cooking.
Before long, I had finished a steaming stew and some baguettes.
“…It’s more normal than I expected?”
“It smells quite good.”
“Hehe, try it.”
Then Linia and Aris each took a bite of the stew.
They made the expressions of gourmets who had discovered an entirely new flavor.
“Wh-what on earth did you make this stew with!?”
“Is it… good?”
They reacted as if they couldn’t believe it.
As though they’d eaten something that had never existed in this world.
“How did you create such a variety of flavors?”
“I’d believe the bread came from a famous bakery…!”
“You didn’t really buy it?”
“If that were true, it wouldn’t still be hot, Linia. It’s freshly baked…!”
“Did the kitchen even have an oven?”
“Hehe, I can do it when I put my mind to it.”
It was a housewarming celebration. I’d decided to show off my skills a little.
As I said that, I tossed two wrappers into the trash can.
[Mom’s Homemade Flavor! Cream of Mushroom Soup]
[Chef’s Air-Fryer Baguette]
Frozen food has gotten really good these days.
* * *
After showing off my cooking skills, I called Senior Chloe.
No matter how you looked at it, upgrading the generator was unavoidable.
“Hmm, is this a blueprint? It’s certainly fascinating, perhaps because there’s no magical engineering at all in the region you’re from.”
I showed Chloe the blueprint I’d received from Kim Hana.
Chloe scanned the blueprint and expressed her admiration.
“It seems to use the power of lightning, but it’s truly amazing! With this, people could live without mana!”
“Mana has only existed on our side for a few decades to begin with.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing.”
It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell her, but explaining it sounded extremely troublesome, so I put it off until later.
It would be easier just to kidnap her to Earth and explain it there.
I handed Chloe a teacup filled with coffee.
It was the coffee pot that had first entered my new house along with the microwave.
It was coffee made with water boiled by that thing.
“Have some of this while you work.”
I knew I was making her work for free, so I decided to treat her to something I’d bought on Earth.
In other words, food from another world by this place’s standards.
Cupcakes from an upscale pastry shop and instant coffee.
The combination seemed a little odd, but they went together surprisingly well.
“Mmm… The aroma is wonderful…!”
Her reaction wasn’t bad either.
I asked whether there was anything else she needed.
Chloe pondered for a moment, then told me what she wanted.
“Oh, then could you give me some more notebooks? I’ve already used them all…”
“Of course… Huh?”
I’d given her a fountain pen and thick notebooks last time, and she’d already used every one of them?
I hadn’t even used half of mine in a semester.
She was truly something else.
I rummaged through the storage room and brought out an armful of spare notebooks.
“Here.”
While I was at it, I handed over the instant coffee I’d brought for myself.
“Take this too and have some. You know how to boil water, right?”
“I have a magic tool, so I’m fine, but… B-but are you really giving me all these precious things!?”
I wondered how she’d react if she knew that, by local prices, all of it was worth less than one silver.
I was curious.
“A-anyway, I’ve done everything I can for now.”
“Already?”
It had only been an hour since she started working.
“The blueprint was easy to understand. It seems this side works as a team, too.”
“Th-that’s right.”
“Anyway, you should be able to draw about fifty percent more power than before!”
“That’s more than enough. Thank you, upperclassman.”
At least, we could run everything we needed.
“Up-upperclassman… Hehe.”
This person really loved being called “upperclassman.”
I always thought it, but she was such a cost-effective upperclassman.
Thinking that, I tried using Observation Eye.
No matter how I thought about it, this person didn’t seem like an ordinary human either.
Chloe Sellas
The sole daughter of the Sellas family, she possesses a tremendous amount of mana and exceptional Technique.
She is skilled at handling machinery, but takes no interest in fields outside her areas of interest.
Abilities: [Intermediate Magic (SSR)], [Magical Engineering (SSR++)]
Stats
[Durability (D)] [Endurance (C)] [Strength (C+)] [Agility (C+)] [Mana (S++)] [Technique (SS)]
Sure enough, I could see the stats properly.
‘…Shouldn’t this person have entered the tournament?’
She didn’t have a unique magic, but her stats were simply extremely high.
I was thinking she probably could have won if she’d just built something like a mecha and entered.
Then, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘If the top student’s specs are like that, what are the professors’ specs like?’
I’d originally planned to upgrade Observation Eye and inspect only Karnarof.
But now that things had turned out this way, I had to inspect all of them.
I’ll find out just how strong they are to be giving me such a hard time.
If I took away the professors’ intelligence, they’d just become old men.
I wonder if it’s the same in this world.