Fireball!

We had gained a new resident: Primula.

Honestly, I couldn't help wondering whether this was really all right, but she seemed determined.

She could have lived a life of comfort at her family home, and her marriage into the nobility had already been arranged, so what did she see in an old man like me?

I really didn't get it.

As someone close to her in age, I felt sorry for Mr. Marlowe, whose daughter had abandoned him.

Now that we had another resident, various inconveniences were bound to arise—first and foremost, the bath.

After dinner, I brought up the subject of bathing with everyone.

"We can't all use the bath at once, so let's split into two groups. Anemone and Myaree, then Primula and I."

"I'm going in with Kenichi too!"

"Me too, nya!"

"Whoa, whoa, we don't have enough hot water for that. It would be nice if I could build a slightly larger bath, but..."

When I searched Shangri-La, I found plastic bathtubs for sale, but the only boilers available ran on gas.

There used to be wood-fired bath boilers too, though.

If I boiled water and poured it into a plastic tub, there wouldn't be much difference from using a drum bath.

"Hmm... Wait! I could bring out another drum and heat water in it. Then we shouldn't run out of hot water even if everyone bathes."

I immediately bought another drum bath from Shangri-La and stacked blocks to make a place for the boiler fire.

When I was alone, I had struggled to lift the drum into place, but now that I had Myaree's strength, it was easy.

It was easy enough for us to carry together, and she could even manage it by herself. We also had a river flowing right beside us, so water wasn't a problem.

I took an electric pump out of my Item Box, connected a hose, and drew water up from the river.

Once it was full, I lit the fire and heated the bath. The temperature sensor I had installed told me when it reached the right temperature.

After about an hour, the buzzer sounded, and we began preparing to bathe.

The washing area for the bath had already been made with mortar, and the drainage was arranged to flow into the river through PVC pipes.

It wasn't purified before being discharged, but the wastewater from just the four of us should be fine.

I had installed a settling tank for the wastewater from the kitchen and arranged it so that only the clear upper layer flowed out.

The bath I had brought from our previous home had a platform for getting in and a roof, but the new one had neither.

I took a stepladder out of my Item Box, laid a plank across the drum, and climbed into the bath.

"I'm going in that one too!"

"Me too, nya!"

"Come on! That defeats the purpose of splitting up. What are you all doing coming over here? Besides, three people won't fit."

Since they were being noisy about wanting to join us, I let only Anemone into the bath.

"You need to learn to bathe by yourself soon."

"No!"

While Anemone and I soaked in the bath, Primula stood there naked with her knees turned inward, covering her breasts and crotch as she fidgeted.

"Primula, stop covering yourself and get in the bath."

"B-but it's embarrassing..."

"Then should Primula bathe by herself?"

Perhaps my words made her resolve herself, because Primula put one foot into the other bath. She had used this bath several times already, so she was accustomed to it.

"I need to build a step for this bath too..."

We finished by pouring plenty of hot water over Myaree to wash the foam from her fur.

After the bath, drying everyone's hair with the jet heater was the usual routine too.

But now there was one more blonde woman in that scene.

------◇◇◇------

――The next day.

From early morning, I was experimenting with ways to eat the large amount of bear meat in my Item Box.

Curry seemed like the obvious first choice.

I pounded the meat, soaked it in milk overnight, fried it in oil, and turned it into curry.

Then I tasted it.

"Hmm... This isn't bad, is it? It definitely has a strong flavor, but it's pretty tasty."

I put this batch into my Item Box for later. If the women didn't like it, I could just eat it myself.

Next, I pounded the meat, rubbed it with herbs and spices, and soaked the pieces for grilling in brandy and the pieces for stewing in wine.

While the meat was marinating, I took care of the field.

The Fang Bear had wreaked considerable havoc, but about half of it had somehow survived. I gathered the unharmed seedlings and replanted them.

After finishing the fieldwork, I resumed cooking.

I made steak from the brandy-marinated meat and pot-au-feu from the wine-marinated meat.

"Oh... This might be rather refined—it really tastes like Western food. It has some gaminess, but it's perfectly edible."

I could prepare large batches of marinades whenever I had time and store them in my Item Box.

For dinner, I had the three of them try the curry I had made.

"It's delicious!"

"It's tasty, nya!"

Anemone and Myaree were digging into the curry. The bear curry seemed to be a hit with both of them.

Still, I wondered how they never got tired of eating curry all the time—as I continued eating it myself.

Curry was still king, even in another world.

Primula was staring intently at the rice Anemone and I were eating. She had visited my house several times and seen rice, but she still hadn't tried eating it.

"Is that delicious?"

"It's something like barley. Don't people around here boil barley and eat it?"

"As food for the sick, we sometimes grind barley and boil it until it becomes a thick gruel, but..."

Barley porridge, huh? I had an image of it being unappetizing, but barley rice itself wasn't so bad that I couldn't eat it.

When I was a kid, we sometimes ate barley rice because we didn't have much money, but now, whether because of the health-food boom or something else, barley rice is actually more expensive.

The barley of this other world might also be quite different from the barley I ate in my original world.

"Is it tasty?"

"..."

Primula didn't answer when I asked her about barley porridge. It really must have been unappetizing.

"Well, it's something like that. You can try it if you ever get the chance."

"..."

But she still didn't answer. Perhaps she was wary because rice was unfamiliar to her, and because she remembered barley porridge being unpleasant.

Even so, she seemed satisfied with the curry's flavor.

"How can that stinky meat become this delicious?!"

Primula was surprised by the curry too. She had eaten curry at my house several times already, after all.

"The meat is a little strong, but it's pretty tasty. Besides, when it comes to smell, meat from other animals has its share of odor too."

"When Kenichi cooks it, any meat turns into an incredible dish."

"That's an exaggeration. But making food taste good takes time and effort."

In this case, it required milk and alcohol, as well as spices and herbs. Still, eating game felt like it suited the slow life.

"The vegetables don't taste bitter anymore, nya~ It's like magic, nya~"

"Come to think of it, even though these vegetables came from the market, they don't have any bitterness or astringency."

Primula seemed to have noticed the flavor of the vegetables too.

"I was taught how to do it, nya~ You boil them with ash from the hearth, nya~"

Myaree began explaining the secret with a proud look on her face.

"With ash?"

"The bitter compounds in vegetables and mountain greens can be neutralized by soaking them in ash water. You don't even have to boil them; leaving them to soak overnight is enough."

"As I said before, Kenichi is practically a sage."

Being called a sage over something like this made me squirm.

"You can even make bitter nuts edible, but it's a lot of work. Since we have other things to eat, there's no need to go that far..."

I wondered whether magic could be used to remove bitterness too.

After dinner, I opened the grimoire beside Anemone, who was studying.

"Hmm... Let's see..."

It seemed to contain all sorts of information, but the gist was that you gathered the mana flowing through your entire body in one place and manifested it.

Could I really do that? I wasn't entirely sure.

With this Fireball spell, it was supposed to be gathered at my fingertips or in my palm.

The proof was in the trying, so I decided to give it a shot.

Flowing through my body... flowing... flowing... Did something like that really exist?

No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't feel anything resembling it.

The grimoire did contain what seemed to be an incantation, but it was apparently like priming a pump, and once you became proficient, you no longer needed to chant.

From the power within me, blazing heat, burn up the enemy before me—Fireball!

Ugh, that sounded so chuunibyou-ish. Nothing happened, though.

Did this mean, as the old woman had said, that I had no talent for magic?

"Kenichi, let me see that book."

Anemone wanted to look at the grimoire, so I showed it to her.

Hmm. If I couldn't use it, it had been an expensive purchase.

"Primula, do grimoires like this sell quickly?"

"Yes. Some people collect them even if they can't use magic."

Ah, I see. There were collectors. In that case, I might be able to sell it quickly.

As I hesitated over whether to sell the useless grimoire—

'From the power within me, blazing heat, burn up the enemy before me—'

Beside me, shimmering blue light began gathering in front of Anemone as she read the grimoire.

"Oh, wait! Anemone!"

But she seemed to be in a trance and didn't appear to hear me.

Then the light that had gathered suddenly transformed into flames.

'Fireball!'

At the same moment as her roar, a ball of fire shot out and covered the wall of the house in brilliant red.

"Whoa! Fire extinguisher! Fire extinguisher!!"

"Fgyahhh!"

"Kyaahhh!"

I hurriedly searched Shangri-La, selected the first fire extinguisher that came up, and pressed the 【Purchase】 button. I bought three of them.

With a series of thuds, the fire extinguishers dropped down. I grabbed one, pulled out its yellow pin, squeezed the black lever, and aimed its hose at the flames.

A pink powder sprayed out forcefully and filled the room.

"Copy me and use the others. Pull out the yellow pin and squeeze the black handle!"

"Like this, nya?! Fgyahhh!"

Myaree seemed frightened by the powerful spray.

"Like this?!"

Primula was surprisingly calm. Perhaps she had inherited that nerve from Mr. Marlowe.

The three of us sprayed the extinguishing agent everywhere and somehow put out the flames.

The wall of the house was covered in pink fire-extinguisher powder, and a considerable area had been blackened by the fire.

But only the surface had burned; the fire hadn't reached the inside, and it hadn't even become charred.

The flames had tremendous instantaneous force, but apparently not much staying power.

Still, being enveloped in those flames would burn your airway and lungs, causing fatal injuries. As expected of magic—it was terrifying.

"I-I'm sorry..."

Anemone was trembling in shock at what she had done, staring blankly ahead.

No, rather than getting angry...

"That was amazing! Anemone, you're incredible! You can use magic!"

"With this, we could even take down a Fang Bear, nya."

"But if you burned it with this magic, they wouldn't buy it from us, would they?"

"Nya! That's true, nya."

Anemone had been frozen in place, but then she collapsed sideways on the spot.

"Hey, what's wrong?!"

Her face was bright red, so I put a hand to her forehead—and she was hot.

"It's probably magic sickness, nya. Children who use magic for the first time often get it, nya."

"Kenichi, let's put her in bed."

"Yeah."

I had bought a double bed so everyone could sleep together, but it took up too much space, so I normally kept it in my Item Box.

"If we're going to nurse her, wouldn't the small bed be better?"

I took the single bed we had used at first out of my Item Box, carried Anemone over in a princess carry, and laid her down on it.

Still... she had gotten quite a bit heavier.

Compared with when I first met her, she seemed about two sizes bigger.

Children her age were in a growth phase, after all. Some grew fifteen or sixteen centimeters in a year, which meant more than a centimeter a month.

I took out a towel and basin and poured in some water.

"Myaree, how long does magic sickness usually take to go away?"

"They say it usually clears up overnight, nya. If her fever doesn't go down, we should have someone knowledgeable about magic examine her, nya."

"Someone knowledgeable about magic... You mean that old woman?"

We took turns placing a wet towel on her forehead. Ah, I could just buy cooling gel sheets.

I searched Shangri-La and pressed the button.

"Click."

The product dropped down immediately. It came in a twelve-pack for 500 yen.

I tore open the package, peeled off the protective backing, and stuck a sheet to Anemone's head.

"What's that, nya?"

"It's magic that cools your forehead. It probably won't work on Myaree since you have fur."

"Fumyaa~"

She probably wanted to try it, but it wouldn't really work. Her fur would keep the sheet from sticking directly to her skin.

Primula had been watching and was fidgeting restlessly. She seemed to want to try it too.

"Here."

I peeled off another sheet and stuck it to Primula's forehead.

"Eek! Ah—it's really cold."

She tried to look up at the sheet on her forehead, but there was no way she could see her own forehead.

"That's not fair, nya!"

"It has to be stuck directly to the skin. Would it be all right if we shaved Myaree's fur?"

"How can you say something like that, nya?!"

Beastfolk took pride in their beautiful fur, so losing it and developing a bald patch—or having their fur shaved—was apparently the ultimate humiliation.

"Then give up on it."

"Fumyaa~"

"More importantly, let's clean up this powder. It will cause a serious mess if it absorbs water."

"What happens, nya?"

"It cakes onto everything and becomes impossible to remove. We need to clean it up while it's still dry."

"Understood."

After we all cleaned up the fire-extinguisher powder and took turns caring for Anemone, her fever had gone down by morning.

It was a relief that she seemed all right. In a world with hardly any doctors, we had to be careful about injuries and illnesses.

Anemone was in her pajamas in bed. She seemed a little listless, but otherwise she looked fine.

However, she said she had no appetite. The high fever must have taken a lot out of her.

That was why I searched for something on Shangri-La—and there it was. It cost 650 yen.

The package looked strangely nostalgic. Had it really remained unchanged all these years?

It had gone up quite a bit in price, though. I remembered being able to buy it for around 100 yen.

"When you're sick or recovering, this is the classic choice—canned peaches."

When I was a kid, we ate canned peaches or apples when we were sick, but I hadn't had this in ages.

It had probably been about thirty years since I had eaten them myself. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had them.

I was staring wistfully at the can of peaches when I realized something important—I didn't have a can opener.

I searched Shangri-La again. The familiar old three-in-one can opener was still being sold. One cost 500 yen.

I opened the can with a squeaky grinding noise. Nowadays, cans had pull tabs, but I couldn't enjoy canned food without this little ritual.

Since I didn't have a small dish, I put the peaches in a cup and handed it to Anemone.

"What is this...?"

"It's fruit preserved in sugar. People eat it when they're sick."

"...Munch... It's incredibly sweet and delicious!"

"Nyaa! Is it tasty, nya? I want some too, nya!"

Myaree was pacing around Anemone's bed.

"No, no. Only sick people are allowed to eat it."

"Funyaa! My stomach hurts too, nya~!"

"If your stomach hurts, you shouldn't eat anything."

I searched for Seirogan on Shangri-La and bought it. Incidentally, its trademark rights had apparently expired because the name was judged to have become generic.

I opened the lid of the Seirogan that dropped down and held it under Myaree's nose.

"Here. If your stomach hurts, take this medicine. It's made from compressed medicinal herbs."

"Gyaaah! What is that smell, nya?! It's making my nose wrinkle, nya! My stomach doesn't hurt, nya!"

Her fur stood on end, and she shrank into a corner of the room.

"Hahaha! Since I already opened the can of fruit, let's all eat it."

I put the smelly Seirogan away in my Item Box, brought out a table and cups for everyone, and divided up the canned peaches.

"Funya! I-it's delicious, nya! It kind of tastes like Linka, nya."

"Ah! This is delicious! It's so sweet. Did they use an incredible amount of sugar?"

"Exactly. It's preserved in sugar. You can preserve things in salt too, but making them sweet works reasonably well too. Candied Linka sounds delicious."

"But if it's like this, only nobles could afford to eat it..."

"Well, that's true. Sugar is apparently a state monopoly in this country too."

Everyone ate the canned peaches, and even Anemone, who had no appetite, seemed able to eat them.

"Anemone, stay in bed all day today."

"I'm fine now."

"No, no. Phew... I have to repair the floor and wall."

"I-I'm sorry."

Anemone huddled on the bed, still holding her cup.

"Don't worry about it. More importantly, it's incredible that you can use magic."

"You probably had the talent for it."

"Primula, can people study magic? Are there schools, for example?"

"There is a university in the royal capital. Graduating from it allows you to become a Holy Mage."

"Oh! Amazing! Anemone, if you want to go to school, I'll send you. They have dormitories for girls too, right?"

"They do, but many of the students are children of royalty, nobles, and major merchants. Apparently, ordinary people who enroll have no end of trouble."

"Ah, just like something out of a story..."

It was exactly the standard template. But apparently Anemone didn't feel that way.

"I don't want to be separated from Kenichi."

"Well, I'm not going to force you. But if you ever want to go, come talk to me."

"Okay."

"If you can use magic, you won't have trouble earning enough to eat, will you?"

"Yes. There are all sorts of jobs. But with only fire magic... you might instead be sent out to fight."

"I see..."

However, apparently if you could use magic, you could pay other mages to teach you or buy grimoires and increase the types of magic you knew.

Of course, there was one important caveat: you needed the talent for it.

"Ah! Could you use this magic to heat the bath?"

"What? Pfft! Ahahaha! I've never heard of using Fireball to heat a bath!"

Primula was laughing while clutching her stomach.

"Yeah. I'll try it once I feel better."

Anemone was getting motivated. Maybe I could look forward to this.

If it worked, it would greatly reduce the time needed to heat the bath.

It was a peaceful, practical use of magic perfectly suited to the slow life.