Chapter 12: Sorry for Making You Feel Defeated
I asked around, but all the jobs except for construction work were long-term commitments. Since I wasn’t sure if I could settle down for a long period, I gave up on those and returned to the inn.
“How much has Victor-san recovered? I’m from a world without magic, so I don’t know about these things.”
“You don’t have to use ‘san.’ Just Victor is fine. Well, I’ve regained quite a bit of magical power, so I can probably use basic attack magic.”
Oh.
“Could you try attacking me a little?”
“What? You’ll lose your limbs, you know?”
“Is that so? Moving the magical flower was nothing for me, right?”
“…When you put it that way, I…”
Encouraging the somewhat resistant Victor, we went to the backyard of the inn, where he weakly cast some sort of attack magic towards me. He kept saying things like “I won’t attack a woman or a child!” until the end, but I pretended not to hear.
“Ice Arrow.”
Ara, there’s no chuunibyou-like incantation? I thought there would be something like “Come forth, spirits of ice.”
Out of consideration, the thin and short ice arrow pierced deeply into the ground, which should have been compacted soil in the inn’s backyard.
“This doesn’t really count as an experiment, does it?”
“But if you were hit directly by that, you would die.”
“Would I? For some reason, I feel fine.”
“You just feel fine. You’ll get hurt!”
“Then, let’s start by receiving it in my palm.”
“In your palm, huh? I’m not particularly skilled in healing magic, but well, I should be able to heal your palm.”
“Alright, hurry up.”
Victor gathered his resolve and used magic on me again.
“Ice Arrow.”
The moment the ice arrow hit my palm, there was no impact at all, and the ice arrow disappeared.
“Is this a joke?!”
“Well, as I thought. Magic in this world doesn’t work on me, huh?”
“If that’s the case, I’ll aim without holding back.”
“Go ahead.”
“Ice Arrow!”
This time, it was a thick and powerful-looking arrow, but the result was the same. Victor collapsed with a thud. That’s right, he’s a wizard working at the royal castle, so he must be excellent. I’m sorry if this was his first failure.
“Haru. Can I use Ice Lance?”
“Sure. I don’t know what Ice Lance is, though…”
“Ice Lance!”
Even though he was in the middle of speaking.
The ice lance was about the length and thickness of a mop handle, and I was a little startled, but the result was the same.
“No way, no way, my Ice Lance doesn’t work. Ice Lance! Ice Lance! Ice Lance!”
“Hey, wait…”
Well, everything disappeared! I was surprised. He kept firing ice lances, making a “chudon chudon” sound.
“I won’t stand for this! Fireball!”
I got tired of it, so I let him do as he pleased. The fireballs, which were about the size of a handful, disappeared while scattering some gold dust.
Victor, who seemed to have his spirit crushed, went to a corner of the garden and slumped down. The sight of a big man slumping down was kind of cute.
“You’ve fully recovered, haven’t you? You can use magic continuously without any problem, right?”
“I’m fine. Well, I don’t use much magical power for something like that. Besides, my specialty is summoning magic. I’m not specialized in attack magic.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m a skilled summoner by trade, you know.”
Was the shock too much? He finally started calling himself skilled.
“What about the burned-out magical veins?”
“They’re still completely useless.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. I can’t accumulate the magical power necessary for summoning. I’ve checked multiple times.”
“I see. Well, there’s no helping it then. What else is Victor good at besides magic?”
No response.
“Victor?”
“I grew up in an orphanage, relying solely on my talent for magic. I haven’t done anything else.”
The skilled wizard doesn’t seem to have any other skills.
“It’s better for both of us not to reveal our true identities, so it’s best to find a job where our faces won’t be recognized. How about a food stall?”
“What kind of food stall doesn’t reveal our faces?”
With a chuckle, I took out a veil from my skirt pocket.
“You can hide your face with this.”
“What about me?”
“You’ll have to figure something out.”
“That’s quite a sloppy plan, hey.”
Trying various nearby items, Victor put his long wizard-like hair into a turban and covered his mouth with a scarf. It might make him look even more suspicious, but for now, let’s consider it good enough.
“So, what are we going to sell?”
“Something that’s not sold in this market, gelato!”
“What’s that?”
“It’s something that can’t be made without Victor’s powers.”
Afterward, we gathered ingredients and tools like milk and sugar from the market. Back in our room, while encouraging Victor, who lamented, “Using my ice magic for something like this,” we created plenty of gelato.
We made three flavors: milk, orange, and tea, each in small buckets.
“Hey, isn’t running a gelato stand risky?”
“Why?”
“Well, it’s pretty obvious that we’re using ice magic, isn’t it?”
“Fufufu.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Just in case something like that happens, I bought this.”
It was a small stone tablet with a magic circle drawn on it. Apparently, buying a real one is expensive. The inn’s old man taught me about it. The one I bought is used and has run out of magical power, but apparently, people pay a good amount of money to have a certain amount of ice magic put into it.
Of course, this is just a facade, and we’ll actually be using Victor’s ice magic. As long as we keep quiet, it won’t be noticed, I’m sure.
“Haru, did you deceive people and work like this in your previous world too?”
“No, how rude. I was a diligent office worker!”
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