Chapter 42: Things We Need

Things had been pretty chaotic up until now, but things had finally settled down somewhat. We were now in a position where we could purchase a reasonable amount of Japanese goods, so it should be fine to start buying various things that could improve our quality of life, like this cake.

Of course, we couldn’t afford anything too expensive.

“…Yeah. If we’re talking about things that aren’t available here, I’d occasionally like drinks such as black tea or milk tea. And there are also a few home appliances I’d like, although I think they might be a little expensive.”

Home appliances, huh?

Electric-powered devices hadn’t really developed in this world, but there were magical tools that used magic instead. And because there were so many Blessed Ones, there were quite a few things similar to those found in Japan.

This mansion already had magical equivalents of lights, stoves, blenders, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and so on, but apparently there were still some things we were missing.

“A rice cooker and a microwave would be convenient. Right now, I’m cooking rice in a pot, but it takes up one of the burners, and if I get the heat wrong, the pot gets scorched really quickly… Also, there aren’t any microwaves in this world, so having one would give me a lot more options when cooking.”

“Ah… A rice cooker. You’re right, we’d definitely want one as soon as possible. Actually, I’m sorry I didn’t realize it until now.”

“No, it’s not that much trouble! And you can enjoy the crispy rice at the bottom when you cook it in a pot. Besides, I can cook a lot at once and store it in the Magic Bag, so it’s fine if we can get one.”

“No, we’ll be eating rice from now on too, so we should solve this sooner rather than later.”

Yuuka was currently handling all of our meals. She said it wasn’t a big deal, but cooking rice in a pot every single time must have been quite a hassle.

And it was true that I hadn’t seen any magical tool with a mechanism similar to a microwave so far. Microwaves heat things by exposing them to microwaves and using the resulting vibrations to generate heat, so perhaps reproducing that process with magic would be difficult.

There was no doubt that having a microwave would also make cooking more convenient.

“I think we could buy both a rice cooker and a microwave as long as we don’t get particularly expensive ones. But the problem is how we’re going to power them…”

When I first started living alone, I’d bought both. If you went for cheap models, you could get a rice cooker for around 5,000 yen and a microwave for around 10,000 yen.

The problem, however, was the electricity.

In Japan, you could easily use electricity by plugging something into an outlet, but there were no electrical outlets in this other world.

“Maybe solar panels would be the best option. But I seem to remember solar panels being pretty expensive…”

“Yeah. We have them at our house too, but I think Dad said they cost more than a million yen.”

““A million yen!?””

Aoi and I exclaimed simultaneously.

Were those solar panels you often saw on people’s rooftops really that expensive…?

I vaguely remembered there being small solar panels designed for outdoor use, but they probably wouldn’t produce nearly enough electricity.

“Besides, if we installed solar panels on the mansion, it would be like advertising that there’s a Blessed One here who can bring Japanese goods into this world…”

“We should be able to disguise them with magical tools.”

“Oh, that’s amazing! So the problem is the price?”

Perhaps we could divert people’s perception of them the same way we could with the Void Robe I’d used before.

I’d been told that an expert might be able to see through the effect, so if we installed them somewhere inconspicuous, like a balcony rather than the roof, it should be fine.

The problem was still the price of solar panels…

“I’ll look online later and see if there’s another good option.”

“Yes, please. And… there’s something that’s a little difficult for me to ask Kakeru for, so I’ll tell Mom about it later. I’ll ask for Aoi’s share at the same time.”

“Okay, got it.”

If she was asking her mother to get something for Aoi as well, it was probably something I was better off not hearing about.

“What about you, Aoi? Is there anything you want?”

“Let’s see… I might like to get some more manga.”

“Sure. I’m kind of curious about the manga too, and I’ll be sending some to Rain anyway, so that works out.”

Apparently, Aoi was also curious about the manga she’d read in her previous life.

I wanted to read some manga again after such a long time, and I’m sure Rain would also start reading new manga after he finished the ones he’d wanted to read in the past, so it worked out perfectly.

“And, if possible, I’d like some security equipment from Japan. The magical tools we’ve installed around the mansion might be bypassed in some places by someone who has mastered magic or by a Blessed One with a Unique Skill. But if we had a Japanese security system as well, we might be able to prevent that.”

“I see. You’re right. If we had both magical tools and Japanese equipment, we’d have pretty much perfect security. All right, I’ll look into that too.”

The Void Robe was a magical tool that completely erased one’s presence, but it would still show up on surveillance cameras.

Likewise, physical security measures from Japan might be able to prevent someone from getting through.

I’d look into those at the same time.

“…Hmm, hmm. Portable power stations and generators. If we’re on a low budget, this one might be the way to go.”

After returning to Japan and searching for information on my smartphone, I found that there were options besides solar panels.

A portable power station was a device that could be charged beforehand using a household outlet and then store the electricity for later use.

The key issue was how to charge it…

Borrowing an outlet at Yuuka’s parents’ house was one option, but having to borrow their electricity every time and pay for the power would be a hassle.

Generators designed for emergencies and outdoor use could be purchased for around 50,000 yen, so that seemed like the better option.

As for how generators were powered, there were two main methods.

The first was gasoline.

I hadn’t known this, but apparently emergency generators could generate electricity by using gasoline, the same fuel used by cars.

However, you needed identification to purchase gasoline, so that option wasn’t possible for me.

As always, identification was required for all sorts of things…

The other option was to generate electricity using the gas cylinders used for stoves and similar appliances.

Apparently, a single gas cylinder could charge a 4,000 mAh smartphone twenty to thirty times, which meant it could probably generate a considerable amount of electricity.

In terms of long-term cost-effectiveness, solar panels or gasoline would probably be better, but for now, this was the option available to me.

“Even surveillance cameras have stuff like this nowadays…? The advancement of technology is incredible…”