Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 90: The Box of Secrets
The day after returning from the kobold-subjugation quest, Tauro sat at the Resting Pavilion (Ikoi-tei), sipping miso soup with his breakfast.
“Ah… This is so comforting.”
He savored the familiar flavor in quiet contentment.
Every few days, Tauro made a batch of miso at the Resting Pavilion first thing in the morning.
The cooks prepared miso themselves as well, but their batches needed time to mature. For now, they depended on Tauro’s dark magic to accelerate the aging process.
Today was one of those days, so he had made an extra-large batch. It should last them a week.
If they began to run low, one of the cooks would send a messenger to the inn where Tauro was staying. That was their usual arrangement.
They would only need to rely on him for another six months to a year. By then, the cooks’ own miso should have finished maturing and be ready to eat.
Tauro was paid for his trouble each time, and his meals were free, so the arrangement benefited everyone.
“Oh, Tauro, there you are. What are you doing today?”
Aeris entered the restaurant, spotted him, and called out.
“I have something else to do today, so I’d like the other three of you to carry on as usual.”
“What are you going to do, Tauro?”
Apparently intrigued, Aeris sat across from him.
“I’m meeting with Mr. Marches to discuss developing a new product.”
“Marches? You mean the merchant company nearby?”
“That’s right. I’ll be meeting with its representative and some woodworkers and blacksmiths…”
“I can come with you, right?”
Aeris cut in eagerly. In fact, she already seemed completely determined to accompany him.
“I think you’ll find it boring.”
“Why? I’ll decide that for myself!”
And so, Tauro’s attempt to dissuade Aeris ended in complete failure.
In one of the rooms at the Marches Company, Marches had gathered several woodworkers and blacksmiths.
To an outsider, the sight of the children Tauro and Aeris among all those craftsmen might have seemed absurd. Everyone involved, however—with the exception of Aeris—was perfectly serious.
“All right, Tauro. Let’s see the plans.”
Marches opened the meeting.
“Certainly. Here they are.”
Tauro took a set of plans from [Magic Storage] and spread them out.
“What’s this?”
At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a box—a box made from wood and iron.
But these were plans drawn by Tauro, the boy who had already aided the village’s development by introducing technology none of them had ever seen. Surely it couldn’t be an ordinary box.
“It’s a box.”
“What?”
All the craftsmen except Marches, who had been briefed beforehand, responded in unison.
“More precisely, it’s a box that keeps things cold: a refrigerator.”
“A refrigerator?”
“Yes. It keeps food cold so it won’t spoil as quickly. I considered buying processed magic stones from a magic-tool artisan for the cooling mechanism, but that would have been rather expensive, so I tried making the mechanism myself.”
Tauro took two boards, fastened together, from [Magic Storage].
“What are those boards?”
“They’re joined together, and a particular magic circle is drawn between them.”
“A magic circle?”
“Yes. When you place magic stones dropped by monsters here…”
Tauro took several scrap magic stones from [Magic Storage] and placed them on the boards.
For an instant, light shone through the seam between the two boards, showing that the magic circle had reacted to the stones and activated.
A moment later, cold air began flowing from the magic stones.
“Incredible! Cold air is coming from unprocessed magic stones even though no one is channeling mana into them!”
Normally, an unprocessed magic stone was no more useful than an ordinary rock.
Processing one required a magic-tool artisan, and because each stone had to be worked by hand, processed magic stones were expensive. Consequently, only wealthy households could afford them; they were far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Aeris was just as astonished as the craftsmen.
Research into magic circles could hardly be called advanced. Most magic could be performed simply by chanting, without drawing a circle, so magic circles were widely considered of little practical value.
“How does this work?”
The craftsmen and Aeris were fascinated.
“The special magic circle between these joined boards makes the magic stones emit cold air. I happen to know quite a bit about magic circles, so I made it myself.”
Naturally, Tauro couldn’t tell them that he had studied magic circles in his previous life and used one to reincarnate in this world by his own power.
“I’ll explain the mechanism after we’ve signed our contracts, but it’s a top-secret trade secret, so please handle the information carefully. Now, let me give you a brief explanation of the refrigerator’s construction.”
Tauro explained that it would use double doors to keep the cold air from escaping and that airtight construction was essential, making the craftsmen’s expertise indispensable.
They listened closely and exchanged serious opinions.
For some reason, Aeris joined the discussion as though she belonged there. Tauro was privately bewildered, but because he had brought her, the craftsmen listened to her just as seriously.