Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 367: A Day of Complete Rest (3)
Several days had passed since Ragune left for the Van Dyne Marquisate.
Tauro and Ankh remained in Caxart, each spending the break as he pleased.
“Ankh, are you going to Flower Street again today?” Tauro asked casually.
“L-Leader? How did you know?”
No matter how dependable Tauro was, he was still only thirteen. Ankh had deliberately concealed his visits to the district from him.
“You come home smelling of perfume and cosmetics. How could I fail to notice?” Tauro asked, tapping his nose.
“But I bathed properly… Ah. It must have happened when we said goodbye.”
Ankh covered his face as he remembered the woman embracing him before he left.
“I’m not criticizing you. You’re an adult, and there’s nothing unhealthy about seeking that kind of company. It isn’t as though I have no interest in such things either.”
Tauro appreciated that Ankh had tried to be considerate around him and the female members of their party. He treated the matter as a private conversation between men.
“Well, you’re a man too, Leader,” Ankh admitted. “This isn’t something I can discuss in front of Ragune, so I’ve kept quiet until now. But a man has certain needs.”
“Ragune accompanies us almost everywhere,” he continued. “That can be difficult. When Aeris was with us, the two of them sometimes went off together, which gave me a little freedom.”
Once the subject had been raised, Ankh appeared entirely comfortable discussing it.
“There’s something else I’d like to try today,” Tauro said.
“Oh? Is it the [Creation Magic (Weak)] experiment you mentioned?”
“Yes. Aeris usually accompanies me during experiments in case something goes wrong. I was going to ask you to take her place today, but we can postpone it if you intended to visit Flower Street.”
Tauro was already teasing him about the secret visits.
“Give me a break, Leader. Of course I’ll accompany you. It isn’t as though I plan to spend every day there.”
Ankh gave a strained smile and agreed to help.
They went to an open field beside the salt lake.
“Is this really the best location?” Ankh asked. “There’s nothing here but farmland, so anything we do will be visible from a considerable distance.”
Aeris had told him stories about Tauro creating spectacular weapons, exhausting himself, and nearly collapsing during experiments.
“I don’t intend to do anything especially dramatic today,” Tauro replied. “Although I may try something more noticeable afterward.”
“So you do intend to do something dramatic. I don’t mind as long as a companion is present, but don’t push yourself too far. What exactly are we testing?”
Ankh enjoyed traveling with a leader who constantly attempted extraordinary things.
Some of Tauro’s ideas possessed the uninhibited imagination of a child; others showed more foresight than most adults. Either way, the apparently ordinary boy never stopped surprising him.
“This experiment won’t directly benefit us in battle.”
Tauro removed several small pouches from [Magic Storage].
“What’s inside?”
The pouches appeared light, so Ankh knew they contained neither coins nor heavy materials.
“Plant seeds.”
“What kind of experiment requires seeds?”
“[Creation Magic (Weak)] is difficult to use. In addition to magical power, it requires suitable materials. I want to test whether it can improve a plant variety.”
“Improve a variety?”
“Create a new strain with traits more useful to people.”
The concept of selective breeding didn’t have a familiar name in this world, so Ankh still looked uncertain.
“For example, these are seeds from Rigaud fruit. I could try changing them so that the plants produce sweeter, more flavorful fruit with a higher sugar content.”
“Can your magic truly do that? If it can, the result could be worth a fortune.”
Ankh thought for a moment.
“But you won’t know whether the attempt succeeded until the seeds grow and bear fruit. That could take years.”
“That’s exactly the problem I considered,” Tauro said. “Recently, however, I developed an interesting new spell.”
“What sort of spell?”
“The restrictions on my dark spirit magic and light—or holy—spirit magic have been lifted. By combining both through [Multiple Chanting] and controlling them with [Magic Manipulation] (Extreme), I created this.”
Tauro raised one hand toward an unused section of the field.
“[Plant Growth Promotion Magic]!”
Plants burst from the soil.
Seedlings became mature stalks in moments, leaves spread across the field, and fruit appeared one after another.
“Leader…” Ankh stared at the transformed land. “Is that not already within the domain of a god?”
“I may have affected too large an area.”
Tauro swayed and dropped to one knee.
“Are you all right?”
Ankh hurried toward him.
“Yes. I used more magical power than intended, but this proves I can grow the experimental seeds immediately and inspect the result.”
Tauro removed a magic-restoration potion from [Magic Storage] and drank it in one swallow.
“That spell is incredible,” Ankh said. “It seems a hundred times more valuable than the plant-improvement experiment.”
“It consumes too much magical power to use freely. Improved crops can reproduce naturally after the first successful change, so they should provide much greater long-term value.”
Tauro opened one pouch and held several Rigaud-fruit seeds in his palm.
“[Creation Magic (Weak)]!”
His hand glowed for an instant, then the light disappeared.
“Leader, are you all right?”
Ankh watched him carefully, remembering the exhaustion caused by the previous spell.
“I’m fine… but that used almost no magical power.”
Tauro studied the seeds with an uneasy expression.
“Did it fail?”