arc2 · 091-ch91

Chapter 91: Wind Attribute Enchantment!

Yesterday, I had some good news before going to bed, and I was able to fall asleep in a great mood while looking forward to it. Thanks to that, I woke up feeling refreshed this morning.

The enchantment with Asahi is in the afternoon, so I've got the morning free. What should I do? Oh right, I should ask Mom to make me some sandwiches. Apparently Shinonome-san is going to be present today too, so I'll prepare some for the Enchanter-san and Shinonome-san as well.

I've already gotten permission to go with just Asahi and Hayate. I thought it might be rude for me not to go in person, but they said they'd rather just have the drones come first and not to worry about it. That's just like Shinonome-san, always so considerate.

According to the Enchanter, there are apparently some explorers who visit with their identities hidden or send representatives to make requests. They might have said that to put me at ease, but either way, I decided to take them up on their kind offer.

After washing my face in the bathroom, I asked my mom, who was making breakfast, to make me two sandwiches.

Since there was still some time before the appointed hour after breakfast, I decided to fly Hayate around and use Auto-Mapping to create a map of Japan. The map around Tokyo is already complete, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have maps of other regions in case we end up going to different dungeons in the future.

I summoned Hayate from Asahi, which was being stored at Yamamoto Electronics, and after greeting President Yamamoto, who had already arrived at work, I had Asahi head south and Hayate head north.

(Ohh, the map is filling up fast!)

To make sure there weren't any gaps, I carefully filled in the map using a roller-coaster approach. I marked any dungeons I spotted along the way so they could be identified at a glance. The marking function has been really helpful for quickly finding dungeon staircases too.

However, even Asahi, which can go 250 km/h, only managed to map half of Saitama Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture in three hours. And Hayate, which can only go 150 km/h, only got through half of Saitama Prefecture and a tiny part of Niigata. I'll work on this slowly when I'm free and take my time completing it.

With about an hour left until the appointment, I had Asahi head toward the Enchanter's location. I had the address, so it went in a straight line. And just as calculated, it arrived at the destination in about an hour.

▽▽▽

(Whoa, that's quite a mansion)

When I arrived at the address I was given, there was a Japanese-style house that was way bigger than I expected. They told me to land the drone in the garden where they'd be waiting, but the garden was like an actual garden/landscape.

Wow, I'm suddenly getting nervous.

I floated over the spacious garden and looked for Shinonome-san. I found two people standing by the veranda. One was definitely Shinonome-san. The other was wearing a white work wear— the kind that a swordsmith would wear. This must be the Enchanter.

I recalled Hayate and landed with both drones in front of the two people.

"Nice to meet you. I'm SS. I apologize for this unusual arrangement."

"Ah, SS-san! We were the ones who said it was fine to just send the drone, so don't worry about it!"

Shinonome-san, the poster child for being considerate, tried to put me at ease by telling me not to worry about the situation.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Shin Yotaro. I humbly request your patronage today."

This speech pattern with the white work wear—is this person from the Edo period or something!? Setting that joke aside, he seems to be quite a character. He looks to be around forty years old.

"Thank you, please take care of me."

After we finished our introductions, Yotaro-san led us across the garden to a small building at the end. It seemed to be Yotaro-san's workshop, with a metal worktable in the center of a space about twelve tatami mats in size, and shelves around the perimeter filled with metals and gems.

From what I'd heard beforehand, besides enchanting, they also do metal processing and create accessories. They apparently even sell accessories they've made themselves after enchanting them with attributes.

"So I just enchant that drone over there? And where is the enchantment stone?"

Hmm, so they call dungeon-produced gems "enchantment stones"? I landed Asahi on the worktable and took out the malachite from Storage, placing it beside the drone.

"Hmm, this is quite unusual. So this is what Lord Shinonome called Storage."

Yotaro-san had apparently heard about Storage from Shinonome-san beforehand. But actually seeing it in person still seemed to win out over the knowledge—it still surprised him. Yeah, I'd probably be surprised too if it wasn't my own skill.

"Seriously, it's like a cheating skill. And I heard the inside of this Storage has time frozen in it. I'm not joking—I'll be praying that SS-san doesn't go down the path of evil."

Shinonome-san said that with a wry smile, but I know it's not something to laugh off—it's a skill dangerous enough that it can't be fixed with a joke. I have no intention of going down the path of evil, but I need to be careful not to be tricked and used by others either.

"Still, there are many others who possess dangerous skills, so SS-san isn't uniquely dangerous or anything."

"Huh? Oh, thank you."

Ever since I obtained this skill, everyone's been telling me not to use it for evil, so I've naturally been treating this skill as dangerous. But that's right—when you think about it, high-rank explorers have way more dangerous skills. I'm not uniquely dangerous or anything.

Hmm, this might have been just a casual comment from Yotaro-san, but it was a real eye-opener for me. I couldn't help but thank him.

"Well then, let's begin the enchantment. Would you all step back a little?"

Following Yotaro-san's instructions, Shinonome-san took a step back. I also moved Hayate behind me.

Yotaro-san rolled up the sleeves of his white work wear and held the malachite with both hands. His arms, which were apparently pouring magic power into the malachite, trembled slightly, and sweat formed on Yotaro-san's brow as he made a strained expression.

Then, the malachite gradually began to glow yellow-green and lose its shape. Finally, the malachite, which had become a faint yellow-green light, was pressed against Asahi.

Then, for just a moment, Asahi glowed yellow-green and then returned to normal.

"It was successful. The name of the effect I've bestowed upon this drone is 'Wind Blade Wall.'"

Wind Blade Wall? What is that? Is it making some kind of wall out of wind?

"Um, excuse me. What kind of effect is Wind Blade Wall?"

I couldn't really understand what the effect was from just the name, so I asked Yotaro-san.

"Hmm, Wind Blade Wall is a effect that consumes magic power to generate multiple small wind blades with killing power in a vortex around oneself, dealing damage to anything that approaches."

...Huh? Killing power? Wind blades? It deals damage to anything that approaches? Could that mean...

"Um, so if I approach monsters with this Asahi, I can deal damage to them?"

"You're saying strange things. I believe I just explained it that way, did I not?"

Yes!! I never expected that Asahi would gain an attack method before Hayate! Could this possibly contribute greatly to leveling up!?

"Um, would it be okay to test it here?"

I couldn't contain my excitement, so I asked Yotaro-san. I wanted to verify immediately whether it could be activated using my magic power.

"Hmm, it would be a bit cramped in here. Let's go outside to test it."

"Yes! I'll do that!"

I moved Asahi and went outside through the door that Shinonome-san had opened for me. After raising the altitude a bit so as not to affect the surrounding trees, I sent magic power to Asahi.

(Please! Come to me, Wind Blade Wall!)

The moment I became aware of the effect, multiple small tornado-like things appeared around Asahi.

(It workedkkkkkk! This is it! My era has comeeeee!)

I couldn't help but jump up in the room and strike a guts pose. That's how shocking this event was.

I calmed my excited heart and returned to the two people who had been watching from outside, and to Hayate, which was floating beside them.

"It seems to have worked well."

"Really, thank you so much! I'm thrilled with the effect exceeding my expectations!"

I thanked Yotaro-san from the bottom of my heart.

"SS-san, there is one thing I'd like you to be careful about. Are you aware of the hierarchy of attributes?"

"Yes, I know. The one where fire is strong against wind and weak against water, right?"

"Yes, and wind is strong against earth and weak against fire. That applies to the world of enchantment as well. SS-san's drone has become wind attribute. In other words, it has become stronger against earth attribute attacks but weaker against fire attribute attacks. Please be especially careful around fire magic and fire attribute attacks."

Right, that's true. That was dangerous. I hadn't noticed.

"Thank you for telling me. I hadn't realized it myself."

"Haha, it seems it won't work well with my earth magic. Don't attack me with that drone!"

The atmosphere relaxed at Shinonome-san's joke. Thanks to that, I was able to calm down a little as well.

"Oh right, I'll be transferring the payment, but I brought these as thanks for both of you. Please have some if you'd like. They're sandwiches my mom made."

I thanked the two of them and took out the table with the sandwiches I had stored in Storage, placing it on the ground.

"Is this!? Isn't that super delicious sandwich! Thank you for including my share too!"

"Hmm, so this is the sandwich that Lord Shinonome praised so highly. I shall accept it graciously."

The two immediately started eating the sandwiches I gave them.

"Delicious! These sandwiches really are the best!"

It seems Shinonome-san has become a fan of Mom's sandwiches after the second time. Apparently he's become completely hooked.

"This is... I've never had a sandwich this delicious before. This is a fine gift indeed. I'm truly grateful."

It seems Yotaro-san liked it too. I was worried that since he's such a traditional Japanese-style person, he might not eat sandwiches, but that worry was unnecessary. As expected of Mom's sandwiches.

After the sandwiches were eaten in what felt like an instant, I thanked them again and sent Asahi straight to the Mount Fuji Dungeon.