Chapter 1-37 : The Girl And The Dark Elf Try The Otherworlder’s Magic Tool (part 1)
「After Gerald showed his true colors and betrayed my trust, I decided to leave his shop for good.」(Ingrid)
「So you left… Did you return home?」(Elle)
「No. I have disappointed my family, and I didn’t want to go back home. I decided to become an adventurer and travel around this country.」(Ingrid)
After leaving Gerald’s shop, Ingrid registered in the Adventurer Guild and became an adventurer. She then left the royal capital and started traveling around the country.
While going from town to town, she started doing simple quests such as collecting herbs, finding lost items, driving away wolves, and making potions until she was experienced enough to start doing more difficult quests like hunting dangerous monsters, guarding nobles from bandits, and searching for treasures in ancient ruins.
「I never thought that the archery skills I learned in my village for hunting would be useful in my adventure.」(Ingrid)
「You used a bow as a weapon?」(Elle)
「Yup. I was an archer, but I didn’t use an ordinary bow. I used the one I crafted.」(Ingrid)
「A magic bow?」(Elle)
「That’s right. My bow can shoot arrows of fire and wind. I could defeat powerful monsters in just a few shots with it back then.」(Ingrid)
「Defeating monsters while traveling around the country… You had an amazing adventure.」(Elle)
「Haha. I really did. But then I returned to this city.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid had been on an adventure for four years before she decided to return to the royal capital. Some things had changed when she got there.
「I was shocked when I arrived here. First of all, the quality of the air in this city had changed. It was kind of hard to breathe. However, the thing that shocked me the most was the magic stone vehicles. They didn’t exist when I left the city.」(Ingrid)
「I think I understand. I was surprised too the first time I saw them.」(Elle)
「Haha… No. It’s not that kind of surprise. I was surprised because… I knew those vehicles.」(Ingrid)
「What do you mean?」(Elle)
「When I returned to this city, Gerald’s shop had become even bigger and more successful than four years ago when I left. The reason was that he started selling a certain product while I was away. A product… that was made based on my blueprint… It became a big hit, especially among the nobles. Do you know what product I’m talking about?」(Ingrid)
「Umm, magic stone vehicles?」(Elle)
「Exactly.」(Ingrid)
「Ho, hold on… You said it was based on your blueprint… That meansー」(Elle)
「Yeah… Those vehicles were born from my idea…」(Ingrid)
「…..」(Elle)
Elle was flabbergasted. She stopped moving her hand that was holding the hammer and looked at Ingrid with eyes wide open.
「I see… That’s why you said you knew them. But… You said those vehicles were stupid.」(Elle)
「They ARE stupid… While I was still working in Gerald’s shop, I came up with the idea of making a magic-stone-powered vehicle. However, I didn’t submit it to Gerald for production because it still had many problems, such as high energy consumption and the exhaust gas that could cause air pollution. Because of that, I discontinued the research and put away the blueprint in my drawer. I decided not to touch it until I could figure out the solution. However…」(Ingrid)
「Gerald found the blueprint.」(Elle)
「Yeah… He found it and decided to start the production despite those problems… Argh! I should have brought it with me when I left! I was so mad back then that I forgot about it and left it in my drawer!」(Ingrid)
「That’s so unfortunate… Did you try to talk with Gerald about that?」(Elle)
「Of course I did. I came to his mansion, which had gotten bigger, but his gatekeepers immediately kicked me away the moment they saw me. Seems like he really didn’t want to see me. Well, even if I could speak with him, there was nothing I could do. The magic stone vehicles were my idea, but he was the one who had the patent for them. After he found my blueprint, he reached out to rich people to be his investors and built a factory to mass produce those vehicles.」(Ingrid)
「So… The manufacturer of those troublesome vehicles was Gerald…」(Elle)
「Not only him. I heard that he worked with some other people and hired skilled magic tool engineers.」(Ingrid)
Remembering all those humiliating experiences, Ingrid couldn’t help but sigh.
She then felt a huge regret. She held her head with both hands and continued.
「Well… You can say that the magic stone shortage and the air pollution in this city are happening because of me…」(Ingrid)
「What? No, it’s not your fault! It’s because of Gerald and the other greedy manufacturers!」(Elle)
「Haha… Thank you for saying that. You make me feel a bit better.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid had felt nothing but upset since she returned to the royal capital. She was working on her research in her cheap rented house while pretending not to notice the magic stone vehicles running down the streets every day.
「That man, Gerald… He made tons of money from your ideas, but he treated you like a throwaway… What an evil man!」(Elle)
Imagining how frustrated Ingrid was, Elle unconsciously held the hammer tighter and slammed it onto the chisel with full force.
ーCrack!
「Aa…」(Elle)
It then made a huge crack in the rock and revealed the magic ore inside.
「Ugh, I almost scratched it.」(Elle)
「Almost, but you did it! You found the ore!」(Ingrid)
It took Elle about one hour while listening to Ingrid’s story to finally find the magic ore inside the rock. She then carefully chipped away the rest of the rock covering it and then extracted it.
「Phew…I got it.」(Elle)
「You really can extract a magic ore! You’re still young, but you’ve mastered the technique perfectly!」(Ingrid)
「I just simply performed what my master taught me.」(Elle)
「And that’s what makes you amazing. Truly a remarkable work!」(Ingrid)
「Thank you.」(Elle)
Elle was so happy. She couldn’t hide her smile when Ingrid praised her.
Thinking she might blush if she kept listening to Ingrid, Elle observed the magic ore closely to shift her attention.
「Hmm… This is a fine magic ore. Are you sure I can keep it?」(Elle)
「I told you you could have it, didn’t I? It’s no use for me anyway.」(Ingrid)
「Thank you.」(Elle)
Elle nodded and put the magic ore in her magic bag.
「By the way, where did you get this rock?」(Elle)
「Someone sold it to me. He said he found it in a ruin. I can’t detect magic ores, but this rock caught my attention for some reason, so I bought it. Oh, right. Speaking of a ruin, I haven’t told you the reason why I came back to this city, have I?」(Ingrid)
「No. Does it have to do with a ruin?」(Elle)
「Yes. A huge discovery I found in a ruin triggered me to return to this city. If I didn’t find it, I might still be traveling around this country as an adventurer now.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid found an ancient ruin on her journey while she was traveling across a jungle. She decided to enter, thinking she might find something valuable.
Her instinct was right. The thing she found inside was more valuable than she thought.
「What did you find?」(Elle)
「I found a scribble on a wall. However, it was not just a random scribble. It was actually a blueprint of a magic tool.」(Ingrid)
「So, someone drew a magic tool blueprint on a wall in an ancient ruin? Why would someone do that?」(Elle)
「I don’t know. Perhaps that ruin used to be some kind of laboratory or workshop a few hundred years ago. Anyway, the moment I saw that blueprint, my craftsman blood boiled. I had been an adventurer for so long that I forgot my true passion was crafting magic tools. Before I left the ruin, I transcribed the blueprint on the wall onto paper. After that, I decided to return to this city, got my own workshop, and tried to craft the magic tool in that blueprint.」(Ingrid)
「I see. What kind of magic tool was that?」(Elle)
「Honestly, I don’t really know myself.」(Ingrid)
「What? You made it, right?」(Elle)
「To be exact, I’m still trying to make it. I haven’t finished it yet. There were foreign characters written on the wall along with the blueprint, and I think it’s an ancient language. The problem is that I can’t read them. I’ve been trying to make the magic tool based on the picture alone while ignoring all the texts.」(Ingrid)
「Ancient language? What kind?」(Elle)
「Wait… You can read ancient text?」(Ingrid)
「It depends. There are many kinds of ancient languages after all. Perhaps it’s the one I can read.」(Elle)
「W, wait here! I’ll go get the papers!」(Ingrid)
Ingrid looked so excited knowing Elle might be able to help her.
She dashed into the back room and returned with a stack of paper.
「Here’s the copy of the blueprint. Can you read it?」(Ingrid)
「Ah, I see. It’s indeed an ancient language. It’s called ‘Japanese’.」(Elle)
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