Magic Stone Workshop 1-4

 

Chapter 1-4 : The Girl And The Cat’s Homemade Pancakes

 

The next morning, Elle smelled something sweet when she woke up.

Without changing her pajamas, she went downstairs and saw Yoyo cooking something for breakfast in the kitchen.

「Good morning, Yoyo.」(Elle)

「Good morning, Elle.」(Yoyo)

「What are you making?」(Elle)

「Pancakes!」(Yoyo)

While answering, Yoyo moved the pan and rotated the pancakes with Levitation Magic.

He put the fluffy dough on the plate in three layers. After that, he placed a bit of butter and poured some honey on the top.

The honey-covered butter then melted in the heat of the pancakes and shone golden.

「It’s done! Let’s eat!」(Yoyo)

「Un!」(Elle)

Looking at those gorgeous pancakes made Elle’s stomach growl.

She sat in her chair, picked up her knife and fork, and cut the pancakes on the plate into a bite-sized piece.

It was so fluffy that she almost felt like she was cutting jelly.

She stabbed the piece with her fork and put it in her mouth.

「Mmm~ It’s so soft and sweet!」(Elle)

Elle had never left the forest but she thought that Yoyo’s pancakes were the best in the world.

It had been quite a while since the last time she ate it.

「Yoyo, your pancakes are delicious as always!」(Elle)

「Of course~」(Yoyo)

Yoyo wasn’t a talented chef or something, but he was a caring cat. He learned how to cook to make Moritz and Elle happy.

Today, Yoyo thought of cheering Elle up so he decided to make some pancakes for breakfast.

After finishing her breakfast, Elle went to the workshop in the basement to start working today.

She sat on her wooden chair and took out the magic ores she collected yesterday from her magic bag.

「You have so many magic ores.」(Yoyo)

「I would have had more if you didn’t rush me to get home yesterday.」(Elle)

「Well, the sun was about to set.」(Yoyo)

「You’re such a worrywart.」(Elle)

「I wouldn’t be if you were not so careless, you know?」(Yoyo)

Elle pouted at Yoyo for a second in response to what he said and started working.

First, she put a large clay pot, which was almost the same size as her body, on top of the magic circle drawn on the floor. She then put the magic ores in it and filled it with purified water.

Next, she poured her mana into the magic circle on the ground while stepping on it, and then started stirring the water as fire was lit on the bottom of the clay pot.

「Zubola Magic, huh? Elle, you’re really getting better at it」(Yoyo)

「Well, I had the best master in the world.」(Elle)

Zubola Magic was a technique of activating a magic circle by stepping on it.

To do it, you can’t just step on the magic circle with your bare foot. There’s a trick to this technique.

There was a small magic circle engraved in the sole of Elle’s shoes, so when she rubbed it against the magic circle on the floor while pouring her mana through it, it would activate the spell recorded in the magic circle on the floor.

The process of boiling magic ores with purified boiling water was necessary to purify them because natural materials such as magic ores were contaminated sometimes.

Magic stones made from contaminated magic ores might go out of control and suddenly explode, so purifying them was very important.

After the purification process was completed, Elle took out the magic ores from the clay pot and dried them with a towel so that they were ready for the next step.

Today, Elle planned to make fire magic stones, which were the type of magic stones that people used the most.

They could be used to light stoves, create fireplaces, and used as light sources.

「Elle, don’t you still have a lot of fire magic stones in your magic bag? Why do you want to make more?」(Yoyo)

「The ones in my magic bag are Master’s. I made them for him. The ones I’m going to make now are for sale. I’m planning to sell them to the people in the nearby village.」(Elle)

「You mean that village!? But Moritz and Hugo told you not to go there and you promised them not to, didn’t you?」(Yoyo)

「Yeah, but they never told me the reason why I can’t go to that village. Master died last night, and Dad has gone missing. The people I made that promise to are no longer here with me.」(Elle)

「That’s true, but…」(Yoyo)

「Yoyo, please don’t tell me not to go there too. I know Master and Dad told me not to for a reason, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine. My promise to Master and Dad is important, but I can’t just stay here forever. Besides, I need to make a living, or else we’re going to starve here. I can’t go to the town since it’s too far from here. That village is the only human settlement around here.」(Elle)

「You’re… not wrong, but… I still don’t think going to that village is a good idea.」(Yoyo)

Elle was able to live until now thanks to her father, Hugo, who went to the royal capital to work every six months.

Ever since he stopped coming home two years ago, Moritz was the one who had taken care of Elle. He prepared everything Elle needed to live.

「Master never told me about it, but how did he get daily necessities for us? Did he leave the house when I collected magic ores in the mine? But…」(Elle)

Moritz hated people. It was hard to imagine him going to the village to buy daily necessities.

「So he never told you about it? He never left the house, you know?」(Yoyo)

「Then, how did he…」(Elle)

「Moritz was a magician who could turn fairies into his servants. He told a fairy who could take human form to buy our daily necessities every two months.」(Yoyo)

「I never knew…」(Elle)

Elle wondered if that fairy was one of the fairies that Moritz kept in one of the magic picture books she burned last night.

「I’m not Master. I can’t turn fairies into my servants… Say, Yoyo, can you transform into a human?」(Elle)

「I’m sorry, but I don’t have such power. I would have gone to the town to buy you something if I did.」(Yoyo)

「I see. Then I have no choice but to go sell my magic stones and make a living myself, right?」(Elle)

「That’s… You’re right…」(Yoyo)

Now that they had come into conclusion, Elle continued making fire magic stones.

She would need a special fire to make fire magic stones.

First, she used a magic brush to draw a magic circle on the transmutation table and sprinkled iron sand, which was fire spirits’ favorite food, on top of the table. After that, she chanted a spell.

「Rise and burn ーPhotia!」(Elle)

After the fire appeared on the magic circle, she carefully placed a magic ore that had been purified into the flame using steel thongs.

The gray magic ore gradually turned red as it was burned in the special flame.

When it became half-translucent like a red crystal, the fire magic stone was complete.

All that was left was to wait for it to cool down while enchanting other magic ores.

She kept repeating the process until she turned all the magic ores she had into fire magic stones.

「Phew… Not bad. They’re looking great.」(Elle)

「How much do you plan to sell each stone for?」(Yoyo)

「Hmm…」(Elle)

Moritz bought Elle’s magic stones for a copper coin if it was of poor quality, a silver coin if it was of decent quality, and a gold coin if it was of good quality.

However, Elle remembered Moritz told her that it wasn’t the standard price of magic stones out there.

「I’m afraid no one wants to buy them if I sell them at a high price, but I don’t want to sell them too cheaply either… I think I will try selling them for ten copper coins each and see how people react. If they say it’s too cheap, I can raise the price, and if they say it’s too expensive, I can just lower the price.」(Elle)

「Good thinking. But… Are you sure you want to go to that village?」(Yoyo)

「Geez. I told you I’m going. Honestly, I don’t want to break my promise with Master and Dad, but I have to.」(Elle)

Hugo left Elle with no assets. She didn’t have anything valuable to sell in her house. She still had some clothes her dad bought at the royal capital, but those were all she had.

On the other hand, Elle didn’t know how much money Moritz had, and neither did she know where he kept it.

Even if she had the money Moritz left, she didn’t think it would last for long. In the end, she had to start to make a living by herself.

After putting all the freshly made fire magic stones in her magic bag, she prepared to go out.

「Well then, Yoyo, I’m going now. I will be back before dark.」(Elle)

「Eh? W-Wait! I didn’t say I would stay, did I? I’m going with you!」(Yoyo)

「You’re worrying too much, but… Alright, then. Let’s go!」(Elle)

Elle and Yoyo left the house and went through the forest, heading to the village for the first time.

 

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