Chapter 1-5 : My Shop Is… (part 2)

 

After seeing off Ells-san, I continued weeding until I reached the door.

I took out the key from my pocket, inserted it into the keyhole and twisted it.

Clackー

Unexpectedly, the door opened smoothly without rattling.

I looked around the inside.

「…..Hoo. It’s not as dirty as I expected」

I thought it would be quite dusty, but the floor was unexpectedly clean.

There were shelves lined up, so it seems this was the store space, but there was only a little dust here.

「Hmm. This was an alchemist’s store, so I wonder if the previous owner made a『Cleaning』seal for this store」

Normally, when you want to create an artifact, you have to put the object in an alchemy pot and forge it.

Then, what if you want to make an artifact that doesn’t fit in an alchemy pot?

In that case, you will be using the “seal” method.

However, the procedure is more complicated than just using an alchemy pot.

If you just want to make a simple artifact, you can make it by just writing a pattern with a special paint.
But, to make a more complicated artifact, you have to embed multiple other artifacts in a specific place according to the seal.

For example, if you want to turn a house into an artifact, you have to consider the location of the rooms, the corridor, the purpose of the rooms, the existence of windows or chimneys, ect, because these things are parts of the seal.

And with this method, it’s even possible to turn the entire city into an artifact.

However, other than it’s more complicated than using an alchemy pot, there are also major disadvantages in using the ‘seal’ method.

First of all, it’s very inefficient.

You will need more cost and higher alchemist skills to use this method.

Moreover, it had to be regularly maintained and replenished with magical power.

Therefore, it’s not a method that is commonly used nowadays.

But on the other hand, it is still worth using in an alchemy store.

「In Master’s store case, the core was on the wall of the workshop, but…」

“Core” is the base point of the seal, and is the most important part.

However, it’s only used when you want to replenish the magical power, so it’s usually installed in a place where it won’t get in the way yet easy to find.

For now, I decided to search for the core while opening the windows to exchange the air.

The counter was on the right-back of the store space, and behind the counter, there was a door.
I walked toward the counter and opened the door, and there was a corridor extended straight to the back.

On the right side of the corridor, there were windows facing outside.
On the left side, there were four doors and a staircase leading up to the second floor.
And there was a door at the end of the corridor.

I opened the doors one by one and took a peek at all the five rooms.

「This is… just a normal room. The other one is… the warehouse? There are shelves, so yeah. This one is the toilet. And this one is the workshop. The last room is… the kitchen, huh. Oh? Found the core~」

There was a magic stone embedded in the outer wall of the kitchen under the staircase.

At a glance, it looked like an ordinary stone. There was no mark or anything.
But, the magical power was flowing from this stone to the entire building, and an alchemist like me can easily notice it.

「Hmm. It almost empty」

The magical power flowing out of the magic stone was extremely small, only enough to maintain the seal.

I think it would be empty in another year, and the seal itself would stop working once it’s empty.

「……For now, let’s replenish it」

Not to brag, but if it comes to the amount of magical power, I’m confident I have a lot.

Maybe this is one of the reasons why Master hired me to work part-time at her store five years ago.

Sometimes, I also replenished the core in Master’s store, so I’m used to doing it.

I touched the magic stone on the kitchen wall, and gently let the magical power flow, then the pattern of the seal appeared around the magic stone.

「As I thought. It was『Cleaning』seal… Eh? Wait. There’s another seal… This is…『Crime Prevention』seal?」

There was a practical lesson about this at school.
They didn’t teach us about a large seal to use in a house like this though, but I still can read it a little.

It seems this seal was made by a skilled alchemist.
It was complicated, but I could know that the『Cleaning』was the main, and the『Crime Prevention』was the sub.

Although there were some parts that I couldn’t read, there should be no problem with this seal, so I poured more and more magical power in it.
But…

「……..Uhh… This core has a lot of capacity…」

After I poured about half of the total amount of my magical power, I released the magic stone and took a break.

I’m shocked a little.
I’m quite confident with the amount of my magical power.
But even after I poured half of it, this core was still not full.

Yes, I’m still a novice, but even Master was surprised by the amount of my magical power, you know!

The capacity of this core is just ridiculous!

「…..Oh well. The seal is still working fine even if it’s not full, so I’ll just add the rest little by little next time」

As long as the function of the seal was restored, I don’t have to force myself to fill it up.

If I used all my magical power, I wouldn’t have the energy to do the cleaning today.

Since this will be my new home, I have to do my best cleaning this place!

Today, at least I want to clean the bedroom and the kitchen.

 

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