The owner of the tool shop is a woman named Arisa, resembling a glamorous witch with glasses, her ears slightly pointed. With orange-brown hair and silver-blue eyes, she wears a black long dress that shows off her cleavage and elbow-length gloves—this should give you a good idea of her appearance.
Her glasses seem to be magical tools for appraisal, and she sometimes switches them out depending on what she’s looking at. Apparently, those with good appraisal capabilities can be quite exhausting to wear.
In this world, hair and eye colors vary greatly, and appearances are quite different from what I was used to. As expected, there are beastmen, and it’s clear that things have changed from before.
“First, what you need to do is secure your means of living and learn about this world. Then, you need to leave this town soon,” she declares.
“Eh, how cruel!”
An early declaration of being kicked out!
“It can’t be helped; your [Sacred Marks] are too strong. Just being here gathers a considerable amount of mana, doesn’t it? The tool shop has many items imbued with strong mana, so I can give you a bit of leeway.”
I’ve made my [Sacred Marks] too strong…?!
My plan to live lazily in town is already on the verge of collapse. What does that mean? As the Demon King, I’m almost sealing away my mana gathering!
“You can either live in a place with strong mana or in a town where many mana-rich materials are brought in—though in your case, the latter option is a bit precarious…”
Arisa glances at me seductively.
What she’s saying isn’t seductive at all. This is troublesome.
“If you want to live in town because you’re lonely, it’s best to have houses in both places.”
“Isn’t that quite a distance to travel?”
Places with strong mana are usually also places where powerful monsters reside, making them far from town.
“It’ll be possible once you can make some magical tools. First, you’ll need a magical tool that creates barriers to keep monsters away so you can live in a mana-rich area.”
She folds one finger down.
Even if monsters are drawn to me, it’s not dangerous, but I’d prefer to keep things peaceful, so would it be necessary?
“A magical tool for moving between the mana-rich area and the town, or a restraint for controlling fast monsters.”
Another finger is folded down.
“Items you can sell to save up for a house in town.”
The third finger folds down.
Is three enough?
“Lastly, magical tools or methods to build your own house in the mana-rich area.”
She bends all her fingers, opening them in order and bending them again.
“That’s a lot…!”
It seems like the road ahead is long, but time is short.
“It’s fine. Your [Sacred Marks] are strong. For now, I’ll teach you the basics of potion-making so you can create a ‘Healing Potion.’ There are plenty of adventurers in this town, so you can sell them easily.”
According to her, it seems like making “sellable items” can be done soon.
“I’d say you have about a year? I’ll help you gather materials during that time. However, stronger barriers require more expensive materials, and so do the magical tools for movement.”
Arisa smiles brightly.
“You want me to work like a draft horse…!”
I’m supposed to live lazily!
“If you just extract mana from your [Sacred Marks] without doing anything, you’ll weaken, and you won’t be able to stay in town. But that wouldn’t allow you to live, would it?”
Arisa looks at me as if to say, “How do you plan to make money? Just leeching off someone?”
“…I’ll earn money.”
My lazy life will start after I build my house!
I first learn to make a standard healing potion from Arisa, which also serves to teach me how to handle tools. Judged as safe, I quickly moved on to making a ‘Healing Potion.’
While changing the mana contained in materials into ‘good items,’ I perform physical processing. To bring out the effects of the materials, both “handcraft processing” and “enchantment” are required. Sometimes, “enchantment” can involve processing.
“You’re quite skillful. There’s not much difference between the healing potion and the ‘Healing Potion’ in your hands,” Arisa says, watching me with admiration.
The only difference I can see is the shape of the herbs. There’s definitely a significant difference, right?
The difference between the healing potion and the ‘Healing Potion’ is that the latter closes wounds in an instant, while the former is just an ordinary blood-stopping agent.
So, I’ve become a draft horse. Well, I have plenty of mana to use, so I was able to produce more than the average person without too much stress. I’m not quite sure what the average is, but Arisa seemed a bit taken aback by the quantity I produced.
In this world, it seems like people either work hard individually to create high-quality fantasy items or work for a company producing goods, leading to a sort of polarization.
For example, standard healing potions are typically made by companies. The materials are purchased in bulk by large enterprises, making it hard to find other circulating materials, leading to fierce competition, and the items produced are often bought at low prices. It’s quite a harsh reality.
In other words, if you’re not particularly strong as an [Enchanter], it’s more stable to work for a company and produce uniform items while living as a salaryman. This applies to others with [Sacred Marks] as well.
Additionally, since more people consume mana just by being around, the surrounding mana can become diluted. Some places restrict the number of residents in towns because of this. As enchantments become more convenient, and more people gather in towns, the personal strength of individuals weakens.
However, if you go outside and hunt monsters or deal with mana-rich materials, it’s different; many people seem to prefer staying safe within town.
Towns are convenient. Yet, even so, there are still fewer items than before the mutation. Even with mass production, it ultimately relies on enchantment—turning mana into harmless forms requires manual labor. It’s like a home-based handicraft industry.
The differences beyond the amount available also significantly correlate to the skill of the [Enchanter] in terms of quality. The reason the clothing I received is somewhat stiff is due to the poor-quality materials, which can’t be used because the [Enchanter] is weak.
I’m glad I didn’t hold back on becoming strong as an [Enchanter]. I made my own clothes—or rather, fabric—and brought them to the tailor.
By the way, the mana-infused clothes I was wearing sold for a high price. However, the prices for materials I need for upcoming magical tools were quite steep!
My lazy life!
