Chapter 12

Arriving at the Herb Grove, I started gathering herbs.

Since I couldn’t just pull out any herb randomly considering the future, I pulled one from a dense area, then another from another dense spot—just doing that brought in twenty herbs.

“…It’s fun just watching them shrink.”

“Even for me doing it, it’s a strange sight.”

《Skill ‘Compression’ activated. Transforming target into chips.》

《Skill ‘Compression’ activated. Transforming target into chips.》

Each use of the skill consumes 1 magic power. If I run low, I’ll recover magic power with Mahoroba Grass—fortunately, it was growing all around.

“…Is it okay to recover by repeating this in a short period?”

“For now, it seems fine. Since doing it one by one takes time, I’ll try to do multiple at once.”

I placed two herbs on the ground and held my hand over them. Then I tried to compress them simultaneously—and then:

《Skill ‘Compression’ activated. ‘Herb x2’ transformed into ‘Herb +1’.》

“Huh…?”

“…Was it not successful? It looks like it worked.”

“N-no… It seems that instead of ‘compressing two things,’ it ended up having an effect like ‘combining two things into one.'”

“So, it means it was synthesized into one after compression?”

“Well, I’m not sure. Let me try restoring it for a moment.”

I restored the ‘Herb +1’ chip—indeed, even though I had compressed two herbs, only one remained.

“…This might be a ‘special herb.’ It has an aura stronger than a normal herb.”

“R-really? Can you tell such things, Nanami-san?”

“…Sort of.”

“Mew~”

The cat that had moved to Nanami-san’s shoulder meowed as if to interject, which was quite relaxing.

If it’s not a normal herb but ‘+1,’ it seems like it might have stronger effects. Nanami-san says ‘sort of,’ but it certainly looks somewhat different from a normal herb.

“…Can we compress ‘two herbs’ while keeping them as two separate items?”

“Alright, let’s try.”

Compressing two items independently—visualizing it that way, I activated the skill.

《Skill ‘Compression’ activated. Transforming target into two separate chips.》

“…Is it not possible to combine two things into one chip?”

“How about compressing them in a container?”

“That might be possible… but then we need a container that can hold two herbs.”

When compressing, you need to be careful, or two things might become one.

But then it raises the question: if ‘+1’ becomes ‘+2,’ could it become something more?

“Can I continue with a little experiment? I’ll end it for today after that.”

“Got it. I’ll gather lots of Mahoroba Grass.”

“Oh, right. I’ll try to see if I can make ‘Special Mahoroba Grass’ from ‘Mahoroba Grass.'”

“I’ll go gather some. How many should I get?”

“About ten for now.”

Nanami-san and I split up to gather Mahoroba Grass—using the ‘Search Glasses’ made it easy to find them.

“Are we going to compress all of these at once?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if it will work, though.”

“…It looks like it’s going to be something amazing.”

Nanami-san seemed to be quite excited about the compression—it’s a feeling I couldn’t ignore.

My magic power was fully restored, and the preparation was complete. I held my hand over ten Mahoroba Grass and started compressing them—turning ‘ten herbs’ into ‘one.’

《Skill ‘Compression’ activated. ‘Mahoroba Grass x11’ transformed into ‘Mahoroba Grass +9.’》

(Huh? Did I count wrong… wait… something’s different…!)

《Compressed 10 items and transformed the surplus into a ‘Small Magic Recovery’ orb.》

“Whoa…!?”

At the moment when multiple ‘Mahoroba Grass’ combined into one, a glowing phenomenon occurred—’Mahoroba Grass +9′ that was generated crackled with purple sparks but soon settled down.

And— the eleventh Mahoroba Grass wasn’t synthesized and was transformed into something else. Not a chip, but an orb the size of a pill.

“……”

“Nanami-san…?”

“…The word ‘amazing’ doesn’t seem enough now.”

“Ahaha… Well, it seems to have worked out. One wasn’t completely compressed and turned into something different, though.”

When I handed the ‘Orb’ to Nanami-san, she held it with her thumb and index finger and held it up to the moonlight.

“…It’s beautiful. This was made from Mahoroba Grass?”

“It seems so… It’s called an ‘Orb,’ and it has a magic recovery effect. If you wish to ‘use’ it, it will activate the effect, but it can only be used once.”

The moment the ‘Orb’ was created, I understood how it worked at the same time.

“…I thought magic recovery was only possible at night. With this, it might be usable during the day too.”

“I hope so. If we keep the synthesized Mahoroba Grass… ‘Mahoroba Grass +9,’ we should be able to make one orb for each Mahoroba Grass.”

“I think it’s a great invention. Potions for magic recovery are precious. If people find out they can be made from Mahoroba Grass, it would cause a panic.”

“Is that so… then let’s keep it a top secret.”

“…I’ll definitely keep it a secret. Fujwara…”

Nanami-san began to say something but stopped—her face behind the visor was hard to see, but I wondered what was up.

“…I won’t tell anyone if it might trouble Fujwara-kun.”

“Oh… um, even if you call me by my last name, it’s fine…”

“…Was it strange?”

“No, it wasn’t strange at all…”

I wondered if there was some change in her feelings. It seemed like a promise not to ask about it—Nanami-san is somehow elusive.

“If you weren’t here, I might have just been surprised by this and gone home.”

“I’m glad I could be of help. I also…”

“…Even Fujwara-kun?”

“Well. It’s more reassuring to be with two people than alone in the dark.”

“…You seem much stronger against scary things than I do.”

The gathering request I took out of curiosity about how silver coins could change meals ended up being completed safely.

The herbs converted into chips totaled 19, with one being converted into ‘+1.’ Additionally, there was one ‘Mahoroba Grass +9’ and a ‘Small Magic Recovery’ orb. I judged this to be useful, so I generated three more orbs.

By increasing my maximum magic power and preparing a case for storing chips, I should be able to bring back more harvest from each exploration.

What made me happiest was making a new acquaintance. Even if we’re in the same dorm and class, we might not have much chance to talk anymore depending on the situation.

“…I want to thank Fujwara-kun.”

“Thank?”

“Yes. Because you helped me back then too.”

“…Oh…”

I didn’t think she would remember, but Nanami-san did.

Even if I get strongly recruited next time, I’ll handle it somehow again—thinking so, but saying it out loud takes courage.

“Thank you.”

“I-it’s not like I did anything special…”

“…Hehe.”

When someone usually so cool and indifferent smiles, it seems to have double the impact.

“Fujwara-kun is… um, never mind.”

“When you say that, it makes me curious…”

Meanwhile, the cat Nanami-san was holding yawned.

Together, we walked back to the dorm, illuminated by the sparse streetlights and moonlight.