“Fwaaah…”
Father woke up, his face showing a terrible hangover.
“You drank too much.”
“What’s wrong with indulging now and then… Ow, ow…”
He clutched his head as he sat down on a chair.
“No breakfast for me today. Instead, bring me a hair of the dog.”
“Husband, that’s not good for you. At least have some soup.”
“I have no appetite.”
“Then no hair of the dog either.”
“Come on, have a heart!”
Father slumped over the table, clasping his hands together in plea.
“Oh, fine…”
Mother looked troubled but eventually gave in and brought out some alcohol.
“Speaking of which, the stuff in the bag yesterday was pepper, right? How did you get your hands on such a luxury item?”
“I brought it with me from our previous house.”
“I see. Thanks for that—it made the meat even more delicious.”
Father smiled warmly, clearly recalling the delicious meal, but then suddenly covered his mouth and dashed out of the dining room. Looks like it’s going to be a rough day for him. Hang in there!
Today, I took a stroll through the village.
“Master Toma, out for a walk?”
“Yeah, just looking around the village.”
“Strolling through the village is fine, but don’t go outside. There are monsters out there.”
“Got it!”
Thanks to Ben using me as an excuse to grab the best meat at the meat festival, many villagers now recognize my face. I’m not very outgoing, but when people approach me, I can at least manage a conversation. It’s nice that people feel comfortable talking to me.
While walking, I noticed several holes in the rocky cliffside.
“What are those?”
“Those are old mining tunnels,” a voice suddenly answered.
“Whoa!” I jumped, startled by Ben’s unexpected appearance.
“Since when have you been here?”
“Since about in front of the carpenter Barz’s place.”
That was 30 minutes ago!? This village may be small, but walking around still covers a decent area. Is Ben a ninja or something?
“I didn’t notice you at all.”
“Ha ha ha, I’m good at erasing my presence for pranks.”
“You’re weirdly skilled at that just for pranks!?”
“Don’t underestimate pranks. I take them seriously.”
That’s nothing to brag about…
“Anyway, those were mines?”
“Yeah. They used to extract iron and stuff.”
“Interesting.”
“Follow me—I’ll show you inside.”
Ben was energetic as ever, grabbing my hand and pulling me along. His actions were a bit pushy, but there wasn’t any malice behind them.
“This way.”
We slipped through a broken wooden fence.
“Ben, you’re late!”
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
Eight kids were already there, waiting. It seemed this was their playground.
“All right, everyone! Today, we’re exploring the tunnels!”
“Yeah!”
Ben raised a wooden stick in triumph.
“Here it is.”
A worn-out sign read “Third Tunnel.”
“Hey, Sharmy, give us some light.”
“Okay!”
A girl a bit older than me, around eight years old, with pink-gold hair and deep blue eyes, cast a spell.
“Great Light God, Lightruide, hear my prayer. Light!”
A glowing orb appeared, illuminating the tunnel.
Sharmy had the blessing of a Light Magician, so she could use light magic. The spell she cast, Light, was one of those abilities.
For reference, Ben had the Fire Warrior blessing, with a rank of C and the fire attribute.
By the way, here are the Twelve Gods:
- Supreme God & God of Abundance (Earth): Nyrgnede
- God of Light: Lightruide
- God of Darkness: Darklan
- God of Fire: Flaius
- God of Water: Aqualiel
- God of Wind: Windia
- God of War: Nomass
- God of Magic: Magikool
- God of Time: Crocus
- God of Thunder: Doras
- God of Craftsmanship: Shylie
- God of Space (the useless one): Tilairia
With a total of ten of us, we entered the third tunnel. The temperature inside was slightly warmer than outside—about 15°C compared to the 10°C outside.
“Hey, Ben, what’s inside the tunnel?”
“Probably some iron lying around, since it’s an old mine.”
He doesn’t actually know!?
“How many times have you been in here, Ben?”
“Today’s my first time.”
Given how confident he seemed, I assumed he was experienced…
“Just rocks everywhere. So boring.”
After about 10 minutes of walking, I heard complaints.
“All right, exploration over!”
That was quick!
Later, we played tag and hide-and-seek with the kids outside the tunnel. It felt good to reconnect with my inner child.
After morning sword practice, I decided to try converting something new: alcohol!
Father had stayed out drinking late after the meat festival and also enjoyed nightly drinks. He clearly loved alcohol, so I thought I’d make some as a gift.
But it didn’t work. It seems I can’t directly create alcohol through conversion.
“That’s disappointing…”
Still, I wanted to give him some sake. What to do?
“Ah, I know!”
If I can’t make alcohol directly, maybe I can create something necessary for brewing it.
And it worked!
Conversion Results:
- 1 kg of Horse Barley → 100 g of Ashud -Region Sake Malt: 50 Mana Points Consumed
Ashud -Region Sake Malt: Special malt made from horse barley to brew sake. It only works in the Ashud region; brewing outside turns it into poisonous alcohol.
I requested a malt that would make delicious sake from horse barley, even though I knew nothing about sake brewing. This malt worked exactly as I hoped. Plus, since it’s region-specific, there’s no risk as long as it’s brewed here. Perfect!
The first thing I needed was barrels. I asked Barz, the carpenter, to make three large barrels—each capable of holding about 72 liters.
Then, I gathered the village kids to help collect horse barley.
“What’s all this for?”
“I have a plan.”
“Well, since you gave us delicious candy, we’ll work hard, right, everyone?”
“Yeah!”
Their reward was syrup candy, which I could also create via conversion.
Conversion Results:
- 1 kg of Horse Barley → 500 g of Syrup Candy: 500 Mana Points Consumed
Once we had the horse barley, we removed the husks by putting it in burlap sacks and hitting them with sticks. It required a careful balance—not too hard to avoid smashing them into powder. Thankfully, I could monitor it using my information conversion skill.
