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Chapter 44.1. Deception
Returning home, Sakimori opened his bulging backpack and spread the packed cores on the table. A considerable amount of cores spilled out, flowing with a rough texture.
“Ko-a!”
When he arrived home, the young girl who had been playing downstairs looked at him radiantly and walked over, grabbing the cores as if they were something rare and playing with them like juggling balls. So, this girl is here. well, it’s good. I’m afraid to rely too much on others. I’ve decided to walk on my own feet. It’s just for reassurance.
“Guhee~ It was heavy-nyaa!”
Karin, who had also packed her backpack full of cores, lowered her cat ears and drooped her tail, collapsing onto the sofa face down. She seemed quite tired.
Karin’s swaying tail as she collapsed facedown had a slightly seductive charm.
[Guhee~ It was heavy… Wan!]
I won’t look at the petite girl who wriggles her body, shakes her buttocks, and floats in the air. There’s no need to compete with her. She doesn’t have anything. She’ll turn bright red and run away if you touch her butt.
With a wry smile, Sakimori headed to the kitchen to take out a cup. The young girl happily followed him, intending to help.
“Here, take this, and also…”
I whispered a request secretly into the young girl’s ear.
“Aye!”
I handed her a tray with three cups on it, and with a smile, the young girl carried the tray back to the living room. That should be enough as my thanks.
After listening and responding to Shizuku’s simple suggestion. I looked for something else. I took a canned mandarin orange from the shelf, focused his mana, and used magic.
[Cold Air]
He murmured a word, and a chilling air surrounded the faded text on the can of mandarin oranges. It instantly became cold. He then flicked his index finger, directing it toward the living room. The cold air flowed through the room, providing a coolness similar to an air conditioner.
“Oh! What’s this? It’s cool-nya!”
Karin, who had been lying limp on the sofa, jumped up in surprise. She was amazed at how it had become cold without any ice pillars. That’s right, that’s right.
“I extracted only the phenomenon of cold. It cools down like this, and the walls won’t get moldy.”
Magic is just a phenomenon, as Shizuku said. It clicked with me. You can create only the phenomenon, such as a cold.
“You can do that… You’re still a weird magician-nya. So, what are the benefits of extracting only the phenomenon-nya?”
“The walls won’t get moldy. And this has about the same effect as placing ice pillars. So it will stay cool for about four hours.”
“… … …”
“… … …”
“Anything else?”
“No, there isn’t. It’s more versatile to create fire or ice than extracting phenomena.”
You can set your clothes on fire or seal your body with ice. There’s not much meaning in just extracting phenomena.
“Thanks for the air conditioner magic-nya.”
“You’re welcome.”
Sakimori accepted Karin’s ambiguous compliment with a straightforward attitude. He didn’t know if it was meant as a compliment.
“It’s tea time!”
He used magic to make the blessed water gush out of the neglected silver cup, and the young girl poured it into the cups, offering it to Hanako with a smile.
“Ah, thanks-nya… Why did you pour water from that silver cup-nya?”
“For the shrine!”
Karin’s mouth twitched involuntarily at the young girl’s cheerful smile. I had told Karin earlier that I found the silver cup in the dungeon. Perhaps the young girl’s actions were requested by some old man in secret.
From her attitude, I could be confident that Karin didn’t know the capabilities of this silver cup. I secretly chuckled inside.
“Thanks-nya. Is it safe, though?”
“Well, it should be. It smells nice and citrusy.”
Sakimori ruffled the head of the young girl who had properly divided the tea for the three and thanked her. When he sniffed the tea, it had a citrusy scent, similar to lemon water.
He opened the canned mandarin and added the juice and mandarin pieces to fill the cups.
“Blessed silver cup, huh…?”
Sakimori took a sip but didn’t find anything strange. He felt slightly lighter, so he thought it might have a health benefit. He didn’t drink it all and divided it into thirds. The effect probably gets diluted.
“Hmm… it doesn’t seem to have much power, huh? Well, it’s just something that came out of the Mothman’s box, after all.”
Karin cautiously sipped the tea bit by bit but found nothing abnormal. She then drank it all at once.
She chewed on the mandarin and licked her lips with her tongue to savor the taste, confirming what had happened to her. However, she concluded that it didn’t have any significant effect.
“I went through all this trouble to get it, but it’s just that? Well then, as thanks for carrying the cores this far, I’ll give it to you.”
Sakimori sighed in disappointment and tossed the silver cup to her. Karin quickly caught it and looked at him to confirm.
“Is it okay? It’s still a silver cup, you know?”
“There’s no use for it in the abandoned town. With that amount of silver, I’ll make it circulates in this market someday.”
He let out a soft yawn, showing his fatigue. After all, he had conquered the dungeon. He was tired.
“You must be tired. I’m heading back now, but before that, one last thing. What did you obtain from the dungeon cores this time?”
As Karin playfully asked, Sakimori felt a cunning intention behind her gaze.
He glanced sideways at Shizuku, his lovely partner, who quietly whispered a single word.
“Non-magic.”
He conveyed exactly what Shizuku had said to Karin. The cat girl listened to those words and had a look of pity on her face. It was a skill that Sakimori had obtained by using the Equivalent Exchange Store in the kitchen to convert the dungeon cores.
“Oh dear, another miss. Non-magic mostly supports magic-nya. It’s useful for things like [Strength], [Defense], or if you’re lucky, [Mana Weapon], which allows you to create a sword made of mana-nya. But for someone like Sakimori, who isn’t a swordsman, there’s no use for it-nya.”
“Another miss, huh? That’s a shame. I’m going to take a nap now, so that’s it for me. See you later, Karin.”
Stretching his neck tiredly, Sakimori bid farewell, and Karin waved her hand as she left without much ado