I had a general chat with Francette, Layette-chan, and Emile as the members of "The Eyes of the Goddess." Well, they were not kids anymore, and a lot of time had passed, so there wasn't really any sorrow. We were all older now, and the time to be sad had long since passed, and it was all faded away— Besides, even if I were to meet them now, it wouldn't be like I could take care of them now that they're old people rather than orphans. I'd like to ask my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to do that. They must have produced many descendants! Ugh!
Now all they do was reminisced about old times and rejoiced in each other's good health. After talking and talking and talking until it was all gone, I gently returned the quiet remaining half of the "Voice Resonating Crystal Set" to my item box. Then, without saying anything to me as I laid down on the grass with my back to it, I heard the Reiko's sound also lying down in the grass. Probably with her back to me. ...Yeah, Reiko is that kind of girl. Reiko Kuon was one of the only two close friends I had. And now she's just Reiko. ...she's my best friend...
"Resurrection!"
The next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed. Reiko looked at me with a shocked expression, but I didn't care. We were not close enough to each other that she didn't know how tough I was and how quickly I bounced back. Animals woke up early in the morning, so Hang and Bad were already up. Should I give them breakfast and water? I felt like leaving as soon as I woke up might be bad for my health, so instead of taking out the pre-cooked food from my item box, should I start by boiling some water...? If I wanted to, I could just pour hot water directly into the pot, but that would be too unrefined. Well, that said, we didn't start by collecting firewood, we just used a micro cassette gas camping stove, so it was easy.
Just in case, I had various camping stoves that use alcohol, kerosene, gasoline, and so on, as well as wood stoves, which had been taken out as "containers" and put them in my item box, but for now I would just use the gas one. It was the easiest and most convenient —Why do I have so many different types of camping stoves (that also serve as cookers)? I had always wanted camping gear! I had never been on a camping trip, but I bought a few books on that kind of gear and read them thoroughly, so what's wrong with that?
...Water and pots come from the item box. It's a pain to create things like "pots filled with water" on the spot, and if you do that, pots just kept piling up— Even if it had infinite capacity, something like an item box filled to the brim with cheap pots and pans would be terrible.
And while eating the breakfast I had quickly prepared—
"Sorry about yesterday. I was just chatting with my old friends..." (Kaoru)
I had to apologize properly to Reiko. I knew she was not the type to care about something like that, but that's why. Yes, because it was someone for whom it was no problem even if you didn't apologize...
"No. For Kaoru, it was a farewell to important people. For me, I'll be with you forever, so it's only natural that you spent yesterday with them." (Reiko)
Yes, I knew Reiko would say that. When I died and I asked the God of Earth to say goodbye in my dream, there was only a short time. I was sure she knew very well what it meant to say goodbye—But there's a big difference between saying something and not saying it. Because my best friend understood me without me having to say anything, there were times when I wanted to put it into words properly.
Oh, that's right...
"Hey, with the magic power that Reiko got, can it produce things like food, camping equipment, guns, tanks, and other things?" (Kaoru)
Yeah, I had to ask that, right? Even though it was called magic, it probably wasn't the real "magic" that humans imagined. I think that, just like in my case, it would probably be handled by a subcontractor or sub-subcontractor of Celes, a "life form lower than Celes", or a high-performance autonomous machine (robot), which will perform some kind of scientific manipulation each time... Up until now, Reiko's magic was the water magic she used when we first met—the one to put out my burning fire—other than that, I hadn't seen any. Burn, good girl... wait, shut up!!
"I can't make it come out! That's not normal magic! It's so crazy, it goes beyond the realm of magic and is an 'anything goes' thing. Even if you I you I use any kind of magic, I mean fire magic, water magic, wind magic, earth magic, and the like. The "overly cocky ones" who can teleport, travel through time, or resurrect the dead are no good..." (Reiko)
"Ah, I thought so... So Celes wasn't that bad after all. Well, time and space are the most likely causes of distortion, so I guess that's to be expected..." (Kaoru)
For now, when I used bad words to describe Celes, I tried to be vague. If the wooden barrel got dropped on me again, I would be in big trouble—That's pretty painful.
And, as expected? After all, if you say "magic allows you to do anything without limits", then you can make anything, order things from Earth, and travel to and from Earth, if you say "creation magic", or "another world online supermarket", or "dimensional transfer", then you can make anything, order things from Earth, and travel to and from Earth. That would be unreasonable. I couldn't imagine that Celes would accept such conditions. Well, I guess it's just the ability to be like, "I'm so powerful." No, even so, if she can produce water and fire, outdoor activities will be no problem, and if she can use powerful offensive magic, we won't have to worry about being attacked by thieves. Her language comprehension and item box seem to be the same as mine... That's cheating!! Well, I don't think I want to be the one to say that...
I could probably make one. A tank-shaped container, or a gun-shaped container, or something—Even if I got it, I didn't know how to use it. Maybe Celes learned her lesson from what happened with me and had wised up and was now not giving out such terrible cheats—but even just the item box is a terrible cheat. It would be fatal to the logistics industry— But, well, it's not a problem as long as we don't start a business that takes advantage of that. In this world where magic had only been observed in "Small-scale experiments in laboratories," the magic that Reiko could use was enough to be considered cheating. And—
"In this world, wouldn't Reiko's magic be considered a 'witch' or the 'work of the devil' and would people be persecuted or hunted?" (Kaoru)
"Ah……" (Reiko)
In a world where magic was virtually non-existent, we used fire and water magic. Moreover, it was mainly for destructive and offensive purposes. And in this world, goddesses exist, so demons were also thought to exist, even though they didn't actually exist, and no one had ever seen one.
"..." (Both)
Oh no.
"......" (Both)
That was too dangerous...
Although I had gotten myself into a lot of trouble, I had been helped by many people and had been able to live a fairly easy life because I was thought of as a servant of Celes. But what if I was now thought of as the exact opposite, a servant of the devil, the enemy of Celes? Yep, it's the start of a fun witch-hunting party. Cooking would include grilling (barbecue) and such...
"Unless you are in a completely safe position or can be sure that all witnesses are killed, never use magic in public! ...Except in emergencies." (Kaoru)
Nod nod
Yes, it seems that Reiko also feels a sense of crisis, which is good news. But then, with "two unescorted underage girls traveling in a carriage," we became the perfect prey for not only thieves, but also ordinary merchants, travelers, and even villagers who normally go about their daily lives and might think of something nasty... After all, just the carriage and two horses is a considerable amount of money. And two young girls, of course, must be rich, foolish girls who didn't care about the danger. In other words, we had cash and jewels, got a lot of ransom, or sell us to human traffickers— ...No, we're far too tasty as prey.
No, that's how it was naturally. We won't know whether Reiko's magic will scare the enemy away until after they've attacked us. Yes, by nature, we were the perfect prey. Oh, haha! ...No way!!
This was no good, we had to do something. For both, "making it harder for us to be attacked" and "eliminating the enemy so that we don't get into any trouble even if we are attacked".
"Okay, let's strengthen our weapons!" (Kaoru)
Yes, that was all. However, even though there were only two young girls inside, the carriage looked like it would be hesitant to attack, and it would not stand out if it were to enter town as it was. The hurdle was high—Hmm, what should I do...?
As Reiko and I were discussing various things in horse language, trying not to leave Hang and Bad out, Hang called out to us from behind.
"Um, so even if we don't try to force ourselves to use just one carriage, is it okay to switch between driving on the highway and when entering a city?" (Hang)
"Ah……" (Kaoru + Reiko)
I never thought I would lose to a horse in terms of intelligence...
Thus, we ended up using three different carriages.
"Panzer" was a combat armored vehicle for traveling on highways. The interior was almost identical to that of the Merkava, and the exterior looks like a military armored carriage, with spears and swords ostentatiously mounted on the exterior.
Yes, it was a bluff that if something happened, soldiers would jump out and fight with it. It would be a pain to take long spears and swords in and out of the vehicle, so they were tied to the outside of the vehicle...
And there were gun ports in every direction. Of course, instead of bullets, Reiko's fire and water magic were fired from there. Magic attacks don't really require loopholes, but this was just a deception to cover up the fact that it spurted mist of oil out of the holes and started a fire, or that it used a pump to forcefully spurt water out. The details were classified and refused to be explained.
Let's use the Merkava when it's not too dangerous or when we're traveling together with other carriages. It shouldn't stand out too much compared to the other carriages...
And then there's the Penelope, a small, stylish carriage for use around town, like those used by mid-ranking merchant families. Contrary to its name, it had four wheels, not six.
Ok, ready! Let's set off towards the east!!