I created about four mini bear golems.
"Cute" (Lydia)
"A bear, huh?" (Zect)
Lydia-san and Zect-san commented as they looked at the mini bear golem. Marne-san was a little surprised and said, "You really like bears."
Since this was a delicate task, I moved the mini bear golems to check it out. Lydia-san looked curiously at the moving mini-bear golems.
"It's moving. Is this magic too?" (Lydia)
"You create it with earth magic and then move it. Yuna can do things like this, isn' she?" (Marne)
"I haven't seen many golems, are they difficult?" (Yuna)
"I think it's easy. What do you think?" (Marne)
Since I didn't know anything about the general world, I asked Marne-san.
"Unlike normal magic, there aren't many people who can use manipulation-type magic, so you don't see it very often. If you just want to defeat a monster, it's quicker to cast a spell than to create a golem." (Marne)
Certainly, once the magic was released it would be over.
"When it comes to the method, all I can say is that it depends on the person." (Lydia)
Lydia-san looked at the mini bear golem curiously, wondering if she was convinced.
"So, you're going to have the bear pick the explosive flowers, aren't you?" (Marne)
"If it's a golem, it's fine even if it explodes. Marne-san, just to be sure, do you know how to make it explode?" (Yuna)
"If I knew, I would have already collected them." (Marne)
"Then we have no choice but to conduct an experiment." (Yuna)
"Experiment?" (Marne)
"The flowers sway, they react to touch, they react to sound, and also temperature?" (Yuna)
Is that all I can think of?
When the flower was shaken, it exploded. Touching the flower caused it to explode. Did it explode when it sensed the sound of an animal passing by? Explosion when it senses the animal's temperature?
"Interesting point of view, isn't it?" (Marne)
"Once we know the reason for the explosion, we'll be able to collect it." (Yuna)
So I decided to do an experiment.
First of all, this was... cast a wind magic. The buds swayed, but there was no reaction.
Next, I moved the mini bear golems and slowly moved it into the flower. No reaction from the buds. I made them walked through the explosive flowers.
No response.
When they ran over it there was no response too. There was no reaction when they touched the flower.
"No reaction, huh?" (Marne)
Marne-san muttered as she looked at the mini bear golems next to her.
"I thought it would just explode if we got too close." (Marne)
I thought so too. However, even if I moved the mini bear golems, the explosive flower would not explode. Actually, wouldn't it explode even if you got close? Just then, a deer comes along, and the moment it stepped into the explosive flower, it exploded and the deer fell down.
"It exploded, right?"
"It did."
The only other thing I can think of is heat, but could flowers detect heat? Half in disbelief, I changed mana that moved the mini bear golems and made it heat up. The mini bear golems became hot. As they got hotter and hotter, the bud exploded.
"Yuna, what did you do? The bear wasn't moving, was it?" (Marne)
"I heated up that mini bear so that it had a body temperature just like animals." (Yuna)
"Heat... In other words, body temperature, huh?" (Marne)
"Maybe it was exploding in response to the body heat of a living thing, right?" (Yuna)
In other words, it's possible to collect them using mini-bear golems.
"But if it explodes due to the body heat of an animal, we can't bring it over here, right?" (Yuna)
Should I use earth magic to surround the flowers? But even if you took it home, it would explode once you canceled the earth magic.
"That'll be fine then." (Marne)
Marne-san said as she took out a flowerpot from her item bag.
"This flowerpot has the effect of removing mana." (Marne)
"Removing mana?" (Yuna)
"I didn't know why the explosive flowers exploded, but I knew that the source of the explosion was mana. Explosive flowers grow by absorbing the flesh, blood, and magic stones of dead monsters. The absorbed mana accumulates in the seeds inside the flower, causing it to explode. So, if you remove its mana, the explosions will stop." (Marne)
"So, if you had this flowerpot from the beginning, you would have been able to harvest it?" (Yuna)
Marne-san shook her head at my words.
"Even if this flowerpot existed, it would be impossible to collect any of the seeds. If you get too close, it will explode. But I wish the bears could collect the seeds and put them in this flowerpot." (Marne)
"It won't explode." (Yuna)
"That's right." (Marne)
I gave the flowerpot to a summoned mini bear golem.
"But there is such a flowerpot, huh?" (Yuna)
"Some herbs contain strong mana. If it's dangerous to use them as is, I'll remove its mana." (Marne)
There were so many things I didn't know. The mini bear golem holding the flowerpot dug into the ground and began to pick the explosive flower. They placed the harvested explosive flower in a flowerpot. All that's left was to bring it here.
"Is it really okay to bring it?" (Yuna)
"Right. Maybe we should wait about three minutes. Then its mana should be able to come out. To be sure, let the bear heat up, and if it doesn't explode, it should be fine." (Marne)
I decided to wait three minutes as instructed by Marne-san. Looking at the mini bear golems, Zect-san spoke.
"Even so, golems can do such detailed things." (Zect)
"That's because Yuna good at controlling them." (Marne)
I felt a little happy when I was being praised.
"There are two ways to handle a golem—command type and control type. Command type golems act exactly as they are told and do as commanded. You've probably heard of moving golems that are relics from the past." (Marne)
"Yeah, the one that attacks you when you try to take the treasure." (Zect)
"Yeah, it will defeat anyone who steals treasure or breaks into a room. It will faithfully do only what it is ordered to do. This is the command type. The advantage is that it will move on its own, but the disadvantage is that it will only do what it is ordered to do. It won't move even if mana runs out. And the control type is to control the golem and make it move. The advantage is that you can make it move the way you want it to. The disadvantage is that it will stop moving if you move away from it." (Marne)
Zect-san and Lydia-san nodded in admiration as Marne-san explained.
"Since she can make as many earth golems as you have, they're perfect for dangerous tasks like this, right?" (Marne)
About three minutes passed while listening to Marne-san's lecture on golems, then I raised the temperature of the mini bear golems and checked if the explosive flower exploded.
"Seems okay." (Yuna)
I had the mini bear golem carried a flowerpot with an exploding flower in it.
"For now, you three stand behind me." (Yuna)
"I can't let Yuna do anything dangerous alone." (Marne)
"I'll be fine. Besides, I'm Marne-san's guard, right?" (Yuna)
For me, the Bear Equipment would protect me.
"Yeah, but don't push yourself too hard." (Marne)
Marne-san obediently moved behind me. A mini bear golem came carrying a flower pot. I heard a gasp behind me. I slowly reached out and take the flowerpot. It didn't explode.
"I'll put it in my item bag." (Marne)
Marne-san popped her head out from behind me and put the flowerpot containing the explosive flower into her item bag.
"This should be fine. Thank you, Yuna." (Marne)
"Well then, since we're here, shall we gather some more?" (Yuna)
We needed the explosive flowers to reduce the monster numbers, but there were still plenty blooming. It should be fine to collect a little more. So, we ended up with about 10 exploding flowers. The mini bear golems had completed their role, so they could be crumbled and returned to the earth. "Ah," Lydia-san said that, looking a little sad.
"Yuna, I'll take the seeds buried in that bear too." (Marne)
The mini bear golems had seeds buried inside from the explosion of an explosive flower. Marne-san picked up seeds from the collapsed mini-bear golems.
"Thank you, Yuna. Thanks to you, I was able to learn the characteristics of explosive flowers." (Marne)
"But it seems like it would be hard to raise, isn't it?" (Yuna)
"We found out that body heat makes them explode, so there is a way to grow them. We can use golems, like Yuna did." (Marne)
"But what would you gain from studying such a dangerous flower?" (Yuna)
I didn't think it would be useful. It's just dangerous.
"It's only seasonal, but it can also be used to prevent intruders. Of course, we need to check things like how far it will react, how big it will have to grow before it explodes, and so on. Well, I plan to look into that slowly." (Marne)
Marne-san smiled evilly. I wish she'd stop making evil faces with her cute face. But just thinking about flowers exploding in a vase was scary.
"But explosive flower is a cheap name, right?" (Lydia)
"It's better to have an easy-to-understand name. What do you think if this flower was called Lydia's Flower?" (Marne)
"I think it's cute."
"If it were a Yuna flower"
"It's going to be a bear."
"Only you and those you know think that."
Surely.
"But if it was called the Explosive Flower, everyone would know it was explosive and dangerous. That's why, the more obvious the name, the better. The more dangerous it is, right?"
Well, sometimes things were named after their appearance. Some were named after the person who discovered them, but names based on their appearance were easier to remember.
Author's Note
They were able to collect the explosive flowers safely.
It would be scary to have this at the entrance to your house.
*We are currently accepting reservations for the paperback version of volume 11. The release date is October 4th. We will also continue to hold a lottery for acrylic stands, so thank you for your cooperation.
*Posting will occur every 4 days.
If I will be taking a break, this will be announced in the postscript, and if I am suddenly unable to post, I will let you know in an activity report or on X (formerly Twitter).
[Book release schedule]
Book volume 20.5 was released on May 2, 2024. (The next volume, volume 21, is planned and in the works.)
The 12th volume of the comic was released on August 3, 2024. (The release date for the next volume, 13, has not yet been decided.)
The second volume of the comic spin-off was released on March 5, 2024.
The paperback version, volume 10, was released on May 2, 2024. (The deadline for the campaign to win a big acrylic stand featuring Yuna and Sanya on the cover is August 20, 2024. 20 lucky winners will receive a prize.) (The next volume, volume 11, is scheduled to be released on October 4.)
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Some of the kanji have been corrected to match the book, so please understand that there are some parts that have not been corrected.