Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 6

The Void 

Satou here. There’s a saying about always tapping a stone bridge to test it before you cross it, but sometimes there’s just no time for that kind of caution. If you ask me, there are times where you just have to sprint across a mud bridge and hope for the best. 

“What’s the matter, Satou?” 

When I arrived out of breath at the observatory in the top part of the World Tree, Aialize was there waving at me with a carefree smile. 

I almost collapsed with relief, but I managed to stay upright by sending some magic into my knees. 

Now that I was a bit less frantic, I looked around. 

The observatory was basically a park covered in a transparent dome about three hundred feet in diameter. 

Beyond the dome stretched a vast starry sky. Not the kind of thing you’d expect to see in the middle of the day. 

In other words, the view outside the dome must be outer space. 

Several thick branches reached into the dark outside the dome. For some reason, they looked more like roots than anything. 

I didn’t run all the way up here, of course. The dryad’s teleportation covered most of the distance. 

“I heard that you asked for me, Lady Aialize, so I came running, but…” 

I trailed off before I could finish as I approached Miss Aialize. 

Her magic and stamina in my AR display were on the verge of running out. Evidently her smile hadn’t been carefree so much as exhausted. 

“No need to look so worried. I’ll be better soon.” 

“Please rest a little longer, Lady Aaze. I’ll explain things to Mr. Satou.” 

I gave Aialize a nutritional supplement and magic recovery potions from my pocket, then listened to Lua’s explanation. 

“I apologize for bringing you out all this way. You see…” 

As the shrine maiden spoke, I watched Aialize’s recovery on the AR out of the corner of my eye. 

“…and electrical discharge from the World Tree has left many elves stranded in the void.” 

Electrical discharge? The defense mechanism that was strong enough to repel even Hei Long the black dragon? 

We were in a different area from the ground or the lower parts of the World Tree, so I hurriedly used the Search Entire Map spell to get more information. 

The area of this map extended out in a spherical radius of several dozen miles from the observatory. 

I checked the dots signifying elves on the map. 

Quite a few of them were seriously injured, but none seemed to be fatally so. 

…Huh? 

There were countless red markers denoting enemies in the void. 

And yet, perhaps because of the light, I couldn’t see any enemies out there. 

According to the map information, the enemies were called Evil Jellies, and they ranged in level from 20 to 40. With an average level of 30, in theory they weren’t much of a threat, but there were so many of them. 

Roughly ten thousand, in fact. 

What a ridiculous number, especially for anything other than demi-goblins raised on gabo fruit. No wonder the elves were having such a hard time. 

These jellyfish-like creatures had the race-specific skills “Absorb,” “Synchronize,” and “Chain Rampage.” 

Looking closely, I saw that their category was not monster but cryptid. 

Fortunately, the Evil Jellies didn’t seem to be interested in the elves. They simply stuck to the branches of the World Tree and didn’t move an inch. 

If they weren’t going to prevent us from rescuing the elves in need, we could probably just deal with them later. 

“Are there any extra void suits?” 

“No, none ready to be re-dispatched right now.” 

Good thing I had a spare one in my Storage, then. 

It didn’t have the life-support magic circuit yet, but it was perfectly airtight, so I should be able to just use oxygen from Storage. 

Fortunately, I had plenty of that as a by-product of making a hydrogen air balloon to cross the Black Dragon Mountains. 

“All right. I’ll go rescue them.” 

“D-don’t be ridiculous, Mr. Satou. We called you here to ask for help repairing the magic tools for use in the void, not to send you on a reckless suicide mission!” 

Seeing me pull the void suit out of my Garage Bag, Lua the shrine maiden hurried to stop me. 

But wasn’t there a general rule that disaster relief had to take place within the first seventy-two hours? 

I didn’t know if that was applicable in a parallel world, but this “void” basically seemed to be outer space, so the time limit had to be short. 

Besides, some of the elves in need of help were people I’d become friendly with during our stay. 

“We can’t save lives by sitting around repairing things.” 

“But it’s too dangerous… We don’t even have any light ships that are functioning properly.” 

A light ship was an elf vehicle that could traverse space, similar to Hayato’s dimensional submarine, the Jules Verne. 

As Lua continued to try to dissuade me, a gentle hand touched her shoulder. It was Aialize. 

“It’s all right. I’m feeling much better. Satou of the Shiga Kingdom, though the journey will be a dangerous one, will you accompany me?” 

“Yes, of course.” 

Aialize looked guilty, but I took the hand she extended at once. 

“I’m a little low on spirits, though. Could I ask you to unleash your spirit light, Satou?” 

“As you wish, milady.” 

I was a little embarrassed with myself for saying such a corny line, but I managed with the help of my “Poker Face” skill. 

“Goodness, spirits are gathering from the atmosphere and the World Tree at an incredible rate… Thank you, Satou. These spirits will be more than enough.” 

With that, Aialize murmured a word or two, and a glowing green wind rose around her, carrying both of us into the air. 

Despite her claim that she’d recovered, her face still looked pale. 

“We’re going out there. Be careful not to leave my side.” 

Huh? 

Aialize’s hand touched the dome, and it shifted around her. 

Apparently, it was more like a mucous membrane than glass, and it was about seven feet thick. 

It didn’t come inside Aialize’s wind barrier, so I didn’t know what it felt like. 

Within a few seconds, we passed through the membrane and into the void. 

I didn’t feel weightless, so we must not be as far out as I thought. 

I was able to breathe inside the wind barrier, but if we wanted to rescue everyone quickly, it was probably better to act separately. 

Reluctantly, I let go of Aialize’s soft hand and used “Quick Change” to put on the void suit. Since it didn’t have a control unit, I would just have to use my own magic and the oxygen from Storage. 

“Let’s split up to rescue everyone. I’ll go this way.” 

“W-wait!” 

I used “Skyrunning” to leave Aialize’s barrier. 

Before I could heed Aialize’s frantic warning, the electricity silently surrounding the World Tree’s branches crackled to life. 

Aialize was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her, since we were in a vacuum. 

Wanting to protect her, I produced some metal objects from Storage around myself as makeshift lightning rods. 

Then I used Magic Hand to move them so that the lightning wouldn’t reach her. 

In the next instant, a heavy electric shock assaulted my senses. 

Oof. 

Yeah, that hurt. 

I frantically turned my “Pain Resistance” skill back on. 

Those little electrons sure packed a punch. 

“Satou, don’t be so reckless!” 

A soft sensation soothed my body through the void suit. 

Aialize was embracing me. 

Strangely, as soon as she came close, the electric shock stopped. 

“The World Tree is on high alert right now, so if it detects a foreign object, it’ll try to eliminate it.” 

She explained that the World Tree considered high elves to be part of itself, so it wouldn’t try to attack one. 

Regular elves were considered subcomponents, too, so they wouldn’t be attacked as long as they didn’t make any careless moves. 

…Huh? 

Why wasn’t the World Tree eliminating the Evil Jellies on its branches, then? 

That question would have to wait, however. 

Rescuing the elves was more important right now. 

“Lady Aialize, please allow me to guide us toward the most seriously injured elves first.” 

“Yes, please do.” 

…I hadn’t expected her to understand and agree to that so readily. 

Aialize moved the wind barrier in accordance with my directions. 

“There are two inside that multi-legged golem.” 

We landed on the misshapen frame of a charred golem, and I produced the Holy Sword Durandal from Storage to cut through the exterior. 

Inside were Mr. Kiya and Miss Doa from the magic-tool workshop. 

“S-Satou?” 

“Lady Aialize and I are here to rescue you.” 

I used the Water Magic spell Aqua Heal to fix their injuries while extracting them with the help of Magic Hand. 

“Satou, can you recover the control tablet of the golem?” 

“All right.” 

Since we had other people to rescue, I cut the tablet free a bit roughly with Durandal. 

“Got it. Lady Aialize, let’s go to the branch up there next.” 

“Okay. And also, you can call me Aaze if you’d like. It’s much easier to say.” 

“Very well, erm… Miss Aaze.” 

For some reason, I hadn’t been this embarrassed to call a girl by her nickname since middle school, despite the fact that I’d used nicknames for women in college and at work all the time. 

“Satou of the Shiga Kingdom. We appreciate your assistance.” 

“Satou of the Shiga Kingdom. We admire your dedication.” 

“Satou of the Shiga Kingdom. We…” 

The day after the rescue in the void, I was in the meeting room at the base of the World Tree, receiving the thanks of the elders. 

In light of my help with the rescue and the other services I’d been providing, they had decided to grant me access to the entire World Tree, including the observatory. 

They even offered me the rank of an honorary elder, but I politely declined. 

I didn’t think I was old enough to be considered an “elder” by beings who lived hundreds of years. 

I received a catalog of extra rewards, including special materials and textiles that could be found only in the elf village, as well as other valuable resources. 

Although, to be honest, I thought including World Tree leaves and sap was a little bit much. 

My alchemy books listed those as too rare to acquire even for someone with a high rank or castle of their own. 

At any rate, once that was over, one of the elders guided me to a separate room. 

“Done already, Satou?” 

“Yes, thank you.” 

I was greeted there by Miss Aaze, the shrine maiden Lua, and Jia, the “gardener” who’d come to the sewing workshop to pick up the void suits before. 

“So may I presume this is about the situation I saw yesterday?” 

Miss Aaze nodded. 

“As you’ve probably realized already, we’re trying to combat the parasitic Evil Jellies that have latched on to the World Tree.” 

They must want me to exterminate them, then. 

I’d seen the Evil Jellies only from a distance and through the wind barrier during the rescue mission, but they looked to me like translucent jellyfish that contained sparkling gusts of Wind Magic. The elves seemed to call them “jellyfish,” too, so I’d just use that name from now on. 

If the only problem were the electric discharge of the World Tree, then I could probably just make an insulator suit and go out there to make quick work of them. 

But when I suggested this, the elves quickly shot it down. 

“If it were that simple, we wouldn’t be struggling so much,” Lua said. 

“The electric shocks also hurt the branches of the World Tree itself,” Jia explained. “The thick ones closest to the trunk are all right, but the thinner emerald branches can break very easily.” 

From what I was told in the observatory, the emerald branches of the World Tree were important branches that collected magic from the aether that flowed through the void. 

Our rescue mission took place near the roots, so I hadn’t actually seen the emerald branches yet. 

“So,” Lua concluded, “what we’d like to ask you to do is help repair the multi-legged golems that have been damaged in the incident and produce more void suits.” 

“And if you have any suggestions for exterminating the jellies, we’d love to hear them,” Jia added. 

I agreed to help with the former right away and said I’d do some thinking on the latter. 

First, there were a few things I needed to confirm. 

“Why exactly are the jellyfish attacking the World Tree in the first place?” 

“They use their tentacles to eat the mana that flows through the branches.” 

I nodded at Aaze’s explanation. 

If nearly ten thousand jellyfish were sucking up the World Tree’s mana, it could easily cause a shortage down on the ground. 

Lua contributed some additional information. 

“Some of them lay eggs on the branches, too. Worse yet, the viscous substance that protects the eggs pollutes the sap and weakens the World Tree.” 

So the jellyfishes’ goals were simply eating and breeding, then. 

“So why doesn’t the World Tree’s electrical shock system get rid of the jellyfish?” 

“The jellyfish seem to have some way of making the World Tree think they are a part of it, not a foreign object.” 

She added that they’d already attempted to correct this or put the World Tree to sleep so that the electric discharge would be suspended, but to no avail. 

“And since the area around the jellyfish creates a magic vacuum, we can’t use spells to put them to sleep or restrain them.” 

Furthermore, since it was impossible to maneuver in the void without magic, void suits or airtight golems were necessary to approach the jellyfish. 

Unlike regular magic, magic tools and devices that used Holytree Stone still worked near the jellyfish, although their rate of magic-power consumption rose drastically. 

“We have been using magic potions to put the jellies to sleep, then using golems to cut off and restrain the tentacles that are attached to the World Tree’s branches.” 

Aaze and others who could use Spirit Magic had been gathering all of the restrained jellyfish in one place. 

As I understood it, a pseudo-spirit created by a master could exist near the jellyfish, at least for a while. 

“We planned to use that method to slowly but surely eliminate the jellyfish, but…” 

“We didn’t know that some of them had eggs.” 

Lua and Jia sighed in unison. 

As it turned out, if a jellyfish that was bearing eggs was eliminated, the nearby jellyfish would send the World Tree into high-alert mode, as was the case yesterday. 

And if more than a certain amount of jellyfish were destroyed or isolated, the rest would consume large amounts of the World Tree’s branches to multiply at an explosive rate. 

The jellyfish also multiplied in a wide-range chain reaction, so if they weren’t all eliminated at once, they would end up producing even more than the amount that was destroyed. 

A lot of this was presented as secondhand information, so I asked why. 

“Other World Trees have also been infected with Evil Jellies,” Lua responded. These other trees were taking even more damage than the one in the Bolenan Forest. 

“According to the records, the Evil Jellies have always appeared once every thousand years or so on the flow of the aether, but it was only ever a handful of them at a time.” 

Maybe something had happened farther up the aether stream that caused this huge amount of jellyfish to appear, or maybe a threat caused them to flee in large numbers. 

I couldn’t help wondering about it, but that wasn’t my highest priority right now. 

Since there was no point in speculating, I made a note to investigate after the present crisis was resolved. 

Next, I tried to sort through all the information I’d just gained. 

The goal: eliminate the jellyfish from the World Tree. 

There were several important points to note. 

Number one: Hurting the jellyfish would result in an electric shock from the World Tree. Jellyfish with eggs were especially susceptible. 

Number two: If a certain number of jellyfish were eliminated, they would reproduce at a massive rate and harm the World Tree in the process. 

Number three: There was a magic vacuum around the jellyfish, so spells wouldn’t work in their immediate vicinity. 

That about sums it up, I think. 

Next, I’d just have to do some field tests. 

“Miss Aaze, please approach the jellyfish at the end of that thin branch there.” 

“This one?” 

To help come up with a plan to get rid of the jellyfish, I was on a pleasant swim around the void with Miss Aaze. 

It would take some time to prepare the necessary materials and workshop spaces for the golems and the void suits, so I decided to spend that time experimenting with a relatively isolated jellyfish. 

This area was somewhere in the middle of a branch that was easily six miles long but only about three feet thick. 

Emerald-like crystal growths and thinner branches protruded from the brown branch. 

As the name suggested, these structures were most certainly the emerald branches. 

“Let’s start with lesser magic.” 

I tried firing a Short Stun shot. The invisible bullet lost most of its power when it came close to the jellyfish, but… 

“…You actually hit it.” 

Aaze looked surprised. 

The shot nearly dissolved before reaching the jellyfish, but it managed to hit its target, albeit with reduced impact. 

As long as its composition was stable enough, even magic besides pseudo-spirits could hit them. 

My intermediate magic would probably be able to defeat the jellies without a problem, then. 

“Next let’s try one of your pseudo-spirits, Miss Aaze.” 

“Hmm. What should I use, I wonder?” 

“Whatever your best is, if you please.” 

I wanted to see her bust out a special move. 

“My best? All right! … ? …” 

Looking triumphant, Aaze held a special golden staff in both hands as she began her chant. 

The AR display showed her MP decreasing at an alarming rate. 

Light Magic circles formed around her, multiplying over and over. 

Noticing her impressive display, the jellyfish stretched its tentacles in an intimidating pose. 

It was probably alarmed by the amount of magic Aaze was amassing. 

“… ? Create Behemoth Majuu Ou Souzou!” 

A huge magic circle appeared directly in front of Aaze, and a pseudo-spirit emerged that looked like a cross between an elephant and a hippopotamus. 

PAROOOOOOAR! 

Despite being in the vacuum of the void, its roar echoed powerfully. 

It looked extremely strong, being a destroyer-like giant over level 50 and all. 

However, our friend the behemoth didn’t have any wings. 

Meaning it couldn’t fly. 

Its legs scrabbled in the air for a moment like a cartoon character, then a look of terror passed over its face as gravity pulled it down. 

I’d been told that pseudo-spirits didn’t feel fear or pain, but I still couldn’t help pitying it. 

We shared a moment of silence for the behemoth as it disappeared, leaving only a trace of red light in its wake. 

The jellyfish seemed as disappointed as we did, lowering its raised tentacles and wrapping them back around the World Tree. 

“…Um, redo! That one didn’t count! This one’s for real, okay?” 

Aaze carefully avoided my eyes as she started another chant, and soon she’d invoked “Create Wisp” to make a little four-inch floating ball of light. 

I had her move the wisp over to the jellyfish. 

Once it came within a certain distance, the jellyfish noticed it and reached out its tentacles. 

When the jellyfish’s tentacle wrapped around the wisp, the wisp lost its shape and disappeared. With my “Magic Power Vision” skill, I could see the tentacle sucking up the remains of the light. 

Next, Aaze made a sylph, a wind spirit, which was stronger than the wisp and able to endure the jellyfish’s tentacles. 

However, the resulting visual had a bit too much of an 18+ vibe to it, so I had Aaze cancel the spell partway through that particular experiment. 

It was cute how her face turned red as she panicked a little. 

Next, we experimented with physical attacks. 

The jellyfish seemed to be just as weak as it looked: My fairy sword was able to cut through a tentacle easily. I put the tentacle sample away in Storage for use in further experiments. 

When I tossed a magic-charged bronze spear near the jellyfish, it actually caught the spear and carried it to its mouth. It’d probably be easy to poison them, then. 

Finally, I tried using items. 

Holy Stones, which fended off monsters, and Holy Water, which was used against the undead, had no effect at all. 

The jellyfish seemed to be little more than protist creatures of the void, not monsters or demons. 

Even if I had the demon-sealing bell, which was currently in Miss Karina’s care, I doubted it would have any effect. 

“Are you done experimenting already?” 

“No, I think I’ll test their stamina next.” 

I started lopping off the tentacles one by one, avoiding the jellyfish’s attacks as I went. 

To my surprise, the first tentacle I cut off earlier had already started growing back, but at least it didn’t reappear as soon as it was lost or anything. 

Once I’d cut off all the tentacles, I had Aaze resummon the sylph and use it to pull the umbrella part of the jellyfish away from the World Tree. 

When it got a few hundred feet away, the light inside the jellyfish started blinking furiously. 

Then the light turned red, outlining the jellyfish in crimson. According to Aaze, this was a characteristic of the rampage state initiating, and it would cause the World Tree to go into alert mode. 

In this initial phase, only the World Tree would react, but if it went on long enough, the rampage state would spread to other nearby jellyfish. 

Even as Aaze was explaining this, the branches of the World Tree began discharging electricity in all directions. 

Since I was with Aaze, it didn’t approach us, but the severed tentacles still attached to the World Tree were burned to a crisp, and an emerald branch nearby was snapped off by the shocks and started to fall. 

This seemed like a waste, so I caught it with Magic Hand and put it away in Storage. It might make good material for a magic wand or staff. 

Next, once the jellyfish umbrella was far enough away, I had Aaze’s sylph let go of it. 

As it started to fall, I attacked it with Fire Ball, the strongest of my lesser magic attacks. 

The Fire Ball flew without interruption from the electricity, landed a direct hit on the jellyfish, and exploded, burning up its target with far more power than its lesser counterpart Fire Shot. I guess the lack of oxygen didn’t matter. 

This didn’t cause any rampages from the other jellyfish or additional electricity from the World Tree, perhaps because I’d defeated it in one blow. 

If we were able to destroy all of them in one attack, then the World Tree would be safe. 

But that was probably impossible, since so many of them were sheltered by branches of the World Tree. 

“I-incredible… Was that Blast Ball? Or perhaps Flare Ball?” 

I was a little proud to have impressed Aaze, but I tried to focus on what happened when my Fire Ball hit. 

I watched with my “Magic Power Vision” skill the whole time, so I saw that just before the Fire Ball hit, the jellyfish sucked up only a tiny amount of magic. 

Most of their magic-sucking power must come from their tentacles. 

And while just slicing off the tentacles would provoke attacks from the jellyfish itself, it wouldn’t cause any electrical reactions from the World Tree. 

I filed these results away in my mind as I moved on with Aaze to our next test location. 

“Satou, you mustn’t break the eggs, remember?” 

“Yes, I know.” 

Our destination was a jellyfish that had just laid eggs. 

Jellyfish with eggs were extra-sensitive, so we were observing this one from a few hundred feet away. 

About ten transparent basketball-size eggs were lined up on the branch. 

The broken shells of thirty or so other eggs lay scattered around it; the parts of the World Tree branch that had been tainted with liquid from the eggs were now discolored. 

Looking around, I saw several jellyfish larvae clinging to the mother’s tentacles. 

There weren’t nearly as many larvae as there were broken eggs, so I asked Aaze why. 

“Hmm, what was it again? I’ll ask Jia.” 

Aaze cast the Space Magic spell World Phone, connecting both of us to Jia back in the observatory. 

In the void, this spell covered about six miles of distance. 

“…The number of eggs and larvae?” 

“Yes, I thought the number of larvae seemed small compared to the amount of broken eggs.” 

“Many jellyfish eggs are unfertilized. You see, with the research data we got from other elf families, like the Bulainan and Beliunan clans…” 

Jia explained that the liquid from the broken eggs contaminated the sap, summoning the antibodies of the World Tree, then taking in the dense magic power from those antibodies as nutrients for the few larvae to hatch. 

“However, none of them has witnessed the moment when the larvae hatch. We’ve tried observing the jellyfish eggs, too, but the mother covers the egg with her body when it hatches…” 

While we were at it, I asked more about the sap pollution. 

“Does that have a negative effect on the World Tree?” 

“Of course it does. Aside from the antibodies I mentioned, it can alter or clog the sap, decreasing the amount of mana that reaches the trunk.” 

The Beliunan clan had already helped to develop a chemical that would melt hardened sap, which was being used in areas where the clogging was most severe. 

However, getting rid of the clogged sap in range of a jellyfish would cause the same rampage state as destroying an egg, so they could use it only if no jellyfish were too close by. 

…Huh? Something about that explanation stuck out to me, but I wasn’t sure what. 

I tried to ruminate on everything I’d just been told. 

However, my thoughts were scattered before I could collect them into words. 

“Satou, where shall we go next?” 

Aaze looked up at me from an unexpectedly close distance, jumbling my mind immediately. 

“Hmm. Let me see…” 

I wanted to continue our little date in the void, but I’d already investigated everything I needed to about the jellyfish. 

I used Magic Hand to collect samples of the polluted sap and the broken eggs, then went back with Miss Aaze. 

The sun was at our backs as we flew toward the World Tree. 

Beneath the observatory, I noticed something glittering in a dent in the trunk. 

It was a light ship, which looked just like Hayato’s ship, the Jules Verne. 

Part of its silver hull had turned black. 

“It looks as if it’s been burned pretty severely.” 

“Yes. I’m told it was protecting a golem from an electric discharge attack.” 

The light ships, like Aaze and the other high elves, were considered part of the World Tree, so normally it would never take an attack like that. 

“It’s only damaged on the surface, though, so it’ll fix itself soon enough now that it’s back in the World Tree.” 

As it turned out, these ships had automatic restoration functions. 

Looking more closely, I saw that it was covered in a transparent gel of sorts. 

“Are there light ships that go into those other hollows, too?” 

Judging by the distance between them, there were probably about eight docks in total. 

“There are only four in Bolenan, all told. Ordinarily, all World Trees come with eight light ships, but…” 

As we discussed this, we passed through the dome of the observatory. 

As soon as we landed, Lua and Jia came running up to greet us. 

There didn’t seem to be too much of a rush, so we continued our conversation, moving to a little side room in one part of the observatory. 

“Did the other four deteriorate over time?” 

“No, no. You see, some hundreds of thousands of years ago, a goblin demon lord was wreaking havoc. The world was nearly destroyed, so we provided our light ships at Lady Parion’s request, but…” 

“Many of them sank.” 

“Yes. We sent out eight, but only half returned.” 

Aaze looked depressed, so Jia, who was over two thousand years old herself, helped tell the story. Lua the shrine maiden was still relatively young, so she didn’t know about that. 

The Saga Empire hadn’t existed yet at the time, so they couldn’t do a hero summoning. 

“In the end, all we could do was hunt the demon lord’s army down to the edge of the continent. Then Lady Parion had the dragon god teach her the art of hero summoning, and the rest was up to the first hero, or so I’m told.” 

“Yes, I remember it somewhat. That little hero managed to defeat the goblin with those two Holy Swords from Lady Parion and the dragon god.” 

So the first hero was a dual-wielding swordsman? 

He must have been pretty strong to beat a demon lord that not even a bunch of light ships could handle. 

“And heroes have been truly bizarre beings ever since.” 

Please don’t look at me as you say that. It’s making me very self-conscious. 

“That hero was a sneaky one, too. Repairing and appropriating one of Bolenan’s lost light ships!” 

“Oh? We didn’t give that as a reward for defeating the demon lord? I think I remember saying something about passing it down through the generations…” 

That must be how the Jules Verne came to belong to the Saga Empire, then. 

Still, if the light ships had been lost thousands of years ago, why hadn’t they just rebuilt them since then? 

“The other clans all used their Holytree Stone reserves to replenish their light ship fleets back to eight.” 

I waited a moment, but Jia didn’t explain why the Bolenan clan alone didn’t rebuild theirs. 

When pressed, she said that making a light ship required about a ton of Holytree Stone. Since the stones had a lot of other important uses, it could take up to a hundred thousand years to save up enough for a single ship. 

“But Bolenan has a shortage of Holytree Stones,” Miss Aaze explained, sounding a little guilty. 

Once, when the Flue Empire began to prosper, they sent royal ambassadors to the elves with game equipment. Two high elves became addicted to the game. 

“There was nothing you could have done, Lady Aaze. Of the three high elves at the time, two of them were completely addicted, and instead of scolding them, most of us elves got into it along with them…” 

Hooked on the gaming equipment, the elves and high elves ended up paying for it with the Holytree Stones they’d been saving up to rebuild the light ships. 

It sounded to me like the Flue Empire royalty took advantage of the elves’ natural lack of business sense. 

Unbidden, I remembered the elves who were frantically determined to play me in shogi. 

“Eventually, all the gaming devices broke, and now none remain.” 

I was curious about this gaming device the elves had gone mad for, but apparently none was left that worked. 

Jia said that the games broke exactly a thousand years after they had been purchased. 

It sounded like home appliances from certain shady companies. A Flue Timer, if you will? 

“I understand getting depressed, but I wish they hadn’t gone to sulk in the sleep tanks…” 

“Same for the elder elves… So many of them retired abruptly that there weren’t enough successors to fill their places.” 

I see… Wait a second. 

Didn’t someone tell me that the elves in the sleep tanks were there because they wanted to preserve special memories? 

That couldn’t possibly be referring to the memories of playing some video game, right? 

Yeah, I’m sure that’s not it. Let’s just change the subject. 

“So what did the Flue Empire do with all those Holytree Stones?” 

“They became a magic empire that dominated all the continents within three hundred years. It’s said that the bluecoins they made from the Holytree Stones made up a core part of their high-performance magic devices, as well as serving as the activation key for them. They were proof of nobility in that empire, too.” 

Bluecoins, huh…? Wait, what? 

I’m pretty sure I have those. 

A quick search of my currency folder in Storage revealed that I had more than twenty thousand Flue Empire bluecoins. They were probably spoils from the Valley of Dragons. 

When I’d first looked through all my gains from that time, I was so overwhelmed by the sheer variety and amount of coins I had, including more than ten million Flue gold coins, that I just stuffed them away and forgot about them. 

I had yet to find a use for any of the currency that wasn’t for the Shiga Kingdom, so I guess I just put them all in a Foreign Currency folder. 

“…Mr. Satou, isn’t that…?!” 

“Yes, a Flue Empire bluecoin.” 

Nodding at Jia, I toyed with a bluecoin in the palm of my hand. 

It was bigger than I’d expected, probably weighing about a hundred grams. If we used all of them, maybe we could rebuild some of those light ships? 

If I could get permission to borrow one just while I was alive, I’d have no problem putting up twenty thousand bluecoins for it. 

I’d still have several thousand left, so I could use those for making potions and tools and such. 

At least, that was my hope, but… 

“Holytree Stones that have been processed into bluecoins cannot be returned to the World Tree. Though they can be used for transmuting magic metal and making golem intelligence circuits…” 

“I see. In that case, please use them for those purposes.” 

I produced a bag full of a thousand bluecoins from Storage via my Garage Bag and placed it on the table. 

“A-are these all bluecoins?” 

“Yes, please help yourself.” 

“Satou, we’re short on Holytree Stones and all, so this is wonderful, but…you really don’t need to do all that for us when you’re not even from Bolenan, you know?” 

Unlike Jia, who had dollar signs in her eyes as she leaped for the bag, Miss Aaze tried to be reserved. 

“Please, there’s no need to hold back. Just think of me as an honorary citizen of Bolenan, if you don’t mind.” 

I took Aaze’s hands gently. 

“Satou…” 

Her eyes trembled as she gazed at me. If Jia and Lua weren’t there, I might’ve kissed her before I could stop myself. 

“Mr. Satou?” Perhaps sensing this, Lua raised her eyebrows at me. 

My words did sound a bit like a pickup line, but that wasn’t my intention this time, I swear. 

The World Tree’s predicament was serious; it could eventually develop into a worldwide shortage of mana. 

My mind went back to the wasteland around the dwarf village that had withered due to lack of mana. 

If the whole world wound up like that, I wouldn’t exactly be able to go sightseeing anymore. Tourism’s no fun unless the locals are happy, after all. 

Later on, I unexpectedly learned the reason those twenty thousand bluecoins had been in my Valley of Dragons spoils. 

“As I recall, many bluecoins were given to the dragon god as a tribute in the Flue Empire’s twilight years. They were seeking a weapon to use against the demon lord known as the Golden Boar Lord, from what I heard.” 

“A weapon?” 

“Yes. I don’t know the details, but I know the vast desert in the middle of the continent was created as a result of the final battle between the Flue Empire and the Golden Boar Lord. Whatever happened, it was so intense that there were earthquakes all the way here in Bolenan.” 

As I listened to Miss Jia’s explanation, I used my menu to display the map of the continent I’d acquired in the old capital. 

I wasn’t sure how accurate it was, but there was indeed a desert that took up nearly 20 percent of the continent, from the middle to the western part. 

If it was as big as the map implied, even a sweep of hydrogen bombs couldn’t have caused that. 

I didn’t know what sort of weapon might have done it, but I hoped fervently that it didn’t exist. 

Why would you make something like that, dragon god? 

The thought was even scarier than the Holy Swords. 

But then, I remembered the Meteor Shower spell I’d used from the magic menu. 

If I filled all my Holy Swords to their limits with magic power and used them as batteries to fire Meteor Shower over and over, I might very well be able to do the same thing. 

I’d better avoid using Meteor Showers in rapid succession, even by accident. 

I didn’t want any titles like Demon Lord or Greater Demon Lord, thank you very much! 

“…So basically, I’m looking for ideas to get rid of harmful pests and animals who are damaging a very important garden.” 

When I returned to the ground, I gave my party a very approximate explanation of the jellyfish attacking the World Tree to see if they had any suggestions. 

In the early stages of planning, it was best to brainstorm with a lot of different people. 

You’d get plenty of nonsensical suggestions, of course, but sometimes you might get a clever idea that would never occur to an expert. 

“Pest control, huh? If they’re animals, maybe a good zap; cockroaches, you want boric acid dumplings; poisoned food for termites, of course…” 

“I’m afraid we’ve already tried those. As far as poison, we’re still doing research with the other clans.” 

Lua the shrine maiden was here to convey what had been tried so far. 

Several other ideas came up, but all of them had already been tested by the elves. 

I guess when you have a meeting of the minds where all the minds are hundreds or thousands of years old, you get a wealth of ideas and experience. 

“Hmm, seems like you’ve tried just about everything…,” Arisa murmured. 

“If pushing doesn’t work, you just gotta pull, sir!” Pochi said brightly. 

“What does that mean, specifically?” 

“That’s for you or master to think of, sir! I just put the plans into action, sir.” 

So she didn’t have a specific plan. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Arisa groaned and dropped her face onto the table. 

Her hair spread out on its surface, spilling over the sides. 

Swish, swish. 

Tama, who’d grown bored of the meeting and was rolling around on the lawn-like floor, started swatting at Arisa’s hair from under the table. Every time Arisa groaned, her hair shifted, much to Tama’s entertainment. 

She really was just like a real cat sometimes, getting so amused by moving objects. 

…Hmm? That’s strange. 

Something about Tama’s movements caught my attention. 

I waved a strand of Arisa’s hair up and down, and Tama went flying after it. 

“Mr. Satou, if you can’t focus any longer, perhaps we should wrap things up for today?” 

“Sorry about that. I got an idea, so I was working out the details,” I informed Lua. “How about some fake bait?” 

“Like the kind used for fishing?” 

I nodded and explained further. 

“So instead of removing the jellyfish through sheer force, we would convince them to move away of their own accord?” 

“Yes, that’s right.” 

I nodded again. 

“The suuun?” 

“Tama’s right, sir! Master’s like the sun in the North Wind and the Sun story, sir!” 

Tama and Pochi raised their hands excitedly. 

Arisa must have told them that fable. I wasn’t sure if it was really applicable here, but they looked so pleased with themselves that I simply patted their heads and praised them for being so knowledgeable. 

“Hasn’t anyone tested that yet?” 

Lua looked reluctant to answer Arisa’s question. 

“We knew they were drawn to magic, but when we tried to fish them out with it, it just led them to go into a rampage state and multiply…” 

After that, no one had suggested anything along those lines. 

A few more good ideas came up during our session, so I ended up taking notes (a habit from company meetings) and then giving them to Lua. 

* * * 

“Nanashi the Hero’s idea holds merit. The Bulainan clan approves this proposal.” 

“W-we of the Beliunan clan support Nanashi’s proposal as well!” 

I was participating in a gathering of high elves called a Holytree Council as an observer with Miss Aaze. 

My notes from our brainstorming session had made the rounds and wound up being submitted to the council. 

I didn’t want the name Satou to become famous outside of the Bolenan clan, so I had them introduce me as Nanashi the Hero. 

We were in the communication room of the World Tree, watching the images of the other clans’ high elves. 

Unlike my company’s videoconference system, this room actually projected 3-D images that looked just like the real thing. 

Since they seemed so real, though, it made the delays in transmission that much stranger. 

The Bulainan clan, the first to agree with my proposal, was evidently famous for their love of research. 

The Beliunan clan was also famed for research, but unlike the knowledge-driven Bulainan clan, they seemed more concerned with earning approval. 

“But we are already aware that magic provokes the Evil Jellies. Or have you forgotten the failure of we the Biloanan clan?!” 

The high elf of the Biloanan clan sounded accusatory. 

“Using magic as bait ended up provoking the jellyfish into a rampage and mass reproduction, did it not?” 

“Of course we remember. But this proposal involves seeking bait material other than magic. If we can lure them without causing a rampage, there is no need to reject this proposal.” 

The first two clans explained the goals of the plan to the objecting high elf. 

“…Very well. If the research for the bait will only be conducted in one World Tree, we Biloanans will agree to the proposal.” 

“Then allow us Bulainan elves to—” 

“Not so fast! When it comes to chemicals, we Beliunans have far more achievements! We shall do it!” 

The high elf of the Beliunan clan interrupted the one from the Bulainan clan, clearly out of a sense of rivalry. 

It seemed that their clan really was the most skilled with chemicals, so the Bulainan high elf agreed to entrust the experiment site to the Beliunan family. 

After a bit of quarreling, the Zuwakanan, Zantanan, Baleonan, and Dayosanan clans all consented as well, and finally the red-haired Biloanan high elf declared approval. 

“Hero Nanashi, we shall send Aaze the records of we the Biloanan clan’s unsuccessful experiments. Please make use of our folly to dispose of these jellyfish once and for all.” 

Huh? Why does it sound like I’m the one who’s stuck making the bait? Well, whatever. They would be sending us materials and live samples of the jellyfish, too. 

For the sake of the World Tree—not to mention Miss Aaze and the smiles of everyone in our future sightseeing destinations—I had no objection to doing a little jellyfish-control research. 

“I shall do my best.” 

“Do more than your best, if possible. Once the jellyfish have been dealt with, I shall show you my flame spirit, Ifrit, as a special favor, so be sure to succeed.” 

With that, the Biloanan clan disconnected the line, and the rest of the clans said their parting words and left one by one as well. 

I hadn’t noticed due to her determined personality, but aside from her hair color, the high elf of the Biloanan clan looked just like Miss Aaze. 

Curious, I asked Aaze about it. 

“We high elves are made from the seven prototypes of the god of creation, so there are others besides her with the same face as me, too… Why, do you prefer girls like Fuuze?” 

When she looked at me like an abandoned kitten, I could barely resist the urge to embrace her. 

There was no way a demi-goddess who’d lived for more than a hundred million years would fall for a guy like me, but with a look like that, I was tempted to delude myself into believing it. 

“Do you need a place to do your research? You do, right? I heard from Lady Aaze that you’re helping the Holytree Council. She told me, you see. So I thought perhaps you could use my father’s house. A wonderful idea, wouldn’t you agree?” 

The day after the Holytree Council meeting, Mia’s mother had a proposal of her own for me. 

Her father was none other than Mr. Trazayuya, the man who made the Cradle. 

“…Is this it?” 

“Yes, that’s right. This is the place.” 

She led me by way of teleportation to a white house amid a sea of trees in the east of the Bolenan Forest. 

Unlike the other workshops, it was located far from the World Tree. 

She said it was for doing research, but as far as I could tell on the map, it was just an ordinary house. If I had to name any defining features, I guess it’d be all the ivy growing on the outside. 

“I wonder if Gillil is here? Oh, I’m sure he is.” 

Without waiting for a response, Mia’s mother opened the door and entered. 

“Welcome back, dear Lady Lilinatoa.” 

A brownie man emerged from the back of the house. 

He was only the height of a child, but he had the face and features of an old man. 

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it, Gillil? It surely has. You look well, very well indeed.” 

“I’m pleased to see you looking well yourself, Lady Lilinatoa.” 

As he conversed with Mia’s mother, Gillil glanced at me with a keenly observant eye. 

“Yes, I’m quite well. I’m doing just wonderfully. Oh, let me give these to you right away. They’re my father’s notes. Mr. Satou gave them to me, you see? He found them for us. I’m sure you’d like to read them as well, wouldn’t you, Gillil?” 

Gillil, who seemed practiced in dealing with Mia’s mother’s machine gun–like rambling, looked surprised when she said “my father’s notes.” 

He hesitated for a moment, then accepted the papers as if he were receiving a sacred scripture. 

After holding the notes to his chest for a long, emotional moment, he seemed to suddenly remember the situation and quickly turned to me. 

“You must be the human who saved Misanaria’s life.” 

Maybe it was just my imagination, but the look in his eye seemed a little gentler than before. 

“Oh yes. This is him all right.” 

Mia’s mother resumed her onslaught. 

“I’d like to let Mr. Satou use Father’s house. Is that all right? We have Lady Aaze’s permission, too. Everything’s perfect.” 

“If Saint Holytree and the sage’s successor, Lady Lilinatoa, both approve, then I certainly have no objections.” 

The “sage” seemed to be his way of referring to Mr. Trazayuya. 

“Sir Satou, please take this key.” 

“Key? It looks a bit like an amulet.” 

“I shall now perform the user registration. ? Transfer: Satou Jouto Satou.” 

Gillil ignored my comment and carried out his duties. 

The golden key glowed blue in response to his casting, then displayed the name SATOU in Elvish letters. 

That must make me its registered user. 

“Now I shall explain how to reach the underground laboratory via the Travel Gate.” 

Gillil guided me to the Travel Gate in question. 

Mia’s mother, having said that her job here was done, had already gone home. 

Unlike the fairy rings, this Travel Gate was made from a loop of emerald branches connected with a cord, giving it a little mechanical sci-fi feel. 

“When you enter the loop, it will trigger a switch in the floor, teleporting you automatically. Once I have disappeared, please step inside the ring.” 

I nodded, and Gillil stepped into the ring, vanishing with a little green special effect. 

Aside from the switch, which was like an automatic doormat, it seemed to be just like a normal fairy ring. 

When I teleported, I was greeted by the night sky—no, just a very tall ceiling. I saw some moss and minerals glowing up there on the rocks’ surface. 

According to my map, this was an underground cave nearly half a mile beneath the house. It was very large, too. 

“Allow me to turn on the lights.” 

Gillil pressed a button on the wall, and streetlights lit up, rendering the panorama of lights on the ceiling invisible. 

The light revealed several building-like structures. Those must be Trazayuya’s laboratory, experiment sites, and so on. 

I entered. 

“This is the main laboratory.” 

The floors and walls inside were made from a linoleum-like resin, bearing a resemblance to the research lab I’d seen in the Cradle. 

The lab included a reference room, a library, and even bigger transmutation equipment than the stuff at the magic-tool workshop. 

The hangar in the back of the transmutation room contained something even more interesting. 

…What is that? 

There were several glass tubes standing along the wall, big enough for a human to enter. 

“Those are cultivation tanks for creating and repairing homunculi. The sage mainly used them to produce body parts.” 

I searched via Storage through the other documents I’d found in Trazayuya’s Cradle. 

According to the manual I found, I could use this equipment to enhance Nana’s Foundation techniques. 

It was like the kind of power-up area you’d find in certain games. 

Research day one: I’ve been poring over manuals all day, trying to get the equipment to work. 

Setting it all up and learning how to use it ate up more time than I’d expected, so now I’m just hoping to finish before dawn. 

Mr. Trazayuya, the head of this laboratory, seems to have kept a development log as he worked, so I’ve decided to do the same. 

Research day two: Miss Jia visited to bring the materials and specimens provided by the other clans. 

I put them away in Storage and used “Parallel Thoughts” to read several documents at a time. My menu’s character string search function came in handy for the first time in a while. If I’d had these abilities when I was a game developer, I bet I would never have had to do any death marches. 

By the way, these materials were all sent by way of Travel Gates among the World Trees. Apparently, they’re rarely used because of the high cost of transmission. 

Research day three: Finished reading all the materials. The elves are even more brilliant than I imagined. 

They’ve just about finished researching repellent substances already. Since these can all be omitted from the search for attractive substances, things should proceed pretty quickly. 

For now, I’ll experiment on the jellyfish tentacle samples I collected in the void. 

Research day five: tough going. Is magic the only thing the jellyfish are attracted to? 

Research day six: I’ve been taking advantage of my body’s relative lack of needs, but Mr. Gillil told me to take a nap. 

Come to think of it, I do feel like my brainpower has been a little low. I guess working for more than five days without sleep isn’t very efficient. 

I’ll eat the cream puffs Lulu brought me when I wake up. I bet they’ll go great with some nice black coffee. 

Research day seven: Don’t underestimate the power of sleep. 

With a clear head, I stopped blindly experimenting and went back to searching through my materials. 

In Trazayuya’s library and reference room, I found some notes analyzing jellyfish from the past tens of thousands of years. 

I’ll make copies of these notes and have them sent to the Beliunans and the other clans. 

Research day eight: Finally made a little progress. 

When I gave Gillil a taste of dragonspring liquor, the jellyfish tentacles reacted. 

At first, I thought it was just because that sake was made from the black dragon’s magic and probably contained a lot of mana, but they reacted faintly to other distilled liquor, too. 

After experimenting with a few more options, I’ll have Gillil pass this information along. 

Research day ten: I’ve finished testing all the liquor I had on hand, so now I’m trying various sauces and seasonings. 

Maybe I should blame it on the smell of soy sauce, but the tentacles started looking a little appetizing. I found myself wanting to eat one but decided against it, since they might be poisonous. 

In the evening, I received information from the research-loving Beliunans and Bulainans about their experiments with various liquors. Having a lot of researchers makes this sort of thing go much faster. 

Research day ten, night: I gave in to my curiosity and made tentacle teriyaki. 

Earlier in the afternoon, I had a lab mouse eat one of the tentacles, and it didn’t seem to be affected. 

So I tried a little bit, and it was tastier than I expected. Not a delicacy, exactly, but the kind of taste you could get addicted to. It’d definitely go well with dragonspring liquor. 

Research day eleven: The lab mouse coughed up blood and died. 

Nothing’s happened to me, but I’d better not feed this to anyone else. 

Just to be safe, I used Clairvoyance to take a look inside my stomach, but I didn’t see any inflammation or anything. 

In the evening, I received word from the Beliunan clan that they’d begun developing an alcohol-based bait potion. 

None of the other seasonings I tried did anything, not even mirin, so I’ll switch over to doing that, too, starting tomorrow. 

Research day twelve: My stomach feels strange. I really shouldn’t have eaten that tentacle. 

Some fibrous white thing is growing in my appendix. 

Itchy… Tast— 

I closed my research journal and put it away in Storage. 

I had better erase that last part. The fibrous white substance turned out to be the same crystallization that had occurred in the polluted sap in the World Tree, so the potion developed by the Beliunan clan got rid of it easily. 

“It’s unusual to see you outside the laboratory, Master Satou.” 

As I was stretching in the break room, Mr. Gillil appeared, carrying a pleasant-smelling package. 

He’d started out calling me “Sir Satou” when I first came here, but now he’d switched to “Master” for some reason. 

“Your friend Miss Lulu came earlier and left this for you.” 

I had checked in on the girls with the Space Magic spell Clairvoyance often and spoken with them via Telephone once a day, but I had used Return to actually go back and visit them only a handful of times. 

“Perfect, I was just getting hungry. Gillil, could you please make some tea? Let’s eat together.” 

“Certainly, sir.” 

There was a letter in the package, so I looked it over while Gillil made the tea. 

…Aha! This is great! 

For the first time in a while, I felt my mood brighten. 

“You must have received some good news, eh, sir?” 

“I certainly have. They’ve finally found turmeric and cumin!” 

The letter said that the leprechaun expedition party had located turmeric, while the spriggans had located cumin. 

They’d already found spices like coriander and cardamom, but these two had been the final hurdle. 

“Now we can make some real curry.” 

I knew this wasn’t the time for such a trivial matter, but my heart soared at the idea of finally tasting curry again after so long. 

“Curry is a legendary dish from the hero’s home kingdom, correct?” 

“That’s right. I got a letter that they’ve found all the ingredients we need.” 

I was sure Lulu, Nea, and the others could make a perfectly good curry, but I still wanted to help them. 

“I’m going to take a few days off.” 

I had been running on hardly any sleep for almost two weeks now. 

“Excellent, sir. With the other elves on the matter as well, there is no need for you to work so hard on your own,” Gillil said. 

“Thanks, Gillil. I’ll be back. Sorry, but would you mind delivering this sample bait potion and the recipe to the others?” 

“Y-you’ve already completed it?!” 

I handed the results of my research to the surprised Mr. Gillil. 

It was the first prototype. I’d made it the previous day, determined not to give up. 

I’d let the Beliunan clan perfect and mass-produce the bait potion. They liked research anyway, so surely they’d be up to the task. 

“I’m home. Smells great in here.” 

When I returned to the tree house, I was greeted by a spicy fragrance. 

“Masterrr?” 

“Welcome back! Sir!” 

“Satou.” 

Tama, Pochi, and Mia tackled me at once, rubbing their cheeks and noses against me. 

I guess I was gone a little too long. 

“Master, is the upgrade pack ready for installation yet? I inquire.” 

“Sorry, sorry. I’ve been so busy with research that I haven’t finished fixing up the cultivation tank yet.” 

As soon as I responded, Nana slumped down glumly. There was little change in her expression, but her disappointment would be obvious to anyone. 

Last time I’d come back, I told her that we might be able to upgrade her Foundation functions, so she must have been waiting excitedly this whole time. 

“Can you wait a little longer? I promise I’ll take care of it before we leave Bolenan Forest.” 

“…Master’s instructions registered, I report.” 

Nana still looked depressed, so I made a proposal to cheer her up. 

“In the meantime, could you consult with the rest of the group on what kind of functions you’d like to add and make a list for me?” 

“Th-that is a wonderful proposal, master, I commend!” 

While the younger kids were still clinging to my waist, Nana embraced me over them, her expression relatively cheerful now. 

“Guilty,” Mia grumbled as she was squeezed between Nana and me, but her complaint didn’t affect the excited homunculus. 

“Master, welcome back.” 

“It’s good to see you home, master.” 

When I went to the kitchen, I found Liza and Arisa watching the chefs from the doorway. 

As far as I could tell, their job was to keep the winged fairies from invading. 

“Let me gooo!” 

“It smells so good in there!” 

“Graaah!” 

Whenever the fairies got too close to the source of the smell, they lost their cool and started attacking. 

I told the pair to keep up the good work and then went to see how Lulu and the other cooks were faring. 

“Smells good.” 

“Welcome back! Master, sniffing the turmeric too much will hurt your nose, so please be careful.” 

“I will, thanks.” 

I nodded at Lulu’s grave warning. 

Her slightly reddened nose only made her cuter. 

Still, was turmeric’s smell always that strong? 

Since this was a parallel world and all, it might just be a different spice with similar properties. 

“Mr. Satou, we’ve gathered all the spices from the recipe. We’re following the preparatory steps now.” 

Nea was crushing spices in a hand mill as she gave me a progress report. 

The spriggan and leprechaun expedition teams who’d found the spices were washing away their exhaustion in the elves’ public bath. 

I wanted to give them a little thank-you, too. 

“Liza, would you mind running an errand for me?” 

“Of course, master.” 

I had Liza bring some light-blue carbonated ice-cream snacks to the fridge in the public bathhouse. 

Liquor might have been good, too, but I figured I’d go with something that tasted extra-good after a bath. 

“…Shoot.” 

Looking through my food stocks, I let slip a groan. 

“What’s the matter, master?” 

“We don’t have fukujinzuke. And the only leeks we have are pickled in regular oil.” 

Fukujinzuke is a side dish made from daikon radishes pickled in soy sauce, and it’s an indispensable topping for curry back in Japan. 

And if you’re going to have leeks with curry, they’ve got to be pickled in sweet vinegar. 

I’d given all my radishes to the orcs living beneath the old capital, so I didn’t have any left to pickle to make fukujinzuke, either. 

“Wow, and you looked so serious. That’s not what I expected…” 

Arisa rolled her eyes. 

As if she wasn’t complaining that the pickled ginger wasn’t red when I made beef bowls… 

Once we’d finished fine-tuning the five-spice mix for the curry, I left Bolenan Forest to acquire the final missing pieces. 

I must get my hands on fukujinzuke! 

“Leeks? We just pickled the lot of them, so they won’t be ready to eat for a while… Erm, are you all right, sir?” 

I’m too late… 

This was the only place in the Ougoch Duchy with untreated leeks, but I’d arrived just a few moments too late. 

But if they’d only just started pickling them, I could probably wash them off, so I determinedly bought up all the pickling leeks anyway. 

None of the proper shops in the old capital had any pickles like the kind I wanted, so I went to an area with a bunch of stalls selling pickled foods. 

“Fukujinzuke? Never heard of it.” 

Since the name alone wasn’t getting me anywhere, I tried describing it, but… 

“Pickled radishes? We would never carry such a nasty product.” The stall owner shook her head brusquely. 

I’d forgotten that people in the old capital didn’t like radishes. 

“Graaannny, give me something to eat, pleeease…” 

“You haven’t eaten again, child? You mustn’t send all your money home to your folks if it means you starve yourself.” 

As I slumped down in despair, I heard a voluptuous lady of the night asking the old woman at the stall next door for food. The contrast between her sultry appearance and childish whining could only be described as “gap moe.” 

“Oh, I know. A merchant from Kuhanou County brought by some rare pickled delicacies earlier. Since that’s your hometown and all, I suppose I could let you have a few.” 

“Yaaay, Kuhanou pickles! I love you, Granny!” 

The woman dug in to the snacks, which were brown pickled cucumbers and eggplants. 

“Would you like to try some, too, young man?” 

“If you don’t mind…” 

The old woman caught me staring and offered me some Kuhanou pickles. The combination seemed to consist of cucumbers, eggplants, melons, and such pickled in soy sauce and mirin. 

Pretty good… And actually, very close to the taste of fukujinzuke. 

The sourness was a little strong, but other than that, it was just about right. 

“Ma’am, are there any radishes pickled in a similar way to this?” 

“Radishes? As I believe my neighbor mentioned, you won’t find such a foul thing anywhere in the old capital.” 

The old woman cut down my hopes mercilessly, but the woman happily eating the Kuhanou pickles gave me a ray of hope. 

“The ones in Kuhanou County do include radishes.” 

“Really?” I asked excitedly, and she nodded. 

“Kuhanou pickling is used to preserve all kinds of scrap vegetables. I bet you’d find places in Sedum City or Kuhanou City selling just Kuhanou pickled radishes.” 

That was all I needed to know. 

Now I just had to use a map search—perfect, there were a few shops in those cities that specialized in pickled goods. 

“Thank you very much. Here’s something for your troubles.” 

“Ahhh! Are you sure?!” 

I pressed some gold coins into the woman’s hand to express my gratitude, then bought a bunch of different kinds of pickles from the stall that had given me the clue to find fukujinzuke. 

Just as I was about to leave for Kuhanou County, I heard a few familiar voices nearby. 

“When’s Nana coming back, miss?” 

“What about Nana’s mashter, miss?” 

“They’re both far away on a journey, so they won’t be back for another year or so.” 

It was the shrine maiden Sara of the Tenion Temple and the sealfolk kids Nana had cared for. 

The kids were helping her give out food to the needy. 

I would have loved to go say hello, but it would be strange for me to show up in the old capital right now, so I had to satisfy myself with the sight of their happy faces. 

Seeing Sara’s expression reminded me to drop a bag of gold coins into the offering box at Tenion Temple. 

While I was at it, I sent out a few letters, including one to Sara and one to Zena in Seiryuu City. 

Should I send one to Karina, too? She wasn’t back to the Muno Barony yet, but it shouldn’t be a problem if the letter got there before she did. 

I didn’t send one to Princess Menea in the royal capital, though. That could wait until we got to Labyrinth City. 

Now, Kuhanou County was a little far away. 

It was even farther north than the Muno Barony, the territory north of the Ougoch Duchy. Kuhanou was the home of Sedum City, where I helped the witch’s apprentice thwart a few small-time officials’ conspiracy. 

It was easy enough to get to the old capital within about ten minutes by repeatedly using the Return spell, but I didn’t have any Return seal slates any farther than here. 

I would have to get there by using “Skyrunning” and place some Return seal slates while I went. 

While I was at it, I might as well check in on some of the people I’d met on my journey. 

I removed my disguise in an alley and switched into Hero Nanashi mode by donning my black clothes and silver mask, then I used Return to get to the pit I’d made near the old capital. 

The pit was located in a forest far from even the hunting trails, so no one would see me teleporting. 

Most of my Return seal slates had been set up in a similar manner. 

They were waterproofed, too, of course. 

Once I confirmed on my map that no one was around, I jumped up with “Skyrunning,” then sprinted through the sky just above the trees, heading north along the great river. 

I crossed the treacherous Grapevine Mountains, home of the orcs’ Dreamglow Cavern, then passed by Gururian City and the dwarf city of Bolehart, leaving seal slates a safe distance away for later use as I went. 

Before long, I’d left Ougoch Duchy and entered the Muno Barony. 

“Good, things seem to be going along well.” 

Muno City’s reconstruction was coming along smoothly, and the former slums had been rebuilt with tenements and gabo-fruit fields. 

Other crops had also been planted outside the city; fresh vegetables were already starting to pop up from the ground. 

I left Muno City behind and gazed at the former ghost fort, which had been renamed Fort Pendragon. From what I could tell from far away, the kids were happy and healthy, raising goats and orange chickens. 

Since this was technically my villa and the kids were in my employ, I checked in with Clairvoyance from time to time to make sure they were doing all right. 

As I flew through the sky toward Kuhanou County, I heard some bustling down below. 

It looked like a gang of thieves was fighting against the Muno Barony soldiers. Fighting bravely on the front lines were Zotol, the reformed thief, and Hauto, the former false hero and current knight. 

They seemed to be winning the fight, so I just cheered them on silently and kept moving. 

Aside from such minor incidents, I reached Kuhanou County without a problem and arrived at Sedum City with time to spare before sunset. 

At a glance, the owner and catfolk kids at the pottery studio who had helped us out before seemed to be doing well. 

Now, time to head to the pickle shop. 

A lot of the stalls seemed to be closed, but the shop I had in mind was still open. 

“I’d like some Kuhanou pickled radishes. Do you have any in stock?” 

“Yes, we do! How many shall I wrap up for you?” 

The girl at the counter opened the lid of a pickle jar with great vigor. 

It was brown, like the Kuhanou pickles I saw in the old capital, but there was no mistake: These were the fukujinzuke I’d been looking for. 

I requested a taste test just to be sure, then bought the store’s entire stock of them. 

“Whoa! Never sold out like this before. Are you sure you don’t mind buying these other ones, too? They’re not all radishes.” 

“Of course. They were all delicious.” 

That wasn’t just lip service. It was the truth. 

The fukujinzuke from that shop was perhaps the best I had ever tasted. My favorite was the kind that had seven different varieties of vegetables in all. 

With my goal accomplished, I went around buying up a bunch of other kinds of radishes as well, then used Return in rapid succession to get back to the Bolenan Forest before the sun finished setting. 

Magic really was the best. 

The evening ended after we put the finishing touches on the curry powder and tasted the fukujinzuke, so we started preparing for the curry feast early the next morning. 

I’d already asked Nea to get us permission to use the plaza in front of the tree houses. 

If we did it in the kitchen of our own tree house, the whole place would smell like curry, even the bedrooms. 

In addition to my party, the cooking elves, and some helpful brownies, Miss Aaze showed up early in the morning. 

She’d been working way too hard, so she had the entire day off. 

She told me that all the elves who’d been working in the void were taking days off in turns until the mass-production of the bait potions began. 

Since that meant this curry feast was also a send-off meal before an epic battle, I wanted to make it a success for Aaze’s sake, too. 

“Nana, help the brownies peel the vegetables, please.” 

“Yes, master.” 

We were using a strength-in-numbers technique to deal with the huge amount of sweet potatoes, carrots, and so on. 

“Liza, can you carve up these birds?” 

“Right away, sir.” 

I handed Liza some mountain birds from the Garage Bag. 

It wasn’t chicken, exactly, but I thought it’d make good tandoori chicken anyway. According to the recipe that was listed in that memo along with the curry recipes, tandoori chicken had to be cooked after marinating in sauce for about half a day. 

If we started now, they’d be ready to eat right around noon, or even sooner if we used Water Magic to accelerate the process. 

I wanted to make some chicken cutlets to top the curry, too, but we didn’t seem to have enough poultry for that. 

“Mia, we could use more poultry. Is there someone we could ask?” 

“Mm. Hiya.” 

She probably meant that we could ask Hishirotoya, the hunter. 

Mia pounded her little chest to indicate that she would take care of it, and she went off with Tama and Pochi following close behind her. 

“Mr. Satou, the cooking implements are ready,” Nea called. Behind her was Miss Noa, who’d been hard at work to help reproduce the curry. 

In addition to the stove-type magic tools, there were ten cauldrons around the size of large drums. 

They were actually magic devices that could heat up and cook entirely by themselves. Very elf-like. 

I stood ready to cook in front of the stove, wielding a frying pan. 

First, I would cook the chopped onions. 

According to the notes, slowly caramelized onions were a major key to giving the curry its sweetness and depth of flavor. I’d also cut some onions into star and moon shapes along with the carrots to add later. 

For now, I cooked the onions slowly. 

Slowly. 

Slooowly. 

Veeery slooowly. 

When they reached a certain point, Noa kept peering over at me from her hiding place behind Nea. Once they turned golden brown, the onions were done. 

A book I once read said something along the lines of “cook onions until they bring tears to your eyes.” 

“Now, once they’ve been caramelized like this, transfer them to the pot.” 

With that, I switched places with Lulu. 

Nea and her friends lined up alongside Lulu to start frying onions as well. 

Meanwhile, I made the sauce for the tandoori chicken. Once Liza was finished cutting up the poultry, I put it in to marinate. 

I could use the hearts and gizzards to make snacks for the beastfolk girls later. 

Maybe I could make something with the cartilage to go with the elves’ drinks… 

…Hmm? 

Suddenly, I sensed two pairs of eyes watching me from the shadows. Arisa and Aaze. 

That’s not good. 

Letting Arisa cook was a surefire recipe for failure, and I couldn’t help imagining Aaze knocking over a cauldron and spilling curry everywhere. 

After a moment’s thought, I beckoned the two over. 

Arisa and Aaze pointed at themselves with innocent Who, me? faces. 

When I nodded, they burst into sunny smiles and came trotting over to me. 

Knowing what I had to do next pained my very soul. 

“Hee-hee, hello!” 

“D-did you need something?” 

I nodded gravely and handed them a basket full of souvenirs from the old capital. As they stared into it blankly, I stuck a lollipop into each of their mouths. 

Arisa, realizing my intentions, glowered at me even as she chomped down on the candy. 

Aaze didn’t seem so sure, and she accepted the candy with slightly red cheeks, giving the whole thing a bit of an erotic undertone. 

“Hand out this candy to the fairies so they don’t get in the way, please.” 

When I said this to Arisa, Aaze finally caught on to my plan. 

Oh, please don’t give me that look of betrayal. 

Arisa took the basket in one hand, reaching with her other for the hand of the teary-eyed Miss Aaze to gently lead her around the plaza, gathering the fairies at the entrance. 

Sorry, Arisa. Please take care of the fairies and Aaze for me. 

Although it was hot inside the elves’ magic cauldrons, the outside was only warm to the touch. 

Once the water had started boiling, I lowered the temperature so we could start skimming the scum off the top. 

“Master, I volunteer to take charge of the skimming, I declare.” 

Nana’s eyes sparkled, so I handed her the ladle to take over the rather annoying job. 

It was too much work for her alone, so I asked Liza to help as well. 

The two of them scooped steadily and methodically. I couldn’t think of anyone but the serious Liza and curious Nana who could do such a boring job so intently. I would have to find a way to thank them later. 

“Allow me to help as well.” 

The samurai elf Shiya jumped in to lend a hand, perhaps swayed by Liza’s serious expression. 

The atmosphere was getting pretty intense, considering they were just skimming scum off the top of the broth. 

I didn’t want to ruin the mood by commenting on it, so I decided to leave them to it. 

Once the scum was removed and the vegetables cooked, all that was left was adding the curry powder. 

Nea and the others were in charge of watching the vegetables, so I decided to prepare some garnishes while I had the chance. 

Lulu helped me prepare a variety of fried foods as toppings. 

I decided to go with various meat cutlets, shrimp, and whitefish. Partway through, I put Lulu in command of the operation, as some brownies and elves had come to help, lured over by the smell. 

Now, for Mia and the other vegetarians, I wanted to make fried squash and pumpkin in addition to the salads and vegetable sticks. 

So far, we’d just been doing ingredient prep; now it was time to do some actual frying. 

I sliced the extra potatoes thin and fried them into potato chips, put them in a basket, and carried them to Arisa, who was playing dice with the fairies. I brought along carbonated drinks with ice, too. 

“Some snacks for you, Arisa.” 

“Hooray! Potato chips!” 

“Make sure you share them with everyone.” 

“Okey-dokey! Popo, Lily, line up the fairies! I’m going to hand out some snacks from the land of the hero!” 

“Aye-aye, sir!” 

“Arisa, you’re so dramatic.” 

“Smells great, though!” 

The potato chips wound up being quite popular with the fairies. 

“Thank you, Satou.” 

Aaze smiled at me meekly when the fairies who’d been playing with her hair left to get their share of snacks. 

I was glad to have been able to help her. 

With a smile and a wave, I returned to my cooking. 

“Hey! No going for the baaasket!” 

From behind me, I heard Arisa shouting with relatively serious rage. Hang in there, Arisa. 

Ignoring the ruckus, I started preparing some sweet drinks for those who weren’t so good with spicy food. 

In addition to the coffee milk, fruit milk, and other beverages I’d made for the public bathhouse, I also used a matcha-like powder that Nea had acquired for me to make matcha lattes. 

Once they were finished, I put them in a magic freezer device to cool. If I could come up with a magic device for stirring, maybe I could make ice cream soon, too. 

When the vegetables were just about cooked, we added the curry powder a little at a time; once the powder dissolved, I stirred it for a while, but it wasn’t really thickening up. Was the recipe in the memo pad wrong? 

In the end, I added a bit of wheat flour to thicken it easily. Now it didn’t seem flavorful enough, so I threw in some butter for good measure. 

Now I just had to reduce the heat and wait for the vegetables to soak up some flavor. Meanwhile, I could go fry the toppings. 

“Preeey?” 

“It’s a huge catch, sir!” 

“Look.” 

Tama, Pochi, and Mia came running up, stopping just outside the plaza, as they were covered in dirt. 

Behind them was my teacher Hishirotoya, as well as some of the other elf teachers who were skilled in hunting. 

Goya was there, too, acting smug. From the looks of it, he’d brought down a mountain bird. 

“Good work.” 

One of the elf teachers who hadn’t gone with them used Practical Magic to clean up the hunting group. 

Pochi and Mia smelled a bit strange, so I used some deodorizing magic on them. Maybe they’d gotten caught by some kind of plant monster? Must have been a pretty tough hunt. 

We butchered the poultry, but there wasn’t enough time to marinate it with the tandoori chicken, so I figured we could use it for toppings instead. Some of it resembled pheasant or duck, which promised to be tasty. 

I’d have loved to add some dashi to the duck and make duck hot pot or udon, but for now I just steamed it to top a salad. 

I had the elves who’d just come back from hunting sit down at the temporary tables set out for the feast, and I gave them drinks and snacks to get a head start on the party. 

Tama and Pochi got the elves to share some chicken skewers with them. Don’t eat too much, you two. 

“Mm?” 

Mia came up to me and held out the basket of potato chips I’d given Arisa. 

It was empty, of course. Maybe she was hungry and wanted some chips of her own? 

“It’s almost time for dinner, so I’m not making any more right now. I’ll make some for snacks tomorrow, okay?” 

“Promise.” 

Mia stuck out her little finger, so I wrapped mine around it to seal the promise. 

Aaze, who was once again surrounded by winged fairies, stared at us in shock; maybe she was unfamiliar with pinkie promises. At any rate, I decided to go ahead and ignore it. 

The scent of curry was drawing more and more elves to the plaza, so we wound up starting the feast a little earlier than planned. 

There was no need for any dramatic opening remarks. 

We simply worked together to start doling out curry rice and bringing it to the tables. With the amount of people present, it felt like we were feeding a camp or something. 

For the rice, we used ordinary long-grain rice, the standard in the Ougoch Duchy. 

In the process of our spice search, I’d also found some short-grain rice, but a curry shop I used to eat at used long-grain rice, so I just stuck with the usual. 

I prepared some naan, both plain and with raisins, but since it was Japanese-style curry, I figured pairing it with rice was the orthodox way to go. 

“Wow, look at all these different kinds!” Arisa marveled. 

In fact, I’d made four different varieties of curry: green, red, yellow, and brown. 

First, the green curry, which used a leafy green that resembled spinach. 

I figured this one would go over well with the vegetable-loving crowd, like Mia. It was about average spiciness. 

Next, the red curry, which contained plenty of red pepper. 

This one was for the spicy-food connoisseurs. Nea and Lulu got teary-eyed when they taste tested it, so it seemed to be pretty spicy. I added plenty of cubed rocket wolf meat to the red curry. 

In the yellow curry, I’d boldly thrown in the tandoori chicken. 

It wasn’t quite as spicy as the red curry but was still pretty up there. Its color was a bright, almost neon yellow, perhaps because of the parallel world spices. 

Finally, the brown curry. 

This was a standard Japanese curry made with beef. I prepared two separate spice levels for this: one average and one sweet. 

At first I worried they wouldn’t like the brown curry, but when I consulted Nea, she responded, “But beef stew is brown, too, isn’t it?” So I guess I didn’t need to worry. 

The brown beef curry proved popular with the girls. I’d also put out plenty of fried toppings for people to add as they liked. 

For side dishes, aside from the obvious fukujinzuke and sweet pickled leeks, we prepared a fresh vegetable salad, boiled cabbage, mashed potatoes, chopped vegetables, and so on. 

Once everyone had food in front of them, the feast began. 

Ahhh, curry. Reunited at last. 

“Mm, spicyyy?” 

“It’s spicy but yummy, sir.” 

I’d tried to make the sweet one as mild as possible for the kids, but I guess it was still a little spicy for Tama and Pochi. 

“Spicy yet delicious.” 

Liza, I know the toppings were self-serve, but…you didn’t need to pile up so much fried whale that the curry got completely lost underneath it. 

Incidentally, she’d chosen the chicken curry. The poultry must have been the deciding factor. 

“This curry is cuter, I declare.” 

Nana seemed pleased with her spicy red curry, topped with a soft-boiled egg and apple slices cut into rabbit shapes. 

“Ngh, it’s good, but it’s so spicy I can hardly eat it…” 

“Hang in there, Aaze.” Mia encouraged Aaze. 

I’d been watching affectionately as Aaze ate with tears in her eyes, gulping down a glass of water after each bite, but I should probably help her out. 

Mia was eating green curry herself. 

“Miss Aaze, try this instead.” I took her plate of ordinary curry and replaced it with the sweet brown curry. 

“Ah, this one isn’t spicy! I can eat it just fine.” 

“Glad to hear it.” 

The staff was happy to eat her first plate of curry. There were others who seemed to be struggling with the spiciness, too, so I sent around brownies to tell them about the sweet curry. 

“If your mouth still stings, try this drink, too. It should help with the spiciness a little.” 

“Th-thank you… Oh, it’s delicious! So nice and sweet.” 

Aaze was still making a face, so I offered her a matcha latte. 

The way she held it with both hands and gulped it down was adorable. 

I didn’t think I was staring, but for some reason, I heard Arisa and Mia call “Guilty!” from across the room. 

Come to think of it, I did forget to give out drinks to the girls. I planned to do so, of course, but I guess they didn’t like that I brought one to Aaze first. 

It wouldn’t be fair to keep it all to my little group, so once I’d shared with them, I brought the rest of the matcha latte bottles to the elves’ tables. 

“Ahhh, this is paradise. It’s just as good as that old curry chain.” 

“Arisa, look! Hamburg curry, sir!” 

“So deliiish?” 

Nea had apparently cooked up hamburg steaks with the leftover meat. That girl sure loved her hamburg steaks. 

Munching away on some fukujinzuke, I gazed around at the rest of the curry feast. 

Noa, the elf whose dream had been to re-create curry, was so overcome with emotion that she was weeping as she ate a plate of each kind. 

“Goya, you need some of that sweet curry or what?” 

“Mrrr. No.” 

A drunken elf teased Goya, who was teary-eyed as he ate his spicy curry. 

He looked ecstatic when Mia offered him a matcha latte. 

Being childhood friends and all, they seemed to get along pretty well. As far as I could tell, they were more like a doting older brother and a rebellious little sister than a young couple. 

Shifting my gaze, I located the spriggans and leprechauns from the search party who’d hunted down the spices for us. For some reason, they seemed a little nervous about being surrounded by elves. 

I decided to put together some takeout curry for them later. If not for their hard work, we wouldn’t be eating this curry in the first place, after all. 

Before the sun set, the thousand-odd servings of curry had disappeared, along with all the toppings. 

Some spinoff dishes had been developed, too, like Liza’s patented “whale cutlets with curry.” 

Despite all the food they’d eaten, everyone still went for the fruit jelly I’d made for dessert. I know there’s always room for dessert, but that had to be bad for their health. I decided to make some stomach medicine to hand out later. 

Thus, the initial curry feast came to an end, but there were complaints from the elves who hadn’t been able to join in, so the festival of curry seemed set to continue for a while. 

I didn’t want to eat curry every day, so I left things to Nea and her chef friends, who were raring to go. 

Hopefully the elf village wouldn’t turn yellow in the process. 

“…You were attacked by a jellyfish?!” 

“I-it wasn’t me who got attacked.” 

I got a little worked up about Aaze’s unexpected news. 

The day after the curry feast, I was making magic staves out of Hei Long’s claw and the treant’s branches when Aaze and Lua came to visit. 

“Mr. Satou, you’re a bit too close.” 

“E-excuse me.” 

Lua’s smile twitched as she separated me from Aaze. 

I’d panicked a little at the thought of Aaze being attacked, that’s all. 

“Two spirit users were attacked this morning as soon as they went out into the void.” 

According to Lua, although there were other spirit users and some pseudo-spirits in the same place, these two spirit users were the only ones who were directly attacked by jellyfish. 

Until now, the jellyfish had always ignored people unless they were attacked first or if magic was used near them. 

“Were they drunk, by any chance?” 

“No, those planning to go into the void are forbidden from drinking a drop of alcohol for the span of a day before their trip.” 

“Those two are very serious, so I can’t imagine they would violate the rules.” 

Lua and Aaze shot down my alcohol theory. 

“Besides, they ate so much curry the day before that they could barely move…” 

So the two who were attacked had also taken part in the curry feast. 

…There’s no way, right? 

I asked a few more questions and began to form a new hypothesis. 

“I’d like to test something out, if you don’t mind.” 

When we arrived at the observatory, I used the Practical Magic spell Deodorant on myself. 

After I set up a seal slate for the Return spell in a corner of the observatory, just to be safe, I put on a void suit and went out to see the jellyfish alone. 

“This is Satou. No reaction from the jellyfish yet.” 

After reporting in, I produced a tiny amount of curry powder in the palm of my void suit. 

Aha! 

The jellyfish shot out their tentacles very quickly indeed. 

I didn’t know how they even detected the smell, since there was no air in the void. 

Regardless, this was a far more intense reaction than the alcohol-based bait potion the Beliunan clan made. 

I could take these jellyfish on now, but I didn’t want to send them into berserk mode, so I used Return to reach the observatory. 

“I’m back.” 

I explained the results of my experiment to Aaze and Lua, and we arranged to inform the other clans of the discovery of a new bait. 

While we waited for confirmation, Kiya from the magic-tool shop and Aea from the transmutation workshop helped me make a magic device to produce curry-scented mist. I offered samples and blueprints to each of the other clans. 

Since the void still had gravity, and not even balloons could float there, I tested out a prototype device called a “void engine” that I’d found in Trazayuya’s research. 

When I saw it ascending through the void without any visible propulsion, I thought maybe it was a gravity-controlling device, but alas, when I looked over the materials in more detail, I figured out that it was a similar mechanism to my “Skyrunning” skill. 

The device created a small floating foothold inside itself with Practical Magic, then ran a gear along it to climb upward. 

While we were developing this device further, the golem maniac Kiya and I got a little carried away and wound up making a living doll using a World Tree branch for use in the void. 

“Satou, it worked! The World Tree’s lightning isn’t attacking the doll!” 

“Perfect. Now we can put the living dolls in charge of working in the void instead of sending people out into danger.” 

With a little experimenting, Aaze and I got even better results than I’d expected. 

From what I heard, there was another elf who had thought of a similar thing once. This time, though, we used a Treespirit Pearl from a treant to transform a sprout on the World Tree and use it as a base for the doll. 

The engine that made the doll move was a separately prepared magic device, but we had to get a little clever to make that work, too. 

“Seems awfully heavy… Don’t you think the lead layer is a little too thick?” 

“If we make it any thinner, the jellyfish will react to the doll.” 

In order to keep the jellyfish from noticing the magic power, we sectioned off the engine with lead, which didn’t conduct magic. 

I explained these mechanisms to the other elf clans, too. Few of them had Treespirit Pearls, but they all had some Forest Magic experts, so that wasn’t a problem. 

I really wanted to hurry up and learn how to chant already. 

After a few days of this, the Beliunan clan’s experiments confirmed that the scent of curry attracted jellyfish and didn’t cause them to go into a rampage state. 

Then I was invited to the Holytree Council again… 

“Very well. In accordance with the vote, we have decided to proceed with Nanashi the Hero’s proposed strategy, Operation Curry.” 

There were some protests to the name of the operation, but in the end they decided to adopt it as is. 

Names should be easy to understand, in my opinion. 

“As the Bolenan clan has contributed the most to the development of this strategy, I propose that they spearhead the operation.” 

Aaze made a little fist pump of triumph. Spearheading must be considered an honor. 

It was cute to see her celebrate like that. 

“B-but we the Beliunan clan also—” 

“But of course. I would like the Beliunan clan to be second to enact the plan.” 

“Hmm. V-very well, then.” 

The high elf of the Zuwakanan clan, who was acting as the chairman, expertly dealt with the protests of the Beliunan clan, who had also contributed to the research. I guess the chairman had the authority to assign such roles. 

Evidently, they had the clans undertake the operation in succession instead of all at the same time in case of any unexpected situations. 

“The operation shall commence ten days from now, when all clans have completed the repellent potion application as a preliminary step.” 

This repellent potion was to be applied to the branches of the World Tree to keep the jellyfish in check and ensure they would follow the curry powder spray. 

“Any clans who may be falling behind are to report in at once. The Holytree Council wishes you all the very best of luck.” 

With this slightly military-sounding send-off from the chairman, the council meeting came to an end. 

All that was left now was to prepare for the extermination process and make some backup plans.