Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

An Unreachable Power

(Part 1) 

ZANOBA SHIRONE, the Third Prince of the Shirone Kingdom. A Blessed Child possessed of supernatural power from the moment he was born. And a pervert. An unmistakable pervert. You could say he was a figurine otaku who took things too far. By the time he’d realized it, he was gazing at them every day, and when the feeling struck him he’d gently caress them with his hand. 

When he got excited, he lost control of his monstrous power, but he would never handle his figurines roughly. It might have been his love for them that ensured their safety. 

Love. Yes, he loved figurines. He was very partial to them. For example, there was a bronze statue of a naked woman in his room. A slender and slightly lustrous figure of a woman that he’d bought before on impulse when he spotted it in the markets. When I first visited Zanoba’s room, it was only to spy him also fully naked, his arms wrapped around the statue—my fault for not knocking. Zanoba hurriedly put his clothes back on and bowed to me, apologizing for showing me something so unsightly. 

There was no need for him to explain what he was doing. His love was abnormal. Snow was still periodically falling in the Northern Territories and it was cold if you went outside, so it didn’t take a genius to figure out how frigid a statue made out of metal must be. He was risking frostbite for the sake of his desire. No one could fake such dedication. 

Still, I could actually understand where he was coming from. After all, I’d done similar things in my previous life. That said, I would never forgive him if he tried it with God’s statue (Roxy’s figurine). 

Come to think of it, I didn’t see her figurine in his room. I wondered if he’d left it behind in Shirone. 

Or so I’d thought, until the events of that day. 

I was faced with Zanoba suddenly prostrating himself in front of me. “Master, please teach me how to create figurines!” 

It was evening and I held in my hands the beginning of a new figurine. For the past month I’d been continuously telling Zanoba to wait just a little longer. He’d waited like an obedient dog, but it seemed his patience was reaching its limit. “Didn’t you promise me! Why do you still refuse to start instructing me?!” 

Zanoba seemed a little angry. I didn’t have a reason to turn him away, of course. I had promised him, and I’d been refreshing my skills for that purpose. The reason I hadn’t started yet was partly because things hadn’t yet settled down, and partly because I hadn’t found the opportunity to, since it wasn’t related to my goal in coming here. 

“Zanoba, my pupil, be warned that my training methods are strict!” I purposefully added some dramatic flair to my speech. Zanoba’s face turned serious and he nodded grimly. 

“Naturally. Master, I would ask that you please not underestimate my resolve. Even if I start spitting blood, I still vow to learn the secret techniques of your figurine creation.” 

“Good, that’s the spirit.” 

And that was how I started teaching Zanoba to make figurines. I used my time in the evenings before I went to sleep, about an hour or two a day. 

I had an ulterior motive as well. This man’s love for figurines was genuine, and he also happened to be a royal, which meant he was rich. Although I’d once given up on the idea, his aid might allow me to add color to my figurines and begin mass-producing them. This world had the technology to create bronze and western-style statues. If we reappropriated that technology, we would be able to mass produce figurines, even though the quality might take a dip from the originals. 

I would start with the mass production of the Roxy figurine. After that, I’d work on the Ruijerd figurine. I’d write a book glorifying the Superd Tribe for their loyalty, telling the story of the gulf between a hero the whole world recognized and a man it did not. I’d depict the struggles and conflicts he came up against as he worked hard even though people wouldn’t accept him. Then I’d slap the figurine on as a bonus item to go with it. It would be a set, a book with a free figurine. If that went successfully, I might put out another book lauding Roxy’s achievements. 

Yes, this could work! It might’ve been impossible for me to do alone, but despite his flaws, Zanoba was still a member of the royal family. He was loaded with cash and he had passion, too. He was the optimal business partner. There was that saying about not counting your chickens before they hatched, but I was already doing just that. 

“Alright, then I shall began imparting my special techniques upon you!” 

“Yes, Master!” 

Our figurine creation had just begun. 

*** 

Let’s just skip to the conclusion. He couldn’t do it. Zanoba was incapable of using voiceless earth magic to create figurines. 

There were two reasons for this. One was that he couldn’t wield magic without incantations, and the other was because his total mana capacity was nowhere near enough. 

To be fair, there were very few people in this world who could use voiceless casting. The only ones I’d met were Orsted, Fitz, and Sylphie. There had been another example at this school, a professor who could wield wind magic without using incantations, but he’d died last year. 

I hadn’t realized this, since I had been doing it from childhood, but voiceless casting was a high-level technique. In retrospect, neither Eris nor Ghislaine had been able to perform voiceless magic successfully, either. It made sense that someone like Zanoba, who’d just begun learning magic, couldn’t do it. 

The other problem was his mana capacity. For me, creating figurines was an effective way to use up my endlessly increasing pool of mana. But really, that meant creating a figurine required an immense amount of magical power. This was where I realized for the first time that I apparently had a considerably larger mana pool than most people. 

I’d thought my mana pool was a bit bigger than most, but never thought the difference was that much. As an adventurer, seeing other magicians use up all their magical power, I’d just think, that’s because you guys are being too wasteful in the way you’re using your mana. To demonstrate the difference in numbers, I used to think that if a normal adventurer had a max pool of 100, then I probably had about 500 in comparison. In reality, I apparently had much, much more. 

Anyway, me aside—I’d never dreamed that Zanoba wouldn’t even be able to construct a single part for a figurine. He tried hard. He woke up in the morning, exhausted his mana until he passed out, then woke up and used it again until he passed out. His cheeks hollowed out so much that his face looked like a skull with tears and snot streaming down it. The thing he wanted to do the most was a thing he had no talent for. That fact was clear to see. 

What had I done to him? I reflected on my actions and apologized. “I’m sorry.” 

Zanoba shook his head and tiredly responded, “No, if only I were more skilled…” He had the look of a man stricken with grief. The look of a man so defeated he was drowning in his sadness. 

We couldn’t give up here, though. 

“Alright then, let’s try something different,” I said. 

“There’s another way?!” Zanoba, who’d moments before been stricken with grief, suddenly recovered and sat forward. 

“Yes, let’s do the best we can and find a way that doesn’t use magic,” I said, conjuring up a clump of earth—clay, specifically. “I created this with magic, but you should be able to find it in the natural world as well.” I’d heard tales of a famous potter who’d holed themself up in the mountains, but this world’s mountains and forests were plagued with danger. Maybe there were beasts out there made of something akin to clay? 

“What are you going to do with that?” 

“Chisel it.” 

Chiseling. This was the most primitive, most reliable, but also most difficult method. You would chisel down the clay to make each part. This would make figurine creation possible even for someone without mana. The only problem was that we didn’t have chiseling tools, but we should be able to find those by searching for magic items on the marketplace. I’d seen a knife somewhere before that could carve through boulders as if they were butter. 

“Now I understand, Master. With this method, even I should be able to create figurines!” Zanoba’s raised his voice in excitement. His face was full of hope. 

That hope, however, was easily crushed one short hour later. 

Zanoba’s fingertips were not very dexterous. That stemmed from the power he was born with—his supernatural strength. That’s right—his “blessing” was getting in the way. He could restrain himself enough to not break things, but that was the extent of his control. Doing delicate work, such as chiseling each part with careful precision, was difficult for him. 

Zanoba worked hard each day, his eyes turning bright red as he did so. His passion was genuine. He was so devoted to creating figurines that he forwent sleep and worked himself to the brink of death. None of it went according to plan and he had to redo his work countless times. Each time that happened he would cry, scream, and emit other strange noises. 

Finally, he completed it—a figurine that he’d created himself, from scratch. It was most definitely not a beautiful work of art. It was amateurish and those in my previous world would have snorted in laughter or made memes out of it. But I knew that this was a representation of his passion, so I absolutely would not laugh. Yet even without my derision, Zanoba himself knew it was poorly crafted. 

“Master, I can’t do it. I… I can’t make figurines like you!” he sobbed. 

*** 

“And that’s what happened.” 

I had decided to look to Master Fitz for support. It was truly wretched for me, as Zanoba’s master, to disclose his failings and seek advice from a stranger, but I wanted to borrow someone else’s wisdom. I felt such pity for my pupil. 

“You’re creating… figurines? With magic?” Fitz was unable to comprehend it. We were sitting with our chairs side-by-side, and he tilted his head as he listened to my story. 

“Yes, like this.” I used earth magic to quickly produce a simple human figure. As discreetly as possible, of course, since magic was forbidden in the library. The simple figure I instantly created was one that resembled a naked sarubobo (a red, human-shaped amulet closely associated with Takayama in Gifu Prefecture, a town in my previous world). 

“Whoa. What is that, that’s amazing!” 

Master Fitz’s gaze was transfixed as he closely examined the figurine I’d created. Then, as if to test whether he could do the same, he channeled mana into his fingertips and conjured a clump of mud whose twisted shape resembled a slime. 

The fact that he immediately tried to imitate what he’d seen was amazing to me. His magic, however, hadn’t taken the shape he’d hoped. In the end he let out a breathy sigh and gave up. “I can’t do it,” he said. 

Well, my technique for creating figurines was something I’d diligently worked on over a long period of time. I’d be in tears if he could copy it after only seeing it once. Still, it seemed like he’d be able to do it if he practiced. He could use voiceless magic, after all. 

“This isn’t a technique a normal person can imitate,” Master Fitz concluded. 

“True. As an alternate method I thought it might be possible to try chiseling down a clump of clay, but…” 

“But his fingers aren’t dexterous enough to do it,” Master Fitz concluded. He hummed and put his hand on his chin as he thought. He had a habit of doing that when he was mulling over something. The sunglasses made him look exceptionally dashing in that pose. 

On a similar note, whenever he was embarrassed or troubled by something, he’d scratch the back of his ear. Such behavior was fitting for his age and just endeared me to him even more. Granted, I’d heard elves had long lives, so they weren’t necessarily the age that they appeared. 

“Hmm… oh yeah! I’m not sure if it’ll be any help, but there was someone with a similar case to Zanoba’s in Asura’s capital.” 

“Someone with a similar case, you say?” 

“Yeah, they had something they wanted to do themselves, but they didn’t have the necessary skills or abilities,” Master Fitz elaborated. 

“So what did they do?” 

When I asked, he hesitated to respond, scratching at the back of his ear. “Uh, well, they made a slave do it.” 

“Aha.” 

According to Master Fitz’s story, this person in the capital had the necessary knowledge but not the abilities, so they purchased a slave, had someone teach them how to do it, and then had that slave create what they wanted. 

“Based on what you said, uh, Zanoba likes the figurines you make, and he’d like more of them, so he said he wants to make them himself, right?” Fitz clarified. 

“Huh…? Is that what I said?” 

“Um, that’s how it sounded to me?” 

Really, was that the case? Well, while the normal figurine enthusiast might remodel or paint a figurine, they wouldn’t think about trying to make one from scratch. The most I’d done in my previous life was enjoy a little bit of nude remodeling. 

“I’m sure that Zanoba would like you to become his personal figurine creator, but he knows that’s impossible, so that’s probably why he’s asking for this instead.” 

“I don’t actually think that’s impossible, though,” I added. I could live in the Shirone Royal Palace, employed by Zanoba, making figurines every day. That wouldn’t be a bad way to live my life. Working in a royal palace would give me reliable income, too. Now that I thought about it, how much was Master Fitz receiving from Princess Ariel? I felt like it’d be rude to ask. 

“Well, I’ll try suggesting that option to Zanoba. Thank you for your advice.” 

“Yeah, no problem.” 

I bowed my head and Master Fitz gave me a toothy grin. 

Why did I feel so shaken when I saw that smile? It was a mystery. A mystery of the already mysterious man known as Fitz. 

*** 

Buy a slave, teach them the technique, and have them create a figurine. When I mentioned that plan to Zanoba, he immediately jumped on board and began joyfully planning his slave purchase. Much as it surprised me, Fitz’s proposal of having a slave do it instead was a widely-accepted method in this world. 

Still, since we were in a master-pupil relationship, Zanoba said he felt it rude to request that I teach a slave instead of him. This was the man, after all, who’d swore from the beginning that he’d learn how to do it himself even if he vomited blood. That was why he’d never propose this method himself, yet felt relieved when I suggested it. 

“And so we’ve decided to go to the slave market during break next month.” I was thanking Master Fitz for his help once again. I was really grateful to have someone I could seek advice from when I needed it. 

“That’s nice. I hope you find a good match.” The conversation seemed to be over, but Master Fitz seemed a bit restless. “Oh yeah, I’m also free during break next month,” he said. 

“Oh really?” 

“Yeah, so, um, since I have nothing to do, I was thinking about going into town, but I don’t really have anywhere in particular I want to go, or any friends, so I’d be all alone…” 

He was desperately hinting at something with his words. Was it really okay for a bodyguard like him to go into town? Didn’t he need to be by the princess’ side in case something happened? Well, none of my business. Luke would probably find a way to make it work. “Uh, would you like to come with us during next month’s break?” I asked. 

“You don’t mind? I won’t be in the way?” 

“Not at all. And as a way of thanking you for your advice, I’ll treat you to a meal.” 

“Really? Then I’ll happily take you up on that offer,” Master Fitz said, giving me that toothy smile as he laughed. 

That was how it became the three of us going to the slave market. Next time: A flower in both hands?! A heart-pounding shopping adventure with the smiling elf and the prince with supernatural strength! 

Just kidding.