chapter 8

How to Live as a Hero in a Magical World

With a twirl of her finger, Eldarin made a cart loaded with sweet potatoes move toward the storage shed all by itself.

Kaian couldn’t take his eyes off it.

“Are you selling all of those?”

“Except for however much we need to eat.”

“Right? Of course. That makes sense.”

Only then did Kaian’s cheeks puff up in satisfaction.

Eldarin looked at him fondly. The flush in his cheeks made him look considerably more lively than before.

She held out a sweet potato and asked,

“Would you like to try one?”

“Is it okay to eat it raw?”

“Of course.”

Kaian took a big bite of the sweet potato Eldarin had washed with magic.

―Crunch!

“Whoa! The more you chew it…!”

―Munch, munch.

Kaian’s facial muscles contorted miserably.

He had a mouthful of sweet potato that he couldn’t bring himself to swallow or spit out, and he muttered sorrowfully,

“It doesn’t taste like anything… It’s tasteless. Completely tasteless.”

“Pfft! Hahaha! Of course it is right now!”

For the first time, Eldarin burst out laughing.

Kaian stared up at her in disbelief.

“Sweet potatoes need to be dried in the shade for about a week or two before their sweetness develops. We’ll cook them properly and eat them then.”

“That’s so mean…”

“Spit it out. It’ll return to the earth.”

“Blegh…”

After about a week, Kaian had become fairly accustomed to life in Eldergrove.

Every morning, he drank the astragalus tea Amber brewed for him.

Amber was still cold toward him.

“Ugh…”

“Drink it all. Nothing is better for restoring your strength.”

After that, Kaian spent breakfast and tea time asking Eldarin about whatever he was curious about.

For example—

“Can I use the wooden walkways around the house?”

“Of course. There are even larger walkways near the windows. You don’t have to enter and leave the house only through the front door. That’s merely one of the customs created by humans. Here, do whatever is convenient for you.”

“Where’s your room, Eldarin?”

“My room is on the top floor. There are many dangerous things inside, and a lady’s room is not somewhere you should enter without permission, so don’t come near it.”

“Boo. That’s not fair.”

“For your information, Amber’s room is on the sixth floor.”

“I see. So this is a five-story building.”

“Very clever.”

“Are all the books on the first floor?”

“Now that I think about it, I put all the books in my room. Hmm. I’ll move everything except the dangerous ones down to the second floor.”

“Yes! But if it’s on the second floor…”

“The place you burned.”

“Shh! Shh!”

Working in the fields was still difficult.

And rewarding.

Kaian had gotten quite good at digging up sweet potatoes by now, he could roll the mature pumpkins around with ease, and he could pull radishes straight out of the ground.

Amber used the crops they brought her to prepare astonishingly delicious meals.

The best part was that working in the fields helped his body recover rapidly.

Thanks to that, Kaian could now walk comfortably around the house without a cane.

“Amazing! Even if we’d called in the best doctor in the Valancia Empire, they couldn’t have healed my body this quickly!”

“That simply means the mana here in Eldergrove is exceptionally abundant. Always be grateful to the mana.”

His stamina had also improved considerably.

During the first three or four days, he would often collapse as soon as his fieldwork ended, but since yesterday afternoon, he had even been able to read books.

Kaian excitedly chattered away to Eldarin.

“So starting tomorrow, I’m going to practice climbing trees.”

“You won’t listen even if I try to stop you… Just be careful while practicing.”

The walkways along the exterior wall of Eldarin’s house only extended up to the third floor.

If Kaian wanted to climb any higher without using magic, he had no choice but to climb the tree itself.

If he reached the top, he would probably be able to see just how vast Eldergrove was.

I’m looking forward to it…! I wonder if I could even draw a map?

Kaian was showing remarkable adaptability.

But there was one thing that even he found difficult and troublesome.

That was trying to feel the earth mana.

“I sit in the field every day with my eyes closed and breathe just like Eldarin told me to… But, ah, I still don’t really get it.”

“Still, haven’t you become quite friendly with the earth spirits? That means you’re making progress.”

“Hmm. Really?”

“Yes. Don’t be in too much of a hurry.”

Kaian liked the earth spirits very much.

They gave off a soft yellow glow, felt incredibly cozy, and were warm like sunlight filtering through leaves.

Eldarin had told him that earth spirits were the least wary among the spirits of the five types of mana.

It must be because they’re like the earth mana’s quality of acceptance. I want to learn that, too.

Day after day, Kaian washed away his impatience with beads of sweat.

And then, this morning, Eldarin finally brought up the subject.

“I’ll tell you how to treat your mental world.”

At that moment, the fact that Kaian didn’t spit out the astragalus tea he was drinking was practically a miracle.

―Gulp.

After hurriedly swallowing the tea, Kaian asked Eldarin,

“What? How do I do it?”

“Go to the volcanic region.”

He blinked several times without saying a word.

What? Go where?

* * *

Kaian tilted his head.

“Did I hear that wrong…?”

As far as he knew, frightening a patient was a poor choice from a medical standpoint.

But Eldarin repeated herself.

“I said, go to the volcanic region.”

Kaian tilted his head even farther.

No? Could it be that the mountain-goat elves have completely opposite common sense from the Empire? Maybe the more often you frighten a patient, the better they recover.

“Of course, I don’t mean that you should enter the volcano.”

Eldarin casually added this while sipping her tea.

Only then did Kaian jump to his feet.

“Well, obviously not…!”

Up until now, the only thing Eldarin had taught him was fieldwork.

She had prevented him from even getting a glimpse of magic, and now she was planning to shove him into a volcano?

A place where he would melt without a trace the moment he proudly marched in with a hoe in his left hand and a sickle in his right?

That was impossible.

Kaian firmly shook his head, but Eldarin continued speaking without concern.

“All you have to do is go to the volcanic region and bring back a medicinal herb.”

“A medicinal herb? What kind?”

“About twenty kilometers south of here is Mount Ignis. At the end of September, an herb called Flame Veil blooms in the volcanic region. It is a plant that contains the essence of fire and has resistance to considerable heat. It should help prevent further damage to your mental world.”

Kaian remembered the flames blazing inside his mental world.

If he wanted to learn magic, he couldn’t simply leave his mental world in that state.

Kaian clicked his tongue and asked Eldarin as though he had no other choice.

“So this Flame Veil herb will help stop the flames inside me? And it’s twenty kilometers away?”

“That’s right.”

“How far is twenty kilometers?”

“For an average adult’s walking pace, perhaps five or six hours.”

“Ugh…!”

A hollow laugh escaped him.

Six hours for an adult?

Then how long would it take an eight-year-old?

Kaian made no attempt to hide his disbelief.

“Ha! Tch! Hah!”

But Eldarin merely closed her eyes and savored the taste of her tea.

Kaian narrowed his eyes at her.

I’m starting to think she’s drinking some strange tea.

The tea she drank every morning was pine-needle tea.

Apparently, it was supposed to clear her mind or something.

But now that he thought about it, he wondered if it didn’t merely clear her mind but completely empty it.

Once I learn magic, the first thing I’ll do is cut down every pine tree in this neighborhood.

Still, the fact remained that he had to go to the volcanic region.

Kaian crossed his arms and asked in a serious voice,

“Can an eight-year-old learn to ride a horse?”

Eldarin answered just as seriously.

“Have you seen a horse since you came here?”

“…No.”

“There aren’t any.”

Kaian nodded as though he had expected as much.

He had hoped there might be one, but of course not.

Apparently, there wasn’t a stable either.

Looks like I’m going to have to walk the whole way.

He glanced at the calendar.

There were ten days left in September.

Kaian spoke in a deliberately optimistic tone.

“Still, I should be able to make the trip somehow within ten days, right?”

“For your information, Flame Veil must be consumed within twelve hours of being harvested for it to be effective. Once you’ve picked it, it would be best not to delay.”

“Uh…? Wait a second. Let me organize this.”

Kaian went over everything he had heard one piece at a time.

So what Eldarin was saying was this:

First, he had to walk twenty kilometers.

Then, assuming he didn’t get cooked alive in the volcanic region, he had to find Flame Veil—which he didn’t know the exact location of, but which would apparently be growing somewhere there—and dig it up.

Then he had to walk another twenty kilometers back within twelve hours.

And that was the mission complete.

“You understood perfectly. Exactly.”

“It’s a very simple mission. Extremely simple.”

Kaian felt as though a fire were rising from the depths of his chest, so he gulped down his astragalus tea.

Then, as he clutched his head and groaned—

Suddenly, his blood ran cold, and goosebumps rose all over his back.

With a smile that was almost a spasm, he looked at Eldarin.

“Um… Eldarin, then what about fieldwork for the next few days…?”

“You’ll still have to do it. Have you forgotten the rules?”

“H-ha. Hahaha. Hahahahaha. I see. So that’s how it is.”

Kaian laughed as though he had lost his mind.

For the past few days, he had considered himself lucky to have such a good mountain-goat elf teacher.

Now he wanted to smack himself for ever thinking that.

He wiped the laughter from his face and hurriedly opened the pocket watch.

Then he counted on his fingers and calculated the time he had available.

Lunch and tea time end at 2 p.m. Fieldwork starts at 8:40 the next morning. So that gives me roughly… eighteen hours…

Kaian took a deep breath to calm himself, then blew it out through his nostrils.

If he had horns right now, he would have become an enraged bull and charged straight into Eldarin.

Unfortunately, in reality, he was nothing more than a painfully fragile butterfly.

Still… even a butterfly has its own way of doing things!

Kaian decided to make the most pitiful whimpering expression he could.

Tears quickly welled up in his turquoise eyes.

“Does Eldarin hate me? Is that why you want to watch me burn to death?”

“What an unpleasant hobby.”

“Did I do something wrong? Is it because I burned down your house?”

“Hmm. You did burn it down twice, but you don’t need to apologize to me.”

―Clatter!

Just then, Amber brought over a fresh cup of astragalus tea and set it down.

The sound seemed unusually loud, but Kaian decided it was probably just his imagination.

Then, suddenly, his eyes lit up in confusion.

“Wait. But why did you say I burned it twice? I only remember doing it once. I won’t have you falsely accusing me.”

“Hmm. It seems you really don’t remember. Think about it. How did you enter Eldergrove when you didn’t even know any magic spells?”

“That’s…! Tch. I never thought about it. How did I get in?”

Kaian stared blankly and tilted his head.

Eldarin let out a small sigh.

Then she slowly began telling him what had happened that day.

“There is… one spirit in Eldergrove that is beyond my control. A water spirit. It often runs away from home. That day, it secretly left the pocket dimension and saw you. Apparently, it was concerned when it saw you staggering along. So it approached you to check your condition, but then…”

“Then…?”

“…”

Eldarin didn’t easily continue.

Kaian swallowed hard.

This feels ominous.

What else did I do?

At this point, it wouldn’t be strange if he were given a nickname like serial spirit tormentor.

“What… what did I do?”

“You…”

“What?!”

“You mistook it for an enemy. You came chasing after it with a huge flame attached to your wrist. Imagine how frightened that little spirit must have been…”

Eldarin squeezed her eyes shut.

Kaian’s mouth fell open as well.

“The frightened spirit fled into Eldergrove, and you ended up coming in along with it. You played chase inside the house, too, until you eventually passed out.”

“Then what about that spirit? Is it okay?”

Kaian asked urgently.

Eldarin answered with a peculiar expression.

“Hmm… It’s fine.”

That answer felt strangely unsettling.

It wasn’t reassuring at all.

Why had she hesitated before answering?

Kaian’s expression stiffened.

“Eldarin, tell me the truth. Did I perhaps…”

“I said it’s fine. It’s just…”

“Just…?”

“You completely burned off its hair.”

“Hm?”

Eldarin poured more pine-needle tea into her cup as she continued.

“Right now, it’s holed up by Lake Twofold, saying it won’t come out until its hair grows back. At least it won’t run away from home for a while. Well, isn’t that a decent ending?”

“What kind of nonsense is that…! Eldarin, do you have any idea how important hair is?!”

Kaian knew very well how precious hair was.

He had once stuck chewing gum in his second brother’s long hair, who was obsessed with looking good, and had suffered horribly for it.

Even though his brother knew it had been an innocent child’s mistake, he still gave Kaian a death glare every time he saw him.

It took the entire family forever to persuade him not to refuse to attend the academy because he was too embarrassed…

In the end, Riana had to bring a hair stylist from the Imperial capital, and the incident was finally settled.

Kaian once again grabbed his own hair and groaned.

I wonder if there’s a hair stylist in Eldergrove. Do I have to learn how to do it myself?

And yet, watching Eldarin casually sip her pine-needle tea as though everything had worked out for the best only made the fire inside Kaian burn even hotter.

Kaian let out a deep sigh and asked,

“Where is Lake Twofold, where that spirit is staying?”

When someone had done something wrong, the proper thing to do was to go and apologize.

“About twenty kilometers north.”

“Oh.”

Perhaps he still had a long way to go before he could truly be called a decent person.