Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

I saw Cleria and Elna waiting in the dining room when I returned to the inn. It seems they were having some tea while waiting for me.

Looks like I really made you wait. Lets have a meal somewhere first, then go outside of the city.

Verse interjected before Cleria managed to reply.

Hey Alan, instead of going out for a meal, how about you have it here instead? You guys ate bread this morning, right? I actually also cooked up some rice today, see. Theres still some leftover from yesterday as well.

But this inn doesnt offer lunch, right?

Oi, oi. Were already friends, right? Dont say something so distant. So we have some rice on hand today. Any new dishes we can cook up with it?

Yup. It seems that after tasting yesterdays cutlet sandwich, Verse is hankering to learn another recipe again today.

But it does feel sort of wrong not to eat the rice he prepared this morning just because we already ate bread. I dont want to let the rice go to waste after all.

Okay. Ill whip something up. You okay with that, ladies?

Of course!

When I entered the kitchen, I confirmed that there really was a good amount of rice prepared.

What kind of rice dishes are popular around these parts?

Rice is a fairly new cooking ingredient over here. I havent really heard of any shop offering any rice-centered dishes yet.

Is that so? Then Ill just go with fried rice. It sometimes uses some luxurious ingredients, but its basically a type of home cooking. The home-cooked version makes use of rice and any suitable ingredient you have on hand for the dish. Youll need to fry the rice and ingredients together to make the dish. Its quite simple, so I think Verse will get the hang of it pretty quickly.

I checked out the magic fridge and chose the ingredients. I got some eggs, Big Boar sirloin, spring onions, and garlic. Just these ones.

Ill make a soy sauce and garlic flavored one. Theres no dashi, but I dont think its a problem.

Yesterdays rice leftovers had already hardened up, so I put it inside a colander, gave it a quick rinse, and drained the water afterward.

I chopped the green onions and meat into fine pieces and beat the eggs. I grated the garlic and mixed it up with some soy sauce.

Now were done with the prep work.

That fast? Is it really okay to use so little ingredients?

The main draw is the rice after all. This much is fine. Lets put in some oil on the pans and start frying, beginning from the meat.

I prepared two large frying pans earlier, so Verse took one up and started frying the meat on top of the stove-type magic tool along with me.

Use a little salt and pepper for flavoring. Next, add in the beaten eggs and stir the mixture up. Yes, just like that.

Once the eggs are half-done, add in the rice. You need to fry the mixture until the rest of the water from earlier dries up.

Verse is a talented chef, so it looks like he didnt have any problems cooking up this dish by himself, even if its his first try.

Yep, thats about it. Now you should add in some soy. You need to put it in the frying pan instead of directly pouring it on top of the rice.

Yes, just like that. You need to singe it a little to give the dish a nice, fragrant scent.

Now add in the green onions and some sweet-smelling sesame oil. And were done.

Lets put the cooked dishes on top of a large platter. Lets give it a taste, shall we?

Its been a long time since Ive had fried rice. Its pretty tasty. The soy garlic flavor is perfect. Verses control of the fire earlier was pretty good as well. The rice has become nice and crisp, and the scent of slightly singed soy sauce sesame oil served as nice accents to the dish.

I tried the portion Verse made as well. It tasted pretty much the same as mine and didnt have any problems.

This is good! So this is the taste of home cooking. I managed to learn another great dish.

We made quite a lot of fried rice, so theres enough for Verses family as well.

We brought the fried rice on a big platter along with some plates out to the dining area to start lunch.

This is also quite delicious! As expected of Alan!

Cleria began putting in a big pile of fried rice on her plate again, so I and Elna hurriedly got our own portions as well. We finished the meal off in an instant.

Todays the day the adjustment to our armors gets done, right, Alan?

Yeah, it almost slipped my mind. Thanks for the reminder. Lets stop by Zalukes place before we go out for training then. I want to test out the armor as well.

When we got to Zalukes shop, our armors were already on top of the counter, just waiting for pick-up.

We came to get the armors, Zaluke.

Ive already prepared them all right here.

Clerias fancy, shining armor became just like any other metal armor in appearance.

So, how are they? It was really troublesome to get the coloring right on this thing.

It looks good. I cant tell it apart from ordinary metal armor. And the design kinda changed a little as well.

Of course it did. I made it exactly like your standard adventurer armor after all.

Why dont you try wearing it, Ria? Im gonna wear mine as well. Can you teach me how to wear this thing properly, Zaluke?

I was taught how to properly wear the armor. It unexpectedly wasnt all that difficult, and I was able to wear it by myself without any problems.

It seems kinda easier to put on, unlike the armor I rented from you.

I tried moving with it on, and it didnt seem like it got in the way all that much. I also practically couldnt feel any weight. It didnt impede my movements at all.

It looks like theres no problem with the adjustments. You look quite dashing, Alan.

Cleria had Elna help her put her own armor on. Man, Cleria really does suit being in armor.

Cleria helped Elna put hers on as well. As expected of a royal guard. She also looks great in armor.

So how is the armor, Elna?

Its really light. It feels better than all my previous armors! The size is also perfect.

Thats great. It looks like Zaluke did a pretty great job. Well come to you again next time if anything comes up.

Ou. Just feel free to come for maintenance. The armor would last longer that way.

I see. Well do that. Later then.

We left the store and headed for the gates to get out of the city. I thought there was gonna be a spot check or something before we can go out of the gate, but it looks like there wasnt

We walked for about twenty minutes after getting out of the city and finally reached the place Verse talked about. It really does seem quite deserted, so we can fire off magic without a care here.

Now then, Alan. Can you begin teaching us magic?

Elna, who stood beside Cleria, nodded in agreement.

Teach you girls magic, huh. Youre already familiar with my method for learning spells, right, Cleria? It isnt something I can easily teach to other people. Or rather, Im not even sure how to teach it in the first place. What kind of magic do you want to learn from me anyway?

I want to learn scanning magic the most. That magic is amazing. Im sure Ill become even stronger once I learn using that.

Hm. Its not like I cant understand where youre coming from, but its impossible. I believe thats something only I can do.

But it cant hurt to try, right?

It looks like she wont get convinced as long as she hasnt tried it for herself.

Okay. Then Ill start by explaining the principle of scanning magic.

Afterward, I began explaining the entire theory and principles behind scanning magic.

The color of Cleria and Elnas faces started changing midway through the lecture.

What is that? Can you really do something like that?

Right? Its probably due to my unique constitution. Thats why I said only I can perform scanning magic.

It does seem that only Alan is capable of doing something like that. Then, I want to learn the explosion magic I saw you use in front of the river.

Eh!? Did you just say explosion spell, Cleria-sama? The one from the legends?

Yes, thats right Elna. I firmly saw Alan casting explosion magic with my own eyes, though it was only once.

Ah, theyre talking about Fire Grenade huh? And here I was, thinking of not using that particular spell because it seemed too dangerous. What did they call it? Explosion spell? Im kinda curious.

So theres actually something like an explosion spell huh? You mentioned it being a legendary magic spell. Is it really that impressive?

Its because no one has ever witnessed explosion magic spells being cast before. Even now, its a type of magic that exists only in ancient records.

Is that so. How unfortunate. I would have liked to see the real thing.

But cant you already use it. Alan?

Well, that spell does cause an explosion, but its not necessarily the same explosion spell recorded in the legends, I think. It seemed a bit too dangerous so I was thinking of sealing it away though.

How so?

It causes a huge explosion, right? What if I messed up and it exploded near me, or worse, near others. Doesnt that seem dangerous?

Well, yes, I guess. But wouldnt it be fine to use it just on distant targets?

Hm. Shes right. A grenade is that type of weapon in the first place. Its not meant to be used in close quarters. I ended up thinking it was dangerous because I completely forgot I could actually increase the range of the spell.

It does seem better to have a spell with enough destructive force for use on distant targets at my disposal.

Lets try it out then.

So what should I aim at? I then spotted an approximately three-meter tall rock about a hundred meters away from us. Ill target that. Its a hundred meters away, so Im sure there would be no danger.

If I remember correctly, the Fire Grenade spell should cost about three times the required magic for a Fire Ball spell. Im sure itll need even more if I want to increase the range. For now, Lets try using five times the magic power for a Fire Ball.

(Please load the magical charges.)

A [READY x5] notification popped up in the corner of my virtual HUD.

I zoomed my sights closer to the rock in the distance and took aim. I imagined a grenade coupled with an image of a ball of fire flying beyond a hundred meters in my head.

Fire Grenade, launch!

A flaming projectile flew away with speed comparable to an arrow and directly hit my selected target. A loud explosion then occurred.

After the dust settled, it looked like there wasnt much change done to the rock. When I zoomed in, I saw a large depression in the spot where it landed, but that was all.

Fumu. It has an unexpectedly low destructive output. Its not like I was hoping for something like the entire rock being blown away to smithereens, but the result was still a bit underwhelming. Well, I guess thats the limit of five times the magic power of a normal Fire Ball.

With only this much power, I can hardly call this spell a grenade. Lets try putting in a little bit more magic energy. Lets go with ten times this time.

(Please double the amount of magic charges from before.)

A [READY x10] notification popped up on the corner of my virtual HUD.

I aimed at the same target as before. The image was also the same.

Fire Grenade, launch!

Like earlier, a ball of flame flew away with great speed and hit the target. An explosion that was incomparable to the first one occurred and even made the ground around us shake.

After the dust and debris subsided, I finally saw the results. The rock in the distance seemed to have been split in two. And in the middle of the impact zone was a crater that looked to be about three meters deep.

Thats more like it. Now thats what I call a grenade. Im sure there wouldnt be a lot of opportunities for me to use this, but having more offensive options at my disposal is a good thing. I managed to create a nice spell.