The moment I put away the war hammer, Galio released his magic, escaped from the wall where he’d been embedded, and returned with extremely heavy steps.
His whole body had taken damage, so he must have been suffering badly… but personally, I didn’t dislike that stubborn refusal to give up.
“…I feel like I’m losing my mind. My senses tell me you’re weak… but when we actually fight, nothing I do even scratches you. What the hell is going on?”
“Your mana detection simply isn’t precise enough. If you let the amount of mana visible on the surface deceive you, someone like me will pull the rug out from under you. You should be more careful from now on.”
“…Yeah.”
Galio quietly nodded at my words, then took on the expression of someone who’d made up his mind. He lowered his stance again and transformed his body into steel. Good. Let’s continue.
“That magic of yours is excellent. Still, there’s a great deal of room for improvement. Properly understand how your magic works… If you combine skills with magic to create derivative magic, or combine magic with magic arts to create composite magic arts, you’ll become far stronger than you are now. I think you have remarkable potential.”
As I spoke, I took a crafting pickaxe from Storage. It was a magic tool I’d created to reproduce a crafting game’s functions and was meant for mining rock and minerals.
Anything mined with it became cube-shaped and was automatically collected into my subspace. What I’d truly wanted was to use it to dig rapidly underground, gather mineral resources, and enjoy a crafting life. But life never went according to plan, did it?
I approached Galio in his steel form and swung the crafting pickaxe down with all my might. Its tip struck the stone floor directly at his feet, and with a series of crisp tok-tok-tok sounds, it instantly created a vertical pit three cubes deep—in other words, three meters.
Ahh, that work sound was so soothing.
Clang.
With a dull noise, Galio fell to the bottom of the pit.
“This is a magic tool for mining stone and similar materials. Adjusting the mana poured into it changes the number of cubes it can excavate at once. Quite convenient, isn’t it? But… the entire realization of my frontier slow-life plan has started looking doubtful. It makes me sad.”
Then I installed a simple water outlet beside the pit. It drew water from a storage tank inside my subspace, and I’d constructed it as a perfect cube measuring one meter on each side. Ah, the cube shape was an aesthetic necessity.
When I flipped the outlet’s switch, water gushed from its side and poured into the pit.
“Judging by what I can see, you don’t need to breathe while your entire body is steel. Even if you sink beneath the water, you probably won’t die—at least while your mana lasts.”
“…”
“But what do you think will happen if water enters your lungs while you’re made of steel, and then you release your magic? Ah, water isn’t the only option. Since you can’t move at all right now, an enemy could do anything they pleased. They could make you inhale poisonous fog, sink you into a swamp, or place a heavy object on top of your head.”
“…”
“You should be more careful from now on. Your Steel Transformation is exceptionally weak against traps that leave you doomed the instant you release it. It’ll depend on the compatibility between abilities, but you never want to fight someone like me again, do you?”
And so, while watching the water steadily rise, I spoke to Galio about whatever came to mind.
Since fate had brought us together through this duel, I thought he ought to work out some countermeasures before he abruptly encountered a truly vicious enemy. His magic itself seemed easy to use, so if he handled it well, he could become extremely strong.
“Well, the water’s up around your neck now. If you don’t surrender soon, you really might die… Though I suppose that’s fine too. This is becoming a little tedious.”
“I do! I surrender! I surrender!”
“Good. A wise decision. And so… ladies and gentlemen serving as witnesses, does anyone object to declaring me the winner of this duel?”
When I raised my voice to ask, the area had become strangely silent. Hmm. This was nothing more than entertainment at a feast, so they could have watched with more excitement.
While I wondered about that, members of the Gazania Family rescued Galio and began changing his soaking-wet clothes on the spot. Everyone wore rather dark expressions. Were they all right?
Hmm… The atmosphere at the feast had become terribly gloomy. Was this my fault? For now, I needed to say something clever to lighten the mood. What should I do?
“Let me see… Yes, that was an extremely enjoyable performance. This hardly needs saying, but the way of the world is to laugh off mistakes made over drinks and let them wash away. No one will be punished over this incident. The Gazania Family should continue working hard under Gaccha’s guidance. Galio may still be rough around the edges, but he’s a fine successor. I have great expectations for all your future achievements.”
As everyone listened to me, they froze with identical expressions of disbelief.
Hmm. The atmosphere remained stiff. Perhaps the only way to recover from the failure of ruining a feast was to make that feast lively again. Damn it.
Fine! In that case, I’d use my final resort: the party-animal strategy, raising everyone’s spirits through nothing but energy and momentum!
“Ah—everyone, raise your drinks! Um… yes, yes, let’s all get along. Does everyone have a cup? Come on, Galio, don’t stand off at the edge. Come here beside me. Just do it. Right… Through this incident, I’ve learned that the Gazania Family is filled with people of admirable spirit. I’m very happy! It’s wonderful to be so energetic! You worked hard! I’m moved! Everyone, applaud! Hey! Heeey! That’s it, that’s it! Now then, tonight’s feast was kindly prepared for us by everyone in the Gazania Family despite how busy you are with winter preparations. Let’s enjoy it to our hearts’ content! All right, then! Praying that the Cineraria Family and the Gazania Family continue marching in step and prosper together from this day forward… Cheers! Woo!”
Come on—clap, clap. Drink, drink. Eat, eat.
Ahh… Thank goodness. Somehow or other, life finally returned to everyone’s faces…
But I never wanted to use the party-animal strategy again. I’d never actually seen a party animal, nor had I ever attended a drinking party. What I’d just done was summon a completely imaginary playboy into my mind through nothing but instinct…
Did I do it properly? All that woo-wooing?
This hurt.
Once I’d made the rounds and greeted everyone to some extent, I would withdraw from the feast as quickly as possible.
…Huh?
What was it?
I felt as though I’d forgotten something.
◆ ◆ ◆
“A moment, if you please. My name is Garnet Gazania, daughter of Gaccha Gazania, head of the Cineraria Family’s Maypool branch. In accordance with the terms of the duel, I shall join the lowest rank among the wives of Crow Amaryllis, candidate for the next underboss. I humbly ask for your favor from this day forward.”
Why?