After the man thanked her several times and we watched him leave, Frea-san and I moved to the coffee shop as we had originally planned.

  [My comrade, I’m sorry that I took up so much of your time earlier. At least allow me to have it here.]

  [Ah, yes. Well then, I’ll be taking up on your offer then.]

  I thought about refusing her offer for a moment, but then I nodded, thinking that it would be rude to refuse, since Frea-san had the image that she values lending and borrowing, or rather, a sense of duty and humanity.

  However, if it were Dr. Vier or someone like her, I think there would be some arguments as to who would pay. The reason why I was able to nod my head in agreement was probably that Frea-san had this Elder Sister-like feel around her. Well, there’s also the fact that Dr. Vier is so strangely intimate with me that it’s hard to believe that she’s much older than me……


  When I entered the restaurant, told her how many of us there were, and was shown to our seats, the waitress glanced at the kiseru pipe in Frea-san’s waist holder and spoke with a smile.

  [Ma’am, would you like to borrow a smoking magic tool?]

  [No, I already have my own, so I don’t need one.]

  [Understood.]

  How should I say this…… That’s a rather unusual exchange…… I mean, I was curious about what a smoking magic tool was, so I decided to ask Frea-san after I finished my order.

  [Ummm, Frea-san, what was that smoking magic tool the waitress mentioned earlier?]

  [Unnn? Ahh, that’s right, you are from another world, aren’t you, comrade? If so, it’s no wonder you don’t know it.]

  As she said this, Frea-san took out a green magic tool from her pocket. It was spherical in shape, and about the size of a ping-pong ball…… the purity of the magic crystal attached to it doesn’t seem to be that high.

  When Frea-san flicked the magic tool upward with her thumb, it faintly glowered and began spinning around Frea-san.

  [This is a magic tool used for when you’re smoking. Simply put, it’s a magic tool that absorbs smoke and purifies it into normal air.]

  [Ahh, I see, that means people around you won’t inhale secondhand smoke if you have it.]

  [That’s right. Basic manners of a smoker, it’s something I always carry at hand. Well, if you’re good at Wind-type Alteration Magic, you can do the same thing without the use of magic tools, but I’m not good with Wind-Attribute Magic.]

  Hearing Frea-san’s words, Ozma-san came to my mind. Whenever he smoked in front of me, he would use magic to prevent the smoke from reaching me, so I guess you could say that this is a magic tool version of what he did.

  [I see, that’s very convenient.]

  [Yeah, but it has its faults. Being a magic tool in itself makes it expensive. Only the wealthy would personally own one. This is why most stores that allow smoking would have this magic tool available for rent.]

  [I see.]

  [Also, even when it makes use of a fairly advanced technique, this magic tool could basically only be used by one person.]

  Magic tools are very useful, and many of them are far superior than the mechanical products I know. The Teleportation Magic Tool would probably be the prime example of this.

  However, magic tools aren’t necessarily superior to mechanical products with the same effect in every way. High-performance magic tools are quite expensive, so you may feel that they are expensive because of their effectiveness, but some of them have a limited range of effects.

  While I was thinking about this, Frea-san then took out a small can…… that looked like it might contain some kind of hand cream. When Frea-san opened it, I found something that looked like wood shavings inside, which she scooped out with her kiseru pipe.

  When Frea-san put the kiseru pipe in her mouth, it lit up for a moment, and a little later, smoke started to come out. As she had explained earlier, the smoke seemed to disappear as soon as it drifted away from her.

  [Well, just like that.]

  [I see…… Even so, this is the first time I’ve seen a kiseru tobacco before. So that is how they’re used huh.]

  [If you’re talking about using them, then it was indeed used this way. However, sorry…… This actually “isn’t tobacco”.]

  [Eh? Is that so?]

  [Yeah, this was a processed item of an incense wood that grows in the Demon Realm, so technically, it’s not tobacco.]

  An incense wood huh. I don’t really know much about them, but I kinda imagine them as wood used in places like shrines and temples.

  I see, it certainly isn’t tobacco, but one wouldn’t be able to tell it just by looking at it. So, Frea-san uses the smoking magic tool when she’s smoking it like regular tobaccos…… Wait, arehh? Isn’t there something strange about that?

  [……Errr, Frea-san. I’m sorry for my lack of knowledge…… but are incense woods things that are meant to be smoked?]

  [……Ah, no, ummm…… it’s that, you know?]

  Yes, if it’s incense wood, there should be no reason to smoke it in a kiseru pipe. No, I did hear that cigars and such things are meant to be enjoyed for their aroma, not by the process of puffing them out, so perhaps, Frea-san enjoys the aroma of the incense wood in the same way.

  When I asked her about it, Frea-san, who had been in a dignified mood until now, stammered and awkwardly turned her gaze away.

  Then, with her gaze away from me, she said with a slight blush on her cheeks.

  [Ummm, it was because…… ummm…… it was said in legends…… that breathing in the smoke of incense wood…… “would make you taller”……]

  [……Ehh?]

  **********