Chapter 92 - Charging Magic with Money
「So this is a wreath?」
「Yes!」
Nina nodded joyously.
I looked at what she’d given me.
It looked like a giant white grain of rice, and when shaken it sounded like it was full of water.
「Is something inside of it?」
「Of course, it is a wreath after all.」
Maya took it from my hand and used her front teeth to split it open.
Clear fluid that looked like water overflowed from the cleanly split wreath.
「Just like this you split it and enjoy the taste. The water inside of it is really delicious, but the shell is really bitter.」
「Oh? Lemme see…」
「Ah——」
I threw a piece of the wreath into my mouth and chewed.
「-mnmnmnmnmmnmnmnmnmn!」
At that moment a flavor I couldn’t even believe spread through my mouth.
I couldn’t even tell if it was bad.
It was like an explosion in my mouth that took control of it.
A feeling like there was something huge in my mouth despite nothing being in it.
It was a feeling like I’d crammed a ton of pushinee into my mouth.
「————」
I just stood there moaning for a bit.
「Ah ah…I told you so.」
「Master!」
Mira was panicked as she brought a glass of water for me.
I snatched it from her and drank it.
But that wasn’t enough, I used my eyes to ask Mira to get more.
After chugging five cups of water my mouth finally felt pretty much back to normal.
「What the heck was that!?」
I asked while wiping away leftover tears of suffering.
「It’s just that kind of thing. If you properly break open the shell then the juice inside is delicious. You can use it to make the traditional Magatan alcohol.」
「I see………」
I took a deep breath.
I pulled myself together and looked at Nina.
「And you were able to figure out how to create this?」
「Un! Umm…about halfway I guess?」
「What do you mean halfway?」
I said and tilted my head.
************************************
Mira, Nina, and I went outside of Ribek.
Right at the edge of the area of effect from my statue, I saw many large barrels.
I approached and peeked into them.
「What is this……water?」
I stuck my finger in to try it.
It was normal pure water.
「What is this?」
「Second Slave-sama.」
「Ok. Is it alright Master?」
Mira took out her salve card and placed a magic circle.
Then Nina placed the wreath in and then 2 large barrels…probably around 100 liters of water.
After placing them in, the magic circle shone with light.
The wreath wrapped up the water………and turned into a plant.
It was a miniature tree like a bonsai with the wreath on it.
「So…this is it?」
「No your Majesty, this is just the first step.」
「Un?」
「Look, it has a wreath right?」
「Yeah, it does.」
「It only turns white when you harvest it. After making it you must wait to harvest or it will be bad.」
「I see」
I nodded.
So the wreath and a lot of water turned directly into a wreath tree.
「So can we harvest multiple times from this?」
「I’m sorry, for some reason after harvesting the tree withers.」
「I see…well it’s fine nonetheless.」
I patted the despondent Nina.
「You did well. It’s impressive enough that you are able to make it.」
「Really?」
「I’ll give you one as a reward.」
I held out an origami medal and gave it to her.
Nina was overjoyed.
「Master」
Mira called out to me.
「I…don’t think this is too good.」
「Why?」
「After all it uses too much water.」
「Well that’s true.」
Even just by eyeballing it, it took 100 liters.
It was fine for a test…a proof of concept, but for mass production it would need to secure a huge amount of water.
「Oh that’s right, how much magic is needed?」
「Normally it takes around 500 for each.」
「Fumu」
Receiving Mira’s answer I checked my DORECA.
Wreath tree, it did take 500 magic…it wasn’t a lot.
「So we just need to find enough water…」
「That’s right Master! The sea the sea!」
Mira said excitedly as if she’d had a great idea.
「The sea huh……」
I understood what she was trying to say, but I felt that wouldn’t be possible.
After all, what the DORECA asked for was 「fresh water」.
****************************************
We placed three magic circles outside of the town of Magatan.
We were going to try to mass produce the wreath trees.
The thing that would ensure that we had enough water was the spring (extra-large).
It used the spring (large) as a material itself. The spring (extra-large) produced quite a huge amount of water.
It was enough that even if we produced a lot of wreaths it wouldn’t be fazed at all.
This was the first request I’d gotten to cultivate a field…
It just popped into my mind.
「Akito-san is amazing. You can even do things like this.」
「As expected of your Majesty.」
「No matter how many times I see, I’m fascinated by the magic.」
Headed by the Mayor Gerashim, the townspeople all started to speak up.
It was like an admiration chorus.
「Well, for now we can do it like this and tomorrow you can harvest it. However, this can only be done once. After harvesting it once, we will need to place a new magic circle.」
「Ok!」
「By the way, I will be taking money because this is basically not a necessity.」
I said and Gerashim and the townspeople seemed taken aback.
Then they seemed to realize 「oh, he’s right」.
I’m glad that at least my stance has been generally remembered.
「How much would it be?」
「30% of the cost of the wreaths. Other than placing the magic circles, everything else is your job.」
Gerashim looked at the citizens behind him. They all wordlessly nodded.
It was decided.
「Ok! Thank you very much Akito-san!」
「「「Thank you very much!」」」
I think this should solve the problem.