Not Sure, Another World Reincarnation
Chapter 155: Just as I thought, it’s good to be friends.

Yeah, the weather is really nice. Meaning today is another perfect day for a leisurely carriage ride.

It’s been a few days since we left the town where we had stayed for about two months (which was called Hanken, by the way), and today as well, we’re traveling by horse-drawn carriage to the Hot Springs.

By the way, that unpleasant village we passed through before on the way to Hanken was located north of the fork in the road, towards the Royal Capital, so we ended up skipping it. Well, even if it was located south of the fork, I still would have skipped it.

“I’m bored~…”

“Mhmm.”

Hmm, Lily seems to have a lot of free time on her hands. That being said, I don’t have any particular way of killing time. No, I can’t think of anything.

Me, I’ve just been making potions and other things to replenish my supplies. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to level it up, but it serves as a great way to gain experience for «Creation Magic». They say that steady effort is the best shortcut… I’ve pretty much given up on leveling it easily like other skills, but it is a unique skill that seems to be extremely rare, so I guess I should just be patient.

At first, Lily was watching me make the potions with great interest, but she lost that interest pretty quickly. Actually, she was looking a little pale with how quickly I was making them.

“Ren, I’m bored~.”

By the way, you may think that with our party increasing, the carriage cabin wouldn’t have enough space to make potions, but the only ones in the cabin right now are Lily and myself.

Even without a driver, the carriage can move on its own thanks to the horse golems, but a carriage moving without a driver is nothing but suspicious, so Arisa and Kuro are currently sitting in the driver’s seat.

I could have just brought out the dummy golem as a driver, but we’re rotating the role of driver in order to keep an eye on our surroundings. Mind you, just holding the reins doesn’t mean actually handling the horses. According to Arisa, if the carriage was being pulled by a real horse, we would learn skills like «Coachman» and «Riding»…

It’s too bad we’re missing out on learning new skills, but taking care of real horses is incredibly hard, and can cause problems… It’s also a hassle to secure food.

“Reeeen.”

“Mhmmmm.”

Kuro jumped off the driver’s seat and ran off… With so much free time, she went to check out our surroundings. When she’s in the driver’s seat, she likes to take naps in the sun, or, like now, run around the carriage to look around. Norn and Bell are remaining vigilant, so we don’t need to be sticking that closely together, and Kuro tends to run off on her own… Rather, she tends to do so when she starts feeling bored. It’s good training, so nobody is stopping her. Also, she often hunts horned rabbits, which helps us with securing food.

“Reeeeeeeeen.”

“Yes yes, should we have lunch?”

Yes, it looks like Lily has reached her limit, so I think it’s about time for a lunch break.

I pulled the carriage off the main road and onto a side path, driving it to a convenient spot near a small grove before stopping. We then got off the carriage.

Since they’re golems, I don’t need to go so far, but I removed the horses from the carriage and tied them to a tree. I also locked the carriage wheels to prevent it from moving. Finally, I set up an awning tent next to the carriage, giving us some shade.

“Uhm, the person on cooking duty this time was…?”

“Ah, I’ll do it. I was feeling bored during the carriage ride.”

“That would be helpful, but Lily, please think of a way to kill time. If you bother me while I work, I won’t be able to concentrate.”

“… Please excuse my behaviour.”

Lily seemed a bit upset about my criticism, but it was a bit of a problem, which was annoying, so please stop.

I pulled out a kitchen counter from «Storage», and left the rest up to Lily. Ah, I should also bring out a table and some chairs.

By the way, the kitchen counter was a magic tool that I made because it was too much of a hassle to make a simple stove every time we went camping. This fine item comes equipped with four burners and an oven.

Just as I was pulling everything out, Kuro came running back with a horned rabbit in both hands.

“Lil, I got meat!”

“Good job, Kuro! Then let’s make something using this. Kuro, please help me out too.”

“Got it.”

“Lily, can I help too~?”

“Arisa… You can just rest for now.”

“Okay then~.”

As always, the party wasn’t tense at all. Also, Norn and Bell ran off to get some food for themselves.

… Hmm. Well, since I have some free time, maybe I should continue my research?

I climbed up onto the roof of the carriage, where several potted plants sat lined up. Even though each one was at a different state of development, they all actually started growing at the same time.

This was some serious research I began after defeating the Goblin Legion, it’s a ‘Mana Pool Simulative Experiment.’

Before, I had asked Lily about ‘Mana Pools,’ and a thought suddenly occurred to me, so I decided to actually research it.

If plants become more active and grow faster while in pools of mana, then maybe it’s actually possible to artificially recreate mana pools by manually channeling magic into them?

By the way, while trying to reproduce this, I’m also considering efficiency and trying many different patterns.

All the seeds used were tomato seeds, with the first one being just regular soil for comparison. Next one was one with fertilizer that I had created. After that came several variations that involved using mana.

First, I put a goblin’s magic stone in the bottom and filled the pot with soil. Second one, I used a crushed magic stone and mixed it into the soil. Third, I directly channelled my mana into the soil periodically, then I repeated those three with another group that used fertilizer instead of soil, for a total of six pots. Eight types including the magicless pots. The fertilizer I used is potassium nitrate.

What is potassium nitrate? Most people would probably recognize it if I called it “saltpeter.”

Eh? How did I make it? By using «Creation Magic» on a pile of goblin corpses. The abdomens are packed with feces and urine, and other ingredients can easily be found in the area. Well, you can make it from your own feces and urine, it’s mostly a matter of personal preference… You see, if you were to call it Ren-saltpeter or Lily-saltpeter, wouldn’t that just be too weird?

……That aside, this experiment showed visible differences from an early stage, and results were easy to see.

The order of visual growth is as follows:

1. Direct mana + Fertilizer
2. Direct mana
3. Crushed magic stone + Fertilizer
4. Magic stone + Fertilizer
5. Crushed magic stone
6. Magic stone
7. With fertilizer
8. Normal soil only

The pots I was channeling mana directly into were already overgrown, and bright red fruit are already growing. On the other hand, the seeds in normal soil have only been growing normally for about two weeks after sprouting. When I line them up in order of growth, it ends up looking like a sample list of how plants grow. The results obtained are so easy to understand, I’m really at a loss for words.

…When I see that the plants that grew best were the ones I poured my mana into, I can’t help but think about my mana as fertilizer… It makes me feel a little strange.

However, when you consider cost performance and the amount of manpower required, the evaluation changes.

For example, laying magic stones into the ground will allow the mana to slowly seep out of the stone, but the mana will eventually deplete. To refill the stone with mana in order to reuse it, you would have to dig them up from the ground.

Next, crushed magic stones mixed with the soil cannot be reused since they cannot be recharged. However, they grow much faster than soil that’s simply covered in magic stones.

Those that I directly channel mana into grow at an extraordinary speed, but the catch is that I have to channel mana into it every time, which takes up time and effort.

After reviewing the various points, and excluding the common parts that require minimal human intervention, all of them do have their pros and cons.

If I were leaving it to someone else, in the long term, I would lay out magic stones so that they could be reused, but for a short term project, I’d mix in the crushed magic stones so they could be harvested quickly.

If I don’t settle down somewhere or hire people to do the farming, I doubt I’d ever actually use either of those methods though, but I do believe the results of this research will be useful in many ways.

While pondering these results, I harvested the tomatoes from the plants I channelled my mana into.

“Reeeen~, time to eat~.”

“Okay~.”

While dealing with my experiment, it became time for lunch.

Now, lunch time. The menu was skewered horned rabbit and pot-au-feu, and bread. I kind of predicted it, but I guess it was to be expected…

That said, there’s no point in making elaborate dishes every time. It’s delicious and satisfying, but it takes time to make. But for now, the bread here is butter rolls that I had baked and stocked up on. I had made them before and they were well received, so I’ve been bringing them out occasionally since then. However, there’s a drawback in that it doesn’t keep you feeling full for long. In that regard, black bread is better, so it’s a tough choice between flavor or filling.

“Mmmm~! The skewers are delicious!”

“Ah, it’s true, they’re really delicious.”

“Kuro cooked those skewers.”

“Meat! I cooked it!”

Oh~ these skewers were cooked by Kuro.

Kuro is a cat beastfolk, so you’d think she wouldn’t be good with handling fire, but when I leave the cooking to her, she will cook it to perfection. Maybe it’s because I’ve fed her so many things, she’s learned “properly cooked meat is delicious!” It seems she remembers this and puts in a lot of effort to grill it deliciously herself. Cats and cat beastfolk may look similar, but they’re clearly different…

After eating lunch, we took a break… Warming ourselves up with barley tea, boiled in a kettle.

“Well~, I’ve been thinking, this tea that Ren makes is delicious~.”

“That’s right~.”

“Who would have thought such tea could be made from barley~?”

“That’s right~… Ah, isn’t this also something that’ll cause a fuss…?”

“Lily, don’t think about that~. We’re in a good mood~.”

“Arisa, you should think about it more…”

Lily and Arisa, the two of them are doing a manzai¹ comedy act again…

After the lunch break, we finished tidying up and prepared to resume our travels. It wasn’t too much work… While doing this, Norn and Bell returned.

Have you two eaten properly? … Eh? They ate, but they also found an injured woman in the woods? Hmm… What to do?

Okay, let’s check with Lily. I think she’ll want to go and help.

“… That’s what it seems to be.”

“I see… then let’s go help.”

Yeah, I thought Lily would say that. It was the same with Nell, Lily always tries to help those in trouble. But, has that ever caused any problems?

“Lily is surprisingly a kind person~.”

“Helping others isn’t a bad thing, right?”

“It’s not bad, but you often end up working for free, and other people start looking for free handouts~.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Then she gets a little hurt and becomes a bit cautious, then after a while becomes nosy again~.”

“It’s fine, right?! Besides, Arisa doesn’t stop either!”

“I’ll stop if things start to go bad~.”

“That, that’s certainly true, but…”

… I see, what I was worried about has already happened, and when it seems like it’s going to happen, Arisa puts a stop to it.

… I heard about this later, but while it’s one thing to help ordinary people, helping other adventurers who are in trouble with monsters can lead to trouble, and in some of the worst scenarios, it’s better just to abandon them. Apparently, there can be a lot of arguing over how to distribute materials from defeated monsters… Thinking about it, I remember there was a bit of an issue when I helped some adventurers who were being chased by an ogre.

Anyway, while we’re discussing this, monsters might come and attack us, so if we’re going to help, it’s best to hurry up.

“Lily, let’s leave the married couple manzai there and go help quickly. This is possibly an emergency.”

“Who and who are a married couple?! —But yes, you’re right, let’s go!”

“Seriously, Lily is no good~.”

“Who’s fault is that?!”

…Yeah, can we go quickly?

I purposely left ‘manzai’ as is rather than translating it to ‘comedy act’. I tend to advocate for ‘translation’ over ‘localization’, and prefer it if someone is curious about the word, they just look it up themselves. Essentially, I want people to be more cultural and knowledgeable. Of course, please do put a note at the bottom to describe what a manzai even is if you want, though I’d like to think if a person is using an ‘off the beaten path’ website like Re:Library, they should at least know how to google what a ‘manzai’ is.

Well, when you put it that way, I guess I have no choice but to leave the manzai in as is. I actually just changed it to a double comedy act earlier…

‘Mana Pools’ are the reason Ren’s boobs are big for her age. She’s got Celestial levels of MP, and she’s storing it all in her chest! She wants to get taller, right? So she should put it all in her legs, that way her legs will get thicker… thicker? Humm… Maybe taller? I think we need some science here, let’s have Ren put all her magic in her thighs and see if they get thicker… I mean legs…

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1. Manzai (漫才) is a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to double act comedy.

   Manzai usually involves two performers (manzaishi)—a straight man (tsukkomi) and a funny man (boke)—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, double-talk, puns and other verbal gags.