Chapter 185: Gathered Around the Campfire ①

Gathered Around the Campfire ①

* * *

Yahoooo!

Good evening from under the glittering, star-filled sky, it’s the beautiful girl Emi-chan who doesn’t lose to the twinkling of the stars.

Right now, I’m in the Zamago Forest at the foot of the Nanga Mountains on the western edge of the unexplored Ranrarananga Mountain Range, gathered around a campfire with an old man who has the worst face, Giovanno!

“……Hey, Emi……didn’t you just think something rude……”

“Your imagination.”

Oops, that was close.

I guess what I was thinking showed on my face?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Eh, what’s that?

“Unique ability users” have that kind of trait?

Hmm, this evil-looking old man can’t be underestimated.

Come to think of it, wasn’t this person originally a noble?

I have the impression that skills like sensing the other party’s true intentions and emotions are important in noble society, so maybe he naturally learned those skills while living as a noble.

How awful!

To think this old man’s emotion-sensing ability and villainous face had a trade-off relationship……!

“Hey……hey! Emi! I knew it, you’re making fun of me in your mind, aren’t you!”

“Your imagination.”

Tsk.

He’s seriously sharp, this old man.

And lately, he seems to be getting sharper and sharper.

……That’s right.

It’s already been about a month since I cleared a corner of the Zamago Forest and started living with this old man.

This past month……a lot has happened.

Like the old man almost getting eaten by a crocodile-like creature when we found a watering hole near the base (that crocodile-like creature has already been eradicated. The watering hole is ours now).

Or finding out that the purple fruit I liked and ate a lot was actually the fruit of a deadly poisonous plant called donei.

Making a bed for the old man.

Making a stage (according to the old man, a “sacrificial altar”) for when using the old man as a decoy.

The old man discovering a delicious herb (similar to purslane but with palm-sized, fleshy leaves) and starting to cultivate it at the base.

Well, this and that happened.

By the way, the delicious herb the old man found is tasty when grilled, so we call it “aburi-na.” I don’t know its official name.

Seriously, I thought the old man who discovered how delicious this is when grilled was a genius.

Even now, the old man grilling aburi-na by the campfire in front of me may look like a shabby, washed-up, evil-faced old man at first glance, but he’s seriously a genius old man.

“Hey……Emi, which way is that vibe going……? Are you praising me or dissing me……?”

“That time, I was also praising you.”

“So that means until now you were dissing me……!?”

“Dunno.”

“It’s your own thoughts! What do you mean you don’t know!”

“A beautiful girl’s heart is always a mystery.”

“Don’t call yourself a beautiful girl!”

And well, like this.

I, who I thought was relatively quiet, have gotten close enough to the old man to engage in this level of banter.

……That’s true.

I stare at the old man again with concentration.

It’s not like I enjoy gazing at a filthy old man.

What I want to see is the third arm made of magic power extending from around the old man’s right shoulder……【Invisible Hand】.

Right now, 【Invisible Hand】 is grasping “puckervine” and making it float in the air.

This puckervine is just sour when eaten alone, but it’s seriously delicious when eaten together with grilled aburi-na.

The fact that this old man discovered that at a relatively early stage proves he’s a genuine genius……

Oops, my bad, my bad.

Now then, it’s been a month.

A whole month, you know.

I’ve been living with this old man for a whole month.

In other words, I still haven’t managed to master 【Invisible Hand】.

“…………”

While observing the old man’s 【Invisible Hand】, I extend a thread of magic power from the tip of my right index finger.

The thread stretches out straight and smooth.

“…………”

I extend the thread up and up, and when it reaches in front of my face, I wiggle the tip left and right.

Like a lost caterpillar.

My magic power thread moves and extends freely as I will it to.

However, unlike 【Invisible Hand】, this thread is 【Mana Sensing Thread】 that can hardly exert any physical interference.

If there’s any impact, it immediately snaps and breaks.

Become sturdier, become sturdier, become sturdier……

While willing that, I try to wrap the thread around a twig lying nearby and lift it, but……it’s no good after all.

The 【Mana Sensing Thread】 couldn’t withstand the weight of the twig, snapped, and vanished.

“…………”

It’s difficult……

What should I do?

I have no idea at all.

“…………”

I casually stand up and trot over to the old man.

“……What is it?”

“…………”

And I pat the 【Invisible Hand】 extending from the old man’s right shoulder.

Yes……I can touch 【Invisible Hand】.

It’s neither cold nor warm, and normally invisible.

But 【Invisible Hand】 definitely exists here……as the old man’s third arm……

“…………No good, I still don’t get it……”

I sigh and sit down on the spot.

“……Is that so. In other words, you’re not making progress in mastering 【Invisible Hand】?”

I nod to the old man who spoke to me while munching on aburi-na.

“But even if you can’t use 【Invisible Hand】, you’ve learned various strange techniques, right? Aren’t those enough?”

“No.”

“I see……well, if you master 【Invisible Hand】, I’ll have outlived my usefulness to you. You don’t have to try so hard.”

“Irritating.”

“……Don’t direct killing intent at me like that……you subdue everything you don’t like with violence……do you plan to live like that from now on?”

“…………A lecture from a villain?”

“I’m an adult before I’m a villain.”

“…………”

“…………”

“……I’m sorry.”

“My bad too……I meant it as a joke.”

The twigs crackle in the campfire.

I temporarily stop observing 【Invisible Hand】, stick a branch into the thickest, most delicious-looking aburi-na the old man had placed beside himself, and start grilling it over the fire……

“……Hey, hey Emi! That’s the one I was saving as my last treat for today!?”

“…………”

“Go to the field yourself! You can pick it yourself, right!? Ah……aah, geez……”

“…………”

I munch on the aburi-na absent-mindedly.

A crisp texture.

Gooey and sweet inside.

Delicious.

You’re right, Extra-sama……

I wonder what’s wrong……

Hmm, I see……

But even so, what should I do then?

……………………

……I didn’t think of that, Extra-sama.

That’s right.

This old man might also have memories of the moment he first mastered 【Invisible Hand】……or should I say when 【Invisible Hand】 manifested? Anyway, that moment.

If that’s the case, I’ll give up.

Anyway, if I ask about the situation when he first manifested his unique ability and put myself in a similar situation!

Maybe that could be a clue to mastering 【Invisible Hand】!?

“Hey, old man.”

“……What is it?”

“When was the first time you used your unique ability? In what kind of situation?”

“Hmm……”

The old man stopped eating aburi-na for a moment and stroked his chin.

“……Don’t laugh, okay?”

And after pondering a bit, he looked into my eyes and said that.

It seemed he clearly remembered that moment.

“It’s fine, I won’t laugh. I’ve never laughed.”

“……I’m sorry.”

“I don’t get why you’re apologizing. Anyway, I won’t laugh. So tell me.”

“……Well……”

The old man took a deep breath.

He looked up at the sky.

A cloudless, star-filled sky.

A jewelry box out of reach.

“That was……yes, I think I was around 5 years old at the time.”

Saying that, the old man began reminiscing bit by bit.

“At that time, I had……a favorite doll that I always kept close to me.”

“……An evil-faced old man with a doll……?”

“You fool, don’t make fun of me! I was a cute, timid little boy back then! Anyway, on that day too, I was playing in the garden while holding that doll.”

“…………”

“That day was……the day after heavy rain. There were many puddles around.”

“…………”

“And I……I think I got my foot caught in the mud and accidentally threw the doll.”

“…………”

“At this rate, the doll would fall to the ground and get dirty with mud……I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to catch the doll somehow. That was my sole thought. And then……【Invisible Hand】 manifested for the first time.”

“…………”

“As a result, for some reason, the doll floated in the air and returned to my hand without getting dirty. Well……that’s the gist of the story.”

After finishing his story, the old man started munching on aburi-na again.

“……Somehow, the episode lacks drama……doesn’t it lack something? Like an episode where someone was on the verge of death and you awakened due to anger.”

“You fool! What perspective are you critiquing from! Anyway, this is the story of the first time I used 【Invisible Hand】! I have nothing more to say!”

The old man got angry and turned away.

“Hmm……”

I see……something important……huh.

So if I also try to hastily save something important that’s about to fall, 【Invisible Hand】 will manifest?

But what would be something important to me?

I also place my hand on my chin and think while staring at the campfire.

First and foremost, my life and Extra-sama.

These are the most important things to me in this world.

Yes, yes.

But I can’t exactly throw these things.

Something important that I can throw……did I have anything like that?

I don’t have money.

I don’t have things.

I don’t have anything.

“…………Ah.”

But then I notice.

And I turn to the side.

“…………What is it?”

There sits an evil-faced old man, munching on aburi-na in a foul mood.

I, who have nothing important that I can throw, have grown a little attached to this old man after spending a month together.

In other words, under the current circumstances, this old man could be considered a fairly important existence to me, right?

Yeah.

That’s right, I can say that.

“Hey……what is it, Emi? What are you thinking?”

“…………I thought, old man, you’re an important person to me.”

“……What’s with the sudden……I-I see……”

The old man scratched his cheek and muttered in a small voice.

“So……I……”

“You?”

“The old man……”

“Me?”

“I’ll……throw you……off a cliff……!!”

“Why!!”

It was immediately rejected.

Aburi-na is a fantasy plant that grows in the demon realm, and if you prepare the environment just a little, it will grow explosively at an incredible speed.

Easy to cultivate.