At Gaia’s words, I turned toward Karila. Karila was shaking her head left and right so vigorously it seemed her neck bones might come loose.
“No, no, no! I didn’t say that! This Gaia guy is incredibly knowledgeable about information from the town’s underside! It was probably people from other organizations!”
Looking at Karila’s desperate explanation, I sighed and looked at Gaia.
“So Gaia-san works as an information broker, something like that.”
“That’s right. By the way, for yesterday’s information, I know everything down to small details like which lady had an affair. If there’s any information you’d like to know, feel free to ask anything.”
Gaia crossed his arms and laughed. Quite confident indeed.
“In that case, I’ll ask you when something comes up.”
When I said this and bowed, Gaia nodded lightly and smiled.
“Leave it to me. Being relied upon by the rumored academy witch isn’t bad either.”
“Hey now, save the business pitch for another time.”
Seeing that the conversation had reached a lull, Karila interjected.
“Take care of your current client’s work first.”
When Karila voiced her complaint, Gaia smiled wryly and shrugged.
“Ah, the locations of dignitaries from various countries. For now, the kings of the Varted Kingdom and Grandsands Kingdom, the marquis of the Bushmills Empire, and the duke of the Carvan Kingdom are already in town. The representatives from the Court-Highland Federation apparently had a dispute among themselves and were delayed. The Maple Leaf Holy Empire should arrive tomorrow or the day after.”
Karila nodded lightly at Gaia’s smooth recitation.
“I see. Then this time we should be able to make quite a profit. Let’s make a killing before the troublesome traders from Court-Highland arrive.”
Karila said this in good spirits, but I was amazed by Gaia’s information-gathering ability. After all, Middleton and Ramsey had only arrived this morning. Could it be that he gets information from the gate guards every hour?
While I blinked in observation, Gaia, noticing this, showed a fearless smile.
“I found them, Aoi-san!”
While I was talking with Karila and Gaia, the shop door opened vigorously and Early entered.
“You’re loud, Early. What are you talking about?”
Karila complained in a threatening voice, and Early raised one hand.
“Sorry, Boss. Aoi-san asked me to do something.”
“A favor…? What could you possibly be asked to do?”
Seeing Early receive suspicious looks, I opened my mouth with a wry smile.
“It’s true. I was thinking of making colored glass and light sources, so I asked him for the materials.”
“See?”
When I provided support, Early puffed out his chest and smiled. Looking at his pleased appearance with exasperation, Karila looked at Early’s hands.
“Materials? You’re not carrying anything.”
“I left them in front of the shop. They’re a bit bulky.”
When Karila made a pointed comment, Early snorted in response. Then Gaia opened his mouth while tilting his head slightly.
“Do you have connections to a glassmaker? If not, since this is the first time, I’ll handle everything from ordering at a bargain price to delivery.”
“Really? Then please, I’d appreciate it. I was short on time, so this helps.”
When I answered this, Gaia raised one eyebrow.
“What’s the delivery date?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
Hearing my words, Gaia’s eyes widened and he froze. When I tilted my head wondering what was wrong, he immediately shook his head lightly left and right, then nodded.
“R-right. Got it. I’ll make it work somehow.”
“Thank you.”
Apparently there was no problem. I breathed a sigh of relief and expressed my gratitude.
Early, Karila, and Gaia all came outside the shop with me. There, in front of me, was a massive amount of materials loaded on a cart. Looking at the small mountain of materials that was taller than me, I turned toward Early.
However, seeing Early’s expression that seemed to want praise, I couldn’t say it was too much.
“…Thank you. This is tremendously helpful.”
When I expressed my gratitude, Early showed a grin like a gang leader. While smiling involuntarily at this, I turned back to Gaia.
“Well then, Gaia-san. I look forward to the completion of the colored glass. I’m basically at the academy, so please contact me if anything comes up.”
When I said this, Gaia nodded with a somewhat strained expression for some reason.
Well, it was good that I managed to take care of various things. I should bring some refreshments to Karila and the others next time.
With such thoughts, I returned to the academy. I walked around trying to get a feel for the academy’s atmosphere before the cultural festival.
Then, in a somewhat spacious courtyard-like area, I found Eliza making something. It was a small hill-like sand mound.
I quietly approached Eliza, who was looking up at it with a troubled expression.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
“How are your preparations going?”
“Hyowaaaaah!?”
I had intended to speak to her normally, but Eliza literally jumped up in surprise. She must have been deeply concentrated.
“I’m sorry, I startled you.”
When I apologized, she placed her hand on her chest and frantically shook her head from side to side.
“N-no, no! I was just a little surprised, but it’s nothing serious!”
Eliza said this while flustered, then turned back to look at the sand pile.
“May I consult with you about something?”
“Yes, what is it?”
When I replied, Eliza began chanting earth magic and activated her spell. Then, a golem-like head suddenly emerged from the sand pile.
After that, the golem slowly moved its arms as it crawled out of the sand pile. About twenty seconds passed. The golem that finally emerged struck an unusual pose.
As we both watched this, Eliza let out a deep sigh.
“…It’s plain, isn’t it? No, I understand. What I really wanted to do was have a sand mountain appear out of nowhere, then have a large golem emerge from it while the sand mountain disappears at the same time…”
She murmured this and sighed again.
It seemed she was aiming for a magic trick-like presentation that would surprise the audience. Her spirit of wanting to entertain the viewers was admirable, but she was probably troubled about how to achieve it.
“I see… Well then, how about dividing the magic into two parts?”
“Dividing it into two?”
Eliza tilted her head adorably.
“Yes. One would be magic to create the sand mountain and form the golem inside it. The other would be magic to return the sand mountain to the ground. The latter can be performed without incantation, and I think it would improve the presentation’s visual impact. If you’re planning this as a magic trick from the start, you could bury the golem underground beforehand, make it appear while creating the sand mountain, then return only the sand mountain to the ground for the same result…”
When I elaborated on my suggestion, Eliza exclaimed “Oh!” in delight.
“That’s wonderful! In that case, if I hide multiple golems underground… Thank you! This should allow me to give a more impressive presentation than I originally planned!”
“Is that so? Well, that’s good then…”
When I nodded, Eliza’s eyes sparkled.
“Yes! I’ve always questioned the prevailing notion that dwarfs are poor at magic. Is that really true… If dwarfs had an environment where they could learn the fundamentals of magic from childhood, couldn’t they become first-class magicians? I’ve been thinking about this, but even within Grandsands, magicians are looked down upon. This environment, I…”
Eliza had suddenly begun passionately sharing her inner thoughts, but when she noticed my gaze, she started. She turned red all the way to her ears and shook her head vigorously from side to side.
“W-well then, I’ll start making golems right away!”
With that, Eliza ran off to gather materials for her golems. I hadn’t known that Eliza harbored such inner conflict. She might have been embarrassed about getting so heated, but from my perspective, Eliza’s feelings and philosophy were very admirable.
I truly hoped she would change the thinking within the Kingdom of Grandsands and dispel prejudices against dwarfs.
However, I had thought this would be a presentation demonstrating the strategic utility of magic by creating golems unnoticed within sand mountains. I wondered if a presentation involving pre-placed golems would be acceptable.
Well, as long as Eliza was satisfied, there shouldn’t be a problem…
I tilted my head as I moved to the next location.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
