Chapter 21 – ~ My partner learned magic ~

[Are you going to publicize my existence on a large scale? Yeah, that’s the only way.]

Marl said so and nodded.
Me and Marl were in the back of the workshop, the alchemical section.
Compared to this morning, the books, medicinal herbs, and reagent-like things that Marl bought were placed in various places, making it look a lot more like an atelier now.

[It’s clear that Mischronia has asked other countries to search for me, and if it’s discovered that you’ve been pretending not to see me even though a great flood is coming, Karendil Kingdom will be in trouble.]

Zondark’s proposal was, as Marl said, to announce her existence along with my unveiling.
Marl was the first Princess of Mischronia, a Kingdom which honors heroes.
Receiving an oracle and running away from home, meeting a wonderful hero and staying with him. From the perspective of the commoners, it would feel like a fairy tale comes true.
The romance between a hero and someone of opposite gender was a staple of hero stories, so there’s also the aspect of de facto engagement announcement.
If this is done without the permission of the Mischronia Kingdom, there will likely be some friction. But if Marl says yes, the Royal family of Mischronia will have no choice but to remain silent.
What’s more, since Marl chooses a genuine hero as her companion, there’s a possibility that things like the plan on getting engaged to a neighboring country’s prince will be cancelled.

[In my case, it’ll be like treading a fine line. But there is a high chance that it will be ignored temporarily due to the great flooding. But above all, I don’t want to be with anyone other than Taichi-san!]

Saying that, I stroked Marl’s head as she hugged me.
This woman is too cute. She must be an angel.

[Once again, I’ll be relying on your support, alright? Taichi-san]

[Oh, of course.]

I feel like it’s too late now, but I’ve completely accepted Marl.
Was it because of her negotiation skill…? It’s not like I’d ever thought about it that way, but now it seemed like a trivial matter.

[Taichi-san! Please help me learn magic!]

As I was thinking about it, Marl started talking about it.
Everything was written in a magic book so that anyone can easily learn magic. Naturally, she would want to try it out.

[Ummm, hold both hands with me…no, intertwine your fingers like this. Then, please flow magic toward me. That’s right.]

[Hmm, like this?]

Placed the palms of our hands together and intertwined our fingers tightly. Marl’s hand was much smaller than mine, but I could feel the calluses from swordsmanship training on her palm.
It was proof that Marl, who had never held a sword until she met me, had been desperately training. It might be part of her talent, but raising sword mastery to level 2 in such a short time is not to be scoffed at. It’s still the result of her training.

[Taichi-san’s hands are big, aren’t they?]

[Your hands are small and cute.]

We held each other’s hands.
It’s starting to get embarrassing, so let’s get started.

[Okay, then left hand――let’s circulate the magic power from my left hand to Marl’s right hand.]

[Yes!]

I concentrated my magic power and let it flow from my left hand to Marl.
At that moment, Marl startled and trembled.

[O, oh…! I can feel something coming in…]

Marl was puzzled by how it felt for the first time.
She reflexively tried to pry her hands off, but I held my hand firmly and restrained her from trying to shake off my hand.

[Next, try pushing it out through your left.]

[Ye, yes…no!? Ah, can’t, can’t get out of here… Hmm!]

Staying in Marl, an unfamiliar magical power that was slightly mixed with her magical power returned to my right hand through Marl’s body.
But Marl, could you please stop making that strangely sexy voice? I feel like I’m doing something really bad.

[Let’s speed things up a little.]

[Eh!? Wa, wait a minute――hyaaaaaaaaaaan!?]

After accelerating the flow of magic power, Marl screamed. Then, her body trembled and she fell to her knees.
O, oh? Wait, did I overdo it? The circulated magical power was at most 50 or so.
Considering that when I circulated the magic power, it somehow mixed with Marl’s magic power and entered into me, could I have inadvertently stolen some magic power?
For the time being, let’s hand over my magic in the same way. Should I use recovery magic while I’m at it?

[Kah――heh…]

When magic power flowed through Marl, her body, which should have fainted, trembled.
What was this sense of immorality?
However, for some reason, immediately after circulating the magic power, I felt a strange surge of power.
It felt like my body was getting used to the mixed magical power of Marl’s magical power and mine.
I’m getting used to it, for real! I’m getting used to it! Fuhahahahahaha! I want to laugh out loud. What is this?

Marl woke up after about five minutes.
I couldn’t bear to let her lie on the floor, so I’m on my knees.

[E, eh…? What is going on?]

[Well, you fainted when I increased the speed of mana circulation. Is this method really okay? I’m kind of worried.]

[I-I’m fine. I didn’t feel any discomfort, and I’m actually feeling better than before! A, actually, let’s do it again!]

Once again, I began to circulate magic power just like before.
It seemed that she could endure it better than before, but Marl still ended up fainting. Her face turned bright red, and she looked somewhat ecstatic.
This expression somehow looked familiar to me, but… I put magic power into it again while using recovery magic.
This time it took only a minute for her to wake back up.

Her face was bright red and her feet were unsteady, just like when someone was drunk.

[Well, I almost understand…this time, on the contrary, I’ll try it.]

[Oi oi, are you okay?]

[I, I’m fine! Let’s go!]

Marl said so and started concentrating her magic with a bright red face.
It didn’t go very well, but I found that Marl’s magic began to flow smoothly into me when I drew in magic.
Marl’s magical power entered my body from my right hand.
I wonder what this strange feeling was. As if there are feathers groping inside my body.
It’s between a ticklish and itchy feeling.

And then, it happened the moment the magic power went out from the left hand to Marle.

[Huh!?]

A comfortable feeling of weakness, as if the power is draining from the core of your body.
No, that expression is not quite right. It’s a good feeling to call it ecstasy.

[Hey, wait, what’s this!? What’s this!?]

[Fu, fufu… Please don’t be so loud, Taichi-san.]

I tried to shake off my hand, but Marl firmly grabbed my hand and won’t let go.
Hey, stop it, you fool.

[U, uooohー! I won’t get beaten by this!]

[Eh, Tai――hyaaaaaaaaaaaaan!?]

I also counterattacked by circulating magic power and succeeded in taking the initiative from Marl.
Marl desperately resisted, but she and I had different amounts of magic!
Marl fainted again while her body still trembled. That was dangerous.

[I didn’t know that circulating magic between people was such a dangerous act…]

After wiping the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve, I started treating Marl.
When I looked at it later, both Marl and I had somehow learned Level 1 [Primordial Magic].

On top of having to be in close contact with the opponent, it’s a magic that had to be superior to the amount of mana…I wonder if there’s a way to use it?
That said, it seemed to be useful for nightlife. A groundbreaking find even.

=============

Since I was sweating, I decided to take a bath with the rejuvenated Marl, even though it was still before noon.
We couldn’t hold back our curiosity, so we used primordial magic to flirt with each other.
As a result of making adjustments and evenly circulating magic power, we reached a new frontier.
No, it might be fair to say that I’ve become enlightened.

[Taichi-san…this is dangerous, let’s wait.]

[Yeah, this is indeed too scary.]

Both me and Marl had no strength in our voices.
But, why was this called Primordial Magic? I wonder if it’s the first time magic was born, judging from the wording.
In the sense that regular magic didn’t require any physical contact techniques, it certainly feels like it’s literal.
Wouldn’t it be possible to absorb the opponent’s physical strength and magic power in an instant once your level rose?
Or rather, if you could do it from a distance, it would make for pretty dangerous magic, wouldn’t it?

[But for some reason, I feel like my body is full of strength.]

I checked Marl’s status. Just to be sure..
Her MP had decreased by about 100, and her HP by 30. It must’ve been drained as expected. It didn’t seem to affect other things.
I secretly cast recovery magic.
That decrease to HP is the most frightening. She had never received that much damage before.

[For now, let’s eat then get to work.]

[Yes! But it looks like there’s still more to come, so I’ll read the magic book as well!]

What was I afraid of?
Even though I say that in my heart, I couldn’t hide my anxiousness.
I couldn’t help it because I’m her man.

We got out of the bath and had lunch.
The lunch menu consisted of pasta with meat sauce, stuffed small boar intestines, and an assortment of warm vegetables.
Even though it’s meat sauce, it’s not red, it’s green. Tomatoes in this world were supposed to be eaten while still green. Where was the lycopene?
The taste is almost the same as the meat sauce pasta I ate in my original world. Perhaps it’s this world’s version of bolognese?
The small boar stuffed with intestines and warm vegetables were also delicious. The intestine stuffed with spices was exquisite.

[Okay, let’s do it.]

Marl retired to the atelier in the back, while I decided to start my first blacksmithing.
Maybe it’s because I’d acquired the skill of how to use tools and how to forge metal, everything was naturally recorded in my head.
By acquiring skills, would knowledge and experience be imprinted in your brain? I felt like there’s no use thinking about how it worked.

First, I made an ingot by smelting the iron ore procured from the commerce guild.
This was made in a magic furnace for smelting, but it was easy to do because it was possible to finely control the temperature.
The finished ingot was then heated in a furnace for forging.
The first thing I wanted to try making was an iron dagger.
I didn’t know if it’s because of my high dexterity or my high strength, but I could handle hot metal fairly easily.
And in less than 30 minutes, a single dagger was completed.
After sharpening it with a whetstone, wood and leather were used to create grips and the sheath. The entire process took less than an hour so far.

[Is it normal to do it so quickly…? Nah, it must be normal.]

The power of skill is amazing.
When I looked at the finished dagger with an appraisal eye, it was properly labeled as an iron dagger.
The quality is『Good』. I did it.

Now, from now on, I’ll raise that skill level one by one and make dagger blades one after another.
When the skill level was set to 2, the time required to create it became considerably shorter. Moreover, the quality had also become『Excellent』.
As the skill level increases, it becomes clearer to me when I should heat it, when I should strike it, how should I sharpen it, and how should I refine metal to make it a better ingot?
That kind of knowledge kept pouring in.

When I raised my blacksmithing level to 3, I found out how to turn the weapon into a magic catalyst, and how to add magical power to the weapon when I raised it to 4.
The time required to create a dagger was getting shorter and shorter.
Next, I tried making not only normal daggers, but also special items such as magic catalyst and magic-enchanted items.
I was able to make both without any problems.
I enchanted the magic of light to the item with magical power. It was a convenient item that could be used as a lighting when taken out of the scabbard.

And when I raised it to 5, I even understood how to forge magic swords and holy swords that are effective as magic tools.
My head felt dizzy, probably because a huge amount of knowledge was suddenly packed into it.
However, the body continued to strike.
I kept hammering like I’m obsessed.
Before I knew it, I had finished making dozens of daggers.

[Huh!?]

Something like an aura rose from the blacksmithing hammer that I’m holding. What is this scary stuff?
When I checked it with an appraisal eye, it should have been just a normal blacksmithing hammer, but turned out it had become a blacksmithing hammer with a soul.
Are you saying that the skill caused it to earn a soul? No way.

For the time being, I carefully sharpened the daggers that I had made, one by one, and adjusted the fittings.
Let’s keep the light dagger enchanted with light magic.
I now understand how to make weapons out of monster materials, so it might be a good idea to save parts that can be used as materials when defeating monsters in the future.

[Wow, I finally got one magic potion! What is this mountain of daggers!?]

Marl, who was somewhat smeared with soot, looked at the large number of daggers lined up in the smithy and rolled her eyes.
That’s right, there were thirty-eight when I counted them.

[I was absorbed in making it after a long time. Now I regret it.]

[No, I don’t think it’s something to reflect on…]

Marl picked up one of the daggers I had lined up, pulled it out from the leather scabbard and looked at the blade.
The one she’s looking at now was the『Excellent』I made at skill level 2.

[It seems to be very sharp, and sturdy.]

[Un, if you want one, I’ll give you one. I recommend this one.]

I gave Marl a『Transcendent』masterpiece steel dagger I made at skill level 5.
Just like before, Marl pulled out the dagger from its scabbard and focused on the blade.
Then, she re-grasped the grip a few times and put it back into the sheath.

[It looks like it’s really well made, but is it really okay if I take it?]

[Yeah, it’s the best one I made today. Rather, I want Marl to receive it.]

[…..Thank you! Well then, I will present this to Taichi-san as well!]

Saying that, what Marl took out was a green, suspiciously shining liquid in a transparent bottle. Why is it shining? This is scary.
Looking at it with an appraisal eye, it was displayed as a healing potion. It seemed neither low quality nor high quality. Even though it’s her first alchemy, isn’t this something pretty good?

[I’ll take it as a thank you.]

[Ehehe, it’s kind of fun. Something like this. Adventurers are good, but I’m also interested in becoming an alchemist!]

Checking it out, I noticed that Marl had gained [Alchemy] Level 1.
She learned both primordial magic and alchemy in but a single day. This girl is actually a genius, isn’t she?
When I realized it, my throat was dry. How long have I been working? No, no matter how thirsty I am, I don’t feel like slacking it with this magic potion.

============

[Thank you for your hard work. Have you finished your work?]

When Marl and I left the workshop, we encountered Fram holding a jute bag. Apparently, they were taking out some ingredients from the underground warehouse.

[Oh, I made a pretty good dagger.]

[This is the dagger Taichi made.]

Saying that, Marl pulled out the dagger I made and showed it to Fram.
Fram narrowed her eyes when she saw the dagger.

[…It’s a masterpiece. Did Master really make this?]

[Yeah. not bad, right?]

[I would’ve been convinced if someone said it is a rare masterpiece made by a master craftsman.]

I think it’s too much praise to say that, but in terms of skill level, it’s beyond human knowledge. Is that a fair assessment?
It’s a skill that I easily obtained with skill points, so I’m kind of in a strange mood.

[It was eye-pleasing. Then, I need to have dinner ready, so please excuse me.]

Fram bowed and walked to the kitchen.
Marl watched intently, trying to flip the dagger I made. I like it.

Now that I think about it, I feel like I only gave Marl a knife and armor. Let’s give her something a little more colorful next time.
What would be good? I’d like to give her something highly practical. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a circlet with defensive magic?
Fuhahahaha! If it’s for Marl’s sake, I’ll tear the ban I imposed on myself like scraps of paper!

[What are you grinning about?]

[Hahahaha, I just thought of something good. Alright, I’ll do my best tomorrow as well.]

I took a bath with Marl in a happy mood.
As expected, it’s almost time for dinner, and since we flirted during the day, I took a normal bath.
I only got to wash my hands. After all, it feels good to have someone wash your back.

After supper, swinging a mallet all day long, I sought to soothe my tired body.

[Eei, eei.]

[Ah…so-so. Uh…that’s good.]

[If you look at us from the side, they’ll probably see you as a pervert who’s happy to be stepped on by a girl!]

I was lying face down on the carpet in the living room, and Maybel was standing on my back and giving me a massage.
At first, she tried rubbing with her hands, but it didn’t work at all.
Now I had a towel on my back and Maybel was stepping on it. It felt good.

[Ah, just a little higher, yes. Hey, you can step on it harder.]

Maybel’s soft soles hit the pressure points on my back. Byaaaaagi.
Or rather, being happy to be stepped on by a girl was certainly perverted, just like Marl said.
But I wanted you to think about it. I think it’s common to see a child giving their father a massage while stepping on his back.
It’s the same as that.
Riding on my back was a beautiful girl who was not even related by blood, and she was wearing a maid outfit.
Wait, no matter how you look at it, I gotta be the pervert.
But it’s okay, it doesn’t matter before this feeling of comfort.

[Ah, that’s good. Thank you, Maybel.]

[Ye, yes!]

For some reason, Maybel’s cheeks blushed red as she got off my back.
Did she feel the pleasure of stepping on a man? It’s too early for you, Maybel.
Probably not. Un.
I tried rotating my shoulders and neck. Hmm, I’m feeling better already. The girl’s foot massage seems to have worked.
Just when I was about to stand up, Marl tackled me from behind.
Unable to do anything, I was pushed down to the prone position again.

[Hey, what are you doing?]

[Maybel-chan is being unfair! I want to step on Taichi-san too!]

[I mean, it’s just a massage and I don’t have that kind of hobby. Or rather, if it’s Marl it must be heavy “Eeeh” ugh!?]

Marl-san started stomping on my back.
Even though she is rather small, she was heavier than Maybel. I felt out of breath due to pressure.
What’s the fun in this?
Hey wait Maybel, why are you doing nothing? Stop her!

[O-OHHH!]

But it wasn’t too bad to get rid of the entrenched fatigue. Yeah, it was still good.
I don’t think it felt good to be stepped on.

=============

[…..]

[Why don’t you join them?]

[No, I am a criminal slave. I once tried to take the life of my master.]

[I don’t think he’s the type to worry about such things.]

[I’m fine. Just looking at them like this already makes me happy.]

[That’s up to you. However, I’m worried that my niece will awaken to some strange hobbies.]