CHAPTER 8

How to Live as a Hero in a Magical World (8)

With a casual twirl of Eldarin’s finger, the cart piled high with sweet potatoes began moving toward the storage shed on its own.

Kaian could hardly tear his eyes away from the sight.

“Are we selling all of those?”

“Except for however much we need to eat.”

“Right? Of course. That makes sense.”

Only then did Kaian’s cheeks puff up in satisfaction.

Eldarin watched him fondly. The flush in Kaian’s cheeks made him look as though some color and vitality had finally returned to him.

She held out a sweet potato.

“Would you like to try one?”

“Is it okay to eat it raw?”

“Of course.”

Kaian took a large bite of the sweet potato Eldarin had washed with magic.

―Crunch!

“Wow! The more you chew it…!”

―Munch, munch.

Kaian’s facial muscles contorted mercilessly.

With the sweet potato filling his mouth, he could neither swallow nor spit it out. He could only mumble miserably.

“It has no taste… It’s tasteless. Completely tasteless.”

“Pffft! Of course it is, at this stage!”

Eldarin burst into loud laughter for the first time.

Kaian stared up at her in disbelief.

“Sweet potatoes need to be dried in the shade for a week or two before their sweetness develops. We’ll cook them properly then.”

“That’s mean….”

“Spit it out. It’ll return to the earth.”

“Blegh….”

About a week later, Kaian had become fairly accustomed to life in Eldergrove.

Every morning, he drank astragalus tea prepared by Ember.

Ember was still as cold as ever.

“Ugh….”

“Drink it all. There is nothing better for restoring your strength.”

After that, he spent breakfast and teatime asking Eldarin about whatever he was curious about.

For example—

“Can I use those wooden platforms around the house?”

“Of course. There should be larger platforms near the windows as well. You don’t have to enter and leave the house through the front door alone. That is merely one of the customs created by humans. Here, do whatever is most convenient for you.”

“Where’s your room, Eldarin?”

“My room is on the top floor. There are many dangerous things there, and one should not casually enter a lady’s room, so do not come too close.”

“Ugh. That’s not fair.”

“For reference, Ember’s room is on the sixth floor.”

“Oh. So this is a six-story building.”

“Very perceptive.”

“Are all the books on the first floor?”

“Now that you mention it, I put all the books in my room. Hmm. I’ll move everything except the dangerous ones down to the second floor.”

“Yes! But if it’s on the second floor….”

“That is where you burned the house.”

“Shh! Shh!”

Working in the fields was still grueling.

And rewarding.

Kaian had become quite good at digging up sweet potatoes, rolling around large pumpkins, and pulling radishes straight from the soil.

Ember used the crops they brought back to prepare dishes that were astonishingly delicious.

Best of all, working in the fields allowed Kaian’s body to recover at an incredible pace.

Thanks to that, he could now move comfortably around the house without a cane.

“Incredible! Even if we summoned the greatest physician in the Valensia Empire, they couldn’t have restored my body this quickly!”

“That merely means Eldergrove is overflowing with mana. Always be grateful to mana.”

His stamina had improved considerably as well.

During the first three or four days, he would often collapse unconscious as soon as the day’s work was finished.

But since yesterday afternoon, he had even been able to read books afterward.

Kaian chattered excitedly to Eldarin.

“So starting tomorrow, I’m going to practice climbing trees.”

“Hmm… You wouldn’t listen even if I told you not to. Just be careful while practicing.”

The platforms attached to the exterior wall of Eldarin’s house only reached the third floor.

Since Kaian couldn’t use magic, the only way for him to climb any higher was to climb the trees themselves.

If he made it all the way to the top, he would be able to see just how vast Eldergrove was.

I can’t wait…! Maybe I can even draw a map.

Kaian was proving to be remarkably adaptable.

But even he found one thing difficult and frustrating.

Feeling the mana of the earth.

“I sit in the fields with my eyes closed every day and breathe just like Eldarin told me to… But, ugh, I still don’t really get it.”

“Yet you have become quite friendly with the earth spirits. That means you are making progress.”

“Hmm. Really?”

“Yes. Do not become impatient.”

Kaian liked the earth spirits very much.

They emitted a gentle yellow glow, were incredibly comforting, and felt as warm as sunlight filtering through leaves.

Eldarin had told him that earth spirits were the least wary among the five types of mana spirits.

It must be because they resemble the earth’s inherent capacity for acceptance. I want to learn that too.

Every day was a struggle to wash away his impatience with beads of sweat.

And then, this morning, Eldarin finally brought up the matter.

“I shall tell you how to heal your mental world.”

At that moment, it was practically a miracle that Kaian did not spit out the astragalus tea he was drinking.

―Gulp.

After hurriedly swallowing the tea, Kaian asked Eldarin,

“What? How do I do it?”

“Go to the volcanic region.”

He blinked several times in silence.

What? Go where?

Kaian tilted his head.

“Did I hear that wrong…?”

As far as he knew, frightening a patient was a poor choice from a medical standpoint.

But Eldarin repeated herself.

“I said to go to the volcanic region.”

Kaian tilted his head even farther.

No?

Could it be that the goat-horned elves had customs completely opposite to those of the Empire?

Perhaps the more often you frightened a patient, the faster they recovered.

“Of course, I do not mean that you should enter the volcano.”

Eldarin casually added this while sipping her tea.

Only then did Kaian spring to his feet.

“Obviously not…!”

Up until now, the only thing Eldarin had taught him was farming.

She had forbidden him from even touching the shadow of magic, and now she wanted to send him into a volcanic region?

A place where he would melt without a trace if he boldly marched in holding a hoe in his left hand and a sickle in his right?

Absolutely not.

Kaian firmly shook his head, but Eldarin paid him no mind and continued.

“You only need to go to the volcanic region and bring back an herb.”

“An herb? What kind?”

“About twenty kilometers south of here lies Mount Ignis. Around the end of September, an herb called Flame Veil blooms throughout the volcanic region. It is a plant that contains the properties of fire and possesses considerable resistance to heat. It should help prevent further damage to your mental world.”

Kaian remembered the flames blazing within his mental world.

If he wanted to learn magic, he could not simply leave his mental world in that condition.

Kaian clicked his tongue in resignation and asked Eldarin,

“So this Flame Veil will help prevent the flames inside me from causing further damage, and it’s twenty kilometers away?”

“That is correct.”

“How far is twenty kilometers?”

“About five or six hours on foot for an average adult.”

“Hah…!”

A hollow laugh escaped him.

Six hours for an adult?

Then how long would it take an eight-year-old?

Kaian made no attempt to hide his disbelief.

“Hah! Ha! Ha!”

But Eldarin merely closed her eyes and savored the taste of her tea.

Kaian narrowed his eyes at her.

I think she’s drinking some strange tea.

The tea she drank every morning was pine-needle tea.

Apparently, it was supposed to clear the mind.

But now that he thought about it, perhaps it cleared the mind so thoroughly that it left nothing inside.

Once I learn magic, I’m going to cut down every pine tree in this place.

Even so, the fact remained that he had to go to the volcanic region.

Kaian crossed his arms and asked in a serious voice,

“Can an eight-year-old learn how to ride a horse?”

Eldarin answered just as seriously.

“Have you ever seen a horse while staying here?”

“…No.”

“There are none.”

Kaian nodded as though he had expected that answer.

He had hoped there might be one, but apparently not.

There was no stable, either.

Looks like I’m walking the whole way.

He glanced at the calendar.

There were ten days left in September.

Kaian deliberately adopted an optimistic tone.

“Still, I should be able to make the trip within ten days somehow, right?”

“For your information, Flame Veil must be consumed within twelve hours of being picked for it to be effective. Once you harvest it, it is best not to delay.”

“Wait…? Hold on. Let me organize this.”

Kaian mentally retraced everything he had heard so far.

So, in other words, Eldarin was saying:

First, walk twenty kilometers.

Then, assuming he didn’t roast himself alive in the volcanic region, find the Flame Veil that was apparently blooming somewhere—though he had no idea exactly where—and dig it up.

Then walk another twenty kilometers back within twelve hours.

Mission complete.

“You understood correctly. Precisely.”

“What a simple mission. Really simple.”

Kaian felt as though a blaze were rising from the depths of his chest, so he gulped down his astragalus tea.

Then he grabbed his hair and groaned.

And suddenly—

A chill ran down his spine.

Goosebumps rose across his skin.

With a smile bordering on a nervous twitch, he looked at Eldarin.

“Um… Eldarin, then what about farming for a while…?”

“You still have to do it. Have you forgotten the rules?”

“Ha, haha… Hahahaha. I see. So that’s how it is.”

Kaian laughed like a man who had lost his mind.

For the past few days, he had considered her a wonderful goat-horned elf mentor.

Now he wanted to punch himself for ever thinking that.

He wiped the laughter from his face and hurriedly opened his pocket watch.

Then he counted on his fingers as he calculated how much time he had.

After afternoon tea, it’ll be 2 p.m. Farming starts at 8:40 the next morning. So that gives me roughly… eighteen hours….

Kaian took a deep breath to calm himself, then forcefully exhaled through his nose.

If he had horns right now, he would have transformed into an enraged bull and charged straight into Eldarin.

Unfortunately, the real him was nothing more than a painfully fragile butterfly.

Still… a butterfly has a butterfly’s own way of doing things!

Kaian decided to put on the most pitiful whine he could manage.

Tears immediately welled up in his turquoise eyes.

“Does Eldarin hate me? Is that why you want to watch my soul burn to death?”

“That is quite the unpleasant hobby.”

“Did I do something wrong? Is it because I burned down your house?”

“Hmm. You did burn it down twice, but there is no need to apologize to me.”

―Clink!

Just then, Ember returned with a fresh cup of astragalus tea and set it down.

The sound seemed unusually loud, but Kaian decided it was probably his imagination.

Then, suddenly, his eyes flashed with confusion.

“Wait. Why did you say I burned it twice? I only remember doing it once. Don’t falsely accuse me.”

“Hmm. It seems you really do not remember. Think about it. How did you enter Eldergrove when you did not even know a single magic spell?”

“Well…! Tsk. I never thought about that. How did I get in?”

Kaian blinked blankly and tilted his head.

Eldarin let out a small sigh.

Then she slowly began telling him what had happened that day.

“In Eldergrove… there is one spirit that is beyond my control. A water spirit. It is rather fond of running away, and that day, it secretly left the subspace and happened to see you. You were stumbling along as you ran, and apparently it became concerned about you. So it approached to check on your condition, but then….”

“But then…?”

“…”

Eldarin did not answer immediately.

Kaian swallowed hard.

This feels ominous.

What on earth did I do this time?

At this point, it would not have been strange if people started calling him something like the Serial Spirit Tormentor.

“Why…? What did I do…?”

“You….”

“What?”

“You mistook it for an enemy. You came after it with a huge flame hanging from your wrist. Imagine how terrified that little spirit must have been….”

Eldarin squeezed her eyes shut.

Kaian’s mouth fell open as well.

“The frightened spirit fled into Eldergrove, and you ended up following it inside. You were playing tag throughout the house until you eventually collapsed unconscious.”

“Then what happened to the spirit? Is it okay?”

Kaian asked urgently.

Eldarin answered with an oddly complicated expression.

“Hmm… It is fine.”

It was a suspiciously vague answer.

It didn’t sound reassuring at all.

Why had she hesitated like that?

Kaian spoke with a stiff expression.

“Eldarin, tell me the truth. Did I perhaps….”

“I said it is fine. It’s just….”

“Just…?”

“I only burned all of its hair off.”

“Hm?”

Eldarin poured more pine-needle tea into her cup.

“It is currently hiding by Lake Twofold, saying it will not come out until its hair grows back. At least it will not run away for the time being. Well, isn’t that a decent enough ending?”

“What kind of nonsense is that…?! Eldarin! Do you have any idea how precious hair is?”

Kaian knew very well how precious hair was.

He had once stuck chewing gum in his second older brother’s long hair—the brother who cared more about his appearance than anything else—and had suffered terribly for it.

Even though his brother knew it had been nothing more than a child’s mistake, he would glare daggers at Kaian every time they met.

The entire family had to exhaust themselves trying to convince him not to quit the academy out of embarrassment….

In the end, the incident had only been settled when Riana brought a hairstylist all the way from the Imperial capital.

Kaian grabbed his own hair again and groaned.

I wonder if Eldergrove has hairstylists. Do I need to learn how to do it myself?

And yet, watching Eldarin calmly sipping her pine-needle tea and acting as though it was actually a good thing made another inferno of anger rise inside him.

Kaian let out a deep sigh and asked,

“Where is Lake Twofold, where that spirit is staying?”

A person should naturally go apologize when they had wronged someone.

“You will find it about twenty kilometers north.”

“Oh.”

Apparently, he still had a long way to go before becoming a decent human being.