‘My mana is overflowing... What is this feeling?’
Iseria, who had launched a [Wind Cutter] at the boar-type demonic beast, was more than a little flustered by the unfamiliar sensation in her hand.
It was an attack made only with Iseria’s own mana, without borrowing the power of spirits, yet its might was on a different level.
“Kweek, kweeeeek!!”
The blade of wind rushed in as if it would even slice through space itself, and the boar demonic beast’s blood sprayed everywhere.
It wasn’t merely a scratch. In an instant, a wound was carved into it, cutting through its thick layer of fat and down into the muscle.
She had rested in the forest for the past few days, and she had just eaten a hearty meal of fresh tofu, so she was in good condition.
But this was not a power that could be explained by something as simple as “being in good condition.”
“Ah, whatever! Die!”
Shiiiiik—!
She could put the complicated thoughts aside for now.
As Iseria moved her hand dynamically, an invisible blade of wind curved like a boomerang and shot from her fingertips.
The wind flew with a vicious sound of tearing air and severed the boar demonic beast’s neck outright.
The boar demonic beast died without even managing a proper cry.
“Hey! Are you okay?”
“Can’t you tell by looking? I’m fine.”
Kang Jinwoo, who had been watching the fight through the window from inside the restaurant, saw the boar demonic beast’s head fall and rushed outside in a hurry.
Iseria lightly brushed off her palms as she spoke.
Her tone was prickly, but she was right. The boar demonic beast hadn’t been able to resist in the slightest and had been carved up in the palm of Iseria’s hand.
Kang Jinwoo had been watching the battle, so he knew Iseria hadn’t been attacked, but his worry had simply come out reflexively.
Iseria looked down at her two hands.
She could still clearly feel a greater amount of mana than usual, but it was gradually decreasing.
Though “decreasing” only meant that it was returning to Iseria’s original amount of mana.
A momentary amplification of mana.
She hadn’t drunk a potion, nor had she received a buff.
‘Potion... Could it be?’
For an instant, a certain food flashed through Iseria’s mind.
White and soft, warm and savory.
‘No. There’s no way.’
But Iseria soon shook her head and erased that hypothesis.
Buffs or potions with the effect of amplifying mana weren’t some household spirit’s name; they weren’t things that could be made so easily.
Especially not by a human whose mana was absurdly lacking compared to Iseria herself.
***
“When am I supposed to clean all this up...?”
After the commotion had settled, I prepared the butchering tools and a bucket.
It was to dismantle the boar demonic beast lying openly in the backyard.
‘By the way, Iseria’s crazy strong.’
She didn’t have any proper weapons, nor armor, and it wasn’t as though her body was all burly either.
She was even a beautiful blond elf girl with twin tails. I hadn’t even imagined she’d be this strong.
Watching her attacks, I briefly wondered if I could do that too if I trained in magic, but I quickly gave up.
People should stick to what they’re good at. It probably wouldn’t be a complete waste, but considering the time and effort, it just didn’t add up.
While thinking such idle thoughts, I waved the sharp butcher’s knife this way and that.
I had learned cooking, not boning professionally, so it was a bit clumsy, but I was satisfied with just not cutting my own hand.
In fact, beginners learning to bone meat for the first time usually started off with cuts on their hands, forearms, or upper bodies.
Being able to buy neatly trimmed meat from the neighborhood mart thanks to the Industrial Revolution and the development of science—
It was a blessing you couldn’t truly appreciate unless you had butchered an animal yourself...
After struggling for about thirty minutes, I managed to separate the foreleg meat from the boar demonic beast.
But this was only the tip of the iceberg... no, the tip of the pig.
‘If I try to do all this alone, even staying up all night won’t be enough, will it?’
I stopped cutting and looked around.
Iseria was sitting a short distance away, glancing at me now and then.
From what I saw earlier, she sliced up that demonic beast like she was cutting tofu.
If she helped, wouldn’t this be over in no time...?
I trudged over to Iseria.
As if she had a rough idea of what I was going to ask, Iseria responded primly.
“Um, Iseria. Could you help dismantle the demonic beast—”
“Hm? What was that?”
Sure enough, Iseria acted all snippy like a little miss priss.
Since her personality was basically tsundere itself, maybe I shouldn’t say “like” one; she really was a little miss priss.
Just as I was about to open my mouth, expecting our usual WWE match, Iseria spoke first.
“Fine. I’ll help.”
“Oh, huh? Thanks...”
“But in exchange! Let me stay at your house for a while, human.”
“Huh?”
I was grateful that she would help, and it wasn’t a problem for her to stay at my house.
But I had a purely natural question. Why?
An elf who had come to the human world because she wanted to chase stimulating dopamine hits in the city—why would she stay in a backwater like this?
I asked Iseria about that. Then...
“S-shut up! That’s none of your business! So are you going to do it or not?”
“No, well... I was just curious. Then stay at my place for the time being. Now can you help me dismantle the demonic beast?”
“Heh. That’s more like it.”
Iseria gathered mana with a somewhat impish smile.
It definitely wasn’t a losing deal for me, so why did it feel suspicious?
Whoooosh—
At any rate, mana rippled around Iseria and wind began to blow.
It wasn’t as powerful as when she had attacked the boar demonic beast, but a sufficiently sharp wind neatly carved the beast into pieces.
‘What is she, a butcher’s daughter?’
For a vegetarian elf, she sent those wind blades right into the beast’s joints and dismantled it incredibly cleanly.
‘Well, it worked out, so nice.’
As I was thinking that, Iseria spoke.
“Human. Where are you moving this meat?”
“Hm? I think we should move it close to the back door for now...”
“Got it.”
A smooth, gently fluttering wind blew in, different in nature from the wind that had sliced up the demonic beast.
That wind slipped neatly beneath the still-large chunks of meat even after dismantling them.
Swoong—!
Then the chunks of meat rode the wind, floated into the air, and moved close to the back door!
“Whoa! Holy shit!”
“Ah, you scared me! Don’t suddenly shout like that!”
“Sorry.”
Startled by my exclamation, Iseria made an “ooh-ooh” sound and fiddled with her ears.
But how could anyone not be shocked seeing this? It was even more surprising than when I learned spirits could be used as a refrigerator and a stove.
Maybe that was because [Basic Spirit Arts] and [Mana Market] were skills I already had.
The mystery Iseria was wielding right now looked exactly like the “magic” I had only ever seen in works of fiction.
Thanks to Iseria’s one-click easy-mode show, the dismantling of the demonic beast was finished in thirty minutes.
With the current time and equipment, it would be difficult to make anything with the innards, and in any case, there was so much meat that there was no need to.
I had worried that because it was a boar demonic beast, it might have such a strong boar taint that it would be inedible, but contrary to my expectations, only a fresh meaty aroma came from it.
Wild beasts from another world really were different somehow.
I put the boar demonic beast’s bones into a large pot and poured in enough water to submerge them.
Pork bone stock was highly versatile once boiled, so I left them like that to draw out the blood.
As for the remaining meat... I put only as much as I could handle into the refrigerator, sorted by type.
Even so, there were still dozens of kilograms of meat left.
‘I’ll have to go into town.’
I had gained an excuse to go into town for the first time in a while.
I’d go sell some meat, look around the market while I was at it, and spend the day having fun.
“Hey, Iseria.”
“What is it, human?”
“Let’s eat tofu.”
Well, that was tomorrow’s business.
For now, Iseria and I ate the springy block tofu with soy sauce and kimchi.
“Heuuung...”
Saying it had a different charm from fresh tofu, Iseria’s eyes went unfocused once again, but by now I just accepted it.
***
“The fire’s all out, the doors are locked...”
Early in the morning, I finished my final check before leaving the house.
I slung a moderately sized backpack over my shoulders and stepped out into the front yard.
“Why are you so slow? Honestly, humans.”
“Yes, yes~”
Iseria greeted me with her morning tsun-tsun.
Knowing that retorting to tsundere remarks would only make things troublesome, I answered casually.
“Let’s go now. I’m counting on you, Iseria.”
“Sigh, making an elf do your bidding when you’re only a human...”
Even while grumbling, Iseria drew up mana and raised a wind.
The large amount of well-packaged meat rode the wind and floated along behind us as we walked.
“You really are amazing, Iseria.”
“H-hmph! Of course I am. This is exceptional magic even among elves, so this much is nothing!”
When I gave her a routine compliment, Iseria became bashful yet was very plainly pleased.
But it wasn’t empty flattery.
If not for Iseria’s magic, I wouldn’t even have thought of going into town with this ridiculous amount of meat.
Not long after, we left the Kallian Forest, and a well-maintained road greeted us.
Of course, it wasn’t paved with asphalt like in modern times, but there were no overgrown weeds around it, and the path was firmly packed.
As we trudged along and chatted with Iseria, the city of Silvaerin soon came into view.
As we drew closer to the towering city walls, we saw a line in front of the checkpoint.
Among ordinary-looking people such as merchants pulling cargo wagons and adventurers equipped for travel, we stood out whether we liked it or not, carrying an absurd amount of meat with wind magic.
“Hey, look over there. What are those people doing?”
“Hunters? Though the way they look... an elf?”
“An elf? Did you say an elf? Well, I’ve lived long enough to see an elf.”
Everyone around us began murmuring.
“Tch. Do they think I’m some animal on display? Humans...”
“Just bear with it a little. It’ll be our turn soon.”
Iseria muttered in displeasure.
I had never imagined I’d have to move this much luggage, so I hadn’t prepared a cargo wagon or a horse.
But buying one just for these occasional situations would be a financial burden.
What can we do, Iseria... You’ll just have to work hard.
“Hello. Please state your name and present your identification plaque.”
“My identification plaque is here... My name is Kang Jinwoo.”
“Kang Jinwoo? That’s an unusual name... Huh!”
The checkpoint guard was mechanically carrying out the entry procedure, but when he heard my name, he jumped in surprise.
Then, saying to please wait a moment, he went into the checkpoint.
What was that? It was an unusual name by this place’s standards, sure, but was it really shocking enough to react like that?
Just as I wondered if this was some new type of performative racism, someone who appeared to be in charge rushed out from inside the checkpoint.
“O-our apologies! You may enter!”
“Huh? Is that all right?”
“Of course! It’s a mandatory confirmation procedure in case of any unforeseen circumstances, so please don’t take it to heart!”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
It felt a bit awkward, but if they were letting us in without issue, there was no reason to refuse.
Iseria, who had been standing beside me with a stiff expression, also went blank when she suddenly got a free pass along with me.
Since Iseria had no means of proving her identity at all, it seemed she had been rather nervous, even if she pretended otherwise.
“What, were you scared we’d get cut off at the entrance?”
“What?! As if!”
I needled her lightly, but Iseria gave me a perfect reaction.
It felt like the pleasure of donating 1,000 won at just the right moment during a livestream and creating a funny scene.
I spoke to Iseria, who was puffing out her cheeks spitefully and glaring at me.
“Don’t do that. Look ahead.”
“What’s there to see ahead...!”
Though she grumbled, Iseria followed my words and looked forward, then stopped like a stone statue.
That feeling... I get it. I was like that when I first came in too.
The northern mountain range of eternal snow stood cold and bleak, as if it would not permit life to flourish.
Yet beneath those mountains, Silvaerin had built a splendid city.
The buildings, made of wood, brick, and clay, all had pointed roofs that called to mind mountain peaks.
Between the tightly packed blocks of buildings, well-maintained brick roads stretched out in every direction, and street vendors had set up along them.
A bustle and abundance that made it hard to believe this was a cold northern city.
I spoke to Iseria, whose mouth was hanging open in admiration.
“Country bumpkin.”
I get that it’s fascinating, but let’s sell the meat first and look around after.
The stares from everyone around us are getting uncomfortable.